Pub Date : 2024-06-09DOI: 10.1177/20530196241255081
Mauricio Lima
Our present world is the consequence of the size of the human population and its domination of the biosphere through the combustion of fossil fuels. Since ~1950, there has been a sudden increase in the rate of human global energy consumption, economic productivity, and population growth. This abrupt departure of the system dynamics has been defined as the “Great Acceleration.” The accelerated population and economic expansion during the past 70 years would have been impossible without using fossil fuels. However, no studies have made an explicit connection between human population dynamics on a global scale and historical changes in energy consumption growth rates, economic growth, and the energy return on investment of fossil fuels (EROI). In this study, I apply a simple population dynamic model of cooperation/competition to decipher the effects of changes in these factors on the dynamics of the human population during the period (1800–2020).
{"title":"The link between human population dynamics and energy consumption during the Anthropocene","authors":"Mauricio Lima","doi":"10.1177/20530196241255081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196241255081","url":null,"abstract":"Our present world is the consequence of the size of the human population and its domination of the biosphere through the combustion of fossil fuels. Since ~1950, there has been a sudden increase in the rate of human global energy consumption, economic productivity, and population growth. This abrupt departure of the system dynamics has been defined as the “Great Acceleration.” The accelerated population and economic expansion during the past 70 years would have been impossible without using fossil fuels. However, no studies have made an explicit connection between human population dynamics on a global scale and historical changes in energy consumption growth rates, economic growth, and the energy return on investment of fossil fuels (EROI). In this study, I apply a simple population dynamic model of cooperation/competition to decipher the effects of changes in these factors on the dynamics of the human population during the period (1800–2020).","PeriodicalId":74943,"journal":{"name":"The anthropocene review","volume":" 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141366361","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-06-06DOI: 10.1177/20530196241255088
Patrick Flamm, Daniel Lambach, Urs Schaefer-Rolffs, Claudia Stolle, Vitali Braun
Space debris is a major issue for space safety as any collision of a space object with even a small piece of debris can have catastrophic consequences. The most recent dramatic increase of the number of satellites in Earth’s orbit is clearly exacerbating the risks. In this context there is a growing norm of disposal of orbital debris through atmospheric re-entry: space debris is to ‘burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere’, in order to provide for a ‘clean space’. Unfortunately, there is very little data on the environmental impact of deorbiting on atmospheric chemistry and in-situ data collection is practically impossible. The few existing studies – our own modelling included – agree that while the current impact of deorbiting is likely negligible, the projected exponential growth of satellites in LEO could exacerbate the risks. In consequence, space sustainability may come at the expense of damaging the health of the middle and upper atmosphere, with potentially unforeseeable consequences. Against this backdrop, we argue that in order to manage LEO sustainably, we must overcome this – what we call – ‘atmosphere-blindness’: our limited understanding of space-Earth system links through orbital disposal practices and their atmospheric impacts. While there is growing environmental consciousness with regard to outer space, we need to acknowledge that space sustainability is embedded in a wider context of outer space geopolitics, where the benefits and risks of the space infrastructure are distributed highly unequally. In our view it is thus crucially important to undertake more interdisciplinary research on the issue of de-orbiting, as it is not merely a technical environmental problem to be fixed but also an inherently political matter of planetary scale environmental justice.
