Society and Environment - Science topic

Have a look at this useful RG link.

Ecotourism can be defined by three core criteria: nature, learning and sustainability. The ecotourist market has been segmented by the nature and learning criteria only. It has been assumed that ecotourists are environmentally concerned and therefore sustainability is a factor in their decision-making. However, little empirical research has confirmed this assumption. This study surveyed 243 respondents participating in an ecotourism experience in Australia. It identified ecotourists according to the nature and learning criteria as per previous segmentation studies. Pro-environmental attitudes were measured as an indication of their support for sustainability. Results revealed no significant differences in pro-environmental attitudes between those identified as ecotourists and those considered non-ecotourists. While demand exists for nature and learning experiences, compliance with the sustainability criterion seems to be no more a factor in ecotourist decision-making than for mainstream tourists. Implications are that market segmentation research should consider all relevant criteria when segmenting a market for a particular product to ensure supply matches demand. However, demand for certain products can be created by innovative marketing practices. This would enable the ecotourism industry to respond to the market's demand for nature and learning, but also influence the behaviour and structure of the market with regard to sustainability.

Narelle Beaumont (2011) The third criterion of ecotourism: are ecotourists more concerned about sustainability than other tourists?, Journal of Ecotourism, 10:2, 135-148, DOI: 10.1080/14724049.2011.555554

Indeed. Mauritius is one of the rare countries in the world which has no army, and it is no coincidence that is prosperous & democratic.

.

Dear Bruno

In attached files you will find copies of my papers you are interested in. Please pay attention to the way of   crystal film preparation. All substituted tetracene molecules can form  three   types of cell ( triclinic, monoclinic and orthorhombic) with 1,2 and 4 molecules in the cell. In addition it is possible to change triplet excitons yield by magnetic field application. All those  researches you will find in my papers. I will be glad to give advices in developing solar elements.

I know huge amount of Russian  researchers are working now all over the world and translation to English problem  will be solved. 

Best  Regards

Victor I. Lesin

Hi Juan:

    Ups! I believe that there are many answers to your question. Since my point of view, may be the best way to answer is with an example. Let me explain one.

    In Mexico some colleges (mainly Dra. Coro Arizmendi) and I are trying to build hummingbird gardens. These creations could be very appreciated by people living in the cities. It is because a hummingbird garden could be very colorful due to the flower color of the plants used and the iridescent colors of visiting hummingbirds; besides, if the owner of the garden use native plants, it can help to preserve the local plant species and the vegetation at landscape level, because it offer nectar sources to hummingbirds and improve the visitation of hummingbirds and the pollination done by them at landscape level. Only as example, an environmental engineer can help to design and improve the function of such gardens. In a time when the extinction of pollinators species is a worry, such approach can help to preserve (i.e. it is conservation) the ecological functions of the bird-plant interaction (i.e. it is ecology), and may be that it affect the development of such relationship (i.e. it is evolution).

    I hope that my point of view help in some way.

Regards

Raúl

In a paper on trust related dynamics we explore how identity shapes relations between different groups as well as the social norms that these groups develop and maintain for interactions within the group as well as for dealing with people from the other group. These indeed prove to be strongly path-dependent. 

Absolutely! Urban Planning can create gentrified and segregated communities, which are ethnically and socially homogeneous. This happens in most cases and in general poor planning displaces discriminated sectors of the population to the margins while the wealthiest and dominant classes occupy the most desirable sector of the city. This can be seen quite clearly in Paris, London, New York and many other major cities. 

 On the other hand, a good planning process can lead to multicultural, plural and diverse communities where different social groups and ethnicities can flourish.  

For further reading:

thanks for the lead Shaun!

Government funded project such as 'Work for the Dole', 'Green Corps' and 'Green Army' have operated in Australia for a number of years. These projects involve unemployed people who generally get paid for their work and in some cases receive formal training in horticulture. Some of the projects completed have included roadside plantings. for example along the road adjacent to my own property where they planted on both our land and council land. These projects usually rely on some in-kind support from the land owner, for example watering and weeding to help establish the plants.

Local governments here also plant trees along the road, where they own the land. They use their own staff, but can claim to be off-setting their greenhouse gas emissions if they do enough of it.

