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Copyright of Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores the complex intersections of postmodern literature, time-space theory, and eco-criticism, particularly in portraying temporal disruption and spatial collapse amidst current environmental crises. It examines how postmodern literary works challenge the linearity of time and the stability of spatial boundaries in response to the global environmental challenges of the Anthropocene. Through an analysis of critical texts, the study explores ecological degradation as a physical reality and a conceptual issue, fragmenting our perceptions of time and space. Using an eco-critical lens, the article investigates how authors dismantle linear narratives and static settings, instead presenting cyclical or collapsed structures that metaphorically mirror the breakdown of ecosystems and natural rhythms. Focusing on Don DeLillo’s White Noise and Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, the article critiques the socio-political ramifications of environmental crises and their reflection on postmodern aesthetics. Ultimately, it contends that the fragmentation of time and space in postmodern literature symbolises broader environmental collapse, urging readers to re-evaluate their relationship with nature, time, and space.

Organizations are adopting green initiatives in response to global environmental crises and climate shifts. While previous research has examined how green HRM affects employees' in-role and extra-role working behaviors, less is known about how it influences employees' behavior outside of work due to their green values (GV) that develop because of implementing organizational green actions. The study addresses the issue, while also considering employees’ environmental knowledge (EK) as a mediating factor, utilizing social learning theory and psychological contract theory. Data were collected using the convenience sampling method, where the sample size was 320, from ten selected large-sized ceramic companies operating in Bangladesh. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data. Results infer that green HRM effectively enhances EK among employees and redirects their GV beyond the workplace. Additionally, EK substantially and positively mediates between the green HRM and GV relationship. The conclusions correspond to the recommendations are indicated in the relational psychological contract theory and the social learning theory. The findings have imperative theoretical and managerial ramifications since they address the knowledge gap in the literature and outline knowledge-enhancing green HRM practices that organizations may adopt to improve their green performance. The study also outlines actions for adopting green HRM activities in organizations, aligning the scope for improving employees’ EK and giving them the opportunities to practice green actions for sustainable social outcomes through their increased sense of GV.

This research focuses on the analysis of language and narrative in understanding how literary works can contribute to public awareness and understanding of the environmental crisis in Indonesia. It serves as an initial step in comprehending the role of language and literature in depicting the environmental crisis in the country. The study aims to reveal how the use of language, narrative, characters, symbolism, environmental context analysis, and environmental crisis analysis in the short story "The Vanishing Smoke" can provide a deeper understanding of the environmental crisis in Indonesia. The research method employed is an in-depth text analysis to comprehend the short story "The Vanishing Smoke." The methodology includes data collection, text analysis, and contextual analysis. The findings include: (1) Language analysis consisting of diction, language style, symbolism, and elements in the short story. (2) Environmental Context Analysis, including environmental context and environmental crisis. (3) Environmental Crisis Analysis, encompassing the messages in the short story, the environmental issue perspective in depicting the main character's feelings, and the implied messages to the public regarding environmental issues.

