COVID-19 pandemic lessons to facilitate future engagement in the global climate crisis

Biochar addition under straw return reduces carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions in acidic tea field soil

Straw return and biochar application are prevalent agricultural practices that bolster soil health, enhancing crop yields. However, their synergistic effects on carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in the acidic tea field soil at different age stages have not been fully elucidated. Herein, tea field soil with 5 and 15 years planting (5a and 15a, respectively) were individually incubated in five distinct indoor experiments: control, soil with urea (N), soil with urea and biochar (N + C), soil with urea and straw (N + S), and soil with urea, biochar, and straw (N + C + S). The results demonstrated that the pH values under 15a (4.1-5.6) were significantly lower than those under 5a (5.8-7.3), and both straw and biochar addition effectively improved soil acidification. Straw or biochar addition alone acted as carbon sources, leading to heightened N2O and CO2 emissions. N + S increased N2O emissions (3.17 and 5.85-fold) and CO2 cumulative emissions (6.43 and 2.33-fold) under 5a and 15a compared with the control. Relative to N treatment, biochar addition alone increased CO2 emission (1.22 and 1.35-fold) under 5a and 15a, and increased N2O emissions by 14.73% under 5a, decreased N2O emissions by 74.65% under 15a. However, the combined application of straw and biochar reduced N2O (49.4%,17.58%) and CO2 emissions (57.83% and 33.60%) due to stimulating biochar adsorption, respectively, compared with N + S treatment under 5a and 15a. Therefore, biochar and straw addition together can effectively increase soil fertilizer and inhibit greenhouse gas emissions, this study provides an insightful way and effective option for improving acid soil and protecting high soil health with a low greenhouse gas emission intensity.

Anthropause appreciation, biophilia, and ecophilosophical contemplations amidst a global pandemic

In 2020, COVID-19 mitigation measures, including lockdowns and travel bans to curtail disease transmission, inadvertently led to an "Anthropause" - a unique global pause to anthropogenic activities. While there was a spike in ecological studies measuring Anthropause effects on environmental indicators, people's experiences of the Anthropause or its potential to inspire change were hardly considered. Hence, we aimed to measure people's appreciation of the environmental outcomes of the Anthropause, ecophilosophical contemplations about the pandemic, and experiences of lockdown-triggered biophilia (human's innate love for and draw towards nature) and test the hypothesis that these experiences would be consistently more prominent among the already environmentally inclined. To that end, we developed and tested three measures on a representative sample of 993 New Zealanders. Anthropause Appreciation received the highest overall mean ratings, followed by Lockdown-Biophilia and Eco-Contemplation. Pre-existing pro-environmental dispositions and behaviours did not consistently influence our three measures as expected. Demographic variables had little influence, while experiences of financial and mental health impacts due to COVID-19 had no influence. We interpreted the limited influence of explanatory variables as indicative of a degree of uniformity in people's experiences. High appreciation of Anthropause benefits suggests that the public may be supportive of policies and ways of living that can lead to similar outcomes post-pandemic - offering environmental policymakers and communicators a basis for action. Ecophilosophical contemplations and biophilic draw among the public suggest an awareness of the significance of the human-nature relationship - offering a symbolic global keystone for communicating and advocating conservation and the many values of pauses in life to connect with nature. Building women's environmental leadership capabilities and the ongoing greening of Christianity may be essential steps for global post-pandemic environmental behaviour transformations.

COVID-19 and sustainable development goals: A bibliometric analysis and SWOT analysis in Malaysian context

The COVID-19 crisis has been a core threat to the lives of billions of individuals over the world. The COVID-19 crisis has influenced governments' aims to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); leading to exceptional conditions of fragility, poverty, job loss, and hunger all over the world. This study aims to investigate the current studies that concentrate on the COVID-19 crisis and its implications on SDGs using a bibliometric analysis approach. The study also deployed the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) approach to perform a systematic analysis of the SDGs, with an emphasis on the COVID-19 crisis impact on Malaysia. The results of the study indicated the unprecedented obstacles faced by countries to meet the UN's SDGs in terms of implementation, coordination, trade-off decisions, and regional issues. The study also stressed the impact of COVID-19 on the implementation of the SDGs focusing on the income, education, and health aspects. The outcomes highlighted the emerging opportunities of the crisis that include an improvement in the health sector, the adoption of online modes in education, the swift digital transformation, and the global focus on environmental issues. Our study demonstrated that, in the post-crisis time, the ratio of citizens in poverty could grow up more than the current national stated values. We stressed the need to design an international agreement to reconsider the implementation of SDGs, among which, are strategic schemes to identify vital and appropriate policies.