Thanks, Kenneth, for your question (have you been able to access the paper, by the way? If not, and you are still interested, please email me and I can send you a pdf-- mli6@cornell.edu). These sort of Malthusian conundrums continue to plague questions of sustainability and adaptation, of course. I am not sure that I have much to add to this, except to point out that structural power dynamics mediate the causes and consequences of population growth in ways that often mask the issue (suggesting that the uneven distribution of resources and thus relative scarcity rather than over-population and absolute scarcity as such, might be the key problem). I am sure, however, that you have spent some time thinking about this and so these qualifiers probably do not add value. In the systems where my research primarily focuses-- Laos and Afghanistan-- there is yet relatively low population density and not much indication that population growth is the main issue at the local level (perhaps with the exception of in-migration in Afghanistan, where Afghan nationals began to return to traditional areas when there was the hope of peace, though this trend is probably reversing now). In those systems, my sense is that the inequitable distribution of wealth and the rapacious exploitation of resources by powerful actors are the key threats to sustainability and resilience. Anyway, I am afraid this does not help much. I would be interested in your insights as well.

Best regards,

Micah   

Dear Tee,

We performed a comparative assessment using an energy systems optimisation model (Pareto equilibrium -based) of the evolution of the Spanish energy system looking at 2035. The idea was to compare a case using taxes for NOx and SO2 and the assumed ceilings of those gases included in the European Directive. Besides, we evaluated an extra case with stringent limits. 

In all the cases, the ex-post analyses are necessary and you have to trust in the externalities evaluation (in fact, the monetisation of the damages). 

Regards

Diego

Dear Dr. Roy,

The first step is to identify the nutritional status of the population. In what micro-nutrient their food is deficient. If they are eating fish but not other fruits and vegetables, gaining access to such foods may be important either through education or supplementation. Depending on which part of coastal India we can design nutrition interventions by bringing in growing of vegetables in the off shore areas in collaboration with the villagers who can exchange fish for  vegetables. Also one can think about nutrition education based on the nutrient in which they are deficient.

As far as I know, this is done in rare cases and usually for environmental rather than financial reason. I remember lake Geneva having such a vessel for tourists a few years ago (maybe also today), so maybe try to look there. At any rate, it's doable and has been done (just as cars can run on electricity). I would also suggest that using solar power could be advantageous in this case.

Hi David,

This reply might come a bit late. This publication might be of your interest.

The core issue is human behaviour in relation to technological innovation (innovation). The book offers an approach to understand environmental behaviour taking into account a broad arrange of factors that influence behaviour (including risk perception).

I'm not sure what we can do to avoid these, but two practices to use include trying to only publish in journals that your colleagues publish in, and try to only submit papers to journals that have Impact Factor Scores. This second practice is considered a bit controversial by many, since many reputable journals do not have impact scores (yet).

At present, the use of modern techniques has occupied at all sectors including agriculture. But, some farmers and private organic institutes exclusively adopt traditional methods in agriculture. At first level, the researcher has to identify such farmers or organic farm institutes. Then you have to take a sample group from the farmers those who adopt modern and traditional methods in agriculture, where you can compare their importance. 

"Is it not high time we focus on what makes us human, correct our consumptive behavior and leave nature to take care of climate change?"

The either-or construction of your question creates a false dichotomy. We don't have to choose to focus on climate change OR human behavior--we can do both! Indeed, even if NSF and other grant funding institutions switched their priorities entirely today, that's not going turn a biochemist into a psychologist, sociologist, or behavioral economist. Moreover, one might characterize the climate-related problems we are experiencing as simply manifestations of overconsumption--human behavior. Perhaps a better way to phrase this question is: should research funding priorities change to focus more on understanding, predicting, and ultimately changing human behavior? That's a question I could answer with a wholehearted "yes"!

The appropriate attitude, as you state it, is dependent on the situation. Past societies had practices that worked very well ecologically, but would be impossible today. In my culture they would crap in the river and have fishponds at the river mouth...the nutrients from the waste would power the fishery and it was a very ecologically sound practice. Today that would be impossible, the quantity of waste produced by the much denser population would simply overwhelm the natural cycles, making the waste a pollutant rather than a nutrient.

When we talk about the benefits or non-benefits of a green lifestyle I always have to return to the concept of the greatest good for the greatest people. It is an impossibility to maximize to variables in one equation, and therefore the greatest good for the greatest people is a fallacy. You can have one or the other, but anything else will be a compromise between the two. We are simply living beyond the capacities of our ecosystem to sustain, and therefore are forcing ourselves to have to change our practices. Just like crapping in the river only works up to a certain population density.

