Structuring sustainability science

It is urgent in science and society to address climate change and other sustainability challenges such as biodiversity loss, deforestation, depletion of marine fish stocks, global ill-health, land degradation, land use change and water scarcity. Sustainability science (SS) is an attempt to bridge the natural and social sciences for seeking creative solutions to these complex challenges. In this article, we propose a research agenda that advances the methodological and theoretical understanding of what SS can be, how it can be pursued and what it can contribute. The key focus is on knowledge structuring. For that purpose, we designed a generic research platform organised as a three-dimensional matrix comprising three components: core themes (scientific understanding, sustainability goals, sustainability pathways); cross-cutting critical and problem-solving approaches; and any combination of the sustainability challenges above. As an example, we insert four sustainability challenges into the matrix (biodiversity loss, climate change, land use changes, water scarcity). Based on the matrix with the four challenges, we discuss three issues for advancing theory and methodology in SS: how new synergies across natural and social sciences can be created; how integrated theories for understanding and responding to complex sustainability issues can be developed; and how theories and concepts in economics, gender studies, geography, political science and sociology can be applied in SS. The generic research platform serves to structure and create new knowledge in SS and is a tool for exploring any set of sustainability challenges. The combined critical and problem-solving approach is essential.     

The Anthropocene: From Global Change to Planetary Stewardship

Over the past century, the total material wealth of humanity has been enhanced. However, in the twenty-first century, we face scarcity in critical resources, the degradation of ecosystem services, and the erosion of the planet's capability to absorb our wastes. Equity issues remain stubbornly difficult to solve. This situation is novel in its speed, its global scale and its threat to the resilience of the Earth System. The advent of the Anthropence, the time interval in which human activities now rival global geophysical processes, suggests that we need to fundamentally alter our relationship with the planet we inhabit. Many approaches could be adopted, ranging from geoengineering solutions that purposefully manipulate parts of the Earth System to becoming active stewards of our own life support system. The Anthropocene is a reminder that the Holocene, during which complex human societies have developed, has been a stable, accommodating environment and is the only state of the Earth System that we know for sure can support contemporary society. The need to achieve effective planetary stewardship is urgent. As we go further into the Anthropocene, we risk driving the Earth System onto a trajectory toward more hostile states from which we cannot easily return.     

Partitioning of chloroaromatic compounds between the aqueous phase and dissolved and particulate soil organic matter at chlorophenol contaminated sites

The retention and mobility of hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) in soil is mainly determined by hydrophobic partitioning to dissolved and particulate organic matter (DOM and POM, respectively). The aqueous phase, DOM, and POM fractions were extracted and separated from soils at three sites contaminated with technical chlorophenol formulations. Concentrations of chlorophenols (CP), polychlorinated phenoxyphenols (PCPP), polychlorinated diphenyl ethers (PCDE) and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/F) were determined. The partitioning to POM, in relation to DOM, increased in all three soils with increasing hydrophobicity in the order CP < PCPP ~ PCDE ~ PCDF < PCDD. Differences in partitioning to DOM (logK(DOC)) and POM (logK(POC)) could not be explained by differences in gross organic C chemistry. Black carbon did not contribute significantly to the sorption of PCDDs, whereas >70% wood fibre in one soil resulted in a decrease of logK(POC) of 0.5 units for CPs and PCDDs. We conclude that logK(OC) for both DOM and POM need to be explicitly determined when the retention and mobility of HOCs is described and modelled in soils.     

Polychlorinated biphenyls in polysulfide sealants--occurrence and emission from a landfill station

Approximately 80,000 kg polysulfide sealant containing 10,000-18,000 kg polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) was deposited at a Swedish municipal landfill station during 1965-1973. Investigations during 1994 showed that soil layers underneath the landfill had concentration of PCB not alarmingly high. The concentration of PCB congeners in ground water samples was elevated 4-750 times compared to a reference sample. Based on samples of ground water, leachate water, and flux chambers measuring evaporation of PCB from the landfill surface, the emission of PCB was estimated to be 1 g sigmaPCB/yr. This very low rate was attributed to the high sorptive capacity of the sealant. Compared to a reference site, the evaporation flux was elevated for the most volatile congeners, but factors 20-1400 lower than from another landfill which was contaminated with PCB in paper-pulp fibres.     