Covid, climate and comparison: A possibility for predictive analogy

This article explores how public responses to the Covid-19 pandemic could potentially help us understand the responses to the climate crisis and its environmental catastrophes. Public responses to the pandemic, in turn, also potentially help us understand the responses to the climate crisis and its environmental catastrophes. How do these compare through our epistemological lenses? Can the various Covid-19 responses function as a projection of future responses to the destabilizing climate change we are beginning to experience? Outlined are two broad conceptual overlaps: risk and epistemic dissensus. Could this become the basis of a predictive analogy to help inform anthropological research into future dimensions of climate change?

Climate change and COVID-19: Interdisciplinary perspectives from two global crises

The repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change - two major current global crises - are far-reaching, the parallels between the two are striking, and their influence on one another are significant. Based on the wealth of evidence that has emerged from the scientific literature during the first two years of the pandemic, this study argues that these two global crises require holistic multisectoral mitigation strategies. Despite being different in nature, neither crisis can be effectively mitigated without considering their interdependencies. Herein, significant interactions between these two crises are highlighted and discussed. Major implications related to the economy, energy, technology, environment, food systems and agriculture sector, health systems, policy, management, and communities are detailed via a review of existing joint literature. Based on these outcomes, practical recommendations for future research and management are provided. While the joint timing of these crises has created a global conundrum, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated opportunities and lessons for devising sustainable recovery plans in relation to the climate crisis. The findings indicated that governments should work collaboratively to develop durable and adjustable strategies in line with long-term, global decarbonisation targets, promote renewable energy resources, integrate climate change into environmental policies, prioritise climate-smart agriculture and local food systems, and ensure public and ecosystem health. Further, differences in geographic distributions of climate change and COVID-19 related death cases revealed that these crises pose different threats to different parts of the world. These learnings provide insights to address the climate emergency - and potential future global problems with similar characteristics - if international countries act urgently and collectively.

Review: Climate change resilience disconnect in rural communities in coastal Kenya. A rhetoric communication discord proliferated by COVID-19 pandemic

The world has been hit by consequential pandemics in the past two millennia. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken center stage, paralyzing vulnerable communities in the global south impacted by unprecedented climate vagaries. The focus of this study is COVID-19 and climate resilience communication rhetoric. In this context, we embed this study in response to the resilience of rural livelihoods to the COVID-19 crisis and climate resilience education communication rhetoric. We posit our review based on the following questions: Has COVID-19 worsened the climate resilience pathway for rural communities in coastal Kenya? Is the COVID-19 pandemic a proxy for climate resilience in rural livelihoods? How does COVID-19 communication rhetoric undermine climate resilience for vulnerable coastal communities in Kenya? Through a resilient theoretical paradigm, we enclose our view based on the existing literature along with climate resilience and COVID-19 proliferation. In light of the current state of COVID-19, the focus has shifted to the pandemic that will cover climate resilience. From the review, climate resilience pathway has been impacted by corona virus with noted funding response variations, in addition, even with the corona virus pandemic, climate resilience communication should be on-going rather than sporadic. Increasing the discursive process about climate change challenges is critical among Kenyan coastal communities. We recommend inclusion of climate resilience communication in existing policy frameworks as a salient solution to notable information discourse bottlenecks.

