From matters of fact to places of concern? Energy,environmental movements and place-making in Chile and Thailand

As demand for energy is growing and resources become scarcer, energy increasingly becomes the site of heated controversies. In Latour’s terms, energy turns from a “matter of fact” into a “matter of concern”. In these energy controversies, environmental movements frequently play a central role, highlighting what is at stake in these developments. While these movements have often been studied, these studies rarely focus on the interaction between controversies, environmental movements, and place-making. In this article, we not only argue that energy is frequently turned from matter of fact into a matter of concern, but that this argument also extends to the notion of place. As such, energy controversies turn villages, cities, or regions themselves into “places of concern”. The article delves deeper into the production of places of concern through two case studies of energy controversies around power plants: a proposed coal plant in Bo Nok, Thailand, and HidroAysen, a hydropower project in Chilean Patagonia. We specifically focus on the issues that were opened up for debate in both countries, and on the role of environmental movements in the production of these places. Our examples are based on fieldwork and interviews in these two areas, as well as media and document analysis. While the two cases are from two different countries, we nonetheless find surprising parallels between them. These insights are instrumental to link theoretical debates on controversies and place-making. Moreover, they provide empirical insights into the transformative and lasting effects of energy controversies on people and places.     

Mediating the spaces of diet and health: A critical analysis of reporting on nutrition and colorectal cancer in the UK

The media are one of the main arenas in which nutrition information is framed and developed. Research has shown a predominantly individualistic framing of diet-related health issues such as obesity, type-2 diabetes and coronary heart disease in international media coverage. These issues are framed as personal, ’lifestyle’ issues rather than requiring policy or structural change. In addition, research has shown a tendency in nutrition research and media coverage of it, to emphasize individual ingredients or components more than overall diet. The media have a tendency to report diet related research simplistically, often without contextualization. Taking a case study approach, this paper analyses UK news media coverage and framing of British Medical Journal (BMJ) published research into dietary fibre and bowel cancer risk. I investigate how the health issue fibre and bowel cancer is framed and dissect the process of mediation (from press release to mass media to local media), analysing the shifting ’geographies of responsibility’ that result. This paper argues that media coverage of research into diet and bowel cancer can be explained by the technologies, conventions and routines of media representation. Key gatekeepers were found to have an important role in framing the information that was reported. Taking a critical approach, this paper argues that like obesity, type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease, coverage of nutritional means of preventing bowel cancer is set predominantly in the ’lifestyle’ frame, laying responsibility for increasing dietary fibre at the door of the individual rather than looking at broader social, economic, or political drivers of dietary change.     

中亚各国在咸海流域水资源问题上的冲突与合作

咸海流域是中亚社会发展进程中水资源供需矛盾和生态环境问题表现最为突出的区域,已严重妨碍了经济发展和社会稳定,甚至严重影响到中亚国家间的关系. 在解决咸海问题上,中亚各国虽然都表现出了极度忧虑和希望合作解决共同问题的诚意,签订了一系列的多边和双边合作协议,付诸了较多的行动;发达国家和国际组织也多方介入,大力援助、积极斡旋,但仍未从根本上缓解咸海危机. 深入分析介绍了咸海流域的水资源及开发利用情况、中亚各国在咸海流域水资源问题上的冲突以及开展的一系列合作,探讨了咸海危机的潜在水冲突,提出了合理利用水资源,实现流域一体化管理,化解咸海危机的对策措施.     

Maps and mapping in Estonia

Estonia may be taken as an example of how cartography has developed in the national languages of the Baltic States. Late in the 17th century the first survey of Estonian and Latvian territories was carried out by the Swedes. Masterpieces of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century are the Atlas of Livonia by L. A. Mellin and a special map of Livonia by C. G. Rücker. The first maps in Estonian appeared more than one hundred years ago. The short period of independence, 1918–1940, was one of rapid development in cartography, interrupted by occupation of the Baltic States by the USSR. Maps were destroyed or declared secret; use of maps was limited. From the beginning of the 1990s, a rapid renaissance of national cartography began.     

