Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a movement which seeks profitable solutions to environmental and social problems facing corporations and society. In this document firm level drivers of CSR adoption are examined to develop a business case for social/environmental factor integration, built on the link between each driver and profitability. A review of CSR is followed by an examination of a set of short case studies involving the Canadian mining industry and an analysis of the environmental/social efforts of mining organizations, focusing on the industry’s environmental performance and its relationship with aboriginal peoples. It is argued that a positive link exists between firm level profitability and environmental/social performance in the Canadian mining industry. As a result, mining firms have undertaken initiatives which have led to improved environmental and social performance.

The U.S. is facing a serious decline in its water supply and is likely to turn to Canada as its next major source of water. Under NAFTA, Canada may become legally obligated to allow American companies to begin selling Canadian water. If one province trades its water, Canada can do little to stop water exports nationally. Consequently, it is crucial that Canada takes steps now to legally ensure its water is protected. This paper portrays the Canada / U.S. bulk water export issue as a conflict, and proposes strategies that Canada could take to protect its freshwater. It applies a game theory perspective to the conflict, and illustrates the moves that each country might make to “win” the game and secure Canada’s water supply. The purpose of this application is to better predict future strategies and their consequences when two political allies legally battle over the world’s most precious natural resource.

As the health care system experienced a complex tapestry of transitions in the past decade, first-line managers (FLMs) strived to maintain a sense of stability for themselves and their staff in chaotic work environments. Individuals across the nation are striving to ensure health care team members have quality work environments. The paucity of literature examining the perceptions FLMs have of their work environment prompted this study. <p>This study provided FLMs employed in regional and provincial hospitals in Saskatchewan a voice to share their perceptions of their work environments with others. It is an adaptation of the descriptive survey design used by Remus, Smith, and Schissel (2000) in their study of staff nurses. The adaptation was based on the literature, making it applicable to FLMs, and incorporating the six Quality Worklife Indicators (QWI) of the Canadian Nurses Associations (CNAs) Quality Professional Practice Environments framework. The questionnaire also incorporated open-ended questions that enabled respondents to elaborate on their perceptions of their work environments.<p>The total population of 113 FLMs in regional (FLMRs) and provincial (FLMPs) hospitals in Saskatchewan was invited to participate in this study. Sixty-nine respondents (61.1%) chose to do so. FLMRs had a higher, although not significant, response rate, (67.6% n=23) than did FLMPs (58.2% n=46). The researcher attempted to make personal contact and correspond with each invited participant when distributing the questionnaires. In the open ended questions, participants in this study described intertwined multidimensional roles and responsibilities resulting in unmanageable workloads. They faced daily challenges involving relationships, putting out fires, balancing system/personnel relationships, staffing issues, resources, time, and salary. FLMs who successfully resolved their challenges felt a sense of accomplishment or reward, increasing their self confidence in their ability to successfully fill their roles as a FLM. FLMs described that being a change agent, teamwork, recognition by others, relationships, working with patients, and control over practice as the most rewarding elements within in their practice environments. The Environment Perception Scale responses reflected positive perceptions of work environments on all subscales except control over workload. Overall, FLMPs had a slightly more positive perception of their work environments than did FLMRs, except on the control over workload subscale. However, there were no significant differences between the groups except on the innovation and creativity subscale, where FLMRs scored significantly lower.<p>Study results offer senior administrators, professional associations, government, educators, and others an opportunity to increase their understanding and awareness of the perceptions FLMs have of their practice environment. Awareness of these perceptions will facilitate supporting or strengthening the rewards FLMs perceive in their practice environments, resulting in a richer practice environment. Identification and awareness of the perceived challenges is the first step in addressing them. Educators will find these results useful in better preparing future leaders of nursing for formal management roles.

