The investigation used the Ecological Footprint as an educational tool to assist Environmental Management and Water Care learners at Technikon Northern Gauteng, Soshanguve learners in gaining insight in their consumption of natural renewable and non-renewable resources and generation of wastes. In addition, it also aimed to assist them in understanding the ecological impacts of their behavior on the available international and national productive land and thus on planet earth. The results of the investigation indicated a significant decrease in the post-test questionnaire knowledge, attitude, and behaviour scores of the learner group. The implication however was clear; the Ecological Footprint did not directly have an effect on the attitude and behaviour of the learners but indirectly influenced the knowledge base of the learners, which then should have an impact on their attitude and behaviour over time. The Ecological Footprint could thus be an educational tool that could be incorporated into the curricula of the two academic programs at TNG, viz Water Care and Environmental Management for increasing knowledge and improving the attitude and behaviour of learners towards a more sustainable lifestyle. / Educational Studies / M.Ed.(Environmental Education)

The thesis deals with carbon footprint of households in South Bohemia, namely greenhouse gas emissions associated with the ordinary activities of each of us. The main objective of this thesis is to calculate the carbon footprint of households in the South Bohemia Region. The partial aim is then to assess which of the monitored components has the largest share of the total carbon footprint. These components are heating, electricity, cars, public transport, flying and food. Another partial objective is to compare the results in sociodemographic groups, which are residence, gender, education, age and income per person. The theoretical part explains the concepts such as global warming, sustainable development, ecological footprint, carbon footprint, and three already realized research on carbon footprint. The practical part describes the data acquisition, GILDED project, which was the inspiration for this thesis and method for calculating the carbon footprint. The main part consists of evaluating the calculated results, not overall carbon footprint, but also comparisons within categories of residence, gender, education, age, and income per person. The thesis finishes with the summary, which summarizes the most important results.

A Contabilidade Financeira busca informações confiáveis que sejam razoavelmente livres de erros, viés e mostrem, fielmente, o que visam representar. A obtenção de valores ambientais com menos viés possíveis, mais acurados e comparáveis poderia, talvez, se constituir em parâmetro para definição de serviços ambientais, ensejar discussões quanto ao tratamento contábil da área do bioma preservado e, também, comercialização de certificado ambiental baseado na preservação do meio ambiente e, de forma geral, servir de subsídios para tomada de decisões empresariais e governamentais. Este trabalho tem por objetivo propor métrica de valoração de Reservas Legais e Áreas de Preservação Permanente em propriedades agrícolas, no seu estado natural, puro e ainda livre dos efeitos das ações humanas. A métrica foi desenvolvida com base no método de Custo de Oportunidade (CO), Contabilidade Emergética e Curva Ambiental de Kuznets (CAK). A referida métrica constitui-se da soma do valor do C.O. ao Valor Total do Bioma (VTB). Porém, o valor do C.O. é descontado pelo risco do negócio analisado. O VTB é estimado pela Contabilidade Emergética, sendo considerada a área do hectare preservado, em RL e/ou APP, e a área remanescente do bioma estudado. Então, o VTB é ponderado pela CAK, esta estimada pela variação dos preços da cultura agrícola analisada. Visando sua validação, estimou-se a área preservada em hectares de Reservas Legais e Áreas de Preservação Permanente de cada bioma terrestre brasileiro referente às dez culturas agrícolas que possuem maior área plantada. Das culturas utilizaram-se os dados sobre os valores brutos de produção, a variação dos preços em média nacional e a extensão territorial das unidades federais brasileiras. Utilizaram-se também os dados dos biomas terrestres brasileiros referentes às suas áreas totais e áreas remanescentes preservadas. Informações estas obtidas em consulta ao site do IBGE, IBAMA e Agrolink. Na sequência, foi aplicada a métrica para valorar os biomas preservados em nível nacional e sobre cinco culturas reais de dados coletados de empresas agrícolas. Entre os resultados obtidos com a métrica, o maior valor foi para o bioma Pampas sobre a cultura agrícola de mandioca no ano de 2010 (R$1.754,03) e o menor para o bioma Cerrado sob a cultura de trigo no ano de 2005 (R$ 53,67). A tentativa era expressar os valores, por meio da métrica proposta, que diferentes indivíduos atribuiriam aos biomas e, com isso, estimular a preservação ao viabilizar um mercado que remunere os preservadores. Trata-se de uma proposta inovadora, e os valores podem ser utilizados para auxiliar legisladores a viabilizar a regulamentação das legislações que preveem a concessão de compensações pela prestação de serviços ambientais, além de servirem como instrumentos de gestão ambiental interna às empresas, principalmente, pelo reconhecimento do potencial de benefícios dos recursos sob suas responsabilidades. / The Financial Accounting search reliable information that is reasonably free errors, bias and show, faithfully, what aim at represents. Obtaining environmental values with less bias possible, more accurate and comparable could, perhaps, constitute parameter for defining environmental services, give rise to discussions about the accounting treatment of the biome area preserved and, also, marketing of environmental certificate based on preservation the environment and, in general way, serve as support for business decisions take and government. This work aims to propose metric valuation of Legal Reserves and Permanent Preservation Areas on agricultural properties, in their natural state, pure and yet free from the effects of human actions. The metric was developed based on the method of Opportunity Cost (OC), Accounting Emergy and Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). The metric constitutes themselves from the sum of the value of O.C. to the Biome Total Value (BTV). However, the value of O.C. is discounted by business risk analyzed. The BTV is estimated by Emergy Accounting, considering the area hectare preserved in RL and / or APP, and the remaining area of the biome studied. So, the VTB is weighted by EKC, estimated by this change in the prices of agricultural crops analyzed. Aiming validation, estimated the preserved area in hectares of Legal Reserves and Permanent Preservation Areas of each terrestrial biome Brazilian referring to the ten crops that have greater acreage. From the cultures used the data on gross production, the price variation in average national and territorial scope of the federal units of Brazil. Were also used data from the Brazilian terrestrial biomes with respect to their total areas and remaining areas preserved. Information they obtained by consulting the IBGE site, IBAMA and Agrolink. Further, we applied the metric to value biomes preserved in national and over five real cultures data collected from agricultural enterprises. Between the results obtained with the metric, the highest value was for the Pampas biome on the cassava crop in 2010 (R $ 1,754.03) and lowest for the Cerrado biome in the wheat crop in 2005 (R $ 53.67). The attempt was to express the values, through the proposed metric, which would assign individuals on different biomes and, thereby, encouraging the preservation by allowing a market to remunerate preservers. This is an innovative proposal, and the values can be used to assist legislators to enable the regulation of the laws that predict the granting compensation the provision of environmental services, besides serving as instruments of internal environmental management firms, mainly, by recognition of the potential benefits of the resources under their responsibility.

