The purpose of the study is to explore the antecedents of minimalism and, further, to study the impact of minimalism on millennials' well-being via a sense of fulfilment. To understand the origins of minimalism and its following effects on well-being, a theoretical framework is created. An online survey with a structured questionnaire was created to collect the necessary data from respondents. SMART PLS was used to analyse the suggested framework. This research establishes the mediating role of a sense of fulfilment in the interactions between minimalism and well-being and shows how environmental awareness, contemporary aesthetics, voluntary simplicity, normative influence, and resource sharing positively lead to minimalism. A minimalist lifestyle will help to preserve precious resources, reduce waste, and lower carbon emissions, all of which will have a significant positive influence on the environment. Additionally, clearing up clutter will give them more room and time, which will improve their well-being because they will have more time for their family and interests. The study suggests a thorough model to comprehend the origins of minimalism. Additionally, it established a connection between well-being and minimalism.

The current corporate food regime generates some of the most challenging ecological, social, and ethical problems for humanity in its quest for sustainability and ecological justice. Different scientific disciplines have analyzed these problems in-depth, but usually from their comfort zone, i.e., without engagement with other disciplines and epistemologies. The predominance of disciplinary visions seriously limits, however, understanding the complexities of the corporate food regime, including the impacts it generates. Further, most research concerned with this food regime confronts epistemological, methodological, and political limitations to engage with the type of solutions that could lead to transitions to just sustainabilities. Here we review and integrate the findings from scientific literature focused on the ecological, social, or ethical impacts of the corporate food regime, with an emphasis on impacts that operate on a global scale. In addition, we analyze the need for critical science approaches to trigger generative processes for the co-production of uncomfortable, transdisciplinary, actionable knowledges that are fit for designing just and sustainable food regimes. Much of the evidence presented in our analysis is in tension with the interests of the corporate food regime, which fosters decision-making processes based on selective ignorance of the impacts caused by this regime. Our work provides arguments that justify the need to promote transitions to just sustainabilities in agricultural systems from multiple domains (e.g., research and development, public policies, grassroots innovations). We posit that strategies to co-design and build such transitions can emerge from the co-production of uncomfortable, transdisciplinary, actionable knowledges through critical science approaches.

Global cities play a significant role in world economy as they serve as key hubs of economic activity and trade. These cities are centers of innovation, finance, culture, and commerce, attracting businesses and entrepreneurs from all over the world. They are characterized by their openness, diversity, and their ability to attract and retain talent. This paper includes a bibliometric analysis of the structure of global cities through examining the literature on global cities, including the document type, country/territory distribution, institution distribution, geographical distribution of authors, specially most active authors and their interests or research areas, relationships between principal authors and more relevant journals, and the research hot spots. The input data consists of journal articles archived by the Web of Science from 1991 to 2023, and the analysis is performed using SciMAT and VOS Viewer. The result of this paper would provide valuable insights into the state of research on this topic, including who is conducting research, where it is being conducted, what types of publications are being produced, and which themes are having the most impact on the field. Such an analysis would be useful for researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders interested in understanding the role of global cities in the world economy.

Governance is a key component for implementing sustainable development (SD) initiatives in university teaching, research, and projects. This line of thinking also applies to implementing the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs). Despite the role of governance in guiding processes related to the SDGs, few studies have examined these relations in an integrative manner in higher education. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study assesses the connections between governance and implementing the SDGs at higher education institutions (HEIs). Specifically, it relies on two main methods. The first is a bibliometric analysis, where the literature on the topic has been analyzed. The second method uses case studies from a sample of universities. The combined dual approach has identified the extent to which governance issues influence how these organizations perceive and handle the SDGs. The study provides valuable recommendations that may assist HEIs in implementing the SDGs with a due emphasis on governance.

