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This thesis explores the food blogosphere as a potentially transformative space in which bloggers and readers alike have the opportunity to engage in an environmentally conscientious discourse about food. Through the mixed methods of a questionnaire, structured interviews and the close reading of blogs, data was collected to illuminate the following research questions; how are themes related to environmental sustainability portrayed on food blogs? To what extent do people relate to the environment through what they eat and how is this relationship communicated in the food blogosphere? And finally, how does blogging about food empower writers and readers? The findings of this thesis suggest that individuals use food as one avenue towards The Good Life, and that the food blogosphere is space in which this is communicated. The Good Life observed in the environmentally conscientious blogs studied for this thesis reject the alienating forces of mass consumerism and the massive scale of the current food system and instead founds itself on alternative conceptions of authenticity, simplicity, nostalgia and pleasure. Narratives about food, featured on food blogs, are explored in this thesis as microcosm of a much larger debate about culture, identity and citizenship in the face of environmental crisis. The food blogosphere is one space in which strategies, ideas, and practices for a more environmentally conscientious relationship to food and eating are broadcasted, and communicated. This thesis has considered the potential of the food blogosphere as a venue for affecting real change, and has found that this potential is being realized to different extents. While ultimately, the food blogs studied in this thesis do not explicitly link humanity and habitat through food and eating, they do communicate ways to close the ever-widening gap, and to consume with greater awareness to the broader implications of food choice.

Diese Dissertation untersucht die Wechselwirkungen zwischen Getreideproduktion und Klimawandel, um Erkenntnisse für eine gezielte Klimaanpassung und -minderung im Getreideanbau zu gewinnen. Ein zentrales Augenmerk liegt auf der Rolle der Genetik (G), Umwelt (E) und Management (M) in Deutschland. Vier Studien adressieren diese Themen: In Studie 1 wurde eine Lebenszyklusanalyse des Winterweizen- und Winterroggenanbaus mit Sortenversuchsdaten über 30 Jahre durchgeführt. Es konnte erstmals bewiesen werden, dass der Züchtungsfortschritt in Deutschland den CFP von Winterweizen und Winterroggen erheblich reduziert hat. In Studie 2 wurden räumlich dynamische Wetterindizes entwickelt, um die Auswirkungen von Hitze und Trockenheit auf Winterweizen mit Praxisertragsdaten zu untersuchen. Es wurden deutliche Unterschiede in der regionalen Ertragswirkung von Hitze und Trockenheitsstress identifiziert. In Studie 3 wurden standortspezifische Einflüsse auf Hitze und Trockenstresstoleranz von Winterweizen und Winterroggen mit Sortenversuchsdaten vertiefend geprüft. Es wurde bewiesen, dass die Bodengüte einen entscheidenden Einfluss auf die abiotische Stresstoleranz hat. Darüber hinaus konnte keine Verbesserung der abiotischen Stresstoleranz durch den Züchtungsfortschritt nachgewiesen werden. In Studie 4 wurde die Rückkopplung des Klimawandels auf die CFP von Winterweizen, Winterroggen und Wintergerste mit Sortenversuchsdaten analysiert. Die Ergebnisse weisen erstmals nach, dass Hitze und Trockenheit die CO2-Emissionen erhöhen. Außerdem wurde gezeigt, dass hohe Bodenqualität zu geringeren Emissionen pro Fläche und einem geringeren CFP führt. Basierend auf den Ergebnissen der vier Studien wurden wichtige Hebel zum Klimaschutz in der Landwirtschaft unter gleichzeitigen Klimaeinflüssen identifiziert. Hier wurden insbesondere Maßnahmen entlang G × E × M hervorgehoben, die hohe und stabile Erträge sowie maximale Input Effizienzen gewährleisten. This dissertation examines the interactions between cereal production and climate change to gain insights for targeted climate adaptation and mitigation in cereal cultivation. A central focus is on the role of genetics (G), environment (E), and management (M) in Germany. Four studies address these topics: In Study 1, a life cycle assessment of winter wheat and winter rye cultivation was conducted using variety trial data over 30 years. It was demonstrated for the first time that breeding progress in Germany has significantly reduced the carbon footprint (CFP) of winter wheat and winter rye. In Study 2, spatially dynamic weather indices were developed to investigate the effects of heat and drought on winter wheat using on-farm yield data. Significant regional differences in heat and drought stress yield effects were identified across Germany. In Study 3, site-specific influences on heat and drought stress tolerance of winter wheat and winter rye were examined in depth using variety trial data. It was proven that soil quality has a decisive impact on abiotic stress tolerance. Additionally, no improvement in abiotic stress tolerance due to breeding progress was found. In Study 4, the feedback of climate change on the CFP of winter wheat, winter rye, and winter barley was analyzed using variety trial data. The results indicate for the first time that heat and drought increase the CFP of cereal production. It was also shown that high soil quality sites exhibit lower GHG emissions per unit of land (GHGL) and lower CFPs. Based on the results of the four studies, important levers for climate protection in agriculture under simultaneous climate influences were identified. Particularly, measures along G × E × M were emphasized, which ensure high and stable yields as well as maximum input efficiencies.

