The Role of GI Products or Local Products in the Environment—Consumer Awareness and Preferences in Albania, Bulgaria and Poland

The main goal of this paper is to measure and compare the awareness and preferences of consumers in relation to local products in three countries: Albania, Bulgaria, and Poland. (1) Background: The analysis focused on consumer choices when presented with local products, specifically knowledge as to their environmentally friendly status. The study was evoked by the need to recognize and evaluate changes in consumer behavior as a result of the pandemic and the global challenges related to climate change and the widespread call for nature preservation. (2) Methods: An online survey was conducted with 300 respondents from Poland, 262 from Albania, and 250 from Bulgaria. Statistical analysis was applied. (3) Results: The study answered research questions about consumer readiness to pay a premium price and awareness about the impact of regional products on the environment and livelihood of rural communities. (4) Conclusions: The study proved that consumer perceptions and behavior are influenced by a variety of factors and driving forces in the three countries surveyed depending on socioeconomic characteristics and relevant policies. COVID-19 accelerated the demand for products derived from nature-friendly production systems. Products with geographical indication (GI products) are a better choice from the perspective of sustainable consumption.

Bridging Cultural Concepts of Nature: Indigenous People and Protected Spaces of Nature

National parks and other preserved spaces of nature have become iconic symbols of nature protection around the world. However, the worldviews of Indigenous peoples have been marginalized in discourses of nature preservation and conservation. As a result, for generations of Indigenous peoples, these protected spaces of nature have meant dispossession, treaty violations of hunting and fishing rights, and the loss of sacred places. Bridging Cultural Concepts of Nature brings together anthropologists and archaeologists, historians, linguists, policy experts, and communications scholars to discuss differing views and presents a compelling case for the possibility of more productive discussions on the environment, sustainability, and nature protection. Drawing on case studies from Scandinavia to Latin America and from North America to New Zealand, the volume challenges the old paradigm where Indigenous peoples are not included in the conservation and protection of natural areas and instead calls for the incorporation of Indigenous voices into this debate. This original and timely edited collection offers a global perspective on the social, cultural, economic, and environmental challenges facing Indigenous peoples and their governmental and NGO counterparts in the co-management of the planet’s vital and precious preserved spaces of nature.

Increasing Value of Façade at Green Hotel Building Based on Value Engineering

Background: Of a total of 180 countries in the world, Indonesia is ranked 116th in the EPI ranking. This paper describes the innovative design of a high-rise hotel building that carries a green building concept. which utilizes the outer wall area of the hotel building as an object in this study. Objective: The main design of this project is the creation of an innovative high-rise hotel building with attention to architectural, structural, and lighting system aspects as well as energy efficiency from direct sunlight, which will be processed into a source of electrical energy. Materials and Methods: Application of analysis through value engineering case studies and application of green building methods, with qualitative methods. This paper focuses on factors related to energy sources and environmental sustainability and calculates life cycle costs concerning case study designs. The goal is to reduce the use of electrical energy sources from PLN which have an impact on nature preservation, by carrying out the concept of environmentally friendly buildings, by utilizing the facade wall area with the application of Photovoltaic. Results: The results obtained a percentage of ≤ 6.21%, with the use of Photovoltaic material as much as 100%. Conclusion: The facades (east and west) generate ± 1,050 KVA of electricity from the Solar Power Plant and reduce the use of electricity from PLN by 991 KVA, out of a total of 2,041 KVA. It can be concluded that the decrease obtained is 47.32%.

Op onvruchtbare bodem?

On barren soil? Early nature reserves of Natuurmonumenten and the Dutch landscape In 1905, Natuurmonumenten (Natural Monuments Society), a Dutch NGO for nature conservation, was founded. The society aimed to preserve some uncultivated lands, such as heathlands, fens, peat bogs but also forests, which were under threat of cultivation and reclamation. Natuurmonumenten managed to acquire a number of nature reserves in the years 1905-1940 for scientific, recreational and aesthetic reasons. In this article, this collection is analyzed and compared to the reserves of other Dutch nature conservation organizations in the same period. Although Natuurmonumenten acquired mainly barren soils, it turned out to be a fruitful start of a nature preservation organization that operated nationwide, and established a strong network within Dutch society.

1. Making Sense of Earth’s Politics

This chapter introduces the politics of the Earth, which has featured a large and ever-growing range of concerns, such as pollution, wilderness preservation, population growth, depletion of natural resources, climate change, biodiversity loss, and destabilization of the Earth system. It explains how the issues of Earth’s politics are interlaced with a range of questions about human livelihood, social justice, public attitudes, and proper relation to one other and other entities on the planet. It also discusses the consequences of discourses for politics and policies. The chapter clarifies how environmental issues like ecological limits, nature preservation, climate change, biodiversity, rainforest protection, environmental justice, and pollution are interconnected in all kinds of ways. It develops an environmental discourse analysis approach and shows how this approach will be applied in subsequent chapters, beginning with the positioning of environmental discourses in relation to the long dominant of discourse of industrialism.

