research papers for environment

2019 Best Papers published in the Environmental Science journals of the Royal Society of Chemistry

In 2019, the Royal Society of Chemistry published 180, 196 and 293 papers in Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts , Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology , and Environmental Science: Nano , respectively. These papers covered a wide range of topics in environmental science, from biogeochemical cycling to water reuse to nanomaterial toxicity. And, yes, we also published papers on the topic of the environmental fate, behavior, and inactivation of viruses. 1–10 We are extremely grateful that so many authors have chosen our journals as outlets for publishing their research and are equally delighted at the high quality of the papers that we have had the privilege to publish.

Our Associate Editors, Editorial Boards, and Advisory Boards were enlisted to nominate and select the best papers from 2019. From this list, the three Editors-in-Chief selected an overall best paper from the entire Environmental Science portfolio. It is our pleasure to present the winners of the Best Papers in 2019 to you, our readers.

Overall Best Paper

In this paper, Johansson et al. examine sea spray aerosol as a potential transport vehicle for perfluoroalkyl carboxylic and sulfonic acids. The surfactant properties of these compounds are well known and, in fact, key to many of the technical applications for which they are used. The fact that these compounds are enriched at the air–water interface makes enrichment in sea spray aerosols seem reasonable. Johansson et al. systematically tested various perfluoroalkyl acids enrichment in aerosols under conditions relevant to sea spray formation, finding that longer chain lengths lead to higher aerosol enrichment factors. They augmented their experimental work with a global model, which further bolstered the conclusion that global transport of perfluoroalkyl acids by sea spray aerosol is and will continue to be an important process in determining the global distribution of these compounds.

Journal Best Papers

Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts

First Runner-up Best Paper: Yamakawa, Takami, Takeda, Kato, Kajii, Emerging investigator series: investigation of mercury emission sources using Hg isotopic compositions of atmospheric mercury at the Cape Hedo Atmosphere and Aerosol Monitoring Station (CHAAMS), Japan , Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts , 2019, 21 , 809–818, DOI: 10.1039/C8EM00590G .

Second Runner-up Best Paper: Avery, Waring, DeCarlo, Seasonal variation in aerosol composition and concentration upon transport from the outdoor to indoor environment , Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts , 2019, 21 , 528–547, DOI: 10.1039/C8EM00471D .

Best Review Article: Cousins, Ng, Wang, Scheringer, Why is high persistence alone a major cause of concern? Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts , 2019, 21 , 781–792, DOI: 10.1039/C8EM00515J .

Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology

First Runner-up Best Paper: Yang, Lin, Tse, Dong, Yu, Hoffmann, Membrane-separated electrochemical latrine wastewater treatment , Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. , 2019, 5 , 51–59, DOI: 10.1039/C8EW00698A .

Second Runner-up Best Paper: Genter, Marks, Clair-Caliot, Mugume, Johnston, Bain, Julian, Evaluation of the novel substrate RUG™ for the detection of Escherichia coli in water from temperate (Zurich, Switzerland) and tropical (Bushenyi, Uganda) field sites , Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. , 2019, 5 , 1082–1091, DOI: 10.1039/C9EW00138G .

Best Review Article: Okoffo, O’Brien, O’Brien, Tscharke, Thomas, Wastewater treatment plants as a source of plastics in the environment: a review of occurrence, methods for identification, quantification and fate , Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. , 2019, 5 , 1908–1931, DOI: 10.1039/C9EW00428A .

Environmental Science: Nano

First Runner-up Best Paper: Janković, Plata, Engineered nanomaterials in the context of global element cycles , Environ. Sci.: Nano , 2019, 6 , 2697–2711, DOI: 10.1039/C9EN00322C .

Second Runner-up Best Paper: González-Pleiter, Tamayo-Belda, Pulido-Reyes, Amariei, Leganés, Rosal, Fernández-Piñas, Secondary nanoplastics released from a biodegradable microplastic severely impact freshwater environments , Environ. Sci.: Nano , 2019, 6 , 1382–1392, DOI: 10.1039/C8EN01427B .

Best Review Article: Lv, Christie, Zhang, Uptake, translocation, and transformation of metal-based nanoparticles in plants: recent advances and methodological challenges , Environ. Sci.: Nano , 2019, 6 , 41–59, DOI: 10.1039/C8EN00645H .

Congratulations to the authors of these papers and a hearty thanks to all of our authors. As one can clearly see from the papers listed above, environmental science is a global effort and we are thrilled to have contributions from around the world. In these challenging times, we are proud to publish research that is not only great science, but also relevant to the health of the environment and the public. Finally, we also wish to extend our thanks to our community of editors, reviewers, and readers. We look forward to another outstanding year of Environmental Science , reading the work generated not just from our offices at home, but also from back in our laboratories and the field.

Kris McNeill, Editor-in-Chief

Paige Novak, Editor-in-Chief

Peter Vikesland, Editor-in-Chief

• A. B Boehm, Risk-based water quality thresholds for coliphages in surface waters: effect of temperature and contamination aging, Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts , 2019, 21 , 2031–2041,   10.1039/C9EM00376B .
• L. Cai, C. Liu, G. Fan, C Liu and X. Sun, Preventing viral disease by ZnONPs through directly deactivating TMV and activating plant immunity in Nicotiana benthamiana , Environ. Sci.: Nano , 2019, 6 , 3653–3669,   10.1039/C9EN00850K .
• L. W. Gassie, J. D. Englehardt, N. E. Brinkman, J. Garland and M. K. Perera, Ozone-UV net-zero water wash station for remote emergency response healthcare units: design, operation, and results, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. , 2019, 5 , 1971–1984,   10.1039/C9EW00126C .
• L. M. Hornstra, T. Rodrigues da Silva, B. Blankert, L. Heijnen, E. Beerendonk, E. R. Cornelissen and G. Medema, Monitoring the integrity of reverse osmosis membranes using novel indigenous freshwater viruses and bacteriophages, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. , 2019, 5 , 1535–1544,   10.1039/C9EW00318E .
• A. H. Hassaballah, J. Nyitrai, C. H. Hart, N. Dai and L. M. Sassoubre, A pilot-scale study of peracetic acid and ultraviolet light for wastewater disinfection, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. , 2019, 5 , 1453–1463,   10.1039/C9EW00341J .
• W. Khan, J.-Y. Nam, H. Woo, H. Ryu, S. Kim, S. K. Maeng and H.-C. Kim, A proof of concept study for wastewater reuse using bioelectrochemical processes combined with complementary post-treatment technologies, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. , 2019, 5 , 1489–1498,   10.1039/C9EW00358D .
• J. Heffron, B. McDermid and B. K. Mayer, Bacteriophage inactivation as a function of ferrous iron oxidation, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. , 2019, 5 , 1309–1317,   10.1039/C9EW00190E .
• S. Torii, T. Hashimoto, A. T. Do, H. Furumai and H. Katayama, Impact of repeated pressurization on virus removal by reverse osmosis membranes for household water treatment, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. , 2019, 5 , 910–919,   10.1039/C8EW00944A .
• J. Miao, H.-J. Jiang, Z.-W. Yang, D.-y. Shi, D. Yang, Z.-Q. Shen, J. Yin, Z.-G. Qiu, H.-R. Wang, J.-W. Li and M. Jin, Assessment of an electropositive granule media filter for concentrating viruses from large volumes of coastal water, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol. , 2019, 5 , 325–333,   10.1039/C8EW00699G .
• K. L. Nelson, A. B. Boehm, R. J. Davies-Colley, M. C. Dodd, T. Kohn, K. G. Linden, Y. Liu, P. A. Maraccini, K. McNeill, W. A. Mitch, T. H. Nguyen, K. M. Parker, R. A. Rodriguez, L. M. Sassoubre, A. I. Silverman, K. R. Wigginton and R. G. Zepp, Sunlight mediated inactivation of health relevant microorganisms in water: a review of mechanisms and modeling approaches, Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts , 2018, 20 , 1089–1122,   10.1039/C8EM00047F .

Environmental Systems Research

Guest Editors: A.K.M. Saiful Islam,Achlesh Daverey, Khaled Benis Submission Status: Open from 15 July 2024   |   Submission Deadline: 25 March 2025

Guest Editors: Qaisar Mahmood, Sunil Kumar and Paromita Chakraborty Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline:   30 June 2024

Environmental Systems Research is associated with  the global Network on Persistent, Emerging and Organic Pollution in the Environment (PEOPLE Network).

Annual Journal Metrics

Speed 2023 Submission to first editorial decision (median days): 4 Submission to acceptance (median days): 58

Usage 2023 Downloads: 505,317 Altmetric mentions: 46

• More about our metrics
• ISSN: 2193-2697 (electronic)

Sustainable Environment Research

Call for papers: upcoming collection, nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation, guest edited by: pierre-antoine versini, amy oen, natalia rodriguez and daniela rizzi.

• Most accessed

Development of green manufacturing implementation framework based on life-cycle assessment

Authors: Tehrim Ijaz, Agha Haider Raza Qazalbash, Ahmed Abdul Razzaq, Muhammad Zeeshan Rafique, Mohammad Aamir Khan and Syeda Hadika Jamshaid

Selective adsorption of gold ion in wastewater with competing cations by novel thiourea-reduced graphene oxide

Authors: Yu-Jie Chen, Adrienne Chung and Hsing-Cheng Hsi

Extraction of arsenic from fine dust of copper smelters by reduction roasting with natural gas

Authors: Nurlan Dosmukhamedov, Abdilmalik Takishov, Erzhan Zholdasbay and Aidar Argyn

Assessment and analysis of polydimethylsiloxane-coated solar photovoltaic panels for cost-efficient solutions

Authors: Mohd Syukri Ali, Lilik Jamilatul Awalin, Amirul Syafiq Abdul Jaafar, Azimah Omar, Ab Halim Abu Bakar, Nasrudin Abd Rahim and Syahirah Abd Halim

Volatilization of benzene on soil surface under different factors: evaluation and modeling

Authors: Qian Wang, Jianmin Bian and Dongmei Ruan

Most recent articles RSS

View all articles

Biological wastewater treatment and bioreactor design: a review

Authors: C. M. Narayanan and Vikas Narayan

A comprehensive review on indoor air quality monitoring systems for enhanced public health

Authors: Jagriti Saini, Maitreyee Dutta and Gonçalo Marques

A system for monitoring water quality in a large aquatic area using wireless sensor network technology

Authors: Alexander T. Demetillo, Michelle V. Japitana and Evelyn B. Taboada

Study of the feasibility of a rice husk recycling scheme in Japan to produce silica fertilizer for rice plants

Authors: Ryoko Sekifuji and Masafumi Tateda

Near infrared band of Landsat 8 as water index: a case study around Cordova and Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, Philippines

Authors: Jeremy P. Mondejar and Alejandro F. Tongco

Most accessed articles RSS

Journal Announcement

2020-2022 Editor's Choice Articles

Archival Content

The archival content of Sustainable Environment Research can be located here . 

Aims and scope

The primary goal of Sustainable Environment Research (SER) is to publish high quality research articles associated with sustainable environmental science and technology and to contribute to improving environmental practice. The scope of SER includes issues of environmental science, technology, management and related fields, especially in response to sustainable water, energy and other natural resources. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

1. Water and Wastewater

• Biological processes • Physical and chemical processes • Watershed management • Advanced and innovative treatment

2. Soil and Groundwater Pollution

• Contaminant fate and transport processes • Contaminant site investigation technology • Soil and groundwater remediation technology • Risk assessment in contaminant sites

3. Air Pollution and Climate Change

• Ambient air quality management • Greenhouse gases control • Gaseous and particulate pollution control • Indoor air quality management and control

4. Waste Management

• Waste reduction and minimization • Resource recovery and conservation • Solid waste treatment technology and disposal

5. Energy and Resources

• Sustainable energy • Local, regional and global sustainability • Environmental management system • Life-cycle assessment • Environmental policy instruments • Techno-economic assessment

• Editorial Board
• Instructions for Editors
• Sign up for article alerts and news from this journal
• Follow SER on Linkedin

Affiliated with

Sustainable Environment Research  is affiliated with the  Chinese Institute of Environmental Engineering

Annual Journal Metrics

Citation Impact 2023 Journal Impact Factor: 4.6 5-year Journal Impact Factor: 5.7 Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP): 1.291 SCImago Journal Rank (SJR): 0.907

Speed 2023 Submission to first editorial decision (median days): 21 Submission to acceptance (median days): 147

Usage 2023 Downloads: 354,574 Altmetric mentions: 25

• More about our metrics

ISSN: 2468-2039

• Submission enquiries: Access here and click Contact Us
• General enquiries: [email protected]

Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Environmental Science and Pollution Research (ESPR) serves the international community in all broad areas of environmental science and related subjects with emphasis on chemical compounds.

• Covers all areas of Environmental Science and related subjects.
• Publishes on the natural sciences, but also includes the impacts of legislation, regulation, and the economy on pollution control.
• Safeguards international and interdisciplinary character through a global network of editorial board members.
• Official publication of the EuCheMS Division of Chemistry and the Environment.
• Authors from participating institutions can publish Open Choice at no cost.
• Philippe Garrigues

Societies and partnerships

Latest issue

Volume 31, Issue 39

Latest articles

Solar water splitting for hydrogen production using zn electrodes: a green and sustainable approach.

• Dhananjay Singh
• Indresh Singh
• Balendu Shekher Giri

Health risk assessment of bread wheat grown under cadmium and nickel stress and impact of silicic acid application on its growth, physiology, and metal uptake

• Alina Shafiq
• Muhammad Emmad Munawar
• Muhammad Awais

Phytoremediation of mercury-contaminated Soil by Vigna radiata L. plant in companion with bacterial and fungal biofertilizers

• Shirwan Malaie
• Latifeh Pourakbar
• Nabi Khezrnejad

Dynamic changes of fatty acids and ( R )-dichlorprop toxicity in Arabidopsis thaliana : correlation, mechanism, and implications

• Qiushui Zhang
• Yuezhong Wen

Inoculation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae for facilitating aerobic composting of acidified food waste

• Tingheng Zhu

Journal updates

Meet the editors.

Learn more about the ESPR editors!

Special Issues

We invite you to browse through recently published special issues of Environmental Science and Pollution Research: Click here to get an overview of ESPR issues! All manuscripts will be  peer reviewed as usual  and following the  journal's policies , with final decisions made by the Editor-in-Chief.

Special Issue Proposal Form

Call for Papers: Special Issue on Sustainable strategies for pollution prevention and resource recovery (AESEE-2024)

Journal information.

• Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
• Biological Abstracts
• CAB Abstracts
• Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS)
• Current Contents/Agriculture, Biology & Environmental Sciences
• EI Compendex
• Engineering Village – GEOBASE
• Google Scholar
• INIS Atomindex
• Japanese Science and Technology Agency (JST)
• OCLC WorldCat Discovery Service
• Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE)
• Semantic Scholar
• TD Net Discovery Service
• UGC-CARE List (India)

Rights and permissions

Editorial policies

© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

Environmental Pollution Causes and Consequences: A Study

• August 2017

• CHEMTEX Environmental &IndustrialHygiene Laboratories

Discover the world's research

• 25+ million members
• 160+ million publication pages
• 2.3+ billion citations
• Wong Chee Hoo
• Alex Hou Hong Ng
• Ree Chan Ho
• Manoch Prompanyo

• E. Umashankari
• Tamam Ali Abd Ulabbas Abedi
• SCI TOTAL ENVIRON

• Mahshid Zarei

• عبدالله خلف
• Semiu Bello

• Joicy George

• Meenu Eldhose

• Alan B. Krueger
• Richard P. Tucker

• Shyam Divan
• Martha L. Noble
• STANFORD LAW REV
• Alan Watson
• E. S. Martin
• L. J. Tumman
• Kailash Thakur
• Recruit researchers
• Join for free
• Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Wiley Open Access Collection

What really matters for successful research environments? A realist synthesis

Rola ajjawi.

1 Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE), Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

Paul E S Crampton

2 Research Department of Medical Education, University College London, London, UK

3 Monash Centre for Scholarship in Health Education (MCSHE), Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

Charlotte E Rees

Associated data.

Table S2. MeSH terms and a selection of key terms utilised in the database searches.

Table S3. Inclusion and exclusion criteria with respect to topic, recentness and type of article.

Table S4. Refined inclusion and exclusion criteria to include contextual parameters.

Table S5. Studies by type: qualitative, quantitative and mixed‐methods.

Research environments, or cultures, are thought to be the most influential predictors of research productivity. Although several narrative and systematic reviews have begun to identify the characteristics of research‐favourable environments, these reviews have ignored the contextual complexities and multiplicity of environmental characteristics.

The current synthesis adopts a realist approach to explore what interventions work for whom and under what circumstances.

We conducted a realist synthesis of the international literature in medical education, education and medicine from 1992 to 2016, following five stages: (i) clarifying the scope; (ii) searching for evidence; (iii) assessing quality; (iv) extracting data, and (v) synthesising data.

We identified numerous interventions relating to research strategy, people, income, infrastructure and facilities (IIF), and collaboration. These interventions resulted in positive or negative outcomes depending on the context and mechanisms fired. We identified diverse contexts at the individual and institutional levels, but found that disciplinary contexts were less influential. There were a multiplicity of positive and negative mechanisms, along with three cross‐cutting mechanisms that regularly intersected: time; identity, and relationships. Outcomes varied widely and included both positive and negative outcomes across subjective (e.g. researcher identity) and objective (e.g. research quantity and quality) domains.

