Energy intensity convergence in Iranian provinces: evidence from energy carriers’ consumption intensity

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Investigating the energy intensity convergence in Iran, as a country with very high energy intensity in the world, is important in order to assess...     

Impact of China’s environmental decentralization on carbon emissions from energy consumption: an empirical study based on the dynamic spatial econometric model

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Facing the growing problem of carbon emission pollution, the scientific and reasonable division of environmental management power between governments...     

The impact of climate change coping and adaptation strategies on livestock farmers’ technical efficiency: the case of rural Ghana

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Compared with developed nations, developing countries are more vulnerable to climate change and variability. In this study, a coping and adaptation...     

Impact of green supply chain management practices on firms’ performance: an empirical study from the perspective of Pakistan

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This article investigates the impact of five determinants of the green supply chain practices on organizational performance in the context of Pakistan...     

Study on the measurement and the changing trend of the energy use of China’s economic sectors: based on cross-region input-output model

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The consumption of fossil energy is the major cause of environmental pollution. Effectively reducing the fossil energy use has important significance...     

Linnaeus’ study of Swedish swidden cultivation: Pioneering ethnographic work on the ‘economy of nature’

Carl Linnaeus’ work on the ‘economy of nature’ was a major early development in what became the modern field of ecology. This analysis suggests that a key subject of this work that has been ignored or misunderstood for 250 years is the rural livelihoods, especially swidden (or slash-and-burn) agriculture, which Linnaeus studied during his expeditions through rural Sweden. Rereading his reports in the light of modern work on swiddens, political ecology, and the history of science affords a new appreciation of Linnaeus’ insights into traditional systems of resource exploitation. The logic of nutrient cycling in swidden agriculture and its utilization of natural dynamics to serve human ends exemplify the principles of the ‘economy of nature’, and gave Linnaeus a philosophical basis for understanding and defending this system of agriculture as well as other rural resource use systems in Sweden. This analysis sheds new light on Linnaeus’ ethnographic work, his view of folk environmental knowledge, and his often derided identification with Sweden’s ethnic peoples.     

Impact of municipal solid waste dumpsites on trace metal contamination levels in the surrounding area: a case study in West Africa,Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The impact of uncontrolled municipal dumping sites on metal contamination in the surrounding waters, sediments, and soils are of great concern in many...     

Impact assessment of human diet changes with rapid urbanization on regional nitrogen and phosphorus flows—a case study of the megacity Shanghai

Regional material flows are strongly influenced by human diets. To diagnose and prevent environmental problems that threaten urban sustainability, the impact of human diet changes with rapid urbanization on the regional nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) flows were quantitatively evaluated. A survey of day-to-day activities was conducted of 450 individuals surveyed (adults over 18 years old) in three representative areas (the central district, the new district, and the suburban/rural areas) of Shanghai, a megacity which has attracted worldwide attention. The lifestyle (eating habits, domestic sanitation, drainage facilities, etc.) pattern was determined and the potential N and P loads from human diets on the environment were calculated. The daily potential nitrogen and phosphorus loads from human diets was 19.36 g-N, 1.80 g-P in the central district, 16.48 g-N, 1.52 g-P in the new district, and 13.04 g-N, 1.20 g-P in the suburban/rural areas of Shanghai. Respondents in all three areas, especially those in the suburban/rural areas reported a preference for increasing the intake of animal-derived as well as processed foods, which means that the potential N and P load from human diets to the environment will increase further. In addition, most respondents consider industrial wastewater discharge as the main cause of eutrophication of waterbodies, though in recent years water pollution caused by domestic wastewater has increased rapidly, but this has received much less attention. Environment-friendly eating habits and improvements in the environmental awareness will be required.     

Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper”: a case study to evaluate the influence of visitors on the Museum preservation systems

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The most important parameter to obtain an appropriate preservation condition of museum environments concerns the indoor air quality. The exposure of...     

