Social influence approaches to encourage resource conservation: A meta-analysis

Would somebody be more willing to start recycling if they knew that their friends were all recycling? Social influence refers to the ways in which our behaviour is affected by what other people do, or by what other people think. Various insights from theories of social influence have been applied as part of interventions to encourage resource conservation, such as the use of social norms, social learning, and social comparison processes. The question arises: Is social influence as effective as is sometimes assumed? This review compares the effectiveness of different social influence approaches to encourage resource conservation via a meta-analysis and outlines what remains to be learned about the mechanisms linking social influence to behaviour change. A random-effects meta-analysis with a sample of 29 studies revealed that social influence approaches were effective when compared to a control group. They were also more effective when compared to another intervention, although in this case the effect size was small. The effectiveness was different for different social influence approaches and for different target groups. These findings raise a number of important questions, which form the basis of a research agenda for better understanding the processes through which social influence approaches encourage resource conservation.     

“Natural cycles” in lay understandings of climate change

This article analyses lay understandings of climate change elicited through a longitudinal population-based survey of climate change, place and community among 1162 residents in the Hunter Valley, Southeast Australia. We explore how older residents in contrasting rural and coastal geographic areas perceive climate change information in terms of culturally relevant meanings and values, lived experiences and emotional responses to seasonal cycles, temperature fluctuations and altered landscapes. Thematic analysis of comments given by 467 interviewees to an open-ended question identified a significant subset for whom the concepts of “nature” and “science” express competing views about changing climatic conditions. For them, the idea of “natural cycles” is a significant cultural construct that links nature and humans through time in a way that structures stable and resilient understandings of environmental change, drawing on established cosmological frameworks for contemplating the future in relation to the past. In contrast to other studies that postulate scepticism and denial as individuals’ fear management strategies in the face of climate change threat, we found that the natural cycles view is founded on a reassuring deeper conviction about how nature works, and is linked to other pro-environmental values not commonly found in sceptical groups. It is a paradox of natural cycles thinking that it rejects the anthropocentrism that is at the heart of science-based environmentalism. By contrast, it places humans as deeply integrated with nature, rather than operating outside it and attempting with uncertain science to control something that is ultimately uncontrollable.     

Testing inferences from palaeocurrents: application of zircon double‐dating to Miocene sediments from the Hengchun Peninsula,Taiwan

Detrital zircon provenance studies that combine low‐temperature fission‐track and high‐temperature U–Pb single‐grain age dating are powerful in constraining sediment provenance by documenting the tectonothermal evolution of the sediment source(s). We apply these techniques to Miocene (12–6 Ma) sandstones of the Hengchun Peninsula, southern Taiwan, which, based on diametrically opposite palaeocurrents, have a controversial provenance. U–Pb grain ages range from the Miocene (8 Ma) to Archaean (2.5 Ga). Cretaceous thermal cooling is recorded by detrital zircon fission tracks at Loshui and Lilongshan. Permian fission‐track grain ages account for <33% of zircon ages from Loshui, while at Lilongshan, Jurassic/Triassic grain ages account for 33–66% of all zircon fission‐track ages. Minor (<12%) Miocene age components are detected in both formations. These new data suggest that the primary sources of these Miocene sediments were similar. A simple model is proposed invoking sediment reworking in this complex tectonic setting. Terra Nova, 00, 000–000, 2010     

A search for propylene oxide and glycine in Sagittarius B2 (LMH) and Orion

We have used the Mopra Telescope to search for glycine and the simple chiral molecule propylene oxide in the Sgr B2 (LMH) and Orion KL, in the 3-mm band. We have not detected either species, but have been able to put sensitive upper limits on the abundances of both molecules. The 3σ upper limits derived for glycine conformer I are  3.7 × 10¹⁴ cm⁻²  in both Orion-KL and Sgr B2 (LMH), comparable to the reported detections of conformer I by Kuan et al. However, as our values are 3σ upper limits rather than detections we conclude that this weighs against confirming the detection of Kuan et al. We find upper limits for the glycine II column density of  7.7 × 10¹² cm⁻²  in both Orion-KL and Sgr B2 (LMH), in agreement with the results of Combes et al. The results presented here show that glycine conformer II is not present in the extended gas at the levels detected by Kuan et al. for conformer I. Our ATCA results have ruled out the detection of glycine (both conformers I and II) in the compact hot core of the LMH at the levels reported, so we conclude that it is unlikely that Kuan et al. have detected glycine in either Sgr B2 or Orion-KL. We find upper limits for propylene oxide abundance of  3.0 × 10¹⁴ cm⁻²  in Orion-KL and  6.7 × 10¹⁴ cm⁻²  in Sgr B2 (LMH). We have detected fourteen features in Sgr B2 and four features in Orion-KL which have not previously been reported in the interstellar medium, but have not been able to plausibly assign these transitions to any carrier.     

