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Graphite is considered a critical mineral because of its importance to clean energy transition and global supply concentration. This critical role is evident for electric vehicles that depends on lithium-ion batteries using graphite as anode material. China is the world's largest producer and consumer of natural graphite due to its booming economy and rapid penetration of clean energy driven by carbon neutrality ambition. Given this background, this study conducts a dynamic material flow analysis of natural graphite to reveal the evolution trend of graphite flows in China from 2001 to 2018. Main results include: (1) China's graphite resource experienced extensive utilization to meet demands from domestic consumption (55-83%) and exportation (17-45%); (2) Of the 1643 Gg/yr graphite entering China's anthroposphere, 15% accumulates in in-use stock and 34% enters the waste stage, and secondary graphite only accounts for 0.7-5.7% of the total supply; (3) Releases of graphite (1271 Gg/yr) are mainly divided into tailings, dissipative losses in use, and post-consumer losses; (4) The export-production ratio has increased from 16% in 2001 to 40% in 2018; (5) Graphite demand from electric vehicles is estimated to be 18 times the current level by 2030 (2340 Gg). These results imply that China should not only prepare national policies on managing the overall graphite production activities in response to concerns about domestic resource loss and environmental disruption induced from extractive and processing activities, but also prepare policies encouraging appropriate graphite recycling from safety and economic feasibility perspectives.

Growing industrialization and the desire for a better economy in countries has accelerated the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs), by more than the buffering capacity of the earth's atmosphere. Among the various GHGs, carbon dioxide occupies the first position in the anthroposphere and has detrimental effects on the ecosystem. For decarbonization, several non-biological methods of carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) have been in use for the past few decades, but they are suffering from narrow applicability. Recently, CO2 emission and its disposal related problems have encouraged the implementation of bioprocessing to achieve a zero waste economy for a sustainable environment. Microbial carbonic anhydrase (CA) catalyses reversible CO2 hydration and forms metal carbonates that mimic the natural phenomenon of weathering/carbonation and is gaining merit for CCUS. Thus, the diversity and specificity of CAs from different micro-organisms could be explored for CCUS. In the literature, more than 50 different microbial CAs have been explored for mineral carbonation. Further, microbial CAs can be engineered for the mineral carbonation process to develop new technology. CA driven carbonation is encouraging due to its large storage capacity and favourable chemistry, allowing site-specific sequestration and reusable product formation for other industries. Moreover, carbonation based CCUS holds five-fold more sequestration capacity over the next 100 years. Thus, it is an eco-friendly, feasible, viable option and believed to be the impending technology for CCUS. Here, we attempt to examine the distribution of various types of microbial CAs with their potential applications and future direction for carbon capture. Although there are few key challenges in bio-based technology, they need to be addressed in order to commercialize the technology.

The Anthropocene represents the emergence of human societies as a ‘great force of nature’. To understand and engage productively with this emergent global force, it is necessary to understand its origins, dynamics and structuring processes as the long-term evolutionary product of human niche construction, based on three key human characteristics: tool making, habitat construction and most importantly: social network engineering. The exceptional social capacities of behaviourally modern humans, constituting human ultrasociality, are expressed through the formation of increasingly complex and extensive social networks, enabling flexible and diverse group organisation, sociocultural niche construction, engineered adaptation and resilience building. The human drive towards optimising communication infrastructures and expanding social networks is the key human adaptation underpinning the emergence of the Anthropocene. Understanding the deep roots of human ultrasocial behaviour is essential to guiding contemporary societies towards more sustainable human–environment interactions in the Anthropocene present and future. We propose that socially networked engineered solutions will continue to be the prime driver of human resilience and adaptive capacity in the face of global environmental risks and societal challenges such as climate change, sea-level rise, localised extreme weather events and ecosystem degradation.

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.

Dynamic material flow analysis enables the forecasting of secondary raw material potential for waste volumes in future periods, by assessing past, present, and future stocks and flows of materials in the anthroposphere. Analyses of waste streams of buildings stocks are uncertain with respect to data and model structure. Wood construction in Viennese buildings serve as a case study to compare different modeling approaches for determining end‐of‐life (EoL) wood and corresponding contaminant flows (lead, chlorine, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). A delayed input and a leaching stock modeling approach are used to determine wood stocks and flows from 1950 until 2100. Cross‐checking with independent estimates and sensitivity analyses are used to evaluate the results’ plausibility. In the situation of the given data in the present case study, the delay approach is a better choice for historical observations of EoL wood and for analyses at a substance level. It has some major drawbacks for future predictions at the goods level, though, as the durability of a large number of historical buildings with considerably higher wood content is not reflected in the model. The wood content parameter differs strongly for the building periods and has therefore the highest influence on the results. Based on this knowledge, general recommendations can be derived for analyses on waste flows of buildings at a goods and substance level.

Anthropogenic material stocks are expanding at ever-increasing rates across the world, and their environmental and economic impacts draw more and more attention from academia, policy makers, and economic and environmental bodies. As the knowledge base regarding anthropogenic material stocks expands, it is important to not only comprehend the societal side of material stock growth but also its counterpart to the material balance—the natural environment from which the materials used for stocks come from. However, due to difficulties of data procurement, and muted interest in materials which are considered low-value high volume, the environmental burdens related to construction minerals have received less attention so far despite the huge amounts involved. In this study, we employ geographic information systems (GIS) with digital elevation model (DEM) datasets, to form an automated method of detection and measurement of the anthropogenic disturbance of soil and earth at excavation and mining sites, which accounts not only for the material extracted for usage in the anthroposphere, but also its related unused extraction. This geographically explicit method allows to directly pinpoint the location and volume of anthropogenic disturbance. Using Japan as a case study, the results suggest that the ratio of unused extraction to used extraction may exceed 1:1 for construction minerals in Japan. We also find that the environmental effects of anthropogenic activity are bigger than natural soil disturbance by several orders of magnitude, highlighting the need to reduce raw material extraction and increase the efficient use of the existing material stock.

