Понятието за постпесимизъм в дистопичната проза от ХХІ в.

Author(s): Annika Gonnermann / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 28/2022

The article focuses on recent dystopias and the kind of pessimism displayed within their narrative frame-works: written in an era of Fisher’s “capitalist realism,” contemporary dystopias like Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (2005) and M. T. Anderson’s Feed (2002) are informed by the late-Fukuyamaist notion of non-alternatives to neoliberal capitalism, most notable by the absence of a subplot or resistance. These two novels spearhead a contemporary literary movement that presents readers a world void of alternatives besides neoliberal capitalism. The author refers to this with the term “post- pessimism,” i.e. the understanding that neither an optimistic nor pessimistic attitude is justified due to the lack of alternatives.

Zwierzęta w czasach kryzysu klimatycznego

Author(s): Piotr Skubała / Language(s): Polish Issue: 9/2022

We are currently observing the sixth Pleistocene-Holocene great extinction. Climate change is one of the significant factors contributing to the dramatic decline in wildlife diversity. Humanity took up the fight against climate change in 1992 by adopting the Framework Convention on Climate Change at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit. Unfortunately, these efforts have not produced the expected results. Rising greenhouse gas emissions will lead to the extinction of half of the species on Earth by the end of this century. Limiting the temperature increase to 2°C by 2100 will mean a 25% reduction in species diversity. For most animal species, the race against progressive climate change is difficult and even impossible to win. Scientists warn that if we do not take immediate action, we will face a catastrophic loss of biodiversity. Wild vertebrate animals already account for no more than 4% of the biomass of all vertebrates, which is dramatically lower than the biomass of farmed animals.

Howls in the Anthropocene. Between Wildness and Captivity of Wolves in the Memoirs of Lois Crisler and Teresa Martino

Author(s): Paulina Szymonek / Language(s): English Issue: 9/2022

W artykule ukazano zmianę postrzegania wilka, jaka nastąpiła w Ameryce Północnej w latach 1950–1990, poprzez historie Lois Crisler i Teresy Martino – dwóch kobiet, które nawiązały bliskie relacje ze swoimi wilkami. Choć wilki Lois Crisler – Lady, Trigger, Alatna, Arctic, Barrow, Killik i Tundra – urodziły się dzikie, ich życie było zależne od ludzi. Natomiast Mckenzie, wilczyca urodzona w niewoli i wychowana przez Teresę Martino, została wypuszczona na wolność. Historie Crisler i Martino ukazują czas, w którym w Stanach Zjednoczonych nienawiść do wilków ustępowała publicznej ich akceptacji oraz podjęto pierwsze próby reintrodukcji tego gatunku po uprzednim niemal doszczętnym wytępieniu wilków na terenie USA.

Kontrola przestrzegania przepisów o ochronie środowiska (artykuł recenzyjny)

Author(s): Monika A. Król / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2022

The subject of the study is to evaluate the monograph entitled Control of compliance with environmental regulations in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, written under the editorship of Z. Bukowski and T. Bojar-Fijałkowski, which appeared in the publishing house of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz in 2021. It contains twenty-six articles, focusing on the legal issues of control of entities using the environment, developed by an international research team. This book deserves attention all the more so because in the Polish scientific literature the issue of control, or more broadly supervision over entities using the environment is rather neglected. The work also contains important elements from the field of legal comparative studies, which nowadays is an integral part of scientific research. Due to its scientific value, it will be useful for conducting scientific research for researchers dealing with issues of legal protection of the environment.

ASEAN-5 Ülkelerinde Ekolojik Ayak İzi Yakınsaması: SURADF ve SURKSS Birim Kök Testi

Author(s): Havanur Ergün Tatar / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 3/2022

The ecological footprint is helpful for observing the impact of human activities on the environment. Especially considering the importance of the concept of a sustainable environment and the environmental policies of the countries, the ecological footprint is a comprehensive indicator. In this study, instead of CO2, the carbon footprint is preferred as an indicator to analyze environmental pollution from a broader perspective. In addition, ecological footprint convergence is examined with a different method. At this point, it is expected that the study will contribute to the literature. In the study, ecological footprint convergence is analyzed in ASEAN-5 countries. For this, the 1973-2017 period is chosen. In the study, SURADF and SURKSS unit root analyses are performed. According to the end of the analysis, it has been determined that the ecological footprint is stable in all countries examined. In other words, convergence has proven to be valid in ASEAN-5 countries.

