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...

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.

Sedan mitten av 1900-talet har jordbruket genomgått stora förändringar. Det har lett till att mycket av den mat som produceras idag inte är hållbar att konsumera. Oljepalmen är en gröda vars produktion ökat avsevärt de senaste åren och som har stor negativ påverkan på ekosystemen. Dess låga pris och många användningsområden har gjort den populär. För att odla oljepalmer avverkas enorma ytor regnskogar, vilket påverkar klimatet och den biologiska mångfalden negativt. Konsumentens roll är avgörande för produktionen och konsumtionen av palmolja, därför är det viktigt att veta vilka faktorer som påverkar konsumtionen och vilken kunskap konsumenter har. En kvantitativ enkätundersökning har genomförts med syftet att undersöka vilken kunskap konsumenter har om palmolja i livsmedel. Undersökningen visar hur miljömedvetna de är, om de agerar utifrån sin kunskap och om det skiljer sig beroende på kön och ålder. Resultatet visade att konsumenter har en grundläggande kunskap om palmolja i livsmedel och ser sig själva som relativt miljömedvetna. Resultatet visade också att det fanns skillnader i svaren mellan kön och ålder. Kvinnor och gruppen över 31 år i undersökningen hade högre kunskap och var mer miljömedvetna. Slutsatsen är dock att kunskapen om palmolja i livsmedel är för låg, det avgörande vid konsumtion blir därför andra faktorer. / Since the mid-1900s, agriculture has gone through a major change. As a result, much of the food that is produced today is not sustainable to consume. The oil palm is a crop whose production has increased significantly in recent years and which has a major negative impact on ecosystems. It’s low price and many uses have made it popular. In order to grow oil palm trees, huge areas of rainforests are cut down, which affects the climate and biodiversity negative. The role of the consumer is crucial for the production and consumption of palm oil, therefore it is important to know which factors that affects consumption and what knowledge consumers have. A quantitative questionnaire survey has been conducted whit the purpose to investigate what knowledge consumers have about palm oil in food. The survey will show how environmentally conscious they are, whether they act on the basis of their knowledge and whether it differs depending on gender and age. The result showed that consumers have a basic knowledge of palm oil in food and see themselves as relative environmentally conscious. The results also showed that there were differences in the responses between sex and age. Women and the group over 31 in the survey had higher knowledge and were more environmentally aware. The conclusion is that the knowledge of palm oil in groceries is too low, so the decisive factor in consumption is other factors.

<p>Environmental problems are seen as the first priority that all countries try to find as a solution to be more sustainable. These issues arise due to the lack of our responsibility to the world. Researchers agree on that the starting point in changing our society to be green is to increase environmental awareness (Jiang et al., 1999). Several sectors accept this idea like UNESCO which focuses on education as a tool to promote sustainable development (UNESCO, 2002).</p><p> </p><p>Following UNESCO, our study investigates university students’ environmental awareness. The Authors hope that the outcome not only reflects university performance, but also helps to develop the environment in the future.  Hence, the authors selected the University of Gävle or HiG, as a case study because it is a best practice in Environmental Management System (EMS). Moreover, HiG received the ISO 14001 certificate and it has a continuous improvement program (Sammalisto, 2007, p.69). </p><p> </p><p>The study was started by reviewing research literatures concerning Environmental Management System (EMS), Sustainable Development (SD), Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Environmental Awareness. The authors found that there are few studies talking about students’ awareness in universities after being awarded ISO 14001. Notice that the research was seen only from environmental perspective (Flint, 2004).</p><p> </p><p>To answer research questions, two surveys were adopted. The first part focused on teachers and officers (or staffs) who work on environmental issues. While, the second part focused on the students which were divided into Swedish and international.</p><p> </p><p>The research outcomes indicate that HiG has a good EMS performance supported by annual environmental audits, regular policy revision and the attempts to minimize non-conformities. Conversely, when the authors pointed at student awareness, it shows that students have insufficient environmental knowledge. Moreover, some students have lower environmental awareness and act in a less ecological friendly way. Nevertheless, a knowledge problem was also found among several university staffs. This is because of the lack of communication about environmental issues inside the staffs community and lack of environmental education for students.</p><p> </p><p>Whatever the university situation is, there are some groups of staff and students eager to develop themselves and their university. This point of strength could be the best driving force. It can push the university forward until the university reaches sustainable development and it brings the aware graduates into society.</p>

