The Sustainable Global Energy Economy: Hydrogen or Silicon?

A sustainable global silicon energy economy is proposed as a potential alternative to the hydrogen economy. This first visualization of a silicon energy economy is based on large-scale and carbon-neutral metallic silicon production from major smelters in North Africa and elsewhere, supplied by desert silica sand and electricity from extensive solar generating systems. The resulting “fuel silicon” is shipped around the world to emission-free silicon power stations for either immediate electricity generation or stockpiling. The high energy density of silicon and its stable storage make it an ideal material for maintaining national economic functioning through security of base load power supply from a renewable source. This contrasts with the present situation of fossil fuel usage with its associated global warming and geopolitical supply uncertainties. Critical technological requirements for the silicon economy are carbon-neutral silicon production and the development of efficient silicon-fired power stations capable of high-temperature rapid oxidation of fuel silicon. A call is made for the development of research effort into these specific engineering issues, and also with respect to large-scale economical solar power generation.     

Whose Norms Prevail? Policy Networks,International Organizations and “Sustainable Forest Management”

This article investigates the origin of international norms, arguing that one pathway is via the strategic action of sector-specific policy networks. Evidence is adduced from an examination of the contested norm of sustainable forest management (SFM). It is argued that a Canadian forestry policy network, under pressure internally and externally to demonstrate its environmental and social credentials, promoted an “economistic” SFM norm in regional negotiations known as the Montreal Process. The article outlines the policy network approach, applies it to the Canadian forest sector, and analyzes how a policy network centered in the Canadian Forest Service and the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers worked to have the network's preferred conception of SFM internationally endorsed. The article highlights the importance of investigating which social actors champion which international norms and encourages reflexive policymaking by calling into question the degree to which international norms actually reflect a genuine global consensus.     

Sustainable for whom? Green urban development,environmental gentrification,and the Atlanta Beltline

Large-scale, sustainable urban development projects can transform surrounding neighborhoods. Without precautionary policies, environmental amenities produced by these projects, such as parks, trails, walkability, and higher-density development, tend to result in higher land and housing costs. This will make it harder for a low- and moderate-income households to live near the projects, and neighborhoods are likely to become increasingly affluent. The Atlanta Beltline will ultimately connect 45 Atlanta neighborhoods via a 22-mile loop of trails, parks, and eventually a streetcar, all of which follow abandoned railroad tracks. This paper examines the effect of the Beltline on housing values within one half mile. From 2011 to 2015, depending on the segment of the Beltline, values rose between 17.9 percent and 26.6 percent more for homes within a half-mile of the Beltline than elsewhere. The implications for housing affordability and neighborhood change of projects like the Beltline, and associated policy questions, are addressed.     

Jamaica bound? Marine resources and management at a crossroads in Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda is rapidly developing a tourism industry built around a marketed perception of a healthy marine and coastal environment. Yet economic indicators suggest that Antigua and Barbuda is overexploiting its marine resources, particularly its fish and coral reef communities. Although its marine resources remain relatively healthy, Antigua and Barbuda will jeopardise the ecological basis of its economic growth and sustainability if current exploitation rates continue. We compare the current situation and economic trends of Antigua and Barbuda's tourism and commercial fishery industries to those of Jamaica and other OECS member states. Jamaica is suggested as a cautionary example of the potential socioeconomic and ecological impacts caused by resource overexploitation and mismanagement within the various economic sectors. Antigua and Barbuda is at a crossroads. The 'Jamaica path' leads to large-scale resource depletion, fishery collapse, and a mass tourism industry that can operate independent of a healthy environment. Alternatively, it can pursue a path that seeks to conserve its marine resources. Antigua and Barbuda will be better able to protect its sustainability both for commercial fishing interests and its growing high-end destination tourism industry. To this end, Antigua and Barbuda has developed a network of marine-protected areas along the northeastern coast of Antigua, an area popular with both fishers and tourists.     