{"title":"Space sustainability through atmosphere pollution? De-orbiting, atmosphere-blindness and planetary environmental injustice","authors":"Patrick Flamm, Daniel Lambach, Urs Schaefer-Rolffs, Claudia Stolle, Vitali Braun","doi":"10.1177/20530196241255088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196241255088","url":null,"abstract":"Space debris is a major issue for space safety as any collision of a space object with even a small piece of debris can have catastrophic consequences. The most recent dramatic increase of the number of satellites in Earth’s orbit is clearly exacerbating the risks. In this context there is a growing norm of disposal of orbital debris through atmospheric re-entry: space debris is to ‘burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere’, in order to provide for a ‘clean space’. Unfortunately, there is very little data on the environmental impact of deorbiting on atmospheric chemistry and in-situ data collection is practically impossible. The few existing studies – our own modelling included – agree that while the current impact of deorbiting is likely negligible, the projected exponential growth of satellites in LEO could exacerbate the risks. In consequence, space sustainability may come at the expense of damaging the health of the middle and upper atmosphere, with potentially unforeseeable consequences. Against this backdrop, we argue that in order to manage LEO sustainably, we must overcome this – what we call – ‘atmosphere-blindness’: our limited understanding of space-Earth system links through orbital disposal practices and their atmospheric impacts. While there is growing environmental consciousness with regard to outer space, we need to acknowledge that space sustainability is embedded in a wider context of outer space geopolitics, where the benefits and risks of the space infrastructure are distributed highly unequally. In our view it is thus crucially important to undertake more interdisciplinary research on the issue of de-orbiting, as it is not merely a technical environmental problem to be fixed but also an inherently political matter of planetary scale environmental justice.","PeriodicalId":74943,"journal":{"name":"The anthropocene review","volume":"76 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141377443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-13DOI: 10.1177/20530196231218484
James Sedalia Peters
Relationships between nature and society are made manifest in the production of landscapes. Consequently, landscape changes indicate changes in the relationships between nature and society. Forged at regional scales over long periods of time, nature/society relationships, like natural and social systems, exhibit periods of equilibrium, stability, and incremental change that eventually give way to new periods of equilibrium, stability, and incremental change in which causal relationships have changed. The paper presents a landscape changebased, grounded theory periodization of the New England (USA) region’s Anthropocene history. Its intent is to provide temporal boundaries within which processes, events, records, and artifacts can be examined within shared socio-ecological frames of reference, a first step in the development of new socio-ecologically-based historical narratives. Locating the “inaugural moment” of New England’s Anthropocene epoch at the establishment of Plymouth Colony in 1620, the beginning of England’s colonialization of this forested North American region, the paper presents and interprets regularity analyses of population density, land-use/land cover, and other data related to landscape shaping processes, identifying socio-ecological regime shifts from the aboriginal Late Woodlands regime to the English Colonial regime and subsequent shifts to the American Industrial regime in 1830 and the American Post-Industrial regime in 1970 along with their nested, subsidiary regimes. Previous periodizations of the region’s history are discussed, and a narrative of the region’s Anthropocene history is outlined based on the paper’s periodization. It is observed that displacements of a socio-ecological regime serve as resources for the next regime, that ghosts of past regimes are present in today’s environmental challenges, but that socio-ecological regime shifts are difficult to forecast.
{"title":"Socio-ecological regime shifts in New England (USA), 1620–2020","authors":"James Sedalia Peters","doi":"10.1177/20530196231218484","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196231218484","url":null,"abstract":"Relationships between nature and society are made manifest in the production of landscapes. Consequently, landscape changes indicate changes in the relationships between nature and society. Forged at regional scales over long periods of time, nature/society relationships, like natural and social systems, exhibit periods of equilibrium, stability, and incremental change that eventually give way to new periods of equilibrium, stability, and incremental change in which causal relationships have changed. The paper presents a landscape changebased, grounded theory periodization of the New England (USA) region’s Anthropocene history. Its intent is to provide temporal boundaries within which processes, events, records, and artifacts can be examined within shared socio-ecological frames of reference, a first step in the development of new socio-ecologically-based historical narratives. Locating the “inaugural moment” of New England’s Anthropocene epoch at the establishment of Plymouth Colony in 1620, the beginning of England’s colonialization of this forested North American region, the paper presents and interprets regularity analyses of population density, land-use/land cover, and other data related to landscape shaping processes, identifying socio-ecological regime shifts from the aboriginal Late Woodlands regime to the English Colonial regime and subsequent shifts to the American Industrial regime in 1830 and the American Post-Industrial regime in 1970 along with their nested, subsidiary regimes. Previous periodizations of the region’s history are discussed, and a narrative of the region’s Anthropocene history is outlined based on the paper’s periodization. It is observed that displacements of a socio-ecological regime serve as resources for the next regime, that ghosts of past regimes are present in today’s environmental challenges, but that socio-ecological regime shifts are difficult to forecast.","PeriodicalId":74943,"journal":{"name":"The anthropocene review","volume":"20 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139531403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-22DOI: 10.1177/20530196231218485
J. Winkler, M. Vaverková, E. Koda
This paper discusses the difference between growth and development in plants, and how these concepts can be applied to human civilization. While growth refers to the quantitative gain of biomass, development is characterized by qualitative changes in the specialization and functioning of cells, tissues, and organs. In human society, growth is often prioritized over development, as evidenced by the focus on gross domestic product without considering its social and environmental impacts. Waste, which is produced during consumption, is a significant problem for human civilization as it contributes to pollution and environmental degradation. Waste management and finding new uses for waste are important efforts to utilize waste production; however, their effectiveness is often unclear. Sustainable development of human society should focus on creating systems inspired by nature, which can be achieved by reducing waste production and increasing the share of waste utilizable in biological processes. The functional interconnection between decomposer (waste) and producers (raw materials) in human society is essential for achieving sustainable development. Ultimately, this path leads to the reduction of waste and improves the effectiveness of human activities, thereby reducing threats to ecosystems.