<p> </p><p>The generation of domestic waste is at present less than 1 kg/day per person in Thailand, but generated amounts keeps steadily growing. This trend is closely connected to an increasing population and economic growth, something that is creating waste management issues. The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) outside Bangkok has the potential of being a leader in sustainable development in the Southeast Asian region, however a substantial opportunity is being missed – best environmental practices are currently not prioritized. Only 4 % of the total waste generated on campus is recycled at AIT, 3 % is composted and 93 % is taken to the municipal waste disposal site. Fluorescent light bulbs and other hazardous household waste are disposed on the campus dumpsite. Some measures have been undertaken in order to improve the solid waste management (SWM) at AIT, e.g. a new waste collection facility has been built in the outskirts of campus, where more space is provided in order to facilitate waste separation.</p><p>The field research for this study was carried out at AIT and the goal was to examine the SWM network, the problems and to analyse the recycling habits on campus. To investigate and visualize the actors involved in the SWM at AIT, the Actor-Network theory (ANT) was applied as an analytical framework. The generation of waste is the macro actor i.e. the reason for the existence of SWM. Other actors are the AIT students and staff (produce waste), the new Campus Environment and Development Committee – CEDC (the controlling part), environmental awareness (attitude towards recycling), and waste collectors.</p><p>The results from the survey witness of that people have a positive but somewhat cautious attitude towards the sustainability of source separation. Separating waste at source is a key mechanism for solving the SWM problem but people are uncertain of how to separate each waste fraction. There is a strong need to designate a coordinator of the SWM at AIT and as long as there is a lack of leadership, a goal of environmentally sustainable practices cannot be reached. The new CEDC is currently not performing any actions towards an integrated SWM.</p><p> </p> / <p> </p><p>Idag produceras mindre än ett kilo hushållsavfall per dag och person i Thailand men mängden växer stadigt med ökad befolkning och bättre ekonomiska förutsättningar vilket leder till sophanteringsproblem. Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) i Thailand har  potential att vara en ledstjärna inom hållbar utveckling i Sydostasien men en stor möjlighet går om intet – den bästa miljömässiga tillämpningen i sophanteringsfrågan prioriteras inte. Endast 4 % av soporna återvinns på AIT, 3 % komposteras och 93 % hamnar på den kommunala soptippen. Lysrör och annat farligt hushållsavfall dumpas på universitetets soptipp. Vissa åtgärder har vidtagits för att förbättra sophanteringen på AIT, t.ex. har en ny sopanläggning byggts i utkanten av campus med ökad kapacitet för sopsortering.</p><p>Fältarbetet för uppsatsen genomfördes på AIT och målet var att kartlägga sophanteringen, nätverket kring den, problemen runtom, samt att analysera återvinningsbeteendet på detta universitetscampus. För att gestalta och utreda aktörerna som är involverade i sophanteringen på AIT, använde jag Actor-Network theory som ett analytiskt verktyg. Själva produceringen av hushållssopor är makroaktören, dvs. skälet till sophanteringens existens. Andra aktörer är studenterna och de anställda på universitetet (skapar sopor), den nya kommittén för Miljö och Utveckling på campus (den kontrollerande delen), miljömedvetenhe (inställningen till återvinning) och sophämtarna.</p><p>Resultaten från enkätunderökningen vittnar om att människorna har en positiv men försiktig inställning gentemot hållbarheten i källsortering. Källsortering är grunden för att lösa sophanteringsproblematiken men folk är osäkra på hur de ska sortera avfallet. Det finns ett stort behov av en avfallshandläggare för sophanteringen på AIT och så länge bristen på ledarskap kvarstår, kan inte målet om miljömässig hållbarhet nås. Den nya kommittén för Miljö och Utveckling på campus genomför för tillfället inga handlingar i riktning mot en integrerad sophantering.</p><p> </p>