I personally would rather have less people on the planet, and still be able to eat meat in a guilt free way. Meat farming and production, just like anything, can be a positive aspect to the environment in the right balance. But because our population is skyrocketing we are producing meat way out of proportion to what is healthy for the environment, and now it is being a detriment. Again, like crapping in the river.

Change is not an easy thing. It takes time to observe oneʻs effects and to be able to design a new system. To return again to the river, what did that past society do as population reached and exceeded the point where our waste went from a nutrient that powered a large part of their food system, to a pollutant that actually destroyed their food system? How can they just instantly devise a whole new food system or entirely new sewage system? After all they canʻt stop crapping? Unfortunately what they probably did was starve, and their population dropped and then their old system became relevant again. Today that is consciously not an acceptable solution...to let people starve. While we talk here about changing our lives to be greener, there are millions of people around the world worried about how they will survive the next day.

It is not as if societies of the past were magically awakened into consciousness when their lifestyles exceeded their means. The truth of the matter is that they had much harder lives, and the past is riddled with examples where they simply died off. So what we are doing now is not a new human phenomenon...it is exactly as we have always done it.

But I do believe that we have new tools now that can allow us to overcome our own detrimental effects. Tools, primarily, of observation and communication that never existed before, and that can allow us to learn and change faster than before. The problem is that we are also impacting and changing our environment faster than ever before, so maybe we are still at ground zero.

I donʻt think it is that people are not listening...I think, as always, it is the difficulty of change. It is the lack of knowing what else to do. I 100% agree that it is ultimately about person relevance, and if you have a family to feed and a job to get to then you are not going to stop driving a car because there is really not many other options. I hope this post is not too much of a bummer, but it is truly how I see the world and it all playing out.

And just to clarify I wish with all my heart to return to a simpler lifestyle...to live in my homeland and farm the land and live in concert with our natural surroundings. But I have also tried to, and this current system simply does not let us do that. You have to buy land, you have to pay taxes, you have to engage with the bigger system and that ultimately sucks you in to playing the same game as everyone else.

Roman-

With all due respect, I've been studying this particular problem for a decade, included much of the past three years in the field, and you've both conflated and oversimplified several issues.

(1) Yes, the Awhar - the region of freshwater marshes at the confluence of the Tigris and Euhrates - was poldered and drained 1991-2001 by Saddam Hussein. This was a multi-billion dollar engineering effort that cut km-wide, 100m-wide, 10m-wide, and 2m-wide drainage channels in a gridded pattern over 20,000 sq km of the marsh region.

(2) During drainage, those waters were diverted directly to the Gulf.

(3) Meanwhile, over the past two decades, major hydroelectric and agricultural irrigation dam projects have come on line in Turkey, Syria, northern Iraq, and Iran. These are cornerstones of national economic development schemes. They are not going away.

(4) Once drained, the marsh soils were subjected to desiccation, oxidation, and aeolian (wind) transport. This mobilized many pollutants that had been sequestered in plant roots and the marsh soils. It also profoundly altered the soil geochemistry. Dumping polluted water back into that mix forms toxic sludge, not a marsh.

(5) Because of the damming, PLUS ongoing drought upstream (due to shifting of the Mediterranean storm track) and downstream (which may be partly accounted for by the lowered humidity over the now-dried marshlands), the total water budget for the Awhar district is now 10% of its former volume.

(6) So it is NOT just a matter of "reflood and recover."

(a) there is not enough water,

(b) if there was, you'd have to "unengineer" the poldering, which would require a national mobilization of virtually every piece of earth moving equipment in the country, at a cost of billions. That was possible only in very small patches.

(c), even with scheduled dam releases, there is no longer a flood pulse cycle, essential for marsh ecology health.

(d) re-flooded areas are severely polluted with the mobilized toxicants, are too saline and/or alkaline to support most plant life, and have dissolved oxygen levels too low to support fish.

This is why, after multiple national studies after Hassan Partow's excellent call to action over a decade ago (I can give you quite a long bibliography if you are interested), the decision was taken to use best-available water to support the healthiest remnants of the Awhar (the Central and Hawiza marshes). These discontinuous areas have been nominated as a National Park and World Cultural Heritage site. This is a wonderful effort, but it has little or no impact on downstream conditions around Basra.