{"title":"The path of human civilization in the Anthropocene: Sustainable growth or sustainable development?","authors":"J. Winkler, M. Vaverková, E. Koda","doi":"10.1177/20530196231218485","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196231218485","url":null,"abstract":"This paper discusses the difference between growth and development in plants, and how these concepts can be applied to human civilization. While growth refers to the quantitative gain of biomass, development is characterized by qualitative changes in the specialization and functioning of cells, tissues, and organs. In human society, growth is often prioritized over development, as evidenced by the focus on gross domestic product without considering its social and environmental impacts. Waste, which is produced during consumption, is a significant problem for human civilization as it contributes to pollution and environmental degradation. Waste management and finding new uses for waste are important efforts to utilize waste production; however, their effectiveness is often unclear. Sustainable development of human society should focus on creating systems inspired by nature, which can be achieved by reducing waste production and increasing the share of waste utilizable in biological processes. The functional interconnection between decomposer (waste) and producers (raw materials) in human society is essential for achieving sustainable development. Ultimately, this path leads to the reduction of waste and improves the effectiveness of human activities, thereby reducing threats to ecosystems.","PeriodicalId":74943,"journal":{"name":"The anthropocene review","volume":"9 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138944715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-22DOI: 10.1177/20530196231218480
Hilal Okur, M. Erturaç, Kathleen Nicoll
Analysis of multi-temporal satellite images from 1980 to 2019, complemented by geomorphic mapping and field study, indicate that “loose sand” extraction of Sakarya River deposits from the Adapazarı Plain of NW Turkey significantly intensified during the last decade, and mining operations have caused complete and irreversible alteration of floodplain habitat in a total area amounting to ~970 hectares. Our reconstructions estimate the total amount of mined material over a 40-year period since 1980 as ~50 million m3, amounting to ~80 million tonnes of fluvial sand. These sand mine operations, like most around the world, are highly disruptive and destructive but remain unregulated, and neither extractions or environmental impacts are reported or monitored. Our independent study is first to directly assess sand extraction in altering the natural geomorphic setting of the Sakarya River and describe economic, environmental, and social impacts of mining operations. The high demand for loose sand used in cement and concrete infrastructure correlates with changes in Turkey’s political economy, which increasingly focused on construction during the last quarter of the 20th century. Extractive sand mining in this region has caused substantial land loss, soil erosion and water table alterations, which have made agricultural land unsuitable for cultivation, and even destroyed most of the farmland supporting the villages, eliminating the traditional farming practiced for millennia. Continuous mining operations cause constant noise, heavy vehicle traffic and pollution. Furthermore, sand removal from the Sakarya river environment has significantly diminished sediment transport offshore to its delta in the Black Sea; the lower sediment yield diminishes coastal beach nourishment and is accelerating coastal land erosion regionally. The Sakarya case study we describe illustrates the need for (1) improved oversight of human agency that destroys riverine settings; and (2) regulations regarding long term environmental and social impacts of sand mining.
