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Eduard Suess's invention of the word 'biosphere' sparked a trend of coining sphere-words, which has since evolved into something of a craze. Some of these words, such as atmosphere and hydrosphere, are simply name tags for their respective Earth spheres. Others, such as geosphere, are also used mainly as names but they carry more than one meaning. However, many sphere-words, including pedosphere, biosphere, ecosphere, anthroposphere, sociosphere, and technosphere, are far more than just names, bearing as they do, weighty conceptual connotations that fuel considerable debate. At a time when Earth and life scientists are attempting to understand the workings of the planet as a whole by modelling the interaction of its component spheres, and when they are collaborating with sociologists, anthropologists, and members of other human sciences to tackle current environmental challenges, it seems an opportune moment to probe the origin and meaning of words for the Earth spheres they investigate. To be sure, Earth System modelling is helping understand changes resulting from the interaction of all the Earth's spheres, including the anthroposphere, over various time and space scales, while multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research is helping to address such global problems as sustainable development, climate change, water supply, and biodiversity loss. An awareness of the origin, development, and disputed meanings of many sphere-words that these approaches employ should prove salutary for their multifarious practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: In recent years, the issue of “Anthropocene” has become a prominent topic in the academic community, leading to the emergence of Anthropocene maps. As a novel thematic map, the Anthropocene map is characterized by its rich content, diverse types, and wide range of forms, making it worthy of attention and research. Methods: First, we introduce the concept of the Anthropocene and analyze its connotation and characteristics. Second, we explore the content, representation methods, and presentation methods of some typical maps of the Anthropocene through lists and examples while analyzing their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, we elaborate on the important role of maps in studying the Anthropocene. Results: The Anthropocene map is a reflection of the relationship between humans and the environment. It is highly creative and thought-provoking, but it has limitations and requires further improvement. Conclusions: The maps of the Anthropocene should enhance their information-carrying capacity, map expression, and diverse empathy through technological applications, artistic design, and other aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inland surface water is often the most accessible freshwater source. As opposed to groundwater, surface water is replenished in a comparatively quick cycle, which makes this vital resource—if not overexploited—sustainable. From a global perspective, freshwater is plentiful. Still, depending on the region, surface water availability is severely limited. Additionally, climate change and human interventions act as large-scale drivers and cause dramatic changes in established surface water dynamics. Actions have to be taken to secure sustainable water availability and usage. This requires informed decision making based on reliable environmental data. Monitoring inland surface water dynamics is therefore more important than ever. Remote sensing is able to delineate surface water in a number of ways by using optical as well as active and passive microwave sensors. In this review, we look at the proceedings within this discipline by reviewing 233 scientific works. We provide an extensive overview of used sensors, the spatial and temporal resolution of studies, their thematic foci, and their spatial distribution. We observe that a wide array of available sensors and datasets, along with increasing computing capacities, have shaped the field over the last years. Multiple global analysis-ready products are available for investigating surface water area dynamics, but so far none offer high spatial and temporal resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we observe the problem of the habituation bubble from the spherical ontological perspective of the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, as he raises it in his books Spheres I, II and III, particularly when referring to the search for shelter and the centripetal force that seeks to unite human beings. We propose that such cohesion can be identified in urban spaces called condominiums, villas, villas, town houses or counties, surrounded by barbed wire, security checkpoints and perimeter walls. They are conglomerates whose architectural structure is repeated in series and is installed as housing for habituation and room in various residential areas of Guatemala City. We consider that the human being seeks to protect himself in these isolation zones, for this reason, based on Sloterdijk's thought, we expose this search for the residential sheltering sphere, which he defines as an atomic or elemental egospheric form, and, consequently, as a bubble. Cell of the world, from whose massive repetition individualist foams arise (Sloterdijk, 2006, p. 433). Immunity, exclusivity and the search for an enveloping environment, therefore, show the crisis of the world, more precisely, in his words, that "the crisis of the soul of the world passes through the dwellings" (Sloterdijk, 2006, p. 457). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The information channels in Nature proposed by Ramon Margalef are analysed following a complexity gradient. The relevance of the processes of complementarity in evolution and succession is deepened with the title: "The forms by nesting cooperation and changes in the organization levels". Finally, the mathematical expression proposed by Georgescu Roengens is decomposed into its different variables to reach a new organization level for anthroposphere by smart simplification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spherical encounters of the Anthropocene refers to the impact of humanity's global ecological footprint that is addressed through the metaphor of the spheres. The new human-generated Anthropo-Noo-spheres and their interaction with the Spheres of Earth are tackled through ecocritical investigation showcasing the diverse representational modalities and intermedial expressions found in the Planetarium and artistic spherical environments. The technological requirements for high quality geoscientific visualizations have taken about a decade longer to mature than the astronomical features of digital planetariums, but Earth System Science is finally adopted by the Planetarium and artists. From Telescope to Kaleidoscope refers to the transition between the emergence of the modern scientific, telescopic viewpoint, and the increasing rationalization and bureaucratization of society enabled by the technological and economic advances of the age, that created a sense of alienation of the individual, from the natural environment and the social other, to an environmental re-enchantment, a regaining of our sense of wonder and awe brought back by the kaleidoscopic visions artists apply to these spherical mediums. As this article seeks to demonstrate, the scientific and imaginative visions fused into interconnected, parallel universes can challenge our mundane notions opening up new causal connections, creating exciting discoveries, all under the notion of Anthropocene. However, these spherical environments showcasing kaleidoscopic visions are not an aestheticization of the Anthroposphere, but a testimony that artists as antennas capture and showcase the contemporary human sentiment, topics and observations by conveying experiential projects which involve strategies to forge communities, to re-build lost paradises, to re-connect us with the sky and earth, to foster regeneration and new sustainable systems and to ask future questions. Through the stylistic element of the Cosmic Zoom, we are travelling from the unknown of the outer space to the inner reaches of our human heart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the interpretation of the idea of V. Vernadsky’s noosphere in contemporary European and Ukrainian socio–philosophical thought in the context of contemporary existential challenges. The development and deepening of the noosphere paradigm, the core of which is the noosphere concept of V. Vernadsky in modern global humanism, the influence of Ukrainian ideological experience on solving global humanitarian problems, is substantiated. It is alleged that familiarizing with this ideological experience can help Ukraine to choose scenarios for building a harmonious future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We herein explore the connections between the current condition of ecology concerning to sustainable development and the statement of Rutherford regarding the importance of physics to understand sustainability and biological conservation. The recent emergence of organic biophysics of ecosystems (OBEC) may constitute a feasible alternative to fill the gap between conventional ecological thinking and physics, especially thermodynamics. However, our comprehension of sustainability and biological conservation is influenced by the interactions between information and entropy, because we tend to exclude parts of the biosphere as well as their relationships among them. We explore the use of a holistic analysis of sustainability and biological conservation using physics, and also establish a parallelism between Maxwell's demons and human beings. Lastly, the ecological meaning of the hypothetical feasibility of Maxwell's demon at the anthroposphere scale is analyzed starting from the objections of von Smoluchowski, Szilard and Bennet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The grand challenges of the 21st century will increasingly require societies to reconsider the pathways taken thus far. Engagement with climate change is of ever-growing importance to young people. They will be confronted with the effects of climate change throughout their entire lives and, as future decision-makers, they will vitally shape societal developments. Education will thus play a crucial role in the transformation to a sustainable society. In terms of awareness-raising, an important first step in preparing young people for the challenges of the 21st century is to understand what content is connected with climate change. As complex challenges, such as climate change, demand