I, too, would prefer "to let things go back to what they were," but that wish is both politically and ecologically naive. Neighboring countries are not going to end their hydroelectric and agricultural irrigation projects. There is no political entity with the backing and resources to undo the massive engineering program, executed by fiat under the deposed regime. Downstream from the Hawiza and Central marshes, soil and water chemistry, and plant and animal communities, have been too profoundly disrupted to "go back to what they were," and over the past decade, they have not done so. We've been their. We've measured water quality. We've seen the dead and dying livestock, poisoned by drinking what's there.

If you read the abstract at the link I provided, and read my answer to the previous question, you will see that we are NOT calling for addition of salinized water to existing fresh-brackish marshes (e.g. in the Hammar district). These areas are ALREADY suffering from unmonitored addition of irrigation return water. What they need, instead of the direct dumps from the Main Outfall Drain and Third River that they now receive, is intermediary bioremediation wetlands, to clear the pollutants before they are dumped into the moderately healthy Wet Hammar marsh. But negotiating among four Governorates to accomplish that is beyond our reach.

So, we've turned to what we think we can do (or at least want to test). One of the impacts of the collapse of the Awhar, virtually ignored by all, is that it ALSO resulted in collapse of downstream salt marshes -- which were essential as fish- and shellfish-nurseries. Canalization and direct shunting of irrigation return water into the Gulf also resulted in wild fluctuations in sea water salinity at the head of the Gulf.

Therefore, BECAUSE there simply is no longer an adequate fresh water supply, we propose constructing NEW salt marshes, in areas which are already characterized by significant subsidence, salt cone intrusion, and hypersaline groundwater. This area actually supported salt marshes for many centuries over the past millennium. We know that drilling return water is not ideal for this purpose, but that's what we have to work with. It will no doubt require considerable pre-treatment. But by constructing the right microbial and plant communities, and determining the correct admixture of other contaminated sources (irrigation and urban wastewater), we can use nature's own best services to bioremediate most contaminants -- AND restore other environmental services performed by a salt marsh community.

To say this is "not sustainable" is to say that we should leave things the way they are:

(a) drawing fresh water from the rivers, using it for drilling injection, and then re-injecting the return water, thus removing a scarce resource from the water cycle.

(b) drawing fresh water from rivers far upstream, using it to flush agricultural fields, drawing off the salty, polluted return water, and then dumping it directly into fresh marshes, or directly into the Gulf.

So, the reality is, at this point, whatever is done must include "engineering." Salt marshes are extremely important as fish and shellfish hatcheries, sources of animal fodder, for erosion control, and as sediment traps and storm surge buffers. Rather than continuing to engineer ecosystem collapse, we propose to recapture and use nature's own systems to remediate all available water, rather than simply polluting it and dumping underground or it into the sea.

I do agree with Peter's view but I just might add soem additional goals: a) monitoring faunistical changes, b) monitoring delines/increases in potential key ecosystems - e.g. rivers, lakes (her I do include the hige effort that must be done in Lake Baikal) and c) gathering, on an international effort, crucial data on the northern taiga/tundra and the Amur region. In this last aspect, I find it of the utmost importance a straight cooperation between the US, Russia and Japan over what is realy going on from the Bering strait S to the Korean peninsula.

Best regards to all,

JP

Dear Dr. Shedayi, each approach you listed has own field of application, own benefits and limitations.

Observation is good for establishing correlation between climate factors and genetic and physiological characters of plant/animals/microbe populations, species distribution, etc. It needs a long-term study (tens of years) and detailed recording of climatic data and populations diversity. It is rare thing, and such study usually made based on past research of Nationals Parks, Universities, Experimental Stations.

Modeling is based on observation of climate and populations in past and forecast for future based on several mathematical or statistical models. It is good when you can show a quality of your models comparing predicted and actual data during several following years. You can offer unique approach if use new way of data analysis, new sourses of information, new mathematical theories.

Experimental approach is the most expensive but the most reliable. You need to ajust artificially climatic parametes of natural population. I know examples of experiments with increased CO2 concentration, temperature, and moisture content. One of new fields for such experiments is in plant - pathogen/ pest interaction under higher temperature or CO2, which is usually done at greenhouse experiments.