Major environmental, climate and sealevel changes occurred in the Western Tethyan Realm during the late Sinemurian to early Pliensbachian time interval. Here, we examine how these changes affected the taxonomic composition of radiolarian fauna. Radiolarian assemblages were collected on Mount Rettenstein (Northern Calcareous Alps) from a siliceous limestone and marl succession, deposited in a well‐oxygenated basin a few hundred metres in depth on the continental shelf at the western edge of the Neotethys Ocean. Radiolarian research was complemented with elemental and isotope geochemistry on bulk carbonate samples. The siliceous microfaunas below and above the stage boundary consist of more than 80% sponge spicules and less than 20% radiolarians, with a strong predominance of the Order Spumellaria. The Nassellaria to Spumellaria abundance ratio ranges from 1:5 to 1:3. At the Sinemurian–Pliensbachian transition, a significant drop in diversity occurred, accompanied by a substantial change in relative abundances of radiolarian taxa. The most severely affected groups were surface‐dwelling radiolarians (Angulobrachiidae, Hagiastridae, Pantanelliidae; mostly Gorgansium, Poulpidae and Ultranaporidae), which almost or completely disappeared. In contrast, Archaeocenosphaera, Praeconocaryomma, Zhamoidellum and Lantus became abundant and were apparently the most resistant to environmental stress. The changes in radiolarian assemblages were local and probably induced by the end‐Sinemurian sealevel drop that transformed the area into a semi‐enclosed basin with restricted ocean circulation. The exchange of water masses and thus radiolarian faunas with the open sea was reduced and their productivity may have been lowered by the lower inflow of fertile waters from the ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Teoría de la Educación. Revista Interuniversitaria is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Environmental Crisis has been creeping up on us for years. Arguably this crisis arises from the abuse of God's creation, particularly from Western overconsumption and our consequently broken relationship with our neighbours worldwide and especially the poor and those in less developed parts of the world who are already suffering most from its consequences. Over the last five decades, prophetic voices have spoken of the dangers of environmental degradation and climate change. It is however only in the last few years that the narrower subject of climate change has become a prominent element of the discourse in the Western Church, though the situation is perhaps rather different in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Many organisations and indeed governments have set targets for Net Zero, but does this represent an appropriate and sufficient response for Churches? Is there a sound basis for such an approach, guided by our faith and theology? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is facilitating the expansion of biorisks (invasive species, viruses, diseases) into new environments. While news media are a key site where expert authorities communicate about risks in the public sphere, there is limited understanding of how media narratives change as biorisks spread into new areas. We use mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) in Canada as a case study to examine how narratives in media coverage evolved as outbreaks intensified and spread eastward. Medical narratives were more common in British Columbia, where the beetle is endemic, and war narratives were more common in Alberta, where the beetle spread and is considered a "native invasive" species. Narrative framing in both places was driven by journalists, while quotes by authoritative sources lent support to journalistic framing. These findings demonstrate that affective narrative frames are widespread in environmental crisis communication and that framing of crises changes dynamically based on geographic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines environmental communication among activists on social media, specifically on Instagram. Drawing from an ethnographic study, it highlights a new type of activism that focuses on daily actions, departing from traditional public protests, based on the belief that collective small-scale actions can drive significant changes. It is performed mainly by individuals, often with large followers, who adopt the influencers' narrative to promote sustainability. We contend that this social media activism relies on personal and visual narratives, and proactive actions to engage the public in sustainability and affordable solutions to the environmental crisis. Through interviews and analysis of their narratives, we explore activists' motivations, hybrid identities, and communication practices around their communities, which can be characterized as a networked collective action for social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussions on the Anthropocene have surpassed the limits of geosciences and are incorporated into fundamental themes in the field of environmental humanities. Thus, the present essay aims to evaluate the contradictions of the Anthropocene concept and situate other possible nomenclatures. It employs a narrative revision of theoretical and methodological bibliography concerned with the discussion or alternative proposals of the prevailing lexicon. Face the anthropocentrically universality of the dominant term, it demonstrates that other concepts propose to situate ways of mobilizing against the global environmental crisis. These ideas converge in the necessity of surpassing the exclusive usage of the Anthropocene to refer to the current epoch of eco/geosystem derangements caused by geophagic activities of production. Therefore, it discusses the contributions of many others examples of ‘cenes’, indicating what are the specific critics of each theorization in accordance to a classification in meta-propositions, diagnostic proposals, spatial proposals and postulative proposals. It concludes that the multiple ‘cenes’ present complementary or counternarratives that converge in ways of understanding and situating possible solutions to the pluralization of worlds, places, territories and activisms that rebel against the environmental crisis. Each in its own way, they conform means of cultivating irreverent imaginaries that challenge the modern occidental separation of culture and nature. Consequently, the articulation between multiple ‘cenes’is a pathway towards new cohabitational horizons of earthly survival and livability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological crises are also spiritual ones, leading to profound heartbreak. By helping us to understand and value the nature of heartbreak, as well as helping to find a balance between heartbreak and hope, religious traditions can play a significant role in empowering people to address serious environmental problems. This paper discusses how reconnection and ritual can help people to strike that balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Electrónica de Enseñanza de las Ciencias is the property of Revista Electronica de Ensenanza de las Ciencias and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The environmental crisis is a phenomenon that occurs in various parts of the world. Environmental activists also highlight various issues related to environmental damage by campaigning for the public to understand how damaged the earth is as a result of the actions and negligence of irresponsible individuals and corporate groups. PT. Obsidian Stainless Steel, which is a leading company in Southeast Sulawesi, has recently violated the management and sustainability of natural resources. The impacts arising from waste disposed of haphazardly by PT. OSS have resulted in clean air being polluted, rice fields drying out, crop failure and worsening public health. For this reason, collaborative governance between government, citizens and other groups is needed which is expected to increase cooperation and good coordination in dealing with environmental issues, so as to create sustainable environmental conditions.