Preliminary results of environmental monitoring of the natural gas hydrate production test in the South China Sea

Natural gas hydrate (NGH) is considered as one of the new clean energy sources of the 21st century with the highest potential. The environmental issues of NGH production have attracted the close attention of scientists in various countries. From May 10 to July 9, 2017, the first offshore NGH production test in the South China Sea (SCS) was conducted by the China Geological Survey. In addition, environmental security has also been effectively guaranteed via a comprehensive environmental monitoring system built during the NGH production test. The monitoring system considered sea-surface atmosphere methane and carbon dioxide concentrations, dissolved methane in the sea water column, and the seafloor physical oceanography and marine chemistry environment. The whole process was monitored via multiple means, in multiple layers, in all domains, and in real time. After the production test, an environmental investigation was promptly conducted to evaluate the environmental impact of the NGH production test. The monitoring results showed that the dissolved methane concentration in seawater and the near-seabed environment characteristics after the test were consistent with the background values, indicating that the NGH production test did not cause environmental problems such as methane leakage.     

Calculating the effective permeability of sandstone with multiscale lattice Boltzmann/finite element simulations

The lattice Boltzmann (LB) method is an efficient technique for simulating fluid flow through individual pores of complex porous media. The ease with which the LB method handles complex boundary conditions, combined with the algorithm’s inherent parallelism, makes it an elegant approach to solving flow problems at the sub-continuum scale. However, the realities of current computational resources can limit the size and resolution of these simulations. A major research focus is developing methodologies for upscaling microscale techniques for use in macroscale problems of engineering interest. In this paper, we propose a hybrid, multiscale framework for simulating diffusion through porous media. We use the finite element (FE) method to solve the continuum boundary-value problem at the macroscale. Each finite element is treated as a sub-cell and assigned permeabilities calculated from subcontinuum simulations using the LB method. This framework allows us to efficiently find a macroscale solution while still maintaining information about microscale heterogeneities. As input to these simulations, we use synchrotron-computed 3D microtomographic images of a sandstone, with sample resolution of 3.34 μm. We discuss the predictive ability of these simulations, as well as implementation issues. We also quantify the lower limit of the continuum (Darcy) scale, as well as identify the optimal representative elementary volume for the hybrid LB–FE simulations.     

Communicating earthquake risk to the public: the trial of the “L’Aquila Seven”

The trial and conviction of seven public officials in L’Aquila, central Italy, for having allegedly given out misleading and incorrect information to the public before the 6 April 2009 earthquake has proved to be one of the most momentous developments of recent times in science and disaster risk reduction—and also one of the most misunderstood. It highlights the difficulty in transforming the findings of the earth sciences, which are often characterised by uncertainty, into information that can be used to protect ordinary citizens. This paper describes those elements of the disaster at L’Aquila which are pertinent to the trial and the legal proceedings that followed them. It analyses the political, social and scientific context of the trial, and the reaction of scientists and their institutions in Italy and other countries. I conclude that the defendants were tried as responsible public officials, not as scientists. The mass media in Italy and abroad tended to insist that what was on trial was the ability to predict earthquakes, and this had an enormous influence on the opinion of scientists in many different places. However, the trial was actually about the apparently fatal consequences of misleading the public with “incomplete, imprecise and contradictory information”, as the prosecutors put it. I believe that much of the international reaction to the trial was misguided because it was based on incomplete, second-hand information about the proceedings. If scientists were to make judgements on their own work in such a superficial manner, the results would be highly unreliable and public faith in science would plummet.     

我国城市地质调查研究现状及发展方向

城市化是世界各国发展的共同趋势,是人类文明和进步的标志。论文简述了国内外城市环境地质工作的发展历史,着重论述了城市地质工作的现状及发展方向,指出我国城市环境地质中存在的问题。如地面沉降,地裂缝,岩溶塌陷等地质灾害及水资源短缺,城市废弃物处置以及特殊岩土环境问题。     

Minerals of the Kimberlitic Assemblage in Terrigenous Sediments of Latvia and Perspectives of Its Diamond Potential

Four intermediate collectors of minerals of the kimberlitic association (MKA) are identified in the Latvian territory. They are confined to Upper Devonian (Gauya, Ogre, and Ketleri formations) and Quaternary sediments. Each intermediate collector is characterized by a certain assemblage of minerals. The present communication considers specific features of the MKA distribution within each collector, as well as chemical composition and grain surface character of separate MKAs. Based on the study of typomorphism of minerals and peculiarities of sedimentation in different geological epochs, scheme of the localization of bedrock KMA sources is proposed. It is supposed that the Latvian territory incorporates three bedrock (kimberlite-type) sources with different prospects for diamond potential. The diamond potential of one source located in northeastern Latvia is rather high.     

