Environmental Crisis Research Articles

O trabalho na Educação Ambiental Crítica

An environmental education (EE) system that does not analyze social and political issues cannot contribute to understanding the roots of problems involving the environment. The study of social relations and the production of life through work is fundamental to understanding the historical connection that human beings establish with nature and to pointing out ways to confront the environmental crisis - a symptom of a broader, civilizing crisis. More specifically in teacher training programs – essential subjects to the EE approach at school – it is important to not be fragmented and disconnected from the reality into which teachers and students are immersed. Therefore, analyzing and understanding the historical relationship between school, community, and their surrounding environment, especially regarding the concept of labor, is one of our bets for the training of critical and engaged teachers and citizens. In view of these concerns, we aim at describing and analyzing part of a teacher training program (initial and continuing) for members of a Pedagogical Residency Project, which occurred through the elaboration and carrying out of a participatory research study – an environmental mapping – with the community surrounding a local partnering school in Lavras-MG. Through this participatory research, content analysis, and the interviews with community members, we observed that the study of working relations, as well as other particularities of the local community, can bring elements of great relevance to the exercise of critical EE, especially in this context of teacher training.

Expertise and Inequality Amid Environmental Crisis: A View from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta

ABSTRACT Scientific expertise is crucial for responding effectively to environmental crises. Nevertheless, under conditions of political inequality, expert policy making can inhibit policy solutions by altering incentives of powerful interest groups. This is the situation facing the predominantly Alaska Native communities of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, which have long relied on salmon for subsistence and are now experiencing a collapse of the salmon population. Scientific evidence indicates that climate change is a primary cause, and experts therefore have opposed demands by Native subsistence fishers for ameliorative measures—especially restricting pollock fishing—as likely to be ineffective. However, this approach eliminates incentives for the influential pollock industry to support policies to address the salmon crisis, including climate-change mitigation. This article presents a simple formal model that demonstrates these incentive effects. This argument contributes to theories of business power and shows how expert policy making can inadvertently force marginalized communities to bear the burden of climate change.

The Casco concept as an enabler for interdisciplinary design: Designing with flood risk in Venice, Italy

ABSTRACT The environmental crisis demands for an interdisciplinary design of urban infrastructure to increase resilience to climate change. Interdisciplinary design is about integration of data, concepts, ambitions and goals by bridging instrumental differences between engineering and spatial design. This paper presents the results of an interdisciplinary design study that deals with persistent flood issues in the Venice lagoon (Italy). The study illustrates how the differences in languages, methods and tools of the disciplines can be overcome by interdisciplinary collaboration directed towards the designing of spatial and technical solutions. Two design proposals are instrumentally described through the lens of the Casco and the Open Building concepts; both advocate the creation of an overarching frame as the basic condition for adaptive design. The paper gives insights on how to cooperate in interdisciplinary design settings in educational environments and builds knowledge on the collaboration between fields that might be relevant also for professional figures.

Co Cluster-Modified Ni Nanoparticles with Superior Light-Driven Thermocatalytic CO2 Reduction by CH4

Excessive fossil burning causes energy shortages and contributes to the environmental crisis. Light-driven thermocatalytic CO2 reduction by methane (CRM) provides an effective strategy to conquer these two global challenges. Ni-based catalysts have been developed as candidates for CRM that are comparable to the noble metal catalysts. However, they are prone to deactivation due to the thermodynamically inevitable coking side reactions. Herein, we reported a novel Co-Ni/SiO2 nanocomposite of Co cluster-modified Ni nanoparticles, which greatly enhance the catalytic durability for light-driven thermocatalytic CRM. It exhibits high production rates of H2 (rH2) and CO (rCO, 22.8 and 26.7 mmol min−1 g−1, respectively), and very high light-to-fuel efficiency (ƞ) is achieved (26.8%). Co-Ni/SiO2 shows better catalytic durability than the referenced catalyst of Ni/SiO2. Based on the experimental results of TG-MS, TEM, and HRTEM, we revealed the origin of the significantly enhanced light-driven thermocatalytic activity and durability as well as the novel photoactivation. It was discovered that the focused irradiation markedly reduces the apparent activation energy of CO2 on the Co-Ni/SiO2 nanocomposite, thus significantly enhancing the light-driven thermocatalytic activity.