It is a glaring fact that the environment has constantly been subjected to deforestation, air and atmospheric pollution, and many other related factors that threaten both human and animal life. Individuals, governments, churches, etc. have long identified the pressure on the ecology and have addressed it from different perspectives. This paper thus sought to address this environmental problem from a religious or Christian point of view. Since the paper involved the analysis of a text (Mark 16:15), text critical method was applied. This method studies and compares ancient manuscripts of texts like biblical passages to find out which texts were originally written by the author and can thus be proved authentic. It was found out in the analysis that though Mark 16:15 was not written by the original author of Mark’s gospel, the text laid bare the fact that Christians especially, must have a strong sense of responsibility towards nature. Enshrined in Jesus’s mandate to his disciples in Mark 16:15 is the Christian responsibility to care for created things. It appears, however, that in their evangelisation plans, Christians concentrate more on the salvation of human beings than the survival of the ecology which suffers from the handiworks of humans. Christians are, therefore, encouraged to value nature and take necessary measures to ensure its survival. This paper contributes to the debate on how sacred texts can positively influence humanity’s attitudes towards the ecosystem. It creates the awareness that nature is God’s greatest gift to humanity and must be properly cared for.

Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is a regional organization with institutional experience in active conflict mediation, accumulated over many years. The emerging conflict in Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray – and specifically the fact that the conflict involved Ethiopia, considered to be one of the most significant powers in East Africa and a prominent member of IGAD – posed new challenges to the organization's mediation efforts. As such, it is important to ask what the role of regional mediation is, or how effective can such mediation be when a significant regional power is involved in an intrastate conflict with major potential regional implications. This article addresses this question considering the conflict that has engulfed Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray since November 2020 and argues that IGAD's late response and hesitant stand on its role as mediator in this conflict, which was related to Ethiopia's status in the organization and the region, was a lesson that IGAD should learn regarding its involvement in current and future conflicts. Furthermore, the specific timing of the Ethiopia-Tigray crisis, which coincided with an acute climate crisis in the region, underscores the fact that IGAD must move beyond a mediation role and propose more viable ways of coping with the devastating interwoven consequences of human-made conflicts and climate hazards, especially in view of IGAD member states' common vulnerabilities based on its experience in conflict mediation, both in relation to the Ethiopia-Tigray conflict and in other conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the environmental crisis gains pace, different strands of posthumanist theorizing have aimed to reshape the ecological conditions of human actions. This article examines ecological justifications in French pragmatic sociology, developed by Boltanski and Thévenot, situating it to discussions about materiality. The approach has proven useful for analyzing various controversies as it provides tools for examining how actors coordinate conflict situations and cope with uncertainty. However, previous studies have also raised questions about the applicability of pragmatic sociology in studying environmental problems. These discussions have revolved around the distinctiveness of 'green' justifications. In this article, we examine organic agriculture as a case of green critique that has brought ecology to the fore. Our analysis focuses on contestations about organic agriculture and the possibilities of novel green justifications to establish a 'green reality test'. By combining conceptual work on justifications and empirical analysis of organic agriculture, the study underlines the key task of critically differentiating a new form of worth as meaningfully different from established forms thereof. In so doing, it also contributes to topical discussions of developing social theoretical frameworks for addressing environmental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates two recent novels that deal with environmental and pandemic disasters: Severance (2018) by Ling Ma and Under the Blue (2022) by Oana Aristide. The analysis is based on ecocritical and posthumanist perspectives and on a division made by Chakrabarty (Planetary Crises and the Difficulty of Being Modern), in two different understandings of the globe: one connected to the planetary-focused discourse on global warming and the other on human-centered globalization. The clashes of these discourses are highlighted in the novels. They illustrate a process of understanding that humans are not separate from the natural world, through the disease itself and through the sudden need to survive without modern healthcare and all the comfort we are used to being able to buy. The gradual insight of the depicted characters, and perhaps also the readers of the novels, is that we live on a planet of extreme complexity and interdependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the environmental crisis at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in