Environmental Risk Communication

Wildfires are an escalating environmental and public health threat in the United States, driven by climate change, prolonged droughts, and urban expansion into wildfire-prone areas. These events produce severe health hazards through smoke exposure, with impacts ranging from respiratory illnesses and cardiovascular complications to mental health challenges. Public health communication is a crucial tool for mitigating these risks, shaping protective behaviors, and promoting community resilience. This research article surveys public health communication strategies employed during wildfire events globally and evaluates their relevance to the U.S. context. Lessons from countries such as Australia and Canada reveal innovative approaches to engaging diverse populations, leveraging technology, and addressing inequities in information access. The discussion highlights persistent challenges in the United States, including disparities in communication reach, the spread of misinformation, and variable levels of public trust. Recommendations emphasize the need for multi-channel, culturally tailored, and community-centered strategies to strengthen U.S. public health communication capacity in the face of worsening wildfire crises.

Contexto, objeto e objetivos • "Vozes do Antropoceno. Mapas e modelos pelo conflito ecológico" (VAMP), um projeto Marie Sklodowska-Curie: 3 anos (01/10/2023-21/09/2026) que inclui Universidade de Bolonha (beneficiária), Origens medialab (parceira secondaria), Universidade Estadual de São Paulo (parceira principal). • O objeto do VAMP são as controvérsias ecológicas no Antropoceno, entendidas como crise das categorias semio-linguisticas que moldam nosso relacionamento com o ambiente. • Na fala de hoje, apoiando-me sobre a analise da midiatização dos incêndios de 2024 no interior de SP, vou mostrar como as mídias "resolvem" uma crise semântica particular: a crise da categoria da "responsabilidade" que deriva da dificultade em determinar a "causa" dos eventos.

As momentum for decarbonisation grows worldwide, how can the transition to renewable energy be made in a just and equitable manner? In response to this vital question of environmental politics, A Just Energy Transition by Ed Atkins is a timely contribution that delineates the multiple facets of the concept of a “just energy transition”. The book criticises the dominance of technical considerations over social and political ones in current policy discussions regarding decarbonisation. It urges greater scholarly and public attention to the elements that render decarbonisation unfair and undemocratic. Accordingly, its analytical focus is on “what a just energy transition should be” rather than “why such a transition is necessary.”

Resumen: En esta investigación se analiza la representación mediática que los informativos de televisión y la prensa española ofrecen de las personas con discapacidad y los temas relacionados con el colectivo. Se realizó un análisis mixto de los informativos vespertinos de TVE1, Telecinco, La Sexta y Antena 3, así como de los periódicos El País, El Mundo, La Vanguardia, 20 Minutos y La Razón entre el 27 de noviembre y el 4 de diciembre de 2023, coincidiendo con la semana en la que se celebra el Día Internacional de las Personas con Discapacidad, en la que los medios prestan mayor atención al colectivo. Los resultados muestran que la representación de la discapacidad en los medios españoles es insuficiente, con poca participación de personas con discapacidad y sin reflejar correctamente el peso del colectivo en la sociedad. Se destaca la necesidad mejorar la inclusión y la sensibilización en el tratamiento mediático de la discapacidad. Palabras clave: representación mediática; personas con discapacidad; inclusión; análisis de contenido; informativos.

Andhra Pradesh (AP) is one of the most vulnerable States in India to natural disasters such as cyclones, high rainfall and flooding. With a second-longest coastline of 975km, atleast one cyclone hits every year, mainly during October and November. Although the AP Government is taking preventive measures to reduce the loss of lives, the increase in economic loss due to the damage to critical infrastructure has become a point of worry. Power and telecom industries are interlinked; power loss or failure may disrupt the entire telecommunication network. This study examines the impact of cyclones on the telecom industry in AP coastal zones during the last two decades, considering it to be the most vital of all infrastructure systems. This study also discusses the measures that need to be taken by telecom service providers (TSPs) to build robust networks, provide redundancy during network element failures and resource management during network overload. To safeguard the people and assets, State Governments must ensure that their infrastructure systems conform to specific standards of quality and reliability. These standards should, however, be revised regularly and applied consistently.

