Klaus Bosselmann
Article: Losing the Forest for the Trees: Environmental Reductionism in the Law
Sustainability 2010, 2(8), 2424-2448; doi:10.3390/su2082424 - published online 29 July 2010
Show/Hide AbstractAbstract: Environmental laws and policies have saved some “trees”, but the “forest” is being lost as critical global issues including climate change, biodiversity loss, and our ecological footprint continue to worsen. Existing laws and policies mitigate the ecological damage inflicted by industrial economies and western lifestyles. The article essentially makes the case for a sustainability approach to law that aims for transformation rather than environmental mitigation. Relevant trends in international law and domestic law reflective of a sustainability approach are discussed, and the article describes some contours of “law for sustainability” or “sustainability law”.

Philip J. Burton
Article: Striving for Sustainability and Resilience in the Face of Unprecedented Change: The Case of the Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak in British Columbia
Sustainability 2010, 2(8), 2403-2423; doi:10.3390/su2082403 - published online 29 July 2010
Show/Hide AbstractAbstract: A massive insect outbreak in the public forests of central British Columbia (Canada) poses a serious challenge for sustainable forest management planning. Tree mortality caused by natural disturbances has always been a part of wild and managed forests, but climate change is accentuating the uncertainty around such losses. Policy responses to accelerate overall timber harvesting levels to prevent further tree mortality and to aggressively salvage value from dead wood before it deteriorates can be disruptive and even counter-productive in the long run. Current alternatives are to strategically redirect existing timber harvesting quotas to the most vulnerable areas, minimize overall uplifts in cutting activity, prolong the period over which harvested timber can be processed, avoid the harvesting of mixed species stands or those with good advance regeneration, employ more partial cutting or “selective logging” techniques, and relax standards for acceptable species and inter-tree spacing during post-disturbance stand recovery. At the same time, careful attention to species composition and evolving landscape risk profiles may facilitate adaptation to anticipated climate change and reduce vulnerability to future disturbances. Harvest levels must be set conservatively over the full planning horizon if it is important to assure continuity of the timber supply with few disruptions to regional socio-economics and less stress to ecosystems. Broader lessons in sustainability include the option to emphasize persistence, continuity and flexibility over the long term, though at the expense of maximized production and full resource utilization in the short term.

Kwok L. Shum
Article: Renewable Energy Technology—Is It a Manufactured Technology or an Information Technology?
Sustainability 2010, 2(8), 2382-2402; doi:10.3390/su2082382 - published online 27 July 2010
Show/Hide AbstractAbstract: Socio-technical or strategic approach to renewable energy deployment all suggests that the uptake of renewable energy technology such as solar photovoltaic is as much a social issue as a technical issue. Among social issues, one most direct and immediate component is the cost of the renewable energy technology. Because renewable electricity provides no new functionality—a clean electron does the same work as a dirty electron does—but is relatively expensive compared with fossil fuel based electricity, there is currently an under-supply of renewable electricity. Policy instruments based on economics approaches are therefore developed to encourage the production and consumption of renewable electricity, aiming to remediate the market inefficiencies that stem from the failure in internalizing the environmental or social costs of fossil fuels. In this vein, the most discussed instruments are renewable portfolio standard or quota based system and the general category of feed-in tariff. Feed-in tariff is to support output or generation of the renewable electricity by subsidizing revenues. The existing discussions have all concerned about the relative effectiveness of these two instruments in terms of cost, prices and implementation efficiency. This paper attempts a different basis of evaluation of these two instruments in terms of cost and (network) externality effects. The cost effect is driven by deploying the renewable as a manufactured technology, and the network externality effect is driven by deploying the renewable as an information technology. The deployment instruments are studied in terms of how these two effects are leveraged in the deployment process. Our formulation lends itself to evolutionary policy interpretation. Future research directions associated with this new energy policy framework is then suggested.

Mohd Hafizal Mohd Isa, Xudong Zhao and Hiroshi Yoshino
Article: Preliminary Study of Passive Cooling Strategy Using a Combination of PCM and Copper Foam to Increase Thermal Heat Storage in Building Facade
Sustainability 2010, 2(8), 2365-2381; doi:10.3390/su2082365 - published online 27 July 2010
Show/Hide AbstractAbstract: The innovation of phase change material (PCM) for thermal heat storage is one sustainable passive strategy that can be integrated into building designs. This research was conducted to study and evaluate the performance of the existing materials integrated with PCM and to propose a design strategy that would improve the system. This research suggested copper foam as a medium to be integrated with microencapsulated PCM. Applications of these combined materials will benefit the industry by improving indoor environments and by delivering sufficient thermal comfort for residents as in the case study of the existing 1.6 million terrace houses in Malaysia.

Marlyne D. Sahakian
Article: Combining Life Cycle Thinking with Social Theory: Case Study of Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) in the Philippines
Sustainability 2010, 2(7), 2349-2364; doi:10.3390/su2072349 - published online 22 July 2010
Show/Hide AbstractAbstract: Resource depletion remains central to human economic activity with resulting negative consequences for the local and global environment. Material and energy consumption patterns are also increasing globally, as developing countries follow the trail blazed by more industrialized countries. Consumers play a role in shifting towards more sustainable forms of consumption. However, consumer-oriented public-policy measures are often restricted to informational campaigns based on moral and price arguments. A multidisciplinary approach to sustainable consumption must go beyond this limited vision of consumers if transitions toward more environmentally friendly consumption patterns are to be made possible. Both a biophysical and social understanding of consumption is necessary. This paper proposes a systemic approach to consumption studies, combining an assessment of consumption patterns with an understanding of the drivers behind them. The concepts will be illustrated using a case study of the government-led promotion of compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) in Metro Manila, the Philippines. Conclusions will include general policy-recommendations.

Anthony B. Schutz
Article: Grassland Governance and Common-Interest Communities
Sustainability 2010, 2(7), 2320-2348; doi:10.3390/su2072320 - published online 21 July 2010
Show/Hide AbstractAbstract: In the United States, today’s ranches are engaging in small-scale nature-based endeavors to diversify their income base. But the geographic boundary of the land they own creates a relatively small area within which to operate, and fragmented ownership diminishes the ability of any single landowner to produce nature-based income. Collective action among nearby landowners can produce a set of resources from which all members of the group can profit. Such action can enhance the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of grasslands and the populations that use them. This article shows that common-interest communities can be used to provide and allocate wildlife and other resources on ranchlands, enabling individual landowners to generate more income from selling nature-based experiences to customers. Common-interest communities are familiar in urban settings but they have not yet been used in this setting. Thus, the article proposes a new approach to ranchland management based upon a familiar set of largely private legal arrangements. More broadly, the article illustrates the relevance of private law and private property to sustainable development by explaining how property owners can use private law to engage in environmentally beneficial and economically profitable enterprises on the vast privately owned landscape of the U.S. Great Plains.