While agreeing to openness to other world views, the underlying premise of ‘otherness’ in ‘the other’ is questioned. It is argued that individual, intercultural and intra-cultural differences run criss-cross throughout the anthroposphere. The often convoluted language in symmetrical, Latourian and New Materialist directions in archaeology is criticized. One questions what their significant new contributions to archaeological research are. The importance of refined differentiations regarding agency and effects, and the living and the non-living, is maintained. Latour's claim of a universal dichotomization in Western thinking (both academic and common) is interrogated, and empirical proofs demanded. The concepts of ‘dichotomy’ and ‘binary thinking’ are discussed. The assumed political and ethical sequelae and implications of adherence to one or another theoretical position and research methodology are questioned. Ecological awareness can be acquired from various positions. In general, political correctness in academia is criticized.

Climate change research and action counteracting it affect everyone and would involve cross-societal transformations reshaping the anthroposphere in its entirety. Scrutinizing climate-related science and policies, we recognize attempts to steer the evolution of climate according to expected (or modelled) futures. Such attempts would turn the anthroposphere into a large "anticipatory system", in which human society seeks to anticipate and, possibly, to govern climate dynamics. The chief aim of this discussion paper is to open a critical debate on the climate change paradigm (CCP) drawing on a strategic and systemic framework grounded in the concept of anticipatory system sensu Rosen (1991). The proposed scheme is ambitiously intended to turn an intricate issue into a complex but structured problem that is to say, to make such complexity clear and manageable. This framework emerges from concepts borrowed from different scientific fields (including future studies and system dynamics) and its background lies in a simple quantitative literature overview, relying upon a broad level of analysis. The proposed framework will assist researchers and policy makers in thinking of CCP in terms of an anticipatory system, and in disentangling its interrelated (and sometimes intricate) aspects. In point of fact, several strategic questions related to CCP were not subjected to an adequate transdisciplinary discussion: what are the interplays between physical processes and social-political interventions, who is the observer (what he/she is looking for), and which paradigm is being used (or who defines the desirable future). The proposed scheme allows to structure such various topics in an arrangement which is easier to communicate, highlighting the linkages in between, and making them intelligible and open to verification and discussion. Furthermore, ideally developments will help scientists and policy makers address the strategic gaps between the evidence-based climatological assessments and the plurality of possible answers as applied to the geopolitical contingencies.

Arsenic is a trace element and a global contaminant. There are currently large uncertainties associated with our understanding and quantification of the arsenic cycles in the global environment. This study proposes a research framework where the major anthropogenic processes affecting anthropogenic arsenic cycles (AACs) are identified. A characteristic of this framework is that it divides AACs into two parts: one related to intentional uses, and the other driven by unintentional uses. Several significant features of AACs are summarized as follows: (1) existing studies reveal that AACs at Earth's surface is at the same order of magnitudes as its natural cycles; (2) arsenic mostly enters modern anthroposphere as a companion element of nonferrous metal ores or fossil fuels, and currently there is abundant arsenic reserves relative to the limited intentional use of arsenic; (3) China owns the majority of arsenic reserves and is the biggest producer of arsenic for the present day, while U.S. was the biggest user of arsenic in the whole 20th century; (4) there were several waves of rise and fall of intentional arsenic use in the 20th century of U.S., with the rises driven by various applications of arsenic in agriculture and industry (such as glass making in the 1900s, agricultural applications in the 1920s, and wood preservatives in the 1970s), and the falls mainly resulting from the regulations in response to its toxicity; (5) the majority of intentional arsenic uses are in the form of chemical compounds rather than single substance, and almost all intentional uses of arsenic not only are unrecyclable but also result in emissions that may last years or decades after being used.

The plastic waste disposal strongly raised in importance in the recent past and it is approaching a critical situation worldwide, so requiring putting in practice the criteria of circular economy by avoiding meaningless policy responses against the plastic materials. The world of plastic materials includes a wide range of goods in all the sectors of our life: packaging, construction, biomedicals, etc. The answer to the plastic waste disposal is build an industrial network characterized by reliability, flexibility, sustainability, utility in the industrial cycle and ability to provide useful products to the market. The traditional processes including recycling and energy recovery fulfil only a part of these conditions and need to be assessed in correlation to their real effect on the circular economy such as the uses of the obtained products in the anthroposphere's life cycle, the burdens generated by the processes itself, etc. Among the possible processes that can be more sustainable if compared with the traditional ones, in a real circular economy perspective, those based on thermochemical exploitation of products obtained by plastics are discussed and assessed. The results show that it is possible to transform an expensive and non-resolving plastic waste management system in an industrial network having an intrinsic economic sustainability and, overall, a well-defined role in the economic chain of plastics. The results show that an integration between the present system with the production of petrochemical products, including oil/gasoline/syngas/…, strongly improve the economic performance of the overall waste system, allowing a larger savings of not-renewable resources, a limited greenhouse burden, a release in the market of valuable products instead of poor quality materials and the minimization of waste destined to be landfilled.

