Over-consumption Of Natural Resources Research Articles

Determining Sustainable Purchase Behavior for Green Products from Name-Brand Shops: A Gen Z Perspective in a Developing Country

Over the years, the overconsumption of natural resources has been an issue of concern. Companies have been inducing sustainable practices and approaches to help the environment. By specifically applying the sustainability theory of planned behavior, this study sought to extensively investigate behavioral preference and intention to buy green and sustainable products across name-brand businesses in a developing country. Utilizing Structural Equation Modeling, this study examined responses from 300 valid participants. The results revealed that consumers’ purchasing preferences and intentions are affected by customer expectation for the products, by the government, and by customer concern for the environment. It was seen that customers are prepared to pay extra for name-brand stores that sell eco-friendly or sustainable goods. In accordance, consumers’ purchase intentions are greatly affected by the customer preference or expectation for a product, as the findings indicate that customer-perceived value has the highest influential and consequential relationship to behavioral purposes. Customers are inclined to purchase eco-friendly goods if the sustainable product meets the requirements and expectations of the consumer. Furthermore, consumers’ purchasing intentions in buying green products from name-brand shops are also affected by the government, individuals’ environmental concerns and awareness, individuals’ personal needs and beliefs, society, and individual attitudes. For name-brand stores, consumers’ behavioral intentions to purchase environmentally friendly and sustainable goods are the most strongly associated with their perception of their own value, followed by perceived authority support and perceived environmental concern. The findings and results of this study can be relevant in understanding and exploring consumers’ behavioral intentions to purchase green products from name-brand shops.

Access, participation and socio-economic benefits of blue versus green economy: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT There are implications to sustainable development from overconsumption of natural resources. Increasingly, economies are running out of resources to sustain or achieve desired growth rates and inclusive growth. As a result, momentum is building on exploring how the blue economy can be used as complimentary resource, particularly as a taping into it as an opportunity of ensuring that the marginalised groups in society are catered for. This is argued to address the ex-ante inequalities in other sectors of the economy, such as the green economy (land and resources on it), where participation by vulnerable groups like women and youth is limited owing to segregation policies of yesteryears, at least in former colonised countries like South Africa. The study used a systematic literature review, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses for Protocols (PRISMA-P) approach to ascertain works on this topic and identify gaps that need to be addressed to adequately inform policy and practice. With regards to access and participation in the blue economy, most studies found that women do have access and participate in the blue economy, however, their participation is limited by barriers such lack of education and credit as well as patriarchal beliefs. Furthermore, women participation in both green and blue economies is determined by social norms, skills attainment, access to credit, age, technology. Most of the reviewed studies concluded that men derived more commercial benefits from green economy, while women derive more subsistence and recreational benefits from the blue economy.

Effectively communicating the removal of fossil energy subsidies: Evidence from Latin America

Fossil energy subsidies create a series of distortions that often have negative environmental and social consequences. Yet, since subsidies confer salient and tangible benefits in the form of cheaper prices, citizens are very resistant to reforms. This research investigates how to best communicate the removal of fossil subsidies using a highly powered, pre-registered study with 5,498 participants across 11 countries in Latin America. We assessed baseline knowledge and views about subsidies and randomly assigned participants to one of eight experimental conditions varying in both the aspects emphasized (e.g., environment, distributive justice, prospective fiscal benefits) and the form of providing the message (i.e., complete or summarized information). Our results show that citizens (a) display a generalized lack of knowledge about the existence of energy subsidies, (b) are very unwilling to remove these subsidies once they know of their existence, and (c) would like subsidies to actually increase rather than decrease. Despite these results, our experiment revealed that communication strategies can be tailored to increase the acceptance of energy reforms. Specifically, emphasizing the negative consequences of subsidies (e.g., overconsumption of natural resources and unfair allocation of resources to the wealthy) is more effective than highlighting the potential benefits to be obtained via their removal (e.g., higher investment in healthcare, education, public safety, or welfare programs). Further, providing complete information is more effective than offering summarized pieces of information. These findings provide guidance on how to effectively communicate energy reforms.

Overcoming the coupled climate and biodiversity crises and their societal impacts

Earth's biodiversity and human societies face pollution, overconsumption of natural resources, urbanization, demographic shifts, social and economic inequalities, and habitat loss, many of which are exacerbated by climate change. Here, we review links among climate, biodiversity, and society and develop a roadmap toward sustainability. These include limiting warming to 1.5°C and effectively conserving and restoring functional ecosystems on 30 to 50% of land, freshwater, and ocean "scapes." We envision a mosaic of interconnected protected and shared spaces, including intensively used spaces, to strengthen self-sustaining biodiversity, the capacity of people and nature to adapt to and mitigate climate change, and nature's contributions to people. Fostering interlinked human, ecosystem, and planetary health for a livable future urgently requires bold implementation of transformative policy interventions through interconnected institutions, governance, and social systems from local to global levels.