Public trust and mistrust of climate science: A meta-narrative review

This systematic meta-narrative literature review aims to explore the narratives of trust evident in literature on public (mis)trust relating to climate science published up until May 2021, and to present the main findings from these papers. We identified six narratives of trust: attitudinal trust, cognitive trust, affective trust, contingencies of trust, contextual trust and communicated trust. The papers' main findings spanned theoretical conclusions on the importance of positionality to trust and morality to trustworthiness, to qualitative findings that the scientific community was mainly trusted, to quantitative findings that explored how trust functioned as an independent, dependent or mediating variable. This literature review sheds important light on the interrelationship between climate science and publics, highlights areas for further research, and in its characterisation of trust narratives provides a language for conceptualising trust that can further interdisciplinary engagement.

Environmental impact of COVID-19 Vaccine waste: A perspective on potential role of natural and biodegradable materials

The mass immunization is the prioritised post-pandemic phase offering preventive countermeasure for COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is crucial to tackle the environmental impact of COVID-19 vaccine waste for sustainable vaccination management because a prolonged immunisation campaign is expected. As the pace of vaccine production, distribution and mass vaccination has been expedited, there is a simultaneous rise in plastic derived vaccine waste including syringes, needles, used/unused vaccine vials, vaccine packaging, and protective gear (surgical facemasks, gloves, face shields, etc). Henceforth, in view of the repercussions of heaping plastic waste in the environment, this article provides a perspective on the usage of synthetic and natural materials as potential substituents for vaccination tools. The biodegradable polymeric gums such as cellulose, gellan, pectin, etc. have been successfully applied for the fabrication of surgical facemasks. The highly suggestive practice is replacement of conventional polypropylene based plastics with bioplastics or paper for vaccine packaging. The usage of biodegradable bio-plastics as packaging material along with environmentally friendly face masks can help to achieve the zero waste approach. The discussion in the article significantly highlights the necessity of opting sustainable solutions of disinfecting and substituting vaccination tools for an environment friendly ongoing vaccination campaign.

Sustainable Development Goals in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Narrative Review

The present narrative review aimed to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sustainable development goals (SDGS). This information would allow a better comprehension of the actual state of the SDGS and a more efficient programming in future interventions. To achieve the objective of the study, a consensual and critical review was carried out using both primary sources, such as scientific articles, and secondary sources, such as bibliographic indexes, web pages and databases. The Sustainable Development Goals are a global call to action to end poverty, close the gender gap, protect the planet, and improve the lives of people around the world. In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted 17 goals as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which sets out a plan to achieve the goals in 15 years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has been a turning point in the achievement of these goals, due to all its consequences at the political, economic, and socio-cultural levels. This review can be used as a guide for future research and reviews in order to understand the status of each of the SDGs and what actions have been taken and proposed in the aftermath of the pandemic in recent years.

The practicality and prospects for disinfection control by photocatalysis during and post-pandemic: A critical review

The prevalence of global health implications from the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates the innovation and large-scale application of disinfection technologies for contaminated surfaces, air, and wastewater as the significant transmission media of disease. To date, primarily recommended disinfection practices are energy exhausting, chemical driven, and cause severe impact on the environment. The research on advanced oxidation processes has been recognized as promising strategies for disinfection purposes. In particular, semiconductor-based photocatalysis is an effective renewable solar-driven technology that relies on the reactive oxidative species, mainly hydroxyl (•OH) and superoxide (•O2-) radicals, for rupturing the capsid shell of the virus and loss of pathogenicity. However, the limited understanding of critical aspects such as viral photo-inactivation mechanism, rapid virus mutagenicity, and virus viability for a prolonged time restricts the large-scale application of photocatalytic disinfection technology. In this work, fundamentals of photocatalysis disinfection phenomena are addressed with a reviewed remark on the reported literature of semiconductor photocatalysts efficacies against SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, to validate the photocatalysis process on an industrial scale, we provide updated data on available commercial modalities for an effective virus photo-inactivation process. An elaborative discussion on the long-term challenges and sustainable solutions is suggested to fill in the existing knowledge gaps. We anticipate this review will ignite interest among researchers to pave the way to the photocatalysis process for disinfecting virus-contaminated environments and surfaces for current and future pandemics.

