Public views on economic growth,the environment and prosperity: Results of a questionnaire survey

The long-standing academic and public debate on economic growth, prosperity and environmental sustainability has recently gained new momentum. It lacks, however, a broad perspective on public opinion. Prior opinion surveys typically offered a simple dichotomous choice between growth and environmental protection. This study examines public beliefs and attitudes about a wider range of aspects of the growth debate. To this end, we conducted an online questionnaire survey including a country-wide, representative sample of 1008 Spanish citizens. Using factor analysis, we identify six distinct dimensions of public attitudes, referred to as: prosperity with growth; environmental limits to growth; general optimism; wrong priority; overrated GDP; and governmental control. We further analyze several specific questions associated with the growth debate, such as those concerning the desired GDP growth rate, the preferred growth-environment position, and beliefs about, as well as reasons for, a possible end or continuation of growth. We find that most respondents favor GDP growth rates of more than 3%. A majority views growth and environmental sustainability as compatible (green growth), while about one-third prefers either ignoring growth as a policy aim (agrowth), or stopping it altogether (degrowth). Only very few people want growth unconditionally (growth-at-all-costs). About one-third of the respondents believe that growth may be never-ending. We examine how support for or disagreement with different statements on growth are related to each other, as well as how they are influenced by socio-demographic, knowledge and ideology/values variables. Overall, our findings can inform public debates about the growth paradigm and its potential alternatives by providing a more nuanced understanding of public opinion. We make suggestions for future research, including modifying poll questions on growth and environment through offering a more diverse set of response options.     

地理学第一定律之争及其对地理学理论建设的启示

地理学理论尤其是定律的争论, 实质上反映着不同时代背景下地理学认识的发展, TFL(Tobler''s First Law of Geography)之争就是一个典型案例。在这场争论中, 地理学理论的建设超出了传统的以科学哲学为基础的理论思考, 出现了科学社会学对地理学理论的反思这一新的视角。以TFL的合理性为基础, 地理学家论证了TFL在匀质空间和非匀质空间中的合理性, 并强化了地理学的时间和空间维度。在论证过程中, 早期的例外论之争、计量革命和理论革命都被提及, 而其关联的基础之一是GIS和GISscience的发展及其对现代空间的表述和解读。而且, TFL之争以“邻近”为核心, 在理论上与研究维度、尺度及其转换和时间地理学结合起来, 构建了以“邻近”为核心的“维度-尺度-地域”关系体系。     

希腊VAN地震预报方法的进展与争论(I)——进展

该文综合希腊ＶＡＮ小组成员及各国专家发表的有关论文,全面介绍了ＶＡＮ小组自８０年代初以来所进行的地电地震预报方法的探索和效果,包括观测技术、预报程序、地震三要素的估计、预报及对应情况,国际上的评价及争论等。全文包括两部分,即进展和国际评价与争论,本文是其中的第一部分。     

Identifying farmer attitudes towards genetically modified (GM) crops in Scotland: Are they pro- or anti-GM?

The GM debate in the European Union has been consistently presented as being conflictual and contentious, characterised as being polarised into those who are pro-GM and those who are anti-GM. This is largely based on the positions adopted by the public (consumers), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and industry and corporate bodies. One group largely lacking from this debate is farmers, and yet their decisions about whether or not to cultivate GM crops will be crucial to the future of the technology in European agriculture. This paper reports findings from a study investigating farmers’ attitudes to GM crops in Scotland using Q methodology. Results reveal three discourses, one inclined to be positive towards the idea of GM and demonstrating an expectation of benefits, the second representing a more uncertain position, wary of the potential risks of the technology but likely to be reluctant adopters, and the third describing a group who demonstrate a somewhat fatalistic attitude towards the issue of GM technology adoption and impact. These findings contribute to the GM debate by elaborating the views of this important stakeholder group and suggest that they may be less profoundly pro- or anti-GM than other groups involved in the debate. This is significant if they represent the ‘middle ground’ between the biotechnology industry and the public.     