河南省安阳市主要环境地质问题及其防治对策

安阳是国家级的历史文化名城,以钢铁、电子、轻纺为主,商贸旅游业繁荣的区域中心城市.由于城市社会经济的持续增长,城市化进程不断加快,资源能源的开发利用与消耗导致环境地质问题越来越显著,同时制约了经济的发展.根据近年来的环境地质监测资料和其它有关地质成果,指出安阳市目前存在的主要环境地质问题有地下水资源衰减与短缺、地下水污染、地质灾害、不良岩土体、垃圾排放等.安阳市今后的地质工作应以改善和保护地质环境为主要方向.根据地质条件不同将安阳市主要环境地质问题的防治划分为两个区,并提出了环境地质问题的防治措施.     

Potentials and problems of economic-ecologic models for management of multi-region systems

The modeling and management of multi-region economic-ecologic systems provides the general focus for this paper as the authors attempt to couple an extension of the framework of central places, inclusive of decision-making functions, with operational models for the purposes of more effectively depicting, understanding and managing problems of the environment. Significant basic problems encountered in applying state-of-the-art methodologies to regional and multi-regional development questions inclusive of the impact on the ecologic system and environmental quality for purposes of policy determination are outlined. These include the problems of identification of meaningful regions, aggregation of data, establishment of an appropriate framework of activities and commodities, and selecting a relevant set of techniques. An empirical study which has confronted these problems is briefly outlined and examples of the type of policy-relevant information generated by the study are given. Finally, some conceptual thinking on how the existing methodologies might be supplemented to more effectively deal with conflicts which certainly will arise within and between regions and nations regarding environmental management is presented. In this section, the world Is viewed as a multi-level system involving planning and environmental management at all levels, and an attempt is made to determine the optimal distribution of decision-making functions over these levels.     

Imagining resilience: situating perceptions and emotions about climate change on Kamchatka, Russia

Global environmental change shapes places and people through ongoing transformation of ecological, socioeconomic, political, and cultural phenomena. One region construed as highly vulnerable to global environmental change, particularly anthropogenic climate change, is the North. Recent research about human communities in Western arctic and subarctic places revolve around vulnerability to anthropogenic climate change, focusing on loss of the ability to pursue traditional livelihoods, threats to ecosystems sustaining human communities and the need to adapt to new environmental regimes. Fewer studies address Russia and the perceptions and emotions related to climate change. To understand how people of the Russian North engage with climate change, I conducted ethnographic research in two rural and remote communities in subarctic alpine Kamchatka, Russia in 2009–2010. Local narratives about climate change largely reflect climate skepticism, and anthropogenic climate change is rejected as explaining environmental changes because: (1) climate is considered as naturally and cyclically changing, (2) humans are not considered a large enough force to alter natural climate cycles, (3) environmental problems are solvable with technology and (4) there is a lack of knowledge about climate change science. Thus, perceptions and emotions about transformation focus on other realms—socioeconomic, political, cultural—that are perceived as more critical to everyday life in the present and near future. Here, I describe these narratives and place the regional understanding of climate change in greater context to explain resistance to imagining environmental transformations due to climate change.     

京津冀区域大气霾污染研究意义、现状及展望

频发的霾污染是目前京津冀最严重的环境问题。如何协调区域经济合理快速发展与防止大气环境恶化,已经成为公众关注的焦点,也是各级政府亟待解决的问题之一。对国内外典型大气污染事件的产生及治理历程进行了简要回顾;结合我国当前霾污染问题产生的特殊性,分析了京津冀区域霾污染研究对经济和社会发展、气候和环境变化、人体健康和区域和谐发展的现实意义;阐述了京津冀霾污染现象频发的主要客观要素和内在原因,并分析了当前研究工作中的不足。最后,在全球气候变化的大背景下,推测了京津冀及东亚地区未来大气污染的发展趋势。     