In this chapter globalisation at the end of the twentieth century and the role of nation-states in its processes are presented. Environmental globalisation and the effects of globalisation on environmental and nature protection together with the relationship between environmental problems and social conflicts are focused. The relationship and role of global and national institutions controlling the society on influencing the overall operation of the global Earth system are analysed. The relationship of multinational companies and nation-states is also discussed together with the relationship between authoritarian systems and the natural environment. The typical features of the global civil society and its role in sustainable development are presented in a separate subchapter. In another subchapter the effects of wars ruining the society and nature are discussed. Then the new ways of globalisation, digital globalisation are analysed. Finally, processes connecting the global society acting for or against sustainable development are presented, and related to this the “layered” structure of the society is illustrated by superposing different world maps.

The prevailing patterns of consumption and production are not sustainable because they are based on increasing extraction of non-renewable resources (such as fossil fuels or scarce metals) from the Earth’s crust and overuse of life-sustaining ecosystem services (such as CO2 assimilation or the water cycle). One strategy to direct consumption to a sustainable pathway is the circular economy. The goal of the circular economy is to slow down the flow of material resources through the anthroposphere and to return them back to nature in a form that is as compatible as possible with the ecosystem processes. We focus on the first aspect, which means that each unit of material resource that enters the economic system should satisfy as much human needs as possible until it is considered waste. We ask the question if and how the emerging “sharing economy” can contribute to this specific goal. We see the phenomenon of sharing economy as a transformation of sharing practices with means of digital Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The resulting Digital Sharing Economy (DSE) can therefore be considered an important special case of ICT impact on sustainable development. We open up an argument on how sharing in the DSE can be either supportive or counter-productive with regard to the circular economy goals. We present a first framework that provides a guideline for the qualitative assessment of new sharing practices with regard to their potential contribution to a circular economy.

Dynamically tracking flows and stocks of chemicals in products (CiPs) in the global anthroposphere and physical environment is essential for understanding their environmental fates and risks. The complex behavior of CiPs during production, industrial activities, use and waste disposal makes this task particularly challenging. In this chapter, we develop a global anthropospheric fate model, named Chemicals in Products—Comprehensive Anthropospheric Fate Estimation (CiP-CAFE). Provided with an array of product and chemical property parameters, the CiP-CAFE model 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 also briefly introduce its connection with a previously published global environmental fate model, named the Berkeley-Trent Global (BETR-Global); the fusion of two models enables simulating temporally and spatially resolved masses and concentrations of chemicals.

In this chapter, we explore (i) the temporal trend of stocks and emissions of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) throughout the lifecycle of PCB-containing products, and (ii) the spatial dispersal of PCBs through international trade of technical mixtures, finished products and waste (anthropospheric dispersal), as well as long-range environmental transport mediated by air and ocean currents (environmental dispersal). We reveal that in-use and waste stocks are temporary sinks for PCBs in the anthroposphere and relevant sources of PCBs to the global physical environment. After a sufficiently long period of time, PCBs either permanently disappear from lifecycle and waste disposal phases or enter the physical environment. In addition, the anthropospheric dispersal is more efficient than the environmental dispersal in driving the global dispersal of PCBs. The role of the international trade of technical mixtures is more prominent than that of other trade flows.

Academic and public interest has been poured into “chemicals in products (CiPs)”, that is, the chemicals of environmental and health concern intentionally added in industrial or consumer goods for additional functions. This chapter gives a comprehensive overview of the fate of CiPs in the “total” environment, that is, a system comprising the anthroposphere (human socioeconomic activities) and the physical environment (the totality of abiotic setting in which organisms and humans live) as two interconnected and interdependent components. Currently, industrial ecologists have well elucidated the anthropospheric fate of products whereas environmental chemists have well elucidated the environmental fate of chemicals. Nevertheless, there is still a need for an integrative, temporally resolved, and mechanistically sound modeling framework for chemicals plus products as an organic whole in the CiP issue.

Sustainability has been at the forefront of the environmental research agenda of the integrated anthroposphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere since the last century and will continue to be critically important for future environmental science. However, linking humans and the environment through effective policy remains a major challenge for sustainability research and practice. Here we address this gap using an agent-based model (ABM) for a coupled natural and human systems in the Smoky Hill River Watershed (SHRW), Kansas, USA. For this freshwater-dependent agricultural watershed with a highly variable flow regime influenced by human-induced land-use and climate change, we tested the support for an environmental policy designed to conserve and protect fish biodiversity in the SHRW. We develop a proof of concept interdisciplinary ABM that integrates field data on hydrology, ecology (fish richness), social-psychology (value-belief-norm) and economics, to simulate human agents' decisions to support environmental policy. The mechanism to link human behaviors to environmental changes is the social-psychological sequence identified by the value-belief-norm framework and is informed by hydrological and fish ecology models. Our results indicate that (1) cultural factors influence the decision to support the policy; (2) a mechanism modifying social-psychological factors can influence the decision-making process; (3) there is resistance to environmental policy in the SHRW, even under potentially extreme climate conditions; and (4) the best opportunities for policy acceptance were found immediately after extreme environmental events. The modeling approach presented herein explicitly links biophysical and social science has broad generality for sustainability problems.

The first spatially and temporally resolved inventory of BDE28, 47, 99, 153, 183, and 209 in the anthroposphere and environment is presented here. The stock and emissions of PBDE congeners were estimated using a dynamic substance flow analysis model, CiP-CAFE. To evaluate our results, the emission estimates were used as input to the BETR-Global model. Estimated concentrations were compared with observed concentrations in air from background areas. The global (a) in-use and (b) waste stocks of ∑5BDE(28, 47, 99, 153, 183) and BDE209 are estimated to be (a) ∼25 and 400 kt and (b) 13 and 100 kt, respectively, in 2018. A total of 6 (0.3-13) and 10.5 (9-12) kt of ∑5BDE and BDE209, respectively, has been emitted to the atmosphere by 2018. More than 70% of PBDE emissions during production and use occurred in the industrialized regions, while more than 70% of the emissions during waste disposal occurred in the less industrialized regions. A total of 70 kt of ∑5BDE and BDE209 was recycled within products since 1970. As recycling rates are expected to increase under the circular economy, an additional 45 kt of PBDEs (mainly BDE209) may reappear in new products.