Conclusions

The interplay among mechanisms and contexts is central to understanding the outcomes of specific interventions, bringing novel insights to the literature. Researchers, research leaders and research organisations should prioritise the protection of time for research, enculturate researcher identities, and develop collaborative relationships to better foster successful research environments. Future research should further explore the interplay among time, identity and relationships.

Short abstract

This realist review shows when and why interventions related to research strategy; people; income, infrastructure and facilities; and collaboration result in positive or negative research environments. Findings indicate that protected time, researcher identities and collaborative relationships are important for fostering successful research environments.

Introduction

Research environments matter. Environmental considerations such as robust cultures of research quality and support for researchers are thought to be the most influential predictors of research productivity. 1 , 2 Over 25 years ago, Bland and Ruffin 1 identified 12 characteristics of research‐favourable environments in the international academic medicine literature spanning the period from the mid‐1960s to 1990 (Box 1 ). Although these characteristics are aspirational in flavour, how they interplay to influence research productivity within increasingly complex institutional structures is not yet known. Indeed, although existing reviews have begun to help us better understand what makes for successful research environments, this research has typically ignored the contextual complexities and multiplicity of environmental characteristics 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 and has focused on narrow markers of productivity such as the quantity of research outputs (e.g. ref. 7 ) The current realist synthesis, therefore, aims to address this gap in the research literature by reviewing more recent literature ( 1992–2016 ) and exploring the features of successful research environments in terms of which interventions work, for whom, how and in what circumstances.

Characteristics of successful research environments 1

• Clear organisational research goals
• Research productivity as a priority and at least equal priority to other activities
• A robust research culture with shared research values
• A positive group climate
• Participative governance structures
• Non‐hierarchical and decentralised structures
• Good communication and professionally meaningful relationships between team members
• Decent resources such as people, funding, research facilities and time
• Larger group size, moderately established teams and diversity
• Rewards for research success
• Recruitment and selection of talented researchers
• Research‐oriented leaders with research expertise and skill

The contextual background for understanding successful research environments

Against a backdrop of the mass production of education, reduced government funding for research and ‘new managerialist’ cultures in higher education, 8 , 9 increased scrutiny of the quantity and quality of research, the research environments in which research is produced and the impacts of research has become inevitable. 10 Indeed, in higher education institutions (HEIs) globally, research productivity is being measured as part of individual researcher and research group key performance indicators. 7 In many countries, such as Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the UK, 11 HEI research is measured on a national scale through government‐led research assessments. Such research measurement has contributed to the allocation of funding to universities and differentiation of universities in the competitive marketplace, with some solidifying their institutional identities as ‘research‐intensive’ and others emphasising their relative ‘newcomer‐to‐research’ status (e.g. previously ‘teaching‐intensive’ universities). 9 , 12 , 13 Such institutional differentiation also parallels that of individual academics within universities, who are increasingly encouraged to take either ‘research‐active’ or ‘education‐focused’ career pathways. 8 , 9 It is these broader national and institutional constraints that inevitably impact on research environments at the level of units, centres, departments and schools within universities (the level of ‘research environment’ that we focus on in this paper). Table S1 provides definitions of key terms.

Key features of research environments identified in previous reviews

Evans defines a research environment as including: ‘shared values, assumptions, beliefs, rituals and other forms of behaviour whose central focus is the acceptance and recognition of research practice and output as valued, worthwhile and pre‐eminent activity.’ 14 Previous reviews have tended to focus on interventions aimed at individual researchers, such as research capacity building, 4 , 5 , 7 and with individual‐level outcomes, such as increased numbers of grants or publications. 4 , 5 , 7 These reviews have typically concluded that research capacity‐building interventions lead to positive research outcomes. 4 , 5 , 7 Furthermore, the reviews have identified both individual and institutional enablers to research. Individual enablers included researchers’ intrinsic motivation to conduct research. 6 , 7 Institutional enablers included peer support, encouragement and review, 7 mentoring and collaboration, 4 , 5 research leadership, 5 , 6 institutional structures, processes and systems supporting research, such as clear strategy, 5 , 6 protected time and financial support. 5 Although these reviews have begun to shed light on the features of successful research environments, they have significant limitations: (i) they either include studies of low to moderate quality 4 , 5 or fail to check the quality of studies included, 7 and (ii) they do not explore what works for whom and under what circumstances, but instead focus on what works and ignore the influence of the context in which interventions are implemented and ‘how’ outcomes come about. Indeed, Mazmanian et al. 4 concluded in their review: ‘…little is known about what works best and in what situations.’

Conceptual framework: a realist approach

Given the gaps in the research literature and the importance of promoting successful research environments for individuals’ careers, institutional prestige and the knowledge base of the community, we thought a realist synthesis would be most likely to elucidate how multiple complex interventions can influence success. Realism assumes the existence of an external reality (a real world), but one that is filtered (i.e. perceived, interpreted and responded to) through human senses, volitions, language and culture. 15 A realist approach enables the development and testing of theory for why interventions may or may not work, for whom and under what circumstances. 16 It does this through recognising that interventions do not directly cause outcomes; instead, participants’ reactions and responses to the opportunities provided by the intervention trigger outcomes. This approach can allow researchers to identify causal links in complex situations, such as those between interventions and the contexts in which they work, how they work (mechanisms) and their outcomes. 17 Although the context–mechanism–outcome (CMO) approach is not necessarily linear, it can help to provide explanations that privilege contextual variability. 18

Aligned with the goals of realist research, this synthesis aims to address the following research question: What are the features of successful research environments, for whom, how and in what circumstances?

We followed five stages of realist synthesis: (i) clarifying scope; (ii) searching for evidence; (iii) assessing quality; (iv) extracting data, and (v) synthesising data. 19 Our methods also follow the RAMESES ( r ealist a nd m eta‐narrative e vidence s ynthesis: e volving s tandards) reporting guidelines. 20

Clarifying the scope

We first clarified the scope of our realist synthesis by identifying relevant interventions based on the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 environment assessment criteria. The REF is a national exercise assessing the quality of research produced by UK HEIs, its impact beyond academia, and the environment that supports research. The assessment criteria indicated in the REF2014 environment template included the unit's research strategy , its people (including staffing strategy, staff development and research students), its income, infrastructure and facilities (IIF), as well as features of collaboration . 21 These guided our search terms (see stage 2 below). We chose to use these quality markers as they informed the UK national assessment exercise, upon which other national exercises are often based. In addition, these criteria were explicit, considered and implementable, and were developed through consensus. Like other realist syntheses, 18 , 22 , 23 ours considered a multiplicity of different interventions rather than just one and some of the papers we reviewed combined multiple interventions.

Based on previous reviews, 1 , 4 , 5 , 7 our initial programme theory speculated that interventions aligned to having an explicit research strategy, staff development opportunities, funding and establishing research networks would be effective for creating successful research environments (Fig. ​ (Fig.1 1 gives further details of our initial programme theory).

Initial programme theory

Searching for empirical evidence

We devised search terms as a team and refined these iteratively with the help of a health librarian experienced in searching. We split the research question into three key concepts: (i) research environment; (ii) discipline, and (iii) research indicator (i.e. positive or negative). We then used variations of these terms to search the most relevant databases including MEDLINE, ProQuest, Scopus, CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) and Web of Science. Table S2 illustrates the MeSH terms and provides a selection of key terms utilised in the database searches.

We were interested in comparing research cultures across the disciplines of medical education, education and medicine for two key reasons. Firstly, the discipline of medical education consists of a rich tapestry of epistemological approaches including biomedical sciences, social sciences and education, and medicine. 24 , 25 Secondly, there have been disciplinary arguments in the literature about whether medical education should be constructed as medicine or social science. 24 , 26

We agreed various inclusion and exclusion criteria with respect to topic, recentness and type of article (Table S3 ), as well as refined criteria to include contextual parameters (Table S4 ). We chose 1992 as the start date for our search period as 1992 saw the first published literature review about productive research environments in the academic medicine literature. 1

Study selection

The first top‐level search elicited 8527 journal articles across all databases. Once duplicate results had been removed, and ‘topic’ and ‘recentness’ study parameters reinforced, 420 articles remained. The searching and selection process is summarised in a PRISMA ( p referred r eporting i tems for s ystematic reviews and m eta‐ a nalyses) diagram (Fig. ​ (Fig.2). 2 ). Three research assistants and one of the authors (PESC) initially assessed relevance by reviewing abstracts using preliminary inclusion criteria. If any ambiguities were found by any of the reviewers, abstracts were checked by one of the other two researchers (RA and CER). Where divergent views existed, researchers discussed the reasons why and agreed on whether to include or exclude. A 10% sample of these 420 abstracts were double‐checked by an additional two researchers, including a number of articles previously excluded, for quality control purposes.

PRISMA flow diagram of the selection process

Assessment of quality

We assessed the journal articles for relevance and rigour. 20 We defined an article's relevance according to ‘whether it can contribute to theory building and/or testing’. 20 Following the relevance check and ‘type’ exclusions to original research papers, 100 articles remained, which were then assessed for rigour. Although we chose to narrow down to original research, we kept relevant articles such as systematic reviews and opinion pieces to inform the introduction and discussion sections of this paper.

We defined rigour as determining ‘whether the method used to generate the particular piece of data is credible and trustworthy’. 20 We used two pre‐validated tools to assess study quality: the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI) to assess the quality of quantitative research, 27 , 28 and the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) qualitative checklist for qualitative and mixed‐method studies. 29 Both tools are used to consider the rigour of study design, sampling, type of data, data analysis and outcomes/findings, and have been employed in previous reviews. 23 , 30

Following the quality assessment, 47 articles remained and were then subjected to data extraction and synthesis. Five papers were excluded as they did not contribute to our theory building or lacked CMO configurations (CMOCs). We kept notes of the reasons for excluding studies and resolved doubts through discussion (Fig. ​ (Fig.2 2 ).

Data extraction

Two data‐rich articles containing multiple CMOCs were inductively and deductively (based on the initial programme theory) coded by all of us to ensure consistency. We then discussed any similarities and differences in our coding. As is inherent in the challenges of realist approaches, we found differences in our identifications of CMOCs, which often related to how one particular component (e.g. time) could be an outcome at one moment and a mechanism the next. This alerted us to overlapping constructs, which we then explored as we coded remaining papers. To collect data across all remaining papers, we extracted information relating to: study design, methods and sample size; study setting; intervention focus; contexts of the intervention; mechanisms generated in the results, and outcomes. The key CMOCs in all 42 articles were identified primarily from the results sections of the papers. The process of data extraction and analysis was iterative with repeated discussion among the researchers of the demi‐regularities (i.e. patterns of CMOCs) in relation to the initial programme theory and negotiations of any differences of opinion.

Data synthesis

Finally, we interrogated our data extraction to look for patterns across our data/papers. We used an interpretative approach to consider how our data compared with our initial programme theory in order to develop our modified programme theory.

Characteristics of the studies

The 42 papers represented the following disciplines: medical education ( n = 4, 10%); 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 education ( n = 18, 43%), 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 and medicine ( n = 20, 48%). 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 There were 26 (62%) qualitative studies, 11 (26%) quantitative studies and five (12%) mixed‐methods studies (Table S5 ). The studies were from countries across the globe, including Australia ( n = 10, 24%), the USA ( n = 7, 17%), the UK ( n = 6, 14%), Canada ( n = 4, 10%), South Africa ( n = 4, 10%), Denmark ( n = 2, 5%), Turkey ( n = 2, 5%) and others ( n = 7, 17%) (e.g. Belgium, China, Germany, New Zealand and the Philippines). The research designs varied but common approaches included qualitative interviews, surveys, documentary/bibliographic analysis, case studies and mixed‐methods studies. Study participants included academics, teachers, health care professionals, senior directors, PhD students, early‐career researchers (ECRs) and senior researchers. Table S6 lists the individual contexts, interventions, mechanisms and outcomes identified from individual papers.

Extending our initial programme theory

A key finding from our realist synthesis was that the same interventions fired either positive or negative mechanisms leading to positive or negative outcomes, respectively, depending on context. Surprisingly, the CMOCs were mostly consistent across the three disciplines (i.e. medical education, education and medicine) with local contexts seemingly interplaying more strongly with outcomes. Therefore, we present these disciplinary contexts here as merged, but we highlight any differences by disciplinary context where relevant.

Having a research strategy promoted a successful research environment when it enabled appropriate resources (including time) and valuing of research; however, it had negative consequences when it too narrowly focused on outputs, incentives and rewards. In terms of people , individual researchers needed to be internally motivated and to have a sense of belonging, and protected time and access to capacity‐building activities in order to produce research. Lack of knowledge, researcher identity, networks and time, plus limited leadership support, acted as mechanisms leading to negative research outcomes. The presence of IIF was overwhelmingly indicated as necessary for successful research environments and their absence was typically detrimental. Interestingly, a few papers reported that external funding could have negative consequences because short‐term contracts, reduced job security and the use of temporary junior staff can lead to weak research environments. 40 , 67 , 71 Finally, collaboration was crucial for successful research mediated through trusting respectful relationships, supportive leadership and belongingness. Poor communication and competitive cultures, however, worked to undermine collaboration, leading to isolation and low self‐esteem, plus decreased research engagement and productivity. Table ​ Table1 1 highlights illustrative CMOCs for each intervention extending our initial programme theory.

Positive and negative context–mechanism–outcome configurations (CMOCs) for each intervention

CMOCs indicated in bold highlight the three cross‐cutting themes of time, identity and relationships.

ECRs = early‐career researchers.

Key cross‐cutting mechanisms: time, identity and relationships

As Table ​ Table1 1 shows, the same intervention can lead to positive or negative outcomes depending on the particular contexts and mechanisms triggered. This highlights greater complexity than is evident at first glance. Cross‐cutting these four interventions were three mechanisms that were regularly identified as critical to the success (or not) of a research environment: time; researcher identities, and relationships. We now present key findings for each of these cross‐cutting mechanisms and discuss how their inter‐relations lead to our modified programme theory (Fig. ​ (Fig.3). 3 ). Note that although we have tried to separate these three mechanisms for ease of reading, they were often messily entangled. Table ​ Table2 2 presents quotes illustrating the way in which each mechanism mediates outcomes within particular circumstances.

Modified programme theory. ECR = early‐career researcher

Time, identity and relationships as cross‐cutting mechanisms mediating successful research environments

Time was identified as an important mechanism for mobilising research outcomes across our three disciplines. Time was conceptualised severally including as: protected time; workload pressures influencing time available; efficient use of time; flexible use of time; making time, and time in career. The two most commonly considered aspects were protected time and workload implications. Protected time was largely talked about in the negative across a variety of contexts and disciplines, with lack of protected time leading to lack of researcher engagement or inactivity and reduced research productivity. 32 , 35 , 37 , 41 , 44 , 47 , 49 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 67 Also across a variety of contexts and disciplines, and acting as a positive mechanism, available protected time was found to lead to increased research productivity and active research engagement. 31 , 36 , 40 , 48 , 49 , 63 , 65 With regard to workload, limitations on the time available for research imposed by excessive other workloads led to reduced research activity, lower research productivity, poor‐quality research and reduced opportunity to attend research training. 40 , 41 , 47 , 49 , 60 , 67 Juggling of multiple responsibilities, such as clinical, teaching, administrative and leadership roles, also inhibited research productivity by diminishing the time available for research. 35 , 40 , 49 The alignment of research with other non‐research work was described as driving efficiencies in the use of time leading to greater research productivity (Table ​ (Table2, 2 , quote 1).

Identity was also an important mechanism for mobilising research outcomes across our three disciplines. Interpretations included personal identities (e.g. gender), professional identity (e.g. as a primary practitioner or a primary researcher), and social identity (e.g. sense of belongingness). Researcher identity was often referred to in relation to first‐career practitioners (and therefore second‐career researchers). Sharp et al. 48 defined these as participants recruited into higher education not directly from doctoral study but on the basis of their extensive ‘first‐order’ knowledge and pedagogical expertise. These were also practitioners conducting research in schools or hospitals. Identities were also referenced in relation to early, mid‐career or senior researchers. Academic staff working in academic institutions needed to develop a sense of researcher identity, belongingness, self‐efficacy for research and autonomy to increase their satisfaction, competence and research activity. 39 , 40 , 44 , 46 , 51 , 67 For first‐career practitioners (i.e. teachers, doctors), the research needed to be highly relevant and aligned to their primary identity work in order to motivate them. 53 , 59 , 62 , 65 This alignment was described as having a strong research–teaching nexus. 40 , 48 Linked to this concept was the need for first‐career practitioners to see the impact of research in relation to their primary work (e.g. patient‐ or student‐oriented) to facilitate motivation and to develop a researcher identity (Table ​ (Table2, 2 , quote 2). 36 , 37 , 41 , 49 , 53 , 54 , 67 Where research was seen as irrelevant to primary identity work (e.g. English language teaching, general practice), there was research disengagement. 37 , 48 , 52 , 59 , 67

Relationships

For all researchers and across our three disciplines, relationships were important in the mediating of successful research environments. 31 , 34 , 38 , 39 , 41 , 44 , 57 , 60 , 66 , 67 Positive research relationships were characterised by mutual trust and respect, 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 54 , 66 , 72 whereas others described them as friendships that take time to develop. 51 Mutually supportive relationships seemed to be particularly relevant to ECRs in terms of developing confidence, self‐esteem and research capacity and making identity transitions. 35 , 43 , 48 , 58 , 67 Relationships in the form of networks were considered to improve the quality of research through multicentre research and improved collaboration. 33 , 60 Supportive leadership as a particular form of relationship was an important mechanism in promoting a successful research environment. Supportive leaders needed to monitor workloads, set the vision, raise awareness of the value of research, and provide positive role‐modelling, thereby leading to increased productivity, promoting researcher identities and creating thriving research environments (Table ​ (Table2, 2 , quote 3). 31 , 34 , 37 , 38 , 40 , 41 , 43 , 44 , 46 , 48 , 49 , 53 , 55 , 62 Research leadership, however, could be influenced negatively by the context of compliance and counting in current university cultures damaging relationships, creating a loss of motivation, and raising feelings of devalue. Indeed, the failure of leaders to recognise researcher identities led to negative research productivity. 36 , 37 , 38 , 43 , 46 , 48 , 49

Intersections between time, identity and relationships within successful research environments

Time and identity.

