This thesis investigates the concept of environmental justice (EJ) by tracing its origins, the process of its shaping and reshaping, and its adoption in Taiwan. EJ addresses the phenomenon of disproportionate distribution of environmental risks among social groups. As no one can actually “see” how risks are distributed, one has no choice but to rely on scientific (or other) techniques to visualise and then conceptualise these risks. After so doing, EJ has been turned into specific indicators to gauge EJ/injustice and the technical methods to measure it, even though the scope of these concerns is much broader and goes far beyond the technical. Using detailed historical exposition in tandem with interviews, this thesis seeks to demonstrate the processes that have led to the dominant constructions of environmental justice. The main argument of this thesis is that the phenomenon of EJ/injustice is a condensation of power relations/struggle, and the discourses that describe and the measures that gauge it are an expression of this struggle. Specifically, in this thesis I attempt to show that EJ is being constructed through the very process of debate among EJ supporters and with their challengers. Seen from this angle, this thesis shows that the conceptions of EJ differ and are mutable. To say that these conceptions change is not to deny that there is environmental injustice, but to recognise that the key characteristics can be categorised or explained differently. This research discloses that claims about EJ can be framed in much greater variety in terms of identity, difference, territory and governance. This thesis suggests that although understanding EJ through specific indicators and some sorts of techniques are necessary, a just society cannot be achieved through scientific research alone. The question of how much or what sort of data is sufficient to prove the existence of (in)justice is not a scientific one, but a social one. Our research could become much more meaningful if we recognise the specificity and limitations of the dominant approach and if the phenomenon of EJ/injustice is put in context. To achieve this, our intellectual endeavours should be properly conceived as being about a theory of endless political struggles over the issue, rather than simply about “discovering” EJ.

This study concentrates on two questions – “Should banks take environmental concerns?”and “What is the attitude of Swedish banks towards sustainability?” The theory related to environmental concerns in the financial sector is presented and further on the empirical data describing the situation within the Swedish banking sector is discussed. The empirical data was collected with the aid of a semi-structured interview and offers a real-life example of actions and attitudes of two case banks in Sweden – SEB and Handelsbanken. The aim of this paper is not restricted to presenting and discussing the collected theoretical and empirical data but also to involve the reader in the environmental way of thinking. This text is based on the idea that banks are liable for the indirect impact on the environment and need to acknowledge that some borrowers involve in environmentally harmful businesses. The research method used for this study is of a qualitative nature, more precisely it is an exploratory research which aims to explain. The semi-structured interview used to study the attitudes of the chosen Swedish case banks, was composed of two types of questions – closed- and open-ended. Special characteristics of a semi-structured interview are the prompts and probes in its structure. These are the approaches to guide the respondent to reach broader coverage and greater depth in his/her answers. Through the interview results, it became evident that the environmental issues have gained certain visibility within the Swedish banking sector. The given answers pointed towards the impression that maintaining a sound corporate image is the prior concern of a bank and indicated that banking sector in Sweden undergoes external pressure to pursue environmentally friendly activities. It is clear that banks play a major role by financing the continuous damage to our planet, and it is comforting to know the banking sector is undergoing the pressure of becoming more involved in sustainable development. The conclusions and the empirical evidence presented in this study are hoped to give a simplified view on environmental concerns within banking sector.

<p>This study concentrates on two questions – “Should banks take environmental concerns?”and “What is the attitude of Swedish banks towards sustainability?” The theory related to environmental concerns in the financial sector is presented and further on the empirical data</p><p>describing the situation within the Swedish banking sector is discussed. The empirical data was collected with the aid of a semi-structured interview and offers a real-life example of actions and attitudes of two case banks in Sweden – SEB and Handelsbanken. The aim of this paper is not restricted to presenting and discussing the collected theoretical and empirical data but also to involve the reader in the environmental way of thinking. This text is based on</p><p>the idea that banks are liable for the indirect impact on the environment and need to acknowledge that some borrowers involve in environmentally harmful businesses. The research method used for this study is of a qualitative nature, more precisely it is an exploratory research which aims to explain. The semi-structured interview used to study the attitudes of the chosen Swedish case banks, was composed of two types of questions – closed- and open-ended. Special characteristics of a semi-structured interview are the prompts and probes in its structure. These are the approaches to guide the respondent to reach broader coverage and greater depth in his/her answers.</p><p>Through the interview results, it became evident that the environmental issues have gained certain visibility within the Swedish banking sector. The given answers pointed towards the impression that maintaining a sound corporate image is the prior concern of a bank and</p><p>indicated that banking sector in Sweden undergoes external pressure to pursue environmentally friendly activities. It is clear that banks play a major role by financing the continuous damage to our planet, and it is comforting to know the banking sector is undergoing the pressure of becoming more involved in sustainable development. The</p><p>conclusions and the empirical evidence presented in this study are hoped to give a simplified view on environmental concerns within banking sector.</p>

