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"Natural environment"
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Nature's ghosts : the world we lost and how to bring it back
For thousands of years, humans have been the architects of the environment. Our activities leave an indelible mark on the places we inhabit - for good and for bad. 'Nature's Ghosts' examines how the earth would have looked before humans scrubbed away its diversity, from the primeval forests that emerged following the last ice age, to the eagle-filled skies of the Dark Ages, to the flower-decked farms of more recent centuries. It uncovers the stories of the people who have helped to shape our landscapes through time, seeking out their footprints - even where it seems there are none to be found - and looking at how timeworn knowledge of the natural world can help us to mend our own relationship with the earth. And it recounts the environmental detective work - archaeological, cultural and ecological - that has allowed us to reconstruct the details of our lost wild world.
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Regulation of the immune system by biodiversity from the natural environment: An ecosystem service essential to health
Epidemiological studies suggest that living close to the natural environment is associated with long-term health benefits including reduced death rates, reduced cardiovascular disease, and reduced psychiatric problems. This is often attributed to psychological mechanisms, boosted by exercise, social interactions, and sunlight. Compared with urban environments, exposure to green spaces does indeed trigger rapid psychological, physiological, and endocrinological effects. However, there is little evidence that these rapid transient effects cause long-term health benefits or even that they are a specific property of natural environments. Meanwhile, the illnesses that are increasing in high-income countries are associated with failing immunoregulation and poorly regulated inflammatory responses, manifested as chronically raised C-reactive protein and proinflammatory cytokines. This failure of immunoregulation is partly attributable to a lack of exposure to organisms (“Old Friends”) from mankind’s evolutionary past that needed to be tolerated and therefore evolved roles in driving immunoregulatory mechanisms. Some Old Friends (such as helminths and infections picked up at birth that established carrier states) are almost eliminated from the urban environment. This increases our dependence on Old Friends derived from our mothers, other people, animals, and the environment. It is suggested that the requirement for microbial input from the environment to drive immunoregulation is a major component of the beneficial effect of green space, and a neglected ecosystem service that is essential for our well-being. This insight will allow green spaces to be designed to optimize health benefits and will provide impetus from health systems for the preservation of ecosystem biodiversity.
Journal Article
Natural resources, socio-ecological sensitivity and climate change in the Volta-Oti Basin, West Africa
The outcome of an interdisciplinary and international workshop supported by the Volkswagen Stiftung (funding line Knowledge for Tomorrow') on the topic of Natural Resources, Socio-Ecological Sensitivity and Climate Change in the Volta-Oti Basin, West Africa. The conference was jointly organised by Goethe-University Frankfurt (Germany) and the University of Kara (Togo) held from March 6 to 8, 2019 in northern Togo.
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Evolution, human-microbe interactions, and life history plasticity
A bacterium was once a component of the ancestor of all eukaryotic cells, and much of the human genome originated in microorganisms. Today, all vertebrates harbour large communities of microorganisms (microbiota), particularly in the gut, and at least 20% of the small molecules in human blood are products of the microbiota. Changing human lifestyles and medical practices are disturbing the content and diversity of the microbiota, while simultaneously reducing our exposures to the so-called old infections and to organisms from the natural environment with which human beings co-evolved. Meanwhile, population growth is increasing the exposure of human beings to novel pathogens, particularly the crowd infections that were not part of our evolutionary history. Thus some microbes have co-evolved with human beings and play crucial roles in our physiology and metabolism, whereas others are entirely intrusive. Human metabolism is therefore a tug-of-war between managing beneficial microbes, excluding detrimental ones, and channelling as much energy as is available into other essential functions (eg, growth, maintenance, reproduction). This tug-of-war shapes the passage of each individual through life history decision nodes (eg, how fast to grow, when to mature, and how long to live).
Journal Article
How the world breaks : life in catastrophe's path, from the Caribbean to Siberia
\"We've always lived on a dangerous planet, but its disasters aren't what they used to be. How the World Breaks gives us a breathtaking new view of crisis and recovery on the unstable landscapes of the Earth's hazard zones. Father and son authors Stan and Paul Cox take us to the explosive fire fronts of overheated Australia, the future lost city of Miami, the fights over whether and how to fortify New York City in the wake of Sandy, the Indonesian mud volcano triggered by natural gas drilling, and other communities that are reimagining their lives after quakes, superstorms, tornadoes, and landslides. In the very decade when we should be rushing to heal the atmosphere and address the enormous inequalities of risk, a strange idea has taken hold of global disaster policy: resilience. Its proponents say that threatened communities must simply learn the art of resilience, adapt to risk, and thereby survive. This doctrine obscures the human hand in creating disasters and requires the planet's most beleaguered people to absorb the rush of floodwaters and the crush of landslides, freeing the world economy to go on undisturbed. The Coxes' great contribution is to pull the disaster debate out of the realm of theory and into the muck and ash of the world's broken places. There we learn that change is more than mere adaptation and life is more than mere survival. Ultimately, How the World Breaks reveals why--unless we address the social, ecological, and economic roots of disaster--millions more people every year will find themselves spiraling into misery. It is essential reading for our time\"-- Provided by publisher.