Time and identity intersected in interesting ways. Firstly, time was a necessary enabler for the development of a researcher identity. 37 , 38 , 41 , 48 , 49 , 54 , 59 , 61 , 63 , 65 , 67 , 69 Secondly, those who identified as researchers (thus holding primary researcher identities) used their time efficiently to favour research activity outcomes despite a lack of protected time. 35 , 43 Conversely, for other professors who lacked personal determination and resilience for research, having protected time did not lead to better research activity. 43 This highlights the fact that time alone is insufficient to support a successful research environment, and that it is how time is utilised and prioritised by researchers that really matters (Table ​ (Table2, 2 , quote 4).

Identity and relationships

Interventions aimed at developing researcher identity consistently focused on relationship building across the three disciplines. The interventions that supported identity transitions into research included formal research training, 44 , 48 , 52 , 68 mentoring, 41 , 48 , 57 , 65 , 72 writing groups, 72 and collaboration with peers and other researchers, 39 , 41 , 43 operating through multiple mechanisms including relationships. The mechanisms included self‐esteem/confidence, increased networks, external recognition as a researcher, belongingness, and self‐efficacy. 35 , 41 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 52 , 57 Furthermore, our data suggest that leadership can be an enabler to the development of a researcher identity. In particular, leadership enabled research autonomy, recognition and empowerment, and fostered supportive mentoring environments, leading to researcher identity development and research productivity (Table ​ (Table2, 2 , quote 5). 34 , 38 , 46 , 48

Time and relationships

Relationships were developed and sustained over time (Table ​ (Table2, 2 , quote 6). Across the three disciplines, the role of leaders (managers, directors, deans) was to acknowledge and raise awareness of research, and then to prioritise time for research against competing demands, leading to effective research networks, cohesion and collaboration. 31 , 34 , 38 , 43 , 46 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 53 , 55 , 70 Second‐career PhD students who did not invest time in establishing relationships with researchers in their new disciplines (as they already had strong supportive networks in their original disciplines) found that they had limited research networks following graduation. 48

Summary of key findings

Our initial programme theory was based on previous literature reviews 1 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 and on the REF2014 criteria. 10 , 21 However, we were able to develop a modified programme theory on the basis of our realist synthesis, which highlights novel findings in terms of what really matters for successful research environments. Firstly, we found that key interventions led to both positive (subjective and objective) and negative (subjective and objective) outcomes in various contexts. Interestingly, we did not identify any outcomes relating to research impact despite impact nowadays being considered a prominent marker of research success, alongside quantitative metrics such as number of publications, grant income and h‐indices. 21 Secondly, we found that disciplinary contexts appeared to be less influential than individual, local and institutional contexts. Finally, our modified programme theory demonstrates a complex interplay among three cross‐cutting mechanisms (time, researcher identity and relationships) as mechanisms underpinning both successful and unsuccessful research environments.

Key findings and comparisons with the existing literature

Our research supports the findings of earlier reviews 1 , 5 , 6 , 7 regarding the importance of having a clear research strategy, an organisation that values research, research‐oriented leadership, access to resources (such as people, funding, research facilities and time), and meaningful relationships. However, our research extends these findings considerably by flagging up the indication that a clear linear relationship, whereby the presence of these interventions will necessarily result in a successful research environment, does not exist. For example, instituting a research strategy can have negative effects if the indicators are seen as overly narrow in focus or output‐oriented. 38 , 40 , 46 , 47 , 64 Similarly, project money can lead to the employment of more part‐time staff on fixed‐term contracts, which results in instability, turnover and lack of research team expertise. 40 , 67 , 71

Our findings indicate that the interplays among time, identity and relationships are important considerations when implementing interventions promoting research environments. Although time was identified as an important mechanism affecting research outcomes within the majority of papers, researcher identity positively affected research outcomes even in time‐poor situations. Indeed, we found that identity acted as a mechanism for research productivity that could overcome limited time through individuals efficiently finding time to prioritise research through their motivation and resilience. 35 , 43 Time was therefore more than just time spent doing research, but also included investment in developing a researcher identity and relationships with other researchers over time. 37 , 38 , 41 , 48 , 49 , 54 , 59 , 61 , 63 , 67 , 69 Relationship‐building interventions were also found to be effective in supporting difficult identity transitions into research faced by ECRs and those with first‐career practitioner backgrounds. Supportive leadership, as a particular form of relationship, could be seen as an enabler to the provision of protected time and a reasonable workload, allowing time for research and for researcher identity formation. 34 , 38 , 46 , 48 Indeed, our realist synthesis findings highlight the central importance of researcher identity and thus offer a novel explanation for why research environments may not flourish even in the presence of a research strategy, resources (e.g. time) and valuing of research.

Researcher identity is complex and intersects with other identities such as those of practitioner, teacher, leader and so on. Brew et al. 39 , 73 , 74 explored researcher identification and productivity by asking researchers if they considered themselves to be ‘research‐active’ and part of a research team. Those who identified as researchers prioritised their work differently: those who were highly productive prioritised research, whereas those in the low‐productivity group prioritised teaching. 73 Interestingly, highly productive researchers tended to view research as a social phenomenon with publications, presentations and grants being ‘traded’ in academic networks. Brew et al. 39 explain that: ‘…the trading view relates to a self‐generating researcher identity. Researcher identity develops in the act of publication, networks, collaborations and peer review. These activities support a person's identification as a researcher. They also, in turn, influence performance measures and metrics.’ Although the relationships among identity, identification and productivity are clearly complex, we explored a broader range of metrics in our realist synthesis than just productivity.

Methodological strengths and limitations

This is the first study to explore this important topic using realist synthesis to better understand the influence of context and how particular interventions lead to outcomes. We followed RAMESES 20 guidelines and adopted a rigorous team‐based approach to each analytic stage, conducting regular quality checks. The search was not exhaustive as we could have ‘exploded’ the interventions and performed a comprehensive review of each in its own right (e.g. mentoring). However, for pragmatic reasons and to answer our broad research questions, we chose not to do this, as suggested by Wong et al. 20 Although all members of the team had been involved in realist syntheses previously, the process remained messy as we dealt with complex phenomena. The messiness often lies in untangling CMOCs and identifying recurrent patterns in the large amounts of literature reviewed.

Implications for education and research

Our findings suggest that interventions related to research strategy, people, IIF and collaboration are supported under the ‘right’ conditions. We need to focus on time, identity and relationships (including leadership) in order to better mobilise the interventions to promote successful research environments.

Individuals need to reflect on how and why they identify as researchers, including their conceptions of research and their working towards the development of a researcher identity such that research is internally motivated rather than just externally driven. Those who are second‐career researchers or those with significant teaching or practitioner roles could seek to align research with their practice while they establish wider research networks.

We recommend that research leaders support individuals to develop their researcher identity, be seen to value research, recognise that research takes time, and provide access to opportunities promoting research capacity building, strong relationships and collaboration. Leaders, for example, may introduce interventions that promote researcher identities and build research relationships (e.g. collaborations, networking, mentoring, research groups etc.), paying attention to the ways in which competitive or collaborative cultures are fostered. Browne et al. 75 recently recommended discussions around four categories for promoting identity transition: reflection on self (values, experiences and expectations); consideration of the situation (circumstances, concerns); support (what is available and what is needed), and strategies (personal strategies to cope with change and thrive). With the professionalisation of medical education, 76 research units are increasingly likely to contain a mixture of first‐ and second‐career researchers, and our review suggests that discussions about conceptions of research and researcher identity would be valuable.

Finally, organisations need to value research and provide access to resources and research capacity‐building activities. Within the managerialist cultures of HEIs, compliance and counting have already become dominant discourses in terms of promotion and success. Policymakers should therefore consider ways in which HEIs recognise, incentivise and reward research in all its forms (including subjective and objective measures of quantity, quality and impact) to determine the full effects of their policies on research environments.

Future research would benefit from further exploration of the interplay among time, identities and relationships (including leadership) in different contexts using realist evaluation. 77 Specifically, as part of realist approaches, longitudinal audio‐diaries 78 could be employed to explore researcher identity transitions over time, particularly for first‐career practitioners transitioning into second‐career researchers.

Contributors

RA and CER were responsible for the conception of the synthesis. All authors contributed to the protocol development. RA and PESC carried out the database searches. All authors sifted for relevance and rigour, analysed the papers and contributed to the writing of the article. All authors approved the final manuscript for publication.

Conflicts of interest

Ethical approval.

not required.

Supporting information

Table S1. Definitions of key terms.

Table S6. Contexts, interventions, mechanisms and outcomes identified in individual studies.

Acknowledgements

we thank Andy Jackson, Learning and Teaching Librarian, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK, for his advice and help in developing our literature searches. We also thank Laura McDonald, Paul McLean and Eilidh Dear, who were medical students at the University of Dundee, for their help with database searches and with sifting papers for relevance and rigour. We would also like to thank Chau Khuong, Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, for her work in designing Figs ​ Figs1 1 and ​ and3 3 .

Environmental Issues Research Paper

This sample environmental issues research paper features: 6700 words (approx. 22 pages), an outline, and a bibliography with 39 sources. Browse other research paper examples for more inspiration. If you need a thorough research paper written according to all the academic standards, you can always turn to our experienced writers for help. This is how your paper can get an A! Feel free to contact our writing service for professional assistance. We offer high-quality assignments for reasonable rates.

Introduction

Cultural beliefs and the environment, social construction and the environment, social construction and social movements, political economy and the environment, environmental issues: method and application, risk perception and environmental health, mobilization around toxic waste sites: love canal.

• Bibliography

More Environment Research Papers:

• Environmental Bioethics Research Paper
• Environmental Crime Research Paper
• Environmental Economics Research Paper
• Environmental Psychology Research Paper
• Environmental Regulation Research Paper
• Environmental Regulations Compliance Research Paper
• Environmental Rights Research Paper
• International Environmental Politics Research Paper
• Population and the Environment Research Paper
• Technology and the Environment Research Paper

Environmental issues can be discussed within a number of different contexts. For anthropology and sociology, culture and society become important factors in understanding environmental issues. By incorporating a perspective that includes environmental history, aspects of environmental change, dialogue and culture, and future concerns, a more complete understanding of the relationship between sociocultural actions and the natural environment can be developed. In an effort to understand the nature of environmental problems, one must develop an understanding of the cultural paradigms that guide human behavior and interaction with the natural environment. Many perspectives seek to explain this relationship. Social scientists look toward dialogue and cultural perspectives to trace the history of environmental concern.

Academic Writing, Editing, Proofreading, And Problem Solving Services

Get 10% off with 24start discount code.

Historically, humans have understood their role to be one of dominion over nature. This is explained in numerous classic works and referenced in many religious and spiritual texts as well (Bell, 2008; Dunlap & Mertig, 1992). Cultural paradigms exist that serve to guide our interactions with the environment. Most stem from the anthropocentric belief that the world is centered around people and that human society has the right to maintain dominion over nature. Structural beliefs provide the foundation of these understandings.

The belief that a free market system provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people leads us to place economic decision-making processes in private hands. Frequently, private decisions have public consequences, but these public consequences are not accounted for in production costs or covered by market costs. Instead, the costs are passed on to consumers in the form of taxes and higher base prices for goods and services. Esteemed environmentalists Al Gore Jr. and Robert Kennedy Jr. have argued that if the external costs of production were assumed by manufacturers, then the ultimate benefit would be a system that accounted for waste created in the production process. This is evident in their research on global warming. Coal-fired power plants are promoted as one of the cheapest forms of creating energy. This is misleading, because the health effects of pollution caused by coal are not included in the costs of production. Others argue that those costs would have to be passed on to the consumer. However, they are passed on now in the way of pollution and medical expenses for illnesses associated with environmental contaminants. Coal is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases, thus leading to the overall societal costs of global warming.

Another cultural belief is that the natural world is inexhaustible. Extraction of natural resources happens at an incredible rate without a consideration to limits. Society’s constant dependence on nonrenewable energy forces mining and the refining of coal and oil to keep up with these demands. Consumer goods are deliberately planned to become obsolete within a relatively short time, and consumers are pressured to buy replacements. This process has been conceptualized in research focused on the treadmill of production. Production and utility processes, using natural resources, dominate the modes of production. The reliance on the treadmill model provides perpetual extraction and production, increasing the fragility of the natural environment.

Another cultural value resides in a lasting faith in technology. Culturally, we believe that technology can meet any challenge. Humans are seen as ingenious creatures able to devise solutions for any problem. However, technology itself is not sufficiently controlled and can create more problems that contribute to environmental degradation. This can lead to a situation known as culture lag, used here to describe a situation in which technology has outpaced the cultural ability to respond to the consequences of using a given technology.

The philosophy of the growth ethic argues that growth equals progress. Successful cultures are often defined by their levels of progress. Urban sprawl exemplifies the connection between progress and environmental destruction. Urban ecologists argue urban sprawl follows the concentric circle urban planning mode of the early 20th century. Residents were encouraged to develop space for residential purposes further away from city centers. This was culturally promoted as prime real estate, and individuals continued to purchase land as a showing of class standing. Urban sprawl results in the loss of green and open space, increased use of natural resources, and more vehicle miles traveled as commuting distance continues to increase.

Materialism is a cultural value that also contributes to how environmental problems emerge. Americans tend to measure success in terms of the consumption of material things. Globally, the most valued nation is one that can command and use the largest fraction of the world’s resources. Currently, the United States supports 5% of the world’s population and uses 25% of the world’s natural resources. This is evidence that the cultural emphasis on the consumption of material goods is in direct correlation with natural resource use.

Two final cultural values that impact environmental practices are individualism and an anthropocentric worldview. Cultures that emphasize individual rights and personal achievements tend to have a greater environmental impact. We place benefits to the self over what is best for the collective. Subsequently, the anthropocentric worldview is centered around human beings, thus inferring that human begins are superior to other beings and have natural rights to use the environment to ensure the progress of human beings as a species.

Subsequently, these cultural beliefs form the principles that overwhelmingly guide cultural interactions with nature. Theoretically, they serve as paradigms that explain the emergence of environmental issues. The following section provides specific theoretical underpinnings of environmental issues.

Theory and the Environment

Theory addressing environmental issues has been situated in the social constructionist and political economy approaches. Within these approaches, attention has been paid to developments of subfields in social science research, such as social movements and the environment, environmental health, and environmental justice.

Social constructionists focus on the construction of social problems and how this allows individuals to assign meaning and give importance to the social world. Sarbin and Kitsuse argued that “things are not given in the world, but constructed and negotiated by humans to make sense of the world” (1994, p. 3). When interests are at stake, claims are made around an activity in order to define the interests as problems. The process of claims making is more important than the task of assessing whether the claims are true (Hannigan, 1995).

Hannigan provides a three-step process for the construction of environmental problems: assembling, presenting, and contesting. He argues that each step develops the claimsmaking activities of environmental activists and antagonists. Environmental problems are different from other social problems, because claims are often based on physical, chemical, or biological scientific evidence (Hannigan, 1995). In nearly all cases of environmental problems, even though such problems are based on scientific evidence, the burden of proof falls on the claims-makers, the environmental actors.

When a claim about an environmental problem is presented, state and corporate actors emerge most often to challenge the validity of these problems. Although these actors are willing to construct the issue as a “problem,” support to alleviate the problem is often lacking. If it supports the alleviation of the problem, most probably through funding remedial efforts or research, the state or corporation is seen as taking responsibility for the problem. If the state is seen as responsible, its perceived legitimacy decreases, which may lead to decreased trust. On the other hand, if a problem is not acknowledged, then trust in government may also decrease, because the perception arises that the interests of the state are not the best for the people.

The power of individuals in roles and positions to define these claims is ultimately what allows problems to be defined as problems. Claims may be made by others not in a position of power, but they are often not seen as valid because of the lack of power associated with the role. Different claims of environmental problems then lead to different definitions of the problems.

Definitions of problems are framed to illustrate specific viewpoints of what the problem is. Goffman used the term frame in order to explain interpretations of occurrences. Frames can serve as explanations or guideposts to individual or collective action (Snow & Benford, 1988). Snow and Benford describe framing as an activity performed by social movements to express their viewpoints and “to assign meaning to and interpret relevant events and conditions in ways that are intended to mobilize potential adherents and constituents—to garner bystander support and demobilize antagonists” (p. 198).