Sun Worshipers describe an atmosphere about the miracles and traumas of communication that has taken on critical thinking and have produced a new social system in which speed and exhibitionism are a symptom of desocialization, of collective malaise. Alongside the massive use of the selfie in the anthroposphere, the essay opens a discussion on the maneuvers of an artistic practice that uses the civilization of the screen to reflect on vanity and on the museification of the instant, of the present, of the actuality

In this paper, we review the use of satellite-based remote sensing in combination with in situ data to inform Earth surface modelling. This involves verification and optimization methods that can handle both random and systematic errors and result in effective model improvement for both surface monitoring and prediction applications. The reasons for diverse remote sensing data and products include (i) their complementary areal and temporal coverage, (ii) their diverse and covariant information content, and (iii) their ability to complement in situ observations, which are often sparse and only locally representative. To improve our understanding of the complex behavior of the Earth system at the surface and sub-surface, we need large volumes of data from high-resolution modelling and remote sensing, since the Earth surface exhibits a high degree of heterogeneity and discontinuities in space and time. The spatial and temporal variability of the biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and anthroposphere calls for an increased use of Earth observation (EO) data attaining volumes previously considered prohibitive. We review data availability and discuss recent examples where satellite remote sensing is used to infer observable surface quantities directly or indirectly, with particular emphasis on key parameters necessary for weather and climate prediction. Coordinated high-resolution remote-sensing and modelling/assimilation capabilities for the Earth surface are required to support an international application-focused effort.

Despite the growing popularity of bottom-up fishery management schemes not all socio-ecological systems respond well to this approach. Unfortunately, due to the heterogeneous nature of socio-ecological systems and lack of long-term, place-based studies we have yet to disentangle the impact of social attributes on their sustainability. The gooseneck barnacle fishery in Asturias, a fishery with a long-standing tradition of bottom-up management schemes and a plethora of spatially explicit data, provides a unique opportunity to test the effect of social attributes on 7, heterogeneous, co-managed, Territorial Use Rights for Fishing (TURFs) areas. We developed an integrated index that reflects the sustainability of each individual Asturian TURF on 2 key spheres of the total environment: biosphere and anthroposphere. Additionally, we carried out detailed surveys to assess both user and governance social attributes in each TURF. The effect of these attributes on the sustainability index was assessed using Linear Regression Analysis, One Way Analysis of Variance and Analysis of Covariance. According to our results, social factors are key drivers for the sustainability of a bottom-up management system. Additionally, bottom-up management schemes promote strong governance social attributes but can be systematically weakened if user-defined social attributes are lacking. Fortunately, user-defined attributes tend to be linked and can have a compensating effect, as was the case in Asturias were conflict resolution mechanisms and strong leadership were able to compensate for low cooperation within the TURFs. Thus, social attributes must be considered when assessing the suitability or sustainability of bottom-up management schemes.

The global ecosphere is a complex, evolving system, and the anthroposphere another, more rapidly evolving one [...]

The built environment is the cause of most of the material flows in the anthroposphere and the biggest material storage: Over 90 % of the anthropogenic stock stored in durable goods can be found in the built environment, with non-metallic minerals being the main contributor. In Germany, most of the materials that leave the stock due to demolition or renovation are recovered. In Saxony, a German state, the recovery rate is nearly 99 % but only 55% of mineral construction and demolition waste is recycled. There is still substantial potential for closing recycling loops. This requires the combined effort of all those actors that influence these material flows – from the investor and constructor of the single building to those responsible for waste management at municipal level and the waste disposal and construction materials industry. However, the information currently available is insufficient to support an effective urban mining. This will be encountered by an ongoing research project that aims to enhance existing informational instruments regarding construction related material flows in the built environment. The project follows a dualistic research approach considering informational instruments at (1) individual building level and (2) at regional level. The objective of the paper is to present an approach on how material inventories can be better aligned with practical information needs. After introducing the overall concept and methodology as well as describing the process of analysing the current state of information flows, first results considering the structure of material in- and outputs and the needs for information of different actors are presented.

The humans are directly in contact with nanomaterials either they are aware or not about nanotechnology. With passage of time, nanotechnology is offering new frontiers for the humanity and introducing new products in the anthroposphere. It has brought great revolution in the medical field for the detection and treatment of diseases. Nanoimaging, nerve nano-repair, neuro protection, nano-neuromodulation, nano-manipulation etc. are the blessings of nanotechnology. Based on their distinctive characteristics such as high reactivity, small size and large surface area, nanoparticles have promising benefits not only in medical field but also in many other areas. Recently, nanotechnology has emerged as a new frontier in modern agriculture. It is anticipated that nanotechnology may have a major thrust in near future by offering potential applications especially in the field of smart delivery systems of agricultural chemical (nutrient, pesticides etc.) from source to end assimilation. It will lead the scientist towards conservation of resources along with precise agriculture by introducing new sensing methods. Biofortification and nano-packaging of different food is an innovative application of nano-science in food industry which is making it more interesting and applicable. Nano remediation has proved challenging and promising methods to clean the environment providing active adsorption and precipitation for variety of contaminants. Environmental and human risk assessment associated with the use of engineered nano-materials is still a matter of debate. Due to the increased application of nanoparticles in the fields of modern science and technology, the demand to produce these particles has escalated resulting increased contamination of the environment and increased exposure to biota in biosphere. Therefore, this chapter will provide an opportunity for readers to have well understanding of nano-technology and application of nano-materials in future.

