by Irene S. Fortune, Alethea S. Madgett, Ann Scarborough Bull, Natalie Hicks, Milton S. Love, David M. Paterson Offshore oil and gas platforms (OGP) have been installed worldwide and initially with limited consideration given to the nature of their positive or negative long-term interactions with the natural marine habitats. However, as OGP reach the end of their useful life, with many being decommissioned and removed, it is timely to review the growing evidence of the association of marine biota with OGP to provide a summary and synthesis for policy makers and to give insight to decisions in ..read more

by Mair L. H. Thomas-Possee, Peter J. Shaw, Robert E. S. Bain, Allan G. Hill, Joseph Okotto-Okotto, Lorna G. Okotto, Mawuli Dzodzomenyo, Jim A. Wright Disposable diaper use is widespread in many low- and middle-income countries whilst waste collection services are scarce. Despite the potential environmental and public health impacts of disposable diaper consumption by households lacking waste services, an international system for monitoring such consumption is lacking. This study therefore aims to develop and evaluate a method for estimating disposable diaper use based on secondary data, speci ..read more

by Erin Looney, André Buscariolli, Maria C. Yang, Geoffrey Raymond, Tonio Buonassisi, Ian Marius Peters Hardware-based startups risk having longer times-to-market, deterring investment in the clean technologies that are critical to a sustainable future. We interviewed 55 leaders at hardware startups, 20 of which are cleantech, mapped their development timelines, and found prototyping to be the longest development step (median of 19 weeks per prototype) regardless of prototype complexity or iteration. Qualitative interview analysis reveals the prototyping team’s choice of development style is a ..read more

by Jeremy Kohlitz, Melita Grant, Ratan Bahadur Budhathoki, Shova Chhetri, Heman Paneru, Min Prasad Basnet, Sunetra Lala, Gabrielle Halcrow, Naomi Carrard Transformative change in how local governments support rural water services is required to accommodate the increasingly extreme effects of climate change on water service systems. This study explores the potential for contextualised soft systems thinking activities to prepare local government officials with responsibilities pertaining to rural water services in Nepal to shift towards more transformative thinking. First, the study presents the ..read more

by Elisa Bayer, Sarah Kühl A mainly positive attitude of consumers towards organic animal husbandry with its higher keeping standards compared to the legal regulations is evident. However, less is known about consumers’ detailed expectations of organic husbandry and in particular their attitude and trust along the value chain of organic animal products. Which consumers trust the most, and how do they want to be informed about organic animal husbandry? Where along the chain are trust deficits that should be addressed in the future to support sustainable food consumption with high animal welfare ..read more

by Ipsita Das, Leonard le Roux, Richard Mulwa, Remidius Ruhinduka, Marc Jeuland Nearly 2.3 billion people lack access to clean cooking fuels and technologies worldwide, representing a critical failure to achieve SDG7’s cooking energy access goal. In Sub-Saharan Africa, dependence on polluting cooking fuels is particularly high, resulting in considerable environmental, health, and time-related costs. Progress in the region has been greatest in urban areas, partly because incomes are higher and alternative fuels more widely available than in rural areas, but understanding of the dynamics of urba ..read more

by Brent M. Haddad, Barry D. Solomon Ecological economics, developed in the late 1980s, came to be known as the multi- and transdisciplinary science of sustainability. Since that time, it has blended basic and applied research with the intention of both informing and bringing change to environmental policy, governance, and society. However, many conventional economists have questioned its originality and contributions. This paper begins by clarifying the foundational perspectives of ecological economics that it engages an economy embedded in both real and limited ecosystems as well as socially ..read more

by Sergiu Spatan, Daniel Peter, Gundula Thiele, Marc Wolfram, Franziska Ehnert, Stefan Scherbaum, Moritz Schulz, Caroline Surrey Disruptions (systemic disturbances) are crucial to initiate and accelerate sustainability transformations of large-scale social systems (be they socio-ecological, socio-technical, or socio-institutional). Their emergence, characteristics and effects strongly relate to the role of agents who aim to disrupt and transform the status quo, and which thus possess what we call disruptive agency. In this paper, we highlight the epistemic dimension of disruptive agency in soc ..read more

by Ademola A. Adenle, Hans De Steur, Caroline Mwongera, Fay Rola-Rubzen, Marcia Dutra de Barcellos, David F. Vivanco, Govinda R. Timilsina, Cristina Possas, Robyn Alders, Marian Chertow, Simon Poon, Bob Scholes ..read more

by Simon Nampindo, Timothy O. Randhir Elephants in Africa are declining rapidly due to habitat loss and human-wildlife conflicts, with these problems worsening with climate change. Understanding how age classes respond to such events is crucial to designing and implementing mitigation strategies and developing the adaptive capacity of wildlife managers to respond to these challenges adequately. This study builds a dynamic simulation model of the age classes of elephants and their interaction with habitat, water, and climate. The dynamic response of elephant populations to habitat change, water ..read more