ways of thinking that go beyond categories, interconnections between the anthroposphere and the natural sphere have to be taken into consideration. This study provides an insight into the questions and topics young people develop whilst becoming involved in climate change in an in-school learning setting and in an out-of-school learning setting (a high mountain environment). The analysis focuses on the question of in which spheres students predominantly make their thematic choices and how far the interconnections between different spheres are formed. Our results show that the choice of the learning setting influences the topics students connect with climate change. Interconnections between sub-spheres of the anthroposphere and natural sphere are made only occasionally. These findings serve as a basis for reconsidering the content and foundation of climate change communication with young people. We recommend that climate change educational programmes should include phases that allow the following: a) involvement with climate change issues related to single spheres in the first phase, and b) consideration of the interconnections between spheres when becoming involved with climate change issues in the second phase. As the educational setting can considerably influence the focus of the learning process, it should be chosen thoughtfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamically tracking flows and stocks of problematic chemicals in products (CiPs) in the global anthroposphere is essential to understanding their environmental fates and risks. The complex behavior of CiPs during production, use and waste disposal makes this a challenging task. Here we introduce and describe a dynamic substance flow model, named Chemicals in Products - Comprehensive Anthropospheric Fate Estimation (CiP-CAFE), which facilitates the quantification of time-variant flows and stocks of CiPs within and between seven interconnected world regions and the generation of global scale emission estimates. We applied CiP-CAFE to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), first to evaluate its ability to reproduce previously reported global-scale atmospheric emission inventories and second to illustrate its potential applications and merits. CiP-CAFE quantifies the pathways of PCBs during production, use and waste disposal stages, thereby deducing the temporal evolution of in-use and waste stocks and identifying their long-term final sinks. Time-variant estimates of PCB emissions into air, water and soil can be attributed to different processes and be fed directly into a global fate and transport model. By capturing the international movement of PCBs as technical chemicals, and in products and waste, CiP-CAFE reveals that the extent of global dispersal caused by humans is larger than that occurring in the natural environment. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the model output is most sensitive to the PCB production volume and the lifetime of PCB-containing products, suggesting that a shortening of that lifetime is key to reducing future PCB emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a graphical guideline of a multiscalar, systemic and «glocal» approach to the global sustainability problem, based on four hotspots of the geographical sciences: 1) The formulation of major principles of Geocybernetics, 2) the maturation of the Earth Observation System of Systems, 3) the development of the planetary limit concept, and 4) the rise of technologies which enable the massive public participation in the production and use of geographic information. We argue the relevance of this viewpoint in the quest of conciliating economic welfare with environmental stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a graphical guideline of a multiscalar, systemic and «glocal» approach to the global sustainability problem, based on four hotspots of the geographical sciences: 1) The formulation of major principles of Geocybernetics, 2) the maturation of the Earth Observation System of Systems, 3) the development of the planetary limit concept, and 4) the rise of technologies which enable the massive public participation in the production and use of geographic information. We argue the relevance of this viewpoint in the quest of conciliating economic welfare with environmental stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a review of the historical background and the evolution of the concept of metabolism applied to human systems, till the evaluation of the metabolism of the antrophosphere using the methodology of Material Flow Analysis (MFA). Different international and national experiences that are evidence of the applicability of the method are presented. We show that the MFA is a flexible and suitable tool for environmental management that can be applied as a tool for the comprehensive analysis of the environmental problems generated by human activity. Additionally, the MFA can be used to detect and estimate material flows and stock of material that could be undesirable or potentially dangerous, allowing the establishment of efficient management strategies material flows from the point of view of sustainability and making an estimate of future emissions to anticipate problems and take early action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two phenomena