In decision problems that rely on technical or scientific data, values are often not explicitly considered, resulting in suboptimal environmental management decision-making. Yet, valuation is an integral part of the overall environmental management process. An environmental decision-making framework that places valuation at the forefront of the process is advocated. The application of values to environmental decisions should occur at every phase of analysis, not just the final weighing of decisions. Value-focused thinking will be used here to structure the problem and determine what is important. Management tasks, environmental or otherwise, cannot rely solely on objective criteria. Stakeholder input and values, and regulatory guidelines are normally considered along with relevant monitoring and modeling data output. Though formal risk management normally contains many decision tools, a unified procedure should exist to weigh evidence as well as formally integrate opinion and observation. A decision framework should be a helpful tool to bring together lines of evidence and values necessary to make important and costly decisions. If the decision-making consequences are detrimental, others can understand why a decision was made if a rationale is available. The best way to understand how a decision was made is to present the decision process from a value-focused perspective. Understanding the difference between objectives, alternatives, and criteria in a decision problem and placing value on features of interests should improve current informal environmental management decisions immensely. Though the current work will not explicitly evaluate costs and benefits, an approach that uses Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) and influence diagrams (IDs) is proposed. From the value-focused decision analysis, IDs will be created to weigh the evidence of the various alternative actions needed to reach items of value. An ID can be constructed once the major objectives, alternatives, and criteria are identified. The ID construction phase arranges the information determined in the decision analysis so that experts and lay people can evaluate what is important in a problem and how decisions and other factors influence it. Constructing an ID would include mapping the causal factors and decisions in a directed acyclic graph while preserving assumptions of conditional independence. The first three chapters of this thesis synthesized information from the decision analysis literature to establish an approach that will be beneficial to environmental management. The final two chapters developed examples of the approach that applies Bayesian decision networks in environmental management. Two topics in the final chapters were used to illustrate the framework's potential effectiveness: pesticide ecological risk assessment and natural resource management of Chesapeake Bay seagrass. The pesticide risk management scheme incorporated risk assessment evidence from various models to balance ecological risk management with spraying efficacy judgments. The seagrass assessment evaluated the ability of a BBN to assimilate water quality monitoring data in decision-making that reflect remedial goals. Assessing outcomes and the influences of future processes on restoration targets can be accomplished within the framework of a formal decision analysis with Bayesian networks.

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Environmental education (EE) has been an evolving field which came out of concern for the environment in the 1960's and 1970's. As a focus of international conferences and agreements, it impacted on school curricula in most parts of the world, although, for Tanzania, it is a new field in formal education and an often challenging one. With the influence of contemporary focus on participation in EE, in 2004 the Ministry of Education in Tanzania suggested the integration of environmental education into every subject in the curriculum. However, little is known currently in Tanzania about the response of people who have a stake in education to this suggestion, and in particular about their participation in EE. This study sought to explore stakeholders' views of involvement and participation in EE in Tanzania. The three specific questions in this study related to stakeholders' views on EE; stakeholders' perceptions of their roles and involvement in EE; and stakeholders' perceptions of collaboration in the implementation and development of EE in schools in Tanzania. The study adopted an interpretive methodology framework. Purposeful sampling strategy was used and the sampled participants consisted of two schools, 100 students, seven teachers, four school leaders, 56 parents, three government and two EE agencies officials, all from the Dar es Salaam region, Tanzania. The methods used for data collection included semi-structured interviews with teachers, school leaders, government, and EE agency officials and open-ended questionnaires with students and parents. Data analysis followed qualitative and quantitative procedures. The findings of this study indicated that the views and teaching of EE amongst participants was limited to education about the environment. Little emphasis was given to education in and for the environment. Roles and involvement with EE related activities focused on teaching about the environment, and training teachers, while only a few respondents indicated involvement with activities that reflected ii environment action such as cleanliness, planting trees and gardening. The challenges with respect to the implementation of EE were noted to be limited time, and resources, and lack of training and funds. Participants considered that through collaboration stakeholders in Tanzania can contribute their resources in terms of time, funds and expertise and participate to enhance EE initiatives and developments, e.g. training of teachers, improving teaching, children's learning and behaviour, and supporting school-community developments e.g. take an issue-based approach to address local problems, etc. It appeared that success of collaborative initiatives depends on the participation and commitment of individuals; cooperation and coordination of resources and expertise, as well as leadership. The findings highlight several implications and suggestions for future research such as the need for support for stakeholders in Tanzania to develop an understanding of the contemporary focus of EE; teacher support to challenge their current practices and use active teaching and learning pedagogies; leadership support to initiate and sustain collaborative culture in schools; stakeholders' collaboration in EE initiatives; flexible curricula to allow issue-based and action oriented approaches; as well as community involvement in curricula decisions and school collaborative activities.

Failure to design, construct and remediate waste rock and tailings storage facilities at mine sites leads to adverse environmental degradation and unforeseen financial costs. Typical closure options for these facilities include barrier or store and release covers. This thesis investigates the use of reactive in-situ covers as an alternative engineering design approach that involves mixing reagents (e.g. BauxsolTM) with waste rock to neutralise acidity and to immobilise major and minor metals. It was unknown whether this approach could be achieved at a field scale, whether the use of BauxsolTM would achieve its primary objectives, whether there would be adverse effects on the soil chemistry or whether there would be adverse ecotoxicological problems.Four 400 m2 field trials were conducted at a mine site and included a Control; Bauxsol™ (25 kg / m2) plus biosolids (15 kg / m2); Lime (2.5 kg / m2) plus biosolids (15 kg / m2) and a fourth site that was encapsulated with 0.3 m of compacted clay and 0.1 m of topsoil. The results suggest that soil chemistry can be significantly improved by mixing Bauxsol™ with the top 0.5 m of the waste rock profile i.e., creating a reactive in situ cover. This was sufficient to create a root zone up to 1.6 m deep that had pH greater than 5 and lower concentrations of metals measured using a sequential extraction procedure. Treatment of the acid mine waste with Lime did not achieve marked improvement of soil conditions in soil layers below the amended zone. The capping treatment created a topsoil layer with higher pH, but the underlying mine soil remained unimproved. Leachate pH in the Control became increasingly acidic (pH 4.57 to pH 3.95). The addition of Lime and biosolids led to an initial increase in leachate pH, compared to the Control, however this decreased over the duration of the study (pH 5.37 to pH 4.89). In the Bauxsol™ and biosolids treatment leachate pH increased to 6.92 after the first rainfall event and continued to increase over the duration of the study to pH 7.4. After 24 months metal leachate concentrations (mg / L) in the lysimeters for Al, Cd, Cu, Mn and Zn were (Control: 32.6, 5.7, 12.7, 39.3, 121.8), (Bauxsol™: 0.07, 0.02, 0.07, 0.57, 0.23) and (Lime: 2.19, 1.19, 2.33, 3.6, 28.4). No leachate was available for collection from the Clay treatment indicating that this technique was functioning in terms of minimising the infiltration of water into the mine soil.Ecotoxicological studies of major and minor metals in eucalypt leaves from the field trials and earthworm bioaccumulation studies were undertaken. The Bauxsol™, Ca(OH)2 and Clay treatments in the field trials allowed good tree growth of four eucalypt species, compared to the Control. There was no statistical difference in tree growth between the Bauxsol™, Lime or Clay treatments over the two years of monitoring. However the growth of one tree species was poor in the Bauxsol™ treatment.Laboratory bioaccumulation assessments found that there was good motility and no mortality of the earthworm species E. fetida after 28 days exposure to metal loaded BauxsolTM. The bioaccumulation of metals in E. fetida and bioaccumulation factors were below reported toxicity thresholds to cause mortality and below reported bioaccumulation factors for moderately contaminated soils, indicating that the metals bound to the Bauxsol™ reagents are mostly non-bioavailable E. fetida. Analyses of the 20 % treatment at 28 days using a sequential extraction procedure showed that > 95 % of the metals are bound within the Fe / Mn oxide fractions. However, changes occurred in metal fractionation after exposure to E. fetida for Cd, Cr and Fe, Mn. The data also showed that the exchangeable (1M MgCl2) and the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure extractant are useful as indicators of metal bioavailability to E. fetida.

<p>Large quantities of chemicals are used in all areas of society. The chemicals can be toxic and dangerous for the environment if used incorrectly. To protect people and the environment from dangerous chemicals, a good control of them and an active work to phase out hazardous substances in all areas where chemicals are present, are needed. </p><p>Banverket and Vägverket handle in production a wide range of chemical products. Many of the products are dangerous to the environment, for those who work with them and to others who may come into contact with them. Since January 2005 Banverket and Vägverket cooperates in the chemical field, using a common chemical database and common requirements and criteria for the assessment of chemical products. In this work, I have conducted an inventory of hazardous substances used within Banverket and Vägverket and I have also tried to identify the drivers and barriers that are linked to work with the phasing out of hazardous chemicals and to apply the law product choice principle.</p><p>One of Sweden's environmental objectives is Non-Toxic Environment, which has an intermediate target, which reads, "Phasing out of hazardous substances." Working actively with the phase-out reduces the risks of hazardous chemicals coming out into the environment and contributes to reaching the desired environmental goal in time. Higher demand from authorities and legislative changes may intensify work with chemicals and the phasing out. However, the driving force for wanting to reduce the number of hazardous chemicals found in an activity must be there if the phasing out process will be successful and a general responsibility must be taken in order to achieve the environmental objective.</p><p>I have found that the phasing out of chemicals is very complex and requires hard work to tbe successful. Banverket and Vägverket are on track and have good practices in their work but there is more to do. Making use of the driving forces that exist and the smooth way to pass obstacles in the way you will get a very successful work with the phasing out of chemicals and application of the product choice principle. I hope that the outcome of the thesis will stimulate a more active work with the phasing out of chemicals, which also contributes to achieving the environmental objective A Non-Toxic Environment.</p>

<p>Environment friendly, so called green marketing has become a discussed subject and companies are constantly trying to find the best ways to reach the customers with their green message. A trademark is considered to be able to work as a source of information and risk reducer for customers, which can be a step towards green communication. Customers are becoming more demanding and they have started to pay more attention to the environment. What is important with trademarks is how customers perceive them, what the image of the trademark is. The aim of this study is to find out and compare how two multinational car manufacturers, Honda and Renault, have used their strategic trademark in order to create a “green” image. By green image meaning so called goods that are being perceived as environmental friendly by the customers. The research study took place in Worcester and Birmingham in England, during the spring 2009. A questionnaire was designed in order to find out how people perceive these two trademarks and how aware they are of the “environmental contribution” that is being made by these companies. The question we wanted to find a respond to where “Have the automobile companies Honda and Renault achieved to deliver their environmental message to their customers?” The results from this illustrates that both companies need to increase their communication with the customers, and that attributes like price and quality are more important than “environmental responsibility”. This study is based on only Honda and Renault and has not taken the rest of the automobile industry into consideration.</p>

The organizations that make up the environmental movement have a great opportunity and challenge before them. These organizations could lead our nation in a time of great change. They could challenge the public to align personal consumer habits with positive environmental beliefs. However, the environmental movement has failed to market and communicate effectively. Due to this failure, companies such as Chevron and Wal-Mart have taken the moral high ground away from environmental organizations. The movement as a whole, with a few exceptions, has not successfully promoted key themes that could motivate change. There are rare examples of successful marketing and communication tactics from environmental groups. Effective fundraising techniques and an over dependence on public relations is often used in place of reliable advertising tactics. The majority of environmental organizations on the national, regional and state level have squandered opportunities to galvanize a broader audience base in the United States. Most environmental organizations have not kept up with the change in the overall populations attitude towards environmental dangers threatening the earth. The populace has the potential to become more aware and would be willing to act, if the NGOs, foundations and governmental bodies directed what type of action to take. With the ominous threat of global warming, people have not been moved to demand change from the government, private industry or particularly themselves. Environmental organizations must adopt a new marketing strategy in order to successfully lead the American public in this time of great change.

Agriculture in North America has tended toward consolidation and industrialization in the past century. Responding to the narrowing of market advantage for small-scale organic farmers and the plight of farm workers, as well as to both the failures and potentials of international fair trade and organic initiatives, members of the nascent Domestic Fair Trade Association (DFTA) seek to insert social justice into the North American food system using a market-based initiative mediated by independent that conform to stringent criteria. This study examines the meaning of fair trade in a North American context; the challenges facing domestic fair trade initiatives, and the ways the DFTA confronts them; and the ways those involved with the DFTA intend to move ahead with a domestic fair trade initiative. I argue that through a strong collaborative approach both structurally and in its vision for a transformed food system, the DFTA may bring a new and productive element to the discussion of alternative agro-food initiatives in North America. Central to DFTA members understanding of their goals is the formation of a coalition representing all the stakeholders in the food system, the creation of alternative economic models which embody social justice, the education and empowerment of the consumer as a political actor, and the role of policy in a complete transformation of the food system.

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Citizen science, or the use of volunteers for scientific projects, is becoming a popular way for agencies and organizations to collect data. The benefits of citizen science include saving the agency or organization resources, educating the community about conservation issues, and promoting land stewardship. Currently, many citizen monitoring organizations are based in urban areas, whereas their projects are located near more rural towns. Research shows that demographics such as area of residence can be a factor in the publics attitude toward any scientific or land management project (Williams et al, 2002; Kellert, 1978, 1985; Vaske et al, 2001). This fact was supported by a citizen science project, led by the author, on the Clearwater National Forest. Currently, no citizen science organizing manuals address the issue of rural/urban difference in volunteer recruitment. Additionally, the question of what qualities citizen science must have to be used by government agencies must be determined so that non-governmental organizations can produce useful data. I interviewed 11 successful urban-based citizen science conservation organizations in order to establish the characteristics of successful volunteer recruitment and retention. Additionally, I interviewed five state or federal agencies that used citizen science data in order to establish the characteristics of effective citizen science programs. Using Glesne (1999) as a guide, interviews were numbered and coded. Results showed that successful recruitment methods differ between rural and urban areas, with word of mouth and local newspapers as most effective. Citizens must believe in the program, have a social atmosphere associated with the program, and have a personal relationship with the project organizer in order to volunteer again. There is a difference in rural and urban communities, having to do with different values, priorities, and environmental awareness. Effective citizen science programs share three main characteristics: a proper training program, scientific accuracy, and a quality control program.