Based on the upper echelons theory, ecofeminist theory, and natural resource‐based theory (NRBV), this study has constructed a relational model between female executives' participation, unethical environmental behavior, proactive environmental strategy, and corporate sustainable competitive advantage. The samples include a total of 496 female executives from listed 524 companies in the manufacturing sector in China, and multiple regression methods are used for the analysis. The study showed that female executives' participation had double positive effects on corporate sustainable competitive advantage, which included both the inhibiting effect on unethical environmental behavior and the stimulating effect on proactive environmental strategies. The study also explored the boundary conditions of “conservative” and “proactive” behaviors from the internal and external perspectives of enterprises. But it was shown that the effect would not be further improved when both moderation effects of environmental stakeholder pressure and environmental leadership were higher at the same time. As enterprises' behaviors should match with their capability range, radical behaviors might run counter to their desires.

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The article focuses on the spatial complexity of agricultural green development (AGD) in different regions. The article first constructs an evaluation index system for the level of AGD from four dimensions: Social development, economic benefits, resource input, and ecological environment. Then, the article uses an improved entropy weight method to evaluate the level of AGD with panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2007 to 2018. Finally, on the basis of Moran Index and the Spatial Durbin Model, the article analyzes the spatial heterogeneity of the factors that affect the green development of agriculture in China. The results show that: (1) From 2007 to 2018, the overall level of AGD shows a fluctuating upward trend in China, and there are differences among provinces. The level of AGD in the three major regions presents the characteristics of Eastern > Central > Western; (2) China’s provincial AGD level has an obvious positive autocorrelation in spatial distribution, showing significant spatial agglomeration characteristics in space; (3) the four factors of urbanization level, agricultural mechanization level, scientific and technological R&D investment, and arable area, have different effects on the level of AGD in three major regions. This study provides a reference for understanding the status of China’s agricultural green development level and policy recommendations on how to improve the level of agricultural green development. The results imply that some effective policy measures, such as prompting the integrated development of the three major industries and optimizing the industrial structure, should be taken to coordinate “green” with “development” from national and regional perspectives.

Both economic development level and environmental factors have significant impacts on life expectancy at birth (LE). This paper takes LE as the research object and selects nine economic and environmental indicators with various impacts on LE. Based on a dataset of economic and environmental indicators of 20 countries from 2004 to 2016, our research uses the Pearson Correlation Coefficient to evaluate the correlation coefficients between the indicators, and we use multiple regression models to measure the impact of each indicator on LE. Based on the results from models and calculations, this study conducts a comparative analysis of the influencing mechanisms of different indicators on LE in both developed and developing countries, with conclusions as follow: (1) GDP per capita and the percentage of forest area to land area have a positive impact on LE in developed countries; however, they have a negative impact on LE in developing countries. Total public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP and fertilizer consumption have a negative impact on LE in developed countries; however, they have a positive impact on LE in developing countries. Gini coefficient and average annual exposure to PM2.5 have no significant effect on LE in developed countries; however, they have a negative impact on LE in developing countries. Current healthcare expenditures per capita have a negative impact on LE in developed countries, and there is no significant impact on LE in developing countries. (2) The urbanization rate has a significant positive impact on LE in both developed countries and developing countries. Carbon dioxide emissions have a negative impact on LE in both developed and developing countries. (3) In developed countries, GDP per capita has the greatest positive impact on LE, while fertilizer consumption has the greatest negative impact on LE. In developing countries, the urbanization rate has the greatest positive impact on LE, while the Gini coefficient has the greatest negative impact on LE. To improve and prolong LE, it is suggested that countries should prioritize increasing GDP per capita and urbanization level. At the same time, countries should also work on reducing the Gini coefficient and formulating appropriate healthcare and education policies. On the other hand, countries should balance between economic development and environmental protection, putting the emphasis more on environmental protection, reducing environmental pollution, and improving the environment’s ability of self-purification.

The adoption of conservation tillage technology can improve the production efficiency of black soils (mollisols), and it has great significance to ensure the sustainable development of agriculture. This paper takes farmers in the black soil region of Jilin Province as the research object, uses 442 survey data of farmers in seven municipal areas in the black soil region of Jilin Province, constructs a logistic-ISM model, first determines the influencing factors of farmers’ adoption of conservation tillage technology, and then analyzes the hierarchical structure of each influencing factor. The results show that: (1) among the eight significant influencing factors of farmers’ adoption of conservation tillage technology, age, whether they know the government’s subsidies for conservation tillage and the number of labor force are the deep-rooted factors; (2) Education level, whether you know that the government is promoting conservation tillage, and the planting area are intermediate level factors; (3) whether they have received the technical services of conservation tillage and whether the cultivated land is scattered is the direct factors. Based on the significance analysis of the influencing factors of farmers’ adoption of conservation tillage technology and the research on the action mechanism of the influencing factors of farmers’ adoption of conservation tillage technology, this paper puts forward policy suggestions to improve the extension system of conservation tillage technology, improve the implementation of land transfer and subsidy policies, strengthen the ability of rural socialized services, and strengthen the publicity of black soils protection.