the light of Genesis 1:26 of the Old Testament. The environmental crisis is seen in the indiscriminate disposing of refuse by staff and students, the poor maintenance culture of the toilet environment in the students' hostel, the pollution of the air caused by the burning of refuse by staff in residential areas, and the indiscriminate urination and defecation in some parts of the university by students and visitors. This study adopted content analysis. The findings reveal that this has an immense impact on the physical, psychological, and mental state of members of the university community. Having observed this anomaly, this research proposes that Genesis 1:26 serves as a formidable solution to this escalating crisis. This Biblical pericope calls on man to maintain diligence and discipline in managing and maintaining the environment. It is believed that the solutions given will strongly speak to the increasing environmental crisis in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a glaring fact that the environment has constantly been subjected to deforestation, air and atmospheric pollution, and many other related factors that threaten both human and animal life. Individuals, governments, churches, etc. have long identified the pressure on the ecology and have addressed it from different perspectives. This paper thus sought to address this environmental problem from a religious or Christian point of view. Since the paper involved the analysis of a text (Mark 16:15), text critical method was applied. This method studies and compares ancient manuscripts of texts like biblical passages to find out which texts were originally written by the author and can thus be proved authentic. It was found out in the analysis that though Mark 16:15 was not written by the original author of Mark's gospel, the text laid bare the fact that Christians especially, must have a strong sense of responsibility towards nature. Enshrined in Jesus's mandate to his disciples in Mark 16:15 is the Christian responsibility to care for created things. It appears, however, that in their evangelisation plans, Christians concentrate more on the salvation of human beings than the survival of the ecology which suffers from the handiworks of humans. Christians are, therefore, encouraged to value nature and take necessary measures to ensure its survival. This paper contributes to the debate on how sacred texts can positively influence humanity's attitudes towards the ecosystem. It creates the awareness that nature is God's greatest gift to humanity and must be properly cared for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterogeneous photocatalysis, as an energy-saving technology, is a fascinating strategy to tackle environmental issues and energy shortages. The efficacy of these processes is severely relevant to the suppression of charges recombination, which hinders the widespread utilization of these processes. The segregation of charges from fast recombination can be considerably improved by the formation of heterojunction among the components of photocatalysts. Nevertheless, the formed heterojunction between different semiconductors diminishes the continuity of the charges carriers transfer amongst the semiconductors. Moreover, the construction of heterojunctions significantly relies on matching of band structures of the desired semiconductors. Hopefully, homojunction construction between different exposing facets, morphologies, and crystal phases of a single semiconductor is a feasible strategy for impressively suppression of charges from recombination. In comparison with the heterojunction photocatalysts, the almost identical components in both sides of the junction area provide not only the incredibly matched lattice, but also the integrity of bonding between the counterparts, which facilitates the charge migration within the photocatalyst. Furthermore, the established built-in electric field in the junction regions could enforce the charge carriers for efficiently separation and transfer within these photocatalysts. Herein, we reviewed the latest researches about the emerging homojunction photocatalysts and their application in the degradation of various wastewater pollutants. The present review intends to stimulate the research communities to focus on this kind of photocatalysts, as emerging materials, with the impressive performances in the photocatalytic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental crisis is an extremely complex problem for its causes are many and diverse. An effective solution to this crisis will require a concerted effort among various academic disciplines and socio-economic institutions. This kind of undertaking, however, is immensely challenging given the lack of a unifying framework that is acceptable to everyone. One preliminary step is to have a clear conception of the kinds of causes that have brought about the crisis to determine the roles the various academic disciplines and socio-economic institutions can play in the management and eventually the resolution of the crisis. This article provides one conception of how this preliminary step can be done but with a special focus on the role of philosophy. The main objective is to clarify the aspect in the management of the crisis in which philosophy can make a substantial contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today humanity is going through a period of great upheavals and rapid changes in every sphere of life, including the environment, that inevitably lead to general destabilisation and disruptions. In the latest novel by Rumaan Alam, apocalyptic Leave the World Behind (2020), a crisis appears to