There are several movements that advocate for the emergence of international policies which favour the dual protection of biological and cultural diversity (CBD, 1992). All these policies should be implemented at an internationally-driven,

large scale, involving multi-organizations and policy-makers.

They would keep their own deliverable, but I would repeat the assessment/mock training for future classes. I'd like to have students practice the skills/content learned by completing assessments (for course grading purposes), which they can also use as examples for job applications, internships, etc. So, instead of a paper or exam to demonstrate their understanding, they produce something that they can use later in a portfolio or professional capacity.

Freshly inundated areas of flood plains with a depth of at least 1.5 to 2 feet of water are one of the choice places where Major carps breed. As the soil is rich in nutrients,it gives rise to plentiful amounts of animalcules,which forms the food of these fish larvae.Eggs of Indian Major carps are not sticky & hence the developing eggs & larvae gets carried down stream along with flow of river water & make use of food along the way.In order to ascertain this,it is essential that the brooders make a run during breeding season up stream. Most of the predatory fish species breed sooner than the herbivorous ones, so that their developing larvae & juveniles can feed on larvae & juveniles of the herbivorous fish species.

Yes... we run a course called "Methods in Applied Ecology" (previously called "Understanding Ecological Uncertainty" here at the University of Sydney for the MSc in Applied Science and also MSc Marine Science and Management. The course emphasises that ecological management (unlike mindless monitoring) is an ecological experiment and so we should consider testing predictions arising from logical explanations of impacts or management decisions. For a good background, read Underwood, A.J., 1995. Ecological research and (and research into) environmental management. Ecol. Appl. 5, 232-247 or nderwood, A.J., 1998. Relationships between ecological research and environmental management. Landsc. Urban Plann. 40, 123-130.

Thanks Michel that really helps me out!

High quality and functional buildings or housed does not come cheap. Also buildings/houses are capital intensive projects that a developer (investor) will not just be willing to part with except there is going to be good return or reward. Both Public and Private developer look forward to good return from such investment, thus I doubt if a public building that will meet the standard you just set could exist. Again, houses that are being used will not have zero or near zero maintenance, a building begin to experience depreciation/obsolescence from the day of commission. there will always be need to provide for outgoings as may be necessary. While the Public developer seek social return in term of citizen accommodation, the cost of development should be fully absorbed.

However, houses could be subsidized to a reasonable level but whoever be the occupier of such houses be ready to do maintenance.

In the are of low energy, I think environment friendly alternative be adopted. Either in temperate or tropical region there is need for energy either to heat or cool. however, design that will allow natural light and air circulation can help reduce the use of energy. However in this world of skyscraper development, power is needed for elevator, lift, water pumping and such, we cannot do in such building without energy in addition to cooling/heating requirement. If we go on low storey building, sooner or later, we exhaust the land available.

in my view, since housing sector is an investment sector that even stimulates the economy because of its multiplier effect in other sectors like construction, services, production and labour intensive nature, minimal subsidy be allocated to allow private sector participation while other important sector like health, education, infrastructure, transport and agriculture be better control for people to have good access to those.

A model housing that will integrate all necessary requirement at affordable profit rate should be sought for.

In actual fact, maybe the cultural practices of a community predispose them to risk of toxicity from environmental contaminants. For instance Muslims use more water than other religions thus if water is contaminated, predominantly Muslim communities will be more at risk.

Dear Eric, as a conglomerate group of concerned scientists and NGO members we have just successfully influenced the decision by the Cameroonian government to stop the American based Company Herakles Farms from clearing land in Southwest Cameroon for a 700 km² industrial oil palm plantation. We re-analysed data from the company's own EIA report and showed that the avifauna of the forest to be cleared was similar to primary forest in the region. We also instigated own large mammal surveys and are now able to document presence of key wildlife species such as forest elephant, chimpanzee and other large wildlife, concluding that the forest is of high conservation value. We submitted respective complaints to RSPO which led the company to leave RSPO and not seek certification. We also communicated via an open scientist letter and reported directly to the German government who invests in sustainable development in that region since several decades and seemingly also exerted pressure. Several other scientists, organised in NGOs, have pointed out the serious direct consequences for local livelihoods. However, all scientific input was largely dependent on the scientist's own commitment to get engaged (without their time having been covered) and counteract those consultants which were recruited by the company. I see the strong need for more scientific inquiry to be included in tropical land use planning at higher administrative levels, and in an independent manner. We need to work on that but there needs to be willingness at all levels and at least a basic funding.

