Search results for " natural resource"
showing 10 items of 194 documents
A Holistic Approach to Comprehending the Complexity of the Post-growth Era: The Emerging Profile
2015
The goal of this study is to investigate the problems caused by the rapid growth of the global economy, coupled with high population growth and the excessive exploitation of natural resources. The global economy will not be able to maintain its current speed of growth in the long term, so a paradigm shift in production and consumption is necessary, if the collapse of ecosystems and the concurrent depletion of natural resources are to be avoided. This is the reason why capitalism needs to take a turn towards a sustainable and naturally harmonized development model.
The social benefits of restoring water quality in the context of the Water Framework Directive: A comparison of willingness to pay and willingness to…
2009
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is by far the most important piece of water legislation in Europe for the coming decades. Its main aim is to achieve "good ecological status" for all water resources by 2015. The economic valuation of the non-market benefits derived from improving water quality is an important input in assisting the design and implementation of efficient and effective water management policies. In this study, the contingent valuation method has been applied with a double purpose. On the one hand, we have estimated the value of a hypothetical improvement in water quality of a river asking individuals about their willingness to pay, and on the other hand, the issue of exemp…
From the LCA of food products to the environmental assessment of protected crops districts: A case-study in the south of Italy
2010
In the present study, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to evaluate the energy consumption and environmental burdens associated with the production of protected crops in an agricultural district in the Mediterranean region. In this study, LCA was used as a ‘support tool’, to address local policies for sustainable production and consumption patterns, and to create a ‘knowledge base’ for environmental assessment of an extended agricultural production area. The proposed approach combines organisation-specific tools, such as Environmental Management Systems and Environmental Product Declarations, with the environmental management of the district. Questionnaires were distribute…
Something Mightier: Marginalization, Occult Imaginations and the Youth Conflict in the Oil-Rich Niger Delta
2011
This contribution examines the role of occult imaginations in the struggle against perceived socio-economic marginalization by youth militias from the Ijaw ethnic group in the oil-rich Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It argues that the asymmetric power between the federal government/transnational oil corporations (TNOCs) and the militias may have privileged the invocation of the supernatural as a critical agency of strength and courage by the youth militias. The conflict in the region embodies a cultural revision which has been necessitated by both the uncertainty of the oil environment and the prevailing narratives of social injustice. Hence the Egbesu deity, seen historically as embodying…
Spatial and temporal changes in Actinobacterial dominance in experimental artificial groundwater recharge.
2008
Abstract Artificial groundwater recharge (AGR) is used in the drinking water industry to supplement groundwater resources and to minimise the use of chemicals in water treatment. This study analysed the spatial and temporal changes of microbial communities in AGR using two test systems: a nutrient-amended fluidized-bed reactor (FBR) and a sand column. Structural changes in the feed lake water (Lake Roine), FBR, and sand column bacterial communities were determined by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and the length heterogeneity analysis of amplified 16S rRNA genes (LH-PCR). Two clone libraries were created to link the LH-PCR results to the dominant bacterial groups. The lake w…
BORRELIA BURGDORFERI SENSU LATO DETECTED IN SKIN OF NORWEGIAN MOUNTAIN HARES (LEPUS TIMIDUS) WITHOUT SIGNS OF DISSEMINATION
2011
The mountain hare (Lepus timidus) population in southern Norway appears to be in decline. Necropsy and laboratory examinations of 36 hares found dead or diseased during 2007-2009 in Vest- and Aust-Agder counties showed that disease and deaths were attributed to multiple causes, with no specific etiology emerging as a cause for population decline. To investigate whether Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) infection is associated with mortality in mountain hares, tissues and ticks collected from hares were investigated for infection with the spirochete. Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. DNA was not detected in samples from internal organs, whereas Borrelia afzelii, B. burgdorferi sensu stricto (s.…
Phytochemical Constituents, Antioxidant Activity, and Toxicity Assessment of the Aerial Part Extracts from the Infraspecific Taxa of Matthiola frutic…
2021
In a project designed to investigate the specific and infraspecific taxa of Matthiola endemic to Sicily (Italy) as new potential sources of bioactive compounds in this work, the infraspecific taxa of Matthiola fruticulosa were studied, namely, subsp. fruticulosa and subsp. coronopifolia. HPLC–PDA/ESI–MS and SPME–GC/MS analyses of hydroalcoholic extracts obtained from the aerial parts of the two subspecies led to the detection of 51 phenolics and 61 volatile components, highlighting a quite different qualitative–quantitative profile. The antioxidant properties of the extracts were explored through in vitro methods: 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), reducing power and Fe2+ chelating activ…
Ecosystem dynamics: exploring the interplay within fintech entrepreneurial ecosystems
2021
AbstractScholars and practitioners continue to recognize the crucial role of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) in creating a conducive environment for productive entrepreneurship. Although EEs are fundamentally interaction systems of hierarchically independent yet mutually dependent actors, few studies have investigated how interactions among ecosystem actors drive the entrepreneurial process. Seeking to address this gap, this paper explores how ecosystem actor interactions influence new ventures in the financial technology (fintech) EE of Singapore. Guided by an EE framework and the use of an exploratory-abductive approach, empirical data from semi-structured interviews is collected and ana…
Renewable electricity producing technologies and metal depletion: A sensitivity analysis using the EROI
2015
International audience; More and more attention is being paid to renewable technologies because they are seen as a great opportunity to disengage our society from its dependence on fossil fuels. Such flow-based energy resources that rely on solarenergy are supposed to lead us toward a sustainable energy future. However, because of their high capitalintensity, renewable technologies require large amounts of matter, including both common and rare metals.These metals require energy for their production, and more specifically for their extraction. The energy costassociated with metal extraction is linked to mineral ore grade, meaning that as depletion progresses, energycost increases. In additi…
Environmental expenditure interactions among OECD countries, 1995-2017
2021
International audience; How do countries respond to other countries when setting the level of their environmental expenditures? Using data from 1995-2017 on a sample of 28 OECD countries, we examine the nature and extent of strategic interactions in environmental expenditures among OECD countries using a spatial Durbin model including economic and political control variables and both economic and spatial weight matrices reflecting several interaction mechanisms. The results show the existence of significant positive spatial dependence in environmental spending suggesting that OECD countries consider their neighbors' behavior when making policy choices related to environmental expenditures. …