Tool for Assessing Green Initiatives in Library or Green Initiatives in Library: Formulating an Assessment Tool

Amid environmental crisis, the role of built environment sector becomes even more vital as it has a potential to make a significant contribution in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. Library specifically, plays a crucial role in supporting the mission of promoting environmental practice. However, limited rating system explicitly for library’s green initiatives makes it challenging for library to implement these initiatives due to lack of proper guidelines. Hence, this study was conducted to examine existing checklists measuring green initiatives in library and to formulate a checklist for assessing green initiatives in library’s facilities. A systematic review was conducted to establish an assessment checklist, in which three existing checklists related to green initiatives in library were compared and referred to. The assessment checklist developed in this study identifies 107 initiatives related to facilities can be implemented by existing libraries in Malaysia. The result of this study serves as a basis for libraries in Malaysia to environmentally improve its facilities.

Dependence of the content of microbial biomass in typical black soil on agrogenic factors and year season

The authors of the paper found that the nature and direction of the seasonal dynamics of the content of microbial biomass in typical black soil in grain-fallow crop rotation differ depending on the slope direction, the cultivation system and the soil layer. The characteristics of the dynamics of the content of microbial biomass in typical black soil in the agroecosystem of grain-fallow crop rotation, depending on the slope direction and the type of soil cultivation are revealed. The influence of the slope direction on the dynamics of the microbial biomass in the soil is more pronounced in the layer of 10-20 cm. The need to ensure the supply of a sufficient amount of post-harvest residues and organic fertilizers to the soil is shown. The increase in the uniformity of the upper layer of typical black soil is associated with the constant mechanical man-made impact on it. The obtained results about the nature of the impact of the studied factors on the seasonal and spatial variability of microbial biomass can be used in the development of systems for the management of the biological activity and reproduction of organic matter in black soils in order to improve their ecological state. The results of studies of the ecologically and agronomically important soil component i.e. microbial biomass are necessary for the development of systems for the regulation of soil fertility in order to increase their productivity, as well as for the development of a control system for the content of microbial biomass in black soils. The experimental data can serve as the basis for a database on the microbial pool of various soils and ecosystems, which is advisable to use for model predictive calculations, including in different ecological scenarios. The assessment of the state of organisms living in the soil and their biodiversity are important in the solution of the problems of environmental practice: identification of zones of ecological disadvantage, calculation of damage caused by man-made activities, determination of the stability of the ecosystem and the impact of certain anthropogenic factors.

Interprofessional Ethics

The social work, health and human services sectors employ a variety of professionals to provide care to people. There is an increasing need for practitioners to be skilled in ethical decision making as the professional practice context becomes more complex and concerned with risk management. Interprofessional Ethics explores the ethical frameworks, policies and procedures of professional practice for multidisciplinary teams in health, government and community-based workplaces. The second edition includes content on criminology, environmental practice, youth work practice, the intersection of law and ethics, and cultural content, including non-Western philosophies and Indigenous worldviews. New 'Through the eyes of a practitioner' boxes provide insight into the professional experiences of practitioners in the field, while reflection points and links to further readings encourage students to think critically about the content. Interprofessional Ethics encourages readers to better understand the perspectives, approaches and values of others, preparing them to work within collaborative teams.

Air Quality and the Senses in Early Modern Italy

Using printed and archival records, this article analyzes the sensory practices associated with air quality in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Italy. Air pollution was a prime concern for early modern Italians, particularly in urban centres where industry, density, and frenetic sensescapes were thought to prompt chronically unhealthy airs. According to early modern experts, air quality was at the root of individual and public health. My analysis shows how Italians relied on a robust set of sonic and olfactory tools to cleanse the air and craft healthy environments. Simultaneously, a contrasting set of sounds and smells were thought to pollute the air. The sensory practices surrounding air quality reveal the highly localized and personalized nature of early modern environmental practice. This article argues that entwined social and environmental conceptions of purity and pollution shaped sensory, social, and environmental experience in the premodern city.