The altitudinal climatic effect on the stable isotope compositions of Agave and Opuntia in arid environments – A case study at the Big Bend National Park,Texas, USA

Several environmental factors potentially influence the stable isotope compositions of plants, depending on species and local environment. Although several studies have discussed these aspects in C₃ and C₄ plants, only a few have attempted to identify the major drivers of δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O, and δ¹⁵N in CAM plants. In this study, stable isotopic ratios of CAM plants collected along an altitudinal transect in the Chisos Mountains/USA during two growth seasons, are used to understand major factors governing isotopic variability. A strong and significant relationship between δ¹³C and altitude, positive for agave at <1700 m and negative for both agave and cacti at >1500 m, suggests variable carbon isotope fractionation at different altitudes, which may be unique to CAM plants. Our data suggest that temperature primarily governs δ¹³C of the studied plants. The significant negative correlations observed between the δ¹⁸O of agaves and the recorded air temperature (0.59‰/°C) are similar to the δ¹⁸O of precipitation vs. temperature variability in global data. The δ¹⁵N variations suggest a similar N-source for both agaves and cacti, and reflect progressive changes in the dominant N-source across desert–grassland–woodland zones. We conclude that the stable carbon and oxygen isotope composition of agave reflects the climatic conditions along the elevation transect.     

The history and impact of air pollution at Čertovo Lake,southwestern Czech Republic

This multi-disciplinary investigation documents the longterm effects of atmospheric pollution of metals and acids on a geologically sensitive catchment in the umava Mountains, southwestern Czech Republic, a region with a long history of human disturbance. A 30 cm long sediment core (I) from ertovo Lake was analyzed for natural and artifical radionuclides, metals, diatoms, chrysophytes, and pollen in sediments accumulated during the last 200 years. A second core (II), extending to 95 cm, included sediment judged to be free of atmospheric deposition of pollutants associated with the Industrial Revolution. Chronostratigraphic markers include several changes in the pollen assemblages corresponding to well-documented changes in land-use, and distinct distributions of ¹³⁷Cs, ¹³⁴Cs and ²⁴¹Am from weapons testing and the 1986 nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Russia. These markers corroborate the ²¹⁰Pb dating and, together, produce a reliable chronology extending back nearly to 1800 A.D.Stratigraphic profiles of Cu, Pb, and Zn in Core I are unlike any previously reported in the literature. Concentrations of Cu, Pb, and Zn remain generally above 100, 400, and 200 g g^-1, respectively, for the 200 years represented by Core I. These values are unusually high for sediments from a watershed with no known heavy-metal ore bodies. Accumulation rates for Cu, Pb, and Zn, which include both atmospheric and watershed contributions, are also high (ca 1, > 1 and > 1 g cm^-2 yr^-1, respectively) for the same period, although the anthropogenic contribution of Zn rose from nearly zero at 1800 A.D. The Cu and Pb accumulation rates rose dramatically about 1640 A.D.Accumulation rates of anthropogenically-derived Be, a relatively abundant element in the soft coals of the region, are also elevated by about 0.01 g cm^-2 yr^-1 in sediments of this period. Vanadium accumulation rates increased only since 1980 A.D., presumably along with increased consumption of oil.Diatom assemblages illustrate that the lake was acidic (pH between 4.5 and 5) through at least the past 200 years. The pH declined significantly (from ca 5 to 4) between 1960 and 1985 with a slight increase to 4.5 in the last few years. Recent diatom and chrysophyte assemblages suggest high trace metal concentrations, consistent with the present lake-water chemistry.     

Beyond heteronormativity? Gay cruising,closeted experiences and self-disciplining subject in People’s Park,Guangzhou

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I examine relationships between public space, gay people’s cruising and construction of gay subjectivity in People’s Park, Guangzhou, China. In particular, I interrogate the complex dynamics between the performance of homosexual identity and the dominant heteronormative ideologies in China’s cultural–political sphere. I articulate how public cruising can be mobilized as a space of alternative socio-spatial ordering and simultaneously a closeted space to experience and reassert hegemonic divides of public/private, normal/abnormal. This paper employs an analysis of self-disciplining and the production of docile bodies to examine how gay cruisers construct gayness as deviant identity and thus attempt to reconcile gay subjects with dominant norms and values. The production of self-disciplining subjects is centered on the discursive formulation that gay men in public need to act in self-regulated and “low-profile” ways. This paper intends to enrich our understanding of the intrinsically dialectical relationships between public space and sexual subjectivity in concrete time spaces.     