By framing events in certain ways that assign meaning to them, actors can attempt to mobilize support and delegitimize opposing viewpoints. Because different frames may emerge surrounding the same problem, individuals may choose to adopt one or the other on the basis of the reliability of the frames. One factor in determining reliability is trust in the actors who present the frame. Constituents may mobilize around one frame because trust in that explanation and the organization that presents it is high (Robinson, 2009). This impacts how individuals interpret the seriousness of environmental problems and subsequently whether issues will be acted on and in what manner.

The framing process can serve to mobilize constituents for or against a particular cause. Mobilization against frames that are presented by actors emerges when the audience of the frame has low trust in the source of the frame. Social movement literature has acknowledged the emergence of mobilization over environmental issues where lack of trust is present. Examples include institutional recreancy, lack of trust in government agencies and officials, and the combination of the two (Brown & Mikkelsen, 1990; Cable & Cable, 1997; Freudenburg, 1993; Gaventa, 1980; Gibbs, 1982).

Charles Tilly provides a model for mobilization that bridges some of the ideological views of frame analysis with collective action and resource mobilization theory. Tilly’s (1978) definition of mobilization is “a process by which a group goes from a passive collection of individuals to an active participant in public life” (p. 69). A further extreme of this model is resource mobilization theory, which gives even less importance to ideological factors and, instead, emphasizes the need for available resources. The combination of ideologies, resources, and the power of frame presentation contribute to mobilization. Using this analytical framework, the emergence of environmental problems and mobilization around these problems can be better understood.

Environmental problems in communities provide a setting to further explore this connection. Community organizing around local problems has a long history in the United States. Many forms of community organizing exist. These have included writing and literacy circle newsletters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Saul Alinsky’s model of radical politics to create mass organizations to seize power and give it to the people (1971), and neighborhood block clubs. The goals to spread awareness, ensure social justice, and understand that city hall can be fought vary in scope and magnitude but have often proved to be effective models for organizing.

Citizen action in response to toxic waste at Love Canal has emerged as the premier example of community organizing over environmental issues. The story of neighborhood organizing and the quest for a clean, healthy environment is acknowledged in most major studies on environmental issues. The specifics of this case follow in a later section where the application of environmental issues is discussed.

Theories of political economy of environmental issues focus on the development of political and economic practices and policies that contribute to environmental problems. Primarily, the focus has been on the creation of the capitalist mode of production that leads to overwhelming environmental destruction. Furthermore, the development of capitalism promotes a political environment that is friendly to more profitable, but less environmentally friendly, practices.

In addition to physical environmental realities that production processes cause, issues of health and economic injustice exist. Bryant and Mohai (1992) asked whether a safe environment is a civil right. They argue that people of color see environmental degradation interrelated with economic and political justice. This is the fundamental idea behind environmental justice in both action and theory. Another issue in environmental justice arises because people of color and lower income are less likely to have access to health insurance; thus, they become more ill if exposed to environmental hazards without means of treatment. Therefore, these populations share more of the negative environmental burden and have fewer resources to resolve the given problems.

The connection between health and economic justice is not a new relationship. Since World War II, there has been an increase in the development of the petrochemical industry. Coinciding with an increased demand for synthetic chemicals was an increased demand for disposal sites for waste byproducts of these chemicals. Many disposal sites were created in vacant plots of land, without the regulated disposal standards in place today. Expensive land used for the disposal sites of the 1940s and 1950s became the residential suburban developments of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. With the post–World War II increase in population, many families were moving into suburban neighborhoods. Families felt safe from the problems of the cities, but they were not aware that many residential properties were built near the abandoned chemical waste sites of prior decades.

The problems of environmental contamination were first addressed publicly in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962). Her warning of chemical contaminants silencing biological life was not heeded at the time her book was published. These issues were not addressed until the 1970s with the first Earth Day in 1970, followed by the passing of numerous pieces of environmental protection legislation and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Through this period of uncertainty, unclear scientific findings overwhelmed policymakers and the public, leading to confusion about how to develop environmental policies and actions.

Environmental problems have manifested most directly in the form of pollution. Evidence of environmental destruction is seen in the form of air, water, and land pollution that has a direct impact on the health of the human population. One of the most direct links between pollution and negative health effects has been identified since the creation of the petrochemical industry in the 1940s. Since this time, we have seen more cases of cancer and respiratory illness in the human population. The rate remains high even when controlling for mitigating factors, such as the effects of advanced medical technology in treating these illnesses, and lifestyle factors, such as diet and smoking. This case was made with the infamous discovery of toxic waste at Love Canal, New York, in 1978.

Literature in this area addresses the possible effects of exposure to toxins on one’s health. However, few studies have provided irrefutable evidence supporting the research hypothesis (association exists) or the null hypothesis (no association exists). Scientists know that chemicals can have adverse effects on the human condition when ingested, but they argue that some indirect exposures through air, soil, water, or residential habitation in proximity to such toxins have not provided similar consequences. The basic disagreement emerges in how one views risk, either through the precautionary principle or through risk assessment and evaluation. Proponents of the precautionary principle argue that if the chance of danger is present, then precaution should be used to avoid exposure. Risk assessment would argue the opposite—that the risk must be known before action is taken to avoid exposure. The difficulty is that science has not provided irrefutable evidence on the dangers of many chemical substances; therefore action for their removal from products and the environment has been slow. Recently, Devra Davis took on this phenomenon in The Secret History of the War on Cancer (2008). She outlined the lack of scientific responsibility in reporting findings connecting cancer and chemical exposure.

Most reports have not described exposures accurately, or they have failed to completely identify a causal factor (National Research Council, 1991). The Committee on Environmental Epidemiology was formed to assess the progress on hazardous waste assessment since the creation of Superfund and the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry. The committee concluded that no conclusive reports could be used to base policy on, because there are no measures in place to accurately depict exposure assessments. Their conclusions continue: There exists no comprehensive inventory of waste sites, no site discovery program, no minimum data set on human exposures, and no policy for immediate action if exposure exists (National Research Council, 1991). The report indicates that “the nation is not adequately identifying, assessing, or ranking hazardous-waste site exposures and their potential effects on human health” (p. 21).

Environmental toxins have long been thought to be causally related to the incidence of disease. Air pollution, specifically with carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, has been studied in association with asthma and pulmonary disorders (Carnow, Lepper, Shekelle, & Stamler, 1969). Water pollution, particularly with trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, sparked a concern about childhood and adult leukemia in Woburn, Massachusetts (Brown & Mikkelsen, 1990). Similarly, numerous studies have been conducted that investigate the exposure-ailment connection (Landrigan, 1990; Neutra, Lipscomb, Satin, & Shusterman, 1991; Paigen, Goldman, Mougnant, Highland, & Steegman, 1987). These studies use descriptive and case-control methods and field investigations consisting of surveys and physical examinations, resulting in quantitative analyses in order to test hypotheses.

Descriptive studies portray disease patterns in populations according to person, place, and time, and they include time-series analyses (National Research Council, 1991). For example, a study performed by the National Cancer Institute used maps of cancer incidences and toxic waste sites, concluding that the high incidence of bladder cancer in northwestern Illinois counties was significant and leading to the implementation of an incidence study using survey methods (National Research Council, 1991).

A cohort study was employed with North Carolina residents who consumed raw polluted river water contaminated by an industrial site from 1947 to 1976. Residents’ rates of all forms of cancer were more than twice those expected in the general population (National Research Council, 1991). Once exposure ceased, rates returned to the expected level, adjusting for latency.

The epidemiologic case-control study carried out in Woburn, Massachusetts, yielded an association between leukemia and drinking from contaminated wells. The EPA could not pinpoint the source of contamination; therefore, it could not infer conclusively that the cases of leukemia were due to the proximity of a hazardous waste site (Lagakos, Wessen, & Lelen, 1986).

Griffith, Duncan, Riggan, and Pellom (1989) analyzed EPA and cancer mortality data from 13 U.S. sites where there were major incidences of cancer between 1970 and 1979. They found evidence that contaminated ground water was used for human consumption at 593 waste sites in 339 U.S. counties in 49 states. Significant associations were found between several cancers and exposure to contaminated water in white males; these included cancers of the lung, bladder, esophagus, stomach, large intestine, and rectum (Griffith et al., 1989). Higher incidences of cancers of the lung, bladder, breast, stomach, large intestine, and rectum were found in white females in these counties (Griffith et al., 1989), when compared with females in counties that did not have hazardous waste sites. However, this study has been criticized based on its use of populationbased incidences of cancer rather than individual-level estimates. Researchers inferred that proximity to hazardous waste sites caused cancer.

Wong, Morgan, Whorton, Gordon, and Kheifets (1989) performed an ecologic and case-control analysis to evaluate whether there was an association between groundwater contamination with dibromochloropropane (DBCP) and mortality from gastric cancer and leukemia. The only positive association that was found was in farm workers. No relationship was found for gastric cancer or leukemia with DBCP contamination of drinking water.

Neutra et al. (1991) found that individuals living near toxic waste sites had one or more bothersome symptoms that those living in control areas did not have. However, rates of cancer and birth defects were not found to be statistically significantly different for these individuals than for those in the control neighborhoods. Symptoms such as worrying, depression, and nervousness were more likely to be the result of knowledge of the site and its contaminants than the result of chemical exposure. Although some practitioners argue that residents near these sites do show higher incidences of asthma and psychological disturbances than individuals in control groups, the findings remain highly controversial (Neutra et al., 1991).

For the most part, these studies consist of survey and field investigation methodologies, relying on self-report methods. One problem with explaining associations that rely on self-report methods is that if residents want to be relocated or have other agendas, then the degree to which symptoms are reported may increase. Many residents felt that this was what some homeowners were hoping for at Love Canal. This remains one of the most critical problems with state and federal agency studies that seek to provide evidence of community risk.

With the increase in studies in this area, the public has been partially reassured by having the knowledge that at least concerns are being recognized. Specifically, cancer rates are still high, but the fear of human-made chemicals has largely been dispelled. Most recently, the organic food movement has been gaining legitimacy. Yet, many still doubt the health benefits behind this movement. Studies concerning environmental racism have been more prevalent, focusing on the incidence of lower-income, nonwhite families living near toxic waste sites. This focus has taken attention away from specific health problems. Instead, the focus has been on issues of political economy and equity. This is not a criticism of environmental justice but rather a call for the convergence of natural science and sociology in order to address both issues. Other variables to be considered in these studies may include racial composition of counties, social class of counties, concentration of low-income occupations in counties, new housing starts in counties, and the percentage of welfare recipients per county.

The uncertainty of science had created cross-discipline dialogue. Social scientists have addressed environmental issues in studies of risk assessment, disaster relief (both natural and technological), toxic exposure, and other datadriven areas. Because of the risk of chemical exposure due to toxic waste, landfills emerged as one of the most imminent public health threats with the discovery of Love Canal. However, even in cases where studies to show an association between illness and exposure to toxic chemicals have been inconclusive, the message has been that these chemicals cause cancer and needed to be eradicated.

An important role of science is to inform the public of findings, usually through the media. Epidemiologic studies deal with human populations and are often questioned based on the legitimacy of the data and the willingness of the agency or corporation funding the research to share findings with the public. These studies are also usually based on relatively small populations and a small number of events; this results in a lack of significant findings, because sample sizes are too small to generate statistically reliable conclusions. Researchers are asked to report conclusions to various interest groups that may have a stake in the research problem. The pressure of the public arena and media, with emerging concerns and consequences for public health and the environment, has led to a decrease in the willingness to share data and be criticized if the data do not fit the public agenda. Politics and public perception surpass what science is able to provide. Science’s inability to prove negatives has led to public policy that tries to control what cannot be established. This uncertainty shapes policy to err on the side of protection; yet in many communities the risks are endured regardless.

Findings often snowball into hard line conclusions and the perception of a problem when one may not exist, or vice versa. Risk perception and the realization of risks are two different things. Risk perception may encompass what one believes might occur or an understanding based on secondary information. Risk realization occurs when one is physically affected by the agent or situation and a decision to act is based on that encounter. The problem arises in this discrepancy. Perception is what people perceive to be happening. With different information from different scientific experts, the public is left to decide on their own who or what is right, based on the health and well-being of themselves and their families.

Freudenburg (1993) discussed the concept of risk and recreancy in public decision making. He argues that an increase in institutional responsibility for risk management has created a system where responsibilities are often overlooked. This concept proposes increased frequency in institutional decision making in risk analysis. Freudenburg (1993) coined the term recreancy to identify the institutional failure to follow through on a duty or responsibility or broadly expected obligations to the collective. Questions are now raised by individuals deciphering scientific studies for themselves, but they now question the role of institutional actors. Without correlational data from an alternative institutional source that they trust, citizens do not know where to turn for clear answers about data regarding environmental toxins.

Community-based studies by community organizers have emerged in an attempt to address the failure of institutions to provide real, understandable answers regarding human health and exposure rates. Specifically, recent literature calls for more involvement of the scientific community in the decision-making process. A resurgence of popular epidemiology, since Lois Gibbs’s attempt in 1978– 1979, has found individuals using lay methods to determine association. Even if they don’t result in strong, scientific evidence, community-based studies at least provide the groundwork and show a need for more in-depth studies. Brown and Mikkelsen’s 1990 study is a strong example of this method. The question of whether there was a connection between childhood leukemia and known contaminated well water divided the community, but it forced epidemiologic studies.

Coinciding with these revelations, other studies were being conducted that attempted to link other contaminated sites with adverse health effects. As Gots (1993) stated, most were laboratory studies in simulated environments. Examples of human studies existed only in the sociological and epidemiological literature (Brown & Mikkelsen, 1990; Gibbs, 1982; Landrigan, 1990; Neutra et al., 1991). Incidences of chemical scares were also prevalent. Headlines concerning the dioxin scare at Times Beach, Missouri; contamination of apple crops with the synthetic growth regulator Alar; and use of Agent Orange created the fear that human-made chemicals cause disease. Evidence existed that these specific chemicals may cause health problems in humans, but data on the incidence of illness relative to exposure and on synergistic effects of these chemicals were missing. Furthermore, there was even less information available about other potential threats to health, such as airborne and waterborne contaminants, environmental sensitivity disorders, and living in proximity to hazardous waste sites. To establish a causal relationship between exposure and chemicals, obtaining valid measures and estimates for exposure is essential.

Environmental Movements

Contaminated Communities; The Challenge of Social Control; Environmental Problems as Conflicts of Interests; Disasters, Collective Behavior, and Social Organization; Love Canal: Science, Politics, People, and Power; and Powerlessness are just a few of the book titles that describe the scope and emergence of the mobilization surrounding environmental problems. Since the publication of Silent Spring, the struggle to define, understand, and resolve environmental problems has inundated environmental literature as well as the agendas of environmental organizations at both the national and local levels.

The environmental movement in the United States can be traced back to the early conservationists at the turn of the 20th century, whose focus was on control of natural resources for technological and societal use. Accompanying this was a movement toward the preservation of the natural environment simply for nature’s sake and separate from any use and/or value that human society had placed upon it.

The contemporary environmental movement embraced both of these traditions while focusing on building a political alliance to ensure the passage of legislation that would protect both nature and human health. As evidenced by the multitude of legislative victories the environmental movement claimed during the 1970s, the environmental movement was gaining prominence as one of the most successful efforts of social movement organizers.

Politically, momentum began to shift back toward the wise-use movement throughout the 1980s. Environmental problems were framed in opposition to capitalist goals. Politicians took an either/or stance: jobs or the environment. With one’s economic livelihood seemingly at stake, it is no wonder that concern for the environment was diminished in the public agenda. The environmental health movement is arguably one area that continued to keep environmental issues in the public’s consciousness. One of the classic and influential cases in environmental organizing, Love Canal, illustrates the interconnectedness of politics, science, and the environment.

To understand the factors contributing to the emergence, awareness, and mobilization around environmental problems, the scope and focus of the problem must be considered. This analysis focuses on the emergence of and mobilization around toxic waste sites found in residential communities. Literature addressing toxic waste sites in communities place Love Canal, New York, as the first community to encounter such a problem that received national media attention. Although community protests were occurring around the toxics issue as early as 1970, no other site received the same degree of national media attention (Szasz, 1994).

In 1978, Love Canal was declared a federal disaster area, but the final homeowner evacuation was voluntary, not mandatory, even though the state had said a health emergency may exist. Given the possibility of ill-health effects, residents were given the choice about whether to stay or move. Because of the lack of strong correlational evidence, public health officials were not able to substantiate a link between exposure to chemicals and disease (Robinson, 2002).

The questionable contaminated area was evacuated and became known as the Emergency Declaration Area (EDA). It was divided into seven sampling areas. Two studies were performed to assess the habitability and safety of the area. The first study was completed in 1982 by the New York State Department of Health (DOH), the EPA, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Problems arose about the study’s conclusion, which was that the EDA was as habitable as comparable control areas. The Congressional Office of Technology Assessment found that the study lacked information to determine whether unsafe levels of contamination existed and that it did not make clear what next steps should be taken. Thereafter, DOH and EPA conducted a second study on habitability; it was released in 1988. Habitability and safety have been studied in regard to numerous hazardous waste sites, but actual rates of illness have not been linked to exposure to toxic substances from nearby chemical waste sites.

