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This paper explores the way in which industrial pollution has been expressed in the narrative accounts of nature, landscape and industry by William Gilpin in his 18th-century picturesque travel writings. A positive description of pollution is generally outdated and unacceptable in the current society. The authors contrast his “picturesque” view with the contemporary perception of industrial pollution, reflect on these early accounts of industrial impacts as representing the roots of impression management and use the analysis to inform current accounting.

The research uses an interpretive content analysis of the text to draw out themes and features of impression management. Goffman's impression management is the theoretical lens through which Gilpin's travel accounts are interpreted, considering this microhistory through a thematic research approach. The picturesque accounts are explored with reference to the context of impression management.

Gilpin's travel writings and the “Picturesque” aesthetic movement, it appears, constructed a social reality around negative industrial externalities such as air pollution and indeed around humans' impact on nature, through a lens which described pollution as adding aesthetically to the natural landscape. The lens through which the picturesque tourist viewed and expressed negative externalities involved quite literally the tourists' tricks of the trade, Claude glass, called also Gray's glass, a tinted lens to frame the view.

The paper adds to the wealth of literature in accounting and business pertaining to the ways in which companies socially construct reality through their accounts and links closely to the impression management literature in accounting. There is also a body of literature relating to the use of images and photographs in published corporate reports, which again is linked to impression management as well as to a growing literature exploring the potential for the aesthetic influence in accounting and corporate communication. Further, this paper contributes to the growing body of research into the historical roots of environmental reporting.

This paper extends the nature and relevance of exploring the historical roots of social and environmental accounting by investigating an account that recorded and made visible pollution in 17th century London. John Evelyn's Fumifugium (1661) is characterised as an external social account that bears resemblance to contemporary external accounting particularly given its problematising intentionality.

An interpretive content analysis of the text draws out the themes and features of social accounting. Emancipatory accounting theory is the theoretical lens through which Evelyn's social account is interpreted, applying a microhistory research approach. We interpret Fumifugium as a social account with reference to the context of the reporting accountant.

In this early example of a stakeholder “giving an account” rather than an “account rendered” by an entity, Evelyn problematises industrial pollution and its impacts with the stated intention of changing industrial practices. We find that Fumifugium was used in challenging, resisting and seeking to solve an environmental problem by highlighting the adverse consequences to those in power and rendering new solutions thinkable.

This is the first research paper to extend investigations of the historical roots of social and environmental accounting into the 17th century. It also extends research investigating alternative forms of account by focusing on a report produced by an interested party and includes a novel use of the emancipatory accounting theoretical lens to investigate this historic report. Fumifugium challenged the lack of accountability of businesses in ways similar to present-day campaigns to address the overwhelming challenge of climate change.

The information society is an engine of growth, but it must be kept on track if it is to serve wider social and environmental goals. While ICTs can foster resource efficiency they may also feed environmentally damaging consumption – paradoxically, the information society could be less sustainable than the industrial society. At the same time, the digital economy’s 24‐hour treadmill is increasing the pressure on individuals, families and societies. To achieve environmental and social equilibrium, should we simply adapt to the demands of the information society, or do we need to rethink our economic and social priorities?

The study hypothesized that the absence of the governing authority during the growth and expansion of informal settlements caused a highly randomized dense social fabric that shaped their characteristics.

This research employs urban tactics and social theories to understand dynamic relationships in social consolidation in informal settlements in Jordan. The research adopted a mixed-methods approach, deploying qualitative and quantitative methods to understand the concepts, terms, perspectives, means and functions of open spaces in informal settlements.

The results identified that the land ownership of open spaces, gender and age have a significant impact on the relationships and social interaction of people. The results suggested that despite the informal morphology of studied areas being random, unplanned and chaotic, there is often an underlying logic to meet occupants’ needs.

This research explores informal spatiality to help understand the mechanisms of how marginal communities create and interact with each other in public spaces. This study is limited to the investigation of socio-cultural practices in public spaces, without an in-depth consideration of the roles of physical elements and features in the spatial configuration of these spaces.

The importance of the research is that the exploration of informal spatiality of this neighborhood morphology will enable to understand the mechanism of how marginal communities create and interact among each other and their public spaces in different cities.

