Coal mining in northeast India： an overview of environmental issues and treatment approaches

Northeast India has a good deposit of sub-bituminous tertiary coal. The northeast Indian coals have unusual physico-chemical characteristics such as high sulfur, volatile matter and vitrinite content, and low ash content. In addition, many environmental sensitive organic and mineral bound elements such as Fe, Mg, Bi, AI, V, Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb, and Mn etc. remain enriched in these coals. Such characteristics are associated with more severe environmental impacts due to mining and its utilization in coal based industries. Environmental challenges include large scale landscape damage, soil erosion, loss of forest ecosystem and wildlife habitat, air, water and soil pollution. Several physical and chemical methods are reported in literature for the removal of mineral matter, total sulfur and different forms of sulfur from high sulfur coal in northeast India. This paper may help different researchers and stakeholders to understand current state of research in the field. Initiatives may be taken towards sustainable use of coal resources by adopting innovative clean technologies and by implementing effective control measures and regulatory policies.

Environmental Issues Related to Chemical Fertilizer Use in China

The current status of chemical fertilizers production and consumption in China as well as their important roles in Chinese modern agriculture are discussed with special concerns to the environmental issues related to chemical fertilizer use. On the one hand, the total amount of chemical fertilizer produced is insufficient to meet the agricultural needs. On the other hand, the production and consumption of chemical fertilizers in China are obviously not balanced. In some areas over application of nitrogen fertilizers and loss of phosphate fertilizer due to soil erosion have resulted in some undesirable environmental problems such as increase of nitrate in water and eutrophication of water bodies. Maximum scientific uses of organic manures in combination with reasonable use of chemical fertilizers are part of good practices not only in increasing soil productivity and keeping sustainable agriculture development but also in mimimizing their detrimental effects on the environment.

Powerful Force of The Media to Environmental Issues and Its Contribution to Environmental Engineers

Environmental Engineers are generally unable to proclaim their projects or their engineering solutions against any problem to large masses. Environmental Engineering includes two fundamental approaches： preventing the pollution, and solving the poUution problem after it is arised. Although the first one is preferred, in many developing countries the general tendency is as the solution of pollution after generation. Neither politicians nor public are willing to pay before seeing the threat, although they should be. This conflict decelerates the works to keep the environment and increase the non-success stories and problemmatic situatons. The growing concern in pollution problems gave rise to intensive coverage of the media as one of their main public responsibilities. Because file influence of the media has been regarded as a powerful force in society for many years, the coverage of environmental problems increase the awareness and reduce the resistance against the engineering works. Under these circarnstances this study focuses on the effect of media on public awareness and their participation in the solution of environmental problems. When the journalists are aware of their role in environmental issues, the program will be of high quality and accomplishes the objective, therefore supporting the Environmental Engineers in creating solutions. As a sample, a national Turkish commercial broadcasting company programs were investigated via contents analy sis and discussed.

Two Issues in Studying Security Environment

To some extent, China’s security environment depends on if it has active creation, understanding, attention and vigilance on the common interests of the surrounding areas and groups of states, and if it could take timely and proper countermeasures. In my personal view, two principles should be taken into consideration. The first principle is

Environmental Issues In Indonesian Language Policy

Environmental issues are not inexhaustible, such as climate change, rubbish, nuclear waste, industrial cesspool, compost heap, etc.. Unfortunately, internalization of the environment is not passively done, for example, through language （literature）. Environmental issues seem to have not received the attention seriously. Those issues can be seen in Indonesia language policies （ILP） from pre-colonial until reform era. ILP can be classified into seven periods, namely： pre-colonial （1331-1627）, Dutch （1816-1942）, Youth Pledge （1928-1942）, Japanese （1942-1945）, Old Order （1945-1966）, New Order （1966-1998）, Reform （1998-present）. The seventh period discusses the language policies, but an article focuses on environmental issues in language policy and language planning.

How the News Media Cover Environmental Issues in United Kingdom: A Comprehensive Study of Mexico Gulf Oil Spill Disaster in 2010

It is widely known that an increasing number of attentions have paid on environmental issues and meanwhile,the mass media promotes its role in helping define the concept and field of environment and also bringing environmental issues into social attention.This paper intends to investigate how news media in covering environmental issues in United Kingdom through the perspective of Mexico Gulf oil spill incident in 2010 particularly.In details,this study focuses more on the study of trends and patterns of news coverage on oil spill disaster during the research process.The sample is made up of two mainstream newspapers in UK(the Times and the Guardian)which are selected based on circulation figures and politically centre-based figures from April 2010 to April 2011.This study employs content analysis as its primary methodology to observe the trends and patterns of news coverage.In addition,this study not only discovers characteristics,trends and patterns of each newspaper but also uses comparative way to discover differences and similarities in order to investigate how national newspapers differ from each other when focusing on the same environmental news.Through the investigation step by step,this study answers the hypothesis and concludes that news media cover environmental issues in a particular ways as they adopt different trends and patterns in coverage while they still have some ways in common.