Climate change is a confounding factor that affects food security in several ways. Although the analyses of earlier studies in this area were largely non-technical, new analytical techniques have been developed to comprehensively evaluate climate change patterns and their implications for food security. In this study, we use recent developments in panel econometrics, which consider cross-sectional dependence and parameter heterogeneity, to examine the effects of climatic conditions on cereal farming in Africa from 1970Q1 to 2017Q4. The results show that rainfall positively affects cereal crops, although average temperatures are typically unfavourable. In the country-specific scenarios, we observed significant variations in the influence of climatic conditions on cereal production. The causality test results show a two-way causal relationship between climatic conditions-rainfall and temperature-and cereal production. It is suggested that African governments and non-governmental organisations support farmers' adaptation to climate change by implementing policies that prioritise farmers' capacity building and ensure that extension service officers engage with farmers intensively.

This study aims to determine whether ESG funds can be used as an effective tool for environmental sustainability. ESG funds, which first appeared in the 2000s and were exported by environmentally friendly companies, are among the most effective tools for increasing firm value and managing environmental degradation. The causality relationship between the ESG funds, one of the environmentally friendly investment instruments, and the CO emission values, which are used as an environmental degradation criterion, was investigated in this study. The study used 209 daily data sets from July 31, 2020, to May 28, 2021. The symmetric developed by Hacker and Hatemi-J (Appl Econ 38:1489-1500, 2006), the asymmetric developed by Hatemi-J (Empir Econ 43:447-456, 2012), and time-varying asymmetric causality tests were used as models. According to the study results, while there is no symmetric causality between CO emissions and ESG funds, there is causality between CO emissions and ESG funds prices for negative shocks and between CO emissions and ESG funds trade volume for positive shocks. The results of a time-varying asymmetric causality test also support that this causality relationship varies by period. As a result, ESG funds can be used as a strategic financial tool to improve environmental quality during the COVID-19 period; however, this may vary for different sub-sample periods.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how COVID-19 pandemic including some coping strategies such as hand wash with soap and food consumption influences work operation or performance of nonfarm household enterprises (NHEs) in Nigeria using 2020 Living Standard Measurement Survey data of 1728 sample size. This study departs from existing study in two ways: first, the study employs multinomial logistic regression technique to ascertain the determinants of work performance of nonfarm household enterprises in Nigeria. Second, the study focuses on nonfarm enterprises such as petty trade, road side automobile and cab drivers. The results show that COVID-19 pandemic is significant with negative influence on the work operation of NHEs in Nigeria. The result of the study also reveals that coping strategy such as hand wash with soap during the pandemic is an important driver of work performance or operation of NHEs in Nigeria. Another coping strategy like food consumption by nonfarm household enterprises shows insignificant influence on work operation which implies that there is no relationship between food consumption and work operation by NHEs in Nigeria. The policy recommendation of this study, among others, is that policies should focus on procurement of sanitary material for public use. This can be achieved through public sensitisation in terms of organising workshops and conferences.

Extant research studies support has stressed the significance of nourishment on the physical health of humans. Some of the past academic literature has also hinted at an interconnect between food, thoughts, and action that becomes especially significant in the current era of Anthropocene. Organic farming production and consumption can not only enhance economic well-being but also promote social well-being along with subject well-being. Beyond the individual level, a community level facilitates fostering physical emotional physical and emotional ecosystems. However, several studies have inferred seemingly dubious claims about the impact of natural food intake on the mental well-being of an individual. In light of this impinging need, this first-of-its-kind study focused to search the impact of organic food consumption on the cognitive behaviour of individuals. Interview-based qualitative field research with 30 peasants' families was conducted in two phases in the model organic village of Manj Gaon of Uttarakhand. Results indicate that organic farming has positively impacted the mental well-being of the farmers, and apart from it, physical health, food security, and financial security are the fringe benefits for native organic farmers. However, there are many bottlenecks from the policy perspective such as non-availability of organic seeds, lack of marketplaces, lack of transportation infrastructure, and almost no facility of cold storage and warehouse, especially during the time of summer season. All these significantly hamper the adoption and sustenance of organic food production and consumption. Although many farmers exhibit the attributes of subjective well-being, as an outcome, it is rooted in the consumption of organic food, because better intake leads to a better thought process and eventually the results get reflected in the form of a better human being. To conclude, better thoughts, emotions, mind, and health of a human individual and society are strongly rooted in the adoption of chemical and pesticide-free food, i.e. organic.