Impact of International Environmental Agreements on Procyclicality of Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Business Cycles

Author(s): Bige Küçükefe,Nilüfer Kaya Kanlı / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

The relationship between cyclic components of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and gross domestic product (GDP) growth is procyclical for a typical economy. Potential effects of a policy decision on the environment require policymakers to consider the impact of GDP growth on CO2 emissions for a country. This paper investigates the changing dynamics of procyclicality of CO2 emissions with respect to GDP growth following the Kyoto protocol which represents a strong commitment for a green economy by the industrialized countries. We compare two time periods (1970-2005 and 2006-2017) before and after the Kyoto Protocol by calculating the Pearson correlation coefficients and using linear regression models for 48 countries which produced 79% of the world total CO2 emissions in 2017. Our study finds that the procyclicality of the CO2 emissions and GDP growth decreased in 29 countries and increased in 19 countries in the period 2006-2017 following the Kyoto Protocol. We extract the cyclical components by Hodrick-Prescot filter. We also build VAR models and compute impulse response functions, which agree with the statistical findings.

Бруно Латур – социология и наука, философия и експеримент, политика и театър

Author(s): Antoaneta Koleva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2022

Bruno Latour: Sociology and Science, Philosophy and Experiment, Politics and the Theatre

Пандемията, предизвикана от Kовид-19: Homo hygienicus vs. Homo hapticus

Author(s): Nina Nikolova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2022

This paper analyses so-called points of intersection and short-circuits between homo hygienicus and homo hapticus. The global virus Covid 19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented hygienist obsession and a panic fear of physical proximity and contact. It has made clearly visible some longue-durée trends in European cultural history which I would summarize namely as a constant advancing of homo hygienicus at the expense of a steady declining of homo hapticus. Against this backdrop, I venture the hope of forming an ecological homo hapticus whose quintessence could be defined as follows: a touch that actively refrains from itself.

Çevresel Terörizmin “Güvenlik” Bağlamında Değerlendirilmesi: Doğu Karadeniz Bölgesinden Çıkarımlar

Author(s): Korkmaz Yıldırım / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 15/2022

The last quarter of the 20th century corresponds to one when the cross-border effects of local and regional ecological problems activated to be perceived as a global threat. Since ecological problems include cross-border effects as well as interdependence, complexity, and uncertainty, the formation of a new considerate of security spreading from the local to the global (environmental security) has become necessary. It is difficult to create rational inferences in associating resource scarcity or abundance with security without scrutinizing the concepts of "environment" and "security" in an integrated manner. On the other hand, environmental terror and terrorism are deliberated among the new security issues discussed in contemporary academic and political debates as in the past. In this context, there is a need for mixture studies that make it possible to comprehensively evaluate the environmental scopes of terror and terrorism, which also constitute the crucial point of security studies. Studies on this subject are extremely unsatisfactory in terms of revealing the intersection areas of environmental terrorism and security issues. In practice, the measures taken against environmental terrorism require an effective political and legal formulation with a new outlook. In this context, the main purpose of the study is to scrutinize the projections of environmental terrorism in terms of security in the "Eastern Black Sea Region". The study accomplishes this aim in two different phases. In the first stage, it is realized by clarifying the relationship of the environment with security and terrorism phenomena. In the second stage, there are evaluations about where and how environmental terrorism will be positioned within the consideration of security. The results of the study clearly demonstrate that the environmental essentials, which are easy to access and cost-effective, have the potential to turn into a tool or target that can create effective and lasting results, and that the consideration of security has gained a new dimension from "human security" to "ecological security", where the considerate of security is tied in the last order.