The Master´s thesis is structurally divided into the theoretical and practical part. In the theoretical part, the author describes current global environmental issues and the impact of the industry on the environment. The current state of the environmental legislation in mechanical engineering, environmental management systems, and methodologies of an environmental impact assessment are described. The practical part deals with the environmental burden of the snowboard production process according to the LCA method. Life cycle inventory is performed to evaluate individual materials whose production is the most environmentally damaging. At the last stage, possible measures are proposed to reduce the environmental burden.

No description available.

Es presenta una recerca activista de geografia crítica sobre el capitalisme balear: el poder, el seu procés d’internacionalització, els fluxos de materials del seu metabolisme social i la seva petjada ecològica. En primer lloc, es vinculen l’economia ecològica i la geografia crítica, amb l’estudi de les mesures biofísiques, les lògiques espacials i els processos socials del capitalisme balear. En segon lloc, es pretén situar el turisme en un lloc central en la via d’acumulació capitalista, desxifrar la seva dinàmica sociopolítica, la geografia de la seva globalització neoliberal i els conflictes socials que genera, particularment la seva contribució a la crisi socioecològica global. En tercer lloc, s’ha pretès esbrinar l’evolució geohistòrica del capitalisme balear, amb l’anàlisi de les geometries del poder, una comptabilitat biofísica, les solucions geogràfiques del capital –deslocalitzacions productives i desplaçaments de les extraccions– i els conflictes socials associats. / Se presenta una investigación activista de geografía crítica sobre el capitalismo balear: el poder, su proceso de internacionalización, los flujos de materiales de su metabolismo social y su huella ecológica. En primer lugar, se vinculan la economía ecológica y la geografía crítica, con el estudio de las medidas biofísicas, las lógicas espaciales y los procesos sociales del capitalismo balear. En segundo lugar, se pretende situar el turismo en un lugar central en la vía de acumulación capitalista, descifrar su dinámica sociopolítica, la geografía de su globalización neoliberal y los conflictos sociales que genera, particularmente su contribución a la crisis socioecológica global. En tercer lugar se ha pretendido averiguar la evolución geohistórica del capitalismo balear, con el análisis de las geometrías del poder, una contabilidad biofísica, las sociones geográfics del capital –deslocalizaciones productivas y desplazamientos de las extracciones– y los conflictos sociales a él asociados. / We are submitting a critical geography activist research paper on Balearic capitalism: the power, its internationalization process, the flows of materials of its social metabolism and its ecological footprint. Firstly, ecological economics and critical geography are linked with the study of biophysical measurements, spatial logics and the social processes of Balearic capitalism. Secondly, an attempt is made to situate tourism in a central place in the path of capitalist accumulation, deciphering its socio-political dynamic, the geography of its neoliberal globalization and the social conflicts generated, particularly its contribution to the global socio-economic crisis. Thirdly, we have attempted to discover the geohistorical evolution of Balearic capitalism, by analyzing the geometries of power, biophysical accounting and the geographical solutions of the capital – relocation of production and movement of the extractions – and associated social conflicts.

