The presented material is devoted to the results of the V International scientific and practical conference “Actual problems of the energy complex: physical processes, mining, production, ...transmission, processing and environmental protection” (APEC-V-2022).
List of International Program Committee are available in this pdf.
Sustainability and the U.S. EPA National Research Council; Policy and Global Affairs; Science and Technology for Sustainability Program ...
2011, 2011-09-08, 20110101
eBook, Book
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Sustainability is based on a simple and long-recognized factual premise: Everything that humans require for their survival and well-being depends, directly or indirectly, on the natural environment. ...The environment provides the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat.Recognizing the importance of sustainability to its work, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working to create programs and applications in a variety of areas to better incorporate sustainability into decision-making at the agency. To further strengthen the scientific basis for sustainability as it applies to human health and environmental protection, the EPA asked the National Research Council (NRC) to provide a framework for incorporating sustainability into the EPA's principles and decision-making.This framework, Sustainability and the U.S. EPA, provides recommendations for a sustainability approach that both incorporates and goes beyond an approach based on assessing and managing the risks posed by pollutants that has largely shaped environmental policy since the 1980s. Although risk-based methods have led to many successes and remain important tools, the report concludes that they are not adequate to address many of the complex problems that put current and future generations at risk, such as depletion of natural resources, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. Moreover, sophisticated tools are increasingly available to address cross-cutting, complex, and challenging issues that go beyond risk management.The report recommends that EPA formally adopt as its sustainability paradigm the widely used "three pillars" approach, which means considering the environmental, social, and economic impacts of an action or decision. Health should be expressly included in the "social" pillar. EPA should also articulate its vision for sustainability and develop a set of sustainability principles that would underlie all agency policies and programs.
The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Journalism provides a thorough understanding of environmental journalism around the world.
An increasing number of media platforms - from newspapers and ...television to Internet social media networks - are the major providers of indispensable information about the natural world and environmental risk. Despite the dramatic changes in the news industry that have tended to reduce the number of full-time newspaper reporters, environmental journalists remain key to bringing stories to light across the globe. With contributions from around the world broken down into five key regions - the United States of America, Europe and Russia, Asia and Australia, Africa and the Middle East, and South America - this book provides support for today's environment reporters, the providers of essential news in the 21st century.
As a scholarly and journalistic work written by academics and the environmental reporters themselves, this volume is an essential text for students and scholars of environmental communication, journalism, and global environmental issues more generally, as well as professionals working in this vital area.
Abstract
Within the framework of the presented material, the results of the conducted IV International scientific and practical conference «Actual problems of the energy complex: mining, production, ...transmission, processing and environmental protection» (APEC-IV-2021).
An overview about the presence of arsenic (As) in groundwaters of Argentina, made by a transdisciplinary group of experts is presented. Aspects on As occurrence, effects of As on human health, ...regulations regarding the maximum allowable amount of As in drinking water as well as bottled water, and analytical techniques for As determination are presented. The most affected region in Argentina is the Chaco-Pampean plain, covering around 10 million km2, where approximately 88% of 86 groundwater samples collected in 2007 exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline value. In the Salí river basin, As concentrations ranged from 11.4 to 1660 μg/L, with 100% of the samples above the WHO guideline value. In the Argentine Altiplano (Puna) and Subandean valleys, 61% of 62 samples collected from surface and groundwaters exceeded the WHO limit. Thus, it can be estimated that, at present, the population at risk in Argentina reaches around four million people. Pathologies derived from the chronic consumption of As, the metabolism of As in the human body and the effects of the different As chemical forms, gathered under the name HACRE (hidroarsenicismo crónico regional endémico in Spanish, for chronic regional endemic hydroarsenicism) are described. Regarding the regulations, the 10 μg/L limit recommended by the WHO and the United States Environmental Protection Agency has been incorporated in the Argentine Food Code, but the application is still on hold. In addition, there is disparity regarding the maximal admitted values in several provinces. Considerations about the As concentrations in bottled water are also presented. A survey indicates that there are several Argentine laboratories with the suitable equipment for As determination at 10 μg/L, although 66% of them are concentrated in Buenos Aires City, and in the Santa Fe, Córdoba and Buenos Aires provinces. Conclusions and recommendations of this first part are provided.
