Suchergebnisse

"The overall objective of this introductory essay is to convey a broad view of social and cultural aspects of global environmental change (GEC). It represents a Western, social science perspective, and reflects on today's discourses as influenced or characterized by the turn from the second to the third millennium. The article opens with some remarks concerning the relationship between natural and social change (part 1). Part 2 raises the question, 'to what extent is nature peripheral to humans'? Part 3 focuses on present interpretations of how a millennial shift is experienced: 'Do the social and interdisciplinary sciences take notice of the human-nature relationship (HNR) in the context of GEC?' An important new topic in world politics and in the social sciences will be the social dimension of sustainability, including social exclusion and development, as argued in part 4. In part 5, the final section, conclusions are drawn about historical, theoretical, ethico-behavioral, and political aspects of the HNR within the context of GEC. It is concluded that the international scientific community can and should play a vital role in finding solutions to sustain the environmental conditions for the sake of global livelihood, including social justice." (author's abstract)

Im Verlauf der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung Deutschlands seit dem Mittelalter haben sich gravierende Veränderungen in der regionalen Verteilung der Wirtschaftsstandorte ergeben. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht diese Entwicklungen an Hand einer Aktenanalyse von 86 Beschwerden und Einsprüchen (Rekurse) gegen Industrieansiedlungen, die von den Behörden der preußischen Regierungsbezirke im Zeitraum 1830 bis 1867 zur endgültigen Entscheidung an die Zentralregierung in Berlin überwiesen wurden. Rund 80 Prozent aller Beschwerden entfallen auf die drei industriellen Verdichtungsgebiete Niederrhein (einschließlich Aachen), Mitteldeutschland und Berlin. Der Rückgang der Rekurse nach 1860 hängt mit den Verbesserungen im technischen Bereich bei den Dampfmaschinen-Anlagen zusammen, zum anderen damit, daß den Rekursen in den seltensten Fällen ein Erfolg beschieden war. ; Regional changes in the manufacturing branch in the course of the industrialization period in Germany are described, and in this context the question arises, wether and to what extent this shift in emphasis of the industrial activities has brought changes to the regional diffusion of the enviromental pollution. For this purpose files from the former central state archive in Merseburg have been recruted, which contain appeal and complaints against industrial companies ('Rekurse'). From these files 86 appeals have been selected for examination in order to prove their regional diffusion in Prussia. Though it might well be presupposed that a connection existed, it is still rather surprising that 80 percent of all these appeals came from the three areas of great industrial density, that is to say, the lower Rhine area (with Aachen), central Germany (the area of Madgeburg and Halle), and Berlin. Finnally there are some references made as to the prospects that these appeals had, to be positively considered by the Prussian administration.

This article examines the nexus of ecological science and environmental politics by considering the tensions between the global circulation of the notion of "environmental monitoring" and the local production of data on environmental change. The history of the planning of the Global Network of Environmental Monitoring (GNEM) program provides a glimpse of what it takes to launch a program of environmental monitoring globally on the level of intergovernmental organizations, such as the United Nations. The first part of the paper traces the GNEM project as it moved through different international agencies and international programs in the 1960s and 1970s. The second part explores the local story of the environmental monitoring of Lake Baikal. The emergence of "environmental monitoring" as an issue of global concern, and the local story of environmental monitoring of Lake Baikal were interrelated, but only in theory: Rather than boosting the already ongoing local monitoring of Lake Baikal, the intergovernmental global monitoring program was used as a legitimation to sustain the environmental pollution of the lake. Yet, the Soviet scientists-led environmental activism, which failed to influence environmental regulation in the Soviet Union, had critically contributed to the sustaining of the environmental monitoring programs in a small way, through collecting the data detailing the environmental changes in the places most affected by disastrous Soviet environmental policies, such as those regarding Lake Baikal.