Mapping the trickle out benefits of social and environmental enterprises: a pilot study of an East African eco business

• Objectives The objective of this paper is to propose a framework for mapping the sustainable development and poverty alleviation impacts of social and environmental enterprises in Africa. This framework is then piloted with reference to an East African Ecobusiness. • Prior Work This paper is based on data collected as part of a wider research project examining social and environmental enterprises across the 19 countries of Southern and Eastern Africa. In total, the sustainable development and poverty alleviation impacts of 20 in-depth case studies in 4 countries are being examined. • Approach Data was collected using in-depth interviews with multiple stakeholders associated with the case study business. Secondary materials were also analysed and a quantitative survey of customers undertaken. • Results In addition to their impacts on the environment, African eco businesses can also have substantial social, economic and wider poverty alleviation impacts. This paper maps the impacts of a case study East African ecobusiness, as part of developing a social and environmental enterprise impact framework for Africa and the wider developing world. In our case study, positive and negative impacts are identified, while questions are raised in relation to tradeoffs between social and environmental objectives and temporal dimensions of impact. The usefulness of existing frameworks for understanding the social, environmental and development impacts of these kinds of organisations are also considered. • Implications This paper outlines the necessity of building an African-centric impact map to capture the multi-level poverty alleviation and sustainable development impacts of social and environmental enterprise activity in developing world environments. The framework proposed also offers guidance to businesses operating in Africa about the factors that might be considered as part of their wider social and environmental responsibilities. • Value Assessing the impact of social and environmental enterprises, especially as a route to development within low income countries, is receiving increasing attention in academia and beyond. This paper presents a useful contribution to the scarce literature on social and environmental enterprises in Africa.

Patterns of maximum body size evolution in Cenozoic land mammals: eco-evolutionary processes and abiotic forcing

There is accumulating evidence that macroevolutionary patterns of mammal evolution during the Cenozoic follow similar trajectories on different continents. This would suggest that such patterns are strongly determined by global abiotic factors, such as climate, or by basic eco-evolutionary processes such as filling of niches by specialization. The similarity of pattern would be expected to extend to the history of individual clades. Here, we investigate the temporal distribution of maximum size observed within individual orders globally and on separate continents. While the maximum size of individual orders of large land mammals show differences and comprise several families, the times at which orders reach their maximum size over time show strong congruence, peaking in the Middle Eocene, the Oligocene and the Plio-Pleistocene. The Eocene peak occurs when global temperature and land mammal diversity are high and is best explained as a result of niche expansion rather than abiotic forcing. Since the Eocene, there is a significant correlation between maximum size frequency and global temperature proxy. The Oligocene peak is not statistically significant and may in part be due to sampling issues. The peak in the Plio-Pleistocene occurs when global temperature and land mammal diversity are low, it is statistically the most robust one and it is best explained by global cooling. We conclude that the macroevolutionary patterns observed are a result of the interplay between eco-evolutionary processes and abiotic forcing

Acceptabel och effektiv färgreducering i tryck : Utvärdering av färgreduceringsresultat från Alwan CMYK Optimizer ECO

Tryckeribranschen är en ekonomiskt pressad bransch som söker nya besparingsmetoder. En av metoderna är att minska insatsvaran tryckfärg med färgreduceringsprogramvara. Rapporten undersöker möjligheterna med färgreduceringssystem. Detta genom att studera hur man använder sig av färgreducering och hur det påverkar trycket. Studien avser besvara: • Hur stor färgminskning kan man använda sig av utan negativa konsekvenser på bildkvalitén? • Hur går man tillväga för att skapa den färgminskningen? • Överensstämmer total färgförändring och visuell bedömning av tryck? För att få svar på dessa frågor togs en testform fram med nödvändiga bilder och färgfält som sedan genomgick en rad färgreduktioner. Testformen utvärderades digitalt med avseende på TAC och total färgförändring. Därefter trycktes testformen och utvärderades visuellt av en testgrupp och uppmättes för att visa färgförändring efter tryck. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att det går att färgreducera tryck utan avsevärda negativa konsekvenser på bildkvalitén. En reducering från 300 % TAC till en TAC mellan 240 % och 210 % är fullt möjlig för att få en besparing och vara inom standard för total färgförändring. Detta går att göra väldigt lätt med en programvara som Alwan CMYK Optimizer ECO, med enbart förvalda inställningar och en inställd Total Ink Limit mellan 240 % och 210 %. Resultatet visade även en stark korrelation mellan den visuella bedömningen och den totala färgförändring, som tyder att både metoder är lämpliga för bedömning av tryck.

