The principles of social inclusion have been embraced by institutions across the higher education sector but their translation into practice through pedagogy is not readily apparent. This paper examines perceptions of social inclusion and inclusive pedagogies held by academic staff at an Australian university. Of specific interest were the perceptions of teaching staff with regard to diverse student populations, particularly students from low socio-economic (LSES) backgrounds, given the institution's reasonably high proportion of LSES student enrolment (14%). A mixed-method approach was utilised: (i) in-depth interviews with a representative sample of academic staff and (ii) an online survey targeting all academic staff across the institution. The results point to the dual responsibilities of students and institutions in enacting inclusivity in order to move beyond reductive standpoints that simply apportion blame.
25For carbon capture and storage to successfully contribute to climate mitigation efforts, the 26 captured and stored CO2 must be securely isolated from the atmosphere and oceans for a 27 minimum of 10,000 years. As it is not possible to undertake experiments over such timescales, 28here we investigate natural occurrences of CO2, trapped for 10 4 -10 6 yr to understand the 29 geologic controls on long term storage performance. We present the most comprehensive 30 natural CO2 reservoir dataset compiled to date, containing 76 naturally occurring natural CO2 31 stores, located in a range of geological environments around the world. We use this dataset 32to perform a critical analysis of the controls on long-term CO2 retention in the subsurface. We 33 find no evidence of measureable CO2 migration at 66 sites and hence use these sites as 34 examples of secure CO2 retention over geological timescales. We find unequivocal evidence 35 of CO2 migration to the Earth's surface at only 6 sites, with inconclusive evidence of migration 36 at 4 reservoirs. Our analysis shows that successful CO2 retention is controlled by: thick and 37 multiple caprocks, reservoir depths of >1200m, and high density CO2. Where CO2 has 38 migrated to surface, the pathways by which it has done so are focused along faults, illustrating 39 that CO2 migration via faults is the biggest risk to secure storage. However, we also find that 40 many naturally occurring CO2 reservoirs are fault bound illustrating that faults can also 41 securely retain CO2 over geological timescales. Hence, we conclude that the sealing ability of 42 fault or damage zones to CO2 must be fully characterised during the appraisal process to fully 43 assess the risk of CO2 migration they pose. We propose new engineered storage site selection 44 criteria informed directly from on our observations from naturally occurring CO2 reservoirs. 45These criteria are similar to, but more prescriptive than, existing best-practise guidance for 46 selecting sites for engineered CO2 storage and we believe that if adopted will increase CO2 47 storage security in engineered CO2 stores.
Experts hold a prominent position in guiding and shaping policy-making; however, the nature of expert input to decision-making is a topic of public debate. A key aspect of deliberative processes such as citizens' juries is the provision of information to participants, usually from expert witnesses. However, there is currently little guidance on some of the challenges that organisers and advocates of citizens' juries must consider regarding expert involvement, including the role of the witness, issues around witness identification and selection, the format of evidence provision, the evidence itself, and how these factors affect the experience of the participants and the witnesses. Here, we explore these issues through detailed case study of three citizens' juries on onshore wind farm development in Scotland, including interviews with the witnesses involved. This is complemented by examining a cohort of mini-publics held on energy and the environment topics, and, where possible, discussion with the program organisers. We identify a series of issues and sensitivities that can compromise the effectiveness and fairness of the evidence-giving in mini-publics, for the participants, the witnesses and the organisers. We recommend approaches and areas for future work to address these challenges. This is the first time that the ways of involving witnesses in such processes have been so comprehensively examined, and is timely given the increasing interest in democratic innovations such as mini-publics and the current discourse concerning experts.
Industrialized societies which continue to use fossil fuel energy sources are considering adoption of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology to meet carbon emission reduction targets. Deep geological storage of CO 2 onshore faces opposition regarding potential health effects of CO 2 leakage from storage sites. There is no experience of commercial scale CCS with which to verify predicted risks of engineered storage failure. Studying risk from natural CO 2 seeps can guide assessment of potential health risks from leaking onshore CO 2 stores. Italy and Sicily are regions of intense natural CO 2 degassing from surface seeps. These seeps exhibit a variety of expressions, characteristics (e.g., temperature/flux), and location environments. Here we quantify historical fatalities from CO 2 poisoning using a database of 286 natural CO 2 seeps in Italy and Sicily. We find that risk of human death is strongly influenced by seep surface expression, local conditions (e.g., topography and wind speed), CO 2 flux, and human behavior. Risk of accidental human death from these CO 2 seeps is calculated to be 10-8 year-1 to the exposed population. This value is significantly lower than that of many socially accepted risks. Seepage from future storage sites is modeled to be less that Italian natural flux rates. With appropriate hazard management, health risks from unplanned seepage at onshore storage sites can be adequately minimized.carbon dioxide | storage leak | public acceptance | engineered sequestration | aquifer S everal factors currently hinder upscaling of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) (1, 2) but one of the greatest challenges is the intrinsic uncertainty of integrity of geological storage. Uncertainty does not mean inevitable leakage from subsurface geological containment. The likelihood of surface leakage will be highly site-specific and, overall, will remain poorly calibrated until geological carbon storage has been practiced widely over decades.Fear of surface leakage, together with a perceived lack of local benefit, is one of the prime foundations for negative public opinion towards CCS (3-6) and is driving storage operations offshore or delaying project development (e.g., Mattoon, USA; Barendrecht, Netherlands). Public acceptance can strongly influence the fate of new technologies and onshore storage will usually be the least-cost domestic option for many countries. It is therefore crucial to assess the environmental hazards from leakage of CO 2 to the surface using analogues, models, and pilot studies (7-12). Developing and implementing suitable risk-assessment procedures will enable the accuracy of current concerns to be evaluated.Italy is a region of widespread natural CO 2 degassing from well documented surface seeps. These CO 2 seeps provide excellent analogues for assessing the health risks of CO 2 leakage from onshore storage reservoirs. Italian gas seeps have already proven a valuable tool for developing storage site assessment, monitoring techniques, and understanding and predicting CO 2 leakage pathw...
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