Türkiye’deki sivil toplum kuruluşlarının ekoloji ve biyoçeşitliliğin korunmasındaki rolleri

Author(s): Murat Sezik / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 4/2022

After the industrial revolution, human beings started to consume their environment rapidly and ultimately destroyed the planet to an irreversible extent. The "ecological crisis" emerging on earth, which is becoming more and more difficult to live with each passing day, due to environmental pollution, deforestation and gases released into the atmosphere, should at least be mitigated. More responsibilities fall on the international community, states, political parties, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and even individuals in this regard. The aim of this study is to examine what NGOs do and can do for the protection of ecology and biodiversity in Turkey. Qualitative research method based on literature, observation and interviews was used in the study. The activities, fields of activity and audiences of the NGOs, which are limited in number in Turkey and try to raise awareness by organizing environmentally sensitive individuals, in order to protect Ecology and Biodiversity are discussed. As a result of the study, although it was seen that NGOs were effective from time to time in preventing the ecological crisis in Turkey, it can be said that the environmental movement in Turkey has an elitist aspect and the environmental movement does not spread to the grassroots.

Toksyczne przedmieścia. Radioaktywne dziedzictwo St. Louis w soczewce projektów Allany Ross

Author(s): Magdalena Krzosek-Hołody / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2022

The article follows the radioactive history of St. Louis featured in the works of the artist and activist Allana Ross. Her artistic practice presents an interesting, interdisciplinary approach to the social and environmental problems connected to the radioactive contamination of the city. The aforementioned contamination (apart from the workers directly involved in the processing of the uranium ore) affected mainly the lower middle-class families living in the outskirts.From the early 1940s until the late 1960s St. Louis based chemical company Mallinckrodt was the major manufacturer of uranium utilized in the Manhattan Project and later on in the development of the American national atomic energy programme. As the result of the negligence of many social and political actors, the radioactive waste produced by Mallinckrodt spread over the city’s suburbs contaminating air, soil and water. These facts, however, were not publicly known for many years. Just recently they received the publicity that they demanded. Even though the radioactive contamination of St. Louis dates back to the 1940s, the affected areas had not been taken care of till the late 1980s, when the city was included into FUSRAP and Superfund programmes, which were established by the U.S. government to “clean the radioactive mess”left recklessly in the American landscape some decades ago.The author of the article adopts the notion of negative heritage introduced by Lynn Meskell (2002) to interpret the significance of the radioactive contamination of the region and contextualize the works of Ross. The artist herself understands her projects, which may as well fall into the recently established category of artivism, as adaptive strategies for the slowly approaching environmental catastrophe. In a more general sense Ross calls out not only for the redefinition of St. Louis negative radioactive heritage, but also for the new culture of nature and new modes of human –environment relations.

Czy w globalne ocieplenie należy wierzyć?

Author(s): Roman Chymkowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 22/2022

This article analyses books and speeches by Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Gore consistently warns of an impending ecological disaster whose cause is a robber economy which does not take into account the ecological consequences. In particular, global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels, which are the basic energy source of the modern economy, is a threat to life on Earth. In Gore’s opinion, the ecological crisis accompanies a spiritual one, and both of these crises stem from the philosophy of the Enlightenment, which is responsible for alienating civilisation from its natural environment (Löwith, Taubes). Gore’s warnings of ecological apocalypse form a manifesto of the economic, political, and moral revolution that is needed. The fight against the effects of global warming presupposes fundamental changes in the way of life of every human being, as well as a moral renewal based on reinterpreted religious traditions, especially Christian ones. From this point of view, Gore’s project can be described in terms of the politics of faith (Oakeshott).

The Ecological Dimension of Sustainable Development: Bringing Forth Pedagogics to Safeguard the Global Future

Author(s): Denys Svyrydenko,Frol Revin / Language(s): English Issue: 18/2022

Training of citizens with a high level of environmental awareness, eco-consciousness and sustainable culture on the basis of new informed criteria for assessing the relationship between human society and nature should become one of the main instruments in solving extremely acute environmental and related socio-economic problems. Environmental education, as a holistic cultural phenomenon that includes the processes of inculcated education and (most importantly) personality development, should be aimed at the formation of ecological culture as a crucial component of the system of national and public education of all strata of the global population. In particular, within our educational system emphasis should be put on imparting through environmental education with the help of public environmental organizations by updating and making our academic disciplines, training programs, and approaches greener, more sustainable as well as making sure they provide professional environmental training through basic environmental education. Solving these pressing issues should ensure the formation of integral ecological knowledge and thinking platform within our educational institutions, necessary for the adoption of environmentally sound national and global decisions at all levels of the socio-political entities, groups, spheres of influence and activity fostering and facilitating thereby an in-depth mastery and understanding of ecological knowledge and agenda, furthering the formation and development of ecological thinking, consciousness and culture among students as well as the general population. With the presently looming threat of an environmental catastrophe, the authors are convinced that only a balanced, ecologically safe harmonious and sustainable program of action is our way out and should be the basic idea, forming and informing the methodological crux of environmental education in accordance with international policies, standards and practices.