Tato studie zkoumá fenomén ideologizace veřejného diskursu v západní
společnosti, stále více formované provinilostí a obviňováním. Nejprve se zaměřujeme na kritickou analýzu současných ideologických narativů a jejich emocionální manipulaci. Analyzujeme, jaké jsou důsledky nadměrné akcentace otázek rasy, genderu, politické korektnosti a identitární politiky pro veřejnou diskusi, v níž jsou určité názory předem diskvalifikovány jako „nekorektní“. Zároveň odhalujeme, že tento stav není jen povrchním společenským jevem, ale symptomem morálního a duchovního deficitu současné západní kultury, v němž spatřujeme regresi k obětnímu uvažování s jeho ritualizací v mechanismu obětního beránka, jejíž detaily dále interpretujeme z pozice psychoanalytické teorie ontogeneze viny. Ukazujeme, že tomuto procesu lze rozumět jako reakci na strukturální změny spjaté na jedné straně se společensko-ekonomickou globalizací, na straně druhé pak s proměnou rodiny a prostředí výchovy dětí.

This article focuses on film noir as a place of visual representation of character embodiment, including most prominently sweat, but also pain, exertion, and addiction. This embodiment provides a way in for the viewer, a connection based upon a shared felt affect that situates emotional engagement and understanding at a more basic level. Noir films use indicators of character embodiment as a communicative resource for viewers to understand character experience and narrative situations, especially those that are unfamiliar and thematically prominent in the canon, such as paranoia, fear, anxiety.

Už nějaký čas je v západních humanitních vědách zřejmá intenzivní reflexe jejich společenské odpovědnosti. S vědomím rozkolísanosti dnešního světa začali někteří akademici nově promýšlet úkoly a poslání univerzit, bez rozpaků debatují o akademickém aktivismu. Tváří v tvář současným environmentálním výzvám se konkrétně historikům nabízí otázka: Jaké dějiny potřebujeme v časech klimatické krize? O tom, ale i o badatelské oblasti environmental humanities hovořili Eliška Švarná a Jan Randák s nizozemskou historičkou Liesbeth van de Grift.

The aim of the article is to present the main changes in the
Brazilian forest protection after the approval of the national
law n. 12.651 of 2012. Five years after its entry into force, this
law was only recently analyzed by the Brazilian Supreme
Court (STF)69. The context of the analysis is framed by the
latest advances in the international law concerning climate
change and the forests themselves, considered a key element to face the climate issue. After bringing this context to light,
we will describe the main institutes in the 2012’s forest law
– Permanent Protection Areas (APPs), Legal Forest Reserves
(ARLFs) and Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), as well
as the most important criticism made. In the end, we intend
to show some implications of the newest forest law on the
Brazilian climate actions and policies, particularly concerning
the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution targets on
Land Use, Land Use Change and Forests (LULUCF). In order
to do so, we will bring to light some data on the deforestation
in the Amazon region before and after the Law 12.651/2012.