characterize the development of the material world of the last 100 yr: The per capita growth in material consumption, and the introduction of a myriad of new materials. Together with the growth in population, this resulted in large, growing and complex material flows and stocks, particularly in urban areas. The objective of future materials management is to ensure long-term supply of resources on one hand, and safe disposal of emissions and wastes on the other hand. This paper focuses on the consequences that arise from the high material turnover for waste management. Ultimately, all materials that are taken from the earth crust are either incorporated into the anthroposphere or released to the environment. Waste management acts as a key "filter" between anthroposphere and environment, controlling substance flows across the border. Waste management must either recover materials for safe reuse, or transform substances into inert materials that can be landfilled or dispersed safely in the environment. For future waste management it is crucial to define sinks and final sinks; to establish a knowledge base about sources, pathways, and final sinks of key substances; to investigate into possible sink limitations of anthropogenic activities; to systematically allocate substances to appropriate sinks; to promote waste management as key for directing hazardous substances to appropriate final sinks, and to regulate the use of specific substances if environmentally safe final sink capacities are not available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies of potentially hazardous substances focus on aspects of their occurrence and fate in the environment (monitoring and modelling studies) to estimate the environmental impact and the potential exposure of humans. In order to evaluate emission sources, to recognise environmental impacts at an early stage, and to take efficient legislative or technical measures, it is essential to know their behaviour in the anthroposphere as a function of time. So far, only very few investigations of this type exist for chemicals. In regular risk assessments, only rather limited knowledge is available concerning the behaviour of chemicals in the anthroposphere (production data, substance quantities in products, recycling rates, emissions occurring during use, etc.) or their lifecycle, and no information at all about their behaviour as a function of time. For this reason, it is these aspects that were investigated in a case study within the framework of the national research programme NRP50 for selected brominated flame retardants with endocrine-disrupting potential (pentabromodiphenyl ether, hexabromocyclododecane) or the potential to degrade to such substances (decabromodiphenyl ether). A dynamic substance flow analysis (SFA) model was performed for Switzerland for the time period 1980–2020. In this review paper (a) we present a summary of typical results (system overview, consumption trends/application patterns, anthropogenic stocks and their changes, emission trends including major sources and environmental fate), (b) we summarize the effectiveness of recent risk-reduction measures in Switzerland and (c) we indicate serious remaining data gaps and recommend further important measures for risk reduction. For the future, we suggest improving the knowledge of the lifecycle of chemicals such as brominated flame retardants by applying SFA as a suitable tool to weight the effect of substance flows with respect to environmental emissions, and to serve as the basis for planning actions and measures to reduce such emissions. This is in line with one major conclusion of the NRP50 consensus platform 'Brominated Flame Retardants'.

Degrowth is identified as a prospective turning point in human development as significant as the domestication of fire or the process of agrarianisation. The Transition movement is identified as the most important attempt to develop a prefigurative, local politics of degrowth. Explicating the links between capitalist modernisation, metabolic throughput and psychological individuation, Transition embraces `limits' but downplays the implications of scarcity for open, liberal societies, and for inter-personal and inter-group violence. William Ophuls' trilogy on the politics of scarcity confronts precisely these issues, but it depends on an unconvincing sociology of individuation as a central process in modernity. A framework is advanced through which to explore the tensions, trade-offs and possibilities for a socially liberal, culturally cosmopolitan and science-based civilisation under conditions of degrowth and metabolic contraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental problems do have a universal dimension: they concern entire humanity as well as each human being individually, therefore, a new ecology needs to be developed in which man will play a principal role being a focal point of the study, its creator and executor of its assumptions, the discipline thus understood is one of the aspects of general ecology for it studies relationships between man as a species and its environment, the author believes that, regardless of the standpoint that representatives of various sciences may take, the future of our species depends on the interdisciplinary approach toward the questions that are subject to human ecology studies.

