Local mobilisations and the formation of environmental networks in a democratizing Tunisia

ABSTRACT

This study examines the environmental protests that occurred in Tunisia after the 2011 uprisings. It analyses the factors underpinning the rise of the environmental networks during the period of transition (2011–2014). It details the mobilising strategies that were crucial for the networks’ growth or survival during this period of institutional instability. The study shows how networks leaders were able to bring together social and political actors from different backgrounds and ideological orientations. It is argued that the ability of networks to develop new distinctive collective identities was crucial for network sustainability. Those networks and actors who did not develop new clearly defined environmental identities and continued to rely importantly on pre-existing (authoritarian) structures and practices were more negatively impacted by ideological cleavages and political calculations. Empirically, the contribution builds on interviews and observations, as well as documents collected from Tunisian municipalities between 2013 and 2015. Conceptually, the research proposes a bottom-up perspective that highlights the interplay between micro- and macro-dynamics and strategies during a political transition. The analysis details the actors’ capacity to build alliances via interpersonal relations at the micro level, and their strategies to engage with institutional actors and processes.     

‘It's kind of saving them a job isn't it?’ The consumption work of household recycling

Consumers play an integral role in societal divisions of labour. Rather than simply consume, they frequently perform labour. Incorporating consumers into the division of labour poses a challenge to this foundational and enduring concept, given its traditional focus on the technical division of tasks/skills within a labour process. Yet, insofar as completion of a circuit of production, distribution, exchange and consumption is predicated on consumers undertaking work in order to/after they consume, analysis of the division of labour would be incomplete without their inclusion. This paper uses the case of household recycling to demonstrate the importance of ‘consumption work’ for the organization of the waste management industry in England. By sorting their waste, consumers initiate a new economic process, providing feedstock (such as metals, plastics and paper) which in turn creates jobs/profits within the recycling, processing and manufacturing industries. Consumers also reconfigure public and private sector responsibilities when they sort their recyclable materials from general household waste, revealing the interdependency of consumption work with labour conducted under different socio‐economic relations and across differing socio‐economic domains. This paper makes the case for a renewed conception of division of labour to account for transformations and interconnections between work of different forms within contemporary society.     

政府补贴下竞争型WEEE闭环供应链定价决策研究

针对由单个制造商和两个回收商组成的电子电器闭环供应链,考虑合格回收商与不合格回收商相互竞争,研究政府回收处理补贴及消费者渠道偏好对闭环供应链决策的影响。发现:竞争环境下,随着回收处理补贴的提高,合格回收商的竞争力随之增大;制造商、各回收商及系统利润均随着消费者对正规回收渠道偏好的提高而增加,政府应积极促进消费者对正规回收渠道的认知与接受度。     

汉语否定处置句研究

否定是语言中普遍存在的一种现象,是语法中的重要范畴。就汉语处置句而言,根据否定词出现的位置,否定处置句可分为两种类型：否定前置处置句,否定后置处置句。这两种否定处置句的产生与处置介词语法化的句法环境有密切的关系。否定词前后位置的不同,其否定辖域及否定焦点也随之有所变化。否定词否定辖域及否定焦点和语用因素是两种否定处置句一直广泛存在于汉语方言的一个重要的内在动因,同时阿尔泰语否定词紧靠动词的语序对新疆、甘肃等地汉语方言处置句否定词的位置也有一定影响。     

废旧手机回收行为影响因素的实证研究--基于在校大学生问卷调查

基于对在校大学生废旧手机回收行为的问卷调查结果,运用统计软件SPSS ,通过因子分析和回归分析,对大学生废旧手机回收行为、行为意向及其影响因素进行了实证研究。结果表明：大学生废旧手机回收行为意向与行为具有显著正向影响;主观规范、个人消费观念、知觉行为控制、环境知识对行为意向具有正向显著影响,且影响力依次递减。据此提出相关改进建议,有效促进大学生积极参与废旧手机回收。     