The Superfund Act, passed in 1980, was written specifically in response to the known hazardous waste site at Love Canal. Policymakers recognized that industry used land-based disposal methods, that industrial sites were contaminated, and that an increase in clean air and water standards led to a decrease in land-based regulated disposal (Barnett, 1994). The problem was that there was neither an informed way of counting or tracking these sites, nor evidence of an adverse ecosystem and human effects (Barnett, 1994).

Since Love Canal, no other neighborhood has received the same degree of attention, although many have encountered toxic waste contaminants in their communities (Brown & Mikkelsen, 1990; Bryant & Mohai, 1992; Cable, Walsh, & Warland, 1988). No conclusive, significant correlation between chemicals and cancer has been found at Love Canal or at the other identified exposure sites. Nor has any truly verifiable evidence been found that exposure to, and living near, any other toxic waste site causes disease, though disorders have been loosely associated with chemical exposure, such as asthma, respiratory disease, nerve damage, miscarriages, and cancer.

People living near these sites must often decide on how much they want to expose themselves to risk. Once the presence of a waste site is known, they must decide, without data to guide their decisions, whether to stay in their homes or leave. This has historically interfered with the availability and collection of valid data. When a study is conducted, residents request to be informed of the results and progress of the study. Because most epidemiological studies require longitudinal or cohort analysis in order to be reliable and valid, it is advantageous to have a stable, nonmobile population. This begs ethical questions, on behalf of the researchers, to disclose data relating to exposure before the study is completed. Researchers cannot both verify exposure findings and expect residents to remain so that they can carry out the remainder of the study. Thus, individuals, families, and communities are asked to base their decisions on claims that cannot be substantiated one way or the other.

Toxic waste sites continue to be discovered in communities. In many cases, the resulting community struggles are extended battles. The operative phrase in many cases is “once a site is discovered.” The chemicals in Love Canal were buried 30 years before it was known to the community that their houses, school, and playground were built on top of and surrounding a chemical site containing 22,000 tons of waste. This is not to say that the problem didn’t exist before its discovery by residents; it just wasn’t defined as a problem. From the time the chemicals were buried to the discovery of the site by residents 30 years later, residents noticed dogs with burned noses, children with skin rashes, and increased rates of miscarriages, leukemia, and nerve and respiratory disorders. But they were not aware that these rates were out of the ordinary. The effects of the problem did not change, but the way the problem was represented did. The shift was in an awareness of the existence of the problem.

In addition to the chemical disaster at Love Canal, other environmental issues have been the subject of various social movement activities, as well as political legislation. In each instance, public perception influences how and whether the problem is acted on by those with the power to make a difference.

Culturally and socially, environmental problems represent problems of social organization, communication, and socialization. Social scientists can look toward the phenomenon, visible in the reaction to environmental problems, to begin making sense of culture and society at large. Our understanding of environmental issues as primarily social constructions offers insight into how these issues are created, maintained, and resolved.

For example, in many cases where chemical contamination is the focal issue of community groups, the level of risk is perceived by affected individuals rather than established by science. It is the social processes in a community that lead to risk determination, not the natural science interpretations of an issue. Individuals have been socialized to trust science for valid information. When the determination of risk is uncertain, individuals are left to determine the level of risk for themselves by other means. In most cases, this determination is made through contact with state or federal government officials, through collaboration with other community members, or through other sources of information, such as the media. This framework helps to explain disagreements over the seriousness of most environmental issues, from global climate change to mountain-top coal removal.

The subjective reality of environmental problems becomes visible in terms of how the issue is circulated in cultural discourse. Each stakeholder constructs different means of projecting information for public consumption. When presented in the media, the perception is that information is true and accurate. Most often the determination of risk takes place in the form of a public meeting. In this situation, public officials are in control of the meeting, drawing on public anticipation surrounding the specific issue and information to be released. At Love Canal, for example, officials kept the information to be discussed at the meeting private until the meeting in order to build anticipation and increase their power over the dissemination of information.

At both the cultural and social level, power is maintained through these exercises. Often, the state controls the dissemination of information that individuals perceive to be true and accurate. However, different modes of collaboration among community members can create a different means of risk determination. The sharing of common experiences among community residents can lead to a broader sense of mobilization. Once commonalties are recognized, residents begin to determine their own level of risk. Risk perception is based on the potential danger of a problem. The sources that individuals base their information and understanding on are numerous. Each source has developed a frame of events and information on which they base their version of reality. Whether from the media, science, the state, or local knowledge, such frames serve as a means to display a problem in terms of a specific group. Social movement development, in relation to the environment, offers a powerful tool for individuals looking to construct the frame of a given environmental reality.

The ways in which environmental realities have been constructed influences how they will be acted on socially, culturally, and politically. Cultural discourse then circulates in the public sphere and becomes normative. Environmental issues become part of the public dialogue. This dialogue serves to help develop an understanding about the factors that coalesce to create, maintain, and resolve social processes that influence environmental problems.

Community-level interaction is an interesting social space from which to witness environmental understanding. Community-based, environmental problems affect individuals in many ways. Some communities mobilize and form environmental organizations to address a specific problem. Others, with existing community organizations, add environmental problems to their agenda. Environmental problems can vary in scope, size, and duration.

Mobilization in these communities may occur due to individuals’ fear that nothing is being done to ensure the safety of their children and families. It may also occur on the basis of frustration and an inability to understand what and why this is happening in their community. In addition, community groups often mobilize as a result of a lack of trust in government. The mobilization of individuals to resist the state’s discourse challenges the power of the state. The level of trust in government is a key factor in determining the level of power the state can maintain during the presentation of its frame. For example, if trust in government is low, then a stronger frame needs to be developed to legitimize the government’s position. Government often emerges as the key stakeholder, as the actor that will have the power to create change.

Previous research addresses the state’s desire to maintain legitimacy at the same time that community groups seek to resist state discourse. Admitting that there is a problem shows that the state is capable of mistakes, and thus, the state’s legitimacy can be questioned and it is vulnerable. The goal in the rhetoric of the state is not to raise questions, thereby maintaining legitimacy.

Most environmental problems are categorized by place: global, local, or national. These categories are not mutually exclusive. For example, ozone depletion is a global problem because of the total atmospheric effects the ozone layer has on the biosphere from ultraviolet rays. Yet the problem can be seen as being local in an area where heavy smog is causing ozone depletion and high surface area ozone levels, such as in a highly urban area like Los Angeles.

Similarly, the discovery of toxic waste sites across the United States can be seen as a national problem. But in the specific communities where these sites are discovered, it is a local problem affecting individuals directly. The problem is no longer seen as away from them; it is now part of their community. This developing framework of environmental issues has helped individuals become aware of the multitude of impacts that these problems have. Social scientists have been able to develop an understanding of the environment that moves away from the depiction of the earth as something separate from human society, but, instead, the earth is a system with interrelated consequences and realities. One of the most vivid paradigm shifts has been the movement away from an anthropocentric worldview and toward an environmental worldview. This shift can be represented in the movement from the human environmental paradigm (HEP) to the new environmental paradigm (NEP).

Social scientists focus on this shift as a way to explain a cultural movement that has embraced a way of understanding the impact that society has on the environment. Arguably, once the NEP is part of the natural discourse of environmental issues, they become more easily recognized as problems that have risen from a system out of balance. This approach focuses on sustainable development and other modes of development that provide environmentally sensitive growth models. These efforts move toward a culture that is sensitive to a responsibility that ensures less devastating environmental impact in the future. As environmental sociologists and other environmental researchers seek answers for a sustainable society, we must consider the devastating impacts of our current modes of production. New modes of production that take into consideration innovative, green energy solutions will provide a stronger sustainable economy and environment for culture and society.

Bibliography:

• Alinsky, S. (1971). Rules for radicals. New York: Random House.
• Barnett, H. G. (1994). Toxic debts and the superfund dilemma. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
• Bell, M. (2008). Invitation to environmental sociology (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
• Brown, P., & Mikkelsen, E. (1990). No safe place: Toxic waste, leukemia and community action. Berkeley: University of California Press.
• Bryant, B., & Mohai, P. (Eds.). (1992). Race and the incidence of environmental hazards: A time for discourse. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
• Cable, S., & Cable, C. (1997). Environmental problems, grassroots solutions: The politics of grassroots environmental conflict. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
• Cable, S., Walsh, E., & Warland, R. (1988). Differential paths to political activism: Comparison of four mobilization processes after the Three Mile Island accident. Social Forces, 66, 951–969.
• Carnow, B. W., Lepper, M. H., Shekelle, R. B., & Stamler, J. (1969). Chicago air pollution study: SO 2 levels and acute illness in patients with chronic bronchiopulmonary disease. Archives of Environmental Health, 18, 768–776.
• Carson, R. (1962). Silent spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
• Cylke, F. K. (1993). The environment. New York: HarperCollins.
• Davis, D. (2008). The secret history of the war on cancer. New York: Basic Books.
• Dunlap, R., & Mertig, A. (1992). The evolution of the U.S. environmental movement from 1970 to 1990: An overview. London: Taylor & Francis.
• Freudenburg, W. (1993). Risk and recreancy: Weber, the division of labor, and the rationality of risk perceptions. Social Forces, 71 (4), 909–932.
• Gaventa, J. (1980). Power and powerlessness: Quiescence and rebellion in an Appalachian Valley. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
• Gibbs, L. (1982). Love Canal: My story. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
• Gore, A., Jr. (2006). An inconvenient truth: The planetary emergency of global warming and what we can do about it. Emmaus, NY: Rodale Press.
• Gots, R. E. (1993). Toxic risks: Science regulation and perception. Boca Raton, FL: Lewis.
• Gould, K. A., Pellow, D., & Schnaiberg, A. (2008). The treadmill of production: Injustice and unsustainability in the global economy. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.
• Griffith, J. R. C., Duncan, R. C., Riggan, W. B., & Pellom, A. C. (1989). Cancer mortality in U.S. counties with hazardous waste sites and ground water pollution. Archives of Environmental Health, 44, 69–74.
• Hannigan, J. (1995). Environmental sociology: A social constructionist perspective. London: Routledge.
• Kennedy, R. F., Jr. (2004). Crimes against nature: How George Bush and his corporate pals are plundering the country and hijacking our democracy. New York: HarperCollins.
• Kettel, B. (1996). Women, health and the environment. Social Science & Medicine, 42, 1367–1379.
• Lagakos, S. W., Wessen, B., & Lelen, M. (1986). Contaminated well water and health effects in Woburn, Massachusetts . Journal of the American Statistical Association, 81, 583–614.
• Landrigan, P. J. (1990). Prevention of toxic environmental illness in the twenty-first century. Environmental Health Perspectives, 86, 197–199.
• Landrigan, P. J. (1992). Commentary: Environmental disease— A preventable epidemic. American Journal of Public Health, 82, 941–943.
• Levine, A. (1982). Love Canal: Science, politics, people. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.
• Lipscomb, J. A., Goldman, L. R., Satin, K. P., Smith, D. F., Vance, W., & Neutra, R. (1991). A follow-up study of the community near the McColl Waste Disposal Site. Environmental Health Perspectives, 94, 15–24.
• National Research Council. (1991). Environmental epidemiology: Public health and hazardous wastes. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
• Neutra, R., Lipscomb, J., Satin, K., & Shusterman, D. (1991). Hypotheses to explain the higher symptom rates observed around hazardous waste sites. Environmental Health Perspectives, 94, 31–38.
• Paigen, B., Goldman, L., Mougnant, M., Highland, J., & Steegman, A. T. (1987). Growth of children living near the hazardous waste site, Love Canal. Human Biology, 59, 489–508.
• Robinson, E. (2002). Community frame analysis in Love Canal: Understanding messages in a contaminated community. Sociological Spectrum, 22, 139–169.
• Robinson, E. (2009). Competing frames of environmental contamination: Influences on grassroots mobilization. Sociological Spectrum, 29, 3–27.
• Sarbin, T., & Kitsuse, J. (1994). Constructing the social. London: Sage.
• Snow, D., & Benford, R. D. (1988). Ideology, frame resonance and participant mobilization. International Social Movement Research, 1, 197–217.
• Steingraber, S. (2001). Having faith: An ecologist’s journey to motherhood. Cambridge, MA: Perseus.
• Szasz, A. (1994). Ecopopulism: Toxic waste and the movement for environmental justice. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• Tilly, C. (1978). From mobilization to revolution. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Townsend, P. (2009). Environmental anthropology: From pigs to policies (2nd ed.). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
• Wong, O., Morgan, R. W., Whorton, M. D., Gordon, N., & Kheifets, L. (1989). Ecological analysis and case-control studies of gastric cancer and leukemia in relation to DBCP in drinking water in Fresno County, California. British Journal of Independent Medicine, 46, 521–528.

Browse more research papers on environmental issues:

Order high quality custom paper.

University Library

American Environmental History

• Find Background Information

Article Indexes

Environmental history journals.

• Other Source Collections
• Return to HPNL Website

Ask a Librarian

The principal database for identifying scholarly journal articles in U.S. history is America: History and Life :

• America: History and Life The main article database for researching American history. Use to find journal articles, book reviews, and dissertations on all periods of North American history. Includes some links to full text. Complements Historical Abstracts . Indexes publications from 1964-present.

Article indexes for environmental science:

• CAB Abstracts This link opens in a new window CAB Abstracts is a bibliographic database covering research and development literature in the fields of agriculture, forestry, aspects of human health, human nutrition, animal health, and the management and conservation of natural resources from 1910 to date. Also available on the CABI Digital Library platform .
• Web of Science (Core Collection) This link opens in a new window Web of Science indexes core journal articles, conference proceedings, data sets, and other resources in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.
• GreenFILE This link opens in a new window GreenFILE offers well-researched but accessible information covering all aspects of human impact on the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles include content on the environmental effects of individuals, corporations and local/national governments, and what can be done on each level to minimize negative impact. Topics covered include global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. GreenFILE is multidisciplinary by nature and draws on the connections between the environment and a variety of disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology. Use GreenFILE in the NEW EBSCO user interface . more... less... Alternate Access Link
• Scopus This link opens in a new window Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database including peer-reviewed titles from international publishers, Open Access journals, conference proceedings, trade publications and quality web sources. Subject coverage includes: Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Engineering; Life and Health Sciences; Social Sciences, Psychology and Economics; Biological, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Article indexes for activism (including environmental activism:

• Alternative Press Index and Alternative Press Index Archive Identifies articles from alternative newspapers, magazines and journals. Indexes publications from 1969-present. Alternative Press Index file actually only covers 1991-present. To add 1969-1990, you must click "Choose Databases" above search box, and select Alternative Press Index Archive as well. more... less... Alternative Press Index Archive file covers 1969-1990, and the Alternative Press Index file covers 1991-current.
• Alt-Press Watch 1970-present; mostly United States. Over 670,000 articles from 200 alternative press titles, predominantly news weeklies.
• Left Index Identifies articles written from a leftist political, economic, social or cultural perspective. Includes some retrospective coverage of historically significant left wing publications like the People (New York, N.Y. : 1891). Indexes publications from 1982-present.

For more alternative press sources, see our Guide to the Alternative Press:

• Guide to Alternative Press
• Arcadia: Explorations in Environmental History "Arcadia: Explorations in Environmental History is an open-access, peer-reviewed publication platform for short, illustrated, and engaging environmental histories. Embedded in a particular time and place, each story focuses on a site, event, person, organization, or species as it relates to nature and human society. By publishing digitally on the Environment & Society Portal, Arcadia promotes accessibility and visibility of original research in global environmental history and cognate disciplines."
• Environmental History "Environmental History (EH) is the world’s leading scholarly journal in environmental history and the journal of record in the field. Scholarship published in EH explores the changing relationships between humans and the environment over time. This interdisciplinary journal brings together insights from geography, anthropology, the natural sciences, science and technology studies, political ecology, and many other disciplines to inform historical scholarship."
• International Review of Environmental History "International Review of Environmental History takes an interdisciplinary and global approach to environmental history. It publishes on all thematic and geographical topics of environmental history, but especially encourages articles with perspectives focused on or developed from the southern hemisphere and the ‘Global South’. This includes but is not limited to Australasia, East and South East Asia, Africa and South America. International Review of Environmental History’s editorial board includes historians, scientists and geographers, as well as scholars from other backgrounds, who work on environmental history and related disciplines, such as ecology, garden history and landscape studies. The methodological breadth of International Review of Environmental History distinguishes it from other environmental history journals, as does its attempt to draw together cognate research areas in garden history and landscape studies. The journal’s goal is to be read across disciplines, not just within history. "
• Journal for the History of Environment and Society "The Journal for the History of Environment and Society aims to be a leading online and open-access periodical that covers all aspects of environmental history conceived in its broadest sense. The journal encourages high-quality scholarship which focuses on relations between environmental changes and social-historical context. Interregional and international comparative articles receive special attention. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the discipline, papers should be accessible for scholars from all disciplines in the field, which will also ensure their accessibility to a wider audience. Geographically, the Journal focuses primarily – but not exclusively – on North-West Europe (including areas that had historical relations with that broad region). Articles with a more general geographic scope can also be published in the Journal."
• Resilience: Journal of the Environmental Humanities "Resilience is a digital, peer-reviewed journal that provides a forum for scholars from across humanities disciplines to speak to one another about their shared interest in environmental issues and to plot out an evolving conversation about what the humanities contribute to living and thinking sustainably in a world of dwindling resources. The focus on narrative skill, critical thinking, historicity, culture, aesthetics and ethics central to the humanities and to humanistic social sciences provides a crucial research complement to the endeavors of scientists in addressing current planetary crises, and the mission of Resilience is to share that perspective with a broad academic audience."
• << Previous: Find Background Information
• Next: Other Source Collections >>
• Last Updated: Sep 4, 2024 10:06 AM
• URL: https://guides.library.illinois.edu/environmental-history

• UNC Libraries
• Course Guides
• IDST 114: Science Fiction, the Environment, and Vulnerable Communities
• Discover research materials

IDST 114: Science Fiction, the Environment, and Vulnerable Communities: Discover research materials

• Formulating your topic and generating keywords
• Evaluating your sources
• Annotated bibliography
• Citation help
• Other resources

Great starting points for research

A few key databases focused on Sociology, Political Science, Environmental Studies and Women's and Gender Studies may be helpful starting points -- but there are also many more resources that can be found on the  E-Research by Discipline  tab or by exploring other  Research Guides  on the library website. For individual journals, browse our Online Journals Page . 