Fit to teach evolution? Pre- and in-service teachers’ knowledge and acceptance of evolution

ABSTRACT Students need a clear grasp of evolution to understand biology and the world’s current environmental crises. Science teachers are essential in fostering evolution knowledge in their students. Numerous European studies have shown that science teachers possess a broad spectrum of alternative conceptions of evolution, and their acceptance of evolution varies. School curricula increasingly include key concepts of evolution from early grades on. However, studies are limited that examine differences in understandings and acceptance of evolution in different country contexts. This study investigated the knowledge and acceptance of evolution in Swiss science teachers: 1352 pre- and in-service year K-9 teachers were surveyed using two established questionnaires (KAEVO 2.0 and ATEVO). The results showed that as a group, pre-service kindergarten and primary school teachers had a poor grasp of evolution, while pre-and in-service lower secondary school teachers had moderate knowledge. However, we found that knowledge of evolution varied a great deal across the groups and that teachers in all groups had a range of alternative conceptions of evolution. Acceptance of evolution was high for all groups. Given that currently, prospective teachers on some educational tracks do not study evolution at all, our findings have important implications for teacher education in the sciences.

Giant Charge Separation-Driving Force Together with Ultrafluent Charge Transfer in TiO2/ZnFe-LDH Photoelectrode via Ferroelectric Interface Engineering.

Hydrogen fuel production using photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting technology is incredibly noteworthy as it provides a sustainable and clean method to alleviate the energy environmental crisis. A highly rapid electron shuttle at the semiconductor/WOC (water oxidation cocatalyst) interface is vital to improve the bulk charge transfer and surface reaction kinetics of the photoelectrode in the PEC water-splitting system. Yet, the inevitably inferior interface transition tends to plague the performance enhancement on account of the collision of hole-electron transport across the semi/cat interface. Herein, we address these critical challenges via inserting ferroelectric layer BTO (BaTiO3) into the semi/cat interface. The embedded polarization electric field induced by ferroelectric BTO remarkably pumped hole transfer at the semiconductor/WOC (TiO2/ZnFe-LDH) interface and selectively tailored the electronic structure of LDH surface-active sites, leading to overwhelmingly improved surface hole transfer kinetics at LDH/electrolyte interface, which minish the electron-hole recombination in bulk and on the surface of TiO2. The TiO2 nanorods encapsulated by ferroelectric-assisted ZnFe-LDH achieve 105% charge separation efficiency improvement and 53.8% charge injection efficiency enhancement compared with pure TiO2. This finding offers a strategic design for electrocatalytic-assisted photoelectrode systems by ferroelectric-pumped charge extraction and transfer at the semiconductor/WOC interface.

Between Eco-Anxiety and Solastalgia: Aspirational and Exiled Astronaut Eco-Imaginaries

ABSTRACT Although space travel is not often discussed in relation to the environmental crisis, it is proposed here that how the core agent of space travel, namely the astronaut, is imagined is of cardinal importance to environmental issues. Two astronaut types are identified in the analysis: the aspirational astronaut planning to escape Earth out of a looming sense of eco-anxiety amidst increasing signs of ecological disaster; and the exiled astronaut who experiences overwhelming environmental distress or solastalgia as home becomes stranger every day. The selected images of astronauts are interpreted as eco-imaginaries that embody a particular disposition in terms of their geo-locality and climate changes. The aspirational astronaut is explored by a brief slice into two film depictions, namely Approaching the Unknown (Mark Elijah Rosenburg, 2016) and Ad Astra (James Gray, 2019). The exiled astronaut originates from sub-Saharan Africa through the filmed performance work of the Kinshasha-based duo Michel Ekeba and Eléonore Hellio, working as the Kongo Astronauts (2021–2022), and an eco-film by Maisha Maene, entitled Mulika (2022). It is proposed that the diverging eco-imaginaries are products of where one places Earth in climate debates.

In or outside the box? Citizen action between institutional and extra-institutional channels in Chinese environmental governance

ABSTRACT Authoritarian leaders around the world have recognized that citizen engagement is a core element of successful environmental governance. Faced with a massive environmental crisis, also authoritarian China is mobilizing its citizens to address its ecological problems. However, taking a functional approach to public participation, the Chinese party-state like other authoritarian regimes attempts to channel citizen action into institutional pathways and away from more contentious extra-institutional ones. Little research has investigated citizens’ reactions to such attempts. This paper analyses citizen participation between institutional and extra-institutional venues at the case of Chinese environmental governance. It finds that Chinese citizens use a mix of both channel types, but are overall more drawn to extra-institutional channels despite the risks. Moreover, our findings point to different motivations for the use of venues: personal grievances are more linked with the use of institutional channels, broader environmental concerns with extra-institutional ones. This shows, first, that channeling attempts have not yet been successful in crowding out noninstitutional channels. And second, that citizens seem to attach different meanings to the different channel types. This will make it hard for the Chinese and other authoritarian regimes to phase out extra-institutional action without severe losses for the effectiveness of environmental governance.