Defining and detecting undesirable disturbance in the context of marine eutrophication

An understanding of undesirable disturbance to the balance of organisms is needed to diagnose marine eutrophication as defined by EU Directives and OSPAR. This review summarizes the findings of the UK Defra-funded Undesirable Disturbance Study Team, which concluded that 'an undesirable disturbance is a perturbation of a marine ecosystem that appreciably degrades the health or threatens the sustainable human use of that ecosystem'. A methodology is proposed for detecting disturbance of temperate salt-water communities dominated by phytoplanktonic or phytobenthic primary producers. It relies on monitoring indicators of ecosystem structure and vigour, which are components of health. Undesirable disturbance can be diagnosed by accumulating evidence of ecohydrodynamic type-specific changes in: (i) bulk indicators; (ii) frequency statistics; (iii) flux measurements; (iv) structural indicators; and (v) indicator species. These are exemplified by (i) chlorophyll, transparency, dissolved oxygen, and opportunistic seaweed cover; (ii) HABs frequency; (iii) primary production; (iv) benthic and planktonic 'trophic indices'; (v) seagrasses and Nephrops norvegicus. Ecological Quality Objectives are proposed for some of these. Linking the diagnosis to eutrophication requires correlation of changes with nutrient enrichment. The methodology, which requires the development of a plankton community index and emphasizes the importance of primary production as an indicator of vigour, can be harmonized with the EU Water Framework Directive and OSPAR's Strategy to Combat Eutrophication.     

Chilean and Southeast Pacific paleoclimate variations during the last glacial cycle: directly correlated pollen and δO records from ODP Site 1234

Joint pollen and oxygen isotope data from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1234 in the southeast Pacific provide the first, continuous record of temperate South American vegetation and climate from the last 140 ka. Located at 36°S, 65 km offshore of Concepcion, Chile, Site 1234 monitors the climatic transition zone between northern semi-arid, summer dry-winter wet climate and southern year-round, rainy, cool temperate climate. Dominance of onshore winds suggests that pollen preserved here reflects transport to the ocean via rivers that drain the region and integrate conditions from the coastal mountains to the Andean foothills. Down-hole changes in diagnostic pollen assemblages from xeric lowland deciduous forest (characterized by grasses, herbs, ferns, and trees such as deciduous beech, Nothofagus obliqua), mesic Valdivian Evergreen Forest (including conifers such as the endangered Prumnopitys andina), and Subantarctic Evergreen Rainforest (comprised primarily of southern beech, N. dombeyi) reveal large rapid shifts that likely reflect latitudinal movements in atmospheric circulation and storm tracks associated with the southern westerly winds. During glacial intervals (MIS 2-4, and 6), rainforests and parkland dominated by Nothofagus moved northward into the region. At the MIS 6/5e transition, coeval with the rapid shift to lower isotopic values, rainforest vegetation was rapidly replaced by xeric plant communities associated with Mediterranean-type climate. An increased prominence of halophytic vegetation suggests that MIS 5e was more arid and possibly warmer than MIS 1. Although rainforest pollen rises again at the end of MIS 5e, lowland deciduous forest pollen persists through MIS 5d and 5c, into MIS 5b. Substantial millennial-scale variations occur in both interglacial and glacial regimes, attesting to the sensitivity of the southern westerly belt to climate change. Comparison of the cool, mesic N. dombeyi rainforest assemblage from Site 1234 with δ¹⁸O in the Byrd Ice core shows that on time scales longer than 10 ka, cool-moist conditions in central Chile were coherent with and occurred in phase with Antarctic cooling. This is also likely at millennial scales, although rainforest pollen lags Antarctic cooling with exponential response times of about 1000 years, which plausibly reflects the ecological response time to regional climate change.     

Centralization and marginalization: The Chinese banking industry in reform

Based on the distribution patterns of the sub-branches and saving outlets of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Bank of China in prefectural cities in China between 2001 and 2009, this paper examines how these two Chinese state-owned commercial banks may centralize their operations and thus lead to the possible marginalization of the provision of basic banking services to low value-added customers. The restructuring of SOCBs may not result in high levels of layoff due to the state’s objectives of minimizing both operational costs and political risks. When the politically sensitive issue of (un)employment is not taken into account, the more economically developed cities with larger populations and the more developed telecommunication facilities experience a higher level of centralization of their banking operations. The centralization of banking operations in China is, however, not always at the expense of savings outlets, despite the merging of savings outlets with sub-branches in various Chinese cities. There is circumstantial evidence to suggest the convergence thesis is not applicable to the banking industry in China, which is different from the conventional argument in financial geography that the centralization and marginalization of banking operations are two sides of the same coin as in the restructuring of the Anglo-American banking industries. This difference could be due to the hybrid ownership structures of state-owned commercial banks in China where the boundaries between public and private property rights are blurred.     