Co-Governance and Local Empowerment? Conservation Partnership Frameworks and Marine Protection at Mimiwhangata,New Zealand

This study examines the conservation partnership activities conducted as part of the Mimiwhangata marine reserve project. This project involved the formation of a partnership between the Department of Conservation (DOC) and an indigenous Maori community, who sought to establish and co-govern a marine reserve at Mimiwhangata, New Zealand (NZ). Drawing on the discourse of contemporary Treaty of Waitangi politics, the article argues that participatory processes can be effective means through which to pursue both positive conservation and social outcomes. However, unless the appropriate legislative framework exists in which meaningful ongoing community involvement and control can be constituted, partnership-based conservation is unlikely to deliver substantial conservation or social gains. Fundamental issues concerning indigenous rights, authority, and control persist within the “partnership” framework, which existing marine reserve governance mechanisms in New Zealand do not resolve.     

The Geographer and the Fengshui Practitioner: So close and yet so far apart?

Fengshui deserves serious scrutiny from geographers. Fengshui has been a highly significant influence on the shaping of human environments in the Chinese cultural sphere for at least 4000 years. Efforts to eliminate it in the twentieth century, by Chinese governments intent on modernisation, have failed. Advice on fengshui is still eagerly sought today by families and businesses in Chinese communities, whether on the mainland, offshore or overseas. The first part of this paper briefly introduces fengshui . The second part applies Lefebvre's three modalities of space to the time-space manipulations and outcomes of the operation of fengshui . The third part explores what fengshui offers a postmodern world, concentrating on (a) the nature of the 'harmony' it seeks to establish between people and nature; (b) the nature of fengshui 's time-universe; and (c) the extent to which fengshui 's goals of time-space harmony offer a framework for approaching sustainable development.     

The Econo-techno-social Design of Invasive Animal Management: costs and benefits or beneficiaries and benefactors?

This paper examines invasive animal management institutions, using theories at the interstices of anthropology and geography, to question current approaches to management based on neoclassical and neoliberal economic rationales. I present an analysis of two feral pig management regimes in Far North Queensland, Australia: (i) bounty systems of payment for feral pig control; and (ii) a community-based feral pig trapping program. I show how these management methods reshape important social and cultural processes through their overlapping technological and economic elements. On the basis of this analysis, I propose a conceptual framework for invasive animal management planning that incorporates a beneficiary–benefactor analysis alongside cost–benefit analyses. I argue that ecological-economic theories of pest management may be usefully enhanced by addressing the links between economic and social behaviours.     

From cod to shellfish and back again? The new resource geography and Newfoundland's fish economy

This paper traces three key phases in Newfoundland's resource economy: the collapse of cod, the rise of shellfish and recent efforts to re-establish cod. I argue that these changes in the province's fish economy may be productively understood through the ‘new resource geography’. The paper explores three themes: the relationship between knowledge practices and resource management; the way in which fish resources are defined in both material and discursive forms; and the different sites and institutions involved in the regulation of the cod resource.     

The poorest and most vulnerable? On hazards,livelihoods and labelling of riverine communities in Bangladesh

Within the field of hazard research, vulnerability studies have been central to inducing a shift in the perspective on disasters as being primarily inflicted by geophysical events to that of apprehending disasters as destructive outcomes of particular social as well as hazardous environmental conditions. However, the inherent tendency within vulnerability studies to classify certain areas or people as 'vulnerable' may in some cases also serve to reinforce popular and/or ingrained prejudices, negative stereotypes and dubious explanations of the living conditions and fate of specific communities that become so labelled. The riverbanks and islands in river courses of Bangladesh have long been portrayed as home to the 'poorest' and most vulnerable communities, the widespread assumption being that people would only live in such riverine environments because they have no other options. Drawing on an examination of existing literature on char settlements in Bangladesh and data from a field site in the Jamuna River, this paper argues that the prevailing perceptions and labelling of char dwellers as 'vulnerable' people is based on a far too simplistic understanding of both rural migration patterns and the livelihoods obtained in these riverine areas.     

