Online consumption and e-tail have clearly increased in recent years, largely sinceaccessibility is an advantage that consumers notice as beneficial. The availability of e-tail has also received clear environmental disadvantages, as returns are an inevitable part of online orders. The increased return rate results in large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, something customer groups with environmental awareness has perceived. Which leads to the purpose of this research, to provide information about environmentally conscious consumers, their behaviors, and intentions towards e-tail returns. Theinformation collected, can be of great significance to fast fashion companies, e-tail platforms, and decision-makers, to guide them in developing effective strategies aimed at promoting sustainable consumption behaviors and mitigating the detrimental environmental effects associated with returns.The empirical findings were gathered through qualitative research, where semi-structured interviews were conducted on 15 Swedish e-tail consumers in the ages 24-44. The empirical evidence was analysed with a Thematic Analysis and discussed in context with the secondary data to strengthen the collected empirical evidence.The conclusion of the thesis portray that the participating environmentally conscious consumers have a predominant insight regarding the environmental impact that occurs when returning e-tail purchases. The research shows that environmental awareness is considered when ordering and returning garments, however, to varying extents, which leads to inconsistent actions. The participants have more environmental thinking regarding the product, production, delivery and consumption i.e., the buying process that directly affects the participants. However, conflicts are identified in several aspects such as that environmental communication from e-tail companies is difficult to understand, economic aspects and the conflict of the desire for certain garments. In summary, the results show that the return process is not prioritized to the same extent as the buying process, because of indirect influence or lack of knowledge of the participants. The findings indicate that there is not always a harmony between the perceptions and actions of the participants.

Project Learning Tree (PLT) is an international environmental education (EE) program designed for educators working with children and youth. In Mississippi, roughly 700 educators are trained yearly in using PLT curricula; however, how and if teachers use knowledge gained from these workshops remains unknown. This study addresses the environmental awareness and use of PLT curricula in traditional classroom of primary and secondary teachers in Mississippi. Using PLT participant survey data, individuals trained during the years 2009-2013 were surveyed using Qualtrics Survey Software. Mississippi teachers appear to have ecocentric worldviews, above average environmental knowledge, and have incorporated PLT lessons into their classroom curricula. Teachers’ subject areas appear not to affect their usage of PLT, while motivation for incorporating and attending PLT workshops appears to have minor effects. Results of this study can be used to increase the efficiency of PLT workshops, as well as mitigate barriers to incorporating PLT into classrooms.

The ocean is, with its extraordinary ability to regulate the climate and absorb carbon dioxide, a vital ecosystem for all life on the planet. Moreover, the ocean is highly important for coastal communities as a source of income and nutrition, and as a consequence of increasing dependence it is becoming more significant to mitigate the effects of these anthropogenic activities on the ocean and its resources. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are one of the policies implemented in order to diminish these impacts through the protection of high biodiversity areas by safeguarding nursing grounds for fish species, help remove excessive pollutants and nutrients and through the provision of more sustainable tourism and recreation opportunities. This thesis explores how MPAs influence coastal zones by assessing the environmental and economic impacts. Addo Elephant National Park Marine Protected Area (ANEP MPA) has, due to the complexity of this social-ecological system, been used as a case study. The thesis will help relevant stakeholders to gain an understanding of the current progress being made and how the effectiveness of the MPA can be further improved. Furthermore, this thesis could be used as an example on how to balance environmental and economic development agendas in coastal communities. During this research, a case study design was used, where data was collected through ten in-depth interviews. During the interviews, the participants’ perceptions where gathered on how the establishment of the MPA has impacted the marine life, the local activities (marine tourism, fishing and ship-to-ship bunkering (STSB)) and the local environmental awareness. Afterwards, the data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings have shown that the establishment of the MPA has mixed results on the marine life and the local activities, which has led to a deficiency in the effectiveness of Addo Elephant National Park MPA. The local environmental awareness appeared to be too small, but whether or not the MPA contributed to growing awareness could not be said from the data alone. The data concluded that this lack of awareness led to a misuse of ocean resources, which aggravated due to a lack of enforcement. Furthermore, the overall enforcement within the MPA should be improved to enlarge the effectiveness of Addo Elephant National Park MPA.

No description available.