Healthcare waste management has been an extensively attractive topic recently since it is one of the key concerns regarding both environment and public health, predominantly in developing nations. The optimization of the treatment procedure for healthcare waste is indeed a complex "multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM)" problem that involves contradictory and interweaved critical criteria. To successfully handle this issue, this study extends the original method, named the "double normalization-based multi-aggregation (DNMA)" approach, with "interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy sets (IVIFSs)" for decision-making problems taking criteria in terms of benefit or cost types. This method involves two target-based normalizations and three subordinate utility models. To estimate the criteria weights, we propose a new parametric divergence measure and discuss the feasibility of the developed divergence measure based on existing divergence measures for IVIFSs. Further, the developed framework is implemented to elucidate the "healthcare waste treatment (HCWT)" problem. The comparative and sensitivity analyses of the outcomes indicate that the proposed approach efficiently tackles the problem of HCWT selection. The outcomes show that steam sterilization (0.462) is the optimal one for HCWT. The prioritization options, obtained by presented approach, are dependable and suitable, which are steam sterilization ≻ microwave ≻ incineration ≻ landfilling.

Global environmental concerns and resource scarcity are driving the growth in sales of electric vehicles (EVs). Reusing and recycling retired batteries from EVs has significant economic value and reduces the environmental burden. Rising raw material prices have intensified competition among recyclers; in particular, recyclers without corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been added. These observations lead to a game-theoretical model consisting of three players: a battery manufacturer, a recycler with CSR and a recycler without CSR (non-CSR). The non-CSR recycler enjoys a cost advantage over the CSR recycler, but may not be considered by the consumers with high environmental awareness (CEA). We explore the incentive strategies for CSR recyclers outperform, and how the equilibrium is affected by the recyclers' Stackelberg game. Results show that (1) the deposit- refund is the most profitable strategy for all members and the whole supply chain if raw material price rises high enough; otherwise, a contract strategy should be adopted. (2) Improving CEA and echelon utilization ratio is more conducive to the implementation of revenue-sharing contract. In addition, increasing CEA contributed to CSR recycler collects more retired batteries instead of non-CSR recycler. (3) Stackelberg game between recyclers may hurt supply chain. However, CSR recycler may benefit from the non-CSR recycler-led Stackelberg game. Our work provides the basis of incentive strategies for different participants in the closed-loop supply chain of retired batteries, in particular, to encourage retired batteries flow to CSR recyclers.

High-speed rail has been operating in more than 25 countries (mainly in Asia, Europe and North America), and has become an important part of global economic development. However, the cleaning and maintenance of high-speed rail is a comprehensive task, which may easily cause environmental pollution. This study aims to analyze and improve the sustainability of the formulation and production process of a concentrated complex enzyme detergent used as the maintenance agent for high-speed trains via the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The eFootprint software system with built-in China, European and Swiss Ecoinvent databases was used to establish the LCA model with the system boundary being from cradle to gate. The LCA model showed that the production of 1 kg of concentrated detergent generates the global warming potential of 2.53 kg CO eq, and other environmental emissions including acidification potential of 0.01 kg SO eq, eutrophication potential of 3.76E-03 kg POeq, inhalable inorganic matter of 3.17E-03 kg PM2.5 eq, ozone depletion potential of 5.3E-06 kg CFC-11 eq, photochemical ozone formation potential of 3.44E-03 kg NMVOC eq, primary energy demand of 3.17 MJ, abiotic depletion potential of 4.97E-6 kg antimony eq, and water use of 0.84 kg. LCA results are not strongly dependent to the assumptions of the research, and the uncertainties of LCA results are between 8 and 16%, which is mainly due to the regional differences in technology sources, the year of technical data collection, and the representativeness of technology collection companies. Carbon footprint analysis showed that the production processes of enzyme stabilizer (glycerol) and surfactants contributed the most, while changes in power consumption during production and transportation distance of raw materials had limited effect on total carbon emissions. Therefore, the formulation of the concentrated complex enzymatic detergent was improved based on the LCA results. The new formulations with less enzyme stabilizer showed similar detergency to the original formulation. The new formulations could reduce carbon emissions by 5,500-9,200 tons per year and save between $4.4 and $7.4 million in annual production of 10,000 tons.