“The question of dimension at every level”: An Interview with Ali Smith on Companion Piece, Contemporaneity, and Crisis

An interview with Ali Smith about her latest novel Companion Piece (2022), its relationship to her Seasonal Quartet (2016 –2020), and responding to contemporary society through fiction. In particular, Smith discusses how Companion Piece came out of Seasonal and writing fiction in relation to its own time and questions of both contemporaneity and history. This conversation also spans both recent and recurrent concerns throughout Smith’s writing, including: language and narrative, art in contemporary society, technology and capitalism, environmental crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This interview was held in-person on 24th June 2022 in Trinity College, University of Cambridge. The conversation transcript has been lightly edited and condensed for length.

Quantifying the stability of refugee populations: a case study in Austria

AbstractThe global surge in displacement, with nearly 110 million people uprooted due to violence, underscores the pressing need to comprehend the challenges faced by refugees. Population growth, environmental crises, and political instability contribute to this crisis, projecting an escalating trend in the decades ahead. While hosting countries strive to address concerns related to labour markets, state provisions, and cultural integration, understanding the well-being of refugees upon entry needs to be more adequately explored. This study focuses on refugee stability and integration, employing Austria as a case study. Stability is assessed through residential movement, where more frequent moves indicate instability. Utilising comprehensive administrative data spanning November 2022 to November 2023, we examine residence movements as a proxy for stability. Our findings reveal a stark contrast in the stability of refugees compared to other migrant groups. Analysing movement profiles, we establish that refugees exhibit significantly higher rates of residential mobility than their counterparts, especially among male refugees. This imbalance persists even when comparing refugees to migrants from top refugee-sending countries without official refugee status. This study contributes valuable insights into the intricate dynamics of refugee stability, shedding light on the enduring challenges faced by this population. By examining movement patterns as a key indicator, we provide a nuanced understanding of the residential experiences of refugees, that can inform targeted policies and interventions for enhanced refugee well-being and integration.

Spontaneous Phase Transition and Multistage Interfacial Mechanical Friction of Liquid Metals Induced CO2 Reduction at Room Temperature

AbstractExcessive emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) have caused the greenhouse effect and environmental crisis. Therefore, the carbon reduction and negative carbon technologies are particularly important. Among these, the negative carbon technologies that convert CO2 into carbon materials or carbon‐based chemicals for reuse have attracted significant attention. However, the strong double covalent bonds make the CO2 conversion usually require harsh conditions, complex processes, and high energy consumption. Gallium‐based liquid metals (LMs) are the functional materials with both metallic and liquid properties, exhibiting a unique liquid‐phase structure and diverse surface characteristics. Herein, a strategy for reducing CO2 is proposed to carbon materials by utilizing the spontaneous phase transition and mechanical friction of liquid metals. The gallium (Ga) and indium (In) particles are mixed and exposed to CO2, the contact interface of metal particles spontaneously transforms into liquid metals. The system has multistage interfaces, including Ga/In, Ga/eGaIn, and In/eGaIn, capable of generating triboelectrification upon mechanical stimulation, leading to charge transfer. The high electric field generated by friction at the contact interface directly reduces CO2 to carbon materials at room temperature. The carbon materials cover the surface of eGaIn and can be directly stripped for used as fuel, or industrial applications.

The "Right Kinds of Nurses": Centering LPNs in the Nursing Labor Force.