In this paper, we review the use of satellite-based remote sensing in combination with in situ data to inform Earth surface modelling. This involves verification and optimization methods that can handle both random and systematic errors and result in effective model improvement for both surface monitoring and prediction applications. The reasons for diverse remote sensing data and products include (i) their complementary areal and temporal coverage, (ii) their diverse and covariant information content, and (iii) their ability to complement in situ observations, which are often sparse and only locally representative. To improve our understanding of the complex behavior of the Earth system at the surface and sub-surface, we need large volumes of data from high-resolution modelling and remote sensing, since the Earth surface exhibits a high degree of heterogeneity and discontinuities in space and time. The spatial and temporal variability of the biosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and anthroposphere calls for an increased use of Earth observation (EO) data attaining volumes previously considered prohibitive. We review data availability and discuss recent examples where satellite remote sensing is used to infer observable surface quantities directly or indirectly, with particular emphasis on key parameters necessary for weather and climate prediction. Coordinated high-resolution remote-sensing and modelling/assimilation capabilities for the Earth surface are required to support an international application-focused effort.

Mercury (Hg) in the anthroposphere and its emission into the environment have been increasingly attracting attention. It is agreed upon that a substantial share of Hg is caused by anthropogenic activities. Comprehensive insight into Hg flows is crucial to minimizing exposure risk to humans and the environment. This study is the first to put together a detailed, multiannual (2005 to 2016) Hg balance for the whole manufacturing industry of an industrialized country, namely Austria. It investigates data availability, quality, and the lack thereof by following a systematic approach. Assessed data is combined in a material flow analysis model to estimate and discuss the relevant Hg flows through inputs (raw materials) and outputs (products, wastes, emissions) of the individual industry sectors. Uncertainty ranges are estimated and processed according to error propagation. Hg concentrations for most goods are available, but often of low quality (incomplete, partly non-representative). Data for quantities of goods are mostly available, especially for primary raw materials and production numbers. Nevertheless, publicly available data differs strongly from sector to sector and within sectors. Over the period 2005 to 2016 the Hg throughput varied from 3.4 t/yr ±25% to 4 t/yr ±25%. Primary raw materials and fuels accounted for 70% to 75% of the Hg import, secondary ones for 25% to 30%. Hg export via products was estimated at 35% to 40%, via emissions to air at 20% to 25% and via waste at 40% to 45%.

The article deals with the problem of the modern education system perfection and at the same time seeks to reach the limit of the possible in the transformation of the educational space to meet the demand of time, its ability to provide social consciousness in the conditions of the ongoing crisis and those changes that caused the intensification of the dialogue between Man and Nature. The development with the participation of humans becomes of a more targeted nature – noospheric and educational, global one. This is a new way obliges a modern general education institution to look for better approaches to the production of personality and promote the development of modern man – the carrier of new values. The state of society's consciousness should be inclined to act in the direction of its spirituality. The correlation between the social and morphological organization of a human being should not be beyond the problem of profile education. he human world to a large extent begins in a human being itself, therefore, the objective of this article is the search for ways to change the educational system of the region for the sake of further formation and development of the democratic society of the anthropospheric era.

There has been ever-increasing international interest in investigating the long-term emissions of chemicals in products (CiPs) throughout their entire life cycle in the anthroposphere. Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) is a contemporary example of special interest due to the recent listing of this hazardous flame retardant in the Stockholm Convention and the consequent need for parties to take appropriate measures to eliminate this compound. Here, we conducted a scenario-based dynamic substance flow analysis, coupled with interval linear programming, to forecast the future HBCDD emissions in China in order to assist with the implementation of the Stockholm Convention in this current world's predominant HBCDD manufacturing and consuming country. Our results indicate that, under a business-as-usual scenario, the cumulative HBCDD production will amount to 238,000 tonnes before its phase-out, 79% of which will be consumed in domestic market, accumulate as stocks in flame-retarded polystyrene insulation boards, and ultimately end up in demolition waste. While the production is scheduled to end in ca. 2021, emissions of HBCDD would continue until after 2100. For the entire simulation period 2000–2100, 44% of total cumulative emissions will arise from the industrial manufacture of HBCDD-associated end-products, whereas 49% will come from the end-of-life disposals of HBCDD-containing waste. The most effective end-of-life disposal option for minimizing emissions we found was, a pre-demolition screening combined with complete incineration. Our study warns of the huge challenges that China would face in its eliminating HBCDD contamination in the following decades, and provides an effective methodology for a wider range of countries to recognize and tackle their long-term emission problems of hazardous CiPs. Keywords: Hexabromocyclododecane, Emissions, Chemicals in products, Dynamic substance flow analysis, Interval linear programming, End-of-life

Material flow modeling constitutes an important approach to predicting and understanding the flows of materials through the anthroposphere into the environment. The new "Dynamic Probabilistic Material Flow Analysis (DPMFA)" method, combining dynamic material flow modeling with probabilistic modeling, is presented in this paper. Material transfers that lead to particular environmental stocks are represented as systems of mass-balanced flows. The time-dynamic behavior of the system is calculated by adding up the flows over several consecutive periods, considering changes in the inflow to the system and intermediate delays in local stocks. Incomplete parameter knowledge is represented and propagated using Bayesian modeling. The method is implemented as a simulation framework in Python to support experts from different domains in the development of their application models. After the introduction of the method and its implementation, a case study is presented in which the framework is applied to predict the environmental concentrations of carbon nanotubes in Switzerland. Presentation of a probabilistic modeling method for representing dynamic mass flows.Implementation as simulation framework.Case study: Exposure modeling of carbon nanotubes for Switzerland.