Scientific evaluation of urban resilience will help to improve the ability of self-prevention and self-recovery when facing internal and external pressure. However, existing studies are on basis of the overall perspective of the urban resilience evaluation index system to measure urban resilience, often ignoring the coupling and coordination degree among indicators. Therefore, an empirical analysis is developed, which is used to measure the urban resilience of eight cities in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration from 2010 to 2019 from the perspective of coupling coordination degree based on the urban resilience evaluation index system. The empirical results show that (1) In time, the eight cities' resilience fluctuated dynamically and varied to different degrees. It presents the spatial distribution characteristics of "high in the center and low in the periphery" in space. (2) In time, the coupling coordination degree in the eight cities fluctuated slightly. The spatial distribution pattern of "high in the center and low in the periphery" was formed in terms of space. (3) There is a long-term stable relationship between urban resilience and the coupling coordination degree among all indicators. In a certain sense, the higher the coupling coordination degree is, the higher the urban resilience is. These results can improve urban resilience to some extent and make cities more resilient in the future collaborative development process, and provide a way to evaluate urban resilience at different spatial-temporal scales.

The component of human life that has been most significantly altered by the COVID-19 epidemic is travel. Due to the upheaval produced by the pandemic breakout, countries are becoming increasingly avaricious and are scrambling to stockpile vaccines. The world has been locked down to reduce/control the pandemic outbreak, driving countries to shut their doors to other people from countries. The recent pandemic has had a short-term, positive effect on the environment, but travel restrictions have caused problems for the common person and are expected to deteriorate more soon, necessitating longer quarantines, vaccination requirements, vaccine passports, and immunization certificates required by countries for safe travel. Thus, this study has three objectives. First, we investigate the impact of COVID-19 on travel and the environment, as well as the role that tourists play in the transmission of the virus. Second, we examine how countries are handling COVID-19 vaccines. Finally, we pinpoint differences in vaccination coverage.

The knowledge graph based on research papers can accurately identify and present the latest developments in scientific and technological (S&T) innovation and is of great significance for supporting strategic decision-making relating to S&T innovation in undeveloped areas. Based on the international research papers produced in Gansu Province during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), five metrics, including the number and characteristics of papers, co-authors, main publications and their fields, major supporting institutions, and main research areas, are established herein. The results indicate that: (i) the total of 29,951 papers were published, which is about 2.89 times that in 2010-2015; (ii) Gansu Province collaborated with 149 countries/regions globally; (iii) the top 5 journals in terms of the number of papers were Medicine, Scientific Reports, RSC Advances, Science of the Total Environment, and Physical Reviews D; (iv) the funding sources were mainly from the national level; and (5) the top 5 research areas were chemistry, engineering, physics, material science, environmental science, and ecology, which accounted for 64.7% of all papers. Finally, the present study puts forward some recommendations for the decision-making process in the strategic layout of S&T innovation in Gansu Province.

Blockchainsmart contracts have emerged as a new value proposition in improving certain aspects of sustainability in projects. However, there is little knowledge on how smart contracts can be leveraged to stimulate sustainable project performance from the integrated perspective. This study aims to capture the latest research development and applications of smart contracts for sustainable outcomes throughout the project lifecycle. Bibliometric and content analyses were conducted to critically review smart contracts and sustainable project performance. The results show that various new applications of smart contracts for sustainability have become more popular in the architecture, engineering, construction, and operation (AECO) industry. A smart contracts-sustainable project performance framework has been developed to fill up the research gaps for improving each dimension of sustainability and the integrated dimensions of sustainability during the project lifecycle. This study renders important implications for promoting sustainable project performance in the context of the engineering, construction, and operation industry, particularly for the required interdisciplinary research and practice in smart contracts.