Environmental Issues for Tourism and Recreation

The objectives of this article are to: analyze the relationship between tourism and recreation and major environmental issues; analyze tourism and recreation in the context of general issue of sustainable development; consider implications for policy development and implementation.

The Ethics of Environmental Preservation at the Confluence of the Traditional Approach and Current Challenges

The accumulation of environmental problems,but also the ever-increasing impetuosity with which they manifest,led,starting in 1970,to the need for the emergence and development of a new branch of traditional ethics.Environmental ethics is concerned with finding answers to ethical questions circumscribed to the sphere of human relations with the non-human part of nature.The new field has proven to be an active involvement factor in promoting human values that emphasize the human-environment relationship.Many environmental ethicists believe that the non-human universe has value per se.The article undertakes a theoretical approach that tries to capture the relevant aspects of the efforts by which environmental ethicists combine their activity with other entities,responsible structures,in the collective intervention approach to improve environmental problems.

BASF Issues First Report on Economic,Environmental,and Social Performance

Seven key indicators standardize and integrate transparency BASF, the world’s leading chemical company, will enhance its transparency in Greater China by reporting annually on seven key financial, social and environmental indicators: sales, number of employees,

Communicating Geologically-Underpinned Issues： Drivers and Mechanisms

Geologists can offer key insights in regard to several high profile environmental issues that are faced today. At the same time, like scientists in most other disciplines, many geologists are not naturally adept at communicating in an effective manner with non-geologists. This paper firstly identifies the more subtle facets of topical major issues （the drivers） where geologists can contribute important perspectives. Next, the detractions to effective communication are identified, along with the recommended means to overcome them （the mechanisms）. Many topical issues are in fact geologically-underpinned （e.g. obviously, geohazards）, so geologists ought to have something meaningful to say. By the same token, if geologists have difficulty communicating with other scientists, how can they possibly hope to communicate with journalists and with the public at large？ Proper scientific contextualization is an ideal starting point, but this fundamental framing step does not always suit protagonists who have non-scientific agendas. Thus, geologists not only have to convey their science （geology） in an understandable way, but to do so in a truly effective manner must recognize and take into account possible predispositions that their audience may have.

An Investigation of Environmental Education Knowledge for Sustainable Development in High School Sectors in UK

The purpose of this study was to investigate student＇s awareness, knowledge and understanding of environmental issues for sustainable development. Findings revealed that： despite the positive attitude shown by students towards environmental education, a relatively low level of understanding of environmental concept was recorded in school settings regardless of efforts by government and other environmental agencies at creating awareness about environmental related issues. This brought about the investigation of students＇ environmental education knowledge in high school settings. About 205 students were randomly selected for data collection using validated instruments titled student＇s knowledge and attitude questionnaire as well as student＇s response to questions （interview） concerning global warming. T-test statistics, chi-square and simple percentage were the major statistical tools employed in data analysis. This study revealed that environment based-education （school curriculum） as well as efforts by government/environmental agencies （mass media） plays a major role in promoting students＇ understanding, of environmental concepts, awareness of major environmental issues and positive attitude towards natural environment.

7G＇s Environmental Initiative through the Lens of the Technology-Organization-Environment （TOE） Framework

This qualitative research study addresses the research question of how the environmental sustainability initiative of 7G （Seventh Generation）, a product design, marketing, and distribution company in the household and personal care products, could be understood within its supply chain context using Tornatzky and Fleischer＇s TOE （Technology-Organization-Environment） framework. Content analysis, a research technique for making valid inferences from text following a set of procedures, was used and applied to secondary data materials on 7G. The findings reveal that the environmental, organizational, and technological contexts, which are key elements of the TOE framework, are useful in analyzing and comprehending the business practices and business processes adopted by 7G to pursue its sustainability initiative. Of particular interest are those business processes that were included by 7G＇s EMS （Environment Management System） and enabled by green IS （Information Systems）. Both the strengths and weaknesses of 7G＇s efforts are discussed and suggestions are presented for modifying certain phases of the systems development life cycle methodology when implementing green IS.

Strengthening the protection of environmental quality in rural areas - in the Perspective of lack of rigid institutional awareness

With the rapid economic development, environmental issues have become increasingly prominent. Not just urban, rural environmental problems are more and more serious. Rural environmental problems, which is not only relevant to ecological livelihood, but also an important part of building a new socialist countryside country. This article focuses on the rural environmental problem which remains unresolved. We can explain it from the lack of rigid institutional awareness.