In this paper we explored the recycling potential across EU28 of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE). This category embodies the commodities that require electricity in order to function. Per capita rate of EEE varies from less than 150 Kg to more than 2 tons in 2018. Economic intensity of this stock is overall decreasing and it is currently near to zero. EEE are composed by a wide range of materials, comprehending valuables ones as gold and rare ones as antimony. We calculated the potential recovery rate of 16 materials from this category. Using inflow-driven analysis, we estimated the potential value for both in-use stock and waste flows. We defined this rate artificial ore grade (AOG), given recycling as mining of the anthroposphere. Using the same dataset, we estimated the composition of EEE for the same materials and compared the results with other studies. Results show that in-use stock AOG is decreasing over time, possibly due to com-position change of EEE. Nevertheless, potential recovery from these 16 materials accounts to almost 15% of EEE weight in richer countries. Similar results occur for waste AOG. The only two materials that face an increase in rate are iron and chlorine: respectively 0.08%–0.1% and 0.0013%–0.0015% stock-waste. Heavy equipment seems to be the richest category due to size effect. We finally compared the in-use material stock contained within EEE and the rest of anthroposphere. The total weight of EEE is residual compared to total in-use stock. Our results show that high recovery potential is paired with low material consumption compared to the rest of economy. This is a good sign for material footprint, but negative for the volume of recycled materials.

Год 2020-й, скорее всего, сохранится в памяти как год острого осознания человечеством всей мнимости своего могущества над природной средой. Те опасения и предостережения, которые высказывали провидцы и мыслители на протяжении многих лет и поколений, к сожалению, стали явью. Нам с болью пришлось осознать и принять тот факт, что знание не безгранично и не всемогуще, а человек – не внешний по отношению к природе субъект, а одна из ее неотъемлемых внутренних составляющих, хотя, конечно, эта составляющая весьма значима и весома. Воздействие на природу и на фундаментальные основы ее функционирования достигло таких масштабов и пределов, что она стала непредсказуемо и непредвиденно меняться, порой неся в себе и своем новом развитии угрозу всему роду человеческому.В определенном смысле похожая ситуация наблюдалась на рубеже 60–70-х гг. прошлого столетия и нашла отражение в работах и апокалиптических прогнозах Римского клуба. В тот период стало очевидно, что имеющиеся на Земле ресурсные возможности, которые доступны человечеству, далеко не беспредельны, и их нехватка вот-вот грозит вселенской катастрофой. Однако время идет, но ничего подобного не наблюдается – одни природные ресурсы приходят на смену другим, увеличиваются глубины и ареалы их доступности. Как результат, население планеты за это время выросло почти в три раза и все еще продолжает расти. Да, некоторые жизненно важные ресурсы остаются в относительной недоступности в отдельных регионах мира, но эта ситуация далеко не так безнадежна и катастрофична, какой казалась полвека тому назад.Основная причина в том, что человечество (большинство стран и народов современного мира) усвоило на практике известное «правило Королевы» из сказки-притчи Льюиса Кэрролла «Алиса в Стране чудес» – «для того, чтобы остаться на том же месте, надо бежать изо всех сил» (in this place it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place). Силой, которая позволяет человечеству все еще жить на планете Земля и отдаляет наступление ресурсной катастрофы, является сила разума и современного знания.Именно сила разума и знания позволила не только найти ресурсы там, где их не искали и даже не подозревали об их наличии, но и, что особенно важно, – значительно изменить представления об инструментах поиска и о подходах к удовлетворению растущих потребностей растущего человечества. Разум и знание «заглянули» в микромир – перешли к синтезу новых веществ и изменению генетической основы окружающей среды. Ответ природы на подобное «вмешательство» оказался быстрым и во многом неожиданным. Одно из его проявлений – COVID-19 – стремительно меняющийся и перестраиваемый код агрессивных микроорганизмов.Как ответить на этот новый глобальный вызов?Рецепт, на наш взгляд, во многом схож с тем, который и ранее позволил найти выход из тупика – обращение к силе разума и знания. Однако «вектор» этой силы, очевидно, должен быть изменен. Он должен быть направлен не на рост обеспеченности различными ресурсами за счет увеличения экономической эффективности их освоения, вовлечения и использования, а на снижение интенсивности их эксплуатации с точки зрения уменьшения негативного воздействия на природу. При этом необходимо перейти от чисто объемных метрик использования ресурсов и обусловленных этим различных выбросов (от твердых отходов до парниковых газов) к метрикам «приростным». Только в этом случае можно обеспечить переход к «зеленому развитию», как отмечено на страницах тематической подборки этого номера. «Негативные воздействия на окружающую среду в расчете на единицу ВРП должны сокращаться тем сильнее, чем больше скорость роста экономики» (статья И. П. Глазыриной).Как нам представляется, сегодня лишь научившись управлять интенсивностью выбросов, человечество сможет «оставаться на месте» – продолжать жить и развиваться на планете Земля. «Правило Королевы» тем самым меняется и приобретает более сложный вид – необходимо не только поддерживать определенную скорость (например, динамику ВРП), но и уметь управлять порожденными ею изменениями.Общие концептуальные основы могут быть реализованы только в случае единодушия и объединенных целенаправленных усилий различных стран и народов. России это касается в полной мере, поскольку наша страна «является одним из мировых лидеров по объему образования отходов производства» (статья Т. О. Тагаевой).В рамках движения в данном направлении в начале 2018 г. была утверждена Стратегия развития промышленности по обработке, утилизации и обезвреживанию отходов производства и потребления на период до 2030 года (там же). К сожалению, этот документ, начиная с его структуры и заканчивая предлагаемыми механизмами реализации, весьма далек от упомянутого современного подхода к решению проблем ресурсного обеспечения и, тем более, уменьшения негативных воздействий на окружающую среду.Причины этого далеко не новы – отсутствие системности, технократическая направленность предпринимаемых шагов и мер («объемы – деньги – технологии – сроки»), отсутствие понимания роли и связей различных уровней пространственной иерархии при решении экологических проблем.Необходимость учета этих (и целого ряда других) важных черт и особенностей взаимодействия окружающей среды и экономики отмечалась исследователями разных стран неоднократно. В частности, в 1997–1998 гг. в рамках Международной программы по изучению роли человеческого фактора (International Human Dimensions Program – IHDP) отмечалось, что «взаимодействие между гуманитарным и экосистемным измерением в социально-экологических системах имеет характер не просто взаимосвязи, но их реальной интеграции и целостности… Без адекватного понимания связей на локальном, региональном, национальном, континентальном и глобальном уровнях невозможно продвижение в решении проблем устойчивого развития во всех трех измерениях: экологическом, экономическом и социокультурном… Необходимо новое социальное понимание роли технологий и знаний в процессе взаимодействия социокультурных и экологических систем»1.Именно в силу пренебрежения данными общими – системными и институциональными – условиями в России все еще приходится говорить о том, что «необходимо целенаправленно доводить средства, вырученные от экосбора, до конкретных предприятий и региональных операторов, участвующих в утилизации отходов» (статья Т. О. Тагаевой). Как результат пренебрежения данными условиями, при более чем скромных результатах экономического развития, общий вклад качества окружающей среды в России в создание и поддержание приемлемого уровня жизни в целом малозаметен. Поэтому, например, на Дальнем Востоке (как и в целом ряде других регионов страны) «реализованные институциональные преобразования пока не способствовали заметному повышению благосостояния населения» (статья И. А. Забелиной).Россия, как всегда, идет своим путем. В контексте поиска эффективных ответов на новые экологические и антропосферные вызовы мы сегодня находимся в самом начале этого пути. Есть определенное знание, есть понимание отдельных практических шагов и мер. Очевидно, что решение поставленных задач – вопрос не столько реализации той или иной стратегии (программы), спущенной «сверху», сколько консолидации общества вокруг и в связи с достижением основной цели социально-экономического развития – обеспечения достойной жизни ныне живущим и будущим поколениям. Никто за нас и для нас не сделает нашу и наших детей жизнь более здоровой и содержательной.1 Folke, C., Pritchard, L., Berkes, F., Colding, J. and Svedin, U. (2007). The problem of fit between ecosystems and institutions: ten years later. Ecology and Society 12(1): 30. URL: http://www. ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss1/art3

