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The social confinement resulting from the COVID-19 crisis temporarily reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Although experts contend that the decrease in pollution rates was not drastic, some surveys detect growth in social concern about the climate. In this new climate-conscious environment, municipalities and local governments are promoting a new way of living and caring for cities, even before they can regain national and international freedom of movement. This work analyzes the connections between new climate awareness arising from the COVID-19 crisis, proposals of sustainable citizenship around the world, and its communication on Twitter to educate the new eco-conscious audience. The methodology mixes quantitative and qualitative analysis, using the Twitonomy Premium tool and the Twitter research tool with data extracted at the end of December 2020. Among the top ten most influential and active accounts, the results show educational institutions, local institutions, companies, neighborhoods, associations, and influencers. The impossibility of living in the city has not prevented citizen education and commitment to make real change for when that city and its citizens return to normality. However, this new normality must be different: more ecological, more responsible, more sustainable, and practiced from early childhood.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, wearing facemasks became common. Many initiatives arose to develop new types of reusable textile masks in order to overcome a shortage of surgical masks for the health care personnel and for the civil society. Having such high demand of facemasks raises the question about what factors define their environmental sustainability. This paper presents a first simplified Life-Cycle-Assessment (LCA) comparing surgical masks and 2-layered cotton masks. The aim of the paper is to identify and understand the relevant ecological factors in order to support decision making on how textile masks could be designed in a more sustainable manner. The results of our simplified LCA show that the cotton masks were performing better than the surgical masks and vice versa depending on the environmental impact that was looked at. It was also found that the lifespan and the weight of the cotton masks are two variables having a great importance for their overall environmental performance.

Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) are plastic particles of concern worldwide as they negatively affect the environment and human health. The interactions of microorganisms with microplastics and nanoplastics are different. On one hand, microorganisms might biodegrade MPs/NPs through enzymes, but on the other hand, they serve as vehicles to spread diseases or negatively affect their viability. As a result, several studies have reported disturbances in soil balance and negative impacts on geochemical cycles. With an increasing number of investigations into microorganisms and their interactions with MPs and NPs, this study demonstrates a growing interest in biodegradable alternatives. A bibliometric analysis of 719 documents published from 2010 to December 2021 presents the research landscape on the interaction of microplastics and nanoplastics with microorganisms. The study shows that China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany lead the scientific production on this topic. However, in situ studies of large-scale pilot applications in the environment are scarce. More research funding from governments in the form of national action that stimulates national and international cooperation through universities, institutes, and industries is required. There is an urgent need for studies focusing on the degradation mechanisms of various microorganisms through the characterization of enzymes involved in the chemical modification of these emerging contaminants (MPs/NPs) with transparent standard methodologies. Moreover, there is no standardization for MP/NP extraction or characterization methodologies for different environments, especially in atmosphere. The patent need for alternative pathways for MP/NP degradation is evident, using microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, microalgae, and a consortium (peripheral biofilms) to mitigate the negative impact of the constantly increasing anthropogenic MP/NP pollutants in the world.

Respiratory inhalers have a substantial impact on the carbon footprint of the healthcare sector. Environmental factors, including carbon footprints, are gaining importance in choosing inhalers once medical considerations have been addressed. This paper provides a review of the carbon footprint (CFP) and life cycle assessment (LCA) environmental profile of dry powder inhalers (DPIs) and pressurized metered-dose inhalers (pMDIs). Despite methodological challenges, our analysis reveals that the CFP varies between DPIs ranging from 359 gCO2e per inhaler (Enerzair Breezhaler® DPI without digital companion 30-day pack) to 1250 gCO2e per inhaler (Seretide Accuhaler® 50/500) and from 6.13 gCO2e per dose (Enerzair Breezhaler® without digital companion 90-day pack) to 27 gCO2e per dose (Relvar Elipta 92/22). The breakdown of inhaler CFP by life cycle stage reveals that, although the use and end-of-life stages together contribute to most of the CFP of the MDIs, the largest contributions to the CFP of the DPI/SMI are made by the API and manufacturing stages of the life cycle. Although from a climate perspective our review aligns with the findings of Jeswani and Azapagic that DPIs have a lower CFP than pMDIs, we conclude that the performance against other environment impact categories depends on the design, choice of material and manufacturing process of the DPIs. The challenge of comparing the CFP of different inhalers can be made easier by the standardization of study boundaries and methods.

