Summary

Environmental science emerged from the fields of natural history and medicine during the Enlightenment. Today, it provides an integrated, quantitative, and interdisciplinary approach to the study of environmental systems. Environmental studies are incorporating more of the social sciences in order to understand human relationships, perceptions and policies towards the environment. This entry collection features information about design and technology for improving environmental quality in every aspect.

Expand All
Entries
Topic Review
Nanomaterials for Enhancing Bioconversion and Bioremediation of Wastes
Anaerobic digestion (AD), microalgae cultivation, and microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are the major biological processes to convert organic solid wastes and wastewater in the agricultural industry into biofuels, biopower, various biochemical and fertilizer products, and meanwhile, recycle water. Various nanomaterials including nano zero valent irons (nZVIs), metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs), carbon-based and multicompound nanomaterials have been studied to improve the economics and environmental sustainability of those biological processes by increasing their conversion efficiency and the quality of products, and minimizing the negative impacts of hazardous materials in the wastes. 
  • 461
  • 11 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Impact of Carbamate Pesticides on Male Reproductive System
Carbamates are widely used and known around the world as pesticides in spite of also having medical applications. Carbamates are mostly used as pesticides worldwide, despite their interesting medical applications, such as in the treatment of myasthenia gravis, Alzheimer’s disease, or glaucoma, among others.
  • 796
  • 10 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Gas Radiant Heaters’ Flue-Gas Heat Recovery
In view of EU environmental policy, reducing energy consumption, developing energy-saving technologies and solutions, and reducing pollutant emissions are immensely relevant concerns. Waste heat recovery (WHR) systems enable these tasks to be achieved, and the favorable global situation implies that solutions for waste heat recovery from gas-fired radiant heaters for large-hall heating should attract the interest of many stakeholders.
  • 552
  • 04 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Collective Spaces in Achieving Social Sustainability
The outdoor collective spaces in most residential areas play a major role in social stability and unification. These are important components of the housing environment because they provide places for complimentary activities of housing units, mainly social interaction. Thus, good outdoors should ensure good social relations, a good sense of belonging to the place, and a stable social life for the residents.
  • 569
  • 05 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Impact of Digital Finance on Regional Carbon Emissions
China is currently in the process of industrialization, and the excessive consumption of fossil energy results in a significant increase in carbon emissions. With the significant development of information technology and the digital economy, digital finance has gradually become a new model that affects human activities, motivating us to explore the relationship between digital finance and carbon emissions.
  • 621
  • 05 Aug 2022
Topic Review
The Fungi That Degrade Plastic
Plastic has become established over the world as an essential basic need for our daily life. Plastics have many characteristics such as low production costs, inertness, relatively low weight, and durability. The primary disadvantage of plastics is their extremely slow natural degradation. The latter results in an accumulation of plastic waste in nature. Many fungi can be used to degrade plastics.
  • 1.0K
  • 03 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Effects of Waste Derived Biobased Products in Plants
Cultivating plants is a human activity involving several sectors. Agriculture deals with cultivation of crops for human consumption as well as animal production. Horticulture strictly involves the cultivation of plants for food consumption, as well as plants not for human consumption. Common farming practice is to boost plant production with a fertilizer dose higher than that adsorbed by soil and plant. Soluble bioorganic substances (SBS) obtained from urban and agriculture biowastes have both biostimulant and antifungal properties. 
  • 407
  • 11 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Biology Conservation of Olive Ridley Marine Turtles
Marine turtles are considered to be necessary for a healthy ocean, as they have a direct impact on other species. The olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) is the most abundant of all seven sea turtles, found across the tropical regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans in over 80 different countries all around the globe.
  • 2.3K
  • 02 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Humus
Etymologically the word "humus" means ground, dirt; the meaning of "homo" or "human" is near to earthling or being of the earth, earth here referring to the ground, or dirt (https://sites.psu.edu/josephvadella/2017/09/08/origins-of-human/). Essentially the words humus and human mean "connected to the earth", earth understood as dust, soil, dirt. The best way to express such a concept comes from an ancient religious Latin sentence: "pulvis est et pulvis reverteris", solemnly pronounced by priests as they deposited a pinch of ash on the believers' heads. Consider that earth has also become the name of the whole planet Earth, and that the Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis assigns the planet the functioning of a quasi-organism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis). The notion of humus contains and makes explicit the very concept of all existing matter. What is matter (living or not), if always, at a given cyclical moment, matter is forced to disappear by a principle which founds the future of this same matter? Understanding even partially this principle is useful for every single individual and for the whole of the co-evolving society.
  • 841
  • 01 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Exposure Routes and Health Risks Associated with Pesticides
There are four main pesticide application methods, including hydraulic spraying, backpack spraying, basal trunk spraying, and aerial spraying. Pesticide application methods are mainly selected by considering the habits of target pests, the characteristics of target sites, and the properties of pesticides. Humans are directly exposed to pesticides in occupational, agricultural, and household activities and are indirectly exposed to pesticides via environmental media, including air, water, soil, and food. Human exposure to pesticides occurs mainly through dermal, oral, and respiratory routes. People who are directly and/or indirectly exposed to pesticides may contract acute toxicity effects and chronic diseases. Although no segment of the general population is completely protected against exposure to pesticides and their potentially serious health effects, a disproportionate burden is shouldered by people in developing countries. Both deterministic and probabilistic human health risk assessments have their advantages and disadvantages and both types of methods should be comprehensively implemented in research on exposure and human health risk assessment. Equipment for appropriate pesticide application is important for application efficiency to minimize the loss of spray solution as well as reduce pesticide residuals in the environment and adverse human health effects due to over-spraying and residues. Policymakers should implement various useful measures, such as integrated pest management (IPM) laws that prohibit the use of pesticides with high risks and the development of a national implementation plan (NIP) to reduce the adverse effects of pesticides on the environment and on human health. 
  • 1.2K
  • 30 Jul 2022
  • Page
  • of
  • 105

Featured Entry Collections

>>