Newsletter from March 2022 - Have a look on the last news around the UPWARDS project.

The main aim of the Horizon Europe Fit4Micro Project is to develop a microCHCP unit running on sustainable liquid biofuels. The application of this unit is foreseen at multi-family houses and at remote or off-grid locations. This technology will lead to very high electrical efficiencies (>40%) and a flexible heat/power ratio. Moreover, the usage of a truly advanced and RED II compliant biofuel will guarantee a high GHG emission reduction. This flexible hybrid energy system is based on a double-shaft micro gas turbine (mGT) combined with a novel humidification unit, and will be able to provide renewable heating, cooling and power production, mainly for domestic usage. The Fit4Micro solution contributes to make Europe the first enabled circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy. Proceedings of the 31st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 5-8 June 2023, Bologna, Italy, pp. 514-516

The chapter focuses on using crowdfunding for financing sustainable projects, that is projects aiming to extend their goal beyond market success and provide benefit to the larger part of society. The chapter discusses the definition and dimensions of sustainable development and sustainable entrepreneurship and provides an overview of the existing literature on crowdfunding of sustainable projects. The authors also review four European sustainability-oriented crowdfunding platforms representing different crowdfunding models. This review reveals that sustainable projects have rather high success rates in crowdfunding and may address all the three dimensions of sustainable development. However, environmental dimension gets the most attention. All the crowdfunding models are relevant for sustainable projects; yet, Loan-based crowdfunding seems to have the highest success rates. Moreover, focus on a particular dimension of sustainability may influence the choice of the crowdfunding model.

Norway is committed to promoting the use of energy from renewable sources and, as such, has established policies to facilitate the long-term development of the land-based wind power sector. Wind power installations, however, are often sited in remote areas where wind resources are attractive but where the environment remains relatively untouched. This has lead to an impassioned debate about the acceptability of wind power installations in Norway’s natural landscapes. Due to a long history of democratic local governance, wind power projects in Norway are unlikely to be approved unless they have local support, giving host municipalities an unofficial veto power over the outcomes of such proposals. This makes the ways that public and private stakeholders influence local attitudes and beliefs crucial to the outcome of licensing decisions. According to research published by Inderberg et al. (2019), NGOs represent a marginalised stakeholder group in Norwegian land-based wind power licensing processes and are considered unlikely to have any chance of stopping a project. In the time since their research was published, however, Norway’s national debate reached a fever pitch, with significant nationwide opposition mobilising both on- and offline, eventually leading to Norway’s national framework for wind power being abandoned. Several high-profile NGOs took clear oppositional stances in the debate, conducting a range of activities including the dissemination of oppositional media, the organisation of demonstrations, and the submission of objections in official wind power licensing procedures. To understand the capacity of such voices to affect land-based wind power licensing decisions, both directly at the local scale as well as indirectly through their influence in the national debate, my research investigates the persuasive influence of narrative messaging from Norway’s largest outdoor organisation, Den Norske Turistforening (DNT), on both supportive and oppositional stakeholders in a land-based wind power licensing process in Larvik, Norway. The findings of this research suggest that ongoing processes of narrative persuasion work to amplify the existing positions of members of local government – engaging those who hold story-consistent attitudes and beliefs, whilst repelling those whose do not – ultimately contributing to the polarisation of the debate about the acceptability of land-based wind power in Norway.

