<p> This dissertation research examines the perceptions held by African Africans as they pertain to the environment and nature and the factors influencing those perceptions. The research covers the ecopsycological elements, historical narratives, and current social dynamics of African American culture in order to understand their frame of reference in connection to the environment. Two populations of African American adults in Michigan and South Carolina were used to study the perceptions and behaviors exhibited by the culture. The research study used interview sessions and questionnaires in order to generate qualitative and quantitative data. The data focused on outdoor childhood activities, adult involvement, concerns about the environment, perceptions of individuals and mainstream organizations associated with the environment, current and potential environmental behaviors, and factors contributing to the participants&rsquo; environmental actions and decisions. With unanimous responses indicating that research participants have engaged in some form of outdoor activity during childhood, as well as a majority of these individuals expressing time spent outdoors or in nature as positive, there is indication the environment plays an integral part in the lives of African Americans. Additionally, participants acknowledged discussions about the environment and nature rarely occurred between themselves and their parents or other adults during their childhood, especially in regards to conservation, preservation, and pollution prevention measures. What they did experience, however, was language through demonstration; any specific actions about managing or taking care of the earth was learned through hands-on approaches rather than verbal communication. Lastly participants in this study overwhelmingly cited Caucasians and elements oftentimes associated with Caucasians as the frame of reference for environmentalism. In contrast, African Americans are just as interested in and concerned about the environment, yet they do not perceive themselves as environmentalists. The study results indicate there are significant correlations between some environmental and social aspects exhibited by the participants and overall, African Americans are interested in the environment and some of the components associated with it.</p>

<p> The study presented here focuses on development activity in several communities across two districts of rural Costa Rica. The remainder of this introductory chapter provides a brief description of the study location and elaborates a brief statement about the motivations of this research. A review of relevant literature is provided in Chapter 2, followed by a discussion of the research approach, questions, and study methods in Chapter 3. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)</p>

Background: Trends for more sustainable and environmental friendly business practices have transformed many industries, especially Volvo CE as an OEM within heavy vehicle industry, where company needs to continuously innovate and develop environmental sustainability technologies. Volvo CE is trying to balance the cost and profit with environmental impact through engaging in sustainable operations and do it through the optimization of Environmental Performance Management (EPM). There is a need for Volvo CE to improve their whole supply chain throughout the entire tier of suppliers since the suppliers create a major value within company business and Volvo CE need to find the way on how to diffuse the EPM to supplier networks. Also, to control and evaluate the process, Volvo CE is looking for systematic control mechanism to measure and control the practice of EPM. Research questions: 1. How does the environmental regulation in heavy vehicle industry impact the EPM of Volvo CE? 2. How should the EPM be efficiently diffused to the supplier network of Volvo CE? 3. Which are the effective control mechanisms of the EPM on the supplier network of Volvo CE? Purpose: The purpose of this paper is two-fold. Firstly, it aims to identify the impact of environmental regulations has in Volvo CE. Secondly, it is set to analyse the possible ways to efficiently diffused the EPM on the supplier network of Volvo CE and identify control mechanisms for the EPM implementation on the supplier network, from the perspective of Volvo CE. Method: By using Volvo CE as the research object, this study adopts case study method with qualitative approach. The study is conducted in ii Volvo CE perspective where it has an abductive approach with the intention to examine the impact of environmental regulation in EPM of Volvo CE, understand how Volvo CE implement the diffusion back to the supplier network and control the process through EPM. Conclusion: The findings emphasize that the environmental sustainability regulations impact the EPM in Volvo CE are distributed in manufacturing/production, managerial, strategic, technical and compliance area. Volvo CE needs to work a lot with energy efficiencies, material efficiencies and waste reduction management and find the products, which need less energy to produce and environmental friendly. To achieve the efficient of EPM adoption, EPM should perceive to have relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability characteristic. The control mechanism can be built through formal and informal control techniques. Specifically, Volvo CE needs to identify more joint KPI:s with suppliers and include important suppliers in the process. A long-term relationship with an important supplier will alleviate the control of 2:nd and 3:rd tier supplier since the important supplier will have the trust and authority to control, monitor and oversee how they are implementing the environmental aspect in their daily work.

The designer explores how to improve souvenir design in the real market by questioning the issues of authenticity and the need of sustainable strategies. It takes the city of Växjö as a start point for a touristic place and analyses different categories. Through observations and interviews, the issues are confirmed and a design brief is made. Based on theories of product semantics and emotional design, the result from the investigation summarised to suggest guide for souvenir design. The guide is illustrated in a series of videos meant to anyone working in the souvenir industry.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Organisational Psychology 2016 / Recent environmental awareness has led to an expanding interest surrounding environmental consciousness and a greater social shift world over towards energy efficiency and the sustainability of technologies and resources. Consequently, there has been the development of sustainable technologies within the automobile industry including that of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). With the development of these technologies, it becomes necessary to investigate the factors that underpin the use and adoption of them within our society, so as to ensure their greater diffusion, use and adoption. In this light, this study aimed to investigate the factors that function in predicting the Intention to Adopt the sustainable technology of HEVs. This has been investigated in accordance with the constructs of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. This model comprises the constructs of: Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence and Facilitating Conditions. This study also intended to examine these constructs and determine whether they are moderated by the constructs of Pro-Environmental Behaviour and Dispositional Resistance to Change in predicting the Intention to Adopt HEVs. The sample for this study was comprised of 133 final year Law students from the University of the Witwatersrand. The adapted UTAUT Scale, the adapted Dispositional Resistance to Change Scale and the Pro-Environmental Scale were utilised as the measures within this study. Several subscales of the UTAUT Scale as well as the Pro-Environmental Behaviour (PEB) Scale had low Internal Consistency Reliabilities within both the Pilot and Main study. However, the researcher chose to run the analyses taking this into consideration. Several subscales of the UTAUT Scale as well as the Dispositional Resistance to Change (DRC) Scale had acceptable levels of Internal Consistency Reliabilities for use in conducting analyses. Multiple regression equations and moderated multiple regression equations were run in order to investigate the effects of these constructs in predicting the Intention to Adopt HEVs. The results drawn from this study illustrated that there was a positive, significant effect of two questions concerning lifestyle factors and a reduced taxed levy of the construct Facilitating Conditions on Intention to Adopt HEVs. The results also showed that the constructs of PEB and DRC had no direct moderating influence on Intention to Adopt HEVs. / MT2017