Ecological Development Impact on Tourism in Pavlodar Region

Author(s): Aliya Zhakanova Isiksal,Huseyin Işıksal,Rakhmetullina Shynar Zhakanovna,Savanchiyeva Armanay Sagatbayevna,Alibek Zhakanov / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

This article analyses the current environmental aspects and the mechanisms of environmental tourism. The study showed that the environmental situation in Pavlodar Region requires the adoption of a number of activities and legal regulation for improvement and development of tourism. The improvement of tourism is very important for the regional budget and for the development of the tourism industry, the existing taxation system that is the Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan requires some amendments, sustainable development measures should put into the practice with the introduction of technological systems that based upon the use solar and wind energy, and “Green Economy” strategy should be implemented into the practical life and monitored effectively.

Literacki matecznik – o ekopoetyce i aktywnym czytaniu

Author(s): Magdalena Piotrowska-Grot / Language(s): Polish Issue: 31/2022

The contemporary humanities are facing another crisis and need to take up a significant task – through education and critical reading of texts, the humanities have to clarify not only the understanding of such categories as anthropocene, capitalocene, and ecopoetics, or ecocriticism, but also create an active change in thinking and acting. The present article is an attempt at undertaking those challenges by reading into the above-mentioned threads in contemporary literature and trying to propose solutions that would make students sensitive to the content of nature. I discuss reading strategies and interpretation models that include such mechanism of reading literary texts in which ecologically engaged literature influences the perception and understanding of the world around us, thereby becoming literature participating in social processes.

Klímaszorongás vagy ökoaggodalom? Egy radikális ökopszichológia felé

Author(s): Gergely Csányi,Kata Dóra Kiss / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 31/2022

INCREASING NUMBER OF VEHICLES AND THE SHORTAGE OF PARKING IN ISRAEL’S URBAN AREAS - ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL FACTORS

Author(s): Erez Cohen / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

This study addresses the growing increase in the number of vehicles in Israel and the resulting shortage of parking in city centers. Israel was chosen as a case study because it is a country with rapid population growth, a concentration of residents in central areas, and inefficient public transportation, which constitute explicit causes of the trends presented in the study. The study seeks to portray the implicit causes underlying the increasing number of vehicles in Israel and of the shortage of parking in city centers. The research method combines quantitative and qualitative techniques. The quantitative part includes analysis of data on vehicle density in various cities in Israel and on the number of parking offenses resulting from the shortage of parking in city centers. The vehicle density index per 1,000 Residents for each city will be calculated by multiplying the total number of Private Cars Registered in the city by the total Number of city’s Residents and multiplying by 1000. At the same time, the Number of Parking Reports data which presented in the study has been obtained from the local authorities themselves, which may cause to biased information according to the interests of those authorities. The qualitative part includes examination of the resultant public policy affecting the increase in vehicles. The data set will include the vehicle and fuel taxation policy. The research conclusions show that the increase in vehicles is affected among other things by economic and political factors that contribute to this growing trend and prevent its restriction, respectively. This study calls to the decision makers to promote and develop public transportation and correct its failures. Israel's public transportation services remain afflicted by many faults that contribute to residents' significant and increasing dependency on private vehicles. A large part of the public transportation means are too crowded, bus and train services do not run frequently enough, and the service is slow. There are insufficient connections between the different means of public transportation, with low access to stations among relatively large parts of the population and there is still a shortage of the necessary personnel and infrastructure for it's develop. In addition, the research conclusions call for a political solution that will make it possible to operate public transportation on Saturdays, while also expanding the use of self-driving cars and allocating outlying parking areas together with rental services for electric scooters and bicycles or shuttle services to city centers.