Finding foundational readings

• CQ Researcher The CQ Researcher is the perfect answer for people beginning research on current topics. It covers the most current and controversial issues of the day. From Abortion to War, each issue gives you a comprehensive review of the controversies, historical background, chronology of important events, opposing views from experts on the subject, and extensive bibliographies for additional research. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users. North Carolina residents with a borrower's card may access from off campus by visiting NCLive directly. Contact the Davis Library Service Desk for the NCLive password (instructions) . Coverage: 1991-present
• Issues and Controversies on File Contains full text articles on current topics of interest, arranged in opposing points of view. It is intended to give users a quick grasp of the essentials of more than 250 controversial news topics. It also contains chronologies, illustrations, maps, tables, sidebars, bibliographies and contact information. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users. Coverage: 1995-
• Points of View Reference Source Provides students with a series of essays that present multiple sides of a current issue. Essays provide questions and materials for further thought and study and are accompanied by thousands of supporting articles. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
• Oxford Bibliographies Online Provides sophisticated online recommendations to the core scholarship on a subject as determined by experts in the field. Each module constitutes a convenient and comprehensive introduction to the essential body of literature that has shaped research on a topic. At the click of a mouse, you therefore have 24/7 access to expert recommendations that have been rigorously peer-reviewed and vetted to ensure scholarly accuracy and objectivity. Each OBO subject database allows you to identify the core authors, works, ideas, and debates that have shaped the scholarly conversation so you can find the key literature. All the bibliographic essays have been peer-reviewed, and the specific entries are linked to full-text content available through the web or the UNC Library. The "My OBO" feature also allows you to create a personalized list of citations. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill student, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users

General and multidisciplinary search options

• Academic Search Premier Find information on academic areas of business, social sciences, humanities, general academic, general science, education and multi-cultural topics; resource provides access to major popular and scholarly journals with many full-text articles. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users. Coverage: Indexing, 1975-present; Full-text, 1975-present
• Articles Plus Index to hundreds of millions electronic resources, including journal and newspaper articles, e-books, dissertations, and media in campus library collections. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
• Google Scholar Enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.

Google Scholar  provides the "cited by" feature which traces an article's topic from the time of publication forward.The cited by link will show other articles that have cited this resource. When combined with an article's bibliography ,  you are then able to locate a project within a scholarly conversation. Be sure to  configure your Google Scholar account  so that you gain full access to articles provided by the University Libraries.

• JSTOR Provides an image archive of important scholarly journal literature in nearly all the humanities and social sciences disciplines, international and foreign areas studies, and many of the sciences. UNC patrons have access to extensive retrospective holdings of hundreds of journals, starting with the first issues. Excludes the most recent 2-5 years of currently available journals. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users. Coverage: Varies. Excludes most recent 2-5 years of currently available journals.

Subject specific databases

• America, History and Life An index for North American history consisting of journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations & book reviews. America, History and Life is a complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. (Source: vendor website.) Note: Limited to 6 users at a time. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
• African American Communities This collection focuses on race relations across social, political, cultural, and religious arenas; coverage is predominantly in Atlanta, Chicago, Brooklyn, and towns and cities in North Carolina. It includes pamphlets, periodicals, correspondence, official records and oral histories regarding integration, civil rights, and other subjects. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
• Environment Complete Journals on topics including agriculture, renewable energy sources, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management, environmental technology, urban planning, and more. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.
• Historical Abstracts Covers the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada) and indexes nearly 2,300 journals in over 40 languages. Note: Limited to 6 users at a time. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users. Coverage: 1953-present
• Women's Studies International Interdisciplinary, international database covering the core literature of the field of women's and gender studies with links to full text. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users. Coverage: 1964 -
• Sociological Abstracts Database covering over 2500 journals in sociology, both theoretical and applied, and related disciplines including anthropology, economics, education, medicine, community development, philosophy, demography, political science, and social psychology. Articles in 30 different languages from about 55 countries. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users. Coverage: 1963-present
• Global Health A public health database that provides information on international health, biomedical life sciences, non-communicable diseases, public health nutrition, food safety and hygiene. More than 2.6 million records from 1973 to the present day sourced from over 7,000 serials, books, book chapters, conference proceedings, patents, theses, electronic publications and other hard-to-find resources. Publications from over 100 countries in 52 languages. Over 185,000 records added each year. more... less... Access: Off Campus Access is available for: UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff; UNC Hospitals employees; UNC-Chapel Hill affiliated AHEC users.

The New York Times and The Washington Post

All UNC Chapel Hill students, faculty, and staff now have full, year-round access to The New York Times , including smartphone, tablet, and browser access, thanks to a sponsorship from the University Library. For app downloads, visit NYTimes.com/mobile .

The University Libraries also offers an electronic subscription to The Washington Post for UNC-Chapel Hill students, faculty and staff.

Useful library guides

• Climate change This guide presents selected resources related to climate change and global warming. To find additional material, search the library catalog using common keywords like global warming, climate change, or greenhouse effect. You can also browse the UNC Libraries' collection by looking in the QC 981 call number range.

List of Online Journals

• Online Journals
• << Previous: Formulating your topic and generating keywords
• Next: Evaluating your sources >>
• Last Updated: Sep 5, 2024 8:37 AM
• URL: https://guides.lib.unc.edu/IDST114

Information

• Author Services

Initiatives

You are accessing a machine-readable page. In order to be human-readable, please install an RSS reader.

All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. No special permission is required to reuse all or part of the article published by MDPI, including figures and tables. For articles published under an open access Creative Common CC BY license, any part of the article may be reused without permission provided that the original article is clearly cited. For more information, please refer to https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess .

Feature papers represent the most advanced research with significant potential for high impact in the field. A Feature Paper should be a substantial original Article that involves several techniques or approaches, provides an outlook for future research directions and describes possible research applications.

Feature papers are submitted upon individual invitation or recommendation by the scientific editors and must receive positive feedback from the reviewers.

Editor’s Choice articles are based on recommendations by the scientific editors of MDPI journals from around the world. Editors select a small number of articles recently published in the journal that they believe will be particularly interesting to readers, or important in the respective research area. The aim is to provide a snapshot of some of the most exciting work published in the various research areas of the journal.

Original Submission Date Received: .

• Active Journals
• Find a Journal
• Proceedings Series
• For Authors
• For Reviewers
• For Editors
• For Librarians
• For Publishers
• For Societies
• For Conference Organizers
• Open Access Policy
• Institutional Open Access Program
• Special Issues Guidelines
• Editorial Process
• Research and Publication Ethics
• Article Processing Charges
• Testimonials
• Preprints.org
• SciProfiles
• Encyclopedia

Article Menu

• Subscribe SciFeed
• Recommended Articles
• Google Scholar
• on Google Scholar
• Table of Contents

Find support for a specific problem in the support section of our website.

Please let us know what you think of our products and services.

Visit our dedicated information section to learn more about MDPI.

JSmol Viewer

Positive energy districts: fundamentals, assessment methodologies, modeling and research gaps.

1. Introduction

State of the art on positive energy districts, 2. methodology.

• Setting: a café-like environment with small, round tables, tablecloths, colored pens, sticky notes and any interaction tool available.
• Welcome and Introduction: the host offers a welcome, introduces the World Café process, and sets the context.
• Small-Group Rounds: three or more twenty-minute rounds of conversations occur in small groups. Participants switch tables after each round, with one person optionally remaining as the “table host” to brief newcomers.
• Questions: each round starts with a context-specific question. Questions may remain constant or be built upon each other to guide the discussion.
• Harvest: participants share their discussion insights with the larger group, often visually represented through graphic recording.
• Objectives of the workshop and preparation. The first step of the World Café approach is to identify the main objectives. For this workshop, there was the need to investigate the current landscape of PED research, as well as to have a benchmark and collect feedback on the current research activities within Annex 83. Questions were structured in order to frame the current state-of-the-art understanding of the topic. A mapping of the potential different stakeholders in the PED design and implementation process was carried out at this stage. As a result, municipalities, community representatives, energy contractors, real estate companies and commercial facilitators, as well as citizens, were identified as main target groups. Later, the follow-up discussions were built around these main actors. Further, the mapping of the stakeholders’ involvement was carried out for better understanding the complexity of relationships, roles and synergies as well as the impact on the design, implementation and operation stages of PEDs.
• Positive Energy Districts’ definitions and fundamentals ( Section 3.1 ).
• Quality-of-life indicators in Positive Energy Districts ( Section 3.2 ).
• Technologies in Positive Energy Districts: development, use and barriers ( Section 3.3 ).
• Positive Energy Districts modeling: what is further needed to model PEDs? ( Section 3.4 ).
• Sustainability assessment of Positive Energy Districts ( Section 3.5 ).
• Stakeholder engagement within the design process ( Section 3.6 ).
• Tools and guidelines for PED implementation ( Section 3.7 ).

3.1. Positive Energy Districts Definitions and Fundamentals

3.2. quality-of-life indicators in positive energy districts, 3.3. technologies in positive energy districts: development, use and barriers, 3.4. positive energy districts modeling: what is further needed to model peds, 3.5. sustainability assessment of positive energy districts, 3.6. stakeholder engagement within the design process, 3.7. tools and guidelines for ped implementation, 4. conclusions, author contributions, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