Thesis advisor: Charles Derber / This paper examines the capacity of post-secondary institutions, namely colleges and universities, to assist in the development of more sustainable, socially just food systems. The global, industrial paradigm of food production and distribution creates innumerable problems related to human health and ecological degradation. Due to its reliance on cheap energy and government subsidies, in conjunction with the social and environmental costs associated with it, the industrial food system is not sustainable in the long-term. The opening chapters of this thesis analyzes the dominant trends of food production and distribution, and explores the alternative movements that have propagated in response to the devastating failures of the industrial food system. For various reasons, the education sector has demonstrated vast potential to incubate and advance these alternatives. This thesis explores the main initiatives gaining momentum throughout the education system, and attempts to discern the potential for educational institutions—in particular, institutions of higher education—to support local, sustainable agriculture and to empower the next generation of producers and consumers to take back control of their food system. Since the unique role of higher education in reforming the industrial food system remains in the realm of speculation for the time being, this paper also provides a concrete case study of sustainable food initiatives at Boston College, in hopes that further studies of this kind will continue to encourage the transition from speculation to reality. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Sociology.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a synopsis of the current issues facing ecotourism in Costa Rica; critically examine the impacts and challenges of ecotourism; analyze the potential of ecotourism as a strategy for sustainable development; look at ways in which ecotourism and sustainable development can be evaluated; and suggest ways to improve current ecotourism practices and policies for Costa Rica. What are the impacts and challenges of ecotourism? What are the possible benefits that ecotourism can bring? Is ecotourism in Costa Rica sustainable? Based on the guiding principles of ecotourism, a legitimate argument can be made that ecotourism in Costa Rica has not produced desired outcomes and is not sustainable. However, an equally strong argument can be made that although ecotourism may not currently be sustainable, it has yet to fully mature, and has shown signs that it can achieve a balance between development and conservation goals.. Ecotourism has more promise for achieving sustainability than alternative types of land use such as agriculture, cattle grazing, logging, or mass tourism. Whether or not ecotourism in Costa Rica will prove to be sustainable in the long-term remains to be seen. In order to increase the likelihood that ecotourism achieves goals of sustainable development in Costa Rica, all of the key actors must to begin to take more proactive measures in order to ensure that ecotourism is carefully planned and implemented. Ecotourism must account for social, economic and environmental implications, in order to succeed. A much more balanced and integrated approach, founded on the guiding principles of sustainable development, is essential to maximize the benefits and minimize the negative impacts of ecotourism in Costa Rica. / Master of Public and International Affairs

M.Sc. (Development Planning) thesis, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, 1999

Arising from drastically different world views, misconceptions between foreign NGOs working in Mali and local Malians often lead to actions that perpetuate unjust power dynamics and/or do more harm than good. In order to better align NGO sustainable development efforts in ways that are beneficial to the populations they serve, it is crucial to listen to perspectives that are typically marginalized in our current global system. This thesis explores synergizing NGO-Malian artist partnerships in innovative, mutually understandable, and mutually beneficial ways to increase NGO project effectiveness and efficiency. This case study features twelve interviews with Malian dancers and musicians residing in Bamako, Mali. The intersections between this data and current academic sources indicate suggested 1) processes to cultivate understanding and mindfully work to shift unjust power dynamics; and 2) projects (themes, partnerships with existing opportunities, and innovations) that demonstrate promising, new potential to improve development efforts. / 2014-12-16

What place do historic environments and structures have in cities after their original uses have ceased to have relevance in contemporary urban life? And how does these relate to sustainable city planning, in particular social sustainability? Using the cisterns at the former oil harbour of Loudden, in Stockholm, Sweden as a case study, the purpose of this report is to investigate adaptive reuse strategies and idealogies of the industrial heritage in contemporary cities. These topics are analysed in relation to the prevailing neoliberal planning objectives of branding, economic growth and development and place-making. A critical analysis of the city of Stockholm’s stated sustainability goals reveals a significant disconnect between the technical, economic and environmental sides of sustainability and the equally important social aspects of the term. The overall conclusion is that social sustainability is first and foremost a rhetorical discourse that must be more aggressively pursued as a concrete planning objective and the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage provides a unique opportunity to accomplish this. Furthermore, social, environmental and economic sustainability must be seen as integral and coequal parts to the overarching sustainable ideal. The predominance of economic considerations does not adequately account for the equally crucial aspects of social sustainability such as culture, inclusiveness and integration and historic preservation.