The Mahaweli project is playing a very important role in strengthening the hands of rural people in several economically and socially special regions in Sri Lanka. The last reservoir built in the Central Highlands in recent times is the Upper Kothmale Reservoir in Nuwara Eliya District. The reservoir is located very close to an urban area. Due to the various human activities currently taking place in the catchment area of nearly 310 square kilometers belonging to the upper Kothmale reservoir, a valuable development project has been severely affected. A study on whether development communication has been used properly in areas with a lot of human activities, including settlements, shops, streets, and cultivation located in the water catchment area of the reservoir, and how development communication can be used to achieve an effective goal in the development process taking place in those areas can be pointed out as the main objectives of this study. This study has been conducted using primary and secondary sources of data. The participatory observation method and interview method have been used. Talawakele local council area and Nuwara Eliya local council area were selected for this study. Accordingly, primary data was collected using 90 discussions. This data was collected under 3 age groups. “Hirubata Nimnaye Kothmale Book” and Upper Kothmale Project Proposal were used as secondary data sources. It is clear from the data of Talawakele local council and Nuwara Eliya local council that about 10 tons of solid waste is added to the environment daily from the cities located in the water catchment area. A major problem seen today is that a large amount of solid waste enters the reservoir through the town of Talawakele, which is located in the area closest to the reservoir. Due to the constant rain in this area, a large amount of solid waste is dumped into the environment and accumulates in the reservoir. It is more than 3650 tons in a year. The biggest problem is the lack of correct knowledge among the people. The need to educate the people about the environmental impact by using both Tamil and Sinhala in the area is clear. These problems have developed due to a lack of proper communication regarding development. A successful project should not be destroyed very quickly and the people and the government should be involved in this matter through traditional communication, two-step communication, and the use of mass media. The use of development communication is limited and adverse effects are created in the development process and there is a need for development communication to control it.

Abstract: This article proposes a philosophy of melodrama, following the
example of Noël Carroll in The Philosophy of Horror (1990). Melodrama
is defined by a distinctive mode of address in which morality is dramatized
through an appeal to our emotions. More narrowly conceived as the
“tearjerker,” it is designed to solicit tears through the orchestration of pathos.While melodrama is associated above all with a genre of nineteenth century theater, it is considered here as a mode that persists from at least the medieval period into the present, encompassing discrete art forms, such as theater, opera, and fi lm. Furthermore, as it evolves historically, it develops more complex idioms. Classical melodrama, or the melodrama of good versus evil, which dwells on the pathos of suffering innocence, is contrasted with romantic melodrama or the melodrama of moral antinomy (Singer), which explores the pathos of sacrifice. A series of distinctions are drawn between sympathy, pathos, empathy, and identification, and the relationship of each to the other and to our moral responses are briefly delineated. The article contests Murray Smith’s theory of empathy as central or personal imagination and defends a distinctive concept of identification, based upon its roots in the medieval French “identifier,” to “regard as the same.” It concludes with a brief defense of melodrama against the charge that it is emotionally contrived and exploits our moral sentiments for meretricious ends.

O Antropoceno não é apenas uma crise da natureza: é uma crise das categorias que moldam a relação dos humanos com o meio ambiente. Essa tese, inspirada pelas convergências entre semiotica e antropologia contemporanea, fundamenta o projeto de pesquisa "Vozes do Antropoceno. Mapas e modelos pelos conflitos ecológicos”. Sua ambição e oferecer uma leitura do Antropoceno na perspectiva de uma semiotica da cultura, o seja e repensar as crises ecológicas como crises de sentido, focando em casos de controvérsias onde a crise de sentido torna em conflito de interpretação. Nessa fala, vou focar em particular sobre as crises e os conflitos sobre a atribução da responsabilidade de danos ecológicos nos mídias brasileiros, como no discurso jornalístico sobre os recentes incêndios no interior de São Paulo. O objetivo é de-construir algumas retóricas midiáticas que interligam semiosfera, infosfera e biosfera, tentando desativar seus efeitos não transformativos.

Scientists can be important public advocates in environmental issues. But scientific activism can take different forms, and deciding when and how to become an activist can be difficult for people who are trained to understand science as the objective pursuit of truth. This case study explores these issues through the history of the Oxygen Depletion Crisis. Between 1966 and 1970, it appeared that the global oxygen supply might be endangered by pesticides, industrial pollution, or the ongoing combustion of fossil fuels. The science was uncertain, but the potential threat was considerable. One response came from geophysicists Lloyd Berkner and Lauriston Marshall, who quietly initiated a research program and refrained from speaking publicly until the full scope of the crisis was better understood, in a conscious effort to avoid provoking public concern. We label this approach “public reticence.” Ecologist LaMont Cole instead made oxygen depletion a prominent talking point in his Congres...