The nursing profession is currently grappling with an ongoing nursing shortage illuminated during the COVID-19 pandemic. While this burgeoning health and environmental crisis exacerbated this workforce issue, it did not create it. This study seeks to expand the idea of "who is a nurse" by arguing for the use of Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) as safe, credentialed persons in the nursing workforce. Archival research using primary and secondary sources highlights the history of the LPN movement. Historical case studies of LPN schools show how LPNs enhanced not only the quantity but also the quality of nursing practice. Case studies also reveal successful collaborations between nurses, communities, and hospitals to enhance the nursing workforce and community well-being. Aspects of this study were either approved by or deemed not human subjects research by institutional review boards. The increased emphasis on the registered nurse in the mid-20th century led to the marginalization of LPNs. Yet, history has revealed that collaborations that enhance diversity in the workforce and improve health-care access for patients, without compromising quality of care, can be formed by engaging LPNs. LPNs must be respected as consistent contributors to the country's health-care workforce. As the AACN commits to diversifying nursing, it is significant that LPNs have added to a more diverse, inclusive nursing labor force. For LPNs who wish to advance their nursing education, pathway programs must be supported-thus increasing diversity in the professional and advanced practice workforce.

Mitigating Environmental Degradation: The Strategic Roles of Muslims for Human Well-Being and Planetary Stability

As environmental crises escalate, with rising global warming, ice melting, species extinction, and pollution, urgent action is required to safeguard humanity and the planet. This article reviews the literature on environmental risks in Muslim countries, particularly poorer ones. The environmental impact equation (I = f [T, P, A]) underscores the key drivers—technology, population, and affluence, with affluence identified as the primary driver of climate change resulting from excessive carbon emissions. The wealthiest one percent produce approximately 70 times more carbon than the poorest 50%, yet it is poorer communities that disproportionately suffer the consequences. This paper examines how Muslims can contribute to sustainability and mitigate environmental damage by addressing ecological “overshoots,” promoting “degrowth” and “steady-state” economies, and fostering qanāʿah (contentment) as a personal lifestyle practice. The emphasis is placed on affluence, rather than population, as the critical factor in combating climate change.

Multimodal Sensemaking and Sensegiving Processes of Discursive Threat Appraisal in Environmental Crisis Communication

ABSTRACTThis study investigates how multimodal sensemaking and sensegiving processes of discursive threat appraisal are employed by global movements in their environmental crisis communication when disclosing how corporate commitments are failing to reduce the global plastic pollution. The theoretical framework includes perspectives on global sticky crises, threat appraisal, framing, crisis sensemaking and sensegiving, and multimodal discourse. Empirically, a series of brand audits reports of #breakfreefromplastic global movement are systematically examined. The analytical focus transcends the usual monomodal approach and is directed towards the multimodal interplay that builds strategic discourses through images and texts. Findings details, on the one hand, the multimodal discursive sensemaking processes of content enrichment and appeal bolstering as well as their outcomes related to the building of common sense, new sense, and non‐sense; on the other hand, they clarify how prognostic, diagnostic, and motivational framing tasks are accomplished in environmental crisis sensegiving by the global movement. This study provides insights useful to corporations when reevaluating their own crisis sensemaking and sensegiving in corporate communications and, ultimately, contribute to changing risky corporate behaviour toward more effective and ethical environmental crisis prevention and communication.

Photooxidation of Polystyrene into High‐Value Chemicals

Plastics play a crucial role in the survival and advancement of human civilization. However, the increasing challenge of plastic pollution presents significant obstacles. Disposal methods such as incineration and landfilling result in substantial resource wastage and pose potential environmental hazards. The slow progress in recycling and reusing waste plastics hinders their industrial application and effective response to environmental crises. Photocatalysis offers promising solutions for the future of plastic recycling, particularly with the recent increase in photocatalytic degradation methods for polystyrene (PS). This review provides a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements in the photooxidation of PS into high‐value chemicals.

Sustainable UAO: Paving the Way Forward in the Rise of Sustainability as Institutional Ethos

In response to the pressing global environmental crisis precipitated by the transgression of planetary boundaries due to human activity, the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente (UAO) has made a steadfast commitment to the development of theories, strategies, and practices concerning sustainability since the late 1990s. Through the establishment of both undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as research projects and the Sustainable Campus initiative, UAO has laid the groundwork for national and international recognition in addressing sustainability. Acknowledging the progress made and the historical context, UAO recognizes that the time has come to take a significant quality step towards a more comprehensive and dedicated commitment. This step involves elevating sustainability to the status of institutional ethos. This entails ensuring that the principles of sustainability are prominently and explicitly integrated into the core functions of the university, including teaching, research, and social outreach. This work looks at the journey thus far and, more importantly, charts the course for the future in the elevation of sustainability as institutional ethos. It highlights the key milestones achieved over the past two decades while identifying the most significant challenges and barriers that the university must confront and overcome in the near future to fully embody this ethos. By doing so, UAO aims to realize its ambitious goal of becoming a truly sustainable institution.