As the number of people living in forested areas continues to grow, so does the likelihood that an individual will suffer from a wildland fire. There has been little research produced strictly looking at the human dimensions of wildland fire, especially in southern rural communities (Machlis, Kaplan, Tuler, Bagby, and McKendry 2002). Using two of Kumagai, Carrol, and Cohan's (2004) propositions on the social impact of disaster and the theoretical framework of Emile Durkheim's (1933) view of community and collective consciousness, the primary purpose of this research was to aid in understanding the effects of wildland fire on the social and economic well-being of a community. This research examined a specific location in Kentucky, Bell County. Bell County has suffered many wildland fires, especially with wildland-fire arson. In June of 2006 questionnaires exploring residents' perception of wildland fire on the social and economic well-being of the local community were sent to a random sample of area residents. Two aspects of community and wildland fire were examined, the impact of wildland fire on community and blame for damage caused by inadequate efforts to control wildland fires. Partial correlations were used to measure the relationship between variables. The findings suggest that there is no consistent positive or negative impact of wildland fire on all individuals in a community. No consistent relationship exists between wildland fires' impacts and aspects of community in a negative way. Respondents themselves were less likely to report gain or loss and more likely to report that others had gained or lost in income. The longer respondents have lived in Bell County, the more likely they will discuss wildland fire. Respondents did not blame any local, state, or federal agency for wildland fire. In fact, the more one is tied to community (in terms of quality of life, trust in government, and strong neighbor relations), the more supportive one is of local government. The implications of this study could include policy changes with regards to wildland fire, information gathered would help aid in the understanding of the effects of wildland fire within a rural community. Due to the small sample (n = 140) and weak response rate (18.8%), the information gathered may only be generlizable to Bell County or the respondents themselves. Future research would be suggested, research at a qualitative level, through participant observation and in-depth interviews of residents of Bell County, Kentucky.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a movement which seeks profitable solutions to environmental and social problems facing corporations and society. In this document firm level drivers of CSR adoption are examined to develop a business case for social/environmental factor integration, built on the link between each driver and profitability. A review of CSR is followed by an examination of a set of short case studies involving the Canadian mining industry and an analysis of the environmental/social efforts of mining organizations, focusing on the industry’s environmental performance and its relationship with aboriginal peoples. It is argued that a positive link exists between firm level profitability and environmental/social performance in the Canadian mining industry. As a result, mining firms have undertaken initiatives which have led to improved environmental and social performance.

The U.S. is facing a serious decline in its water supply and is likely to turn to Canada as its next major source of water. Under NAFTA, Canada may become legally obligated to allow American companies to begin selling Canadian water. If one province trades its water, Canada can do little to stop water exports nationally. Consequently, it is crucial that Canada takes steps now to legally ensure its water is protected. This paper portrays the Canada / U.S. bulk water export issue as a conflict, and proposes strategies that Canada could take to protect its freshwater. It applies a game theory perspective to the conflict, and illustrates the moves that each country might make to “win” the game and secure Canada’s water supply. The purpose of this application is to better predict future strategies and their consequences when two political allies legally battle over the world’s most precious natural resource.

The main concern of this dissertation is exploring and elucidating the nature and the relationship of religion/spirituality and ethics in the context of environmentalism, within the larger arena of liberal, technological society. It is driven foremost by a need for clear understanding of not only what these terms mean and what they represent, but also what it all means for where we stand today as ethical and spiritual beings. For in pursuing this topic, one must necessarily ask larger questions, namely: What does it mean to be ethical in technological society? What does it mean to be ‘spiritual’ in a ‘secular’ society? Are either of these things even possible? These questions form the backdrop of my particular focus on environmentalism. Through analysis of my own ethnographic research with members of the Sierra Club of Canada, and through use of the theoretical frameworks provided by four primary thinkers (Juan Luis Segundo, Alasdair MacIntyre, Charles Taylor and Jacques Ellul), I conclude that environmentalism, though far from problem-free, represents a ‘healthy’ form of ethical and spiritual expression in modern technological society. Part of this conclusion is the position that we are still very much ethical beings in technological society, and very much spiritual beings in secular society (though the latter is far more dependent on individual definitions of this term), and that in fact these two things relate directly.

Background: Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is a combination of the smoke exhaled by smokers and the smoke burning from a cigarette, cigar or pipe that is not being inhaled. It contains over 4000 chemicals many of them being known carcinogens and toxins. The recently-identified hazards of ETS have resulted in the implementation of new legislation to protect non-smokers’ health in jurisdictions worldwide. Purpose: This study tests the hypothesis that legislation eliminating ETS from all enclosed public places improves the health of hospitality workers. Methods: This is a descriptive, case-series study, which investigates tobacco smoke exposure in non-smoking hospitality workers in Canada and Italy. Data was obtained by testing workers for levels of carbon monoxide before and immediately after working in venues where smoking was permitted and was not permitted. Workers also provided information on respiratory and sensory irritation symptoms. Conclusion: Legislation eliminating ETS improves the health of hospitality industry workers. / May 2007