The authors compare the energy consumption and CO2 emissions from vehicles using internal combustion engines (ICE), battery electric vehicles (BEV), fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), and two types of hybrid vehicles, BEV-ICE hybrid and BEV-FCEV hybrid. This paper considers several scenarios for four countries’ electricity production from primary energy sources to estimate total CO2 release. Energy consumption of the vehicle per 100 km, emissions during manufacturing, battery production, and lifecycle of the vehicle are considered in the total amount evaluation of CO2 released. The results show that with current technologies for battery manufacturing, and a significant proportion of national grid electricity delivered by fossil fuels, BEV is the best choice to reduce carbon emissions for shorter driving ranges. In the case of electricity generation mainly by low-carbon sources, FCEV and BEV-FCEV hybrid vehicles end up with lower carbon dioxide emissions. In contrast, with electricity mainly generated from fossil fuels, electric vehicles do not reduce CO2 emissions compared to combustion cars.

The Arctic climate system is in great distress, warming faster than the rest of the world and transforming more rapidly than previously anticipated. Sustained and harmonized multidisciplinary observations at key locations are needed to fill knowledge gaps and evaluate the ongoing climate change impacts on the complex Arctic marine system. For more than a decade, the Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) has functioned as a “detection array” for ecosystem changes and trends in the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean. This long-term collaborative initiative builds on active involvement of scientists conducting in situ observations within marine disciplines to systematically document how the arctic marine ecosystem is transforming with environmental change. The DBO concept is currently being expanded into other sectors of the Arctic, including Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, the Atlantic Arctic gateway area, and the East Siberian Sea. Through increased collaboration and joint practices, findings from these regional areas can leverage to pan-Arctic perspectives and improve our understanding of the entire Arctic Ocean. Common practices are now being developed, including key phenomena and relevant indicators to study. Also, we strive towards harmonized routines for sampling, analysis and data sharing to increase the comparability across both disciplines and regions, and to improve the usability of our in-situ observations also for the modelling and remote sensing scopes. An ambition is, moreover, to expand from today's predominantly open-sea coverage towards coastal regions, to the benefit of both local communities and researchers. The process of establishing a pan-Arctic DBO network is to a large part facilitated by the EU Horizon project Arctic PASSION (2022-2025). Here, we present the latest developments and shared priorities, as well as our vision of how to incorporate our efforts into other parallel processes aiming to strengthen the pan-Arctic observing system towards, during and beyond the upcoming IPY.

This study provides a whole-systems simulation on how to halve global CO2 emissions by 2050, compared to 2010, with an emphasis on technologies and costs, in order to avoid a dangerous increase in the global mean surface temperature by end the of this century. There still remains uncertainty as to how much a low-carbon energy system costs compared to a high-carbon system. Integrated assessment models (IAMs) show a large range of costs of mitigation towards the 2°C target, with up to an order of magnitude difference between the highest and lowest cost, depending on a number of factors including model structure, technology availability and costs, and the degree of feedback with the wider macro-economy. A simpler analysis potentially serves to highlight where costs fall and to what degree. Here we show that the additional cost of a low-carbon energy system is less than 1% of global GDP more than a system resulting from low mitigation effort. The proposed approach aligns with some previous IAMs and other projections discussed in the paper, whilst also providing a clearer and more detailed view of the world. Achieving this system by 2050, with CO2 emissions of about 15GtCO2, depends heavily on decarbonisation of the electricity sector to around 100gCO2/kWh, as well as on maximising energy efficiency potential across all sectors. This scenario would require a major mitigation effort in all the assessed world regions. However, in order to keep the global mean surface temperature increase below 1.5°C, it would be necessary to achieve net-zero emission by 2050, requiring a much further mitigation effort.