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•Arsenic occurrence, health effects, regulations and analytical techniques presented•Chaco-Pampean plain is the most affected region, covering 10 million km2.•Pathologies gathered under the name HACRE (chronic regional endemic hydroarsenicism).•The WHO 10 μg/L limit incorporated in the Argentine Food Code but still on hold•Laboratories with equipment for As determination at 10 μg/L exist in Argentina.
Nanozymes are nanomaterials with enzyme-like characteristics (Chem. Soc. Rev., 2013, 42, 6060-6093). They have been developed to address the limitations of natural enzymes and conventional artificial ...enzymes. Along with the significant advances in nanotechnology, biotechnology, catalysis science, and computational design, great progress has been achieved in the field of nanozymes since the publication of the above-mentioned comprehensive review in 2013. To highlight these achievements, this review first discusses the types of nanozymes and their representative nanomaterials, together with the corresponding catalytic mechanisms whenever available. Then, it summarizes various strategies for modulating the activity and selectivity of nanozymes. After that, the broad applications from biomedical analysis and imaging to theranostics and environmental protection are covered. Finally, the current challenges faced by nanozymes are outlined and the future directions for advancing nanozyme research are suggested. The current review can help researchers know well the current status of nanozymes and may catalyze breakthroughs in this field.
This study investigates the impact of China’s new Environmental Protection Law on the green innovation behaviour of listed companies in high-polluting industries. The implementation of China’s strict ...and new Environmental Protection Law provides a quasi-natural experimental setting for examining the causal effect of environmental regulation on corporate green innovation. Based on data of the application for environmental patents of high-polluting firms listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2010 to 2017, this study analyses the change in the green innovation behaviour of firms after the implementation of China’s new and stringent Environmental Protection Law using the PSM-DID approach. We find that firms tend to file more applications for environmental patents, including patents for inventions and utility models after the implementation of the new Environmental Protection Law. Further analysis shows that while this effect is stronger for state-owned enterprises, it is weaker for firms headquartered in cities where economies depend more on the secondary industry. Firms in concentrated industries have more incentive to file applications for green invention patents than those in competitive industries. The study has important implications for policy makers on better implementing the environmental protection law in developing countries.
Salting our freshwater lakes Dugan, Hilary A.; Bartlett, Sarah L.; Burke, Samantha M. ...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
04/2017, Letnik:
114, Številka:
17
Journal Article
Recenzirano
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The highest densities of lakes on Earth are in north temperate ecosystems, where increasing urbanization and associated chloride runoff can salinize freshwaters and threaten lake water quality and ...the many ecosystem services lakes provide. However, the extent to which lake salinity may be changing at broad spatial scales remains unknown, leading us to first identify spatial patterns and then investigate the drivers of these patterns. Significant decadal trends in lake salinization were identified using a dataset of long-term chloride concentrations from 371 North American lakes. Landscape and climate metrics calculated for each site demonstrated that impervious land cover was a strong predictor of chloride trends in Northeast and Midwest North American lakes. As little as 1% impervious land cover surrounding a lake increased the likelihood of long-term salinization. Considering that 27% of large lakes in the United States have >1% impervious land cover around their perimeters, the potential for steady and long-term salinization of these aquatic systems is high. This study predicts that many lakes will exceed the aquatic life threshold criterion for chronic chloride exposure (230 mg L−1), stipulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in the next 50 y if current trends continue.
The Digital Finance/Fintech Action Plan and the Sustainable Finance Strategy both represent important pillars of the current EU policy agenda. Nonetheless, the two areas have been treated as separate ...for a long time, while they present certain common features and great potential when combined. In particular, Fintech appears able to respond to some shortcomings in the current sustainable finance framework (e. g. access to retail financing, ESG disclosure, verification and ratings, etc.). The relevance of the link between sustainability, finance and technology has also been evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, which has urged all countries to re-think the models traditionally deployed and rely more on technology and sustainability. However, Fintech/digital finance still raises per se relevant technical and legal issues that need to be addressed to fulfil its promises and potential in the sustainable finance sector. The present paper aims at starting a debate about “Green Fintech” in order to effectively connect the two worlds and spur the research in such a new and promising area. Special attention will be also reserved to the recent proposal for a European Single Access Point for corporate financial and non-financial disclosure.
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