Humanity’s growing consumption of natural resources has raised an alarm for the whole world, because the consequences will be devastating for the future of human beings. To resolve this issue, both short-term
The notorious “grow now and clean up later” development paradigm (Stockhammer et al., 1997) has led to an increasing degradation of natural resources and ecological systems, resulting in huge and often irreversible losses in terms of natural capital, biodiversity and ecosystem services. The econo...
and domination. And for this critical tradition, the notion of natural resources is problematic. The distinctions and differentiations enabled by the category ‘resources’ – between productive, valued assets, and unproductive ‘wastes,’ for example – play a key role in the organization of ...
Growing concerns over limited fossil resources and associated environmental problems are motivating the development of sustainable processes for the production of chemicals, fuels and materials from renewable resources. Metabolic engineering is a key enabling technology for transforming microorganisms into efficie...
The record-breaking 2023 wildfire season in Canada ( ~ 15 Mha burned) was enabled by early snowmelt, drought, and extreme weather. It had profound impacts that included evacuation of >200 communities, millions exposed to hazardous smoke, and a strain on fire-fighting resources. ...
Today it is necessary to develop and implement the concept of responsible consumption in people's economic activities, which enables to take care of the world's natural resources and to exclude the possibility of an environmental catastrophe associated with the "littering" of their habitat....
environmental and climate monitoring; assessing the impacts of climate change; supporting ecological research; carbon management; water resources management; city planning; hazard mitigation; damage and loss assessment; emergency response.Satellite imagery, used in tandem with existing modeling capabilities, ...
Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more. Subscribe Although deaths from natural disasters have decreased overall, people in lower-income countries often suffer disproportionately, because these locations have fewer resources and thus greater vulnerability to the elements and tofood insecurity. In...
sustainable management of land resources; • maintaining and enhancing water assets; • protecting and enhancing the marine and coastal environment; • conserving and recovering biodiversity; • enhancing skills, capacity, and engagement; • delivering high-quality planning that leads to effective...
Biomimetics on the other hand, seeks ideas from Nature and then applies them to a problem. For example, the origins of Velcro are famously associated with this way of discovery and application. It is in the solution to difficult and seemingly intractable problems that a building technologist will...