Environmental Activism in the Digital Age

The development of new digital technologies was predicted to be a boon for environmental activism. Internet and social media platforms were expected to facilitate broad bottom-up change, enabling activists worldwide to communicate and organize more effectively. However, the emergence of digital technologies may not have revolutionized the methods and impacts of activist organizations, especially for the environmental movement, wherein meaningful change has not yet been realized regarding climate change and nature preservation. Given the many challenges activists face, it is essential to understand how collective action can be undertaken with digital media to produce positive consequences for nature and human relations. Moreover, the neoliberal economic context from which digital technologies emerged and grew further accelerates environmental destruction through overproduction and overconsumption. This paper examines the relationship between environmental activism and digital technologies. While the environmental movement may have benefitted from newer organizational and communication tools on the international stage, the neoliberal economic framework in which digital technologies operate fundamentally contradicts the goals of the environmental movement.

COVID-19 Pandemic –Milestone in Rediscovering the Rural Life

This study investigates the positive aspects of the impact COVID-19 pandemic has had on rural development, providing several examples from the post-Soviet space. It is predicted that the intensification of dacha recreation phenomenon, which has been significantly influenced by the pandemic, will spatially extend beyond the periurban areas of the largest cities and will create the preconditions for the restoration of abandoned villages, development of rural tourism and preservation of “archaic” living techniques and traditional lifestyle. In an interdisciplinary context, we learn about the increased tendency of city dwellers to own second homes (dacha) in the countryside. Attention is drawn to the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and a decrease in solar activity, along with the decrease in the disinfection capacity of solar UV radiation. The curative proprieties of landscapes are investigated, methods of their valorisation are proposed, and landscape therapy is proposed to be considered during pandemics, some of the most effective activities being open-air walks, with inhalation of negative oxygen ions, phytoncides, terpenes. The growth of uncertainties due to unlimited and uncontrolled human society development is postulated. It is proved that development must consider the unpredicted effects of a catastrophe and use this knowledge to prevent other more devastating events and effects. In this context, the preservation of the primary, although outdated, living techniques is proposed, since they can act as important survival factors in critical mode. It is concluded that COVID-19 pandemic should be perceived as a milestone in the reorientation of geography and ecology towards understanding and advocating for nature preservation to be able to sustain human society in a continuous transformation.

The Dynamics of the Samin Community Social Movement Against Plans to Establish a Cement Plant in Pati, Central Java

This article explains the dynamics of Samin's movement against the plan to establish a cement factory in Pati (Kendeng mountains), which has been a manifestation conflict that has not yet reached a meeting point. This research was conducted ethnographically with a qualitative approach. While the paradigm used to discuss is the theory of social movements. The findings and discussion that political opportunity arises because the plan to establish a factory that is legally flawed and humanly contradicts a sense of justice. Protests made by the Samin community did not get a positive response, coupled with other disappointments that had accumulated led to the birth of feelings of deprivation as citizens. They feel colonized in their own country which results in collective resistance. Their struggle is increasingly greater with the role of actors who are able to mobilize, form movement organizations, network with various elements of society, and facilitate open resistance. Cultural framing emerges through the spread of the ideology of the movement, where this ideology originates from the teachings of nature preservation raised by the Samin community

Calcerous Tufa as Invaluable Geotopes Endangered by (Over-)Tourism: A Case Study in the UNESCO Global Geopark Swabian Alb, Germany

Calcerous tufa and sinter are among the most impressive natural spectacles in karst landscapes whose scientific and aesthetic value is universally recognized. Being visually often very appealing they attract numerous visitors. At the same time tufa landforms are extremely vulnerable and can be seriously damaged even by minor interference. The challenge is, therefore, to protect the calcerous tufa heritage, to communicate its values, and to enhance it with the help of adequate geotourism offers. Tufa geotopes are an essential part of the geological heritage of the UNESCO Global Geopark Swabian Alb in Southwest Germany. Unfortunately tufa landforms, especially tufa cascades, suffer serious impairments by (over-)tourism, particularly during the Corona pandemic. The article explores where best to strike the balance between valorization and protection, as well as how to ensure that growth in tourism is compatible with nature preservation, especially in the case of the extremely vulnerable tufa geotopes.

Berteologi Kontekstual dari Sasi Humah Koin di Fena Waekose – Pulau Buru

This article departed from the reality of forest exploitation on Buru Island by the community, the operation of PT. Gema Sanubari and the plywood industry in 1980, so that most of the forest became deforested. This article aimed to construct an ecotheology that derives from the values contained in sasi humah koin, in the context of nature conservation efforts. This study was conducted by qualitative method, by collecting data through in-depth interviews with the king, traditional figures, and community leaders in Fena Waekose. Based on the analysis carried out, the sasi humah koin contain value and at the same time can be an instrument in nature preservation effort. Thus, it can be concluded that Christian theology can dialogue with local wisdom that will give poser in nature conservation.Abstrak. Artikel ini mengacu dari realitas eksploitasi hutan di Pulau Buru oleh masyarakat, hadirnya PT. Gema Sanubari dan industri kayu lapis pada tahun 1980, sehingga sebagian besar hutan menjadi gundul. Tujuan artikel ini adalah mengembangkan ekoteologi yang bersumber dari nilai yang terkandung dalam sasi humah koin, dalam rangka upaya pelestarian alam. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif, dengan pengambilan data melalui wawancara mendalam dengan Raja, Tokoh Adat, dan Tokoh Masyarakat di Fena Waekose. Berdasarkan analisis yang dilakukan, sasi humah koin mengandung nilai dan sekaligus dapat menjadi instrument dalam upaya pelestarian alam. Dengan demikian, dapat disimpulkan bahwa teologi Kristen dapat berdialog dengan kearifan lokal untuk menjadi kekuatan dalam pelestarian alam.