Chemical Contamination of Soft Drinks in Sealed Plastic Bottles by Environmental Stress Cracking

Abstract:  A contamination of soft drinks in sealed bottles by organic solvents is reported: closed bottles full of soft drinks were accidentally placed on a cardboard soaked with thinner and the organic fluid subsequently fissured the bottom of the bottles and penetrated into the soft drinks without any apparent leakage of the soft drinks. Experiments were carried out to simulate the process: the penetration of different organic solvents into soft drinks through the bottom of closed bottles was tested. The penetration occurred only when the closed bottles contained carbonated soft drinks (CSD), indicating that inner pressure is a necessary condition for the fissuring of the bottles. This paper discusses environmental stress cracking of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles by organic solvents and migration of chemicals to CSD. Experiments were conducted to determine the conditions in which PET can be permeable to poisoning organic products.     

多维视角下的生物多样性法律问题论纲

生物多样性的法律问题具有交叉性、综合性、复杂性和现实性的特点.法律是保护和利用生物多样性的间接驱动力,而生物多样性对法律也产生反作用力.我国对于生物多样性法律问题的研究主要集中在知识产权法和环境法领域,存在着研究视角过于单一、固守学科领域和缺乏整体观等问题.研究生物多样性的法律问题,必须要注意到其产生的根源在于人类对于生物多样性系统认识的变迁;以国际环境法为出发点,结合多维视角对其加以研究.从整体上看,生物多样性的法律问题主要包括传统知识的法律保护以及遗传资源的获取与惠益分享问题、生物技术的专利性及相关问题以及生物安全问题和生物剽窃问题.     

我国环境法教学模式的反思与探索

环境法教学模式的核心内容是教学目的、教学内容和教学方法。在教学的目的方面,环境法旨在培养学生环境法理念、传授学生环境法律知识、训练学生环境法学研究方法,从而为社会培养和输送环境法人才。在教学内容方面,环境法教学应着重处理好教材的选择和运用、理论知识的梳理和讲解以及实证材料的补充和使用等问题。在教学方法方面,教师中心型教学法、师生互动型教学法和实践型教学法应在环境法教学活动中根据教学内容、教育阶段和课堂反应等因素适当地采用。     

Business to the rescue: private sector actors and global environmental regimes’ legitimacy

In 2006, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) adopted decision VIII/17 to further involve the private sector in the activities of the Convention. This initiative mainly aims at improving the current regime’s legitimacy. By increasing business involvement, decision VIII/17 can be viewed within the context of the current academic debate on the ‘privatisation’ of environmental governance, which refers to the growing importance of private actors in the formulation of environmental policies. Against this background, this article aims at: (1) assessing the extent to which decision VIII/17 might reverse the CBD’s legitimacy crisis and (2) analysing the issues at stake when private sector actors are involved in environmental regimes. In order to do so, the article analyses the consequences of decision VIII/17 in terms of internal—representation and transparency—and external—institutional efficiency and implementation—legitimacy. The study is based on an extended empirical scrutiny of the negotiations linked to decision VIII/17. While adopting a general conceptualisation of legitimacy, the value added by the study is to broaden the usual understanding of business strategies towards environmental issues. In particular, this article shows how decision VIII/17 has generated several reactions—defensive as well as proactive—among the business community. At the practical level, the article proposes several recommendations to secure a constructive participation of all categories of business actors in biodiversity governance. At the theoretical level, it calls for a change in deterministic visions of economic actors’ interests.

海洋工程对环境影响评价与司法鉴定

为确定污染源、污染范围和污染程度,鉴定民事责任诉讼请求与海洋工程建设项目所产生的环境影响之间有无因果关系,根据《海水水质标准》、《渔业水质标准》、《海洋沉积物质量》和《海洋生物质量》等国家标准对海洋工程建设项目所在的养殖海域水质、沉积物、生物体选点采样。实地勘察,进行环境监测和环境影响评价。结果表明,水质污染物、沉积物污染物．生物体污染物不是民事责任诉讼请求所述养殖贝类大量死亡的直接原因。司法鉴定结论：海洋工程建设项目施工现场．周围海域局部受到施工产生较小泥浆入海泥沙影响,靠近海洋工程建设项目施工现场的一定范围养殖贝类死亡与海洋工程建设项目施工之间有因果关系,依据水域污染事故渔业损失计算方法,评估养殖损失。     

气候保护和环境正义——气候保护的国际法律框架和发展中国家的参与模式

气候保护国际法律框架的公正性是发展中国家积极参与国际气候保护合作的一个重要前提条件。"人均平等排放权"原则作为分配减排义务的原则在法律上符合正义原则。这一原则应作为评价发展中国家在未来的气候保护法律框架中应承担的义务模式的标准。     

Politics and Corporate‐Sector Environmentally Significant Actions: The Effects of Political Partisanship on U.S. Utilities Energy Efficiency Policies

This study assesses the direct, indirect, and total impacts of political partisanship on state‐level utilities' investment in energy efficiency. This subject is of utmost importance because energy efficiency improvement has become a linchpin in worldwide efforts to combat climate change and other environmental challenges. Analysis of data on 51 electric utilities nested within 31 U.S. states indicates that political partisanship influences utilities' energy efficiency policies. There is strong evidence that electric utilities in states dominated by the Republican Party are less likely to invest in energy efficiency than those in states governed by the Democratic Party. This finding suggests that political partisanship may be shaping the policy and regulatory frameworks put in place by state governments to incentivize or compel the participation of private‐sector entities' in environmental management and/or resource conservation.     

论公众环境诉权的实现--对完善《环境保护法》第6条的思考

公众有权就环境问题提起诉讼是公众参与环境保护的主要形式 ,也是环境法实施的重要途径。但我国《宪法》和《环境保护法》仅对公众的环境诉权作了原则性规定 ,公众环境诉权缺乏程序性保障而难以实现。纵观国外在保障公众环境诉权方面 ,是不断放宽环境诉讼原告资格的过程。修订我国环境法有关环境诉讼的程序性规定 ,建立环境公众诉讼制度 ,是环境权从应有权利到实有权利的必由之路。     

论环境权的要素及与其他权利的界限

环境权作为环境法学核心问题之一,是随着世界环境危机和环境保护运动而生的晚近事物,其性质、内容均具有不确定性。应以环境权的私权化为前提,并以此为基础设计环境权的要素之边界,从而使环境权和其他权利在私法体系中协调共处。     

论地方环境立法公正和效率价值的平衡

我国地域辽阔,域内自然环境差别较大,其决定了地方环境立法居于不可或缺的地位。地方环境立法应兼顾公正和效率价值平衡,并坚持"效率优先、实现公正"的立法价值取向。地方政府应当对当地新生环境问题结合当地经济、技术、自然实际情况及环境保护的需要及时立法,并对不适时的地方法规进行及时修改,实现地方环境法制系统公正和效率价值的最大化追求。