Marine bioinvasions are increasing worldwide by a number of factors related to the anthroposphere, such as higher ship traffic, climate change and biotic communities' alterations. Generating information about species with high invasive potential is necessary to inform management decisions aiming to prevent their arrival and spread. Grateloupia turuturu, one of the most harmful invasive macroalgae, is capable of damaging ecosystem functions and services, and causing biodiversity loss. Here we developed an ecological niche model using occurrence and environmental data to infer the potential global distribution of G. turuturu. In addition, ecophysiological experiments were performed with G. turuturu populations from different climatic regions to test predictions regarding invasion risk. Our model results show high suitability in temperate and warm temperate regions around the world, with special highlight to some areas where this species still doesn't occur. Thalli representing a potential temperate region origin, were held at 10, 13, 16, 20 and 24 degrees C, and measurements of optimal quantum field (Fv/Fm) demonstrated a decrease of photosynthetic yield in the higher temperature. Thalli from the population already established in warm temperate South Atlantic were held at 18, 24 and 30 degrees C with high and low nutrient conditions. This material exposed to the higher temperature demonstrated a drop in photosynthetic yield and significant reduction of growth rate. The congregation of modelling and physiological approach corroborate the invasive potential of G. turuturu and indicate higher invasion risk in temperate zones. Further discussions regarding management initiatives must be fostered to mitigate anthropogenic transport and eventually promote eradication initiatives in source areas, with special focus in the South America. We propose that this combined approach can be used to assess the potential distribution and establishment of other marine invasive species. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPQ) Sustainable prospection in ocean islands: biodiversity, chemistry, ecology and biotechnology (PROSPECMAR-Islands) Rede nacional de pesquisa em biodiversidade marinha (SISBIOTAMar) Foundation for the support of research and innovation in the State of Santa Catarina (FAPESC) Fundacao Boticario Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES)Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES) Pew Foundation Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) of PortugalPortuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [SFRH/BPD/111003/2015, CCMAR/Multi/04326/2013, DL57/2016/CP1361/CT0035] Centre Mondial d'Innovation, Roullier Group CNPqConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPQ) [CSF 88888.884790/2014-00, 306917/2009-2] CAPESCoordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES) [PNADB 2338000071/2010-61] Instituto Nacional de Ciencia e Tecnologia para as Mudancas no Clima (INCT-MC) info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