Currently, I would like to submit Manuscript about valorization of Geosites into Isalo Park. Your help will be welcome

I've got your e-mail message and will send you 1pdf and 2 links tomorrow.

Good luck!

Hi Colin, I have a number of publications on this topic listed in my ResearchGate profile. They are basically of two kinds: (i) those focusing on towns as enterprise ecosystems, and (ii) investigations of enterprise dynamics in South African towns. Most of the publications can be downloaded but if you have a problem let me know and I can email a copy. I come from a natural science background, did a lot of ecological research in waste water and freshwater systems, was later in science management, became interested in the link between technology and economic development, particularly in a developing country setting. I was confronted by the need to develop insight into the 'economic health' of rural towns. I am now semi-retired but still do this research as a research associate at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa - and I find it fascinating. I have downloaded your PhD thesis and will have a look at it. Thanks.

Actually the post with it main heading intact is basically related to traditional knowledge which is proved to be true very precise in predicting hazards, disaster etc. but except a few almost all scientists look down on even a person mentioning traditional knowledge. I was once snubbed and laughed out by scientists when I mentioned this word in meeting on disaster management. It is because only a few articles are published on this topic in science journals so far. But, being a villager I know that traditional knowledge is transferred from generation to generation with their own experience of the just preceding. I seldom fond observed a failure.

Therefore, to know about niche of plants, their properties etc. ethnobotanists have to live with community like ethnographers and cultural anthropologists. The same approach is adopted by those who want to know ethnomedicine practices and preparation (sometimes it leads to litigation or violation of intellectual rights).

Similar, approach should be adopted by interested in local consequences of climate change. Rajna is true in pointing out,"Using social science methods, local climate change impacts can be documented. People may not respond to the questions such as has climate changed over the past? but they will definitely respond to questions such as is rainfall enough for agriculture at present? What changes have taken place in the occurrence of rainfall? etc." But, they shall also tell you about temperature change and increased frequency of extreme events. Obviously, all this can be done in the form of statement and through qualitative analysis some consistent theme may be recognised as they may reoccur several times. These using mixed methods they may be analysed.

From my boyhood when the so-called green revolution did not root in India, villagers anticipating by natural signs vegetative, temperature, wind condition and direction, direction of birds flight a good monsoon used to cultivate up low-lying land for the cultivation of rice and in case of anticipation of bad monsoon first uplands used to be cultivated for drought resisting coarse grains as millets. Lowland used to be cultivated when water was available from small rainfall for puddling to raise rice.

I am still in touch with my village and find that people before purchasing rice and wheat seeds do not forget to ask the question either from extension officer or sellers whether the crop will withstand small and irregular water supply.

I do know the project taken in tribal areas or remote part of Africa or other developing and poor countries may face several barriers as language, confidence winning, then being so close to ask some probing questions. It is especially among communities which guard violently their traditional knowledge.

Though, it would require considerable spending, time, also may involve spying and bribery, one has to accept this challenge for the human well being.

Depends what you mean by effective. It has been effective, especially use of Marxan, in designing marine and terrestrial reserve systems that deliver representation. It has been used to make things happen (Brazil, Australia, South Africa, parts of the Pacific ...). If representation helps with long-term biodiversity conservation then it does deliver that. It also delivers conservation targets while minimising impacts on other users. Is minimising impacts on other users good? Well it helps the reserve system happen, probably. However the ultimate test of the effectiveness of conservation planning requires 20 globes, ten with it, ten without it. That is a big experiment.

Indeed Issam, critical research should not be left to people lacking a deep, real sense of humanity. But few are the men like Rotblat and Szilard courageous enough to maintain full integrity and resist utmost pressure to serve the powers-to-be. How many Science Faculties will invest time and money today on teaching their examples to future generatiosn of researchers?

The capacity to engage in interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary scholarship at a level that both truly honors the valuable insights to be found in various fields and disciplines while maintaining an educated critical stance requires the development of specific skills and knowledge. One cannot really engage in inter- and transdisciplinary scholarship without coming to understand what scholars in the various fields and disciplines of interest understand.