A Comparison of Graph-Theoretic Approaches for Resilient System of Systems Design

Abstract System of systems (SoS) are networked integration of constituent systems that together achieve new capabilities not possible through the operation of any single system. SoS can be found across all aspects of modern life such as power grids, supply chains, and disaster monitoring and tracking services. Their resilience (being able to withstand and recover from disruptions) is a critical attribute whose evaluation is nontrivial and requires detailed disruption models. Engineers rely on heuristics (such as redundancy and localized capacity) for achieving resilience. However, excessive reliance on these qualitative guidelines can result in unacceptable operation costs, erosion of profits, over-consumption of natural resources, or unacceptable levels of waste or emissions. Graph-theoretic approaches provide a potential solution to this challenge as they can evaluate architectural characteristics without needing detailed performance simulations, supporting their use in early stage SoS architecture selection. However, no consensus exists as to which graph-theoretic metrics are most valuable for SoS design and how they should be included in the design process. In this work, multiple graph-theoretic approaches are analyzed and compared, on a common platform, for their use as design tools for resilient SoS. The metrics central point dominance, modularity, specialized predator ratio, generalization, vulnerability, and degree of system order are found to be viable options for the development of early stage decision-support tools for resilient SoS design.

Environmental Sustainability: A Major Component of Sustainable Development

Without embracing environmental sustainability (ES), the universal concept of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) cannot be achieved in today's world. As an inseparable part of SDGs, ES can help the nations to fulfil the goal of Agenda 2030. The world, particularly the developing countries, is now encountering several environmental problems, including carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, hazardous pollution, climate change, global warming, floods, droughts, deforestation, excessive and less rainfall crisis, scarcity of food, water and other natural resources, misuse and overconsumption of natural resources, and loss of biodiversity. All these factors heavily impact our natural environment and cause irreparable loss. Our study finds that with unsustainable socio-economic development, environmental degradation is rising worldwide. We argue that human activities in the name of development are the main reasons for destroying the environment and natural resources. In this study, we explore that despite taking significant initiatives by the United Nations engaging the member countries to protect the earth from the aboementioned environmental problems, these problems are still prevalent in many countries in the world. Our study finds that irresponsible human activities primarily hinder sustainable development progress, which is essential for present and future generations. In this article, we find that embracing the environmental sustainability approach for all countries is necessary to ensure holistic sustainable development.

Barriers to the Sustainable Implementation of Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing: A Contextual-Based Interpretive Structural Model

The traditional production system is mainly concerned with economic growth. However, with growing pollution and the rapid depletion of natural resources, there is an urgent need to adopt environmentally conscious manufacturing (ECM) to prioritize the environment alongside society and business. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the barriers that prevent the sustainable implementation of ECM to overcome them better. This research uses interpretive structural modeling to identify and comprehend the contextual interrelationships between barriers to ECM. The identified barriers are categorized and modeled based on their interdependence and driving powers. The findings show that management’s lack of understanding of ECM is an essential barrier that leads to a communication gap. Both lead to barriers, such as a less qualified workforce, high taxation, poor policy framing and implementation, poor financial support, and lack of technological upgrades. Thereby, this leads to the poor adoption of remanufacturing, higher costs of sustainable products, and in turn, overconsumption of natural resources. Overcoming these barriers will improve the poor acceptance of ECM, the inadequate legislative framework, and the lack of its implementation. The resulting model provides a deeper understanding of the barriers and enables the better design of coping strategies toward a more sustainable implementation of ECM to its fullest potential.

Prediction of the Impact of Land Usage Changes on Water Pollution in Public Space Planning with Machine Learning

In urban public space planning, changes in land use, structure, and construction impact the urban environment to a certain degree. Land usage changes the urban surface water environment by impacting it through numerous ways. This paper studies about prediction of land use changes on surface water pollution in public space planning. This paper analyzes the characteristics of land use changes in public space planning from the quantitative characteristics of land use types, land use structure characteristics, and land usage degree in different years. The protection of natural resources is important, and water is one of the most important natural resources consumed by human beings. The environmental changes impacting these natural resources are to be studied to preserve the natural resources. The prediction of over-consumption of natural resources using soft computing techniques can certainly provide a solution for appropriate decision making. The prediction of relationship between land use changes and surface water pollution is required. In order to achieve this, the regression analysis on land use changes of different spatial scales with four surface water pollution indicators in the dry and wet seasons is performed to obtain the regression of each water pollution indicator. According to the determination coefficient, the determination coefficient of the model uses the comprehensive pollution index method to predict the impact of land use changes on surface water pollution. The experimental results show that the prediction accuracy of the proposed method is high and it is helpful in studying the impact of land use change on surface water pollution. It can help in decision making on consumption of natural resources to preserve the natural resources for next generations.

