Electronic Green Journal

A national survey of public library directors and administrators was conducted in 2022 to assess the role of public libraries in community support following weather disasters. The results showed strong agreement (84%) among respondents that libraries have a critical service role in disaster response. Most respondents expressed concern about the impact of weather-related hazards on their communities. During and after disasters, libraries continued to offer regular services, with Wi-Fi access and computer stations being the most commonly provided. While the Stafford Act designates libraries as essential services and allows for relocation funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, only 36% of respondents were aware of this legislation. To fully leverage available support, libraries must enhance their preparedness prior to such events. Slightly over half of respondents (51%) indicated their libraries had an emergency preparedness plan. Among those with plans, most had a traditional emergency response plan (82%), while fewer had a continuity of operations plan (13%), and only one library had a community resilience plan. These findings highlight significant opportunities for increased preparation. Wider adoption of continuity of operations plans and greater visibility of these services would enhance libraries' effectiveness as community resources during weather disasters.

Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan is facing the challenge of urban waste disposal. This makes academicians study the reasons for poor recycling culture and behaviour in Pakistan. The objective of this study is to analyse the factors impacting consumer recycling behaviour in urban households. This study integrates the extended TPB model with the Diffusion of innovation theory to investigate the influence of attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, environmental concern, and packaging attributes on consumer recycling intention. Additionally, it also seeks to check the moderating role of convenience and consumer innovativeness between recycling intention and recycling behaviour. The hypothetico-deductive approach was used to test the conceptualized hypotheses based on TPB and DOI theory. Non-probability convenience sampling method was used and data was collected via internet-administered questionnaire from 639 participants comprising of university students in Karachi. The data has been analysed using Smart PLS version 4. Path analysis and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) have been further used to analyse the direct and moderating relationship between the variables. The results of this study confirmed a strong influence of the determinants of the extended TPB model on consumer recycle intention. Consumer innovativeness was found to have a positive significant impact on the relationship between recycling intention and behaviour, while convenience was found to insignificantly moderate the relationship between recycling intention and behaviour. The research findings can be used by the government in making policies relating to waste collection and creating awareness campaigns highlighting the advantages of recycling and sustainable consumption behaviour, with same can be applied to educational institutions for curriculum designing. Moreover, marketers can enhance recycling behaviour through innovative sustainable packaging and proper recycling mechanisms. Certain initiatives on a public and private level relating to environmental awareness can greatly enhance the frequency of household recycling waste.

This article provides a detailed investigation and assessment of publication trends, authors productivity, citation impact, keyword frequencies, and co-citation networks in studies related to market orientation in the iron and steel industry from 1964 to 2024. The analysis was conducted using Biblioshiny and Nvivo, based on 19 documents sourced from the Scopus database. Additionally, the study examines common buzzwords beyond marketing and economic aspects, with a particular focus on the iron and steel industry. Co-citation networks are analyzed to understand the connections between researchers and their contributions. The results highlight the interconnectedness of various research areas and the significance of specific topics in shaping academic discourse and influence within the industry. This study provides insights into the research dynamics and intellectual landscape of the field, emphasizing key processes, market strategies, environmental, and economic elements. It offers valuable information for academics, policymakers, and industry participants seeking to understand the development and impact of research in this area.

Car-free urbanism is being adopted by a growing number of cities to enhance walkability, reduce pollution and combat climate change, and improve public health. One of the major challenges facing these initiatives is public sentiment and distrust. However, little research has been done to track public interest in this movement over time. Using Google Trends, this research report analyzed 20 search queries related to car-free urbanism and tracked their relative search volume between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2022. The authors found a moderate rise in public interest in the United States for search terms that were highly specific to car-free urbanism. Among low-specificity search terms, no clear pattern was established.

Big box stores have become one of the most popular places for shopping in the United States, particularly in the last several decades. The editors of this volume Big Box USA: The Environmental Impact of America’s Biggest Retail Stores provide several essays to examine how these very large retail stores have impacted the environmental landscape physically. Additionally, the last two essays address cultural aspects of these stores. Using the “tools of environmental history” (p.7) this book does not completely cover the topic, instead providing an opening with some examples. The editors state in the introduction this volume to be an invitation for further research and discussion. Focused on the environment or the consumer, the essays do not consider other aspects such as being an employee of a big box store, with one rare instance this is mentioned.

This edited book is divided into four parts. In the first part, the author’s arguments are centered around the issue of the invisibility of native voices in philanthropy practices, as well as in US society in general.  The second and third parts of the book analysed the nexus between environmental issues, native people, and dominant structure. Notably, the authors have highlighted the indigenous people's major efforts to protect the environment and discussed how local leaders and organizations are challenging the dominant structure of environmental movements in the US.  In the last part, the authors visualize building sustainable Indigenous economies by decolonizing native communities.