But there is more to it than simply reading the literature - and here is where I believe you can find instruments that may be helpful. The capacity to engage in scholarship at the level of skill and knowledge that allows one to be truly inter- and transdisciplinary requires the capacity to see and honor other perspectives. We know through decades of good research that the capacity to see multiple perspectives in a manner which truly understands them and honors them while holding a different perspective oneself, or a meta-perspective that includes them all, is developmentally-mediated. It is not something that can be accomplished simply by sheer concerted effort, unless one is developmentally ready.

If you look particularly to the constructive developmental stream of research and theory in the field of adult development (Jane Loevinger, Lawrence Kohlberg, Robert Kegan, Bill Torbert, Susanne Cook-Greuter, Michael Commons & Francis Richards, Theo Dawson & Zach Stein, William Joiner & Stephen Josephs to name an illustrious few), you will find a lot of empirical evidence to support the argument that it is only at the latest emerging stages of adult meaning making where such multi-perspective taking is a stable capacity. After all, if one sees the world as objectively existing “out there,” and one’s own culture is unquestionably taken as “truth,” characteristic of adult conventional or formal stages of meaning making, at what level can one be expected to engage disciplines that hold that reality is socially constructed? Some people are better equipped through development to hold multiple perspectives, even perspectives at complete odds with one’s own.

There are validated instruments based on good solid research that can identify whether one is capable of such multi-perspective taking. Cook-Greuter offers the SCTi-MAP assessment, a sentence completion instrument that is perhaps the most widely used, well researched, and validated instrument of this type. But there are also good instruments available that have been developed by Bill Torbert, Robert Kegan, Theo Dawson, and Michael Commons that you may find of interest.

You can find papers by Barrett Brown on the internet that detail the research he did with very late stage sustainability leaders that you may find of interest. He used the SCTi-MAP assessment with these leaders. Here is a link to one of his papers:

I am going to answer this question not from the point of view of my research discipline but from a more personal level. The answer to the question above is, in my humble opinion, social and economic injustice in the world.

Socially and economically, we have created great disparities of wealth. A minority of the world's population (17%) consume most of the world's resources (80%), leaving almost 5 billion people to live on the remaining 20%. As a result, billions of people are living without the very basic necessities of life - food, water, housing and sanitation.

Specifically, 1.2 billion (20%) of the world population now lives on less that $1/day, another 1.8 billion (30%) lives on less than $2/day, 800 million go to bed hungry every day, and 30,000 - 60,000 die each day from hunger alone. The story is the same, when it comes to other necessities like water, housing, education etc. On the flip side, we have increasing accumulation of wealth and power, where the world's 500 or so billionaires have assets of 1.9 trillion dollars, a sum greater than the income of the poorest 170 countries in the world.

Facts:

A- Rich Man, Poor Man

1-The amount of money that the richest 1 percent of the world's people makes each year equals what the poorest 57 percent makes.

2-The world's 358 billionaires have assets exceeding the combined annual incomes of countries with 45 percent of the world's people.

3-The richest 5 percent of the world's people have incomes 114 times that of the poorest 5 percent.

4-The combined wealth of the world's 200 richest people hit $1 trillion in 1999; the combined income of 582 million people living in the 43 least developed countries is $146 billion.

5-The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world's countries) is less than the wealth of the world's three richest people combined.

6-A few hundred millionaires now own as much wealth as the world's poorest 2.5 billion people.

B-Rich Nations, Poor Nations

1-20% of the people in developed nations consume 86% of the world’s goods.

2-12% of the world's population uses 85 percent of its water.

3-Globally, 20% of the world's people in the highest-income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures - the poorest 20% account for a minuscule 1.3%. Specifically, the richest fifth (1/5):

Consume 45% of all meat and fish, the poorest fifth consume 5%.

Use 58% of the total energy, the poorest fifth use less than 4%.

Have 74% of all telephone lines, the poorest fifth have 1.5%.

Consume 84% of all paper, the poorest fifth use 1.1%.

Own 87% of the world's vehicle fleet, while the poorest fifth own less than 1%.

4-An analysis of past trends shows that the gap between the richest and poorest countries are increasing:

In 1820, it was 5 to 1.

In 1913, it was 11 to 1.

In the 1950s, it was 35 to 1.

In 1973, it was 44 to 1.

In 1992, it was 72 to 1.

5-The cost of providing basic health care and nutrition for all people in the world would be less than the annual cost of pet food in Europe and the United States.