Beyond Bias? The Promise and Limits of Q Method in Human Geography

Q method is a quantitative technique for eliciting, evaluating, and comparing human subjectivity. We introduce the method here and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses, especially with regards to its incorporation into human geographic research. We conclude that Q method is particularly appropriate for human geographies informed by anti‐essentialist notions of the subject and constructivist accounts of social and natural reality. Claims by the founders of Q method that hold that the procedure distances and removes the bias of the researcher are shown to be unfounded and epistemologically naïve. Nevertheless, Q method is a rigorous, hermeneutic, and iterative technique that allows the researcher to surrender the monopoly of control in their relationship with the researched and so contribute to more democratic research design and implementation.     

Suspended sediment load in the turbidity maximum zone at the Yangtze River Estuary：The trends and causes

Based on the analysis of suspended sediment elements at estuaries, influence of human activities and estuarine regulation projects on the turbidity maximum zone was studied according to the measurement data between 1959 and 2011. It was found that human activities had little effect on the seaward water while the sharp decrease of sediment volume and concentration in runoff led to the sharp decrease of turbidity maximum zone in the estuary. The concentration at outside sea and Hangzhou Bay did not change, and that along the Subei coast also decreased a little, which had no influence on the turbidity maximum zone. Compared with the concentration between 1959 and 1999, the peak of concentration moved upstream in the estuary, and the concentration in 2000-2009 decreased by about 24.73% with a narrower variation range along the river to the sea. The suspended sediment concentration in North Passage was low in upstream and downstream because of the decrease of seaward sediment and coarsening of bed material, while it was relatively high in the middle due to the influence of sediment cross the north jetty.     

The end of an affair? Geography and fertility in late post‐transitional societies

A common theme in the writings of population geographers with a fertility interest has been a concern with the convergence of interregional fertility differentials. It is now clear, however, that the widespread achievement in western societies of below‐replacement fertility has resulted in a dramatic diminution of most forms of differential fertility, whether sectoral or spatial. The question of ‘what remains for the spatial analyst working in the traditional ecological mode?’ must therefore be posed. An analysis of small‐area fertility differentials in NSW in 1986 suggests (a) that most of the variability in local marital and total fertility is not statistically significant, and (b) that even if this problem is ignored, traditional ecological analysis has only trivial ‘explanatory’ power. While complete spatial uniformity is unlikely ever to be achieved, it is argued that the intrasocietal convergence of reproductive norms and behaviour has proceeded so far that conventional geographic approaches to the analysis of fertility are unlikely any longer to be — if they ever were — fruitful.     

Emulating The Celtic Tiger? A Comparison of the Software Industries of Singapore and Ireland

This article explores parallels between the economic development strategies of Ireland and Singapore through a study of the software sector. My central argument is that Singapore's embryonic software industry can learn important lessons from Ireland, which now exports over US$6 billion worth of products annually. Ireland's success has been achieved by attracting two forms of export-oriented foreign direct investment that are increasingly important due to globalisation trends in the software industry: software development centres, and software product manufacturing and localisation (translation and local adaptation) plants. Ireland has benefited from its position on the periphery of Western Europe, one of the largest software markets in the world, to emerge as a key production location for US transnational corporations. Singapore is perhaps now poised, with a similar range of financial, labour market and infrastructural attributes as Ireland, to benefit from rapid growth in the Asia-Pacific software market. Three corporate case studies from Singapore are used to illustrate this argument.     

Refugee flow or brain-drain? The humanitarian policy and post-Tiananmen mainland Chinese immigration to Canada

"The humanitarian policy that the Canadian government implemented in response to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown changed a migration system primarily based on personal networks into a brain drain. Post-Tiananmen mainland Chinese immigrants (MCIs) were better educated than those arriving in Canada previously. Among the post-Tiananmen MCIs, those who landed under the policy were better educated than those landing in other categories. The analysis suggests that post-Tiananmen MCIs represented a brain-drain rather than a refugee flow, that the humanitarian policy implicitly contained ideological and human capital concerns in addition to humanitarian concerns, and that Canada benefited from the policy by obtaining human capital as well as satisfying its humanitarian obligations and ideological aspirations."     

The New Zealand Coastal Society: What does it do and who is it for?

Abstract:   This article briefly outlines the aims and activities of the New Zealand Coastal Society, a technical interest group formed in 1992. It explains the history of the society, who its members are, and addresses the question of who would benefit from joining the society.