Záměrem studie je popsat sociální dimenzi problematizace klimatické změny ve strategických klimatických dokumentech šesti hlavních měst střední Evropy. Naším výzkumným cílem bylo zjistit, jak je v těchto dokumentech pojímána klimatická změna, zda a případně jak intenzivně byla do přípravy dokumentů zapojena veřejnost a jakým způsobem jsou v nich nahlíženy zranitelné skupiny. Teoreticky se studie opírá o sociálně konstruktivistický koncept reprezentace problémů Carole Bacchi a dostupnou literaturu týkající se veřejně-politických dokumentů, zapojování veřejnosti a zranitelnosti, vše v kontextu klimatické změny. Studie analyzuje 25 strategických klimatických dokumentů vydaných v letech 2018-2022 v Berlíně, Bratislavě, Budapešti, Praze, Varšavě a Vídni. Sociální dimenze klimatické změny není v dokumentech dominantním narativem, a i v zapojování veřejnosti se jednotlivé případy značně liší. Zranitelnost se v dokumentech vyskytuje často ve formě výčtu konkrétních sociálních skupin a odvozuje se zejména od věku (senioři, malé děti) a zdravotního stavu (chronická onemocnění, zdravotní znevýhodnění). Dalšími zdroji zranitelnosti jsou místo bydliště a způsob pobývání ve veřejném prostoru; formulována je i zranitelnost založená na strukturálních nerovnostech. Sociální dimenze by měla být v kontextu přemýšlení o klimatické změně posílena-studie ukazuje konkrétní příklady, jak ji lze uchopit. // Our aim was to describe the social dimension of climate change in the strategic climate policy documents of six capital cities in Central Europe. In these documents, we focused on how the issue of climate change is represented, how the public was involved in their preparation and how vulnerable groups are treated. The study draws on Carole Bacchi's concept of problem representation and the literature on public policy documents, public participation and vulnerable groups, all in the context of climate change. The study analyses 25 strategic climate documents issued in 2018-2022 in Berlin, Bratislava, Budapest, Prague, Warsaw and Vienna; the coding combines deductive and inductive approaches. The social dimension of climate change is not the dominant narrative in the documents, the stress put on public participation also varies. Vulnerability is often mentioned as a list of specific social groups-typically based on age (elderly, children) and health status (chronic diseases). Another source of vulnerability is the place of residence and the way of being in public space, and also structural inequalities. The social dimension should be strengthened in the context of thinking about climate change-the study shows particular examples of use.

Resumo O presente trabalho foi realizado na comunidade de Barrinha situada no municipio de Icapui/CE, que apresenta problemas relacionados ao risco de avanco do mar. Esta comunidade ja foi alvo de eventos de avanco do mar, tendo sido contabilizados prejuizos diversos associados. Neste contexto, pretende-se analisar a percepcao da populacao residente na comunidade quanto a esse risco, de modo que essa analise possa se tornar um instrumento que auxilie nas politicas publicas voltadas ao controle do risco e na tomada de decisao, com vistas a melhoria da qualidade de vida da populacao. A metodologia utilizada foi a aplicacao de questionarios in loco apoiada em pesquisas bibliograficas e observacoes empiricas. Os questionarios foram aplicados com 60 moradores com vistas a obter um nivel de confianca de 95%. Os resultados demonstram que a percepcao do risco varia de acordo com o genero, a escolaridade e a idade dos entrevistados. De modo geral, as mulheres tem uma maior sensibilidade ao r...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is proposing a replacement of the seawater intake/delivery system at the James J. Howard Laboratory (the laboratory), located at 74 Magruder Road, in Sandy Hook, Monmouth County, New Jersey (see Figures 1-1 and 1-2). This Environmental Assessment (EA) has been prepared to evaluate potential environmental impacts that may result from the proposed action. The environmental review process is being conducted in