大气甲烷浓度变化的源汇因素模拟研究进展

从甲烷大气化学过程、传输模式和反向模拟机理等方面综述了大气甲烷浓度变化及其源汇研究的主要进展及存在的问题。基于数据同化算法的反向模拟能有效降低全球及国家尺度甲烷排放估计的不确定性。但在具体的算法实施中,先验的甲烷排放估计和地面站大气甲烷浓度测定的不确定性量化仍然主要是经验性的,缺乏严格和系统性的量化算法。相对于有限的地面站测定,基于卫星平台的大气甲烷浓度变化监测数据极大地提高了数据的空间覆盖度,进一步促进了反向模拟的应用。当前的反向模拟研究在全球尺度上确认了自然湿地甲烷排放对大气甲烷浓度年际波动的决定性作用;在国家尺度上,反向模拟在国家温室气体清单的"可核查"方面也有广泛的应用前景。     

Searching for metadata using knowledge bases and topic maps in Spatial Data Infrastructures

Concern for environmental issues has become a reality in all sectors of society, mainly among researchers and professionals who work directly with environmental status. In this context, several studies have been undertaken on sustainable development of the Brazilian Amazon, generating a large amount of data and information. Environmental area characterization involves the knowledge about their natural, economic and social resources, as well as understanding the interaction and correlation among them. Such interdisciplinary character requires new solutions for knowledge representation. This study proposes to minimize metadata recovery problems in Spatial Data Infrastructures by using Topic Maps and Thesaurus. This approach applied to an interface aims to allow users to visually recover information from metadata catalogs.     

Where women fear to tread: Images of danger and the effects of fear of crime in Singapore

This paper examines women's perceptions of fear and their consequent impact on women's experience and use of public space in Singapore. It argues that even in a city ranked as one of the safest in the world, women experience greater levels of fear of crime and that this fear is qualitatively different from men's as it is largely centred on a fear of rape. It identifies the various sources of fear information which play a part in the construction of images of danger, including personal victimisation experiences, socialisation, the mass media and interpersonal communication. It argues that fear is place- and time-specific and that women's feelings of personal vulnerability is manifested within an environmental context. In examining the consequences of fear on women's lives, the study concludes that risk management behaviour was more prevalent than avoidance tactics. It argues that while many restrictions appear self-imposed by women themselves, the fear of crime in public places ultimately contributes to the perpetuation of what has been termed a spatial expression of patriarchy.     

Some Mathematical and Computational Problems in Reactive Flow

We present an overview of several applications of reactive flow and transport in which interesting mathematical issues and computational challenges arise. The topics include front propagation through porous media in the presence of dispersion; numerical simulation of large-scale reactive transport problems; the reliability of processes that involve in-situ generation of viscosifying agents; methods for describing pore-scale geometry in granular media; and the information content of reactive tracer experiments. The intent of this survey is to heighten awareness of underlying mathmetical aspects and, it is hoped, to stimulate new contributions in these areas.     

Changes of landscape structure in Estonia during the Soviet period

The development of land-use structure during the Soviet period (1940–1991) has been analyzed. The main trends in land-use dynamics have been a decrease in the percentage of agricultural land and an increase in the share of forests. The most important driving factors of such a shift have been the land reforms of 1940, 1949 (collectivization followed by deportations), and 1989; and urbanization and concentration of agricultural production. Changes in land-use structure on the county level reflect well the socio-economic and political changes in Estonian society. An especially significant decrease in agricultural lands took place during the first ten years of collectivization. In coastal areas it has been combined with state political activities. Natural conditions also play an important role, particularly in local changes of land-use structure. The concentration of agricultural production, which is greater in the eastern part of Estonia (Upper Estonia), has caused many environmental problems. Likewise, land amelioration is one of the reasons for environmental disturbances. It has shifted agricultural activities from former arable lands to marginal areas (natural grasslands, wetlands). That is one of the reasons for nutrient cycling disturbances in agricultural landscapes. Despite many disturbances, Estonia has a well- developed network of ecologically compensating areas consisting of nature protection areas, forests, wetlands, and coastal waters. It is important to maintain this ecological network during privatization.     

兰州市城区地下水源浅层地热资源特征浅析

兰州地处我国西部内陆,是甘肃省政治、经济、文化和科技中心,同时也是我国西部重要的经济及工业重镇。区内生态环境脆弱、环境污染严重等问题突出。随着经济、社会的发展,这些问题越来越制约着城市发展和居民生活质量的提高。本文对区内地下水源浅层地热资源进行了分析,得出结论：兰州市城区地下水源浅层地热资源丰富,具有很好的开发前景。因...