scholarly journals An Organizing Principle for the Water-Energy-Food Nexus

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 8135
Author(s):  
Chad W. Higgins ◽  
Majdi Abou Najm

The nexus between water, energy, and food has recently evolved as a resource-management concept to deal with this intimately interwoven set of resources, their complex interactions, and the growing and continuously changing internal and external set of influencing factors, including climate change, population growth, habits and lifestyles alternations, and the dynamic prices of water, energy, and food. While an intriguing concept, the global research community is yet to identify a unifying conceptual and mathematical framework capable of adapting to integrate gathered knowledge and ensuring inclusivity by accounting for all significant interactions and feedbacks (including natural processes and anthropogenic inputs) within all nexus domains. We present an organizing roadmap for a conceptual and mathematical representation of the nexus. Our hope is that this representation will organize the nexus research and formalize a way for a generalizable framework that can be used to advance our understanding of those complex interactions, with hope that such an approach will lead to a more resilient future with sustained resources for the future generations.

2021 ◽  
pp. 108602662110316
Author(s):  
Tiziana Russo-Spena ◽  
Nadia Di Paola ◽  
Aidan O’Driscoll

An effective climate change action involves the critical role that companies must play in assuring the long-term human and social well-being of future generations. In our study, we offer a more holistic, inclusive, both–and approach to the challenge of environmental innovation (EI) that uses a novel methodology to identify relevant configurations for firms engaging in a superior EI strategy. A conceptual framework is proposed that identifies six sets of driving characteristics of EI and two sets of beneficial outcomes, all inherently tensional. Our analysis utilizes a complementary rather than an oppositional point of view. A data set of 65 companies in the ICT value chain is analyzed via fuzzy-set comparative analysis (fsQCA) and a post-QCA procedure. The results reveal that achieving a superior EI strategy is possible in several scenarios. Specifically, after close examination, two main configuration groups emerge, referred to as technological environmental innovators and organizational environmental innovators.


Author(s):  
Valeria Chávez ◽  
Debora Lithgow ◽  
Miguel Losada ◽  
Rodolfo Silva-Casarin

AbstractInfrastructure is necessary to protect and provide the goods and services required by humans. As coastal green infrastructure (CGI) aims to respect and work with natural processes, it is a feasible response to mitigate or avoid the consequences of coastal squeeze. The concept of CGI is receiving increased attention of late due to the challenges facing us, such as climate change, population growth and the overexploitation of natural resources on the coast. Terms which may be applied to encourage the construction of infrastructure, or to minimize the responsibility for poorly made decisions, often induce misunderstanding. In this paper, the concept of CGI and its use in solving coastal problems is reordered. Four categories are proposed, according to the degree of naturalness of the project: Nature reclamation, Engineered ecosystems, Ecologically enhanced engineering, and De-engineering/Relocation. Existing coastal risk evaluation frameworks can be used to design many types of CGI. Key concepts, challenges and good practices for the holistic management of coastal squeeze are presented from the analysis of successful and unsuccessful CGI projects worldwide.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Lovejoy

One of the fundamental challenges of climate change is that we contribute to it increment by increment, and experience it increment by increment after a considerable time lag. As a consequence, it is very difficult to see what we are doing to ourselves, to future generations, and to the living planet as a whole. There are monumental ethical issues involved, but they are obscured by the incremental nature of the process and the long time frame before reaching the concentration of greenhouse gases and the ensuing accumulation of radiant heat—and consequent climate change—that ensues.


2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 215-232
Author(s):  
William Kininmonth

The impacts of weather and climate extremes (floods, storms, drought, etc) have historically set back development and will continue to do so into the future, especially in developing countries. It is essential to understand how future climate change will be manifest as weather and climate extremes in order to implement policies of sustainable development. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that natural processes have caused the climate to change and it is unlikely that human influences will dominate the natural processes. Any suggestion that implementation of the Kyoto Protocol will avoid future infrastructure damage, environmental degradation and loss of life from weather and climate extremes is a grand delusion.


Xihmai ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Campos Y Covarrubias ◽  
Nallely Emma Lule Martí­nez

Resumen   La  administración  es  una  ciencia  social  encargada  de estudiar,  dirigir  y diseñar  las acciones organizacionales dentro  de empresas,  instituciones  y organismos  públicos,  privados  y  Estales;  y  el  cambio  climático  es  un problema con caracterí­sticas únicas, ya que su naturaleza global e impactos involucran interacciones complejas; por lo tanto, lo primero que debemos hacer como administradores es tener conciencia de que tan grave es el problema, y asumir a plenitud la fragilidad que nos asecha, como individuos parte de la humanidad; de esta  manera el compromiso como se advierte resulta insoslayable para la Administración.       Palabras clave: Administración, rol, ética, responsabilidad social, cambio climático.   Summary The  administration  is  a  social  science  entrusted  to  study,  directing  and designing  the  organizational  actions  inside  companies,  institutions  and public, private organisms and State; and the climate change is a problem with the only characteristics, since his global nature and impacts involve complex interactions; therefore, the first thing that we must do as administrators is to have conscience of which so serious it is the problem, and to assume to fullness the fragility that us, as individuals it departs from the humanity; hereby the commitment as he becomes aware turns out to be unavoidable for the Administration.   Key words: Administration,  role,  ethics,  social  responsibility,  climate change.  


Eos ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randy Showstack

“No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change,” the president said.


Author(s):  
Thomas Anderl

The broader public demand reproducibility of scientific results particularly related to hot societal topics. The present work applies the 80:20-rule to climate change, concentrating on the essentials from the readily observable and identifying the inherent relationships in their potential simplicity. Observations on 400 Mio. years of paleoclimate are found to well constrain the compound universal climate role of CO 2. Combined with observations on the industrial-era atmospheric CO 2 and ocean heat evolvement, climate risk assessment and projections on the economic boundaries are performed. Independently in conjunction with energy budget studies, simple models are presented for the fundamental natural processes related to: (i) water vapor and CO 2 effect on temperature; (ii) transient and equilibrium climate; (iii) heating from the V/R-T (vibrational/rotational to translational) energy transfer; (iv) Earth emissivity changing with surface temperature; (v) water vapor for Earths energy balance maintenance; (vi) rainfall pattern altering with temperature; (vii) natures reaction on the anthropogenic energy consumption. In conclusion, realistic estimates point at precluding positive economic growth for the foreseeable future if temperatures are to be given a reasonable chance to become sustainably contained within sensible limits.


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