reshape our closest bonds and forge new ones. This story of an invisible terror deals with cataclysmic but mysterious events that shut down the communication networks we over-rely on, and sees an almost overwhelming sense of uncertainty, panic and increasing anxiety. Isolated in the remote holiday house with the Vermont stone kitchen tops and night-lit swimming pool, a couple of New Yorkers and their teenage children are looking forward to taking a rest from the routines of city life when catastrophe strikes. In addition to the major theme of the threat of human extinction, Leave the World Behind explores the relationship between class and race and the complexities of parenthood and solitude during an unspecified disaster. Those issues are included in the context of the global problem of anthropogenic impacts on the environment. At the same time, Alam demonstrates how habituation to the ongoing crises in the modern world, including social-ecological transformations, affects the understanding of a severe situation people are facing and ways to prevent it: they have increasing tolerance for the absurd. The suspenseful, provocative and prescient book, Leave the World Behind, captures the generalised panic of 2020, the year of a global outbreak of coronavirus. As a kind of end-of-the-world fiction, the novel is full of moments of exquisite recognition and reappraising of our attitudes the article discusses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Apuntes Contables is the property of Apuntes Contables and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

To grasp the enormity of change that capitalism ushered in, it is necessary to focus not only on economic institutions but on the systematic human conquest of nature over the last four centuries. The twin pursuits of territorial colonialism and operationalization of natural knowledge go a long way toward explaining both humanity's ability to turn nature into economic wealth and its devastating impact on earth systems and climate stability. While the dominant tradition of political economy (Locke, Hume, and Smith) from the seventeenth century onward focused mostly on private property and labor as the key components of wealth formation, for much of the Enlightenment era a rival tradition emphasized knowledge of nature's inner workings as the quintessence of wealth. Writers from Bacon to Linnaeus articulated a vision of improvement centered on the control of matter and energy that would profoundly shape the evolution of capitalism to this very day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Ecologiae et Bioethicae is the property of Uniwerystet Kardynala Stefana Wyznskiege w Warzawie and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines electric vehicles (EVs) as cultural objects and assesses how they are mobilized as a solution to the climate crisis. Taking a material approach to cultural objects reveals how hybrids and EVs are sites of contested meaning‐making at the intersection of material affordances and conventional symbolic associations. This approach illuminates (1) how the material qualities of EVs destabilize taken‐for‐granted meanings grounded in polarized political positions, (2) how the process of design and changes in the social world bring new meanings to the material capacities of EVs, leading to reclassifications of EVs even by conservative Americans, (3) how attempts to persuade consumers to buy EVs circumvent the work of persuading people to adopt a pro‐environment position, and (4) how the material infrastructural ecosystem can (and cannot) scaffold these new meanings. Ultimately, this article suggests that people can be moved to act in ways that align with a decarbonizing agenda without having to be convinced to adopt new positions on global warming. We examine the interplay of the material and symbolic dimensions of EVs to understand both the solutions and challenges of our environmental crisis and social problems generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the unique environmental ethos advocated by Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM), an international Buddhist spiritual, cultural, and education foundation founded by the late Chan Master Sheng Yen. It presents a critical reflection on orthodox models of Western environmental ethics and illuminates the constraints of mainstream critical approaches when confronted with the intricate ecological philosophies embedded in Buddhist traditions. Central to the DDM's model is the profound interweaving of spiritual cultivation with environmental consciousness, a stance that fosters a multidimensional dialogue that engages various ecological narratives. This approach not only resonates with aspects of Western environmental thought but is also firmly grounded in a distinct philosophical tradition that emphasizes spiritual growth as integral to genuine ecological engagement. In this article, it is argued that DDM's holistic initiatives necessitate an expanded, diversified environmental discourse that accommodates a spectrum of cultural and philosophical insights. Consequently, this examination serves a dual purpose: it provides an insight into DDM's environmental philosophy, and it can stimulate a paradigm shift while urging consideration beyond conventional boundaries and advocating for a spiritually inclusive approach to environmental awareness and preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ecología Política is the property of Fundacio ENT and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines electric vehicles (EVs) as cultural objects and assesses how they are mobilized as a solution to the climate crisis. Taking a material