Topic Review
Waste Treatment and Disposal in the European Union
Disposal via landfill has historically been the dominant method of municipal waste treatment and disposal in the European Union (EU). The EU’s Waste Framework Directive of 1975 (Council Directive 75/442/EEC) introduced the waste hierarchy into European waste policy for the first time, emphasising the importance of waste minimisation. Implementation of the waste hierarchy was optional to member states; but there was an expectation that it would be included within national waste management legislation. The waste hierarchy is a guiding principle that gives top priority to preventing waste; when waste is created, it gives priority to direct re-use, recycling, recovery methods, such as energy recovery, and last of all disposal (Council Directive 2008/98/EC).
  • 496
  • 27 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Valuing Ecosystem Services for Agricultural Total Factor Productivity
The United Nations (UN) Millennium Ecosystem Services Assessment (MA) defines ecosystem services as the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as regulation of floods, drought, land degradation, and disease; supporting services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling; and cultural services such as recreational, spiritual, religious, and other nonmaterial benefits. Agriculture and ecosystem services are closely intertwined, giving rise to the term “agro-ecosystem” to denote the complex relationships between agricultural production and surrounding ecosystems. Total factor productivity (TFP), also termed multifactor productivity (MFP), relates total output quantity to total input quantity to provide an aggregate measure of economic performance. Total Factor Productivity (TFP) provides a general framework for modeling agricultural production and constructing aggregate index measures to allow for the multilateral assessment of agricultural productivity.
  • 555
  • 11 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Utilize Human Kinetic Energy for Sustainable Energy Generation
Renewable energy has become increasingly relevant in recent years as concerns about climate change and the depletion of fossil fuels have grown across the globe. The energy generated through exercise, sports, and other forms of physical exertion can be harnessed and used to generate electricity for homes, businesses, and even communities. This type of energy generation is becoming increasingly popular as a means of generating renewable energy and reducing our dependence on non-renewable sources of energy.
  • 664
  • 18 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Urban Agriculture in the Circular Economy
As major hubs for energy and resource consumption and carbon emissions, cities are at the forefront of the discussion on the impacts of megatrends, such as demographic changes, technological advancements, and the shift toward climate neutrality.
  • 57
  • 21 Feb 2024
Topic Review
UI GreenMetric and Sustainability at Universities
The concept of sustainability has become more important, especially as a result of the depletion of energy resources and increasing environmental concerns. UI GreenMetric ranks universities based on sustainability, environmental, and energy concerns, addressing issues of environmental pollution, food and water scarcity, and energy supply.
  • 380
  • 21 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Trends in Emission of Marine Traffic Haifa Port
The vessel fleet calling at Israel ports mainly comprises vessels that have a lower engine tier grade (i.e., Tier 0 and 1), which is considered a heavy contributor to nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution. The entry recommends an additional cost charged (selective tariff) to reflect the external social cost linked to the single vessel air pollution combined with supportive technological infrastructure and economic incentive tools (e.g., electric subsidy) to attract or influence vessel owners to assign vessels equipped with new engine tier grades for calls at Israeli ports.
  • 846
  • 17 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Traditional Ecological Knowledge versus Ecological Wisdom
A novel concept has emerged in the landscape planning and design field as a response to environmental sustainability, which is known as ecological wisdom (EW). EW is defined as the ability to make prudent actions in contextual ecological practices. On the other hand, Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) has been developing for a long time and become a reference for environmental management. It refers to the evolving knowledge acquired by indigenous and local peoples over hundreds or thousands of years through direct contact with the environment. It is concerned with the relationship of living beings (including humans) with their traditional groups and environment. This study would like to search for evidence and define the distinction between both topics and find that they are distinct from their definition, agent, sources, and research scope. This study also found that TEK and EW could be similar when discussing the topic of indigenous culture capital, traditional knowledge, ecosystem services, and sustainability in the context of cultural landscape research. It also proposed a conceptual framework to help scholars to understanding the relationship between TEK and EW in the cultural landscape. Furthermore, states the potential areas for research improvement among TEK, EW, and its convergence.
  • 1.1K
  • 24 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Toward a Feminist Agroecology
Agroecology is gaining ground as a movement, science, and set of practices designed to advance a food systems transformation which subverts the patterns of farmer exploitation currently entrenched in dominant agricultural models. A feminist agroecology focuses on redressing unequal gender relations as well as other intersecting relations of marginalization such as race, class, caste, and ethnic identity. 
  • 1.0K
  • 20 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Tourism Transport Energy Use
Overall, transport consumes 94% of tourism-related energy use, compared to accommodation at 4%, and other activities at 2%. Almost 80% of tourism’s contribution to global warming is associated with leisure travel. In the near future, tourism will grow fast, and it seems necessary to introduce mechanisms to internalize leisure-travel-related CO2 emission costs, if climate change is to be managed. Drastic reductions in leisure travel would be needed to mitigate emissions worldwide. Excessive transport usage has led to high social costs and has caused a variety of negative externalities, such as traffic congestion; land consumption; accidents; air and noise pollution; destruction of the visual landscape; and waste in the use of resources such as raw materials, energy, and so on. However, tourism transport has become a crucial part of the tourism industry that generates substantial economic benefits worldwide. Therefore, the target should be to control the growth of tourism transport usage in order to make it environmentally sustainable, without compromising the ability of people to meet their need for mobility.
  • 759
  • 15 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Therapeutic Landscapes and Psychiatric Care Facilities
Healing environments have been defined as therapeutic landscapes (TL), where the physical and built environments, social conditions and human perceptions combine to produce an atmosphere which is conducive to healing. The environment in mental-healthcare facilities can influence health and recovery of service users and furthermore contribute to healthy workplaces for staff. The physical (built and natural), social, and symbolic dimensions of the therapeutic landscape can have positive and negative impacts. Therefore, the needs and characteristics of the different stakeholders have to be considered.
  • 531
  • 10 Feb 2022
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