Waste disposal has always been one of the challenging aspects of human life mostly in populated areas. In every urban region, various factors can impact both amount and composition of the generated waste, and these factors might depend on a series of parameters. Therefore, developing a predictive model for waste generation has always been challenging. We believe that one main problem that city planners and policymakers face is a lack of an accurate yet easy-to-use predictive model for the waste production of a given municipality. It would be vital for them, especially during business downturns, to access a reliable predictive model that can be employed in planning resources and allocating budget. However, most developed models are complicated and extensive. The objective of this research is to study the trend of solid waste generation in Philadelphia with respect to business cycle indicators, population growth, current policies and environmental awareness, and to develop a satisfactory predictive model for waste generation. Three predictive models were developed using time series analysis, stationary and nonstationary multiple linear regressions. The nonstationary OLS model was just used for comparison purposes and does not have any modeling value. Among the other two developed predictive models, the multiple linear regression model with stationary variables yielded the most accurate predictions for both total and municipal solid waste generation of Philadelphia. Despite its unsatisfactory statistics (R-square, p-value, and F-value), stationary OLS model could predict Philadelphia’s waste generation with a low level of approximately 9% error. Although time series modeling demonstrated a less successful prediction comparing to the stationary OLS model (25% error for total solid waste, and 10.7% error for municipal waste predictions), it would be a more reliable method based on its model statistics. The common variable used in all three developed models which made our modeling different from the Streets Department’s estimations was unemployment rate. Including an economic factor such as unemployment rate in modeling the waste generation could be helpful especially during economic downturns, in which economic factors can dominate the effects of population growth on waste generation. A prediction of waste generation may not only help waste management sector in landfill and waste-to-energy facilities planning but it also provides the basis for a good estimation of its future environmental impacts. In future, we are hoping to predict related environmental trends such as greenhouse gas emissions using our predictive model. / Environmental Engineering

Yes / Objectives: To investigate the performance of a novel flat pack toric daily disposable contact lens compared with traditionally packaged toric lenses in a randomized, crossover study. Environmental attitudes to contact lens wear were also explored. Methods: Habitual contact lens wearers were recruited to wear a hioxifilcon A (Miru 1 day Flat Pack Toric, Menicon, Nagoya, Japan) test lens and a control lens: either nelfilcon A (Dailies AquaComfort Plus, Alcon, Geneva, Switzerland) or etafilcon A (1-Day Acuvue Moist, Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ). Objective lens performance was assessed at fitting, and participants wore lenses in a randomized order for three consecutive days. Subjective measures of lens performance (comfort, vision, and handling) were then assessed by a questionnaire, with further questions on overall lens preference and environmental perceptions. Results: Objective measures of lens fit were similar for the test and control lenses, except for distance VA which was better with the control lenses (P<0.05; difference of two logMAR letters). End of day comfort was greater with the test lens, but this did not reach significance. Both lenses demonstrated similar scores for overall satisfaction. 87.5% of participants indicated the environmental impact of contact lenses to be important/extremely important to them, with 100% of participants identifying the flat pack packaging as having a smaller environmental impact. Conclusion: Overall, the lenses used in the study performed to similar levels. Environmental credentials are important to contact lens wearers, which may contribute to overall lens preference.

The thesis is focused on an assessing the impact of the level of an environmental literacy of primary school teachers to the level of the environmental literacy of pupils in primary schools in the region Zatec. This work continues on a thesis Silvie Svobodové (2013) The influence of environmental education at the level of environmental literacy of pupils in primary schools Zatec region and complements the conclusions on the extent of influence of environmental education on environmental awareness of the 2nd degree. It examines the extent of the influence level of teachers'environmental literacy to the level of the environmental literacy among students. The theoretical part includes a literature search, including the characteristics of the Saaz region. The introduction of practical part presents an overview of environmental education and awareness practiced in tested primary schools. Survey was carried out through sequential combined research, scheme QUAN-qual. The questionnaire was tested in June 2015 with 84 respondents, 13 men and 71 women. Structured interview in October 2015 attended 12 teachers, 4 men and 8 women. Analysis of the scope and level of environmental education and awareness on the tested schools in Zatec region confirmed relatively positive results. Testing of teachers demonstrated...

<p></p><p>I dagens samhälle tas miljöfrågor allt oftare upp i den allmänna och politiska debatten och ett aktivt miljöarbete är något som i allt högre grad krävs av företag från bland annat myndigheter och miljöorganisationer. Stålindustrin är inget undantag och får därför ofta kritik för att de åtgärder som vidtas inte är tillräckliga.</p><p>Inom stålindustrin genomför företag ofta investeringar för att minska sin miljöpåverkan trots att avkastning på det investerade kapitalet uteblir. Den institutionella organisationsteorin förklarar dessa handlingar som direkta konsekvenser av likriktning. Det fenomen som studeras i studien är spridningen av miljömedvetenhet eftersom denna anses ligga till grund för investeringarna i miljöåtgärder inom den svenska stålindustrin. Formatet för studien är en fallstudie där den empiriska datainsamlingen skett genom tryckt material och intervjuer.</p><p>Det kan konstateras att det studerade företagets miljöarbete påverkas i stor utsträckning av andra aktörer inom det organisatoriska fält som företaget tillhör. Inverkan på det studerade företagets miljöarbete och således spridningen av miljömedvetenhet varierar mycket mellan olika aktörer. Det är framförallt aktören <em>politiker och myndigheter</em> som genom tvingande mekanismer styr företagets miljöarbete. Beroende på rådande situation kan dock även influenserna från övriga aktörer påverka företagets miljöarbete och spridningen av miljömedvetenhet.</p><p> </p> / <p></p><p>In society today environmental issues more often appear on both the public and the political agenda and an active environmental awareness is increasingly often demanded from companies by regulative authorities and environmental organisations. The steel industry is no exception and therefore receives criticism that they do not undertake the necessary actions to prevent further pollution.</p><p>Companies within the steel industry often invest in different measures to reduce their environmental impact although it seldom generates a profit. Institutional theory explains these actions as direct consequences of conformity. The phenomenon of interest is the spread of environmental awareness because it is considered to be the reason behind investments in environmental impact reduction within the Swedish steel industry. The study is preformed as a case study where the empirical data is collected through written sources and interviews.</p><p>It is established that the environmental work of the focal company is largely affected by the other actors within the organizational field of interest. Among these actors the level of impact on the focal company’s environmental work and therefore also the spreading of environmental awareness varies a lot. <em>Politicians and government authorities are</em> the actor which first and foremost through coercive actions affects the environmental work in the studied company. Although, depending on the situation at hand the other actors can also play very important parts in affecting the studied company and the spread of environmental awareness.</p><p> </p>