Phosphorus in tributaries to Lake Mälaren, Sweden: analytical fractions, anthropogenic contribution and bioavailability

Riverine phosphorus (P) concentration and P-transport to Lake M?laren, the third largest lake in Sweden, has been monitored for 35 years in 12 major tributaries. During a period of 15 months, complementary assessments of particulate P, suspended matter and dissolved reactive P were made. Particulate P comprised 64%, dissolved unreactive P 23% and dissolved reactive P 13% as flow-weighted means, with high seasonal variability. "Background" or "reference" P-transports in the streams were estimated by different methods and the anthropogenic contribution to P-transport was shown to be reduced over time. Potential algal availability of particulate P showed a mean availability of c. 45% for water draining arable and forested land, while the availability was higher for sewage discharge particulate P and algal P. Calculated total bioavailable P in tributaries was shown to equal reactive P measured on coarsely filtered water and it was indicated that the proportion of bioavailable P was higher during the period with high anthropogenic P-contribution than with a lower contribution.     

Population feedback after successful invasion leads to ecological suicide in seasonal environments

For most consumer species, winter represents a period of harsh food conditions in addition to the physiological strain that results from the low ambient temperatures. In size-structured populations, larger-bodied individuals do better during winter as they have larger energy reserves to buffer starvation periods. In contrast, smaller-bodied individuals do better under growing conditions, as they have lower maintenance costs. We study how the interplay between size-dependent life-history processes and seasonal changes in temperature and food availability shape the long-term dynamics of a size-structured consumer population and its unstructured resource. We show that the size dependence of maintenance requirements translates into a minimum body size that is needed for surviving starvation when consumers can adapt only to a limited extent to the low food densities in winter. This size threshold can lead to population extinction because adult individuals suffer only a little during winter and hence produce large numbers of offspring. Due to population feedback on the resource and intense intra-cohort competition, newborn consumers then fail to reach the size threshold for survival. Under these conditions, small numbers of individuals can survive, increase in density, and build up a population, which will subsequently go extinct due to its feedback on the resource. High juvenile mortality may prevent this ecological suicide from occurring, as it releases resource competition among newborns and speeds up their growth. In size-structured populations, annual fluctuations in temperature and food availability may thus lead to a conflict between individual fitness and population persistence.     

Nonthermal GSM RF and ELF EMF effects upon rat BBB permeability

Since the late 1980s, our group has examined the effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF), including pulse-modulated waves of the type emitted by mobile phones, upon the blood?Cbrain barrier. In more than 2,000 rats, we have repeatedly demonstrated a passage of the rats?? own albumin from the blood through the brain capillaries into the surrounding brain parenchyma at SAR values down to 0.1mW/kg. In most of these experiments, the animals were exposed in TEM-cells, ventilated by an external electrical fan at 50 Hz. In the present study, we examined whether the extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields from the fan (50 Hz, 0.3?C1.5 ??T) might add to the RF effect. Sixty-four rats were divided into 4 groups: RF only, ELF only and RF + ELF exposure plus a sham group. The GSM-900 MHz RF exposure was at the very low, nonthermal, average whole-body SAR level 0.4 mW/kg. Demonstration of the normally occurring albumin extravasation in the basal hypothalamus is our inbuilt control proving that the staining is reliable. Two full series of staining of the whole material gave negative results for hypothalamus. Not until we changed to avidin, biotin, and antibodies from a third supplier, we received an acceptable staining. Twenty-five percent of the RF animals had a pathological albumin leakage, while the ELF and RF + ELF groups with three and two pathological findings, respectively, were not significantly different from the control group. We conclude that the use of external fans has had no major influence upon the result.     

Tank-connected food waste disposer systems – Current status and potential improvements

An unconventional system for separate collection of food waste was investigated through evaluation of three full-scale systems in the city of Malmö, Sweden. Ground food waste is led to a separate settling tank where food waste sludge is collected regularly with a tank-vehicle. These tank-connected systems can be seen as a promising method for separate collection of food waste from both households and restaurants. Ground food waste collected from these systems is rich in fat and has a high methane potential when compared to food waste collected in conventional bag systems. The content of heavy metals is low. The concentrations of N-tot and P-tot in sludge collected from sedimentation tanks were on average 46.2 and 3.9 g/kg TS, equalling an estimated 0.48 and 0.05 kg N-tot and P-tot respectively per year and household connected to the food waste disposer system. Detergents in low concentrations can result in increased degradation rates and biogas production, while higher concentrations can result in temporary inhibition of methane production. Concentrations of COD and fat in effluent from full-scale tanks reached an average of 1068 mg/l and 149 mg/l respectively over the five month long evaluation period. Hydrolysis of the ground material is initiated between sludge collection occasions (30 days). Older food waste sludge increases the degradation rate and the risks of fugitive emissions of methane from tanks between collection occasions. Increased particle size decreases hydrolysis rate and could thus decrease losses of carbon and nutrients in the sewerage system, but further studies in full-scale systems are needed to confirm this.