Magazine of the United Nations Environment Programme discussing worldwide environmental policies and other concerns. This issue is devoted to the economic importance of biodiversity and how protecting or restoring habitats can significantly reduce the costs in a variety of industries and infrastructures.

This report outlines the strategic direction of the energy sector to meet its growing energy demand in an environmentally-sustainable manner over the next two decades, and presents a pathway of policy frameworks and financing mechanisms to get there. This study found that large-scale deployment of energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies can simultaneously stabilize East Asia’s CO2 emissions by 2025 and significantly improve the local environment and enhance energy security, without compromising economic growth.

Given the diversity found in today's Japanese culture and the size of the country's population, it is easy to see why the understanding of Japanese wind band repertoire must be multi-faceted. Alongside Western elements, many Japanese composers have intentionally sought to maintain their cultural identity through the addition of Japanese musical elements or concepts. These added elements provide a historical and cultural context from which to frame a composition or, in some cases, a composer's compositional output. The employment of these elements serve as a means to categorize the Japanese wind band repertoire. In his studies on cultural identities found in Japanese music, Gordon Matthews suggests there are three genres found within Japanese culture. He explains these as "senses of 'Japaneseness' among Japanese musicians." They include Fence, Flavor, and Phantasm. Bringing a new perspective to the idea of Japanese influence, I trace the implementation of these facets of Japanese music through the wind band music of Japanese composers. I demonstrate that Japanese wind band genres are the result of a combination of Japanese musical elements and Western influence and argue that the varying levels of this combination, balanced with historical and cultural context, create three distinct genres within the Japanese …

The Divine Coming of the Light is a memoir-in-essays that covers an experience, from 2007 to 2010, when I lived in Kosuge Village (population 900), nestled in the mountains of central Japan. I was the only foreigner there. My memoir uses these three years as a frame to investigate how landscape affects identity. The book profiles who I was before Japan (an evangelical and then wilderness guide), why I became obsessed with mountains, and the fall-out from mountain obsession to a humanistic outlook. The path my narrator takes is one of a mountain hike. I was born in tabletop-flat West Texas to conservative, Christian parents in the second most Republican county by votes in America. At 19, I made my first backpacking trip to the San Juan Mountains of western Colorado and was awed by their outer-planetary-like massiveness. However, two friends and I became lost in the wilderness for three days without cell phones. During this time, an obsession possessed me as we found our way back through the peaks to safety, a realization that I could die out there, yes, but amid previously unknown splendor. I developed an addiction to mountains that weakened my religious faith. Like the Romantic …

This dissertation answers three research questions: "What differences and similarities exist among neighborhood associations in the United States, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea?," "What are the civic roles of neighborhood associations in apartment complexes in Seoul, South Korea?," and "What factors promote neighborhood associations to play civic roles in urban governance?" To answer the first question, this research analyzes the purposes, governance structures, roles, and legal substance of neighborhood associations by reviewing previous studies, public and legal documents, court cases in the U.S., and by conducting interviews. To answer the second and the third questions, a 2016 survey, "Understanding the Roles of Neighborhood Associations in Urban Governance" was conducted with 154 representatives of neighborhood associations in Seoul. Social capital theory, government failure theory, and third party government theory were used to create hypotheses that test proposed relationships about neighborhood interactions, community characteristics, and the civic roles played by neighborhood associations. The findings show that neighborhood associations have adopted several roles including service provider, partner in public service delivery for local government, and advocate for residents in urban governance. The findings also show that social capital created by neighborhood interactions and community characteristics facilitates neighborhood associations to play civic roles in …