Ticking ecological time bombs: Risk characterisation and management of oil polluting World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean.

The Second World War in the Pacific has left a legacy of over 3800 wrecks on the ocean floor. These wrecks contain thousands of tons of oil and pose a risk to the marine environment. Estimates of current corrosion rates show many wrecks are at risk of structural collapse. However, the scale of threat posed by potentially polluting wrecks (PPW) to coastal ecosystems in the Pacific is largely unknown, due to the lack of data to inform risk. This paper presents a strategy aimed to prioritise, manage, and mitigate negative effects of oil spills posed by PPW in the Pacific, using an example in Chuuk Lagoon. Wrecks are assessed and prioritised by means of risk characterisation. Wrecks are surveyed using photogrammetry to assess hull integrity. Finally, recommendations are made for the production of bespoke management plans and risk reduction strategies that work towards safeguarding marine ecosystems and the livelihoods of coastal communities.

A taste of ethical consumption at a slow food festival.

This paper examines the motives and experiences of attendees at a Slow Food festival to gain an understanding of how people engage with ethical consumer projects. Slow Food is a global social movement aimed at promoting food that is regionally, ethically, and sustainably produced, and convivially consumed. The movement uses culinary tourist events, such as food festivals and farmers' markets, to promote its philosophy and attract new members. There have been no empirical studies of ethical consumption using a Slow Food event as a case study. This study uses an ethnographic approach and a framework of virtue ethics to explore the views of people attending a major Slow Food festival in the city of Melbourne, Australia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in situ with 33 participants (19 consumers and 14 stallholders) to discover their rationales for attending the festival, and their perspectives on ethical consumption. Transcripts were coded and thematically analysed, resulting in three themes reflecting varying degrees of public virtues (altruistic motivations) and private virtues (personal wellbeing): the quest for virtuous lifestyles through ethical consumption, the importance of co-production, and the challenges of putting ethical consumer projects like Slow Food into daily practice. The findings reveal the manner in which virtue ethics affects foodways and highlights the contingent and challenging nature of practising ethical eating.