Article | Ecologic Institute: Science and Policy for a Sustainable World

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Cigarette Smoking Prevalence in US Counties: 1996-2012

Cigarette smoking is a leading risk factor for morbidity and premature mortality in the United States, yet information about smoking prevalence and trends is not routinely available below the state level, impeding local-level action. Tanja Srebotnjak of Ecologic Institute and co-authors now publish county-level estimates of cigarette smoking prevalence: These provide a unique opportunity to assess where prevalence remains high and where progress has been slow. The estimates provide the data needed to better develop and implement strategies at a local and at a state level to further reduce the burden imposed by cigarette smoking.Read more

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Article

Health

Emergency Department Charges for Asthma-Related Outpatient Visits by Insurance Status

Wang, Tiffany; Tanja Srebotnjak; Julia Brownell and Renee Y. Hsia 2014: "Emergency Department Charges for Asthma-Related Outpatient Visits by Insurance Status". Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, Vol. 25, No. 1, 396-407.

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Article

Biodiversity

Kulturlandschaften entwickeln - Ökosystemleistungen stärken

Bieling, Claudia et al. 2014: "Kulturlandschaften entwickeln - Ökosystemleistungen stärken". Natur und Landschaft, Vol. 2014, No. 2, 82-84.

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Coastal + Marine

Policy Assessment

Resource Conservation + Circular Economy

Water

Plastics

Economic Instruments and Marine Litter Control

Economic instruments and marine litter control, published in Ocean and Coastal Management, provides a comprehensive up-to-date review of the literature on the economic instruments that can reduce marine litter. The paper, written by Frans Oosterhuis, Elissaios Papyrakis, and Ecologic Institute's Benjamin Boteler, assesses their cost of implementation, level of effectiveness as well as indirect environmental and socioeconomic effects (externalities) that may arise as a result of their implementation. The article is available for download.Read more

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Article

Health

Do Emergency Department Closures have Ripple Effects on Surrounding Communities?

An Analysis of Closures on Inpatient Mortality for All-Comers in California, 1999-2010

Hsia, Renee Yuen-Jan; Charles Lui; Tanja Srebotnjak and Judith Maselli 2013: "Do Emergency Department Closures have Ripple Effects on Surrounding Communities?: An Analysis of Closures on Inpatient Mortality for All-Comers in California, 1999-2010". Annals of Emergency Medicine, Vol. 62, No. 4, 157.Read more

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Article

Policy Assessment

Water

Investigating the Use of Environmental Benefits in the Policy Decision Process

A Qualitative Study Focusing on the EU Water Policy

European Union (EU) legislation, such as the Water Framework Directive (WFD), as well as international, national, and regional environmental policies and strategies explicitly acknowledge the importance of environmental costs and benefits and the need to integrate them into the policy-making process. However, the application of valuation studies to policy often involves a trade-off between the accuracy of the required analysis and the necessity to include all costs and benefits associated with the different policy options. Thus, there is no accepted EU-wide approach on how to deal with environmental benefits in the policy process. Read more

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Article

Sustainability

Wegbereiter der Nachhaltigkeitsforschung

Ecornet: Netzwerk unabhängiger Forschungsinstitute

In an issue focusing on "Transformative Science" of the German-language journal "Ökologisches Wirtschaften", Thomas Jahn of the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOeE) and R. Andreas Kraemer of Ecologic Institute present the Ecological Research Network (Ecornet) and explain the historic, current, and expected future roles of the participating, independent policy-relevant research institutes.Read more

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Article

Energy

Raumbezogene Analyse des Technologiepfads Biogaseinspeisung durch Einsatz von Geoinformationssystemen

In the medium-term, biomass is expected to be an important part of the German energy mix. In this journal article, Ecologic Institute's Wolfgang Urban and Michael Jandewerth (Fraunhofer UMSICHT) present the results of the project "Biogas Feed-In" which was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The focus lies on the question of how processed biogas can be fed into the natural gas network under concrete local conditions. The article, which has been published in "Informationen zur Raumentwicklung", is available for download.Read more

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Article

Cities

Water

Transatlantic Program

Perspectives on the Use of Green Infrastructure for Stormwater Management in Cleveland and Milwaukee

In this journal article, the authors – among them Darla Nickel and Melissa Keeley, both Ecologic Institute alumnae – analyze the stormwater infrastructure of the two cities. The focus lies on the question of how green and grey infrastructure can most successfully be combined and integrated for rain-water management. While grey infrastructure refers to conventional piped drainage and water treatment systems, the term "green infrastructure" encompasses land and plant based ecological treatment systems and processes. The report can be purchased on the homepage of the publisher "Springer-Verlag".Read more

Publication

Implementing the Precautionary Principle for Climate Engineering

The precautionary principle is used in arguments both for and against climate engineering: On the one hand, the principle can suggest caution against climate engineering so as to minimize the (unknown) risks of proposed techniques to the environment and health. On the other hand, arguments can be made that climate engineering is a precautionary measure against the (known) risks of climate change. This article, written by Elizabeth Tedsen and Gesa Homann, provides an overview of this debate and what the precautionary principle means in a climate engineering context.Read more