Mango Peel Pectin: Recovery, Functionality and Sustainable Uses

Concerns regarding the overconsumption of natural resources has provoked the recovery of biopolymers from food processing biomass. Furthermore, the current market opportunity for pectin in other areas has increased, necessitating the search for alternative pectin resources. This is also a step towards the sustainable and circular green economy. Mango peel is the byproduct of agro-processing and has been used for high value-added components such as polysaccharide biopolymers. Pectin derived from the peel is yet to be exploited to its greatest extent, particularly in terms of its separation and physiochemical properties, which limit its applicability to dietary fiber in culinary applications. The functionality of the mango peel pectin (MPP) strongly depends on the molecular size and degree of esterification which highlight the importance of isolation and characterisation of pectin from this novel resource. This article therefore provides a useful overview of mango peel as a potential biomaterial for the recovery of MPP. Different extraction techniques and the integrated recovery were also discussed. The utilisation of MPP in different industrial schemes are also detailed out from different perspectives such as the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. This review convincingly expresses the significance of MPP, providing a sustainable opportunity for food and pharmaceutical development.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE MATERIAL PRODUCTION MODEL FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF THE BIOSPHERE-COMPATIBLE ECONOMY PARADIGM

The complication of the environmental situation in the world makes mankind look for new economic models in which sustainable development is provided. With the growing population of the planet and its needs, there is an overconsumption of natural resources. The factors that are formed as a result of polymorphism of the system components «economy»-«ecology»-«society» are considered. It is proposed to replace the linear economy model, implemented in particular in the construction industry, with a model of the circular economy with its main imperatives oriented to biosphere-compatible construction at all stages of product creation while preserving natural resources.Keywords: circular economy, recycling, functional transformation, natural capital, greening, object life cycle

An improved evaluation framework for industrial green development: Considering the underlying conditions

Abstract Industrial green development (IGD) is fundamental for curbing serious pollution and over-consumption of natural resources caused by industrial growth, while quantification of the IGD level has become instrumental in guiding further progress. However, three existing research gaps prevent a comprehensive and accurate evaluation of the IGD level. These gaps include the ignorance of the underlying conditions, lack of spatio-temporal comparability in the IGD indicator system, and absence of more reasonable assumptions within the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) and slack-based measure (SBM) methods. The main goals of this study are to propose an improved evaluation framework to fill these gaps and to provide new knowledge by analyzing the IGD status, weaknesses, and spatio-temporal differences. With the collected panel data across 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2015, the following findings were revealed based on the proposed evaluation framework: 1) both the performance and quality of IGD increased but their growth rates had significantly declined in the later years; 2) pollution abatement had the maximum improvement, followed by low-carbon production, resource reduction, and economic operation; 3) coastal provinces had higher performance and quality of IGD than inland provinces, especially for low-carbon production and pure technical efficiency; 4) provinces with higher IGD performance usually had higher pure technical efficiency, but not scale efficiency; 5) the traditional evaluation framework either significantly overestimated or underestimated the IGD efforts in some provinces. Our findings highlight the importance of differentiated policies between coastal provinces and inland provinces or between high-IGD-performance/quality provinces and low-IGD-performance/quality provinces, as well as call for effective measures in response to slowing growth. Moreover, our methodology can comprehensively and accurately evaluate the IGD level by applying an extensive process considering underlying conditions/inputs, a spatio-temporal indicator system, and new integrated methods.

A cost–benefit analysis of the environmental taxation policy in China: A frontier analysis‐based environmentally extended input–output optimization method

AbstractChina's high‐speed economic development and reliance on overconsumption of natural resources have led to serious environmental pollution. Environmental taxation is seen as an effective economic tool to help mitigate air pollution. In order to assess the effects of different scenarios of environmental taxation policies, we propose a frontier‐based environmentally extended input–output optimization model with explicit emission abatement sectors to reflect the inputs and benefits of abatement. Frontier analysis ensures policy scenarios are assessed under the same technical efficiency benchmark, while input–output analysis depicts the wide range of economic transactions among sectors of an economy. Four scenarios are considered in this study, which are increasing specific tax rates of SO2, NOx, and soot and dust separately and increasing all three tax rates simultaneously. Our estimation results show that: raising tax rates of SO2, NOx, and soot and dust simultaneously would have the highest emission reduction effects, with the SO2 tax rate making the greatest contribution to emission reduction. Raising the soot and dust tax rate is the most environmentally friendly strategy due to its highest abatement to welfare through avoided health costs. The combination of frontier analysis and input–output analysis provides policy makers a comprehensive and sectoral approach to assess costs and benefits of environmental taxation.