{"title":"Geomorphic changes and socio-environmental impacts of recent sand mining in the Sakarya River, NW Turkey","authors":"Hilal Okur, M. Erturaç, Kathleen Nicoll","doi":"10.1177/20530196231218480","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196231218480","url":null,"abstract":"Analysis of multi-temporal satellite images from 1980 to 2019, complemented by geomorphic mapping and field study, indicate that “loose sand” extraction of Sakarya River deposits from the Adapazarı Plain of NW Turkey significantly intensified during the last decade, and mining operations have caused complete and irreversible alteration of floodplain habitat in a total area amounting to ~970 hectares. Our reconstructions estimate the total amount of mined material over a 40-year period since 1980 as ~50 million m3, amounting to ~80 million tonnes of fluvial sand. These sand mine operations, like most around the world, are highly disruptive and destructive but remain unregulated, and neither extractions or environmental impacts are reported or monitored. Our independent study is first to directly assess sand extraction in altering the natural geomorphic setting of the Sakarya River and describe economic, environmental, and social impacts of mining operations. The high demand for loose sand used in cement and concrete infrastructure correlates with changes in Turkey’s political economy, which increasingly focused on construction during the last quarter of the 20th century. Extractive sand mining in this region has caused substantial land loss, soil erosion and water table alterations, which have made agricultural land unsuitable for cultivation, and even destroyed most of the farmland supporting the villages, eliminating the traditional farming practiced for millennia. Continuous mining operations cause constant noise, heavy vehicle traffic and pollution. Furthermore, sand removal from the Sakarya river environment has significantly diminished sediment transport offshore to its delta in the Black Sea; the lower sediment yield diminishes coastal beach nourishment and is accelerating coastal land erosion regionally. The Sakarya case study we describe illustrates the need for (1) improved oversight of human agency that destroys riverine settings; and (2) regulations regarding long term environmental and social impacts of sand mining.","PeriodicalId":74943,"journal":{"name":"The anthropocene review","volume":"11 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138944455","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-12-18DOI: 10.1177/20530196231212449
Jeffrey Nicolaisen
Previous research argues Gallus gallus (chickens) makes a strong candidate for a chrono-stratigraphic signal of the Anthropocene, but the history of how G. gallus came to mark the Anthropocene remains to be told. At the macro-level, G. gallus tells a story of slavery, sexism, scientific progress, settler colonialism, nation building, socialist welfare programs, capitalist expansionism, and plantation agriculture. At the micro-level, G. gallus tells a story of the suffering of crippling growth rates and confinement as well as the agency of metabolic labor; goal-directed behavior of hunger, thirst and survival; and resistance in the form of efforts at escape and violence of feather pecking. This paper tells a history that recognizes the sensorial worlds and intentionality of G. gallus, and demonstrates how G. gallus is one instantiation of an assemblage of species that were co-opted into a system that partially overlaps with and simultaneously sustains and threatens the technosphere.
{"title":"Why the caged bird sings: Rethinking the Anthropocene with Gallus gallus","authors":"Jeffrey Nicolaisen","doi":"10.1177/20530196231212449","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196231212449","url":null,"abstract":"Previous research argues Gallus gallus (chickens) makes a strong candidate for a chrono-stratigraphic signal of the Anthropocene, but the history of how G. gallus came to mark the Anthropocene remains to be told. At the macro-level, G. gallus tells a story of slavery, sexism, scientific progress, settler colonialism, nation building, socialist welfare programs, capitalist expansionism, and plantation agriculture. At the micro-level, G. gallus tells a story of the suffering of crippling growth rates and confinement as well as the agency of metabolic labor; goal-directed behavior of hunger, thirst and survival; and resistance in the form of efforts at escape and violence of feather pecking. This paper tells a history that recognizes the sensorial worlds and intentionality of G. gallus, and demonstrates how G. gallus is one instantiation of an assemblage of species that were co-opted into a system that partially overlaps with and simultaneously sustains and threatens the technosphere.","PeriodicalId":74943,"journal":{"name":"The anthropocene review","volume":" 41","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138994835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-10DOI: 10.1177/20530196231204335
Jason Phillips
The Brundtland report and vulnerability are two of the fundamental perspectives of the environment-human system and relationship. However, the Brundtland report and its incarnations has been argued as anthropocentric in nature and fostering weak sustainability, thus resulting in vulnerability occurring. Furthermore, how the report and its incarnations has been interpreted and implemented by governments, businesses, and organisations is significant in determining sustainability outcomes. It is therefore appropriate and necessary to develop a fundamental dynamic understanding of how Brundtland and vulnerability over time may influence past and present-day sustainability outcomes at specified spatial scale. Consequently, building upon previous research, this paper develops a fundamental dynamic scenario model for the United Kingdom using the Sustainability Dynamics Framework. The model indicates that the UK has been significantly influenced by its interpretation and implementation of the Brundtland report, which has primarily focussed upon the economic and social development aspects. This has resulted in the present-day very weak to weak sustainability occurring for Brundtland-based factors, and weak unsustainability occurring for vulnerability factors. Based upon the historical and present-day modelled scenarios, the paper concludes that the UK is at a tipping point in respect to its environment-human system and relationship. A fundamental transformation is necessary to return the UK to optimum or below-optimum environment-human system thresholds and a more conducive co-evolutionary relationship. Unless this happens, then the risk of significant stress within the environment-human system will only continue to increase, with the possibility of a systemic crisis occurring, or possibly an environmental or societal collapse in the worst-case scenario.