Abu Dhabi has experienced an unprecedented development during the last half century, growing rapidly from a remote desert settlement to a thriving metropolitan. Today, the Emirate ranks among the countries with the highest GDP per capita in the world, and this impressive development is anticipated to continue in the decades to come.<p><p>However, there are several challenges to the sustainability of the current economic prosperity, and the environmental degradation that was caused by the rapid development is an important factor in this context. Today, the United Arab Emirates as a country has the highest ecological footprint per capita in the world and Abu Dhabi, hosting the major part of the heavy industries and oil extraction capacity in the country, has an even larger footprint. Key drivers of this poor environmental track-record are the high greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption levels.<p><p>This deterioration of environmental conditions has growing implications for the economic welfare and physical well-being of the population. So far, the government's environmental policy is mostly symbolic, and concrete policy measures are largely lacking today. On the contrary, there are crucial elements in the governmental policy that have strong negative impacts on environmental conditions and thus on the sustainability of Abu Dhabi's growth, such as generous implicit subsidies on energy commodities and water and an ambitious strategy for economic growth, depending on a strong expansion of heavy industry.<p><p>This poses the question how environmental conditions will develop, when the population boom and economic expansion are anticipated to continue. However, the academic literature on environmental sustainability issues in Abu Dhabi as well as in the wider Gulf region is limited. Moreover, applied policy studies on the topic are absent as well.<p><p>This dissertation intends to contribute to the academic literature as well as to insights from existing policy studies, by projecting the impact of sustained economic growth on environmental conditions in Abu Dhabi. It compares a baseline scenario of economic growth with the four most relevant policy options aimed at footprint reductions available to policy makers in the Emirate: i) The introduction of a nuclear power plant; ii) An abandonment of utility price controls; iii) Shifts in the subsidization policy of water and energy markets; iv) Energy efficiency improvements in selected parts of the economy.<p><p>A recursively dynamic, multi-sectoral computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is used to generate the results in this dissertation, focusing on the two most important aspects of the ecological footprint in Abu Dhabi mentioned above. The CGE model is calibrated to a SAM for Abu Dhabi for 2009, and its specification is chosen to facilitate a focus on energy consumption and sustainability issues. Besides, it is extended by an environmental module and a fossil fuel module, and it incorporates several other modifications that are tailored to the Abu Dhabi economy.<p><p>Simulation results under a baseline scenario of economic growth show that carbon emissions will grow by 282% by 2030 compared to the base year 2009, and water consumption is anticipated to increase by 312%.<p><p>The introduction of nuclear plants, at the scale that is previewed today, will yield a reduction in emissions of 2.6% compared to the baseline scenario. The economic impact will be positive, with a 0.5% increase in GDP and small gains in employment levels.<p><p>Price liberalizations in the utility markets are a politically sensitive theme. When implemented, they can yield a 7.6% reduction in emissions and a 2.3% in water consumption by 2030 (vs. baseline). However, the economic cost involved amounts to 0.3% of GDP.<p><p>An abandonment of subsidies in the energy and water markets can lead to a 11.1% drop in carbon emissions, and a 28.8% decline in water consumption vs. baseline. The domestic economic impacts of this change are negative, but the GDP shows a modest 0.6% growth, due to improvements in the foreign trade balance.<p><p>Finally, efficiency improvements can lead to reductions in carbon emissions (13.8%) and water consumption (17.5%) compared to the baseline, and bring economic gains of 1.0% of GDP.<p><p>All four simulated policy scenarios in this dissertation bring about reductions in the ecological footprint, compared to the baseline as described above. Nonetheless, the consumption levels of energy and water as well as the related carbon emissions will be substantially higher in 2030 than they are today, under each of these scenarios. As a policy implication, the dissertation therefore finds that the previewed deterioration in environmental conditions requires active policy, if current welfare and prosperity are to be sustained. When assessed in the appropriate policy context, environmental conservation and improvements in the ecological footprint should be treated with a higher priority in the broad portfolio of development goals in Abu Dhabi.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished