Facing and managing natural disasters in the Sporades islands, Greece

The region of the Sporades islands located in central Greece is at the mercy of many natural phenomena, such as earthquakes due to the marine volcano Psathoura and the rift of Anatolia, forest fires, floods, landslides, storms, hail, snowfall and frost. The present work aims at studying the perceptions and attitudes of the residents regarding how they face and manage natural disasters. A positive public response during a hazard crisis depends not only upon the availability and good management of a civil defense plan but also on the knowledge and perception of the possible hazards by the local population. It is important for the stakeholders to know what the citizens expect so that the necessary structures can be developed in the phase of preparation and organization. The residents were asked their opinion about what they think should be done by the stakeholders after a catastrophic natural disaster, particularly about the immediate response of stakeholders and their involvement and responsibilities at different, subsequent intervals of time following the disaster. The residents were also asked about the most common disasters that happen in their region and about the preparation activities of the stakeholders.Research Center for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics (CIEO); Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologi

Infusing pro-environmental values in science education: A multimodal analysis of ecology animations for children

Science education is widely considered a crucial site for teaching environmental values (e.g. Littledyke, 2008). This study aims to contribute to the field by introducing a multimodal discourse analysis framework and analysing the environmental values in online ecology animations for children. Based on Martin and White’s (2005) attitude system, this study investigates (1) what pro-environmental values are incorporated in the animations; (2) what attitudinal meanings are used to represent the values; and (3) how the meanings are realised through multimodal resources. Our analysis of 67 online animations shows that they often express appreciation for nature and negative judgement about humans’ destructive activities. It is also found that the attitudes constructed are largely underpinned by biospheric values, holding humans responsible for nature by virtue of its inherent worth. The attitudes are often verbally constructed via scientific explanations and suggestions/instructions on how to solve/lessen various environmental issues, which balances well between the knowledge- and action-oriented dimensions of environmental education. Visually, anthropomorphism is frequently used, mostly to represent unhappiness/fear in different parts of nature and give them voice to respond to human intrusion. Overall, our findings support the pedagogical values of online ecology animations for environmental education for children