Thesis (Ph. D.)--Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Weber, Rodney; Committee Co-Chair: Bergin, Michael; Committee Member: Mulholland, James; Committee Member: Nenes, Athanasios; Committee Member: Russell, Armistead. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

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The ideas contained in socially critical Environmental Education cannot be ignored given the current environmental crisis and the need to achieve democracy in South African society. In order to achieve this learners need to develop the skills to make informed decisions which will facilitate the achievement of a sustainable society. It is the contention of this research that a socially critical Environmental Education approach to education can facilitate the above. Teachers of formal secondary school Geography Education are in the position to implement socially critical Environmental Education into their teaching. This study therefore investigates the perspectives of student teachers regarding the role of Environmental Education in secondary school Geography Education. This was done within the Interpretative Paradigm using a case study which involved five Higher Diploma in Education Geography method students. The research has revealed that even though the Geography method students have been exposed to an Environmental Education course, in their teaching preparation and are motivated to use it, they have limited understanding of the theory underpinning Environmental Education and how to apply it to their Geography teaching. The problems of bridging theory and practice was apparent. Recommendations are made as how to best facilitate the gap between theory and practice.

This thesis presents the history of nature conservation and recreation in the Cairngorms area of the eastern Highlands of Scotland, over the century 1880-1980. An introductory chapter sets the scene by describing the observations of travellers, sportsmen and naturalists who visited the area from c.1770. The study then traces the history of the National Park debate in the Cairngorms area (and to an extent, in Scotland), the history of the National Forest Park ideal focusing in on Glenmore, and the history of two National Nature Reserves, including the Cairngorms NNR (the largest in Great Britain). Other chapters address, within an historical framework, the public nature conservation success story of the Osprey on Speyside; the nineteenth and twentieth century rights of way debate and the question of access to mountains and moorland; the development of Aviemore and the Spey Valley as a year-round recreational playground and winter sports centre. Photography and film-making are highlighted as mediums through which nature conservation and recreation have been legitimised and popularised for a mass audience outside the Cairngorms area. The thesis discusses the background to the present landuse conflicts that have dogged the Cairngorms area from 1980, and may prove helpful to land-managers and policymakers in government, conservation and recreation bodies, as it charts the remarkable degree of change in attitudes to nature conservation and recreation witnessed in the Cairngorms. Recreation has always been seen to directly benefit more people, but it is the quality of the environment that supports that recreation. The Cairngorms represent a case study in this kind of conflict, which over the past century has become increasingly common in the UK, Europe and North America. The work is a contribution to the construction of a modem environmental history of Great Britain.

M.B.A / Although current legislation does not require companies to have Environmental Management Systems (EMS), the time is approaching where certified companies world-wide may well be offered preferential treatment by their governments (Diller, 1997: 36 - 39). South African companies are also realising that the environment is important (AFT Newsletter, 1997: 1). It seems likely, therefore, that many foreign trading partners will require international registration from their import manufacturers (Kumar & Kumar, 1997). Impala Platinum Limited produces various metals at its Base Metal Refinery (BMR) in Springs, Gauteng Province, South Africa. In its pursuit ofthe extraction and refining of these metals, the company makes use of staff drawn mostly from the adjacent residential area of Springs. This area also borders on a World Wildlife-proclaimed wetland, known as the Blesbokspruit. The company has thought it prudent to research the need to implement an EMS at the Springs site (Reynolds, 1998; Skelton, 1998b), for the following reasons: • to ensure competitive advantage by pre-empting customer requirements with regard to responsible environmental management; • to provide a safe, healthy working environment for the company's staff; • to provide a safe, healthy environment for residents living in the close proximity of the site;..