C-Rich Corporations, Poor Nations

1-The annual revenue of Motorola, Inc. is almost equal to the annual income of Nigeria, Africa's second largest economy. This country is almost the size of Europe and has the largest population of any African country - 120 million people.

D- Poverty, Hunger

1-Over 840 million people in the world are malnourished—799 million of them are from the developing world. Sadly, more than 153 million of them are under the age of 5 (half the entire US population).

2-Every day, 34,000 children under five die of hunger or other hunger-related diseases. This results in 6 million deaths a year.

3- Of 6.2 billion living today, 1.2 billion live on less than $1 per day. Nearly 3 billion people live on less than $2 a day.

4-1.2 billion people lack access to clean water; 2.4 billion live without decent sanitation; and 4 billion without wastewater disposal.

5-12 million people die each year from lack of water, including 3 million children from waterborne disease. More than 113 million children in the developing world are without access to basic education; 60 percent of them are girls.

Resources

UN Food and Agriculture Association -

State of Food Insecurity 2003

Dear Micha,

Green belts will only function effectively in staving off urban sprawl if they have some form of `institutional stability` - that is, if their existence is supported by unchangeable law - and even so it is not a warranty. Sao Paulo Megacity in Brazil is a sauer example how a hard earned and hard kept greenbelt can be `vaporized` by urban sprawl. Powerful economic interest can `buy` authorities, can induce permissive zoning bills that will favor their vested interests, can even murder oponents if nothing else does. In fact, urban sprawl is a tumoral disease, which requires growth in continuation to survive. The problem, in my view, has to be addressed in two deeper sources of values. You are near the sources of both, as Adam Smith and Charles Darwin developed their far reaching reflections in the UK. None of what they´ve discovered appear wrong, but their discoveries were partial and incomplete views, reductionistic in nature. And as such have served to the development of powerful doctrines that engulfed humanity. Urban sprawl is only one of myriad manifestations of the misguided principles. If those are not addressed, I do not see any easy way out, and our destiny might be really Tantooine (the fully urban capital-planet of the Star Wars saga). Best Regards

How about recycling the pollutants before emission out of the plant?

Dear,

the international institute on population studies is world famous institute ,is located at mumbai,india.

Environmental education/awareness, environmental conomics and traditional knowledge vis-a-vis environmental management are three vital topics in ecology and society.

Carbon trading is unwise , as for the same reasons we have the global economic crisis, It should be tackled by allowing each indervidual to make the right decision based on the price of damaging the environment.

If taxation was based on the environmental impact of all natural resources collected as near source as possible , this would enable everyone from designer to consumer to be involved in the production and marketing of goods and services based on their impact on the planet based on the price they paid for their raw materials.

Carbon Trading does not tackle the real underling problem quickly enough and also allows for gamblers to take control of the already corrupt financial system which already is dictating the environmental agenda.

Positive impact is less burden on biophysical support capacity of the Earth. Negative is a huge one it will reduce the probability of birth of a single child who could solve all environmental problems and crises (a messiah-hay).

Apart from other lofe forms, trees are habitat of wide verieties of insects as well. These insects act as pollinator and are vital agent for sucessful completion of life cycle of plants. In most of the cases, relationship of pllinators and plants is highly specific and loss of population of pollinators affect population of trees. One interesting case is that of Adensonia digitata which is pollinated by Bats.Reduced population of Bat has made this plant ritically endangered. In Jharkhand I have studied some well grown trees of Adensonia which fail to produce seeds because of lack of pollinator. Loss of green cover is major cause of loss of pollinators population.

I agree to your ideas and views regarding democratic or green technology like solar energy, mini hydel projects, and many other alternative energy. Democratization of technology is a vital process for sustainable development. But the trouble is at the practical level in the sense that the implementation part of these green technologies seems to be failure in many countries. it is because the capitalist, planner or government play a game of privatization and commodification of natural resources. They view natural resources as commodity which can be sold in the market prize. when we look back the history of development projects in India, one can see the paradox of Nehruvian ideology in the context of dam projects. Nehru says "Dams are the temple of modern India". it just shows the power and authority of free India.

so, we need to mobilize our resources to start movement against politics of nature and technology.

You can do that from imageries (satellite or aerial photo) of the area, or by land survey methods. The first one is faster but the latter could be more accurate especially if by digital survey equipments. Nonetheless recent researches are showing that there may not be significant difference in the results from both methods, giving clear and well georeferenced imageries and less human error