Multidimensional trade and Ramsey effects: Sustainable growth versus volatility

In this paper, the following research question is answered: How can the potential impact of the optimal policies of externalities trade to uncouple growth and volatility in order to generate sustainable growth and clean production be explored by the means of Agent-based modeling (ABM)?At this end, I attempt, to generalize the trade of everything to realize the steady state. By considering any human action as causing positive or negative externalities, the intergenerational and international generalized trades become possible. Only this generalized trade conform to the complex hypotheses of the neoclassical model whose operationalisation immediately leads to the steady state, foundation of a sustainable economy, without fluctuations and without destruction of the environment and where all the productions are clean.I find, generations import from other generations productive factors intensively used in the production of goods and services highly consumed in the current generations and export productive factors intensively used in the production of goods and services weakly consumed in the same generations. Indirectly, generations import goods and services that use a high proportion of technically scarce productive factors and a low proportion of technically abundant productive factors and export goods and services that use the reverse proportions of the same productive factors. Thus, positive externalities (unnatural resources) are exchanged against negative externalities (overconsumption of natural resources). A productive factor is technically scarce in a generation if the part of this productive factor imparted to this generation is insufficient to produce as much of these goods and services that it wishes to consume. A productive factor is technically abundant if its proportion existing in this generation is superior to its production needs. Under these conditions, I show, at the equilibrium level, each productive factor and each good or service has the same price in each generation. This realizes an efficient trade of externalities decoupling thus growth and volatility. That is why I conclude the policies to uncouple growth and volatility are also those of sustainable growth and clean production, ensuring to each generation an equivalent use of natural and unnatural resources. In contrast to AK model, I find, through widened evidence that, a greater willingness to hoard or an improvement in the level of technology shows up in the long run that higher levels of capital (unnatural resources) and output per effective worker are achieved, with no change in per capita growth rate. The steady state results in diminishing returns to inputs in the technology production. At this end, I propose, countries or generations with a high price deviation should pay to the World Environmental Bank (WEB) a tax that would be proportional to its price deviation or its growth volatility path.

The Intersection of Sustainable Consumption and Anticonsumption: Repurposing to Extend Product Life Spans

One of the primary causes of environmental problems is the overconsumption of natural resources, such as those invested in the production of consumer goods. To combat overconsumption, some researchers and policy makers have suggested that consumers should extend product life spans through sustainable and anticonsumption practices. In keeping with this proposition, the authors use the consumer context of repurposing to explore the extension of product life spans through processes of reusing and reclaiming. The results identify the antecedents, processes, and outcomes of repurposing. Antecedents of repurposing include social influences, repurposing motivations, and object agency. The process of repurposing takes three forms: aesthetic, functional, and amalgamative. Repurposing outcomes include value creation, behavioral and perception effects, and identity effects. Overall, the results offer marketers and policy makers insights into repurposing as an important avenue for lengthening product life spans and promoting sustainable consumption.

Diversity and influencing factors on spontaneous plant distribution in Beijing Olympic Forest Park

With intensive management practices on highly cultivated urban vegetation resulting in the over-consumption of natural resources and urban green spaces losing ecological function, interest is growing in spontaneous plants. Our goal was to improve knowledge of the biodiversity and distribution patterns of spontaneous vegetation in urban parks, which may benefit sustainable and low-maintenance planting design in future green spaces. To disentangle these patterns, a field survey was carried out at both habitat (determined by position in the park) and microhabitat (determined by the planted plants) scales. A total of 102 spontaneous plant species were recorded, and most of them were herbaceous plants. The habitats located between road and building (R-B) and waterside (WS) showed maximum levels of diversity and evenness; the two microhabitats showing maximum levels of diversity and evenness were the waterside unplanted plot (WUP) and the flower bed (FB). Microhabitat affected spontaneous plants more significantly than did habitat. Furthermore, canopy density (CD) and intensity of disturbance (ID) were influencing factors at both scales, while community structure of planted plants (P-CS) was only influential at the habitat scale and slope gradient (SG) was influential at the microhabitat scale. Additionally, the impact of specific planted trees was not significant, but some associated species were notable. Species composition showed markedly different characteristics in different habitats and microhabitats. Understanding these patterns and influencing factors could provide helpful references for any future construction of sustainable urban vegetation with low-maintenance, high-biodiversity and local character.

