Want to make an impact on climate change? Focus on elections.

Choosing individual actions for climate change can take many forms. Drawing on an analysis of elections and their impact on climate policy, offset against other forms of climate action, Seth Wynes argues for the effectiveness of supporting politicians backing environmental policies. Drawing a comparison with the way in which fossil fuel interests have systematically sought to influence politics at all levels, he suggests climate advocates would be well advised to adopt similar strategies

Carbon and curriculum : towards evidence-based climate change education in Canada

Despite an overwhelming scientific consensus that climate change is a threat to our society, many young Canadians do not view it as a major issue. This suggests flaws in the way that youth are educated on climate change. I therefore investigated climate change education in Canada to recommend improvements. I analyzed Canadian secondary science curricula according to two frameworks to determine how thoroughly climate change is addressed. Results showed that Canadian provinces provide more comprehensive coverage of climate change than American states (70% of Canadian provinces give the highest level of coverage compared to 10% of American states). In general, learning objectives in Canadian provinces tend to focus on knowledge of climate change with little or no emphasis on scientific certainty or ways to address the issue. These results led me to conduct interviews with six individuals responsible for curriculum design in different provinces to see how documents are developed and whether political controversies influence the writing process. Interviewees described a development process relying on input from professionals, institutions and members of the public that is free of political interference. In some cases, efforts to remain neutral on this controversial subject may have led to descriptions of social controversy where there is actually scientific consensus on climate change. Following a review of current literature, I evaluated a list of potential behaviours to find the most effective ways to reduce an individual’s carbon footprint. The four high-impact actions I identified were: have fewer children, avoid air travel, live car free, and eat a plant-based diet. I then analyzed ten Canadian science textbooks to see which types of personal behaviours are currently recommended to students for reducing their carbon footprint. Textbooks encouraged low- or medium-impact behaviours such as recycling and household energy conservation, but rarely or never mentioned high-impact actions. While avoiding air travel can be 15 times more effective than recycling, it was mentioned one-fifth as frequently. This is problematic given the difficulty of meeting the 3.3 tonnes per capita reduction required by Canada’s current CO2 emissions target using low-impact actions. I suggest that if Canadian students are to be prepared for climate change, they should receive educational content that is consistent with evidence and delivered in the most effective ways. In line with this evidence-based approach, I prepared high school teaching materials that encourage the adoption of high-impact actions, using strategies suggested by studies of environmentally motivated behaviours

The value of apology: Apologies impact on stock returns

In a crisis managers are confronted with a dilemma between an ethical responsibility to respond to victims and their fiduciary responsibility to protect shareholder’s wealth. This study provides empirical evidence that a company apology made during a crisis can have a positive or negative effect on stock price depending on the level of responsibility for a crisis born by the firm. We use Coombs’ (2007) Situational Crisis Communication Theory to classify crises and appropriate re-sponse type for 235 unique crises between 1983 and 2013. We use event study methodology to study the effect of an apology on returns. The results show that managers apologizing to those affected for a victim or accidental crisis jeopardize shareholder wealth; however offering an apology for a preventable crisis offsets this negative effect

Pinocchio Commedia

This Harlequinade version of Pinocchio is one of his theatre’s most successful productions. Simons uses the original Italian commedia names, such as Arlecchino, who later became the French Harlequin. The name “Pinocchio” may be spoken with its Italian pronunciation as pee-no-kee-o. In true commedia fashion, this wild and uninhibited play begins with a troupe of strolling players exploding into the theatre with their noisy props and crude scenery. Arlecchino plays a Cricket; Pantalone plays Geppetto; Razullo, a fox; Beltrama, a cat; Pulcinella, the wicked puppet master; Pedrolina, a donkey and a fool; Columbina, a spirit and Pinocchio plays himself. The commedia flavor gives the story vigor and makes it entertainment for adults as well as children without losing the charm and significant message of Collodi’s famous story.https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/allshows2010s/1000/thumbnail.jp