MFA was born in the 1980s, independently, in various laboratories around the world. On the one hand, Industry was trying then to put numbers on its circular economy practices, while, on the other, Academia endeavored to construct a metaphor ofnatural ecology(BioGeoChemical Cycles [BGCC]) or of themetabolism of ecosystemsto describe the activities of the anthroposphere, especially its material and the energy flows (and stocks). This article briefly reviews the early efforts of Usinor (now ArcelorMittal) in this area, in the framework of a program called “The Cycle of Iron” and points out what it was trying to achieve: basically, analyze and evaluate a true recycling rate (RR) of steel. MFA turned out to be potentially a more powerful tool than ad hoc models of materials circularity too and Industry left the leadership to academic groups to flesh out the new methodology to confront such difficult questions as the evaluation of a RR. Then the article conducts a kind of methodological and epistemological audit of the present status of MFA, positioning it in the wide framework of descriptions of material flows in space and time, and thus picturing it as a competing methodology to LCA. While the former is macro-scale, synchronic, broadly economy-oriented, the latter is micro-scale, diachronic, product and value chain-oriented, while both “report” to different communities, the Industrial Ecology community and the LCA community respectively, and more. Both schools of thoughts have been attending SAM conferences regularly, where they have been reporting their continuous search for new developments and their search for a better sustainability assessment of materials, products, industrial systems and economic activities of all kinds. The various contributions over the first 12 SAM events are analyzed. Finally, MFA and LCA are compared, feature by feature, in terms of the communities they serve and of their strengths and weaknesses. Unsurprisingly, the conclusion is that they are more complementary than competing with each other.

Many studies have reported effects of global climate change on wildlife, including changes in species distributions and population sizes but perspectives on interactions between the biosphere and the anthroposphere are limited. Bears have a worldwide range and often come into conflict with humans. We assessed the effects of weather variables including temperature, precipitation, and sunshine on human–bear conflicts. Given that the relationship between climate and bear physiology is poorly understood, we first conducted an exploratory analysis using regression techniques. We then built a final predictive model using generalized linear mixed modelling and Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC)-based model selection. Our model highlighted the influence of cold temperatures during denning on the frequency of human–bear conflicts. Cold temperatures during denning are related to increased energy requirements for thermoregulation. It is likely that the resulting increase in demand for food following denning leads to an increase in human–bear conflicts. Our results also indicate that cool springs, lingering winter snowpacks, and hot summers may increase human–bear conflicts due to associated reductions in key food sources.

Urban mining (UM) is a metaphorical term to describe the reclaiming of non-renewable resources from the anthroposphere. It provides secondary resources to the economic system with the associated environmental benefits. Urban mining even become an industry in China, processing large quantity of waste generated domestically and internationally, it offers economic growth while associated with environmental and social problems. The sustainability of urban mining development in China is in question. This doctoral study developed a four-dimensional sustainable UM framework, analyzed the multiple attributes and the relevant focal points embodied in the resource, environmental, economic, and social dimensions of urban mining. As a previous teamwork study the author was involved in has explored the resource and environmental issues. This study focused on the economic and social dimension. In the economic dimension, the study constructed a maximal covering location model combining a 0-1 integer programming method on the ArcGIS platform, to solve a location optimization of the 50 national UM pilot bases the China government would like to support. In the social dimension, the key issue is the problem an integration of the informal collection. The study examined the emerging intelligent collection models and theirs comparative advantage. A sustainable urban mining system need the application of the intelligent collection to integrate or replace the informal collection. This study further illustrated the four-dimensional issues in one UM city as a micro case study to explore how UM industry development in one city can impact its industrialization and urbanization and help contribute towards sustainable development. Lastly, an in-depth policy assessment in China for UM brought the study back to the macro level, and its results can formulate specific policy advice for the core question of this thesis - sustainable UM development in China. This study constructs a theoretical four-dimension framework for sustainable UM analysis and strategy planning. And provides specific policy advice for China government decision-making about the UM industry. The experience and lessons of China are also applicable for other developing counties, and for the EU counties with their circular economy targets.

The critical importance of wilderness areas (WAs) for biodiversity conservation and human well-being is well established yet mapping criteria on which WA management policies are based take neither into account. Current WA mapping methods are framed in terms of absence of anthropogenic influence, and created using visual satellite data, obviating consideration of the ecological or anthropogenic value of WAs. In this paper we suggest that taking the acoustic environment into account could address this lacuna. We report the first investigation into the potential for ecoacoustic methods to complement existing geophysical approaches. Participatory walks, including in situ questionnaires and ecoacoustic surveys were carried out at points along transects traversing urban-wilderness gradients at four study sites in the Scottish Highlands and French Pyrenees. The relationships between a suite of six acoustic indices (AIs), wilderness classifications and human subjective ratings were examined. We observed significant differences between five out of six AIs tested across wilderness classes, demonstrating significant differences in the soundscape across urban-wild gradients. Strong, significant correlations between AIs, wilderness classes and human perceptions of wildness were observed, although magnitude and direction of correlations varied across sites. Finally, a compound acoustic index is shown to strongly predict mapped wildness classes (up to 95% variance explained MSE 0.22); perceived wilderness and biodiversity are even more strongly predicted. Together these results demonstrate that the acoustic environment varies significantly along urban-wild gradients; AIs reveal details of environmental variation excluded under current methods, and capture key facets of the human experience of wildness. An important next step is to ascertain the ecological and anthropogenic relevance of these differences, and develop new automated acoustic analysis methods suited to mapping the environmental characteristics of WAs. Taken together, our results suggest that future management of WAs could benefit from ecoacoustic methods to take the biosphere and anthroposphere into account.