Depuis 1954, sous couvert d'une défense passive post-Seconde Guerre Mondiale, et pour pallier les défaillances d'utilisation des tocsins des églises pendant les inondations de 1930, l'État a déployé en France le RNA (Réseau National d'Alerte), composé essentiellement de sirènes. Le signal associé était destiné à interrompre toutes les activités sociales, et il était censé induire un comportement « approprié » de la part des autorités et des habitants concernés pour face à un danger, quelle qu'en soit la nature. Mais au fil des années, le RNA est devenu désuet et vieillissant et dans la majorité des cas, l'hésitation et les incertitudes sur les évolutions attendues des aléas en cours conduisent plus les autorités à une inaction plus qu'à une réelle réactivité. Pour autant, les sirènes restent l'outil prioritaire en France, et le nouveau système SAIP (Système d'Alerte et d'Information de la Population), dont l'opérationnalité est attendue pour 2022, conforte la priorité actée par les gouvernements à un tel vecteur. Cet article a alors pour but d'évaluer la pertinence de ce choix, éminemment politique, notamment pour l'alerte à la population en cas de crues rapides. Après avoir rappelé le contexte institutionnel, les avantages et limites de l'alerte par sirènes, nous avons mesuré la pertinence du réseau actuel dans le Vaucluse, en montrant notamment l'inadéquation de la localisation des sirènes par rapport aux zones à risque, et plusieurs axes d'amélioration des systèmes d'alerte sont proposés, en mesurant notamment les bénéfices à attendre d'une relocation des sirènes.

Recent disaster occured in Galicia (Northwest of Spain), after sinking of Prestige oil tanker, involved the dumping of thousands of tons of oil (toxic waste), a lot of which has been arriving to the coast of Galicia, North of Spain, and West of France. Six months after the disaster, consequences of this accident on the quality of life of Galician people, and problems have only begun. The present study is a first analysis carried out in the Autonomous Community of Galicia, with the aim of evaluating the social impact of the disaster through knowing the level of general affectation of the population, as well as a diagnosis on social unbalance -between a damaged environment and a human communitycaused by catastrophe. 1652 interviews were analyzed (51,7% males and 48,3% females). They were done in Galicia amongst people older than 18. We followed a ramdon routes method for selection of the subjects, with a reliability of 99,7% and a sample error of 3,7%. The work discuss the attribution...

Shale gas has become an energy policy priority in the United Kingdom in light of profitable extraction activities in the United States. Since 2012, the UK Government has created key economic drivers to encourage shale exploration, whilst growing activism in affected site communities has stirred significant media and academic commentary. This study examines the growing national debate as a matter of discourse; adopting an argumentative discourse analytic approach to assess data collected from stakeholder interviews (n=21) and key policy actor statements quoted in broadsheet newspapers. We explore three dominant 'storylines' emerging in relation to shale gas policy. 1) "Cleanliness and dirt" concerns the relative framing of the environmental benefits and harms of shale gas; 2) "energy transitionspathways and diversions" concerns geographic metaphors of transitions to carbon intensive and low-carbon energy systems; and 3) "geographies of environmental justice" concerns divisions of economic benefit distribution, environmental impact and procedural fairness. We find that central government policy rhetoric emphasises economic development, regulatory oversight and distribution of benefits to site communities, whilst minimising discussion of the implications of shale gas for anthropogenic climate change. The role of these discourses in influencing shale gas policy is discussed.

The issues and results of modeling major crude oil spill scenarios in outer coast and sound locations in the state of Washington, USA, to determine relative costs and impacts are explored. Oil spill trajectory and fate and effects modeling were coupled with modeling of response operation strategies (conventional mechanical containment and recovery operations; dispersant application with concurrent mechanical containment and recovery; and in-situ burning with concurrent mechanical containment and recovery) to estimate oil spill response costs and socioeconomic and environmental impacts. The complex issues in modeling the impact of response capability and timing of initial response operations were also examined, comparing the US Coast Guard (USCG) federal response capability standards, proposed Washington State standards, and potential theoretical higher response capability standards. Results of initial modeling showed little difference in costs and impacts between on-water response options and capability levels, with the exception of being significantly lower than the "no response" option, in which only protective shoreline response, but no on-water removal, were employed. The extremely high level of theoretical oil recovery (50 to 70%) that occurred in the modeling was adjusted in a second analysis to account for increasing inefficiencies in recovery capability with time, demonstrating that oil recovery under Washington State's earlier and more aggressive response standard was three times as high as under the federal response standard. Greater differences in costs and impacts were then realized. Increasing on-water oil removal through more efficient oil slick surveillance, training in strategic response, and more timely response can all contribute to reducing spill impacts and costs.