{"title":"Dynamic scenario modelling of the role and influence of Brundtland and vulnerability upon sustainability in the UK in the Anthropocene","authors":"Jason Phillips","doi":"10.1177/20530196231204335","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196231204335","url":null,"abstract":"The Brundtland report and vulnerability are two of the fundamental perspectives of the environment-human system and relationship. However, the Brundtland report and its incarnations has been argued as anthropocentric in nature and fostering weak sustainability, thus resulting in vulnerability occurring. Furthermore, how the report and its incarnations has been interpreted and implemented by governments, businesses, and organisations is significant in determining sustainability outcomes. It is therefore appropriate and necessary to develop a fundamental dynamic understanding of how Brundtland and vulnerability over time may influence past and present-day sustainability outcomes at specified spatial scale. Consequently, building upon previous research, this paper develops a fundamental dynamic scenario model for the United Kingdom using the Sustainability Dynamics Framework. The model indicates that the UK has been significantly influenced by its interpretation and implementation of the Brundtland report, which has primarily focussed upon the economic and social development aspects. This has resulted in the present-day very weak to weak sustainability occurring for Brundtland-based factors, and weak unsustainability occurring for vulnerability factors. Based upon the historical and present-day modelled scenarios, the paper concludes that the UK is at a tipping point in respect to its environment-human system and relationship. A fundamental transformation is necessary to return the UK to optimum or below-optimum environment-human system thresholds and a more conducive co-evolutionary relationship. Unless this happens, then the risk of significant stress within the environment-human system will only continue to increase, with the possibility of a systemic crisis occurring, or possibly an environmental or societal collapse in the worst-case scenario.","PeriodicalId":74943,"journal":{"name":"The anthropocene review","volume":" 625","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135186234","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-09DOI: 10.1177/20530196231207981
Małgorzata Krówczyńska, Ewa Wilk
In the Anthropocene, humanity faces many questions related to the harmful effects of many substances on their health and the environment around them. One such mineral that had many uses, useful in human daily life, but which ultimately turned out to have a detrimental effect on human health and the environment, is asbestos. Due to the progressive urbanization of the world, asbestos has been widely used in the economies of many countries. Its’ unique physical and chemical properties were used, inter alia, for the production of asbestos-cement roofs. The only data available used by researchers and provided by USGS are on asbestos fiber production, which will not enable us to assess the health and environmental risk. It is estimated that over 90% of asbestos-containing products still in use are asbestos roofs. Quantity information is missing so other methods are being sought to estimate the amount and spatial distribution of these roofs to safely eliminate them from use since the environmental pollution with asbestos fibers poses a threat to humans and the natural environment. The purpose of the study is to present methods for estimating the number of asbestos-cement roofs to assess the environmental risk of air pollution on a national scale and to present methods for the recognition of asbestos-cement roofs using various classification algorithms and image data. These algorithms can be successfully used in other countries to determine the amount of asbestos-cement roofs to be safely disposed of and take the necessary actions.
{"title":"Hazardous waste in the Anthropocene: The comparative methods for asbestos roofs detection to assess the environmental risk","authors":"Małgorzata Krówczyńska, Ewa Wilk","doi":"10.1177/20530196231207981","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196231207981","url":null,"abstract":"In the Anthropocene, humanity faces many questions related to the harmful effects of many substances on their health and the environment around them. One such mineral that had many uses, useful in human daily life, but which ultimately turned out to have a detrimental effect on human health and the environment, is asbestos. Due to the progressive urbanization of the world, asbestos has been widely used in the economies of many countries. Its’ unique physical and chemical properties were used, inter alia, for the production of asbestos-cement roofs. The only data available used by researchers and provided by USGS are on asbestos fiber production, which will not enable us to assess the health and environmental risk. It is estimated that over 90% of asbestos-containing products still in use are asbestos roofs. Quantity information is missing so other methods are being sought to estimate the amount and spatial distribution of these roofs to safely eliminate them from use since the environmental pollution with asbestos fibers poses a threat to humans and the natural environment. The purpose of the study is to present methods for estimating the number of asbestos-cement roofs to assess the environmental risk of air pollution on a national scale and to present methods for the recognition of asbestos-cement roofs using various classification algorithms and image data. These algorithms can be successfully used in other countries to determine the amount of asbestos-cement roofs to be safely disposed of and take the necessary actions.","PeriodicalId":74943,"journal":{"name":"The anthropocene review","volume":" 17","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135286533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-09DOI: 10.1177/20530196231204344
Ivan Kuneš, Vilém Podrázský, Martin Baláš, Jiří Remeš, Petr Navrátil, Marek Kuc, Jiří Smejkal, Jana Bursíková, Jarosław G Paluch
The Jizera Mountains, situated on the Czech-Polish border and close to Germany, are today an environmentally valuable area attractive for visitors from sportspeople to nature lovers. In the 1980s, however, these mountains were among the most ecologically disrupted places in Europe. Emissions from lignite power plants largely destroyed the Jizera forests. This review summarises the development of forests in the Jizera Mountains and the human activities that influenced the area since the Middle Ages. Particular attention is given to the Industrial Revolution and also to the air pollution calamity in the 1970s and 1980s. The paper describes the causes of the decline of the forests and the factors that led to a significant improvement. Existing challenges for foresters and environmentalists are discussed. This paper views the development of forest ecosystems in the light of political and social events in the border area of three states where the Jizera Mountains are located.