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Do foreign firms help make local firms greener? Evidence of environmental spillovers in China
The literature on foreign direct investment offers rich evidence that foreign firms outperform their local peers in emerging economies from an environmental perspective. However, it remains unclear whether local firms can learn from the environmental excellence of foreign firms to undertake cleaner production, which helps protect the host country’s natural environment. This environmental spillover effect may offer critical support to the pollution halo effect; however, it has received insufficient empirical attention. By analyzing firm-level panel data on environmental performance in China and augmenting them with data from the input–output table, we investigate whether and how foreign firms improve local firms’ environmental management. Our findings present evidence that the presence of foreign firms in the same industry in the same city lowers the pollutant emission intensity of local firms, corroborating the environmental spillover effect. We also discuss two mechanisms for this spillover: community- and industry-based institutional channels. Furthermore, we find that environmental spillovers are stronger among small and medium-sized enterprises and in areas with higher levels of existing pollution.
Journal Article
Institutional Environment, Managerial Attitudes and Environmental Sustainability Orientation of Small Firms
This study examines the direct impact of three dimensions of the institutional environment on managerial attitudes toward the natural environment and the direct influence of the latter on the environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) of small firms. We contend that when the institutional environment is perceived by owner—managers as supportive of sound natural environment management practices, they are more likely to develop a positive attitude toward natural environment issues and concerns. Such owner—manager attitudes are likely to lead to a positive and proactive orientation of their firms toward environmental sustainability. The study uses survey data from 166 small manufacturing firms located in three Philippine cities. First, the study develops and tests the measurement models to examine the validity of the constructs representing the firm's institutional environment, managerial attitudes toward the natural environment and the ESO of firms. Second, the study develops and tests the structural models examining the institutional environment—managerial attitudes—ESO linkages. Multi-sample invariance structural model analysis shows the mediating role of managerial attitudes in the institutional environment—ESO nexus. The findings show that ESO is a construct comprising three dimensions: knowledge of environmental issues, sustainable practices and commitment toward environmental sustainability. The cognitive, regulatory and normative elements of the institutional environment are strongly linked to positive managerial attitudes toward environmental sustainability, which in turn, positively influences the firm's overall ESO. Managerial attitudes play a mediating role in the institutional environment—ESO linkages. The managerial, practical, research and policy implications of the research findings are discussed.
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Over the seawall : tsunamis, cyclones, drought, and the delusion of controlling nature
\"As extreme weather becomes more common, the urge to outwit nature can be irresistible. But when our expensive technosolutions backfire, are we worse off than before? How should we adapt to a changing climate? Miller reveals the unintended consequences of bad adaptations or as academics call it, maladaptations--fixes that do more harm than good. From seawalls in coastal Japan, to the reengineered waters in the Ganges River Delta, to the artificial ribbon of water supporting both farms and urban centers in parched Arizona, the author traces the histories of engineering marvels that were once deemed too smart and too big to fail. In each he takes us into the land and culture, seeking out locals and experts to better understand how complicated, grandiose schemes led instead to failure, and to find answers to the technologic holes we've dug ourselves into. Miller urges us to take a hard look at the fortifications we build and how they've fared in the past. He embraces humanity's penchant for problem-solving, but argues that if we are to adapt successfully to climate change, we must recognize that working with nature is not surrender but the only way to assure a secure future.\"--From publisher's description.
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Religious Beliefs Inspire Sustainable HOPE (Help Ourselves Protect the Environment): Culture, Religion, Dogma, and Liturgy—The Matthew Effect in Religious Social Responsibility
China has achieved economic prominence but damaged the natural environment. Can religions excite pro-environmental actions? Chinese religion encompasses Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, native Taoism, and indigenous folk beliefs (GuanDi and Mazu). We theorize that believers demonstrate more sustainable HOPE (Help Ourselves Protect the Environment) than non-believers. Religions with standardized and formal liturgy show more pro-environmental HOPE than those without it. We challenge the myth that the believers of Christianity and Islam display more sustainable HOPE than other faith. The 2013 Chinese General Social Survey (involving 10,017 randomly selected participants across 28 provinces) revealed that 11.10% of them have faith. Believers display higher levels of HOPE than atheists, demonstrating the religion effect. Among believers, native Taoism and Buddhism exhibit more ecological HOPE than other religions, supporting the dogma effect in the Chinese culture. Religions with formalized liturgy demonstrate more pro-environmental HOPE than generalized folk beliefs—GuanDi and Mazu, validating the liturgy effect. Females, married, and people with good income, education, health, and country-domicile—the haves—exhibit robust ecological HOPE. The rich get richer and greener. However, those who are older, males, urban residents, and the Han majority do not. We empirically demonstrate the Matthew Effect in Religious Social Responsibility: Religious faith facilitates believers’ pro-environmental behaviors—HOPE and ethical behaviors in China.
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