The fifth Factor X publication from the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA), The Impossibilities of the Circular Economy provides an overview of the limits to the circular economy, ...emphasising the relationship between integrated resource use and more systemic leadership-management approaches. On a European level, the book ties into the recent European Green Deal and aims to empower actors across sectors and EU member countries to transition from existing linear models of value capture and expression to more systemic-circular solutions of value capture and expression. The volume provides a hands-on contribution towards building the knowledge and skill sets of current and future decision-makers who face these complex-systemic crises in their day-to-day business. The book further provides access to best practices from cutting-edge research and development findings, which will empower decision-makers to develop a more sustainable and equitable economy. Providing solutions for a more sustainable economy, this book is essential reading for scholars and students of natural resource use, sustainable business, environmental economics and sustainable development, as well as decision-makers and experts from the fields of policy development, industry and civil society.
Introduction We evaluated associations between three a-cellular measures of the oxidative potential (OP) of paniculate matter (PM) and acute health effects. Methods We exposed 31 volunteers for 5 h ...to ambient air pollution at five locations: an underground train station, two traffic sites, a farm and an urban background site. Each volunteer visited at least three sites. We conducted health measurements before exposure, 2 h after exposure and the next morning. We measured air pollution on site and characterised the OP of PM2.5 and PM₁₀ using three a-cellular assays; dithiotreitol (OPDTT), electron spin resonance (OPESR) and ascorbic acid depletion (OPAA). Results In single-pollutant models, all measures of OP were significantly associated with increases in fractional exhaled nitric oxide and increases in interleukin-6 in nasal lavage 2 h after exposure. These OP associations remained significant after adjustment for co-pollutants when only the four outdoor sites were included, but lost significance when measurements at the underground site were included. Other health end points including lung function and vascular inflammatory and coagulation parameters in blood were not consistently associated with OP. Conclusions We found significant associations between three a-cellular measures of OP of PM and markers of airway and nasal inflammation. However, consistency of these effects in two-pollutant models depended on how measurements at the underground site were considered. Lung function and vascular inflammatory and coagulation parameters in blood were not consistently associated with OP. Our study, therefore, provides limited support for a role of OP in predicting acute health effects of PM in healthy young adults.
Microplastic in fish – A global synthesis Wootton, Nina; Reis-Santos, Patrick; Gillanders, Bronwyn M.
Reviews in fish biology and fisheries,
12/2021, Volume:
31, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Plastic contamination is ubiquitous, with plastic found in hundreds of species of aquatic wildlife, including fish. Lacking a broad and comprehensive view of this global issue across aquatic ...environments, we collated and synthesised the literature that focuses on microplastic ingestion in fish from marine, freshwater and estuarine environments. First, we assessed how the approaches used to investigate microplastic in fish have changed through time, comparing studies globally. A greater understanding of this changing landscape is essential for rigorous and coherent comparisons with only 42% of published studies following recommended approaches of chemical digestions and verifying plastic via polymer identification. Then, using this subset of studies, we found that 49% of all fish sampled globally for microplastic ingestion had plastic (average of 3.5 pieces per fish), with fish from North America ingesting more plastic than fish from other regions. We then evaluated the role of environment, habitat, feeding strategy and source (i.e. aquaculture or wild-caught) in the ingestion of microplastic. Research from marine environments dominated (82% of species) but freshwater fish ingested more plastic, as did detritivores, fish in deeper waters and those from aquaculture sources. By collating global microplastic research we identified regional disparities and key knowledge gaps that support research towards freshwater environments and aquaculture sources. Overall, we highlight the need for consistent guidelines in methods used to evaluate microplastic in fish, to ensure data are unambiguous, comparable and can be widely used to support mitigation and management strategies, inform potential policy actions, and evaluations of environmental, food safety, and human health goals.
Graphic abstract
New England lies at the boundary between the Mid-Atlantic coastal plain and paraglacial lowlands. Beaches in this region are commonly composed of a mixture of sand and gravel, but how grain size ...distributions relate to beach face morphology remains unclear. To fill this important knowledge gap approximately 100 paired summer and winter transects of beach face slope and intertidal grain size are examined from 18 separate beaches in southern New England from meso- and micro- tidal regimes. Paraglacial materials provide the principal local sediment source to a majority of beaches in this region and grain-size distribution of beaches corresponds to adjacent surficial geology. Stratified glacial fluvial deposits are the primary sediment source to sandier beaches, while till predominantly sources the coarser gravel-dominated systems. When aggregated, grain size measurements exhibit a bimodal distribution of medium-to-very-coarse sand (0.25-to-1 mm) and medium-to-very-coarse gravel (10-to-64 mm), with a paucity of grains between 1 and 10 mm. This bimodality is also common to and likely inherited from the glacial fluvial deposits sourcing the beaches. Beach face slope is observed to increase with median grain size (D50) for finer sandy systems. However, where gravel mixes with the sand and bulk D50 increases beyond ~1 mm there is little relation between slope and median grain size. This finding is consistent with previous trends observed in global beach data sets and highlights predictable limits of using bulk D50 to describe bimodal systems. Upon ignoring the gravel component from the grain size distribution and recomputing median grain size for the remaining sand fraction, the familiar positive relationship between grain size and slope reemerges. Results extend globally to the large subset of beaches composed of a mixture of sand and gravel and support sand characteristics as the predominant control on slope for these mixed systems.
