This study examined the efficacy of collaborative teaching using a projectbased learning (PjBL) worksheet on plastic waste and climate change. The research design followed a type-II development approach, with two distinct phases: exploration and development, and collaborative teaching. The study involved five science teachers, two lecturers, and 45 seventh-grade students in three limited field trials. The study found that collaborative teaching through worksheet development could increase science teachers’ professionalism, particularly in the collegial phase. Furthermore, the study developed a valid PjBL-based worksheet on plastic waste and climate change, aligning with the 2013 curriculum for science instruction in junior high school, involving three core competencies. The research design employed a lesson study framework, which allowed for a thorough exploration of the research topic, leading to the development of effective instructional material. The findings of this study have significant implications for science education in junior high school, particularly in promoting active learning and fostering a deeper understanding of complex environmental issues. Overall, the study highlights the importance of collaborative teaching and the potential of PjBL-based worksheets in enhancing teacher competence and developing relevant instructional materials that align with the curriculum.

ABSTRACT: Over the early decades of the twenty-first century there has been a marked rise of works of African fiction recounted by first-person animal narrators—prompted by such historical vectors as the accelerating onrush of climate change (with the mass extinctions it promises to bring), the instrumentalization of animals and their reduction to the status of commodities under neoliberal capitalism, the rise of animal studies as an academic field with its promotion of an awareness of speciesism, and the continuing effort to culturally decolonize residual imperialist discourses that suppressed indigenous African modes of knowledge. This essay argues these animalnarrated works of fiction explore a wide range of thematic focuses but share a number of distinct commonalities as well: attention to the natural world or breakdown of the conceptual dichotomy between man-made and natural worlds, a desire to provide alternative perspectives on human society, a calling into question of humanity's age-old idealization of itself, and a revaluation of nonhuman animals.

Compact city policies have gained global attention for their potential to combat urban sprawl, conserve suburban open spaces, reduce energy consumption, and cultivate vibrant urban living environments. While these policies are widely believed to contribute to urban low-carbon objectives, empirical evidence has been lacking. This study focuses on the pivotal elements of compact city development, investigating impacts on sectoral urban carbon emissions and uncovering spatial heterogeneity. The research outcomes affirm that density and accessibility indicators exert significant negative influences on carbon intensity for the energy, industrial, household, and transportation sectors. While public transport, despite its fundamental role in compact city theory, does not show effectiveness in reducing urban carbon emissions as expected. The study highlights that as an approach toward achieving urban sustainability under the scope of climate change adaptation, compact city development strategies necessitate a careful balance in their application. Further, we underscore the importance of complementing compact city policies with greener energy strategies to effectively realize low-carbon urban transportation goals.

Fossil fuel consumption increased quickly, contributing to climate change that is evident in unusual flooding and draughts, and global warming. Over the past ten years, women's involvement in society has grown dramatically, and they succeeded in playing a noticeable role in reducing climate change. A bibliometric analysis of data from the last ten years has been carried out to examine the role of women in addressing the climate change. The analysis's findings discussed the relevant to the sustainable development goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 7 and SDG 13. The results considered contributions made by women in the various sectors while taking geographic dispersion into account. The bibliometric analysis delves into topics including women's leadership in environmental groups, their involvement in policymaking, their contributions to sustainable development projects, and the influence of gender diversity on attempts to mitigate climate change. This study's results highlight how women have influenced policies and actions related to climate change, point out areas of research deficiency and recommendations on how to increase role of the women in addressing the climate change and achieving sustainability. To achieve more successful results, this initiative aims to highlight the significance of gender equality and encourage inclusivity in climate change decision-making processes.

Estimating soil moisture from microwave brightness temperature is extremely challenging in densely vegetated areas. The soil moisture retrieved from the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) measurements tends to be consistently overestimated, sometimes exceeding the saturation level of mineral soils. Therefore, the retrieved soil moisture cannot detect or monitor climate extremes, such as floods and droughts for forests, natural resource management, and climate change research. We hypothesize that the main issue is that the scattering albedo (ω) and the optical depth (τ) are parameterized solely with NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), neglecting the polarization characteristics from vegetation structure. This study proposes a weighting factor between scattering and optical thickness, a function of MPDI (Microwave Polarization Difference Index), and applies it to both parameters simultaneously to increase the scattering effect and decrease the attenuation effect in high MPDI. The validation results based on the Climate Reference Network revealed that considering MPDI is critical in reducing soil moisture overestimation errors and obtaining more accurate soil moisture over forested regions. This results in correlation improving from 0.36 to 0.44, a decrease in ubRMSE from 0.179 to 0.125 cm³cm-³, and bias lowering from 0.127 to 0.060 cm³cm-³ in comparison with the SMAP measurements over forested regions.

Strong tropical cyclones directly devastate forest habitats and indirectly affect forest-dependent animals. Many forecast models suggest cyclone intensity and size will increase as a result of climate change, and cyclone frequency also may increase. Short-term effects of strong cyclones on vertebrate assemblages are well documented, but we know little about longer-term effects. From 1997 to 2013 we monitored avian assemblages at tropical forest in southern Belize, a forest that was largely destroyed by category 4 Hurricane Iris in October 2001. We found little change in recruitment or species richness, but evenness dropped markedly the first two sampling efforts after the hurricane and species turnover (β diversity) did not stabilize until 6–9 years afterward. Body condition dropped immediately after the hurricane passed but recovered quickly. That population size of resident tropical, but not Neotropical migrant, bird species dropped across our 17-year study highlights the potential urgency of altered cyclonic activity: on average, a hurricane strikes Belize once per decade, yet an increase in frequency, to say nothing of destructive power, could serve to erode extant species associations, lead to local extirpation of forest-dependent species, and create novel, transitory assemblages whose chief characteristic is instability.

We combine the Diebold and Yilmaz (DY) method, Baruník and Křehlík (BK) method and TVP-VAR model to explore the time-domain and frequency-domain spillover effects among climate change attention, oil, new energy, clean energy, solar energy, wind energy, technology, and finance. Empirical results demonstrate that the spillover effect of climate change attention and energy-relevant market is significant. At different time frequencies, risk transmission occurs more frequently in the short-term. On average, oil, solar energy, wind energy, and finance are net receivers. Finally, based on the DCC-GARCH t-copula model, we achieve optimal hedging ratios, optimal portfolio weights, and hedging effectiveness between climate change attention and energy-relevant markets. Empirical results suggest that investors incorporate climate change attention into their investment portfolios.