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In 2015, the United Nations adopted a series of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 individual targets with the aim of achieving these within 15 years, i.e., by 2030. These ambitious goals include ending poverty and hunger, facilitating sustainable economic growth and social development, and protecting the environment. Using Gill and Smith (2021) as a major source, this paper outlines the potential role that the geosciences and geoscientists as geopractitioners can play in contributing to the achievement of the SDGs.

The term “biodiversity” has become well known in recent years, but much less so is the non-living or abiotic diversity of the planet, known since the 1990s as its “geodiversity.” In simple terms, geodiversity is the variety of the earth’s rocks, minerals, fossils, topography, landforms, physical processes, soils, and hydrological features. Geodiversity is part of the planet’s natural capital assets. In turn, natural capital provides goods and services to society identified through the “ecosystem services” approach. This paper gives several examples of how geodiversity brings many benefits to society that deserve to be better known by the public.

Dithiothreitol-measured oxidative potential (OPDTT) can chemically quantify the adverse health effects of atmospheric aerosols. Some chemical species are characterized with DTT activities, and the particle diameter and surface area control DTT oxidizability; however, the physical contribution to OPDTT by atmospheric aerosols is controversial. Therefore, we performed field observations and aerosol sampling at urban and rural sites in Japan to investigate the effect of both physical and chemical properties on the variation in OPDTT of atmospheric aerosols. The shifting degree of the representative diameter to the ultrafine range (i.e., the predominance degree of ultrafine particles) was retrieved from the ratio between the lung-deposited surface area and mass concentrations. The chemical components and OPDTT were also elucidated. We discerned strong positive correlations of K, Mn, Pb, NH4+, SO42−, and pyrolyzable organic carbon with OPDTT. Hence, anthropogenic combustion, the iron–steel industry, and secondary organic aerosols were the major emission sources governing OPDTT variations. The increased specific surface area did not lead to the increase in the OPDTT of atmospheric aerosols, despite the existing relevance of the surface area of water-insoluble particles to DTT oxidizability. Overall, the OPDTT of atmospheric aerosols can be estimated by the mass of chemical components related to OPDTT variation, owing to numerous factors controlling DTT oxidizability (e.g., strong contribution of water-soluble particles). Our findings can be used to estimate OPDTT via several physicochemical parameters without its direct measurement.

Reviews the series of British books entitled "The Geography Discipline Network Guides on Teaching, Learning and Assessment." Believes that the series will inspire teachers to think about educating students in new and positive ways and could sustain a system of higher education based on the values presented in the guides. (CMK)