approach to cultural objects reveals how hybrids and EVs are sites of contested meaning‐making at the intersection of material affordances and conventional symbolic associations. This approach illuminates (1) how the material qualities of EVs destabilize taken‐for‐granted meanings grounded in polarized political positions, (2) how the process of design and changes in the social world bring new meanings to the material capacities of EVs, leading to reclassifications of EVs even by conservative Americans, (3) how attempts to persuade consumers to buy EVs circumvent the work of persuading people to adopt a pro‐environment position, and (4) how the material infrastructural ecosystem can (and cannot) scaffold these new meanings. Ultimately, this article suggests that people can be moved to act in ways that align with a decarbonizing agenda without having to be convinced to adopt new positions on global warming. We examine the interplay of the material and symbolic dimensions of EVs to understand both the solutions and challenges of our environmental crisis and social problems generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global environmental crisis is the result of a complex web of causation and distributed agency, where not even the most powerful individual actors can be considered responsible nor remedy the situation alone. This has prompted multiple calls across societies for transformative social change. What role can accountability play in this context? Starting in the theoretical traditions of microsociology and pragmatic sociology, this article elaborates the role of accountability in social interactions. To provide an account that justifies an action or inaction is here understood as a process of social ordering, where accounts are assessed as acceptable only after they have been tested against higher normative principles. Microsocial practices are, in this way, linked to macrosocial order. The following section turns to the global environmental crisis, showing that the crisis raises normative as well as epistemic challenges. The complexity of the socio‐environmental situation makes it hard to know what should be done and opens normative orders and epistemic claims to contestation. This situation provides increased opportunities for strategic maneuvering to justify actions as well as opportunities to question social practices and social order. The article concludes by discussing the role of accountability in climate change. Accountability can serve as a mechanism to attach issues to the current environmental crisis and re‐embed decisions and practice in an environmental moral order. As part of a broader palette of instruments, rules and norms, accountability has an important function to play in transforming society towards sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic energy efficiency policy is potentially a means for reducing residential energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and expenses for households in energy poverty. It has often been presented as an eco-social exemplar, for example in the European Union's Green Deal. The European Commission regards domestic energy efficiency improvements as the primary means for addressing energy poverty notwithstanding the 2022/23 energy crisis. However, the case for domestic energy efficiency improvement as a tool for achieving simultaneously social and environmental goals is often assumed rather than demonstrated. This article uses Mandelli's eco-social trilemma heuristic and the symbolic politics literature to surface the tensions involved in such processes, focusing on policy efforts in the England between 1997 and 2023 as a case study. England is a good case to consider because it has been regarded as a leader of energy poverty mitigation and its policy approach is similar to the European Commission's. The article details the main policy instruments used in England, assesses outputs and outcomes using official statistics, government and independent policy evaluations and the secondary literature, and details the main problems encountered in achieving environmental/social synergies. Based on this analysis, the article argues that English domestic energy efficiency policy has generally constituted a symbolic eco-social policy, particularly on the social side and since 2010. Highlighted by the 2022/23 energy crisis, domestic energy efficiency policy is best regarded as one component of a policy toolkit for reducing energy poverty, which at the least should also include targeted social protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper reviews the trends in income inequality over the last 40 years, and proposes a new explanation for their evolution – that it is hoped will be tested empirically by many studies in the years ahead – to see whether the observed increases in inequality of the last four decades have been caused by an aggravation of its traditional causes (such as land an human capital concentration), or by a widespread increase in instability in five key areas affecting inequality, the Human Development Index and human capabilities. The five areas where a sharp increase in instability has been observed concern: (a) the financial sector; (b) industry 4.0, especially the development of robotics and artificial intelligence; (c) diseases such as ebola, aids and covid; (d) number of conflicts and (e) a growing environmental crisis. A key unanswered question in the above proposed overall explanation is whether these five crises are interconnected and whether there is a primum movens that explains this series of problematic events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global environmental