scholarly journals Revisiting old lessons from classic literature on persistent global pollutants

AMBIO ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 534-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan W. Martin

AbstractLooking back 50 years at classic literature was a reminder of inspiring discoveries and clever theories that were formative to the field of environmental chemistry, but also of the irreparable costs that persistent global pollutants have had on ecosystems and human society. In my view, these three papers have greatly impacted contemporary science and influenced development of policies that have limited the spread of hazardous contaminants. At the same time, a sobering reality is that reversing decades of past pollution has proven impossible in our lifetime, and global trends are dire for both legacy and emerging contaminants. Lessons in these papers are clear to most environmental scientists, but I argue have not resulted in adequate investment in infrastructure or manpower to enable systematic unbiased searching for pollutants as proposed by Sören Jensen in 1972. Acknowledging that the costs of new global contaminants will be too high, we must incentivize safer chemicals and their sustainable use, increase international exchange of lists of chemicals in commerce, and coordinate international efforts in nontarget screening to identify new contaminants before they circulate the world.

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. a11en
Author(s):  
Maria Luiza Cardinale Baptista ◽  
Jóice dos Santos Bernardo

The text proposes to discuss transversalizations of the methodological strategy Cartography of Knowledge with the approach of Life History, in the perspective of 'com-versar' places and subjects, through partial report of researches in progress, at the University of Caxias do Sul. objective of this article is the characterization and approximation of the two methodological approaches, reflecting from research on international exchange as an experience 'between worlds'. It appears that the two approaches, Cartography of Knowledge and Life History, value the subjects involved and their subjective research plot, as well as recognize the value of history, the marks of time and their intertwining with the diverse ecosystems of the world of life, for Contemporary Science.


2006 ◽  
pp. 4-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Abalkin

The article covers unified issues of the long-term strategy development, the role of science as well as democracy development in present-day Russia. The problems of budget proficit, the Stabilization Fund issues, implementation of the adopted national projects, an increasing role of regions in strengthening the integrity and prosperity of the country are analyzed. The author reveals that the protection of businessmen and citizens from the all-embracing power of bureaucrats is the crucial condition of democratization of the society. Global trends of the world development and expert functions of the Russian science are presented as well.


Author(s):  
Matthew A. Shadle

The conclusion looks at the teaching of Pope Francis, considering the possibility that it represents the emergence of a new framework for Catholic social teaching. Pope Francis has emphasized that the encounter with Jesus Christ brings about an experience of newness and openness. He has also proposed a cosmic theological vision. His concept of “integral ecology,” introduced in his encyclical Laudato Si’, illustrates how human society is interconnected with the natural ecology of the planet earth and the entire cosmos. He proposes that the economy, society, culture, and daily life are all interconnected “ecologies.” In a speech to the World Meeting of Popular Movements in 2015, Pope Francis also explains how social movements devoted to local issues can nevertheless have a profound effect on the structures of the global economy. In his teachings, Pope Francis presents an organicist and communitarian vision of economic life.


Author(s):  
Laurent Bonnefoy

Contemporary Yemen has an image-problem. It has long fascinated travelers and artists, and to many the country embodies both Arab and Muslim authenticity; it stands at important geostrategic and commercial crossroads. Yet, strangely, Yemen is globally perceived as somehow both marginal and passive, while also being dangerous and problematic. The Saudi offensive launched in 2015 has made Yemen a victim of regional power struggles, while the global “war on terror” has labelled it a threat to international security. This perception has had disastrous effects without generating real interest in the country or its people. On the contrary, Yemen's complex political dynamics have been largely ignored by international observers--resulting in problematic, if not counterproductive, international policies. Yemen and the World aims at correcting these misconceptions and omissions, putting aside the nature of the world's interest in Yemen to focus on Yemen's role on the global stage. Laurent Bonnefoy uses six areas of modern international exchange--globalization, diplomacy, trade, migration, culture and militant Islamism--to restore Yemen to its place at the heart of contemporary affairs. To understand Yemen, he argues, is to understand the Middle East as a whole.


Author(s):  
Mariya Stoilova ◽  
Sonia Livingstone ◽  
Giovanna Mascheroni

Mobile devices play a growing role in the everyday lives of children around the world, prompting important questions about their effects on childhood experiences. Exploring the recent global trends in children’s use of smartphone devices, the authors examine the reconfiguring of children’s communicative practices and cultures of connectivity, documenting the opportunities and risks that smartphone technology affords. Throughout the chapter the authors challenge the notion of “digital childhoods,” drawing on the most reliable research on children and smartphones including findings from Global Kids Online, which suggest that digital divides intersect with existing social inequalities, exacerbating the barriers for less privileged children. This raises further questions about the long-term consequences for children’s development, rights, and future access to opportunities and resources.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1971
Author(s):  
Asad Sarwar Qureshi