This paper sketches, very briefly, the theme of ‘Energy and Civilization’ on a far larger canvass. I shall reconsider the well-known fact that, in the course of time, humans have learned to exploit more and more sources of energy. This has required new technologies, new forms of social organization, and new individual skills. In the latter sense, learning to exploit new sources of energy always was also a process of civilization, involving new forms of personal discipline. Starting from what is called “foraging” (when rudimental tools and weapons provided humans with means for using their own physical strength more effectively in order to obtain food, as almost the only source of energy), following and in some ways widening Norbert Elias perspective, the paper analyses the role of fire domestication, agrarianization and industrialization in humanization and civilization processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentration of mercury was determined in samples of the lichen Hypogymnia physodes, the moss Pleurozium schreberi, and the soil humus collected in Polish and Czech Euroregions Praded and Glacensis. The sampling sites were located in Bory Stobrawskie, Bory Niemodlińskie and Kotlina Kłodzka in Poland, and in Jeseniki and Gory Orlickie in the Czech Republic. The mean concentrations of mercury accumulated in the lichen (0.129 mg g), in the moss (0.094 mg g) and in soil (0.286 mg g) were fairly close to the corresponding concentrations in other low-industrialized regions. The highest concentrations of mercury were observed in the lichen and the moss samples from Kotlina Kłodzka. The primary deposition of mercury was evaluated using the comparison factor, defined as the ratio of a difference between the concentrations of a bioavailable analyte in lichens and in mosses, to the arithmetic mean of these concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term Anthropocene, which is used by many scientists to refer to the current era, reflects various environmental issues caused by anthropogenic activities. The energy flows and conversions in the anthroposphere and the anthropogenic impacts on the ecosphere, as two major aspects of the physical part of industrial ecology, are both subject to the laws of thermodynamics. After an introduction to human–environment systems and industrial ecology in the Anthropocene, this review focuses on the role and applications of thermodynamic analysis in industrial ecology based on a thermodynamic definition of human–environment systems at four levels, i.e., the ecosphere (A), the anthroposphere (B), the supply chain (C), and the foreground system (D). It argues that process engineering thermodynamics (at level D) and ecological energetics (at level A) are the most mature applications, and the primary benefit added by thermodynamic analysis to industrial ecology lies in the physical validation and quantitative formulation of thermodynamics. The review also indicates the challenges of using thermodynamic analysis to understand the physical complexity of industrial ecology and to guide sustainability decision-making call for a joint effort by thermodynamic analysis and ecosystems ecology and for more insights from social sciences. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Anthropocene is the later part of the Holocene where human activity has become a major driver for global ecosystem development. The demand of natural resources, renewable and non-renewable, is a crucial aspect of environmental (un-) sustainability. When considering a societal transition scheme towards sustainability, bio-based options come to the fore. The article develops a global framework for the analysis of natural resource demand of global biofuels. The framework defines the biofuel system in terms of exergy at four levels, i.e., the foreground system, the supply chain, the anthroposphere, and the ecosphere. Various measures of resource demand, such as cumulative exergy demand, global and anthropogenic exergy budgets are incorporated into the framework. Based on reviews of global biofuel production and natural resource demand of the anthroposphere, the study finds that the production of conventional biofuels, i.e., first generation of biodiesel and bioethanol by key producer countries in 2008 consumed 9.32E+11MJ of exergy from non-renewable resources and accounted for 0.23% of the total anthropogenic non-renewable resource demand. In addition, it shows that the contribution to climate change due to the heat emission of the global biofuel production was 5.79E−05W/m2, which would reach up to 0.002% of global greenhouse warming if anthropogenic heat flux is treated as a climate forcing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Environmental engineering is a continuous expansive profession due to the globalization of environmental problems and the internationalization of engineering education. A global scale curriculum seems to be necessary for the actual environmental engineers, but there is no common university program to apply this idea. Alternatively, a pragmatic approach is proposed based on the idea to include a basic set of environmental computer modelling tools in the education program of environmental engineer. A group of computer simulating models is presented as scientific and mathematic tool for modern environmental engineers. Some environmental models were introduced in the education programs of students in Environmental Engineering Department of Constanta Maritime University to improve their computational and simulating skills for studying the complex processes in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The achievement of Norbert Elias was to develop