中国文化地理学的研究范式：争论、张力与延展

文化地理学研究范式的探索程度,关涉文化地理学学科建设的深度,也是文化地理学科学研究是否成熟的标志。改革开放40多年来,中国文化地理学取得了前所未有的成绩。但时至今日,学科内外依然对文化地理学的研究范式存在争论和疑虑。以文化研究的“弱范式”和“强范式”为切入点,对弱、强范式内涵进行了梳理和界定,并对中国文化地理学研究范式进行解析,认为传统文化地理学和新文化地理学在本质上契合文化研究的“弱范式”和“强范式”,在实践中虽然每个范式都引发了争论,但也存在内部张力和延展可能,不应看作是范式的“断代”,将其理解为基于“范式选择”和“阐释效能”内涵更符合实际。在当前流动性和文化混杂性背景下,传统分割式单一范式思维不能较好地回应文化地理发展的新内涵,文化地理学范式探索应该是一个动态且需要不断确立学术话语权的过程,探索“时空综合视角”下的“混杂融合”范式更加符合新的时代诉求。未来中国文化地理学界需要超越“范式分割”和“阶段性求安式”的惯性思维,重新定位和精准把握文化地理学的时代使命和学术承诺,提升文化地理学范式解释能力,赋予文化地理学与时代匹配的范式内涵。     

希腊VAN地震预报方法的进展与争论(Ⅱ)--国际评价与争论

综合介绍了90年代以来国际上对VAN小组预报研究的评价和争论,包括评价的基本方法、三类评价意见以及评价中的几个主要争议问题等.     

晚中生代的中国东部高原：证据、问题和启示

中生代中国东部是否存在一个高原是一个有争议的问题,本文主要从岩石学角度对高原的问题作了一些探讨。文中根据埃达克岩和喜马拉雅型花岗岩的时空分布厘定了高原的界线,指出存在一个高原而非山脉。高原存留时间大致从175～113 Ma（中侏罗世－早白垩世）,主要发育在165～125 Ma。高原的崛起是从北向南扩展的,并将高原的演化分为萌生期、初期、成熟期、萎缩期、垮塌期、残留期和余脉等7个阶段,探讨了不同阶段高原界线的变迁。文中还讨论了与中国东部高原有关的下地壳拆沉、燕山运动的本质、中生代构造大转折的含义以及与古太平洋板块的关系等学术界关注的重大问题,并指出了高原研究中目前存在的问题、争论的焦点和今后研究的方向。文中建议开展高原古地理学、古环境学、古生态学、古生物学和古气候学等方面的研究,把中国东部高原的研究和青藏高原的研究结合起来,开展对大陆构造理论的创新性研究,企望在新的领域创出新的成果。     

Placing the “Analyst” in Discourse Analysis: Iteration,Emergence and Dialogicality as Situated Process

Discourse analysis is a powerful and versatile methodological tool, informing a diverse body of critical geographic scholarship. Too often, however, discourse analysis remains unexplored, operating as a “black box,” underelaborated and hence undertheorized as to just what it offers. In this article, we articulate discourse analysis as inherently processual, by which we mean both that it should be understood as a process and that it can play an integral role throughout the research process. This article is derived from a meta-analysis of an exercise that invited early-career geographers to conduct discourse analysis on commentary centered on the 2013 U.S. federal government shutdown. The reflexive research process highlights the iterative, emergent, and dialogic properties of a processual engagement with a text. We suggest that recognizing these qualities enriches the role of both the analysis and the analyst(s) and expands the valence of discourse analysis as a productive and versatile component of critical human geography.     

Deep Drilling Campaign in the Western Qaidam Basin,NE Tibetan Plateau and their Revealed Global Temperature Forcing of Salt Formation in the Late Miocene-Quaternary

正The Qaidam Basin in the NE Tibetan Plateau has contributed the largest amount of potash in China.However,how the potash was formed has long been a subject of debate.Here we carried out a deep drilling