Reducing agricultural carbon emissions (ACE) is a key point to achieve green and sustainable development in agriculture. Based on the ACE statistics of Jilin Province in China from 1998 to 2018, this article considers the sources of ACE in depth, and fourteen different carbon sources are selected to calculate ACE. Besides, the paper explores the variation characteristics of ACE in Jilin Province, their structure, and the relationship between the intensity and density of the dynamic changes in ACE in the province in terms of time. Finally, this paper uses the Kaya identity and logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) to analyze the influential factors in ACE. The results show the following: (1) During 1998–2018, the amount of ACE in Jilin Province increased, with an average annual growth rate of 1.13%. However, the chain growth rate has been negative in recent years, which reflects that carbon emission reduction has been achieved to a certain extent. (2) The characteristics of ACE in Jilin Province during the years is that of the low-intensity, high density category. Furthermore, agricultural resource input is the main source of the planting industry’s carbon emissions. From the perspective of animal husbandry, the proportion of CH4 decreased, while the proportion of N2O is relatively stable. (3) Based on the LMDI decomposition model, production efficiency, industrial structure, and labor are the three main factors that reduce ACE in Jilin Province. The economic level is the main factor of ACE, and it will be the most important factor leading to an increase in ACE in the short term. On the basis of comprehensive analysis, this article puts forward reasonable suggestions in terms of policy improvement, production mode and industrial structure adjustment, technological innovation, and talent introduction.

This study focuses on the impact of population structure changes on carbon emissions in China from 1995 to 2018. This paper constructs the multiple regression model and uses the ridge regression to analyze the relationship between population structure changes and carbon emissions from four aspects: population size, population age structure, population consumption structure, and population employment structure. The results showed that these four variables all had a significant impact on carbon emissions in China. The ridge regression analysis confirmed that the population size, population age structure, and population employment structure promoted the increase in carbon emissions, and their contribution ratios were 3.316%, 2.468%, 1.280%, respectively. However, the influence of population consumption structure (−0.667%) on carbon emissions was negative. The results showed that the population size had the greatest impact on carbon emissions, which was the main driving factor of carbon emissions in China. Chinese population will bring huge pressure on the environment and resources in the future. Therefore, based on the comprehensive analysis, implementing the one-child policy will help slow down China’s population growth, control the number of populations, optimize the population structure, so as to reduce carbon emissions. In terms of employment structure and consumption structure, we should strengthen policy guidance and market incentives, raising people’s low-carbon awareness, optimizing energy-consumption structure, improving energy efficiency, so as to effectively control China’s carbon emissions.

The substitution of chemical pesticides by biopesticides is crucial to ensure the quality of agricultural products and to foster environmental sustainability. This study takes the willingness and the behaviors of rice farmers on the application of biopesticides as the research object. The survey questionnaire was designed based on the theory of rational small-scale farmers from three aspects: “individual and family characteristics of farmers”, “cognition of farmers” and “external factors”. The survey was then conducted on 163 rice farmers in seven prefecture-level cities in Jilin Province of China. The logistic model was used to analyze the influencing factors resulting in the deviation of the behaviors of the rice farmers from their initial willingness on the application of biopesticides. The explanatory structure model (ISM) was used to analyze the logical hierarchical relationship among various influencing factors. The results show that: (1) For 45% of the farmers surveyed, there’s a deviation between their willingness and behaviors regarding the application of biopesticides; (2) Among the significant factors leading to the deviation between farmers’ willingness and behaviors concerning the application of biopesticides, the surface-level direct factor is biopesticide awareness. The mid-level indirect factors are agricultural product quality and safety awareness and the deep-level root cause is farmers’ education level. (3) The primary reason for the deviation of the farmers’ behaviors from their willingness is their lack of knowledge about biopesticides and the biopesticides’ incomplete market structure. Based on the comprehensive analysis, it is recommended to improve the professionalization of the farmers, to strengthen the publicity of green production and to accelerate the formulation of the biopesticides market to further promote the usage of biopesticides.