Exploring sustainable urban distribution based on electric vehicles is crucial given the rise in global greenhouse gas emissions, especially for fast fashion industries with extremely high distribution frequencies. However, most studies have overlooked the impact of deep discharge on the distribution route scheme, and few studies fit the characteristics of the fast fashion industry. As a result, this study presents a novel electric vehicle routing problem considering deep discharge model (EVRP-DD) for distribution route optimization, which fully considers deep discharge under the emerging mode of vehicle-battery separation. The characteristics of fashion consumers and products were also integrated into the model, such as consumer satisfaction and 3D loading constraints. To solve this complex programming problem, a sophisticated hybrid ant colony optimization (HACO) algorithm was designed by combining the advantages of ACO and A-star algorithms. Using real-life data, the experimental results verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed solution. EVRP-DD achieved reduced driving distance, total distribution cost, and deep discharge distance. HACO can enhance the computation speed and reduce the total distribution cost compared with the two conventional algorithms. The proposed solution showed excellent flexibility and could effectively adjust the optimal route scheme according to the ever-changing external environment. Thus, it can be concluded that this solution is a powerful tool for enterprises to achieve sustainable distribution. This study has realized theoretical innovation in sustainable distribution under the new mode of vehicle-battery separation, and its successful application in the fast fashion industry reflects its valuable application value.

Food security and the utilization of natural resources in a sustainable manner are vital to the expansion of China's agricultural system. The relationship between environmental pressure and dietary structure has influenced the quantity and spatial distribution of China's food supply and demand, but it has not been evaluated. Our research centered on the security of China's food nutrition-resources-food (NRF) system, considering the inherent relationship between food security, nutritional health, and resource security. The following are the study's findings: (1) The Chinese population is rapidly changing from a diet focused on grains to a more diverse diet. Between 1990 and 2019, the dietary quality and nutritional status of Chinese individuals have vastly improved. In terms of nutrient levels, discrepancies between urban and rural resident persist, with urban residents consuming a diet that is closer to the ideal structure. However, the structure of rural residents' food consumption is diversifying, and the gap between urban and rural residents is gradually narrowing. (2) From 2000 to 2019, the pressure, status, and response indices of China's NRF system all show an upward trend, and the security of the NRF system has steadily grown. The magnitude of change in the response index exceeded that of the state index, which exceeded that of the pressure index. This indicates that the increase in the pressure and state indices of the NRF system was primarily attributable to the effectiveness of policy efforts.

Surging incidents of air quality-related public health hazards, and environmental degradation, have prompted the global authorities to seek newer avenues of air quality monitoring, especially in developing economies, where the situation appears most alarming besides difficulties around 'adequate' deployment of air quality sensors. In the present narrative, we adopt a systematic review methodology (PRISMA, ) around recent global literature (2002-2022), around moss-based passive biomonitoring approaches which might offer the regulatory authorities a complementary means to fill 'gaps' in existing air quality records. Following the 4-phased search procedure under PRISMA, total of 123 documents were selected for review. A wealth of research demonstrates how passive biomonitoring, with strategic use of mosses, could become an invaluable regulatory (and research) tool to monitor atmospheric deposition patterns and help identifying the main drivers of air quality changes (e.g., anthropogenic and/or natural). Besides individual studies, we briefly reflect on the European Moss Survey, underway since 1990, which aptly showcases mosses as 'naturally occurring' sensors of ambient air quality for a slew of metals (heavy and trace) and persistent organic pollutants, and help assessing spatio-temporal changes therein. To that end, we urge the global research community to conduct targeted research around various pollutant uptake mechanisms by mosses (e.g., species-specific interactions, environmental conditions, land management practices). Of late, mosses have found various environmental applications as well, such as in epidemiological investigations, identification of pollutant sources and transport mechanisms, assessment of air quality in diverse and complex urban ecosystems, and even detecting short-term changes in ambient air quality (e.g., COVID-19 Lockdown), each being critical for the authorities to develop informed and strategic regulatory measures. To that end, we review current literature and highlight to the regulatory authorities how to extend moss-based observations, by integrating them with a wide range of ecological indicators to assess regional environmental vulnerability/risk due to degrading air quality. Overall, an underlying motive behind this narrative was to broaden the current regulatory outlook and purview, to bolster and diversify existing air quality monitoring initiatives, by coupling the moss-based outputs with the traditional, sensor-based datasets, and attain improved spatial representation. However, we also make a strong case of conducting more targeted research to fill in the 'gaps' in our current understanding of moss-based passive biomonitoring details, with increased case studies.

