scholarly journals The Principles of Sustainable Development and the Possibilities of Limiting the Global Effects of Smog by Medium-sized Cities Located in the European Union on the Example of Mikołów (Poland) and Żylina (Slovakia)

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-119
Author(s):  
Michał Czuba ◽  

The urban smog has negative global effects. They are expressed in the increased mortality of people, an increase scale of respiratory diseases as well as climate changes causing negative effects in the field of agricultural crops, which results in an increase in food prices. The occurrence of these phenomena mobilizes the global community to conduct activities aimed at limiting their occurrence. Medium-sized cities can play a significant role in this respect. The element conditioning the life of city dwellers is the appropriate condition of the natural environment. In Polish and Slovak conditions, smog is becoming a problem, which negatively affects the health of citizens of these countries. Therefore, actions are taken to limit the occurrence of this phenomenon. They are described in the current ecological policy of both countries. This article tries to show on the example of the Polish commune of Mikołów and the Slovak commune of Żylina the actions taken in them to reduce air pollution and thereby reduce the phenomenon of smog. In both analysed cities, measures taken to reduce the phenomenon of smog are implemented in a planned manner and may be an inspiration for other medium-sized cities in the world having air quality problems

Author(s):  
Gennaro D’Amato ◽  
Carlos E. Baena-Cagnani ◽  
Lorenzo Cecchi ◽  
Isabella Annesi-Maesano ◽  
Carlos Nunes ◽  
...  

The prevalence of asthma and allergic diseases has increased dramatically during the past few decades not only in industrialized countries. Urban air pollution from motor vehicles has been indicated as one of the major risk factors responsible for this increase. Although genetic factors are important in the development of asthma and allergic diseases, the rising trend can be explained only in changes occurred in the environment. Despite some differences in the air pollution profile and decreasing trends of some key air pollutants, air quality is an important concern for public health in the cities throughout the world. Due to climate change, air pollution patterns are changing in several urbanized areas of the world, with a significant effect on respiratory health. The observational evidence indicates that recent regional changes in climate, particularly temperature increases, have already affected a diverse set of physical and biological systems in many parts of the world. Associations between thunderstorms and asthma morbidity in pollinosis subjects have been also identified in multiple locations around the world. Allergens patterns are also changing in response to climate change and air pollution can modify the allergenic potential of pollens especially in presence of specific weather conditions. The underlying mechanisms of all these interactions are not well known yet. The consequences on health vary from decreases in lung function to allergic diseases, new onset of diseases, and exacerbation of chronic respiratory diseases. Factor clouding the issue is that laboratory evaluations do not reflect what happens during natural exposition, when atmospheric pollution mixtures in polluted cities are inhaled. In addition, it is important to recall that an individual’s response to pollution exposure depends on the source and components of air pollution, as well as meteorological conditions. Indeed, some air pollution-related incidents with asthma aggravation do not depend only on the increased production of air pollution, but rather on atmospheric factors that favour the accumulation of air pollutants at ground level. Considering these aspects governments worldwide and international organizations such as the World Health Organization and the European Union are facing a growing problem of the respiratory effects induced by gaseous and particulate pollutants arising from motor vehicle emissions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-202
Author(s):  
Livia Ilie ◽  
Alexandra Horobet ◽  
Ioan Bondrea

AbstractThe development of viable partnerships with the business community is crucial for a sustainable development of universities in the current economic framework. The dialogue between academia and businesses may take place in different areas, like competences and skills needed to be developed for graduates, internships in companies, common research projects, trainings, funding a.s.o. The paper aims to present the experience of different universities across the world in developing successful partnerships and some of the success stories that can be identified in Romania, with the goal of proposing a framework for good practices within Romanian universities that will allow them to benefit from an appropriate dialogue with the business community in accordance with the European Union policies and that will foster their expansion.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-52
Author(s):  
Gábor Hornyák ◽  
Péter Bencs

One of the most debated topics of our time is climate change. For this reason, the European Union and the countries of the world are taking several steps to reduce and reverse the effect. When we talk about climate change or sustainable development, it is very important to also talk about the energy sector. The European Union aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, which will require significant changes in our lives, it will be a major challenge for mankind. In 2019, fossil fuels accounted for 80% of the world’s energy production. The production of energy from fossil fuels has several negative effects aside from climate change. When fossil fuels are burned, gases and particles harmful to human health are released into the air and some of the fossil fuels are raw materials to produce plastics, for example. If we use it for energy production, we waste our raw materials. What are the options for reducing the environmental impact? How can coal-based energy production be replaced? What are other ways to reduce the environmental impact? These topics are discussed in the article.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 704-712
Author(s):  
Myroslav Kryshtanovych ◽  
Viktoriia Filippova ◽  
Maryna Huba ◽  
Olga Kartashova ◽  
Oleksandr Molnar

The circular economy is interpreted as a stable economic system, which aims at eliminating the consequences and costs, as well as providing a constant cycle of necessary resources. That is why it is so important to conduct its assessment today. The object of the article is the state of the circulating economy of the leading countries of the world. The purpose of the article is to assess the possibilities and mechanisms of the circular economy in the context of the introduction of the European Union. The methodological basis is a system of mutually complementary general scientific and special methods of cognition. To assess the quality of the implementation of the circular economy, we have chosen the recycling method as the most relevant and easiest to use. The study examined the essence, progress, principles and main advantages of using the circular economy model in the context of implementing this model in 20 countries of the European Union, and the model for analysing the processing possibilities in the European Union as a basic tool for assessing the implementation of a circular economy are presented.


2021 ◽  
Vol 906 (1) ◽  
pp. 012017
Author(s):  
Aurelia Rybak ◽  
Ewelina Wlodarczyk

Abstract One of the most important goals of the European Union is to provide citizens of the Member States security and stability in fuel and electricity sectors. The United Nations has defined 17 goals and 169 actions to achieve sustainable development of the world. The goals were to improve the quality of life, reduce the level of poverty, inequalities in the world and sustainable development in terms of climate and environmental protection. The article presents an analysis of the implementation of one of the assumed goals, i.e., sustainable development in the field of Affordable and clean Energy in the European Union. This goal is to ensure that every citizen has access to stable, sustainable, and modern energy at an affordable price. Among others, indicators such as energy import dependency, energy productivity, share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption, final energy consumption in households per capita were analysed. The authors analysed the trends of the above-mentioned indicators in the European Union, with particular emphasis on Poland. In order to be able to predict how the analysed phenomena will develop until 2030, the authors built forecasts. For this purpose, among others, ARIMA models were used. The authors created several dozen models, from among which model with the smallest ex post errors and the lowest value of information criteria were selected. The models allowed to determine the degree of achievement of the set goals. They also allowed the designation of scenarios for the potential development of the analysed indicators.


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