Chapter One: When is Free Trade Good for the Environment? This paper provides the conditions under which free trade reduces the emission of pollution. In this paper, we construct a computable general equilibrium model of free trade and environment. Using data from different countries with different characteristics with respect to the stringency of their environmental and trade policies and factor endowments, we simulate a reduction on import tariffs and measure the impact on the volume of emission. Our main findings show that, for a combination of relatively high capital to labour ratio and low level of protectionism, if a country exports the polluting good then, trade liberalization increases the level of emission. Whereas if the country exports the clean good, then the effect of an import tariff reduction on the emission level is positively related to the variation in the producer’s price of the polluting good. Furthermore, we find that under a relatively low level of capital endowment for a country that exports the polluting good, the impact of free trade on the environment depends on the degree of protectionism. // Chapter Two: Ageing and the Environment in an Overlapping Generations Model. We empirically investigate the impact of population ageing on the environment using an overlapping generations model. We decompose the impact into scale, composition, and cohort effects. Using data from the Canadian economy, we simulate the impact of demographic shock on the volume of emission. Population ageing results mostly from a baby bust that follows a baby boom. The demographic transition is characterized by an increase then a decline in the population growth rate. Under the first part of the transition, we find that the scale effect generates more pollution. However, if young generations are more concerned about the environment, an increase in the population growth rate may improve the environment via the composition effects. On the other hand, a decline in the population growth rate (population ageing) creates the opposite results. We further find that cohort effect is positively related to the environment when there is a higher degree of awareness towards a cleaner environment. By comparing scale to both composition and cohort effects, we find that scale dominates both effects, so population ageing causes the level of pollution to fall. // Chapter Three: Does Population Ageing in the North Leads to More Pollution in the South? We construct a two-country model: a rich country (the North) with relatively high level of capital endowment and stringent environmental policy and a poor country (the South) with less stringent environmental policy. Both countries produce a clean and a polluting good and both have access to an exogenous abatement technology. The paper has three main foci. First, it provides an empirical test for the pollution haven and the factor endowment hypotheses. Second, it introduces the issue of population ageing in the North into the question of trade liberalisation and the environment. Finally, it investigates the impact of demographic and trade shocks on the level of emissions in both countries. Results from simulations suggest that an increase in the population growth rate increases the volume of emission in the long run. However, population-ageing generates an opposite effect. In the short term, the scale dominates the composition effect. Empirical evidences show that the level of emission is positively related to the size of population. With respect to trade, pollution increases in the North and falls in the South. Also, we find that demographic changes dominate trade liberalization. Finally, worldwide free trade is bad for the environment, but its effect is marginal.

Abstract:Ambulance nurses have in their everyday work a varied work environment, the pace of work can quickly shift from being calm and structured to be a severe acute situation.Objective: The aim of the study was to describe how professional nurses in the ambulance operations experience their physical and mental work environment in daily practice.Method: A qualitative interview study with semi structured questions was used. The study group consisted of two women and three men, ages between 27–42 years. The study was carried out on an ambulance station in central Sweden. Based on collected data, a qualitativecontent analysis was performed that resulted in three categories.Results: The result showed that the ambulance nurses regarded that it was a lot of heavy lifting. To manage all heavy lifts, without damaging the own body the participants considered it important to be in good physical and mental shape in order to perform their daily work.Conclusion: Ambulance nurses show great adaptability, comprehension and acceptance in their variant work environment. Support and understanding from colleagues at physical and mentally heavy duties is a very important part of their work and healthy work environment, simultaneously as they describe that they experience deficiencies in different work situations.Keyword: Ambulance, physics, mental, environment. / Sammanfattning:Ambulanssjuksköterskor har i sitt vardagliga arbete en varierad arbetsmiljö, arbetstempot kansnabbt skifta från att vara lugnt och strukturerat till att bli en svår akut händelse. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva hur yrkesverksamma sjuksköterskor inom ambulansverksamheten upplever sin fysiska och psykiska arbetsmiljö i det dagliga arbetet.Metod: En kvalitativ intervjustudie med semistrukturerade frågor användes. Deltagarantalet i studien uppdelades på två kvinnor och tre män med en ålder mellan 27-42 år. Studien utfördes på en ambulansstation i Mellansverige. Utifrån insamlad data utfördes en innehållsanalys som resulterade i tre huvudkategorier.Resultat: Genomgående i resultatet var att ambulanssjuksköterskorna ansåg att det var mångatunga lyft, för att klara detta utan förslitningar ansåg deltagarna att det var viktigt att vara i fysisk och psykisk bra form för att kunna utföra sitt dagliga arbete. Slutsats: Ambulanssjuksköterskan uppvisar stor anpassningsförmåga, förståelse och acceptans i sin varierande arbetsmiljö. Förståelse och stöd från arbetskamrater vid fysiskt och psykiskt tunga arbetsuppgifter upplevs som en väldigt viktig del för sitt arbete och deras välmående i sin arbetsmiljö, samtidigt som de beskriver att de upplever att det finns brister i olika arbetssituationer. Sökord: Ambulans, fysisk, psykisk, arbetsmiljö.