The Circular Business Model (CBM) is one way to achieve a more sustainable future. Its goal is to reduce the use of natural resources which are becoming more scarce on our planet. The aim of the study is to investigate the consumer behavior and the determinants of the willingness to adopt Product Service System (PSS), one of the models of CBM. Through previous research, five main factors were identified: Economical Value, Flexibility, Trust, Desire to Own and Peer Influence. Furthermore, some literature argue that environmental awareness has an influence on the consumers’ choice of consumption. Therefore, this factor is considered and used as a moderating variable in the conceptual model. The primary data was collected through an online questionnaire and the hypotheses were tested through multiple regression analyses. Seven out of the twelve hypotheses were accepted. The study also concludes that environmental awareness does not have a high impact on the model. The environmental awareness did only have a positive moderating effect in the peer influence factor. It was determined in the study that economical value has the highest impact on the model.

A Teia de Alcance Mundial, como é conhecida a www da população que já tem acesso à internet, tem se tornado no Brasil rapidamente expressiva em tempos de mercados globais e, dentro deste contexto, a atividade do ecoturismo é analisada enquanto oferta e mensagem online. Realiza-se um estudo qualitativo exploratório no intuito de discutir a presente oferta ecoturística online e a mensagem propagada via rede. O termo ecoturismo é questionado, assim como as iniciativas que se apropriam da palavra para uso indiscriminado, seja via mensagem ou em práticas de viagens duvidosas. Pesquisa com a seção Aventura, do suplemento Viagem O Estado de S.Paulo é retomada para verificar versão online desta mídia. Também se discute como o ecoturismo pode ser virtual mas, efetivamente, uma atividade que demonstre sustentabilidade. Inspirado nos sites de clicar-doar, descobre-se a homepage Ecosolidariedade, que serve de analogia para uma proposta de um novo site de donativo em ecoturismo, com um modelo diferente de parceria entre empresas doadoras e Organizações Não Governamentais. Acredita-se que, com a participação de internautas que encontrem feedback em um endereço na rede para suas questões de viagens ecoturísticas, há razoáveis chances de Meanders, como batiza-se a idéia, vingar. O trabalho conclui que a rede é subaproveitada pelo ecoturismo diante do potencial atual. Raros são os exemplos de iniciativas com posturas e práticas sócio-ambientais louváveis. Neste sentido, pouco mudou desde uma década atrás. Portanto, há muito o que fazer para que, pela internet e com o ecoturismo, sejam possíveis ações que façam uma diferença e garantam um futuro melhor. / The World Wide Web popularization has evoked an unavoidable link between ecotourism and internet, fact further analyzed in this study. Qualitative approach is performed to discuss which are the ecotourism services currently online available. In addiction, the investigation is complemented with a critical view to distinguish between uses and misuses of the term ecotourism by media, travel agencies and tour operators basically. In this way, it is used as a present example the section Aventura from the weekly travel supplement Viagem, belonging to the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo. A discussion on how the ecotourism can be a virtual (and real) way of sustainability is also done. Some free will donate homepages were sorted out and by chance put one of them, Ecosolidariedade, as a model for a specific analysis, mainly due to its original idea of partnership among companies and NGOs to make possible a fund raising process. In a similar way, it is proposed a new concept of homepage employing the action of the internaut in a real context of sustainability in ecotourism. This is further explained by the project named Meanders. It is concluded that the cyberspace is far from an appropriate manner of being useful for ecotourism actions and there are seldom examples aiming the principles of environmental consciousness and practices. Little has been changed since the last decade in how goes Brazilian ecotourism conception and promotion. There is a long path that should be more fostered through internet to stimulate the ecotourism as a way of dissemination on effective social and environmental benefits. São Paulo. 2001.