•New England is an important region with mixed sand and gravel (MSG) beaches.•Grain sizes are controlled primarily by glacial-fluvial and till sediment sources.•Beaches have bimodal grain size distributions inherited from paraglacial deposits.•Sand characteristics are the primary governor of MSG beach face slopes.
In the past two decades, the built environment emerged as a conceptually important determinant of obesity. As a result, an abundance of studies aiming to link environmental characteristics to ...weight-related outcomes have been published, and multiple reviews have attempted to summarise these studies under different scopes and domains. We set out to summarise the accumulated evidence across domains by conducting a review of systematic reviews on associations between any aspect of the built environment and overweight or obesity.
Seven databases were searched for eligible publications from the year 2000 onwards. We included systematic literature reviews, meta-analyses and pooled analyses of observational studies in the form of cross-sectional, case-control, longitudinal cohort, ecological, descriptive, intervention studies and natural experiments. We assessed risk of bias and summarised results structured by built environmental themes such as food environment, physical activity environment, urban-rural disparity, socioeconomic status and air pollution.
From 1850 initial hits, 32 systematic reviews were included, most of which reported equivocal evidence for associations. For food- and physical activity environments, associations were generally very small or absent, although some characteristics within these domains were consistently associated with weight status such as fast-food exposure, urbanisation, land use mix and urban sprawl. Risks of bias were predominantly high.
Thus far, while most studies have not been able to confirm the assumed influence of built environments on weight, there is evidence for some obesogenic environmental characteristics. Registration: This umbrella review was registered on PROSPERO under ID CRD42019135857.
This open access book richly illustrates the first, and comprehensive, account of the country’s biomes and ecoregions, the driving forces that account for their diversity and vulnerability, and the ...ecological principles that provide an understanding of the patterns and processes that have shaped landscapes, ecoregions, and ecosystems. Angola encompasses the greatest diversity of terrestrial biomes and is the second richest in terms of ecoregions, of any African country. Yet its biodiversity and the structure and functioning of its ecosystems are largely undocumented. The author draws on personal field observations from over 50 years of involvement in ecological and conservation studies in Angola and across Southern Africa. The vast recent literature published by researchers in neighboring, better resourced countries provides depth to the accounts of ecological principles and processes relevant to Angola and thus contributing to the understanding and sustainable management of its natural resources.
Technical advancements have widened the limits of remote sensing in mapping shallow water benthic habitats and bathymetry over the last decades. On the other hand, the needs of shallow water remote ...sensing have pushed instrument development. In this manuscript we provide 50-year retrospective of the developments in the field in terms of both instrumentation and methods. We also show that spectral features characteristic of the main benthic groups in shallow water are consistent from the tropics to sub-arctic regions and from salty to freshwaters. The fundamental limiting factor in both benthic mapping and bathymetry is absorption of light by water molecules. However, spectral absorption by water molecules is the key to bathymetry derivation. Variable backscattering by particles and absorption by dissolved organic matter is a confounding factor for all objectives. The combination of using the spectral and textural characteristics of bottom features and our knowledge about these features have now resulted in the ability to map habitats over large coastal systems. This manuscript has shown that optically shallow water remote sensing has reached levels where the satellite derived bathymetry and habitat maps are accepted by different end users (including the International Maritime Organisation) and are routinely used in ecological studies, monitoring and management of coastal environments.
•Historic review of 50 years development in shallow water remote sensing•Reflectance of broad habitat types are consistent over different aquatic environments.•SDB and habitat mapping are reaching maturity to be used by different end users.
The purpose of this research is to assess China’s sustainable economic recovery and growth through a comparative analysis of China’s global economy following Covid-19. We use the unit root test and ...generalized method of moments (GMM) to make inferences. The growth scenario is an important consequence of economic recovery, and the study concludes that increased energy use and rising energy costs need greater funding for the energy industry. Green energy financing is urgently required to offset rising production costs of gas and electricity. It is recommended that both Chinese and global financial institutions, banks and finance ministries, take a prominent role in addressing the crisis. This can be achieved by investing in renewable energy to improve sustainable economic recovery, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and accelerate economic recovery. This must be carried out over a long period to achieve the intended results. Strategic development goals (SDGs), such as SDG 7 on clean and cheap energy, and SDG 13 on combating climate change, are urged on all nations in both areas.
This open access book on straw management aims to provide a wide array of options for rice straw management that are potentially more sustainable, environmental, and profitable compared to current ...practice. The book is authored by expert researchers, engineers and innovators working on a range of straw management options with case studies from Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia. The book is written for engineers and researchers in order to provide them information on current good practice and the gaps and constraints that require further research and innovation. The book is also aimed at extension workers and farmers to help them decide on the best alternative straw management options in their area by presenting both the technological options as well as the value chains and business models required to make them work. The book will also be useful for policy makers, required by public opinion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, looking for research-based evidence to guide the policies they develop and implement.
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