International trade and industrial dynamics: Geographical and structural dimensions of Chinese and Sino-EU merchandise trade

This paper draws on trade data to examine the degree of upgrading of China’s trade structure with the world as a whole and in particular with the European Union (EU). More specifically it examines the evolution of the industrial structure of China’s trade with the world and with the EU between 1996 and 2008 and of the underlying dynamic indicators of revealed comparative advantage. This method of analysing China’s industrial structure provides clear evidence of upgrading into more advanced industries without at present losing significant competitive advantage in industries employing unskilled workers. The examination of revealed comparative advantage indices for world and Sino-EU trade also indicates an increasingly high degree of interdependence between the EU and China between 1996 and 2008. The EU (especially Germany, the UK, and France) is China’s most important export market, though it is also much more important as a market for China’s exports than the EU is as a supplier for China. China’s consequent trade surplus with the EU has gradually shifted from textiles and clothing to machinery and furniture. Further investigation reveals that the complementary Sino-EU bilateral trade is moving towards intra-industry trade at the 4-digit level of HS (Harmonization System) commodity classification. Although China is still a ‘global sweatshop’ with a strong specialization in labour-intensive commodities produced for economically developed countries (by importing machinery, raw materials and exporting processed goods), there are signs of technological upgrading in number of selected sectors in China, noticeably electronics, computers and telecommunications equipment. China’s reliance of imports of minerals indicates however that energy and resource security could be an important constraint on China’s long-term economic development.     

Geo-political genetics: Claiming the commons through species mapping

Genetic techniques are increasingly employed in the field of conservation biology; our understanding of sea turtle biology, and particularly of sea turtle migrations and population structures, has increased through genetic analyses that ‘match’ turtles found in various and often widely distributed habitats (e.g. nesting beaches, foraging grounds, migratory corridors). This relatively recent technological development has implications for how sea turtles are conceived, both as resources and as objects of conservation. Traditionally, sea turtle populations have been identified with nesting beaches, and most conservation efforts have been focused on these discrete geographic locations and undertaken by the state. The more complete understanding of relationships among turtles found in geographically disparate areas, achieved via genetic analysis, can take conservation beyond the beaches and territorial waters of individual states; foraging populations can now be linked to nesting populations sometimes hundreds of kilometers distant. In this paper, we explore the implications of genetic analysis for sea turtle conservation, the scale at which it is undertaken, and the variety of actors with competing interests in it. We focus on the case of hawksbill sea turtles in the Caribbean, where genetic data are invoked in conservation conflicts. We are particularly interested in the way genetic data can support the scaling-up of sea turtle conservation, creating new ‘conservation territories,’ and we draw on political ecology and common pool resource theory to explore the implications thereof.     

Brightness of Saturn's rings with decreasing solar elevation

Early ground-based and spacecraft observations suggested that the temperature of Saturn's main rings (A, B and C) varied with the solar elevation angle, B^′. Data from the composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) on board Cassini, which has been in orbit around Saturn for more than five years, confirm this variation and have been used to derive the temperature of the main rings from a wide variety of geometries while B^′ varied from near −24^° to 0^° (Saturn's equinox).Still, an unresolved issue in fully explaining this variation relates to how the ring particles are organized and whether even a simple mono-layer or multi-layer approximation describes this best. We present a set of temperature data of the main rings of Saturn that cover the ∼23^°—range of B^′ angles obtained with CIRS at low (α∼30^°) and high (α≥120^°) phase angles. We focus on particular regions of each ring with a radial extent on their lit and unlit sides. In this broad range of B^′, the data show that the A, B and C rings’ temperatures vary as much as 29-38, 22-34 and 18-23 K, respectively. Interestingly the unlit sides of the rings show important temperature variations with the decrease of B^′ as well. We introduce a simple analytical model based on the well known Froidevaux monolayer approximation and use the ring particles’ albedo as the only free parameter in order to fit and analyze this data and estimate the ring particle's albedo. The model considers that every particle of the ring behaves as a black body and warms up due to the direct energy coming from the Sun as well as the solar energy reflected from the atmosphere of Saturn and on its neighboring particles. Two types of shadowing functions are used. One analytical that is used in the latter model in the case of the three rings and another, numerical, that is applied in the case of the C ring alone. The model lit side albedo values at low phase are 0.59, 0.50 and 0.35-0.38 for the A, B and C rings, respectively.