‘Multicolored’ green criminology and climate change’s achromatopsia

While green criminology may be an effective name or label for the sub-field or perspective within criminology that considers a wide range of environmental issues, it is, in reality, a ‘multicolored green’ – a criminology that engages a spectrum of issues, that reflects the interests of some racial groups more than others, that reveals and analyzes environmental harms which disproportionately impact some racial groups more than others, and that can be approached from a number of vantage points or that can be viewed with variously tinted lenses. This article begins with an overview of climate change, including a discussion of its anticipated impacts and indicators of its already-being-felt effects. It then offers some general comments on the disproportionate impact of environmental threats and harms before turning to a discussion of the present and anticipated distributional impacts of climate change. Here, this article argues that climate change is, in effect, achromatopsic – it is color-blind, in that it affects us all regardless of skin color – but that those impacts will be distributed unevenly/unequally and that various groups are and will continue to be in different positions to adapt to climate change. This article concludes by suggesting that while the environmental harms caused by climate change are real – and the risks and threats they pose tangible and serious – climate change presents an exciting challenge for our creative potential as humans. In the process of reducing our consumption of fossil fuels and stabilizing (or, better yet, reducing) our greenhouse gas emissions, we might better assist those geopolitical regions most at risk (i.e. poor, developing countries) to become more resilient – an approach that is necessary for both the physical health of the planet and the prospects for social justice.     

China’s Peripheral Security Environment: Analytical Framework, Indicator System and Evaluation *

Since the end of the Cold War, the West and China have had diverging interpretations of “security environment.” China tends to define security from the perspective of development, while the West’s definition concerns external threats to security. In Chinese circumstances, the understanding of security environment has evolved from simply military to a more comprehensive one covering military, politics, economics and public opinions. This article develops a theoretical framework to analyze China’s peripheral security environment in the new era, and constructs an indicator system to evaluate it. The indicator system consists of the political security environment, military security environment, development security environment, public opinion security environment, and China’s periphery strategy, drawing upon the theories of Realism, Liberal Institutionalism and Constructivism. Furthermore, this article analyzes indicators through dimensionless methods based on the databases of the World Bank, the “Foreign Relations” database of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University and the People’s Daily, and compares three peripheral security environment scenarios. The result shows that in a general sense, China’s peripheral security environment has improved over the past decades. However, the situations after the 2008 global financial crisis have diverged, and different theoretical perspectives provide very different images. It seems that China has entered a very different environment, and for stable security environment in the future, China needs to cooperate with neighboring countries.     

Investigating the Postmortem Molecular Biology of Cartilage and its Potential Forensic Applications

This study investigated the postmortem molecular changes that articular cartilage undergoes following burial. Fresh pig trotters were interred in 30‐cm‐deep graves at two distinct locations exhibiting dissimilar soil environments for up to 42 days. Extracts of the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint cartilage from trotters disinterred weekly over 6 weeks were analyzed by Western blot against the monoclonal antibody 2‐B‐6 to assess aggrecan degradation. In both soil conditions, aggrecan degradation by‐products of decreasing molecular size and complexity were observed up to 21 days postmortem. Degradation products were undetected after this time and coincided with MCP/MTP joint exposure to the soil environment. These results show that cartilage proteoglycans undergo an ordered molecular breakdown, the analysis of which may have forensic applications. This model may prove useful for use as a human model and for forensic investigations concerning crimes against animals and the mortality of endangered species.     

环境群体性事件的特点、原因及其法律对策

环境群体性事件具有发展形势严峻、预警较易、参与者诉求多样化、地域不确定的特点,其中既有公众环境意识提高、政府环境信息公开的积极原因,也有我国环境法制体系不完善、环境与发展未协调、环境问题自身特点因素所致的消极原因。处理事件的法律对策,包括健全并修订环境标准,消除环境立法领域的冲突与盲点,引入环境风险防范原则,健全公民环境权司法救济的渠道以及依法处置和预防该类事件等方面。     

WTO规则下单边贸易保护措施实施的条件——关贸总协定第二十条第二款之适用

随着全球生态环境问题的兴起和可持续发展战略的提出,经济、社会和生态环境的协调发展逐渐为人们所重视.虽然主张贸易自由化的WTO仍强调,应站在传统贸易优先的立场上,通过国际协作,禁止缔约方采取单边贸易措施的方法以达到全球环境保护的目的,但上诉机构对虾-海龟案的最终裁决表明,单边环境措施可以同贸易规则相调和.本文试图通过WTO上诉机构关于金枪鱼案、汽油案和虾-海龟案裁决,以及对<欧盟捕猎夹法规>的比较分析,讨论关贸总协定第二十条第二款之适用.     

绿色壁垒之法律透析

自20世纪70年代末80年代初欧洲率先掀起绿色环保运动以来,相关的绿色环保法规、绿色产品认证制度及标志、绿色包装要求等相继在整个发达国家蔓延,且标准和要求日益提升。实践表明,绿色壁垒已逐步成为继反倾销之后影响国际贸易的另一主要障碍,并呈现出进一步增强的趋势。深入系统地剖析绿色壁垒的成因、特点及现状,对于我国突破这一市场准入门槛,规范和促进本国对外贸易的良性发展具有十分重要的现实意义。     

环境民事公益诉讼立法浅探

随着经济的发展,人类赖以生存和发展的环境却不断在恶化,已经严重危害到人们对美好生活的追求。但是,鉴于许多污染和破坏环境的行为不直接损害特定人的利益,在传统的民事诉讼理论的指导下创制的法律,不能有效地约束和制裁这些行为。近年来,许多学者和专家也呼吁建立环境公益诉讼制度,并对在我国实行环境公益诉讼进行了理论研究和论证。文章在此基础上,先从立法的理由、立法的法律基础对在我国进行环境民事公益诉讼立法的急迫行和可行性进行了论述,然后细化分析了具体立法时的几个关键问题,对建立环境民事公益诉讼制度进行了探讨。     

绿色GDP核算与山西可持续发展

山西经济结构为重型结构,资源与环境问题非常突出。文章通过对山西绿色GDP核算的研究,提出山西可持续发展的对策:树立绿色GDP的理念,转变经济增长方式;建立完善山西资源开发和环境损耗的经济补偿机制;以绿色GDP促进循环经济发展;将绿色GDP纳入干部的考核体系中。     

谈当代大学生心理健康的环境要求

当前大学生的心理状况复杂多变 ,缺乏稳定性 ,主要存在心理不适应、自我封闭、自我逃避和性心理障碍等问题。产生这些心理问题的环境因素 ,既包括大学生自身的因素 ,也包括社会的和学习的、生活的因素。解决这些问题的途径 ,在于创造良好的心理环境 ,建立科学的预测系统 ,完善心理服务的机构和机制。