生态文明视域下农村生活垃圾的防治——基于四川省巴中市平昌县的调研数据

基于对四川省平昌县农村生活垃圾污染现状的调研，分析农村生活垃圾对自然环境、农产品质量、居民身体健康的影响。调研结果显示，当前农村生活垃圾污染防治存在的问题主要是：农村居民环境保护意识差、农村环境保护法律法规制度不健全、环境执法监管部门监督缺失、农村环境卫生基础设施建设严重滞后等。为了有效防治农村生活垃圾污染，推进农村生态文明体系建设，需要充分发挥制度优势加强生态文明理念宣传教育，促使农村居民养成绿色消费的生活习惯，完善农村环境保护法律法规体系，发挥村委会对农村环境保护的监督作用，加快农村环境保护基础设施建设，大力发展生态农业经济等。     

Participatory shaping of community futures in e‐waste processing hubs: Complexity,conflict and stewarded convergence in a Palestinian context

This article describes an unconventional participatory development approach carried out in an informal e‐waste hub in South‐West Hebron, an area that has collected and processed the bulk of Israeli e‐waste for over a decade. Our approach contributes to the critique and recovery of community representation in participatory development and the search for ways to facilitate representative community engagement. Specifically, we describe our use of a novel Delphi‐like method that allowed us to facilitate a broadly endorsed development trajectory within a heterogeneous and conflicted community. We show how the results yielded by this approach diverged from those that were likely to emerge from more facile forms of participation in ways that are important for other similar e‐waste hubs internationally, which face a destructive status quo on the one hand, or the economically ruinous international policies that ban e‐waste trade from “developed” to “developing” countries on the other. Despite real tensions and cleavages within the affected communities, the process described facilitated a shift from deadlocked environmental versus livelihood positions towards building capacity and regulating existing informal e‐waste trades to preserve livelihoods dependent on these.     

Sensitivity,uncertainty, and decision analyses in the prioritization of research

The evaluation of hazards from complex, large scale, technologically advanced systems often requires the construction of computer implemented mathematical models. These models are used to evaluate the safety of the systems and to evaluate the consequences of modifications to the systems. These evaluations, however, are normally surrounded by significant uncertainties related to the uncertainty inherent in natural phenomena such as the weather and those related to uncertainties in the parameters and models used in the evaluation.

Another use of these models is to evaluate strategies for improving information used in the modeling process itself. While sensitivity analysis is useful in defining variables in the model that are important, uncertainty analysis provides a tool for assessing the importance of uncertainty about these variables. A third complementary technique, is decision analysis. It provides a methodology for explicitly evaluating and ranking potential improvements to the model. Its use in the development of information gathering strategies for a nuclear waste repository are discussed in this paper.     

论广州城市生活垃圾治理的战略取向

现代城市垃圾治理是一项复杂的系统工程。在城市垃圾中,生活垃圾所占比重大、与民众联系密切且处理阻力大,对城市生活垃圾治理的战略设计已成为城市管理者面临的最大难题之一。作为我国重要中心城市的广州,也正面临形势严峻的"垃圾围城"之困,自2012年开启新一轮城市生活垃圾综合治理以来,在有创新、有收获的同时也遇到了新的挑战。为进一步深化城市生活垃圾治理工作,广州应准确把脉顶层制度难"落地"、流程运行难系统、民众习惯难转变等现实症结,科学设计生活垃圾的多元共治路径,实现挑战与机遇的对接,为我国城市生活垃圾的治理树立标杆,助推开创城市垃圾治理的新局面。     

发达国家对华输出电子废弃物的环境影响与对策

近年来,发达国家电子废弃物的流入给发展中国家的环境和民众健康带来了严重的危害。我国在阻止电子废弃物流入的相关法律规制与监管上存在漏洞,且经济发展战略不合理,发展水平相对落后。法律和经济方面的双重落差导致发达国家电子废弃物流入屡禁不止,迫切需要采取有效措施加以应对。分析国外电子废弃物涌入我国之现状与原因,并从法律制度建设、经济发展思路、经济发展战略、国内管理和国际合作5方面提出应对策略。