A case–control study on the relationship between urine trace element levels and autism spectrum disorder among Iranian children

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a type of neurodevelopmental disorder characterized mainly by qualitative deficiencies in social communication skills, accompanied by repetitive and restricted behavior patterns. This study was conducted to investigate the associations between the risk of ASD development in children and exposure to trace elements (arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn)). Two groups of children, including 44 ASD and 35 typically developing (TD) children, were selected, and their fasting urine samples were obtained. The concentration levels of trace elements were assayed using ICP-MS. The results showed that as compared to the TD group, the concentration levels of As (p = 0.002) and Pb (p < 0.001) and also Cr (p < 0.001), Cu (p = 0.001), and Ni (p < 0.001) were significantly higher among ASD children. In terms of gender, boys with ASD showed elevated levels of Cr, Cu, Ni, and Pb, whereas the urine levels of As, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Pb were markedly higher among girls when compared to the non-ASD children. Under the logistic regression model, the risk difference for As, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn remained significant when adjustment was applied for age and gender confounders.

     

Simulation of the influence of industrial wastewater on a municipal sewage treatment plant—a case study

Purpose  

Industrial wastewater flow caused operational difficulties in the wastewater treatment plant in Debrecen, Hungary. Bioaugmentation was successfully applied to maintain effluent quality in the periods when wastewater of high starch content was accepted, but, at the end of 2008, the nitrification capacity of the plant decreased considerably due to improperly pre-treated pharmaceutical wastewater.     

Research on China’s embodied carbon transfer network in 2012 from the perspective of provinces and sectors

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Resource endowment and economic development of different provinces in China vary greatly, resulting in large amount of CO2 transfers. We need further...     

Investigations on historical monuments’ deterioration through chemical and isotopic analyses: an Italian case study

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In this paper, we analysed the efflorescences present in the frescos of a monumental complex named S. Pietro a Corte situated in the historic centre...     

The diminishing marginal contribution of R&D investment on green technological progress: a case study of China’s manufacturing industry

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - One of the ways to fight against global warming is by means of green technological progress. This paper explores the nonlinear relationship between...     

Impact of socioeconomic and meteorological factors on reservoirs’ air quality: a case in the Three Gorges Reservoir of Chongqing (TGRC), China over a 10-year period

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The Three Gorges Dam’s construction and industrial transfer have resulted in a new air pollution pattern with the potential to threaten the...     

Modeling of policies for reduction of GHG emissions in energy sector using ANN: case study—Croatia (EU)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study describes the development of tool for testing different policies for reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in energy sector using...     

The dynamic analysis of renewable energy’s contribution to the dimensions of sustainable development and energy security

In sustainable development, energy is critical in human activities and shapes a sustainable future. Thus, it is an unignorable element in human development. This paper analyzes the contributions of renewable energy sources (RES)’s to the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of sustainable development. Moreover, we add energy security as a possible fourth dimension into the analysis. For the sample size, we limit the countries members of the OECD and run generalized methods of moments for the period from 1995 to 2015. This method can produce efficient estimators under the problems of endogeneity, omitted-variable bias, measurement errors, and heteroscedastic residuals. According to the results, RES has a small reducing effect (?.007%) on output in the Cobb-Douglas production function for the economic dimension. We found that RES has a positive contribution to the environmental dimension and abates the level of carbon emission (?.093%). RES also confirms the inverted-U shape of environmental Kuznets curve. In the social dimension, RES improves human development and a 1% increase in RES consumption causes to .0045% increase in human development. In the last contribution, RES has a positive effect on sustainable energy supply security in the context of electricity generation (.032%). Although the effects of RES on the environment, social, and energy security are significant, they are limited. These limitations point to barriers that can be overcome over time. Our conclusions recommend that these effects might flourish with technical developments and political support in the long run. Furthermore, public awareness, rising income level, and economies of scale are also beneficial in this process. As a result, RES might be an excellent source for a sustainable future and development. Especially, RES might have remarkable contributions to the 7th, 11th, 12th, and 13th goals of sustainable development.

     

Correction to: Study on habitat suitability of overwintering cranes based on landscape pattern change—a case study of typical lake wetlands in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The correct corresponding Author of this paper is Bin Dong.     

Progress in nuclear energy with carbon pricing to achieve environmental sustainability agenda: on the edge of one’s seat

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The Paris agreement (COP21) emphasized the need to progress toward using low-carbon energy technologies, including nuclear power, that is favorably...     

Impact of renewable energy on economic growth? Novel evidence from developing countries through MMQR estimations

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This study aims to examine the association between economic growth and energy consumption (renewable and nonrenewable). The data was collected from 80...