In the tourism industry the rapidly increasing environmental dynamism and the intensity of competition call for constant improvements in Services' quality and pricing. Of the various elements in the tourism Performance bundle, the environment is an important starting point for examining the possibility of strengthening competitive position. Relative weightings of individual environmental pollutants regarding their importance to travel decisions are needed as a basis for decisions about effective countermeasures. An analysis of tourism, traffic and environmental developments, as well as an attempt to evaluate the relative weightings of various environmental impacts, gave the following working hypothesis: Of the various environmental pollutants which are relevant to the tourism industry in the Austrian Alpine region, traffic pollution constitutes the most important problem. The problem was examined with an emphasis on Tyrol, but the results should be largely transferable to the neighbouring areas in South Tyrol, Switzerland and Bavaria. The working hypothesis on the one hand refers to tourism as an industry effected by environmental pollutants, which are caused by both tourism and nontourism production and consumption activities. The pollutants act as impairments on the holiday experience. On the other hand it refers to tourism as a problem causer, with external effects on the non‐tourism and tourism industry. Traffic pollution has a comparatively large influence here too. This tourism‐related causer/effected‐combination for environmental pollution is relevant at both the local and the global level in different. Locally the directly effective aesthetic pollution stands out the most, for instance in the form of noise or damage to the countryside. Globally it's the “big” environmental problems (among other things the hypothesis on global warming), where, of the environmental pollution caused by tourism, traffic pollution makes a dominant contribution. The developed working hypotheses and assumptions about the relative weightings of different tourism‐related environmental pollutants are, due to inadequate data, based on rough estimates. To support them, the working hypotheses need, above all, an improved supply of data specific to the problem, to be collected scientifically with, among other things, more social and scientific research into the subjective problem perceptions of tourists and their reactions in the holiday decision process.

Green roofs are acknowledged as a method to substitute greenery washed out by the urbanization. They provide many ecological and sustainable benefits of greenery; reduce the adverse effects of high-rise building constructions. Though this concept is more popular across many countries over the past few decades, still, implementation of this technology in Sri Lanka is new and scant. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the potential of green roofs in high-rise buildings in Sri Lanka.

The data collection was conducted through expert interviews and questionnaire survey. Expert interviews were carried out to validate the prospects and restraints identified through literature review to the Sri Lankan context and analyzed using content analysis. Questionnaire survey identified the most significant prospects and restraints using descriptive statistics and paired sample t-test. Purposive sampling was used to select participants.

Reduction of air pollution, aesthetical appearance, thermal benefits and energy savings, reduction of an urban heat island effect, the addition of points in the green rating system are the top most significant prospects that need to be highlighted in promoting green roof systems in Sri Lankan high rises. Less space allocation on rooftops, lack of technical competence and lack of awareness and research are restraints that need most effective elimination strategies to encourage green roof systems.

The first identified and quantified prospects and restraints for green roof system in Sri Lankan high-rise buildings can be utilized by the government, donors, multi-lateral agencies to promote the sustainable development in Sri Lanka and this knowledge could be used in different scale awareness programs. The value of this paper is such that the paper discusses the links of green roofs with the other facets of sustainability. The new legal reforms and amendments in Sri Lanka could potentially be pending with findings of this study.

Describes how there has been growing concern in recent years regarding environmental protection and conservation in the field of tourism, and how, within this context measures are being taken to reduce the conflicts between tourism and the environment through the environmental audit approach. Advocates that, in the changing global business environment, there is a need to assess the contributions of the tourism industry in providing a pollution‐free environment. The social cost should be measured in terms of the cost of rectifying the damage done in the form of a polluted environment. There is need to change the parameters by which success in tourism is measured. Believes that many of the conflicts between tourism and environment can be resolved by an environmental audit approach.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview on the e‐waste topic, highlight the economic arguments for dumping e‐waste in developing countries and examine the issues around the e‐waste problems in Nigeria.

The methodology adopted is based on a review of existing literature, personal observation and interviews.

Electronic waste, or e‐waste, has emerged as a major problem in quite a number of developing countries, as well as an opportunity for development and economic growth. As a result of its high toxic content, it creates problems of environmental pollution and is a hazard to human health when not handled properly. However, there is a huge demand for good quality, second‐hand equipment in developing countries and there seem to be strong economic arguments for exporting scrap electronic and electrical equipment to those countries. The e‐waste trade has grown in Nigeria, causing several socio‐economic problems.

The paper contributes to the growing body of knowledge on e‐waste in developing countries, especially Nigeria. It provides insight into the economic arguments that encourage the continuance of the e‐waste problem.