This research study emanates from the inclusion of environmental risks on the global security agenda. Although dating back to the Rio Summit on Environment and Development (UNEP, 1992), this trend gained momentum following the publication of the Fourth Assessment Report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in February 2007 (IPCC, 2007a). The report warned that the global climate system is changing mainly because of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, exposing, amongst others, Africa as a continent most vulnerable to the impact of climate variability and change. Subsequent to the report, the security implications of climate change were discussed by the United Nations Security Council in April 2007 (UN, 2007a). With these developments as a point of departure, the aim of this exploratory study is to investigate the securitisation of environmental risks, particularly the impact of climate change, in South Africa, with specific reference to official perceptions of (and where applicable, policy responses to) environmental security between 2007 and 2012. As a literature and documentary case study on South Africa, the research utilises a conceptual framework that broadens and deepens the concept of security to include the environment as a non-traditional (non-military) aspect. In this context, environmental risks are discussed as a challenge to security, considering their contemporary relevance. Environmental security is discussed as an emerging security issue in the context of its global and regional scope; its linkage to and impact on food, water and energy security; and its influence on the political, economic, and social sectors of security. Further, the study indicates that Southern Africa in general, and South Africa in particular, are highly vulnerable to the impact of environmental risks such as climate change; and that such risks indeed exacerbate existing security risks and threats. Against this backdrop, the South African government’s securitisation (or lack of securitisation) of the environment is described and explored with reference to official views on environmental security. The analysis indicates that the Government securitises environmental risks such as climate change to a limited degree only (in terms of securitising speech and act); and the issue thus does not fall within the ambit of security, but rather that of sustainable development. The Government base their unsecuritised stance on the impact of environmental risks, on the country’s basic natural resources (such as food, water and energy) being overwhelmed by existing growth pressures; and that the Administration’s current priority is inter alia social development issues, such as employment and poverty eradication. The study concludes with a summary of key findings in response to the stated research problem, and with recommendations concerning the South African government’s response to environmental security. / Dissertation (MSS)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Political Sciences / Unrestricted

South-Africa’s government has adopted several global, national, and regional developmental agendas to combat systemic inequalities in the country. The developmental agendas should consider the role of children’s agency in reducing poverty and environmental risks. South Africa ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child (UNCRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and the Welfare of the Child (ARCWC) and is therefore bound through international treaties to protect and promote children’s rights (Hall, Richter, Mokomane & Lake, 2018:48). The goal of the study was to explore and describe how children’s agency is recognised and respected in programmes/interventions aimed at reducing poverty and environmental risk in the case study of Lerato House, Tshwane Leadership Foundation. The researcher used a qualitative research approach, and the type of research was applied. The research design was a case study, and a purposive sampling method was used to sample five child participants and five key informants from Lerato House. Data was collected through one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The findings show that children’s agency is recognised and respected in the planning and implementation phases of the programme, while there is a lack of children’s participation in the conceptualisation phase and little participation in the monitoring and evaluation phase. The study concludes that children’s agency was more likely to be recognised and respected when staff have been trained to work with children and when children were allowed to provide their input into programmes. The study recommends that children’s agency be recognised and developed by preparing and allowing them to participate in all the phases of programmes at Lerato House aimed at reducing poverty and environmental risks. / Mini Dissertation (MSW (Social Development and Policy))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Social Work and Criminology / MSW (Social Dev and Policy) / Unrestricted

Yes / In a constantly changing business environment, a systematic approach is needed for risk assessment in order to allow for a more long-term strategic view. The System Dynamics (SD) modelling technique can be applied as an effective approach to understand the dynamic behaviour of a system over time. This understanding can be subsequently explicitly reflected on policies, strategic plans and operational procedures. This paper presents a SD model to assess environmental risks in power plants. The model helps to understand the long-term behaviour of the system under study. A questionnaire and focus group interviews have been conducted to understand the relationship among various risks. The SD model has been validated with two power plants in the Middle East. The developed model highlighted the impact of environmental risks on the performance of power plants. Although the SD model focuses on risk assessment in power plants, it can be easily adapted to other industry sectors.