Tsunamis are natural hazards that can have devastating societal impacts. While tsunamis cannot be prevented, their risk to coastal communities can be mitigated through targeted measures such as early warning, evacuation training or tsunami-aware spatial planning. The particularities of tsunamis – being rare events with high impact and a short yet operable time span for warning – structure the associated research approaches and sociotechnical innovations. In this paper, we explore interdisciplinary knowledge integration and stakeholder engagement in tsunami science based on interviews with researchers from the EU COST action “Accelerating Global science In Tsunami HAzard and Risk analysis”(AGITHAR). We find that the interviewees’ academic identities are typically grounded in a disciplinary core, out of which they subsequently cross boundaries. For all respondents, however, it is a matter of course that becoming and being a member of the tsunami community includes the need to communicate across boundaries. Our results show that the idea of early warning unites the tsunami field. Notably, however, it is not the material technology but the political goal of effective early warning that holds an integrative function across disciplines. Furthermore, we find modelling to be seen as the “backbone of everything” tsunami related, which in combination with visualisation techniques such as a global map of tsunami risks also serves to integrate stakeholders beyond the tsunami research community. Interviewees mention the interaction between scientists and engineers as the exemplary interdisciplinary collaboration in tsunami science. There were fewer examples of collaborations with social scientists, rendering this a demand rather than a lived reality in current tsunami science. Despite the widely shared view that stakeholder engagement is an important element of tsunami science, respondents emphasise the associated challenges and indicate that this practice is not yet sufficiently institutionalised.

Pesticide safety is a significant global health concern. This study explored factors associated with the risk divide, a term used to describe disparities in injuries and fatalities between majority and minority workers. Forty (40) farm workers from the South‐Atlantic region of the United States were recruited. Results revealed significant differences between ethnic groups on several measured constructs. Latino migrant workers (from the Americas) reported lower perceived control of their work environment and higher risk perception compared to Americans of European descent. Preliminary recommendations relevant to cultural ergonomics, risk communication usability, and safety climate are provided. Implications relevant to farm and manufacturing settings are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Il saggio propone un’indagine sulle regole di espressione delle emozioni come norma
sociale stabilita nei manuali di galateo e nei trattati sulle buone maniere del Novecento
italiano. La soppressione delle emozioni e della loro espressione in nome di un «contegno
» che permetta l’accettazione sociale diventa specchio di una società che vede
nell’espressione incontrollata delle emozioni un rischio di esclusione sociale. Attraverso
un approccio basato sulla sociologia storica, si esaminerà la possibilità di utilizzare i
manuali di galateo come fonte per indagare le modalità e le norme di costruzione di
«un’identità emozional

Late Modern in Crisis. Why We Need a Theory of Society è un dialogo fra due Autori che negli ultimi anni hanno contribuito a riportare la socio-logia  al  centro  del  dibattito  sui  cambiamenti  sociali  e  politici,  senza  il  timore di riaffermarne la voce sui grandi temi. L’obiettivo non è solo pro-porre una specifica lettura della modernizzazione, ma riprendere la sfida epistemologica di una sociologia capace di svincolarsi dai “fili eterogenei dell’esperienza quotidiana”, e di farsi interprete del mutamento sociale in un  insieme  “scientificamente  supportato  e  significativo” .