Social Changes that Occurred on the European Continent Due to the War in Ukraine

Author(s): Inna KOVTUNYK,Yevhenii ISHCHENKO,Yaroslav Yuvsechko,Taras Datso,Viktoriia TYCHYNA / Language(s): English Issue: 82/2023

The objective of this research is to examine the social changes in European countries resulting from the Russian war against Ukraine and to understand their implications for the future functioning of social institutions. The research is grounded in the theoretical framework that recognizes the significant impact of the war in Ukraine on various aspects of European societies, including emotional state, daily life, public opinion, interpersonal relationships, socio-economic status, employment, and public activity. The study aims to identify and analyze the main trends of social changes in European countries in response to the war. The research utilizes the analytic-bibliographic method to review relevant scientific literature on social changes in European countries over the past year. Additionally, it employs various analytical methods such as induction, deduction, analysis, synthesis of information, systemic-structural, comparative, logical-linguistic methods, as well as abstraction and idealization for data study and processing. An online survey conducted by the researchers was used to gather practical insights on key questions related to changes in the social status quo in Europe due to the resolution of the war in Ukraine. The research findings highlight the most important theoretical aspects of societal development trends in European countries affected by the war in Ukraine. It also investigates the perspectives of scientists and sociologists studying the international social sphere regarding critical aspects of this issue. The conclusion drawn from the research provides a comprehensive understanding of the social changes that have occurred in European countries as a result of the war in Ukraine. This research contributes to the broader understanding of the far-reaching impacts of the Russian war against Ukraine on European societies. The implications of this research can guide post-war European society research and aid in planning transformative changes to address the societal shifts brought about by the conflict.

AN ECOSYSTEM FOR SMART CITIES BASED ON BLOCKCHAIN

Author(s): Branka Rodić,Aleksandra Labus,Marijana Despotović-Zrakić,Petar Lukovac,Milica Simić / Language(s): English Issue: 6/2023

This paper analyses the impact of the digital transformation of cities affected by rapid urbanization that tend to endanger their environmental and economic sustainability. Such a transformation is possible through the concept of a smart city. We investigate the opportunities of using blockchain technologies in the realm of smart cities. The paper’s main goal is to propose a new business model for blockchain use in the smart city ecosystem that will provide a solution for a sustainable urban environment and improve citizens’ life. Smart city ecosystem consists of building blocks: infrastructure, development and self-sustainability, stakeholders and their relationships. Stakeholders can be different subjects, but most often they are government authorities, service providers, blockchain technology providers, IoT device manufacturers, and citizens. Blockchain-based systems facilitate increased citizen engagement and participation. Citizens can provide feedback, contribute data, and interact with smart city services through decentralized applications. The ecosystem operates in an iterative and adaptive manner continuously learning and improving based on the data and feedback received. Insights gained from the blockchain data and citizen interactions drive ongoing enhancements to the smart city infrastructure and applications. The proposed model will, on the other hand, show sustainability by citizens through a reward system using a digital wallet. Citizens actively engaged in energy management or ridesharing platforms can be rewarded with tokens to use for discounts or health check-up services. The proposed ecosystem could serve as a ground for the adoption of blockchain in smart city ecosystems in different countries.

Ekofeminizm ve Ekososyalizm Yaklaşımlarıyla Çevre Sorunları ve Ekoloji

Author(s): Elif Ekinci Özyardimci / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 1/2023

As ecological problems reach a global dimension and threaten all living things, these problems have been on the world agenda especially in the last period of the 20th century and the attention of feminists has turned to ecology movements. This process brought a new dimension to women's studies in the western societies of the 1980s: Ecofeminism. Global ecological problems, which started to make itself felt in the 1970s and enveloping the world, started to be of interest in ideologies as well as in many areas of social life. At this point, ecosocialism came to the fore with the ecology discussions within the Marxist framework, and it started with the determination that the capitalist mode of production in Marxist thought exploits both labor and nature. In the first part of the study, the concept of ecofeminism, environmental ecofeminist approaches from the perspective of ecofeminism, and criticisms of ecofeminism will take place. In the second part, the ecosocialism approach will be discussed; The concepts of ecocentrism and technocentrism will be explained. Marxist approaches to nature and environment will be discussed. In the conclusion part, a general evaluation will be made about these two approaches.