The core of the digital transition is the representation of all kinds of real-world entities and processes and an increasing number of cognitive processes by digital information and algorithms on computers. These allow for seemingly unlimited storage, operation, retrieval, and transmission capacities that make digital tools economically available for all domains of society and empower human action, particularly combined with real-world interfaces such as displays, robots, sensors, 3D printers, etc. Digital technologies are general-purpose technologies providing unprecedented potential benefits for sustainability. However, they will bring about a multitude of potential unintended side effects, and this demands a transdisciplinary discussion on unwanted societal changes as well as a shift in science from analog to digital modeling and structure. Although social discourse has begun, the topical scope and regional coverage have been limited. Here, we report on an expert roundtable on digital transition held in February 2017 in Tokyo, Japan. Drawing on a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, our discussions highlight the importance of cultural contexts and the need to bridge local and global conversations. Although Japanese experts did mention side effects, their focus was on how to ensure that AI and robots could coexist with humans. Such a perspective is not well appreciated everywhere outside Japan. Stakeholder dialogues have already begun in Japan, but greater efforts are needed to engage a broader collection of experts in addition to stakeholders to broaden the social debate.

The so-called “Traffic Light Index” (TLI) is a meta-sustainability label aimed at condensing the information provided by existing sustainability labels into an overarching message on food products’ environmental footprints. Such an overarching message is critical to reduce the confusion caused by existing labels and to foster more sustainable dietary habits among consumers. While research shows that the TLI is a viable and effective choice, its actual development and implementation are impeded by debates between relevant stakeholders in the European food system. This study examines those debates and adopts a multi-stakeholder perspective to address the following question: How do different stakeholder groups involved in the discussion towards a meta-sustainability label inhibit the adoption of the TLI label? Exploratory interviews with representatives from non-governmental organizations, social enterprises, academia, multi-national corporations, and governmental organizations show that each stakeholder group (1) adopts either optimistic or skeptical attitudes towards the TLI label, (2) perceives different types and magnitudes of barriers to its adoption (i.e., cognitive, methodological, and processual), and (3) proposes solutions to overcome those barriers that are either of an entrepreneurial or risk-averse nature. Findings further reveal that multi-stakeholder interactions influence attitudes and thereby inhibit or favor TLI adoption. Hence, entrepreneurial (vs. risk-averse) solutions proposed by optimistic (vs. skeptical) stakeholders may alter the attitudes of skeptical (vs. optimistic) stakeholders and the barriers they perceive to TLI adoption. By responding to calls for holistic approaches towards food labelling, our study shows how the diversity of stakeholders’ perceptions towards the TLI inhibits its adoption. We propose a theoretical framework and a set of propositions that can serve as springboards for policy ideas to propel progress in food labelling for environmental sustainability.

With rapid urbanization, population growth and anthropogenic activities, an increasing number of major cities across the globe are facing severe urban heat islands (UHI). UHI can cause complex impacts on the urban environment and human health, and it may bring more severe effects under heatwave (HW) conditions. In this paper, a holistic review is conducted to articulate the findings of the synergies between UHI and HW and corresponding mitigation measures proposed by the research community. It is worth pointing out that most studies show that urban areas are more vulnerable than rural areas during HWs, but the opposite is also observed in some studies. Changes in urban energy budget and major drivers are discussed and compared to explain such discrepancies. Recent studies also indicate that increasing albedo, vegetation fraction and irrigation can lower the urban temperature during HWs. Research gaps in this topic necessitate more studies concerning vulnerable cities in developing countries. Moreover, multidisciplinary studies considering factors such as UHI, HW, human comfort, pollution dispersion and the efficacy of mitigation measures should be conducted to provide more accurate and explicit guidance to urban planners and policymakers.