Environmental Harm or Natural Hazard? Problem Identification and Adaptation in U.S. Municipal Climate Action Plans

A number of cities in the United States have devised climate action plans (CAPs) to mitigate the effects of climate change. However, few of these plans address strategies to adapt to the long term effects of climate change that will occur in the near and distant future. The research presented in this article examines why cities choose to embed adaptation provisions in their CAPs. Our study codes the content of CAPs for all cities (N = 98) in the United States with populations greater than 50,000. We find cities that frame problems associated with climate change in the language of hazards are more likely to include adaptation strategies in their CAPs than cities that focus on other types of environmental harm. Our findings suggest that more robust efforts to plan for climate change will require the activation of communities of interest beyond those that have been instrumental in setting the current climate agenda.     

环境犯罪的客体要件——环境权之本体研究

将环境权作为环境犯罪的客体要件，已是必然趋势。基于当今社会的现实情况，诺顿的弱人类中心主义伦理观是可取的。奠立于该伦理观之上，环境权的主体就只能局限于人类，包括自然人、单位、社会和国家；环境权有单独存在的必要性和可行性，只要是环境法主体享有在安全和舒适的环境中生存和发展的权利，无论是实体的还是程序的、无论是开发环境方面的还是利用环境资源方面、也无论是自然人的还是社会的抑或是国家的等都属于环境权大家庭的一员。各个具体环境权元素因不同的权利主体而不同。     

Australian Rural Local Governments and Environmental Sustainability: An Evaluation of Progress

Local government is often characterised as being well-placed to enact a successful agenda for environmental sustainability because of its closeness to both people and the environment. The purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which this assumption is correct in terms of local government environmental policies and programs in rural Australia. Using case studies with eight local government authorities in Queensland and New South Wales, the article documents three different positions on a continuum of environmental engagement. These are 'disengaged', 'moving towards engagement' and 'engaged'. The article concludes by arguing that the resource constraints facing rural local councils limit their capacity to engage with environmental management.     

Lingering environmental pessimism and the role of government in Hong Kong

Based on data from two opinion surveys conducted in 2000 and 2008, this study shows that Hong Kong people have been consistently highly aware of the seriousness of different environmental problems and relatively pessimistic about the future resolution of these problems. Such pessimism is arguably related to their lack of confidence in the government's enforcement of environmental protection. Through an analysis of the environmental policy‐making and enforcement agency and three selected enforcement cases, the study further finds that the people's lack of confidence can be traced to the government's failure to bring about a comprehensive, integrated, far‐sighted environmental strategy with sophisticated institutional support and detailed enforcement mechanisms. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

环境法理念初探

法律的价值取向是法律制度设计的精神家园。从全面把握自然属性的视角出发 ,本文详细阐述了环境法的一系列基本理念 ,将一些传统法的理念予以重新定位 ,以适应环境法的革命性需求。文中分析了可持续发展与环境法的互动 ,探索了环境安全在环境法价值体系中的地位 ,提出了构建人与自然相和谐的环境秩序 ,并追求跨越种际、代际的环境正义。     

从环境保护一体化看我国知识产权制度的完善

环境保护一体化要求将环境目标纳入到国家的其他政策领域,成为国家其他政策的一个组成部分,反映了当今世界环境保护、环境政策和环境法的发展趋势。从环境保护一体化的要求看,我国知识产权制度存在着诸多不适合环境保护的问题,其原因在于对知识产权的定位有偏颇,对环境保护的重要性认识不足。我国在知识产权制度的构建中应树立和贯彻环境保护一体化的思想,实现环境保护与技术进步的双赢。     

论现行法律关于水资源环境信息管理体系的规定

关于环境信息的收集、处理、交流和使用的法律规定是环境法的重要组成部分。由于水资源与经济发展和人民生活息息相关,加强和完善有关水资源的信息管理体系的任务显得尤为迫切。本文查证我国有关水资源的法律中关于环境信息的收集、处理、交流和应用的法律规定并分析其实施情况。在这种查证和分析的基础上,本文对如何完善我国水资源环境信息管理体系提出了若干建议。     

民事环境权研究

民事环境权是体现生态伦理理念的一种新型民事权利。本文拟从界定民事环境权的性质出发,解析该权利的伦理内涵,进而提出民事环境权的立法构想。     

论毛泽东思想中蕴含的生态文明建设思想

新中国成立以来,特别是改革开放以来,我国的工业得到了迅猛的发展,并取得了极大的历史成就,然而,伴随而来的环境破坏不得不给人民敲响了环保意识的警钟。事实上,生态环境问题要追溯到20世纪五六十年代,那时的国民经济刚刚步入正轨,国家工业化也是刚刚起步,环境污染问题只在局部地区出现而未引起广泛关注。然而,作为党的第一代领导集体核心,毛泽东敏感地察觉到此时环境保护的重要性,并提出了植树造林、水利建设、控制人口、开垦荒地等有关环境保护的言论。这些言论为中国特色社会主义生态文明建设打下了重要的理论基础,给党的生态文明建设思想积累了宝贵的经验,为我国社会主义现代化建设提供了重要的理论指导。     

Convergence repertoires: anti-capitalist protest at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

This article introduces the term ‘convergence’ in order to explain a distinctive repertoire of protest events in which the following are present: (1) activists with an ideologically anti-capitalist orientation; (2) engage in property destruction; (3) travel from outside of the site of the protest event; and (4) solicit a determinable police response. Convergences have emerged as a subset of the alter-globalization movement since the ‘Battle in Seattle’ in 1999. Convergences have since emerged in resistance to meetings of global financial institutions, political primaries, and recently, the Olympic Games. We examine the logic that activists use to weave resistance to these disparate targets together. In this article, we arrive at this finding inductively, paying particular attention to convergence events at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. Narratives around convergence repertoires allow activists to link seemingly disparate actors with similar and predictable performances.