Suchergebnisse

The article suggests a method for calculating emissions from the autonomous heating systems (AHS) of individual residential buildings based on the assessment of the number and area of farmsteads using remote sensing data, the volume and type of fuel and the type of combustion according to population surveys data and data provided by the administrations of municipal districts and settlements. The importance of AHS as a source of atmospheric pollution was evaluated at three spatial levels: the regions of Russia, where the AHS are of the greatest importance, were identified according to the structure of fuel consumption; the emissions from the combustion of residential heating fuel were calculated for the municipalities of the Baikal natural territory (BNT) and the types of territories were identified according to the structure of emission sources; and the role of AHS in air pollution of the residential areas was assessed for settlements. AHS are the dominant air pollution source (over 90%) for most of the BNT territory. Unlike CHPPs and boiler facilities, emissions from individual residential buildings using coal and firewood in most cases significantly affect air quality (up to 4,9 MPC of particulate matter and sulfur dioxide), and the areas of such impact are limited to the residential area of settle-ments. Strategies to reduce pollution depend on the location of a territory, type of settlement, income levels, the current structure of fuel consumption, the presence of exploited coal deposits and other factors

The article provides a multicriterial assessment of urban vacant lands in the city of Astrakhan. Urban vacant lands are defined as undeveloped and unused sites, not attributed to green zones in the city plan. The purpose of the assessment is to recognize the most valuable vacant sites. Their conservation and rehabilitation could enhance the quality and attractiveness of urban environment, while less valuable sites could be recommended for urban development. The work evaluates four landscape functions that correspond to the main problems of the city: 1) runoff regulation function is assessed by the means of morphometric analysis of flow channels and field data on erosion and water logging; 2) climate regulation function is assessed using InVEST urban cooling model; 3) recreational function is evaluated by field and remote sensing data about the current state of vegetation on the vacant sites and by the demand of recreational zones estimated by walking time to the nearest park; 4) air pollution mitigation function is evaluated by the rate of environment child diseases and the density of green spaces in the city districts. Integral assessment of vacant sites helps to provide recommendations on their preferable use. Landscape and ecological potential of vacant lands varies significantly between different parts of the city. Vacant sites of the northeastern outskirts of the city, located within the lower part of the Volga delta, received the highest values, while the small sites in the city center and the industrial zone in the eastern outskirts received the lowest values. As a result, 2570 ha of vacant lands were recommended for greening and rehabilitation, and 327,9 ha for construction.

The article offeres an approach to including ecological factor in the Human Development Index (HDI). HDI is aimed at reflecting the quality of life of population, which is defined along with other important characteristics and state of environment. However, there is still no ecological living conditions of population in the formalized representation of HDI. Two directions of constructing ecologically adjusted HDI are developed: introducing ecological index to HDR, and using ecologically adjusted GDP/GRP in income index. Ecological index reflecting the state of environment in the places of residence and recreation of population is constructed on the basis of indicators of the number of air/water samples exceeding the ambient standards, as a percentage of the total number of examined samples. This indicator is presented in the annex to the statistical handbook «Environment Protection in Russia» for all regions. It is offered to modify the index of income in HDI by subtraction of the economic damage caused by pollution from income, as this part of income does not go to growth of the population welfare, but only compensates for the damage. For implementation of this approach there is no official statistics, and in the study was used the database accumulated by the author over many years of ecological-economic research. As a result, there was calculated ecologically adjusted HDI for all 85 regions in comparison with the traditional HDI. In 14 regions with the best ecological situation the HDI value grew, in the others it decreased. Some of the regions formerly leading by the HDI value lost their positions. Comparing the impact on HDI of ecological index on the one hand, and of modifications of income index on the other, showed an incomparably greater role of the introduction of ecological index.

The article reveals the main approaches to understanding the essence of ecological culture, as well as its basic components: cognitive, value and activity. The article focuses on the fact that pro-ecological behaviorur is a leading indicator of ecological culture. It is noted that a society can have a sufficiently high level of environmental knowledge and correct values, but in the absence of pro-environmental behaviorur, we cannot speak about the proper level of environmental culture. Attention is focused on the difficulties of empirical study of the real state of the components of ecological culture. The definition of the term "digital footprint" is given. The possibility and expediency of studying the ecological attitudes of the population as the most mobile element of ecological culture using the analysis of statistics of search queries is shown. The purpose of the study is to identify the ecological attitudes of the inhabitants of the Sverdlovsk region and approbation of the methodology for analyzing statistics of search queries of the population on environmental topics, recorded by the Yandex search engine. The study was carried out within the framework of a quantitative approach. To collect empirical information, a continuous collection of search queries from the population of the Sverdlovsk region was carried out from 2010 to 2019 inclusive. The technique of collection, processing and analysis of search queries of the population is described. The analysis made it possible to identify a number of significant pro-ecological attitudes of the population, for example, for a significant part of the population of the Sverdlovsk region it is important to know and apply technologies for waste disposal, to know the state of air and water in the place of residence, as well as technologies for checking and cleaning them. It was found that children and adolescents are more interested in information about various kinds of environmental pollution, and young people and people of the middle age group are more interested in means and technologies for waste disposal and cleaning of natural resources. In general, the results of the study showed that search query data can serve as a source of up-to-date information on the ecological attitudes of the region's population. The advantages and disadvantages of the analysis of search queries as an empirical research method are shown.