a paradigmatic foundation for sociology as the lynchpin in a broader human science encompassing the social and biological dimensions of human development. The extent to which he remains at the margins of a discipline profoundly suspicious of the biological sciences is perhaps an index of his originality. But this outsider status also obscures the unoriginality of his work. Elias’s unifying epistemological framework centring on ‘integrative levels’ and ‘emergent dynamics’ drew heavily on a long tradition of organicist biology. Reviewing developments in twentieth-century biology, it is argued that Elias simply absorbed an organicist Zeitgeist that had become subtly paradigmatic at around the time of the elaboration, in the 1940s, of the ‘modern synthesis’ in genetic-evolutionary theory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An elegant definition for the Earth System was put forth by Schellnhuber as consisting of the ecosphere and the anthroposphere, where the ecosphere includes all natural spheres such as the geosphere, atmosphere, cryosphere and the biosphere. Human being has evolved into a dominant anthroposphere with his impact on the functioning of the Earth System so dominant now that a new geologic period called the Anthropocene is underway. As the global human is beginning to realize his dependence on the ecosphere for future survival, global governance is being contemplated for navigating the future evolution of the Earth System. For all denizens of planet Earth, it is absolutely crucial to attain development to be more in harmony with the ecosphere and use natural resources sustainably. A critical component of ecosphere-anthroposphere balance will depend on the education of future generations. A careful planning of higher education is called for to achieve such development to not only produce a globally aware workforce but also train Earth System scientists who are ecospheric doctors and surgeons capable of monitoring the pulse of the planet, diagnosing the ailments, and devising the remedies needed for sustainable functioning of Gaia's body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the integration of urban systems into the geoscientific concept of spheres. It takes into account the importance of urbanization among the global changes for climate, ecosystems, and biodiversity. It refers to the role of urbanization as a global process, introducing the astysphere, a geoscientific sphere that constitutes the parts of the earth brought by urban systems. A discussion on anthropogenic activities in rural and urban environments is provided.

After nearly three decades of discussion about sustainable development are we any nearer to achieving it? And do we even know what a sustainable world will look like for future generations? Early definitions of sustainable development were so broad as to allow a range of interpretations based largely on individual interests and anthropocentric needs. We are measuring the performance of countless indicators of sustainable development, but is this more an exercise in applying data than meaningful progress? This article explores the ultimate goals of sustainable development and the most important means of achieving this by analyzing and comparing two frameworks designed to direct attention to the fundamental means and the ends of sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inflow and stock (amount in use) of heavy metals (cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn)) in goods in 1995 have been quantified in the anthroposphere of Stockholm, Sweden. Statistics on national, regional and local level were used. Contacts were established with representatives from production and construction in the industrial sector and with authorities. The results show that the stock of Cd is 0,2 kg per capita. For the other heavy metals the corresponding result per capita is: Cr 8, Cu 170, Hg 0,01, Ni 4, Pb 73 and Zn 40 kg. The inflow varies between 2–8% of the stock indicating the importance of the stock. The lowest levels are for Cu and Pb. Heavy metal levels in solid waste are high, between 15–45% of the amount in the inflow (Hg excluded), the lowest values were for Cu and Pb. Thus, recycling is incomplete. Long life expectancy goods form the majority of the stock but there is a tendency that short life expectancy goods increase their importance in the inflow. Concealed goods are also more frequent in inflow than in the stock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are the most complex forms of settlements which man has built in the course of his cultural development. Their 'metabolism' is connected with the world economy and is run mainly by fossil energy carriers. Up to now there are no validated models for the evaluation of a sustainable development of urban regions. The guidelines for a 'sustainable development' suggest the reduction of resource consumption. The article is concerned with the problem of how the 'sustainable-development concept' can be transformed from a global to a regional scale. In urban settlements the strategy of final storage should be applied. By this, the subsystem waste management can be transformed within 10 to 15 years to a 'sustainable status'. With regard to the system 'agronomy', the article concludes that agriculture in urban systems should focus on food production instead of promoting reduction of food production in favour of energy plants, which is not a suitable strategy. The main problems are the energy carriers. Transformation to a 'sustainble status' is only possible by a reconstruction of the urban system, i.e. of buildings and the transportation network. The rate determining step in achieving such a