A desregulação endócrina induzida por contaminação ambiental está entre os principais problemas criados pela sociedade moderna de consumo, responsável pela inserção no ambiente de uma série de substâncias interferentes nos sistemas hormonais dos mais diversos organismos, incluindo o próprio homem. A ação destes compostos acarreta, entre outros efeitos, disfunções reprodutivas e estudos apontam que também podem ser indutores de cânceres. A legislação brasileira através do Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente (CONAMA) determina os padrões de qualidade das águas, porém muitas substâncias com potencial de desregulação endócrina não tem suas concentrações e emissões especificadas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi executar um levantamento da presença e possíveis conseqüências dos hormônios estrogênicos, uma das classes mais potentes de desreguladores endócrinos (ED), nos compartimentos água e sedimento do rio do Monjolinho. Este rio cruza parte da malha urbana da cidade de São Carlos - SP e recebe lançamentos localizados e difusos de esgotos domésticos e industriais. Portanto, amostras de água e sedimentos foram analisadas através de cromatografia líquida, e exemplares de peixes capturados no rio investigados quanto à presença da proteína vitelogenina (VTG) um biomarcador de exposição. Também ensaios ecotoxicológicos foram desenvolvidos em laboratório com diferentes abordagens para verificação de efeitos diversos. Em uma tentativa de abordar os dados gerados através de uma perspectiva ampla, foi delineada uma avaliação de risco ambiental discutindo as possíveis ameaças a biota e a população humana, já que concentrações de hormônios, principalmente o sintético etinilestradiol (concentração máxima de 30,1 ± 3,41 ng/L), a indução da VTG e efeitos em ensaios ecotoxicológicos foram confirmados. / The environmental endocrine disruption is among the main problems arrived with the modern society way of life. The hormonal systems of several organisms are injured by a number of chemicals disposal on hydric bodies in erroneous way. These compounds causes reproductive disturbs, and studies pointed it be cancer inductors. The Brazilian National Environmental Council (CONAMA) do not regulated standards for discharges and concentrations of these substances. This work aims to investigate the probable presence and effects of sexual estrogens hormones, one of the most powerful groups of endocrine disruptors (EDCs), at the Monjolinho river. This small urban river is placed in São Carlos; a town located in the São Paulo state, southwest Brazil, and receives concentrated and diffuse sewage effluents as industrials as domestics. Samples of water and sediments were analyzed by liquid chromatography, and male fishes captured were investigated to survey the vitellogenin protein (Vtg), a biomarker of exposition. To complement the study, ecotoxicological tests with different approaches were considered. Moreover an environmental risk analyze delineation was made because hormones concentrations, mainly the synthetic ethynilestradiol (EE2), VTG induction, and positive effects in ecotoxicity tests were found.

As doenças bucais ocupacionais e os acidentes de trabalho requerem medidas de prevenção implantadas no sistema de gestão de segurança e saúde no trabalho, a fim de estabelecer um ambiente de trabalho mais seguro. No caso do ambiente de trabalho apresentado no presente estudo, equacionar prevenção de doenças bucais ocupacionais é uma tarefa árdua. A legislação vigente exige da empresa, elaborar e manter um Programa de Prevenção de Riscos Ambientais (PPRA), visando preservar e manter a segurança e saúde de seus trabalhadores, em consonância com as demais normas regulamentadoras e com os demais requisitos legais, adentrando nesta interface a Odontologia do Trabalho. Por meio do conhecimento técnico-científico da Odontologia do Trabalho, este trabalho propõe incluir nas diretrizes para elaboração e implementação de um PPRA em um processo específico de galvanoplastia os riscos químicos com potencial de inferir na saúde bucal do trabalhador. Obtendo a associação entre a identificação no PPRA dos riscos ambientais e dos possíveis agravos e comprometimento da saúde bucal do trabalhador. Concluindo ser viável a contribuição da odontologia do trabalho na elaboração do PPRA visando à prevenção da saúde bucal dos que neste ambiente laboram; sendo necessário o monitoramento do binômio ambiente laboral e saúde bucal do trabalhador, a análise dos critérios para o estabelecimento de limites de tolerância, a eficácia dos equipamentos de proteção e a descrição dos riscos à saúde bucal na ficha de informação de segurança de produto químico. / Oral diseases and occupational accidents require prevention measures to be implemented in the systems of health and safety management at the workplace for a safer work environment. In the case of the work environment presented in this study, the prevention of occupational oral diseases is a daunting task. The current Brazilian legislation requires companies to establish and enforce a program named Occupational Hazard Prevention Program (PPRA) to help keep good safety and health conditions of their workers in line with regulatory standards and other legal requirements. This paper aims to include potentially damaging chemical risks to oral health of workers in the guidelines of the PPRA program and use them in a specific electroplating process. Through technical and scientific research, this work seeks to associate PPRA identification of environmental risks and its hazards to the possible risk of compromising the oral health of workers. It concludes by proving the positive contribution of dentistry labour in PPRA especially in the prevention of oral health damage, the requirement of monitoring the binomial work environment to maintain a good oral health of workers, analysis of criteria to establish tolerance limits, studies to assess efficiency level of equipment, and description of chemical products risks to oral health to be included in the safety guideline forms.