This article employs a Foucauldian inspired discourse analysis in order to unveil hidden aspects of the tourism development policy-making process in the UNESCO Espinhaço Range Biosphere Reserve, Brazil. It identifies the emergence of different representations of tourism development and demonstrates the process of social construction of sustainable tourism as an overarching discourse, which incorporates different-sometimes opposing-repre sentations of tourism development to gather the support of people with different backgrounds and interests. However, this research demonstrates that this flexibility caused the sustainable tourism narrative to become a vague and imprecise discourse in the context of the case study, which has been used by the regional elites to conserve the status quo, but disguised as a critical alternative perspective.

Fish farming has been a recurring topic of debate, not the least in the news media. The media is an important source of information about the aquaculture industry and its products to the public. However, the media is also an important debate arena, enabling representatives of the public, stakeholders, authorities, and the industry to engage in discussions as well as to influence policy and regulations. This paper focuses on the continuous debates in news media, the topics and storylines discussed, the various actors participating, and their arguments. Through a study of the content, positions, and producers of debate contributions in nine Norwegian newspapers, this paper sheds light on the public debate on aquaculture and the present controversies. Drawing on discourse theory, it is argued that the concept of discursive conflicts offers important insights into the controversies surrounding aquaculture. Discourse coalitions unite seemingly dissimilar and independent actors, and shared story lines provide political momentum, reduce complexity and reify the debate. However, such coalitions also contribute to maintaining the debate in a deadlock.

Oil-particle interactions and oil submergence are of much interest to oil spill responders and scientists, especially as transportation of light and heavy crude oils increases in North America's coastal marine and freshwater environments. This report contains an up-to-date review of the state of the science for oil-particle aggregates (OPAs), in terms of their formation and stability which may alter the transport, fate, and toxicity of the residual oil and, hence, its level of ecological risk. Operational considerations-detection, containment, and recovery-are discussed. Although much is known about oil-particle interactions in coastal marine environments, there remains a need for additional science on methods to detect and quantify the presence of OPAs and to understand their effects on containment and recovery of oil spilled under various temperature regimes and in different aquatic habitats including freshwater environments.

Hazard information plays an important role in how risk perceptions are formed and what actions are taken in response to risk. While past studies have shown that information on water and air pollution is associated with changes to individual behavior, there is a need for examination of water quality information in the context of environmental disturbances. This study fills that gap by examining water pollution in an active industrial region of the United States-the Galveston Bay of Texas. Using original survey data collected in 2019 of 525 adults living in the Galveston Bay region, logistic regression was used to analyze the association of awareness and use of water pollution information on changes to outdoor activities and consumption of drinking water and/or seafood. Controls for chronic and acute exposure to environmental hazards, environmental knowledge and experience, and demographics were included in the model. The findings indicate frequent use of water quality information is significantly associated with action to reduce risk. On average, an individual who checks water pollution monitoring every day is 26% and 33% more likely to change their outdoor activities and consumption behavior, respectively, than someone who is not aware of this information. There is a need for improvement in pollution data collection and the development of a risk communication framework that facilitates the dissemination of this information in relevant, accessible, and credible ways.

The impacts of climate change in Africa are so drastic that the livelihood of many populations are jeopardized continually. Millions of people, the young, women and men, are dying.… I have seen some dead people walk. And all of them are heading to the global north. Why? Because at home there is no longer life. And going for them, is an alternative. Note: This is the third of a set of reports from the COPs in Anthropology News. See Chernela, et al. 2010 on Copenhagen, and Wulbrecht on Paris and Morocco (2017). Also, sending a delegation of senior anthropologists depends on availability of funding.