Environmental problems are seen as the first priority that all countries try to find as a solution to be more sustainable. These issues arise due to the lack of our responsibility to the world. Researchers agree on that the starting point in changing our society to be green is to increase environmental awareness (Jiang et al., 1999). Several sectors accept this idea like UNESCO which focuses on education as a tool to promote sustainable development (UNESCO, 2002).   Following UNESCO, our study investigates university students’ environmental awareness. The Authors hope that the outcome not only reflects university performance, but also helps to develop the environment in the future.  Hence, the authors selected the University of Gävle or HiG, as a case study because it is a best practice in Environmental Management System (EMS). Moreover, HiG received the ISO 14001 certificate and it has a continuous improvement program (Sammalisto, 2007, p.69).    The study was started by reviewing research literatures concerning Environmental Management System (EMS), Sustainable Development (SD), Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Environmental Awareness. The authors found that there are few studies talking about students’ awareness in universities after being awarded ISO 14001. Notice that the research was seen only from environmental perspective (Flint, 2004).   To answer research questions, two surveys were adopted. The first part focused on teachers and officers (or staffs) who work on environmental issues. While, the second part focused on the students which were divided into Swedish and international.   The research outcomes indicate that HiG has a good EMS performance supported by annual environmental audits, regular policy revision and the attempts to minimize non-conformities. Conversely, when the authors pointed at student awareness, it shows that students have insufficient environmental knowledge. Moreover, some students have lower environmental awareness and act in a less ecological friendly way. Nevertheless, a knowledge problem was also found among several university staffs. This is because of the lack of communication about environmental issues inside the staffs community and lack of environmental education for students.   Whatever the university situation is, there are some groups of staff and students eager to develop themselves and their university. This point of strength could be the best driving force. It can push the university forward until the university reaches sustainable development and it brings the aware graduates into society.

Dagens samhälle är präglat av materialism och dagens konsumtionsmönster är ohållbara ur miljömässig synpunkt. Konsumtionen skapar därmed miljöproblem och ett viktigt styrmedel för att göra den mer hållbar är miljömärkning. Miljömärkta produkter produceras på ett miljöansvarigt sätt utan kemiska bekämpningsmedel och gödsel som är skadliga för både människa och miljö. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka den nuvarande medvetenheten kring miljömärkningar hos unga vuxna på Möckelngymnasiet. Metoden för studien var enkätutdelning till skolklasser som går sista året på gymnasiet. Utfallet av undersökningen visar att medvetenheten kring miljömärkningar är stor hos respondenterna och att respondenterna känner igen många av miljömärkningarna. Allmän kunskap om människans miljöpåverkan och om konsumentansvar visas i de flesta fallen vara knutna till val av miljömärkta produkter. En anledning till att köpa miljömärkta produkter är ansvarskänsla, vilket tyder på ekologiskt medborgarskap hos respondenterna. En anledning till att inte köpa miljömärkta produkter är för högt pris, vilket visar att det kan vara kontextuella faktorer som gör att vissa respondenter inte köper miljömärkta produkter. / Today’s society is characterized by materialism and today’s consumption patterns are unsustainable from an environmental point of view. The consumption is thus creating environmental problems and an important instrument to make it more sustainable is environmental labeling. Environmental labeled products are being produced in an environmental responsible manner without chemical pesticides or manure that both are harmful for humans and the environment. The purpose of this study was to examine the current state of awareness on environmental labels of young adults in a high school called Möckelngymnasiet. The method of the study was to do a survey research in classes with final year high school students. The outcome of the survey shows that the awareness on environmental labels is high among the respondents and that the respondents recognize many of the environmental labels. General knowledge on human’s environmental impact and on responsibility of consumers is shown to in most cases be linked to buying environmental labeled products. One reason to buy environmental labeled products is a sense of responsibility, which indicates on ecological citizenship among the respondents. One reason to not buy environmental labeled products is too high price, which shows that contextual factors can lead to that some respondents not buying environmental labeled products.