• European Commission; Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. 100 Climate-Neutral Cities by 2030—By and for the Citizens ; European Commission: Luxembourg, 2020. [ Google Scholar ]
• Department of Economic and Social Affairs United Nations. 68% of the World Population Projected to Live in Urban Areas by 2050, Says UN. Available online: https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html (accessed on 24 June 2024).
• Fatima, Z.; Vacha, T.; Swamygowda, K.; Qubailat, R. Getting Started with Positive Energy Districts: Experience until Now from Maia, Reykjavik, Kifissia, Kladno and Lviv. Sustainability 2022 , 14 , 5799. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• OECD. Managing Environmental and Energy Transitions for Regions and Cities ; OECD: Paris, France, 2020; Available online: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/projects/managing-environmental-and-energy-transitions-for-regions-and-cities.html (accessed on 24 June 2024).
• Pierce, S.; Pallonetto, F.; De Donatis, L.; De Rosa, M. District energy modelling for decarbonisation strategies development—The case of a University campus. Energy Rep. 2024 , 11 , 1256–1267. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• U.N. SDGs Goal 11|Make Cities and Human Settlements Inclusive, Safe, Resilient and Sustainable. Available online: https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11 (accessed on 24 June 2024).
• Shahmohammad, M.; Salamattalab, M.M.; Sohn, W.; Kouhizadeh, M.; Aghamohmmadi, N. Opportunities and obstacles of blockchain use in pursuit of sustainable development goal 11: A systematic scoping review. Sustain. Cities Soc. 2024 , 112 , 105620. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Koch, F.; Ahmad, S. How to Measure Progress Towards an Inclusive, Safe, Resilient and Sustainable City? Reflections on Applying the Indicators of Sustainable Development Goal 11 in Germany and India. In Urban Transformations. Future City ; Kabisch, S., Koch, F., Gawel, E., Haase, A., Knapp, S., Krellenberg, K., Nivala, J., Zehnsdorf, A., Eds.; Springer: Cham, Switzerland, 2017; Volume 10. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Sarvari, H.; Mehrabi, A.; Chan, D.W.M.; Cristofaro, M. Evaluating urban housing development patterns in developing countries: Case study of Worn-out Urban Fabrics in Iran. Sustain. Cities Soc. 2021 , 70 , 102941. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Gondeck, M.; Triebel, M.-A.; Steingrube, A.; Albert-Seifried, V.; Stryi-Hipp, G. Recommendations for a positive energy district framework—Application and evaluation of different energetic assessment methodologies. Smart Energy 2024 , 15 , 100147. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Gohari, S.; Castro Silvia, S.; Ashrafian, T.; Konstantinou, T.; Giancola, E.; Prebreza, B.; Aelenei, L.; Murauskaite, L.; Liu, M. Unraveling the implementation processes of PEDs: Lesson learned from multiple urban contexts. Sustain. Cities Soc. 2024 , 106 , 105402. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Sassenou, L.-N.; Olivieri, L.; Olivieri, F. Challenges for positive energy districts deployment: A systematic review. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2024 , 191 , 114152. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Good, N.; Martínez Ceseña, E.A.; Mancarella, P. Chapter Two—Energy Positivity and Flexibility in Districts. In Energy Positive Neighborhoods and Smart Energy Districts ; Monti, A., Pesch, D., Ellis, K.A., Mancarella, P., Eds.; Academic Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 2017; pp. 7–30. ISBN 9780128099513. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Derkenbaeva, E.; Halleck Vega, S.; Hofstede, G.J.; van Leeuwen, E. Positive Energy Districts: Mainstreaming Energy Transition in Urban Areas. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2022 , 153 , 111782. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Bruck, A.; Díaz Ruano, S.; Auer, H. One Piece of the Puzzle towards 100 Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) across Europe by 2025: An Open-Source Approach to Unveil Favourable Locations of PV-Based PEDs from a Techno-Economic Perspective. Energy 2022 , 254 , 124152. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Vandevyvere, H.; Ahlers, D.; Wyckmans, A. The Sense and Non-Sense of PEDs—Feeding Back Practical Experiences of Positive Energy District Demonstrators into the European PED Framework Definition Development Process. Energies 2022 , 15 , 4491. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Natanian, J.; Magyari, A.; Brunetti, A.; Reith, A.; Guarino, F.; Manapragada, N.; Cellura, S.; de Luca, F.; Naboni, E. Ten Questions on Tools and Methods for Positive Energy Districts. Build. Environ. 2024 , 255 , 111429. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Perera, A.T.D.; Javanroodi, K.; Wang, Y.; Hong, T. Urban Cells: Extending the Energy Hub Concept to Facilitate Sector and Spatial Coupling. Adv. Appl. Energy 2021 , 3 , 100046. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Aparisi-Cerdá, I.; Ribó-Pérez, D.; Cuesta-Fernandez, I.; Gómez-Navarro, T. Planning Positive Energy Districts in Urban Water Fronts: Approach to La Marina de València, Spain. Energy Convers. Manag. 2022 , 265 , 115795. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Sareen, S.; Albert-Seifried, V.; Aelenei, L.; Reda, F.; Etminan, G.; Andreucci, M.-B.; Kuzmic, M.; Maas, N.; Seco, O.; Civiero, P.; et al. Ten Questions Concerning Positive Energy Districts. Build. Environ. 2022 , 216 , 109017. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Mihailova, D.; Schubert, I.; Burger, P.; Fritz, M.M.C. Exploring modes of sustainable value co-creation in renewable energy communities. J. Clean. Prod. 2022 , 330 , 129917. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Mihailova, D.; Schubert, I.; Martinez-Cruz, A.L.; Hearn, A.X.; Sohre, A. Preferences for configurations of Positive Energy Districts—Insights from a discrete choice experiment on Swiss households. Energy Policy 2022 , 163 , 112824. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Working Group SET. Plan Temporary SET-Plan ACTION n 3.2 Implementation Plan: Europe to Become a Global Role Model in Integrated, Innovative Solutions for the Planning, Deployment, and Replication of Positive Energy Districts ; 2018. Available online: https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/setplan_smartcities_implementationplan-2.pdf (accessed on 24 June 2024).
• JPI Urban Europe/SET Plan Action 3.2. In White Paper on PED Reference Framework for Positive Energy Districts and Neighbourhoods ; 2020. Available online: https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/White-Paper-PED-Framework-Definition-2020323-final.pdf (accessed on 24 June 2024).
• ATELIER. Atelier—Positive Energy Districts. Available online: https://smartcity-atelier.eu/ (accessed on 24 June 2024).
• EURAC Smart-BEEjS—Human-Centric Energy Districts: Smart Value Generation by Building Efficiency and Energy Justice for Sustainable Living. Available online: https://www.eurac.edu/en/institutes-centers/institute-for-renewable-energy/projects/smart-beejs (accessed on 24 June 2024).
• Making City Making City—Energy Efficient Pathway for the City Transformation. Available online: https://makingcity.eu/ (accessed on 24 June 2024).
• +CityxChange. Available online: https://cityxchange.eu/ (accessed on 24 June 2024).
• Uspenskaia, D.; Specht, K.; Kondziella, H.; Bruckner, T. Challenges and Barriers for Net-Zero/Positive Energy Buildings and Districts—Empirical Evidence from the Smart City Project SPARCS. Buildings 2021 , 11 , 78. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Hedman, Å.; Rehman, H.U.; Gabaldón, A.; Bisello, A.; Albert-Seifried, V.; Zhang, X.; Guarino, F.; Grynning, S.; Eicker, U.; Neumann, H.-M.; et al. IEA EBC Annex83 Positive Energy Districts. Buildings 2021 , 11 , 130. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Gabaldón Moreno, A.; Vélez, F.; Alpagut, B.; Hernández, P.; Sanz Montalvillo, C. How to Achieve Positive Energy Districts for Sustainable Cities: A Proposed Calculation Methodology. Sustainability 2021 , 13 , 710. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Aghamolaei, R.; Shamsi, M.H.; Tahsildoost, M.; O’Donnell, J. Review of district-scale energy performance analysis: Outlooks towards holistic urban frameworks. Sustain. Cities Soc. 2018 , 41 , 252–264. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Bottecchia, L.; Gabaldón, A.; Castillo-Calzadilla, T.; Soutullo, S.; Ranjbar, S.; Eicker, U. Fundamentals of Energy Modelling for Positive Energy Districts. In Sustainability in Energy and Buildings ; Littlewood, J.R., Howlett, R.J., Jain, L.C., Eds.; Springer: Singapore, 2022; Volume 263, Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Zhang, S.; Ma, M.; Zhou, N.; Yan, J.; Feng, W.; Yan, R.; You, K.; Zhang, J.; Ke, J. Estimation of Global Building Stocks by 2070: Unlocking Renovation Potential. Nexus 2024 , 1 , 100019. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Xiang, X.; Zhou, N.; Ma, M.; Feng, W.; Yan, R. Global transition of operational carbon in residential buildings since the millennium. Adv. Appl. Energy 2023 , 11 , 100145. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Yan, R.; Ma, M.; Zhou, N.; Feng, W.; Xiang, X.; Mao, C. Towards COP27: Decarbonization patterns of residential building in China and India. Appl. Energy 2023 , 352 , 122003. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Yuan, H.; Ma, M.; Zhou, N.; Xie, H.; Ma, Z.; Xiang, X.; Ma, X. Battery electric vehicle charging in China: Energy demand and emissions trends in the 2020s. Appl. Energy 2024 , 365 , 123153. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Orehounig, K.; Evins, R.; Dorer, V. Integration of Decentralized Energy Systems in Neighbourhoods Using the Energy Hub Approach. Appl. Energy 2015 , 154 , 277–289. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Pan, Z.; Guo, Q.; Sun, H. Interactions of District Electricity and Heating Systems Considering Time-Scale Characteristics Based on Quasi-Steady Multi-Energy Flow. Appl. Energy 2016 , 167 , 230–243. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Zhou, Y.; Cao, S.; Hensen, J.L.M. An energy paradigm transition framework from negative towards positive district energy sharing networks—Battery cycling aging, advanced battery management strategies, flexible vehicles-to-buildings interactions, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. Appl. Energy 2021 , 288 , 116606. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Marrasso, E.; Martone, C.; Pallotta, G.; Roselli, C.; Sasso, M. Assessment of energy systems configurations in mixed-use Positive Energy Districts through novel indicators for energy and environmental analysis. Appl. Energy 2024 , 368 , 123374. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Bruck, A.; Díaz Ruano, S.; Auer, H. A Critical Perspective on Positive Energy Districts in Climatically Favoured Regions: An Open-Source Modelling Approach Disclosing Implications and Possibilities. Energies 2021 , 14 , 4864. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Ali, U.; Shamsi, M.H.; Hoare, C.; Mangina, E.; O’Donnell, J. Review of Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) Approaches, Methods and Tools Using Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis. Energy Build. 2021 , 246 , 111073. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Brunetti, A.; Cellura, S.; Guarino, F.; Longo, S.; Mistretta, M.; Reda, F.; Rincione, R. Development of an Early Design Tool for the Sustainability Assessment of Positive Energy Districts: Methodology, Implementation and Case-Studies. J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 2023 , 2600 , 82020. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Trulsrud, T.H.; Van der Leer, J. Towards a positive energy balance: A comparative analysis of the planning and design of four positive energy districts and neighbourhoods in Norway and Sweden. Energy Build. 2024 , 318 , 114429. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Guasselli, F.; Vavouris, A.; Stankovic, L.; Stankovic, V.; Didierjean, S.; Gram-Hanssen, K. Smart energy technologies for the collective: Time-shifting, demand reduction and household practices in a Positive Energy Neighbourhood in Norway. Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 2024 , 110 , 103436. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Aparisi-Cerdá, I.; Ribó-Pérez, D.; Gómez-Navarro, T.; García-Melón, M.; Peris-Blanes, J. Prioritising Positive Energy Districts to achieve carbon neutral cities: Delphi-DANP approach. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2024 , 203 , 114764. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Castillo-Calzadilla, T.; Garay-Martinez, R.; Martin Andonegui, C. Holistic fuzzy logic methodology to assess positive energy district (PathPED). Sustain. Cities Soc. 2023 , 89 , 104375. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Derkenbaeva, E.; Jan Hofstede, G.; van Leeuwen, E.; Halleck Vega, S.; Wolfers, J. ENERGY Pro: Spatially explicit agent-based model on achieving positive energy districts. MethodsX 2024 , 12 , 102779. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Eicker, U. Introduction: The Challenges of the Urban Energy Transition. In Urban Energy Systems for Low-Carbon Cities ; Eicker, U., Ed.; Academic Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 2019; pp. 1–15. ISBN 978-0-12-811553-4. [ Google Scholar ]
• Jepsen, B.K.H.; Haut, T.W.; Design, M.J. Modelling and Performance Evaluation of a Positive Energy District in a Danish Island. Future Cities Environ. 2022 , 8 , 1. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Guarino, F.; Bisello, A.; Frieden, D.; Bastos, J.; Brunetti, A.; Cellura, M.; Ferraro, M.; Fichera, A.; Giancola, E.; Haase, M.; et al. State of the Art on Sustainability Assessment of Positive Energy Districts: Methodologies, Indicators and Future Perspectives. Sustain. Energy Build. 2021 , 2021 , 479–492. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hearn, A.X.; Sohre, A.; Burger, P. Innovative but Unjust? Analysing the Opportunities and Justice Issues within Positive Energy Districts in Europe. Energy Res. Soc. Sci. 2021 , 78 , 102127. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Haarstad, H.; Wathne, M.W. Are Smart City Projects Catalyzing Urban Energy Sustainability? Energy Policy 2019 , 129 , 918–925. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Gouveia, J.P.; Seixas, J.; Palma, P.; Duarte, H.; Luz, H.; Cavadini, G.B.C. Positive Energy District: A Model for Historic Districts to Address Energy Poverty. Front. Sustain. Cities 2021 , 3 , 648473. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Bossi, S.; Gollner, C.; Theierling, S. Towards 100 Positive Energy Districts in Europe: Preliminary Data Analysis of 61 European Cases. Energies 2020 , 13 , 6083. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Rankinen, J.-A.; Lakkala, S.; Haapasalo, H.; Hirvonen-Kantola, S. Stakeholder Management in PED Projects: Challenges and Management Model. Int. J. Sustain. Energy Plan. Manag. 2022 , 34 , 91–106. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Schiele, H.; Krummaker, S.; Hoffmann, P.; Kowalski, R. The “research world café” as method of scientific enquiry: Combining rigor with relevance and speed. J. Bus. Res. 2022 , 140 , 280–296. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Vandevyvere, H.; Ahlers, D.; Alpagut, B.; Cerna, V.; Cimini, V.; Haxhija, S.; Hukkalainen, M.; Kuzmic, M.; Livik, K.; Padilla, M.; et al. Positive Energy Districts Solution Booklet ; European Union: Luxembourg, 2020. [ Google Scholar ]
• Évora—POCITYF. Available online: https://pocityf.eu/city/evora/ (accessed on 24 June 2024).
• Commission, E.; European Climate, I.; Agency, E.E.; Alpagut, B.; Zhang, X.; Gabaldon, A.; Hernandez, P. Digitalization in Urban. Energy Systems—Outlook 2025, 2030 and 2040 ; Publications Office of the European Union: Luxembourg, 2022. [ Google Scholar ]
• Waglé, S.; Singh, J.; Shah, P. Citizen Report Card Surveys: A Note on the Concept and Methodology (English) ; World Bank: Washington, DC, USA, 2004. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cimini, V.; Giglio, F.; Carbonari, G. D2.4: Report on Bankability of the Demonstrated Innovations. In +CityxChange—Work Package 2 Task 2.7 ; 2019. Available online: https://cityxchange.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/D2.4-Report-on-Bankability-of-the-Demonstrated-Innovations_v3.0-final.pdf (accessed on 24 June 2024).
• Cordis—Horizon 2020 Results in Brief. A Collaborative Approach Promotes Net Zero Energy Settlements. In Achieving near Zero and Positive Energy Settlements in Europe Using Advanced Energy Technology ; 2021. Available online: https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/430390-a-collaborative-approach-promotes-net-zero-energy-settlements (accessed on 24 June 2024).
• Krangsås, S.G.; Steemers, K.; Konstantinou, T.; Soutullo, S.; Liu, M.; Giancola, E.; Prebreza, B.; Ashrafian, T.; Murauskaitė, L.; Maas, N. Positive Energy Districts: Identifying Challenges and Interdependencies. Sustainability 2021 , 13 , 10551. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Prina, M.G.; Manzolini, G.; Moser, D.; Nastasi, B.; Sparber, W. Classification and Challenges of Bottom-up Energy System Models—A Review. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2020 , 129 , 109917. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Allegrini, J.; Orehounig, K.; Mavromatidis, G.; Ruesch, F.; Dorer, V.; Evins, R. A Review of Modelling Approaches and Tools for the Simulation of District-Scale Energy Systems. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2015 , 52 , 1391–1404. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Lyden, A.; Pepper, R.; Tuohy, P.G. A Modelling Tool Selection Process for Planning of Community Scale Energy Systems Including Storage and Demand Side Management. Sustain. Cities Soc. 2018 , 39 , 674–688. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Tozzi, P.; Jo, J.H. A Comparative Analysis of Renewable Energy Simulation Tools: Performance Simulation Model vs. System Optimization. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2017 , 80 , 390–398. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Hall, L.M.H.; Buckley, A.R. A Review of Energy Systems Models in the UK: Prevalent Usage and Categorisation. Appl. Energy 2016 , 169 , 607–628. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Ringkjøb, H.-K.; Haugan, P.M.; Solbrekke, I.M. A Review of Modelling Tools for Energy and Electricity Systems with Large Shares of Variable Renewables. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2018 , 96 , 440–459. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Neumann, H.M.; Garayo, S.D.; Gaitani, N.; Vettorato, D.; Aelenei, L.; Borsboom, J.; Etminan, G.; Kozlowska, A.; Reda, F.; Rose, J.; et al. Qualitative Assessment Methodology for Positive Energy District Planning Guidelines. In Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies ; Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH: Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany, 2022; Volume 263, pp. 507–517. [ Google Scholar ]
• Li, L.; Lange, K.W. Planning Principles for Integrating Community Empowerment into Zero-Net Carbon Transformation. Smart Cities 2023 , 6 , 100–122. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Turci, G.; Alpagut, B.; Civiero, P.; Kuzmic, M.; Pagliula, S.; Massa, G.; Albert-Seifried, V.; Seco, O.; Soutullo, S. A Comprehensive PED-Database for Mapping and Comparing Positive Energy Districts Experiences at European Level. Sustainability 2022 , 14 , 427. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• PED DB: Map—PED-EU-NET|COST ACTION CA19126. Available online: https://pedeu.net/map/ (accessed on 15 January 2024).
• European Union. New European Bauhaus. Available online: https://new-european-bauhaus.europa.eu/about/dashboard_en (accessed on 30 June 2024).
• Volpe, R.; Gonzalez Alriols, M.; Martelo Schmalbach, N.; Fichera, A. Optimal design and operation of distributed electrical generation for Italian positive energy districts with biomass district heating. Energy Convers. Manag. 2022 , 267 , 115937. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Bilić, B.; Šmit, K. Evaluation of the New European Bauhaus in Urban Plans by Land Use Occurrence Indicators: A Case Study in Rijeka, Croatia. Buildings 2024 , 14 , 1058. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Fichera, A.; Pluchino, A.; Volpe, R. Local Production and Storage in Positive Energy Districts: The Energy Sharing Perspective. Front. Sustain. Cities 2021 , 3 , 690927. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Cellura, M.; Fichera, A.; Guarino, F.; Volpe, R. Sustainable Development Goals and Performance Measurement of Positive Energy District: A Methodological Approach. Conference paper-Book Chapter. In Sustainability in Energy and Buildings ; Springer: Singapore, 2021; Volume 263, pp. 519–527. [ Google Scholar ]

Click here to enlarge figure

Share and Cite

Kozlowska, A.; Guarino, F.; Volpe, R.; Bisello, A.; Gabaldòn, A.; Rezaei, A.; Albert-Seifried, V.; Alpagut, B.; Vandevyvere, H.; Reda, F.; et al. Positive Energy Districts: Fundamentals, Assessment Methodologies, Modeling and Research Gaps. Energies 2024 , 17 , 4425. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17174425

Kozlowska A, Guarino F, Volpe R, Bisello A, Gabaldòn A, Rezaei A, Albert-Seifried V, Alpagut B, Vandevyvere H, Reda F, et al. Positive Energy Districts: Fundamentals, Assessment Methodologies, Modeling and Research Gaps. Energies . 2024; 17(17):4425. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17174425

Kozlowska, Anna, Francesco Guarino, Rosaria Volpe, Adriano Bisello, Andrea Gabaldòn, Abolfazl Rezaei, Vicky Albert-Seifried, Beril Alpagut, Han Vandevyvere, Francesco Reda, and et al. 2024. "Positive Energy Districts: Fundamentals, Assessment Methodologies, Modeling and Research Gaps" Energies 17, no. 17: 4425. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17174425

Article Metrics

Article access statistics, further information, mdpi initiatives, follow mdpi.

Subscribe to receive issue release notifications and newsletters from MDPI journals

NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative Member Co-Authors Award-Winning Paper in Insects

On August 13, 2024, the publishers of the journal Insects notified authors of three papers selected to receive “Insects 2022 Best Paper Award” for research and review articles published in Insects from January 1 to December 31, 2022.

One of the winning papers was co-authored by Russanne Low, PhD, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). Low is a member of the NASA Earth Science Education Collaborative (NESEC), a NASA Science Activation project, and science lead for the Global Learning & Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Mosquito Habitat Mapper .

The paper – Integrating global citizen science platforms to enable next-generation surveillance of invasive and vector mosquitoes – was published as part of a special issue of Insects on Citizen Science Approaches to Vector Surveillance. It is in the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric, which is a high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. The scoring algorithm takes various factors into account, such as the relative reach of the different sources of attention. The paper has been cited 23 times .

Papers were selected by the journal’s Award Committee according to the following criteria:

• Scientific merit and broad impact;
• Originality of the research objectives and/or the ideas presented;
• Creativity of the study design or uniqueness of the approaches and concepts;
• Clarity of presentation;
• Citations and downloads.

Each winner of the best paper award will receive CHF 500 and a chance to publish a paper free of charge in Insects in 2024 after peer review.

The paper is a result of a collaboration by IGES with University of South Florida, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and iNaturalist.

Following is the full citation: Ryan M. Carney, Connor Mapes, Russanne D. Low, Alex Long, Anne Bowser, David Durieux, Karlene Rivera, Berj Dekramanjian, Frederic Bartumeus, Daniel Guerrero, Carrie E. Seltzer, Farhat Azam, Sriram Chellappan, John R. B. Palmer. Role of Insects in Human Society Citizen Science Approaches to Vector Surveillance. Insects 2022, 13(8), 675; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13080675 - 27 Jul 2022

NESEC is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AE28A and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. Learn more about how Science Activation connects NASA science experts, real content, and experiences with community leaders to do science in ways that activate minds and promote deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn

Related Terms

• Earth Science
• Science Activation

Explore More

Leveraging Teacher Leaders to Share the Joy of NASA Heliophysics

NASA Mission Gets Its First Snapshot of Polar Heat Emissions

The PREFIRE mission will help develop a more detailed understanding of how much heat the Arctic and Antarctica radiate into space and how this influences global climate. NASA’s newest climate mission has started collecting data on the amount of heat in the form of far-infrared radiation that the Arctic and Antarctic environments emit to space. […]

Proyecto de la NASA en Puerto Rico capacita a estudiantes en biología marina

Read this story in English here. Tainaliz Marie Rodríguez Lugo respiró hondo, se ajustó la máscara de buceo y se sumergió en el océano, metiendo primero sus pies cubiertos por aletas. Tres semanas antes, Rodríguez Lugo no sabía nadar. Pero ahora, esta estudiante universitaria recopilaba datos sobre la calidad del agua y los arrecifes de […]

Discover More Topics From NASA

James Webb Space Telescope

Perseverance Rover

Parker Solar Probe

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals

Environmental biotechnology articles from across Nature Portfolio

Environmental biotechnology is the branch of biotechnology that addresses environmental problems, such as the removal of pollution, renewable energy generation or biomass production, by exploiting biological processes.