The disposal of faecal sludge from non-networked sanitation amenities leads to contamination of the surrounding environment and increasing public health problems across developing countries. Permanent solutions to deal with faecal sludge are required to solve the sanitation crisis and achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 "ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all" by 2030. Full-scale pyrolysis of faecal sludge in developing countries is fast becoming a safe and long-term option. Pyrolysis not only eliminates pathogens within the sludge but produces biochar as an end product which has the potential as a soil amendment to increase crop yield. In general, faecal sludge biochars have high pH values, high ash contents, and high macro-and micronutrient concentrations. Compared to biochar from lignocellulosic materials, faecal sludge biochar contains less carbon and exhibits lower porosities, and lower surface areas. However, evaluating the properties of faecal sludge biochar is difficult due to the different technologies used in collection, storage, and transportation of the feedstock. Differences in faecal sludge characteristics based on location, climate, age of the sludge, type of sanitation technology and seasonality are also factors in determining the properties of faecal sludge biochars. These factors contribute to the difficulty in describing faecal sludge biochar properties in general terms, and there is an argument to be made that characteristics of large-scale faecal sludge biochar should be determined on a case-by-case basis. The conclusion of this review is that future research should concentrate on short-term and long-term field studies of faecal sludge biochar application to different soil types.

is an international research project that aims to investigate and represent the diverse experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic from those marginalized by mainstream media and policy influence. This article focuses on the multidimensional effects of the generalized lockdown policy in an agrarian community in Nigeria. The project engaged participatory and culturally responsive adaptations of qualitative methods including participatory engagement and individual and group discussions with purposively selected community members. This relational research practice is supported by a Systems Thinking approach to data analysis. In particular, a Causal Loop Diagram (CLD) is used to analyse and visually present the relationships between various elements (variables) of the research context (the system). This study reveals the interrelated effects of the COVID-19 prompted generalised lockdown policies on livelihoods, education, health, and security in rural Nigeria. Although the lockdown policy was intended to curtail the impact of COVID-19, it had severe unintended consequences, exposing weaknesses in the social support system and threatening the foundations of the agrarian community of this study. This article culminates in recommendations for participatory and culturally responsive approaches to future policy formulation.

Recognition of land management impacts on water quality and flooding, and climate change-induced increases in storm intensity and flood risk, have led to interest in farmer provision of ecosystem services alongside food production. However, pathways for practical design and funding of agroecological interventions are less well understood. Effective design and implementation of sustainable farming initiatives have been linked to human-centred aspects including stakeholder engagement and provision of social and economic co-benefits. To obtain information on Welsh farmer perspectives on sustainable farming actions and aid development of agroecological policy and design guidance, Welsh farmer perspectives on sustainable farming were obtained through discussion, online polls, and questionnaires. Participant-identified barriers to action included incorporation of return on initial time and cost investment in long-term farm budgets, occurrence of extreme weather events, and tenanted land. Decision-making processes were rooted in community discussion to balance perceived needs of the land and farm business, with communication preferences expressed for bilingual farm advice provision and support of farmer-to-farmer knowledge transfer pathways. In addition to responding to research questions, participants identified interdependent components of economic, social, cultural, and environmental sustainability necessary to achieve positive environmental outcomes, and expressed environmentally oriented farming identities linked to environmental guardianship and caretaking. Design of tree-planting schemes was discussed as an example of this interlinkage, with positive attitudes expressed for land sharing at small spatial scales, but not at the whole-farm scale.