Publication year: 2011
Source: Futures, Available online 20 December 2011

Angela Wilkinson, Diana Mangalagiu

This paper addresses the limited evidence of how futures work bears fruit in the present by exploring a specific, yet significant, empirical case study. The results of our longitudinal study into the WBCSD Vision 2050 Initiative shed light on how organizations are harnessing the perspective of the long term future to identify what can and should be done in the near term to keep progress towards sustainability on track. We provide evidence of the expected and realized benefits of this collaborative futures initiative. These benefits extend beyond direct decision support, manifest at multiple levels and vary over time. We note that shift from single client to collaborative futures work is inherent to addressing sustainability challenges and call for more research into how collaborative futures practices are evolving to deal with new puzzles and wicked problems.

Highlights

► Increasing prevalence of collaborative multi-organizational futures work is noted ► A visioning-plus approach enabled motivational, realistic and concrete pathways ► Benefits of collaborative futures are diverse and manifest in use ► Collaborative futures work focussed on sustainability assumes an activist stance ► A key challenge is to better relate multiple futures methods

Publication year: 2011
Source: Geothermics, Volume 40, Issue 2, June 2011, Pages 125-135

Zhongfeng Duan, Zhonghe Pang, Xinyi Wang

Sustainable development of geothermal resources is the key to prolong the commercial life of geothermal fields. This paper uses two well-known geothermal fields in China, with long histories of production, to demonstrate how sustainability can be quantitatively evaluated, and to highlight the essential differences between sustainable and non-sustainable development schemes. After examining the complex nature of sustainability evaluation, fuzzy synthetic evaluation is applied as a tool for the quantitative sustainability rating of geothermal reservoirs. The evaluation procedures include systemic criteria selection, weighing, individual criterion evaluation and finally final multi-criterion decision analysis evaluation. The sustainability of a limestone reservoir in the urban sector of Tianjin is rated rather low because of insufficient levels of water injection. On the contrary, the carbonate rock reservoirs of the Xiaotangshan geothermal field in suburban Beijing have a strong sustainability rating, mainly due to high injection rates.

Research highlights

► FSE method is applied to evaluate the sustainability of geothermal reservoirs. ► Criteria selection, weighing and evaluation procedures are introduced in detail. ► Geothermal sustainability of Tianjin is rather low because of insufficient injection. ► For high injection ratio Beijing area is in strongly sustainable development status.

[Article No. 6FEA4] Rich, Samantha Rozier; Komar, Stephen; Schilling, Brian; Tomas, Stacy R.; Carleo, Jenny; Colucci, Susan J.
As clientele needs diversify, Extension educators are examining new technologies, including online tools, to deliver educational programming and resources. Using agritourism as the educational topic, the study reported here sought to evaluate participants' acceptance of online educational programming (webinars) and the effectiveness of the technology in meeting the needs of participants and Extension educators. Overall, results provided favorable support of webinars for online educational programming and illustrated the effectiveness of this technology in reaching diverse audiences. Findings suggest webinars can enhance the value, availability, and sustainability of Cooperative Extension programming.

[Article No. 6TOT8] Baas, Dean G.; Mutch, Dale R.; Ackroyd, Victoria J.
The Midwest Cover Crops (MCCC) spearheaded the creation of a state/province-specific online cover crop decision tool with the goal of increasing cover crop use and thus the sustainability of Midwestern cropping systems. The tool allows users to input their location, cash crop and field information, and desired cover crop attributes. As users input more information, the tool immediately updates the list of appropriate cover crops. This dynamic tool thus will serve as an excellent teaching tool, as well as decision tool, for Extension personnel and farmers seeking to make better cover crop choices.