Destruction of mobile genetic elements

A DNA scavenger that can locate and destroy mobile genetic elements is demonstrated to be an effective way to reduce the horizontal transfer of antimicrobial resistance.

• Benno H. ter Kuile

Latest Research and Reviews

Microbial electrodes

Microbial electrodes combine electroactive microorganisms with electron-conducting materials to facilitate the conversion between electrical and chemical energy. In this Primer, ter Heijne and Harnisch overview the key parameters and main electrochemical methods used for characterization of microbial electrodes.

• Annemiek Ter Heijne
• Falk Harnisch

A serum-free culture medium production system by co-culture combining growth factor-secreting cells and l -lactate-assimilating cyanobacteria for sustainable cultured meat production

• Yuji Haraguchi
• Tatsuya Shimizu

Corrosion behavior of predominant Halodesulfovibrio in a marine SRB consortium and its mitigation using ZnO nanoparticles

• Mansour Jafari
• Hamid Moghimi
• Mohammad-Bagher Ebrahim-Habibi

Altering traits and fates of wild populations with Mendelian DNA sequence modifying Allele Sails

Population-scale genome modification can alter the composition or fate of wild populations. Here the authors introduce Allele Sails as a method for spreading genetic changes throughout a population.

• Michelle L. Johnson
• Bruce A. Hay
• Maciej Maselko

Biogas potential of organosolv pretreated wheat straw as mono and co-substrate: substrate synergy and microbial dynamics

• Omprakash Sarkar
• Ulrika Rova
• Leonidas Matsakas

Elemental sulfur–siderite composite filler empowers sustainable tertiary treatment of municipal wastewater even at an ultra-low temperature of 7.3 °C

Tertiary treatment in wastewater treatment plants serves as the final barrier against the discharge of nutrients into natural waters but requires large inputs of chemical agents. An elemental sulfur–siderite composite filler demonstrates efficient and sustainable denitrification and dephosphorization, even at ultra-low temperatures.

• Yongzhen Peng

News and Comment

The impact of a graduate training and career outlook program on diversity in the biotechnology sector

An intensive summer training program increased enrollment in a Master of Science in Biotechnology degree program, increasing awareness and opportunities among under-represented and underserved groups as a first step to transforming the biotech industry.

• Angelita P. Howard
• Liane S. Slaughter
• Rebecca McPherson

Designer catalytic nanopores meet PET nanoparticles

The search for novel biocatalysts for plastic degradation has recently become a hot topic. Now, multiple catalytic triads of well-known serine esterases were introduced into non-catalytic protein nanopores to enable the hydrolysis of PET nanoparticles.

• Uwe T. Bornscheuer

Bottlenecks and opportunities for synthetic biology biosafety standards

The lack of innovative standards for biosafety in synthetic biology is an unresolved policy gap that limits many potential applications in synthetic biology. We argue that a massive support for standardization in biosafety is required for synthetic biology to flourish.

• Michele Garfinkel
• Markus Schmidt

Constructive principles for gene editing oversight

• L. Val Giddings
• Richard J. Roberts

Responsible governance of gene editing in agriculture and the environment

• Doria R. Gordon
• Gregory Jaffe
• Melissa D. Ho

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

• Español (Spanish)
• Français (French)
• Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
• Brasil (Portuguese)
• India (English)
• हिंदी (Hindi)
• Feature Stories
• Explore All
• Subscribe page
• Submissions
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Advertising
• Wild Madagascar
• Selva tropicales
• Mongabay.org
• Tropical Forest Network

In Vietnam, environmental defense is increasingly a crime

Share this article.

If you liked this story, share it with other people.

• In the past two years, six prominent environmental defenders have been imprisoned in Vietnam, sending a chill across civil society in the one-party state.
• In the past, activists in Vietnam were often charged with spreading anti-state propaganda. More recently, ambiguous tax laws have been used against environmental experts and advocates, and 2023 saw the use of a novel charge: misappropriation of state documents.
• Analysts say the moves against environment defenders are part of an effort to clamp down on civil society in general, and environmental activism in particular, due to fears that such movements could serve as an engine for broad-based organizing outside of party control.

Until recently, the Hanoi-based nonprofit where Hưng works as a legal advocate distributed its research online, freely circulating information it intended to support policies on climate change and other environment issues. Now, Hưng says, such reports — many of them funded by international organizations— are only circulated internally among trusted working partners.

Hưng (not his real name) explains that this isn’t because his organization doesn’t wish to give the public access to its work. Instead, it is because the plight of a colleague, high-profile energy policy adviser Ngô Thị Tố Nhiên, has sent a chill down their spines.

Nhiên, founder and executive director of Vietnam Initiative for Energy Transition Social Enterprise, has been detained since October 2023. In June, she was reportedly sentenced to 42 months in prison time for misappropriating state documents. Her trial was held behind closed doors and, unlike in previous cases involving environmental defenders, her conviction has not been publicized in state-affiliated media. Two state employees who worked with Nhiên on projects related to Vietnam’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) were also arrested in October 2023: Dương Đức Việt, a senior employee from the National Power Transmission Corporation, and Lê Quốc Anh, head of the system analysis department of the Power Engineering Consulting 1 company, faced the same charges as Ngô, though even less is known publicly about the outcomes of their cases.

“We are quite scared now,” says Hưng, adding that security agents frequently pass by his organization’s office to inquire about the group’s activities.

For Hưng and other environmental activists interviewed for the article, the arrest of Nhiên, while chilling, was hardly a surprise. Nhiên is the sixth prominent expert working on environmental issues, particularly on the issues of energy transition, to have been arrested within two years.

“Up to now, we do not know yet which state documents Nhiên and her colleagues have misappropriated,” says Hưng.

Vaguely defined laws have been weaponized to criminalize environmental defenders in the single-party state. To make the matters worse, ambiguous rules on nonprofit organizations, the lack of an independent judiciary and a tightly controlled media make it even harder for environmental defenders to defend themselves and their organizations from charges made against them.

In fact, many environmental advocates approached for this article declined to be interviewed because, as one informant says, “the government is watching closely the environmental sector.”

New bottles, same wine

The charge Nhiên faces, misappropriating public documents, is a new one for activists. Previously, high-profile independent environmental defenders were generally charged with creating and circulating anti-state propaganda or with abusing fundamental freedoms. Such charges have been leveled against activists such as Cù Huy Hà Vũ, Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh and Phạm Thị Đoan Trang, who publicly held governments accountable for environmental disasters and other human rights abuses.

Within the last three years, tax evasion charges have been leveled against leaders of registered nonprofit organizations, including Mai Văn Lợi, Đặng Đình Bách, Nguỵ Thị Khanh and Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng — all environment advocates who were involved in work related to the JETP.

These charges (conducting and disseminating anti-state propaganda and tax evasion) are also similar to those faced by more than 160 Vietnamese prisoners of conscience as of 2023.

While Vietnam has publicly committed to improving its human rights record and currently sits on the U.N. Human Rights Council, its commitment to reform appears to be deeply ambiguous.

“Like in China, NGOs remain heavily controlled by the state and mainly function as extensions of government in policy implementation, program inputs and consultancy, while policy criticism is out of bounds,” says Ole Bruun, professor of society and globalization at Denmark’s Roskilde University, who has spent years doing research on various environmental issues in both China and Vietnam.

Earlier this year, international human rights group Project 88 obtained a copy of a confidential document called Directive 24 , issued in July 2023 by the Political Bureau of the Central Party Committee (Politburo). The organization was unable to fully verify the text, but it corresponds with public statements from the party, and NPR also cross-referenced the contents with a leaked copy from another source. The document, according to Project 88 “frames all forms of international commerce and cooperation as threats to national security” and seeks to block both international and local groups from “using increased international cooperation as a means to promote an independent civil society and domestic political opposition groups.” The directive calls for “developing and organizing the strict implementation of policies and laws on national security” in relation to the activities of NGOs and civil society groups.

For Vietnamese activists interviewed for the article, this directive represents a written officialization of ongoing actions against human rights activists in general and environmental defenders in particular: restrictions on activities, monitoring activists’ travel to international rights events, arbitrary arrests or harassment of activists and a broader proscription of independent civil society.

“Now, you don’t need to be an outright dissident to be jailed,” Hưng says.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese government has repeatedly denied international reports on its human rights issues, with officials criticizing reports from entities like the U.N . as “unobjective” and “unbalanced.”

Effects on policy

Lê Quốc Quân, a human rights lawyer who is now exiled in Canada, has firsthand experience with the weaponization of tax laws against activists. In 2013, he was charged with evading corporate income tax of $30,000 and jailed for 30 months following a hasty closed-door trial. Lê was held incommunicado for months, refused access to his lawyer and denied pre-trial release.

“Tax evasion is the easiest accusation for everyone. It is easy to prove from the perspective of the state, but it causes a lot of difficulties for lawyers when defending against it,” Lê says. “In Vietnam, there is a mentality that ‘everyone evades taxes,’ so judges think that accusing someone of tax evasion is always correct, which reduces their moral qualms.”

However, being convicted of tax evasion brings great shame to activists. In Vietnam, Lê explains, an activist should be seen as a morally exemplary and patriotic citizen. Failing to fulfil tax duties is not only seen as being not law-abiding but also as not being patriotic.

And while prosecutors can count on aid and information from state bodies, lawyers representing activists often fight an uphill battle. “Lawyers often have limited knowledge of tax regulations (which are very complex), lack resources to work on tax cases (as they often work pro bono), and have little chance to meet with authorities to gather documentation and evidence to defend their clients,” Lê says.

The regulations involved are numerous and confusing. In Vietnam, nonprofit organizations are not explicitly exempt from tax, but neither does the law on tax administration stipulate exactly what is required of nonprofit entities. Instead, tax policies for nonprofit organizations come from a hodgepodge of agencies, including the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Moreover, foreign funding is ambiguously taxable.

For example, Ngụy Thi Khanh, director of policy advocacy organisation GreenID was penalized for not paying a 10% tax on the prize money from her in 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize, even though no law clearly supports such taxation.  She was sentenced to two years imprisonment, eventually serving 21 months before being quietly released in 2023.

“It is extremely common for these types of organizations (or even other businesses) to not adhere to all bookkeeping and accounting requirements,” Nguyễn says. “Finding mistakes and legally wrongful conduct within these organizations would be easy.”

However, Nguyễn says, it is equally simple to disprove some of the accusations against activists. Nguyễn cites the example of Mai Phan Lợi, a prominent activist charged with tax evasion. State media report that Mai evaded taxes on 19 billion Vietnamese dong of income in 10 years (roughly $75,000 per year).

That 19 billion dong equals the entire amount of funding Mai received during that period, Nguyễn says. But when deductibles like payroll, service contracts and other expenses are factored in, “there should be nothing left to consider ‘taxable income,’” says Nguyễn, adding that it is customary and mandatory for NGOs to disburse the funding they have received from sponsors for the project.

Nguyễn also argues that punishment is disproportionately high. “Administrative fines and warnings should be enough to keep the NGOs in check,” he says. “The fact that … the regime criminalizes such an insignificant amount … proves that the charges are mostly politically motivated.”

Lan (not her real name), a CSR officer at a private company who has cooperated with many of the arrested NGO leaders, notes that the organizations whose leaders were arrested were part of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA). Yet, VUSTA itself remains exempt from all tax evasion charges, she says.

“Tax is checked rigorously every year in Vietnam. It is quite impossible for a small NGO to evade it for 10 years,” Lan says.

Exiled lawyer Lê said that despite his release in 2015 and current exile in Canada, he has still been under pressure to pay the tax that he had been accused of evading.

“I have never admitted to [tax evasion] and have continued to make a request for cassation . The situation remains unchanged until now,” Lê says.

No land for supporters

With the legislative, executive and judiciary bodies de facto led by the party, there is little possibility of challenging the verdicts.

Even lawyers are far from safe when it comes to defending environmental defenders.

“Most of the lawyers who are working for legal aid activities are facing threats, especially when providing legal aid to arrested individuals, particularly political prisoners,” Hưng says.

“The thing is that if they are fair trials or fair judgment, files should be accessible. Yet none of them [cases of criminalized enironmental defenders] can be found on the website of the Ministry of Justice, though the law stipulates so.”

Finding allies among the domestic public, or even from other advocacy groups, is also out of the question. “Other local NGOs have also been silent about arrests of their domestic peers,” legal advocate Hưng says.

These criminalizations go unquestioned in the context of Vietnam due to top-down smear campaigns by party mouthpieces, cybertroopers and state-affiliated journalists. The Communist Party of Vietnam holds a full monopoly on media. The 2019 National Development and Management Plan for the press until 2025 restricts the coverage of sociopolitical news to a few designated outlets . As a result, coverage of arrests and imprisonment of environmental defenders across all state-affiliated outlets is limited and identical, citing only sources from the government.

Many unsubstantiated articles on state-affiliated media outlets refer to environmental activists as being provoked and incentivized by hostile forces, without evidence.

For example, an article published in The Capital’s Defense ( Quốc phòng thủ đô ), the mouthpiece of the Hanoi party committee, listed organizations led by Hoàng Thị Minh Hồng (director of the environmental advocacy group CHANGE) and Đặng Đình Bách (director of a policy advocacy center, LPSD) as among groups that allegedly “create divisions in public opinion, destabilize political security and social order, undermine government agencies, seek external influences to interfere in Vietnam’s internal affairs, deliberately spread misinformation to diminish Vietnam’s reputation and credibility on the international stage.”

The fear is strongly felt among civil society.

“The crackdown is intended to decapitate the capability of private NGOs in Vietnam, channeling all foreign aid to government-controlled NGOs (especially in important fields like climate justice and community development),” Nguyễn says.

Behind the scenes, there is year-round and long-term harassment of NGO workers in the environmental fields.

Nga (not her real name), an employee in a nonprofit organization in Hồ Chí Minh City, said her team has been stressed by the consecutive arrests. Some have stepped down from leadership positions out of fear, while some others have sought employment in other sectors.

“The NGO world is very precarious. Even if we are not punished yet, it does not mean that we are right in the eyes of the government, Nga says. “It is not that we did not check what is right to avoid the wrong. It is just like we never know what is right or what is really wrong. It is really up to the whim of someone else.”

Support is needed from international actors

“Efforts to build a green and truly sustainable future and those to ensure the protection of environmental and climate defenders can seem distinct, but in fact they are intrinsically linked,” says Maureen Harris, senior adviser at International Rivers and also part of the Vietnam Climate Defenders Coalition, a group of more than 30 international and regional organizations supporting environment defenders in Vietnam.

“We are experiencing a global shift toward clean energy solutions, and pressure from civil society — from grassroots organizations to large NGOs — is pivotal in accelerating this movement,” Harris says.

Bruun says that environmental activism is a thorn in the side of the CPV due to its power to gather crowds. According to Bruun, Vietnam is folowing the footsteps of China, which in the 1990s quashed civil society due to it being seen as the vanguard of democracy.

“Environmental issues have the potential for broad and powerful organizing, and when the regime feels threatened, it cracks down,” Brunn says.

In order to continue to work for the cause, Hưng, Nga and several other NGO workers say they are considering switching their organizations’ status from nonprofit to for-profit in order to make it easier to ensure they are complying with tax laws. “There will be less challenges when the law is clearer,” Loan says.

Liangyi Chiang, Asia managing director at 350.org, a grassroots organization that promotes renewable energy, stresses the importance of educating donors on the challenges facing Vietnamese activists. “It is important to keep donors updated on the tax policies,” Chiang says. “Every single donor is different. Not all donors are aware of tax regulations’ complexity, especially rapid changes in the policies not only for civil society but also for the private sector.”

In parallel, Chiang emphasizes the importance of telling the stories of those Vietnamese defenders, celebrating activists as inspirations rather than treating their stories as cautionary tales. “We need to show donors the great jobs they [activists] did in the past. The more we do, the stronger support there will be for the activists,” Chiang says. “We make sure that their stories are to be remembered.”

Banner image: A Nicobar pigeon, a bird found in Vietnam. Image by cuatrok77 via Flickr ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ).

Reporting for this story was supported by a grant from GRID-Arendal .

‘The police are watching’: In Mekong countries, eco defenders face rising risks

FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.

To wipe or to wash? That is the question

Toilet paper: Environmentally impactful, but alternatives are rolling out

Rolling towards circularity? Tracking the trace of tires

Getting the bread: What’s the environmental impact of wheat?

Consumed traces the life cycle of a variety of common consumer products from their origins, across supply chains, and waste streams. The circular economy is an attempt to lessen the pace and impact of consumption through efforts to reduce demand for raw materials by recycling wastes, improve the reusability/durability of products to limit pollution, and […]

Free and open access to credible information

Latest articles.

Mining company tied to Cambodian military officials grabs community forest

Sweden’s ‘nature friendly’ reputation is being shot to pieces (commentary)

Peruvian logger loses FSC label after latest clash with isolated Mashco Piro

A Mexican marine park shelters giant manta rays: Interview with Madalena Pereira Cabral

Protected areas in SE Asia could do better with more resources, study finds

Failed U.S. ‘war on drugs’ endangers Central American bird habitats, study warns

Meet the Miombo, the largest forest you’ve never heard of

you're currently offline