Parkview Hills Management

Environment Concerns in Rights-of-Way Management 8th International Symposium

The management of rights-of-way by electric and telephone utilities, highway departments, gas pipeline companies, and railroads around the world is guided and constrained by policies and regulations to protect the environment. Companies that manage rights-of-way are required to comply with these regulations, and are seeking the most cost-effective management practices that, at the same time, demonstrate stewardship of the environment. Protection of biodiversity and sustainable development are especially important as national goals in many countries, and rights-of-way managers are seeking practical ways to include public participation in their operations. * Addresses environmental issues in rights-of-way planning and management * Provides a forum for information exchange among various agencies, industries, environmental consultants, and academic organizations * Presents peer-reviewed papers to help achieve a better understanding of current environmental issues involved in rights-of-way management

Environmental Comment

Out of Touch

A behavioral scientist explores love, belongingness, and fulfillment, focusing on how modern technology can both help and hinder our need to connect. A Next Big Idea Club nominee. Millions of people around the world are not getting the physical, emotional, and intellectual intimacy they crave. Through the wonders of modern technology, we are connecting with more people more often than ever before, but are these connections what we long for? Pandemic isolation has made us even more alone. In Out of Touch, Professor of Psychology Michelle Drouin investigates what she calls our intimacy famine, exploring love, belongingness, and fulfillment and considering why relationships carried out on technological platforms may leave us starving for physical connection. Drouin puts it this way: when most of our interactions are through social media, we are taking tiny hits of dopamine rather than the huge shots of oxytocin that an intimate in-person relationship would provide. Drouin explains that intimacy is not just sex—although of course sex is an important part of intimacy. But how important? Drouin reports on surveys that millennials (perhaps distracted by constant Tinder-swiping) have less sex than previous generations. She discusses pandemic puppies, professional cuddlers, the importance of touch, “desire discrepancy” in marriage, and the value of friendships. Online dating, she suggests, might give users too many options; and the internet facilitates “infidelity-related behaviors.” Some technological advances will help us develop and maintain intimate relationships—our phones, for example, can be bridges to emotional support. Some, on the other hand, might leave us out of touch. Drouin explores both of these possibilities.