crisis evolves, China’s traditional industries have serious problems of high energy consumption, high emission and low energy efficiency. Developing green industries has become an important direction of China’s industrial transformation and upgrading. This paper selects scientific innovation industry as a typical representative of green industry and studies its financing environment assessment. In order to solve the financing dilemma faced by the science and technology innovation industry, this paper puts forward the evaluation method of the financing environment of science and technology innovation industry based on Bayesian network from the Angle of industry particularity. In this paper, Netica software is used to construct a Bayesian network model of the financing environment of the science and technology innovation industry, and the financing environment of the science and technology innovation industry in 2016-2020 is inferred according to the annual probability distribution. Then, the sensitivity analysis is carried out, and the hierarchical policy simulation is used to simulate the conditional probability of the initial node and the intermediate node respectively, so as to determine the impact of each node on the financing environment, and finally obtain the optimization path. The research results can be of great value for improving the financing environment of scientific innovation industry and promoting the development of green industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of water shortages, farmers are forced to use wastewater as an irrigation source for agricultural land, primarily for vegetables. Although wastewater contains abundant plant nutrients and are always readily available, it also contains hazardous contaminants, including heavy metals. Wastewater contains dangerous levels of heavy metals, particularly lead (Pb). Vegetables irrigated with Pb-contaminated wastewater create growth and yield problems and pose serious health risks to those who consume them. Thus, increased global demand for soil remediation is driven by concerns about heavy metal contamination. Toxic metals are prevented from entering food crops by using biochar as a low-cost biosorbent, which can immobilize heavy metals in wastewater-irrigated soil. Sorption, redox state alteration of heavy metals, soil pH modification, and precipitation are just some of the many mechanisms by which biochar can immobilize metals in soil. This can boost crop development and yield while also lowering human health risks. Soil heavy metals can be immobilized by several methods using biochar's features, like its high surface area and wide pH range, as well as its long - term stability and the presence of oxygen-containing functional groups. This review focuses on using biochar to reclaim soil and water that have been contaminated by heavy metals as well as to fertilize plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of this paper are sustainable habits and attitudes of the religious population in Croatia regarding the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’. Empirical work is based on CRO Laudato Si' project using survey method on a non-probabilistic sample of the religious population in Croatia, which in this paper are operationalized as active and occasional believers according to their regularity of attending religious ceremonies (N=1305). The analysis showed that active believers have a more pronounced sustainable profile (as they throw away less food, separate waste more, show greater readiness for saving water, electrical energy and have a more pronounced critical attitude about the need for greater application of the Laudato Si' within the Church and society) than the occasional believers. Given the nonrepresentative sample, the presented data cannot be generalized to the religious population in Croatia, shaping its fundamental contribution in stimulating future scientific analyses and reflections on the Church's relationship with religious practices, and emphasizing active believers as potential social leaders of sustainable lifestyles. Therefore, the sustainable habits of the surveyed believers represent a relational good and serve as the basis for building a culture of moderation that respects key principles of Catholic Social Teaching. In that perspective, we conclude that it is important for the Church to speak more often about the socio-environmental crisis and encourage strong responses to the crisis at all social levels, from households and families to the macro level.

Ecological and environmental crises are related to the development of an anthropocentric human culture. They threaten the values on which human life and development on Earth depend, and therefore the need for a new ethic arises. The aim of this paper, which is based on a qualitative analysis of theoretical sources, is to highlight the gravity of these crises and to present a 'new ethics', which is referred to as the ethics of the future, the ethics of responsibility for the future or the ethics of sustainability. We draw on the work of H. Jonas and other thinkers who point out that the traditional ethics, which is also referred to as anthropocentric, is no longer sufficient in today's world. It cannot contribute to solving these crises. We argue in favour of a 'new ethics' that takes into account the distant future and relies on a new dimension of responsibility, but also of justice. It urges people to be able to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions and not to endanger the survival of humanity on the planet and also of all life. With this in mind, it should also play a part in shaping their moral character.