Submitted by admin tede (tede@pucgoias.edu.br) on 2016-08-17T13:59:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 LYA KARLA MANSO MIRANDA.pdf: 756565 bytes, checksum: eb830c3d6d674094b89c54eb5528ddd9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-17T13:59:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 LYA KARLA MANSO MIRANDA.pdf: 756565 bytes, checksum: eb830c3d6d674094b89c54eb5528ddd9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-13 / In recent decades, Brazil has been highlighted as one of the largest world producers of the culture of sugarcane. The workers involved in this production may be predisposed to several environmental risks, such as the physical, chemical, biological and ergonomic ones. The aim of this study was to investigate the perception the environmental risks in manual and mechanized workers of a mill in Goiás. This is a cross-sectional research in which 90 sugarcane workers were selected. They have answered a personal data and occupational questionnaire and the Map of Perception of Environmental Risks. The results proved that the manual and mechanized workers are significantly exposed to the aggressors found in the environment, prevailing noise and vibration for the mechanized ones, and the dust, biological and ergonomic hazards for the manual ones (p 0.05). Some measures must be taken in order to minimize the presence of these risks. We specially emphasize the distribution of isotonic serum, appropriate PPE, labor gymnastics, breaks for rest during working hours regular courses focused on safety and health of the employees. / Nas últimas décadas o Brasil tem se destacado como um dos maiores produtores mundiais da cultura da cana-de-açúcar. Os trabalhadores envolvidos nesta produção podem ficar predispostos a diversos riscos ambientais, como os físicos, químicos, biológicos e ergonômicos. O objetivo desse estudo foi investigar a percepção dos riscos ambientais nos trabalhadores manuais e mecanizados de uma usina de Goiás. Trata-se de uma pesquisa transversal, no qual foram selecionados 90 trabalhadores canavieiros. Estes responderam um questionário referente aos dados pessoais e ocupacionais e ao Mapa de Percepção de Riscos Ambientais. Os resultados evidenciaram que os trabalhadores manuais e mecanizados estão expostos de maneira significativa aos agressores encontrados no ambiente, prevalecendo o ruído e as vibrações nos mecanizados, e a poeira, riscos biológicos e ergonômicos nos manuais (p 0,05). Algumas medidas devem ser tomadas para que se possa minimizar a presença destes riscos. Ressalta-se a distribuição de soros isotônicos, de equipamentos de proteção adequados, ginásticas laborais, pausas para descanso durante o trabalho e cursos periodicamente voltados para a segurança e a saúde dos funcionários.

O processo de desenvolvimento industrial que incorporou o conhecimento técnico-científico gerou, sem dúvidas, vários avanços à humanidade; no entanto também acabou por produzir toda uma série de riscos, dentre eles os ambientais, que hoje, afetam diretamente, o próprio homem. A contaminação do solo e das águas subterrâneas vem ampliar a gama destes riscos, em particular nos grandes centros urbanos, onde a indústria se fez presente. A desconcentração industrial expõe mais claramente esta problemática ambiental, na medida em que, frente à demanda existente, muitos terrenos ocupados anteriormente pela atividade fabril, passam a receber novos usos. O propósito deste trabalho será discutir a relação existente entre o desenvolvimento da sociedade industrial e a construção da sociedade contemporânea, também conhecida como sociedade do risco; e a partir daí demonstrar a existência de uma territorialidade do risco em São Paulo proveniente da contaminação do solo e das águas subterrâneas. Será discutido ainda, as políticas públicas ambientais, em particular àquelas voltadas para a gestão das áreas contaminadas em São Paulo. / The process of industrial development, which incorporated the technical-scientific knowledge, generated undoubtedly several advances to the humankind; however, it also ended up producing a series of risks, the environmental ones among them, which affect directly the own man. The soil and groundwater contamination contribute to enlarge the range of these risks, particularly in the great urban centers, where the industry was present. The industrial desconcentration reveals more clearly this environmental issue, as many plots previously occupied by industrial activity begin to receive new uses. The purpose of this work is to show the relationship between the industrial society development and the construction of the contemporary society, also known as risk society, and from this point, to demonstrate the existence of a territoriality of the risk in São Paulo, originating in the soil and groundwater contamination. The environmental public policies will be also discussed, in particular those ones aiming at contaminated sites management in São Paulo.