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are located in the driest part of the world with an annual per capita water availability of 500 m3 compared to the world average of 6000 m3. Agricultural water demand, which is more than 80% of the total water consumption, is primarily met through the massive exploitation of groundwater. The enormous imbalance between groundwater discharge (27.8 billion m3) and recharge (5.3 billion m3) is causing the excessive lowering of groundwater levels. Therefore, GCC countries are investing heavily in the production of nonconventional water resources such as desalination of seawater and treated wastewater. Currently, 439 desalination plants are annually producing 5.75 billion m3 of desalinated water in the GCC countries. The annual wastewater collection is about 4.0 billion m3, of which 73% is treated with the help of 300 wastewater treatment plants. Despite extreme water poverty, only 39% of the treated wastewater is reused, and the remaining is discharged into the sea. The treated wastewater (TWW) is used for the landscape, forestry, and construction industries. However, its reuse to irrigate food and forage crops is restricted due to health, social, religious, and environmental concerns. Substantial research evidence exists that treated wastewater can safely be used to grow food and forage crops under the agroclimatic conditions of the GCC countries by adopting appropriate management measures. Therefore, GCC countries should work on increasing the use of TWW in the agriculture sector. Increased use of TWW in agriculture can significantly reduce the pressure on freshwater resources. For this purpose, a comprehensive awareness campaign needs to be initiated to address the social and religious concerns of farming communities and consumers. Several internal and external risks can jeopardize the sustainable use of treated wastewater in the GCC countries. These include climate change, increasing costs, technological and market-driven changes, and regional security issues. Therefore, effective response mechanisms should be developed to mitigate future risks and threats. For this purpose, an integrated approach involving all concerned local and regional stakeholders needs to be adopted.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafaël Govaerts ◽  
Eimear Nic Lughadha ◽  
Nicholas Black ◽  
Robert Turner ◽  
Alan Paton

AbstractThe World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP) is a comprehensive list of scientifically described plant species, compiled over four decades, from peer-reviewed literature, authoritative scientific databases, herbaria and observations, then reviewed by experts. It is a vital tool to facilitate plant diversity research, conservation and effective management, including sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits. To maximise utility, such lists should be accessible, explicitly evidence-based, transparent, expert-reviewed, and regularly updated, incorporating new evidence and emerging scientific consensus. WCVP largely meets these criteria, being continuously updated and freely available online. Users can browse, search, or download a user-defined subset of accepted species with corresponding synonyms and bibliographic details, or a date-stamped full dataset. To facilitate appropriate data reuse by individual researchers and global initiatives including Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Catalogue of Life and World Flora Online, we document data collation and review processes, the underlying data structure, and the international data standards and technical validation that ensure data quality and integrity. We also address the questions most frequently received from users.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (S1) ◽  
pp. 478-487
Author(s):  
Sergey Nikolaevich Kosnikov ◽  
Natalya Vladimirovna Shershukova ◽  
Ilya Valerievich Sorgutov ◽  
Tatyana Viktorovna Bessonova ◽  
Elena Alexandrovna Kobets ◽  
...  

Business education in the world is developing at a fairly high pace. The reason for this is the possibility of exchanging experience between different countries in the field of entrepreneurial technologies, as well as the need to improve the relationship between the "scientific minds" of different countries. In this regard, the leading educational institutions of the world develop and implement various training programs aimed at improving the skills of students in the field of marketing, management, the world economy, as well as international economic relations. International business education should be studied from the perspective of measuring the effect of internationalization of business schools and training programs by offering international training courses, foreign exchanges, subsidiaries, knowledge exports, various types of cooperation.


2021 ◽  
pp. 72-77
Author(s):  
A.V. Verkhoturov ◽  
◽  
A.A. Obukhov

Analyzed is one of the most comprehensive modern approaches to the problem of the existence of evolution of human society as such and of specific human communities, i.e. “General Theory of Historical Development” by American historian and sociologist Stephen Sanderson. While agreeing, in general, with its main ideas, we believe that it is important to note that the issue of existence of individual communities demonstrating devolution (regression to an earlier historical state), stagnation or degeneration at certain historical stages is practically ignored in the framework of the theory under consideration. This creates its vulnerability in the face of specific empirical data, indicating a deviation from the evolutionary trend. We believe that overcoming this theoretical difficulty is possible in the process of comprehending the theory of S. Sanderson in the context of ideas of the world-system approach of Immanuel Wallerstein. We want to show that examples of devolution, stagnation and degeneration of societies do not deny general progressive evolutionary tendencies, characteristic for the world-system as a whole, but only indicate the transition of a particular society to a lower level within the world-system (from the core to the semi-periphery, or from the semi-periphery to the periphery).


2021 ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
PU JINGXIN

Abstract: The danger of the novel coronavirus has not yet come to an end, and new variants have begun to attack the world. What philosophy should humankind’s strategy be based on when human society as a group is fighting against Covid-19, as the pandemic ravages the world? Unfortunately, political leaders of various countries have failed to achieve the overall awareness of attacking the pandemic for a shared future for mankind so far. In the face of the pandemic, mankind as a whole urgently needs to break through the narrow nation-oriented ideology of seeking only self-protection. The International Community should establish a new type of international cooperation featuring the concept of harmony of "all things under heaven as a unity". The international relations system dominated by the power ofwestern discourse is now in a bottleneck. The main aim of this article is to study the ancient Chinese wisdom of "the Unity of Man and Heaven" philosophy and build a global harmonious community. The author argues that the “export” of the aforementioned wisdom must be a priority for Chinese scholars. Keywords: Tao; Unity of Man and Heaven; Novel Coronavirus; Anthropocentrism; Harmony.


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