The Intersection of Sustainable and Anti-Consumption: Repurposing to Extend Product Lifespans

One of the primary causes of environmental problems is the overconsumption of natural resources, such as those invested in the production of consumer goods. To combat overconsumption, some researchers and policymakers have suggested that consumers should extend product lifespans through sustainable and anti-consumption practices. In keeping with this proposition, we use the consumer context of repurposing to explore the extension of product lifespans via processes of reusing and reclaiming. Our results identify the antecedents, process, and outcomes of repurposing. Antecedents of repurposing include social influences, repurposing motivations, and object agency. The process of repurposing takes three different forms: aesthetic, functional, and amalgamative. Repurposing outcomes include value creation, behavioral and perception effects, and identity effects. Overall, our results offer marketers and policymakers insights into repurposing as an important avenue for lengthening product lifespans and promoting ...

GIS IN URBAN GEOLOGY: THE CASE STUDY OF NAFPLIO, ARGOLIS PREFECTURE, GREECE

The aggregation of population in big cities leads to the concentration of human activities, overconsumption of natural resources and urban growth without spatial planning and sustainable management. As a result, urban societies are exposed to various dangers and threats with economic, social, ecological, and environmental impacts on the urban surroundings. Problems associated with urban development are related to the existing geological conditions. Therefore, the provision of appropriate geological information about the urban environment is essential for every sustainable urban planning. The first systematic recording, codification and documentation of “Urban Geology” geothematic information in Greece was implemented by the Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration (I.G.M.E.) in the framework of the project called “Collection, codification and documentation of geothematic information for urban and suburban areas in Greece - pilot applications”. Through the implementation of this project, geological mapping, geotechnical, geochemical, geophysical research and measurements took place at four pilot cities of Greece. Nafplio, the capital city of Argolis prefecture, was one of them. During the project, all compiled data were stored and processed in specially designed geodatabases in GIS environment in order to produce multifunctional geothematic maps and other digital products (DEMs, 2D - 3D surfaces).

Perceptions of Sustainability and Sustainable Living Among Non-Environmentally Motivated Individuals

Concerns among academics and practitioners regarding overconsumption of natural resources and consumer goods suggest the need to reduce consumption levels among the general public. To do so, sustainable living educators need to understand existing perceptions of different audiences concerning sustainability and related terminology. One such audience includes non-environmentally motivated individuals, who may be less receptive to traditional appeals toward sustainable behavior than more environmentally motivated individuals. This analysis explored two research questions regarding non-environmentally motivated individuals: (1) What are their existing perceptions and understandings of sustainability-related terms? (2) How might those perceptions influence their interest in participating in sustainable living educational programming? Findings suggest varying levels of understanding and a persistence of environmental connotations associated with those terms. Findings also demonstrate widespread appeal of three-dimensional conceptualizations of the terms (i.e., economic, social, and environmental). Acknowledging existing perceptions within this target audience may allow sustainable living educators to tailor their programs accordingly.

V Peru sa ešte nosí občianska odvaha a vzdor proti arogancii moci a kapitálu

In June 2014, Mikuláš Huba undertook a forthnight’s trip around Peru where he was part of a team consisting of 17 members from 9 countries. The trip was organized by the international Climate Alliance NGO as part of the project From Overconsumption to Solidarity, the purpose of which is to raise awareness among Europeans of the global consequences of the overconsumption of natural resources. Mikuláš’s experiences from the journey and Peru are presented in an interview from the point of view of the country’s natural beauty and its environmental problems.

Introduction to the Special Issue on Commoditization

The environmental consequences of the overconsumption of natural resources are increasingly recognized. This article introduces the theme of this special issue of Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society: commoditization as a mechanism driving societies to overdevelop the economy of market goods and services and the relations of economic exchange; and underdevelop the economy of care and connection and the relations of community and ecosystems. The origins of the author’s development of a theory commoditization are described and traced to questions arising from experience at the 1992 Earth Summit. The traits associated with commodities are contrasted with those nonmarket goods that are inherently difficult to commoditize. The presence or absence of these traits defines “commodity potential.” A Darwinian-like selection pressure is described that privileges those things with high commodity potential. In the competition for the resources of development—energy and material resources and, human attention, ingenuity, and labor—those things with high commodity potential will always outcompete those with low commodity potential. The effects of this commoditization mechanism are explored in the articles in this special issue.