Milovan Djilas and Vladimir Dedijer: Power and Dissent in Communist Yugoslavia

This thesis focuses on the careers of Milovan Djilas and Vladimir Dedijer - the only men in the communist world who, at the height of their power, repudiated the system they helped install. Taking a largely chronological approach, the thesis presents the roles of both men in establishing and then undermining communist rule in Yugoslavia. Fundamental change in any society does not occur without the introduction of new ideas. More than any other work in the field, this thesis emphasises the link between the changing ideologies of both men and political developments within Yugoslavia. The study also represents the first effort at comprehensively analysing the roles of both men in power and dissent. Much of the existing literature has taken a hagiographical approach, focusing on their fall from power in 1954. By taking a more holistic and critical stance, the thesis cuts through some of the vague heroic aura that currently surrounds the figures of Djilas and Dedijer, instead seeing them as products of a particular web of personal, societal and cultural circumstances. While the thesis is a historical case-study of both men, it makes contributions to other fields such as: dissidence in communist regimes, the role of ideas in driving societal change, politics in multi-ethnic societies, and the (mis)interpretation of history for ideological purposes. Using published memoirs and primary sources, the thesis reconstructs the lives of Djilas and Dedijer. Its main originality is in presenting new sources and offering new interpretations of the roles played by both men in the analysed period. It also corrects some misconceptions in the debate about how the Yugoslav communists dealt with their country’s problematic past after 1945, and the extent to which ‘liberal’ pro-Yugoslav intellectuals undermined the communist state, paving the way for nationalists to emerge in the 1990s

Habitat use by caribou in northern Alberta, Canada

Habitat mapping and habitat supply assessment have been identified as key elements of the Alberta Woodland Caribou Conservation Strategy. Previous studies from northeastern Alberta have shown that caribou select lowland habitat types and avoid upland. The objectives of our study were to determine whether these selection patterns are consistent across all of northern Alberta and to generate a map of habitat suitability for the entire region. Our database included over 11 000 radiotelemetry locations collected over six years from caribou across northern Alberta. We also had available a recently revised map of peatlands for the entire province. We found that polygons in the peatland map containing greater than 30% bog were selected by caribou. Fens were also selected, but not as strongly as bogs. Habitat polygons containing greater than 50% non-peat were avoided. These findings were consistent among all regions studied, and among years. The proportion of caribou relocations declined exponentially with distance from polygons classified as peatlands. Based on the observed selection patterns, we reclassified the peatland map to reflect the potential suitability of habitat for caribou across northern Alberta

Pigmented onychomatricoma: Four cases

ABSTRACT Onychomatricoma (OM) presenting as a longitudinal melanonychia is a very uncommon clinical presentation with very few cases in the literature. Our aim in this article is to report four cases of pigmented OM, and describe their clinical and dermoscopic findings and the importance of the differential diagnoses, especially with melanoma. Key words: longitudinal melanonychia, nail, nail tumour, onychomatricoma, pigmented onychomatricoma

环境条件对不动产价值的影响

不动产评估为不动产的经济价值提供了一个可靠而公平的估计值。政治因素、经济因素及社会因素都会影响不动产的价值，所以，在对不同用途的不动产进行评估时，评估师要考虑理论和实际两种评估方法以及每种用途对不动产价值的影响。给定相同的评估信息，不同评估师得到的评估值通常有5%-7%的差异。近来，评估师们在给不动产定价时会考虑一个新因素，即：潜在的环境责任。但是，在计算环境责任的成本以及确定其对不动产价值的影响程度问题上，仍然有存在很大的不确定性。译者单位：厦门大学评估研究中心(361005

Antimicrobial Footprints, Fairness, and Collective Harm

This chapter explores the question of whether or not individual agents are under a moral obligation to reduce their ‘antimicrobial footprint’. An agent’s antimicrobial footprint measures the extent to which her actions are causally linked to the use of antibiotics. As such, it is not necessarily a measure of her contribution to antimicrobial resistance. Talking about people’s antimicrobial footprint in a way we talk about our carbon footprint may be helpful for drawing attention to the global effects of individual behaviour and for highlighting that our choices can collectively make a real difference. But can we be morally obligated to make a contribution to resolving a collective action problem when our individual contributions by themselves make no discernible difference? I will focus on two lines of argument in favour of such obligations: whether a failure to reduce one’s antimicrobial footprint is unfair and whether it constitutes wrongdoing because it is harmful. I conclude by suggesting that the argument from collective harm is ultimately more successful