Self-standing Z-scheme structured heterogeneous nanosheet arrays of ZnIn2S4/cobalt porphyrin sulfonate for bifunctional photocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction and antibacterial

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction for solar fuel generation and photocatalytic sterilization are highly desired green routes for sustainable environmental purification. Herein, a bifunctional self-standing nanosheet array of Z-scheme structured inorganic–organic heterojunction is synthesized via in-situ growth of ZnIn2S4 (ZIS) on carbon cloth (CC) followed by self-assembly with cobalt porphyrin (meso-tetra(4-sulfonatophenyl) porphyrin, CoTPPS). The obtained CC-ZIS-CoTPPS performed well in the photocatalytic CO2 reduction and antibacterial processes simultaneously in a portable photocatalytic system with a negligible amount of solution. Specifically, the optimized CC-ZIS-CoTPPS demonstrates more than 140 times enhanced CO evolution than pristine CoTPPS. Experimental and theoretical results imply that the enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction is associated with elevated light absorption, promoted charge separation, and improved CO2 activation in the inorganic–organic Z-scheme heterojunction. In addition, the self-standing nanosheet array possesses a mechanical cutting effect, which can kill bacteria adhering to the surface even in dark conditions. Moreover, CC-ZIS-CoTPPS achieved a 100 % killing rate under visible light irradiation by synergistically chemical and mechanical sterilization. Furthermore, CC-ZIS-CoTPPS exhibits efficient bifunctional photocatalytic photocatalytic CO2 reduction coupled with in-situ sterilization. This work presents an atomic perspective for developing innovative bifunctional photocatalysts, which hold great potential in portable devices to alleviate energy and environmental crises.

Religion and Climate Geopolitics

Climate politics is old: a stress test of international institutions and political systems now in its fourth decade. Climate politics is also new: nascent transnational movements, world changing technologies, and emergent authoritarianisms indicate a rapidly shifting geopolitical order. As the moral urgency of environmental crises intensify, attention to religion provides an informative window onto the dynamics of global environmental politics. This article describes three ways in which religions are both shaping and being shaped by anthropogenic climate change.

A multiple physical crosslinked cellulose-based bioplastics with robust mechanical and thermal stability.

The widespread use of traditional petroleum-based plastics has created an environmental crisis and health hazard, so there is an urgent need for bioplastics with excellent performance. However, fabricating of robust mechanical properties and heat resistance bioplastics in an efficient way has remained an enormous challenge. Herein, we proposed a strategy for the synergistic preparation of high-performance bioplastics with multiple physical crosslinking network structures via noncovalent and coordination bonds. In this strategy, carboxylated cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) and the polyphenol structures of tannic acid (TA) interacted noncovalently to create network structures; the bioplastic immersed in Ca2+ solution formed ionic crosslinked networks and TA-Ca coordination bonds. The synergistic effect of multiple network structures composed of hydrogen and coordination bonds made cellulose-based bioplastics have dense structures and robust tensile strength (114.2 MPa), while bioplastics had the characteristics of high transparency and superior thermal stability. Furthermore, the laminated composites formed by the bioplastic and PVA could support 1000 g easily, which allowed it to be used as weighing application. Thus, the proposed multiple physical crosslinking strategy provides a method for developing cellulose-based bioplastics with excellent performance, which offers a new approach for the subsequent development of sustainable green materials.

Supporting sustainability assessment of building element materials using a BIM-plug-in for multi-criteria decision-making

The environmental crisis requires the immediate implementation of accurate and robust sustainable solutions throughout the building life cycle. Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) is a scientifically recognised method that integrates the triple dimensions of the life cycle approach, and thereby enabling the evaluation of the performance of mitigation strategies implemented in building projects. However, implementing the LCSA in buildings is limited by the weighting of environmental, economic, and social dimensions to select the best option regarding the numerous materials available. In order to fill this knowledge gap, the paper aims to present the developed Smart BIM3LCA tool, which supports multi-dimensional assessment during the project´s early design steps. Automatic integration of the LCSA, a multi-criteria decision-making tool such as TOPSIS, and building information modelling (BIM), was developed to support the selection of building materials. The BIM plug-in was then validated through its application to a multi-family residential building to select the most sustainable materials during the project´s early design stage.