M.Com. (Business Management) / Retailers are the main link between product suppliers and final consumers and therefore in a position to play a pivotal role in driving environmental sustainability by encouraging the adoption of appropriate greening practices in their total supply chain activities. Whilst studies have been conducted on the green supply chain practices of leading retailers from around the world, few studies have been conducted on retailers in South Africa. The objectives of this study are to explore the range of green supply chain best practices currently adopted amongst consumer services retailers listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the extent to which green supply chain best practices are adopted in their total supply chain activities, the level of maturity of their green supply chain management practices, and the main driving forces for, benefits of and barriers to the adoption of green supply chain practices. A conceptual framework is derived from a literature review and used to develop a highly structured survey questionnaire to collect empirical data for analysis in relation to the objectives of the study. The questionnaire was administered by engaging in face-to-face interviews with respondents representing listed consumer services retailers. The empirical data collected was analysed using a Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet model. The findings of the study indicate that the majority of the retailers studied are adopting all those green supply chain best practices identified in the literature review at least to some extent. Although a few of the retailers studied have reached a high level of maturity in their green supply chain management practices, the majority have recognised the importance of environmental sustainability related issues, have started incorporating appropriate greening practices into their total supply chain activities and therefore have progressed beyond a low level of largely ignoring green supply chain practices to the intermediate levels of maturity. This implies that they are taking environmental sustainability related issues seriously and not merely engaging in acts of green-washing. However currently these retailers are focusing first on those internal operations where they consider greening practices to be within their sphere of influence, easy to formulate, quick to implement and which can have a positive impact on environmental sustainability and the organisation in the short- to medium-term. These internal operations include transportation and logistics, solid waste management and energy usage management. Most of the main driving forces for the adoption of green supply chain practices come from outside the organisations and include an increase in disclosure requirements for sustainability policies and practices, government environmental regulations, and risks of disruptions in energy and raw material supply.

M.Sc. (Environmental Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

There is a public concern over the potential accumulation of heavy metals in soils. Numerous studies have already demonstrated that areas in close proximity to vehicular traffic are marked noticeably by contamination of soil, air and water. Hence, such activities can affect humans and other living organisms. The aim of this study is to investigate the pollution of soils caused by vehicular traffic, on agricultural land in Azzawiyah, Liby with the view of assessing potential application of phytoremediation options for the remediation of contaminated soils and determine whether soil amendments would improve soil remediation. In an effort to improve the status of pollution of soils by vehicular traffic, a phytoremediation method of remediation of contaminated land has been used in this study, as it is relatively inexpensive and has the potential through the appropriate selection of plant species to be effective. This method is a soil clean up technology that uses the ability of metal accumulator plants to extract metal from contaminated soil with their roots and to concentrate these metals in above-ground plant parts. In this study, the investigation area was in Azzawiyah city where the soil samples and Doedonea viscose plant were collected from the road side. These soil samples were analysed using different experiments to determine physical and chemical properties, such as pH, OM and CEC. Heavy metals in soil and Doedonea viscose shoot and root were analysed using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The findings of the study show that all soils samples collected along the highway road connecting Azzawiyah with the southern parts of Libya were found to be granular with a sandy texture. It is also found that the metal content in soil collected from the site, which is close to the roadside was relatively higher than that soil collected from the agricultural field in the same area. Furthermore, the level of Pb (840mg/kg-1) in roadside soils was higher than the natural levels of Pb in soils. In addition, Doedonea viscose plant was not a hyperaccumulor plant. Greenhouse experiments used three plants (E. camaldeulensis, Brassica Juncea and Medicago sativum) to uptake heavy metal, such as Cd, Zn and Pb from the soil samples. The greenhouse experiment results indicate that E. camaldeulensis was the best plant species for phytoremediation of Pb contaminated soils than the other two plants species (Brassica Juncea, Medicago sativum). The efficiency of the E. camaldeulensis was increased by adding amendments (e.g. compost, compost, EDTA, Hoagland solution and Alcaligenes eutrophus) to the plants pots in order to uptake the lead form soil samples. The results of the pots amendments experiments indicate that 15 mmol of EDTA and bacterial inoculums (Alcaligenes eutrophus) were the best amendments to extract lead from the soils. The study suggests that using the Alcaligenes eutrophus with the E. camaldeulensis are more suitable for phytoremediation in terms of accumulation and cost.