{"title":"The history of the Jizera Mts forests in the former heavily polluted area of Central Europe","authors":"Ivan Kuneš, Vilém Podrázský, Martin Baláš, Jiří Remeš, Petr Navrátil, Marek Kuc, Jiří Smejkal, Jana Bursíková, Jarosław G Paluch","doi":"10.1177/20530196231204344","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196231204344","url":null,"abstract":"The Jizera Mountains, situated on the Czech-Polish border and close to Germany, are today an environmentally valuable area attractive for visitors from sportspeople to nature lovers. In the 1980s, however, these mountains were among the most ecologically disrupted places in Europe. Emissions from lignite power plants largely destroyed the Jizera forests. This review summarises the development of forests in the Jizera Mountains and the human activities that influenced the area since the Middle Ages. Particular attention is given to the Industrial Revolution and also to the air pollution calamity in the 1970s and 1980s. The paper describes the causes of the decline of the forests and the factors that led to a significant improvement. Existing challenges for foresters and environmentalists are discussed. This paper views the development of forest ecosystems in the light of political and social events in the border area of three states where the Jizera Mountains are located.","PeriodicalId":74943,"journal":{"name":"The anthropocene review","volume":" 43","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135241981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-10-30DOI: 10.1177/20530196231205485
Tomasz Związek, Dominika Łuców, Joachim Popek, Marcin Klisz, Milena Obremska, Łukasz Sobechowicz, Jerzy Solon, Michał Słowiński, Paweł Przybylski, Łukasz Tyburski, Ewa Zin, Szymon Jastrzębowski, Eliza Płaczkowska, Kamil Pilch, Krzysztof Szewczyk, Agata A Konczal, Paweł Rutkowski, Dariusz Główka, Paweł Swoboda
Combining different diverse data on human and environmental history during the Anthropocene is an extremely challenging task, particularly, if one wants to compare written or cartographic data with a whole range of environmental data recorded for more than the past 200–300 years. In this article, our objective was to demonstrate that one of the keys to facilitating syntheses for the study of forest landscape dynamics was to conduct a thorough investigation into the historical phenomena of modernization. We believe that a comprehensive understanding of the advancements in post-enlightenment thought and contextualizing them within the evolution of the state apparatus during the 18th and 19th centuries will empower us to formulate new research questions and broaden our understanding of the mutual relations between nature and humans in the past.
{"title":"Addressing multiple perspectives in studying environmental changes in forest landscapes during the modernization period (18th–19th centuries)","authors":"Tomasz Związek, Dominika Łuców, Joachim Popek, Marcin Klisz, Milena Obremska, Łukasz Sobechowicz, Jerzy Solon, Michał Słowiński, Paweł Przybylski, Łukasz Tyburski, Ewa Zin, Szymon Jastrzębowski, Eliza Płaczkowska, Kamil Pilch, Krzysztof Szewczyk, Agata A Konczal, Paweł Rutkowski, Dariusz Główka, Paweł Swoboda","doi":"10.1177/20530196231205485","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196231205485","url":null,"abstract":"Combining different diverse data on human and environmental history during the Anthropocene is an extremely challenging task, particularly, if one wants to compare written or cartographic data with a whole range of environmental data recorded for more than the past 200–300 years. In this article, our objective was to demonstrate that one of the keys to facilitating syntheses for the study of forest landscape dynamics was to conduct a thorough investigation into the historical phenomena of modernization. We believe that a comprehensive understanding of the advancements in post-enlightenment thought and contextualizing them within the evolution of the state apparatus during the 18th and 19th centuries will empower us to formulate new research questions and broaden our understanding of the mutual relations between nature and humans in the past.","PeriodicalId":74943,"journal":{"name":"The anthropocene review","volume":"23 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136068403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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