The eco-centric self and the sacred in Xavier Herbert's 'Poor fellow my country'

Critical review of "Poor fellow my country" by Xavier Herbert.

Developing eco-agency through education : capacitating agency through learning

The paper is prompted by startling results from large scale international studies that show the dissonance between young people’s sustainability knowledge and the resistance of young people to put into practice. The studies suggest that while students are aware of what they should be doing, as a result of their education about sustainability, they are reluctant to change their behavior and action in their everyday life. These results raise important issues about current models of education and how sustainability is captured within education. The results suggest that no matter how powerful the ideas and how well intentioned the methods of education for sustainable development, translating those ideas into action, beyond classroom and beyond curriculum strategies remain elusive. In order to re-think some aspects of educational practice, the paper examines the notion of agency as a critical component in the understanding of how behavior and actions are organized and integrated by students. By developing a more refined understanding of agency, and incorporating this into educational practice around sustainability, it may be possible to better develop resonant sustainable actions, or eco-agency, supporting the maintenance our environment.

Insights from the eco-physiological book of records : Bewick's swans outperform the canonical intake-maximizing vertebrate

During periods of high energy demand an animal may be constrained by a physiological maximum to its energy intake rate. Predictions by allometric equations describing this maximum for endotherms were significantly surpassed during a few recent laboratory experiments on birds and mammals, being given access to food 24 h day^-1. How relevant this is in the field remains to be assessed. We predicted that Bewick’s swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii might surpass this maximum during stopover on their migration. We determined intake rate by measuring initial and final biomass density, and dividing the biomass difference by the feeding time required to reach this difference. This feeding time was given by the functional response. After conversion to daily energy intake rates, these exceeded the previously assumed maximum on two of the three stopover sites studied. The exception was a stopover site where daily foraging time was limited by the tidal cycle. Our study confirms that intake rates may exceed the formerly generally supposed maximum under natural conditions when foraging is possible day and night.

Creative conservation and Balinese traditional landscape : scenarios for eco city concepts and culturally sensitive tourism development

Bali is internationally recognized as an island possessing a beautiful natural landscape as well as a unique culture. The natural qualities of its mountains, lakes, rivers, rice terrace fields with subak irrigation make Bali an important tourism destination. Cultural Tourism is integral in Bali’s tourism industry providing the basic capital for development1. The social condition of this society that is strongly characterized by religious beliefs, and its nature and ecology also supports this. The conservation and maintenance of this traditional landscape is often forgotten because of government agendas to implement cultural city programs aimed at encouraging tourism development. Despite this, the government is now supporting the program of ‘Bali toward Garden Island’, which aims to sustain the physical and cultural environment of the island towards conservation of its landscape. The implementation of this program includes attention to universal, societal and cultural values as unity indicators, of which the landscape planning of the Balinese characteristics and traditions cannot be separated. Landscape planning is integral in this initiative of character defining the region.

Globalisation is increasingly becoming one of the most important discussions amongst the Balinese people. It has become a national concern about the changes implicating Bali’s environment. Urbanisation, population growth, ribbon development, migration and consumption of energy are important imperatives and necessary evils for growing cities. These imperatives are creating the sprawl of building planning, development information, loss of open spaces, as well as the decline of the identity of cities. Places such as Denpasar City are struggling with increasing population at a rate of 1.94% per year that is causing increase in housing and public facilities demanded by both residents and ex-patriates. Thus land associated with the city has been lost to the rapid development of this cultural landscape.

This paper examines the Balinese traditional landscape and its role in encouraging tourism development that based on the Balinese culture and its ecology. The paper focuses on the planning of city landscape appearance characteristics and seeks to test and adopt the terms ‘creative conservation’ and ‘eco city concept’. By conserving the most important philosophy of the Balinese Tri Hita Karana Concept will better inform all aspects of city development in Bali. This study seeks to offer guidance for the legitimate use of landscape planning especially for city development in Bali.

Tri-component bio-composite materials prepared using an eco-friendly processing route

We report on the blending of three natural polymers, raw cotton, silk and wool, using ionic liquids as the dissolving media. We find that with increased content of wool and silk the thermal degradation temperature of the new bio films increases. This is due to an increase in the hydrogen bond network between the blended polymers. We also investigated the role of the coagulating solvent by coagulating the bio films using water, methanol or isopropanol. Again, we find the coagulating solvent impacts the final properties of the bio films with water shown to coagulated films with the best material properties.