Hydrolysis of the Kitchen Waste through Dry Anaerobic Digestion - A Sustainable Environmental Practice for its Effective Management

Population explosion coupled with rapid industrialization and urbanization has led to accumulation of food waste. Nearly, 1.3 billion tons of food waste has been encountered annually which poses a serious threat to the environment and human beings. Therefore, it has become imperative to look for the sustainable environmental practices to manage huge quantum of the waste. Anaerobic Digestion (AD) has emerged as techno economical viable solution with the aim of resource as well as energy recovery to combat the global energy crisis. In this study, an attempt has been made to study the hydrolysis of kitchen waste through dry anaerobic digestion being a suitable technology for treating organic wastes with varying composition and its superiority over the wet digestion. Laboratory scale batch studies were conducted on kitchen waste using three different dry fermenters of total volume 4-litre operating under mesophilic regime for duration of 32 days. The reactors were simultaneously operated with the retention time of 1 day, 2 day and 4 days, respectively. Comparative performance of leachate generation during hydrolysis reveals that reactor with 1-day retention time generates maximum leachate with high COD of 244 g/l and VFA of 12.99 g/l. The specific rate constants for hydrolysis of kitchen waste through dry fermentation with retention time of 1 day, 2 days, 4 days were found to be 0.063, 0.054 and 0.027 day− 1, respectively.

CEO Characteristics and Environmental Performance: Evidence from Indonesian Banks

Following the paradigm shift of company performance, from merely financial aspects to the balance between economics and environmental aspects, a study that explores the drivers of company environmental performance is indispensable. This study aims to empirically examine the role of CEO characteristics in determining the environmental performance from CEO's gender, age, expertise, and international experience in Indonesian banks. We use secondary data from banks' annual and sustainability reports that were analysed using panel data regression. The results demonstrate that CEO's international experience and education level positively affect bank's environmental performance while foreign CEO and CEO's abroad study exhibit negative effect. Our findings emphasise that CEO plays a great role in initiating banks' environmental activities. CEO's decision is crucial to adopt environmental practice that leads to better environmental performance. The study contributes to the Indonesian literature by providing empirical evidence of CEO factors in determining banks' environmental performance, in which there are very limited studies examining the role of CEO. We also suggest the Indonesian Financial Service Authority to encourage banks to deliver higher environmental contribution by maximizing the role of CEO.

An Exploration of Environmental Practices in the Hospitality Industry. Evidence from Hotels in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Hotels create unforeseen damages to the environment by depleting natural resources and driving out wastes. Studies have rarely been conducted to investigate the nexus between hotels and the environment in Ethiopia. This study aims to explore environmental practices among Addis Ababa hotels. The quantitative research design was applied to the study. The data were gathered through a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed through descriptive statistics. The totels' environmental practice indicators were examined under the themes of water-saving, energy-saving, green purchase, and waste management. Within these themes, the installation of energy-efficient bulbs, installation of a key card for light; using energy-efficient appliances; regular maintenances of water and electric facilities; the installing of dual toilet and other low flow water technologies; placing of dustbins; sorting and disposing of solid wastes, and buying of local products were implemented to a certain extent. The study implicates the requirement of intervention to make hotel operation environmentally sustainable.

Modern Western Ecological Aesthetics from the Perspective of Aesthetics

Aesthetics is the study of people's perception and experience of heaven, earth and man and all things. Environment and landscape are the most important perceptual manifestation of ecosystem. How this perceptual manifestation affects human mind needs to be answered by aesthetics. It is not only possible but also necessary to study ecosystem from the perspective of aesthetics. Taking the ecological aesthetics of the English world as the main research object, this paper studies the three main approaches to the construction of western ecological aesthetics, which are philosophical speculation, ecological art theory and environmental practice. This study shows that: the interaction between ecological aesthetics and ecological art makes ecological aesthetics become the universal aesthetics of all aesthetic objects (including environment and Art), so as to distinguish it from environmental aesthetics more clearly. Strengthening the interaction between aesthetics and ecological aesthetic experience can make the connotation of ecological aesthetics more profound and clear. The results of this study have a certain reference value for the study of modern western ecological aesthetics from the perspective of aesthetics.