This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Ocean, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in OEAS Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@odu.edu. Repository Citation Walker, G. and Covi, M., "Mid-Atlantic Oil Spill Workshop: Are We Ready? A Regional Workshop as Part of the National Academies and Sea Grant Collaborative Workshop Series" (2019). OEAS Faculty Publications. 354. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_fac_pubs/354

The understanding of waste generation is of critical importance for effective oily waste management in marine oil spill response operation. A system dynamics model was developed in this study to estimate the quantity of oily waste generated from marine oil spill response operations. Various aspects were considered, including weather conditions, spilled oil volume and characteristics, response time, and response methods. The types of oily waste include recovered oil, oily water, oily sorbents, oily personal protection equipment, and oily debris. The model was validated using data collected from an actual oil spill incident in British Columbia, Canada. The comparison of model estimation and observed results showed an average prediction accuracy of 86%. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to examine the impacts of two modeling parameters, including response arrival time and sorbent booms amount. Results of a case study indicated that initiation of response operations 5-h earlier could i...

Este trabajo se propone dar cuenta de la investigacion y produccion de conocimiento en la interseccion entre dos campos: la comunicacion publica de la ciencia y comunicacion ambiental. El objetivo es identificar como se abordan los problemas socioambientales en el ambito de la investigacion en comunicacion, y en los campos derivados de la comunicacion publica de la ciencia y la comunicacion ambiental. Se da cuenta de los temas, desafios y problemas que son atendidos desde la produccion de conocimiento en diversas latitudes, particularmente en Europa y Estados Unidos, por una parte, y en Latinoamerica, por otra, a partir de estudios, compilaciones y revision de las tendencias en publicaciones especializadas.

Recent disaster occured in Galicia (Northwest of Spain), after sinking of Prestige oil tanker, involved the dumping of thousands of tons of oil (toxic waste), a lot of which has been arriving to the coast of Galicia, North of Spain, and West of France. Six months after the disaster, consequences of this accident on the quality of life of Galician people, and problems have only begun. The present study is a first analysis carried out in the Autonomous Community of Galicia, with the aim of evaluating the social impact of the disaster through knowing the level of general affectation of the population, as well as a diagnosis on social unbalance -between a damaged environment and a human communitycaused by catastrophe. 1652 interviews were analyzed (51,7% males and 48,3% females). They were done in Galicia amongst people older than 18. We followed a ramdon routes method for selection of the subjects, with a reliability of 99,7% and a sample error of 3,7%. The work discuss the attribution...

Quand le design social croise le design fiction pour anticiper les risques naturels de la ville de demain Marie-Julie Catoir-Brisson, professeure associée, département communication et culture, Audencia Nantes, 41 Bd de la Prairie au Duc, 44200 Nantes, mjcatoirbris

2. Metodología El diseño metodológico de este artículo responde a una combinación de tres estudios de caso realizados sobre las estrategias de cadenas generalistas de televisión en España durante las últimas dos décadas. La naturaleza de los tres objetos de estudio es dispar en su ámbito temático y en su dimensión cronológico, pero confluye en el objetivo global del texto, ya que los tres proporcionan una amplia información acerca de las fortalezas y las debilidades de cada una de las tácticas desplegadas por las cadenas.

Climate change has become a critical 21 st global problem, and with it, more threats to planetary existence are increasing. Notwithstanding the seriousness of the climate problem, politicians and policymakers in South Africa and globally have identified climate change as a problem but prescribe solutions that extend either the interests of the fossil fuel industry under the guise of technological development (clean coal and carbon sequestration) or Promethean neoliberal solutions benchmarked on renewable energy and carbon trading. Both solutions prioritise neoliberal interests and fall short of averting a more severe biospheric and planetary catastrophe. The news media, generally long thought of as the societal 'watchdog,' have also acceded to the injunctions of profit and accumulation, and construct climate change and solutions to it within paradigms that promote capitalist self-mutation. Through theoretical sampling, this discourse analysis study selected four weekly newspapers from South Africa, namely, the Mail & Guardian, the Sunday Independent, the Sunday Times, and the City Press, and examined how they represented climate change discourses. The media selected for this study were instrumental and had sheer capacity to define and determine the frames and representations within which climate change is articulated and understood in South Africa and outside. At a grand theoretical level, the thesis incorporated the metabolic rift/ecological rift theories (