status is the change in the fabric of buildings and in the type of transportation networks. The reconstruction of an urban system needs, mainly for economical reasons, a time period of two generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the effects of atmospheric conditions on the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and its associated disease, COVID-19. For this purpose, we assess the limitations of bioclimatic correlative models to explain the geographic distribution of SARS-CoV-2 in the context of medical geography. Overall, there is a broad consensus that the global distribution of COVID-19 is not random but conditioned by environmental drivers. However, as the COVID-19 distribution becomes global, including tropical climates, the evidence reveals that atmospheric conditions explain, at most, only a limited amount of the space-time dynamics of SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, the usefulness of approaches based on bioclimatic envelopes is in question since the dominant route for the spread of COVID-19 seems to be the anthroposphere's non-stationary environment. In this sense, there is a need to clarify further the role of different transmission routes at multiple scales and outdoor and indoor environments beyond bioclimatic envelopes. At this time, the possible influence of the weather in COVID-19 spread is not sufficient to be taken into account in public health policies. Hence, until reliable bioclimatic envelopes of SARS-CoV-2, if any, are found, caution should be exercised when reporting, as this could have unforeseen consequences. • Weather barely explains the space-time dynamics of SARS-CoV-2. • Bioclimatic envelopes do not account for the non-stationary anthroposphere. • Correlative bioclimatic models of SARS-CoV-2 may lead to spurious conclusions. • Transmission routes in outdoor/indoor environments are blind-spots in these models. • Evidence on climate influence is not robust to be considered in public health policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The iron and steel industry has a long tradition of bulk reuse of slags for a range of construction applications. Growing interest in recent years has seen slag resource recovery options extend to critical raw material recovery and atmospheric carbon capture. Full scale deployment of such technologies is currently limited in part by absent or partial inventories of slag deposit locations, data on composition, and volume estimates in many jurisdictions. This paper integrates a range of spatial information to compile a database of iron and steel slag deposits in mainland United Kingdom (UK) for the first time and evaluate the associated resource potential. Over 190 million tonnes of legacy iron and steel slag are present across current and former iron and steel working regions of the UK, with particular concentrations in the north west and north east of England, and central Scotland. While significant potential stockpiles of blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace slag could provide up to 0.9 million tonnes of vanadium and a cumulative carbon dioxide capture potential of 57–138 million tonnes, major management challenges for resource recovery are apparent. Over one third are located in close proximity to designated conservation areas which may limit resource recovery. Furthermore, land use analyses show that many of the sites have already been redeveloped for housing (nearly 30% urban cover). Deposits from recent decades in current or recently closed steel-working areas may have the greatest potential for resource recovery where such ambitions could be coupled with site restoration and regeneration efforts. Unlabelled Image • Iron and steel-making slags have considerable resource recovery potential. • The extent of legacy iron and steel slag deposits was previously not well quantified. • A national database of slag deposits was created and analysed for mainland UK sites. • Carbon capture potential and critical raw materials (CRM) recovery potential estimated. • Current land use and conservation designations may limit resource recovery viability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este artículo es una revisión de los antecedentes históricos y la evolución del concepto de metabolismo de los sistemas humanos, hasta el metabolismo de la antropósfera y su descripción en términos del Análisis de Flujo de Materiales (AFM). Se presentan diferentes experiencias a nivel internacional y nacional que evidencian la aplicabilidad del método. Se muestra cómo el AFM es un método flexible adecuado para la gestión ambiental en diferentes sectores, el cual puede ser empleado para el análisis integral de los problemas ambientales generados por la actividad del hombre y para detectar o estimar los flujos y los stocks de materiales que pueden ser indeseables o potencialmente peligrosos. Esto permite el establecimiento de estrategias eficientes de gestión de flujos de materiales desde el punto de vista de la sostenibilidad, realizando una estimación de los flujos actuales de materiales para anticipar problemas ambientales y emprender acciones tempranas.

The article discusses the interdisciplinary study "Sinking Coasts: Geosphere, Ecosphere and Anthroposphere of the Holocene Southern Baltic Sea" (SINCOS) conducted from 2002 to 2009 and financed by the German Research Foundation. It provides an overview on how proxy data were acquired and interpreted. The study aims to examine the sea level changes and their effects on geology, ecosystem and social environment. They also used geographic information system (GIS) technique to explore the transgression-regression of the Baltic Sea basin.