Recent advancements in metal-organic frameworks for green applications

A series of environmental and energy issues,such as global warming,water pollution,acid rain,and energy shortage,have to be settled urgently.Metal-organic frameworks(MOFs)are compounds consisting of metal ions or clusters coordinated to organic ligands,which show great promise for alleviating or mitigating these challenges owing to their outstanding physical and chemical properties.In this review,we summarize the recent advances of MOFs in the fields of green applications,including carbon capture,harmful gas removal,sewage treatment,and green energy storage.In addition,the challenges and prospects of the large-scale commercialized use of MOFs in handling environmental issues are also discussed.

Population Change vs Natural Geography in Asia:A Sociological Appraisal

Population is a phenomenon ever changing more positively rather than the vice versa.It is more increasing in Asian countries.The increase of population in Asia is not compatible with the geographical size and capacity of the countries concerned.Through the process of urbanization,and in the form of migration,a large number of people have left their birth lands for cities and new lands.Such a change over contributes to overpopulation,pollution and environmental issues in the new areas and under population in birth lands;villages and cities.Such a transition creates complex issues in the new destinations which are sociologically worth appraising.

Special Issue on“Metagenomics of Marine Environments”

We are pleased to announce a special issue on ＂Metagenomics of Marine Environments＂ of the journal Genomics, Proteomics ＆ Bioinformatics （GPB）, aiming to provide a platform for high-quality papers focusing on the topic and we invite submissions for this special issue （to be published in the fall of 2015）.

Environmental Issues

○The nationwide campaign of affores-tation on voluntary basis in China waslaunched in 1981.By 1991, the totalgreenland in cities across the countryreached 57,900 ha., and the greening areaalong highways 28,900 ha. The averagegreening area per capita rose from 2.3 sq.min 1981 to 3.9 sq.m, and the green coverfrom 14.8% to 19.2% in cities among

Hydropower Projects on Se San River Impact on Social Economical Development and Environmental Protection

Se San river is one of main branches of Me Kong river, it has rather rich water resource, and the topographical condition of the catchment and river are very good for hydropower development. The aquatic life in Se San River is rich, both with respect to species diversity and biomass. There are about 120 fish species are recorded, but the number of species is most likely higher, in the range from 200-300 species, fish is a very important food source for the local people. Up to now, in the Vietnam part of the Se San catchment there are 6 hydropower projects along Se San river from upstream to Vietnam – Cambodia boundary, and Se San 4A re-regulation reservoir. In the part catchment in Cambodia, in development plan there will be 3 hydropower projects, they are Se San 5/lower Se San 1, lower Se San 3, and lower Se San 2. The hydropower projects on Se San river have impacts on socio-economical development of the region （Vietnam and Cambodia） such as create new energy sources and product condition for remote and difficult areas of the catchmnet, improve the transportation system and living conditions for the rural areas. These hydropower projects also have impacts on natural environment such as flow regime changes at downstream, sediment in downstream river reaches, and some impacts on the ecosystems along river.

China' s Fundamental Research in Energy Utilizations and Environment

The progress in the science of energy utilizations will act crucial effect on the developments of energy science and technology, which will then promote social and economical developments and fulfill requirements for the national strategic objectives. For the sake of sustainable development, a harmonious blend of energy utilizations and environment considerations will become one of the vital topics in the future research area of energy science. It is suggested that clean and high-efficiency utilization of traditional or fossil energy resources, fundamental investigations on the energy and environment theory, renewable energy utilizations, and the development of nuclear energy are selected as priority research areas during the period of the Tenth Five-year Plan of China, according to the development trend of the world energy science and the research background of Chinese energy science, It is expected to promote the interdisciplinary investigations in the science of energy utilizations and provide scientific and technological supports for the development of related advanced high technologies,

Projects of Development of Transcontinental Transport-Economic Belts in Northern Eurasia

The role of the Trans-Siberian main railway is considered related to interaction between the West and the East of Eurasia. The stages of formation of a transport-economic belt along the Trans-Siberian main railway and its branches are distinguished. The main features of long-term development of the Trans-Siberian main railway, its new branches, and also the Russian mega project ＂Integrated Eurasian infrastructural system＂ are presented. The comparative characteristic of a zone of influence of the Trans-Siberian main railway and a New Silk Road in the People＇s Republic of China is given. General environmental issues in the development of transcontinental Eur- asian transport-economic belts are singled out. The authors believe that despite some competition to the Trans-Si- berian Main Railway in the Eurasian transport transit, realization of the New Silk Road project will bring obvious so- cio-economic and environmental benefits for participating countries through formation of the zone of the sustainable development along this transport corridor. Finally, it will undoubtedly contribute to achievement of closer economic integration and greater security in Eurasia.