Social movement organizing and the politics of emotion from HIV to Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has seen the rapid growth of collective organizing on the part of patient groups to address scientific and health inequities. This paper considers the emergence of Covid-19 activism as an embodied health movement that draws on and contributes to broader movements for racial, economic and gender justice. Recognizing the central role of emotion in social movements and in the bio-politics of Covid-19, I examine the key presence of the affective domain in social change through three Covid-19 social movement groups. These organizations draw upon anti-racist, feminist, and queer and HIV social movement organizing that position Covid movement building in intersectional histories and futures. I argue that Covid movement activists have built "archives of feeling"-or public cultures of trauma-of commemoration, Covid survivor narratives, and direct action that center affective feelings around grief, representation, and anger, respectively. I suggest that Covid-19 will become a key lens for articulating structural and social inequalities through which broader social movements will leverage their claims for justice-moving towards an integrated social movement. Social movement mobilizing will continue to play a critical role to ensure that the focus in the Covid-19 pandemic shifts from pathogen to society.

From the COVID-19 pandemic to corrupt practices: a tale of two evils

Emergencies and corruption go hand in hand in times of crisis. We are currently living in a pandemic phase, and corruption is even more damaging during these times of crisis that the world is experiencing with COVID-19. Vaccination is the only survival option that we have. The development of a nation will soon be measured by the criteria of who owns more vaccines. This study has four objectives. The first is to explore the most recent relevant literature. Moreover, we also investigate the unique trilogy of corruption, the environment, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The second is to identify adequate channels for distributing the COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccines should be dispersed based on the categories of age, gender, ethnicity, profession, and health conditions. Third, we explored the factors that are causing corruption in the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines. Our findings show that unequal distribution, theft and black markets, weaponization of vaccines, logistical challenges, and substandard and falsified vaccines are the factors that potentially lead to corruption. The fourth objective is to investigate solutions for mitigating corruption. We revealed that blockchain, awareness, well-planned distribution channels, and prioritization of vulnerable groups are the steps that could effectively reduce corruption.

Early evidence of leadership skills and strategies in managing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in the hospitality industry

Purpose

Given the critical consequences of the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis worldwide, displaying good leadership has been of utmost importance. Hospitality has been among the industries that have been hit the hardest by the pandemic, and it requires exceptional leadership skills unique to this crisis and sector. This multi-country study aims to contribute to the understanding of some of the most important skills and strategies that leaders in the hospitality industry may use to navigate the COVID-19 crisis effectively.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper employs a qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with managers of international hospitality groups or local hotel chains in seven different countries.

Findings

The results show that positive thinking, decision-making, flexibility, divergent thinking, trust-building and communication skills have a positive impact on leadership effectiveness in the hospitality sector during the pandemic. Besides, saving payroll costs, elaborating contingency plans and leveraging from partners' strengths are highlighted as crucial strategies.

Practical implications

This paper provides hospitality professionals across borders preliminary insights and recommendations to manage the COVID-19 crisis.

Originality/value

Especially being one of the sectors that have been hit the hardest by the COVID-19 crisis worldwide, the dynamics and leadership requirements of the hospitality sector need further attention. The findings contribute to the literature by illustrating how managers have navigated the initial stages of the crisis in the under-researched hotel sector, and also by gathering evidence about the sector dynamics related to the early stages of this crisis.

Effects of white-rot fungal pretreatment of corn straw return on greenhouse gas emissions from the North China Plain soil

Straw-return with fungal treatment is a potential method for reducing soil greenhouse gas emissions through carbon (C) sequestration and N₂O mitigation. However, there is little information on the effects of different fungal treatments of crop straw return on soil CO₂ and N₂O emissions. To explore to what extent decomposed corn straw and its components controls soil CO₂ and N₂O emissions, we set up three sequential incubation experiments using soil collected from the North China Plain, an intensive agricultural area. Interactions between the different C contents of corn straw (CS), CS pretreated with Irpex lacteus (ICS), CS pretreated with Phanerochaete chrysosporium (PCS) and different NO₃^--N concentrations on the effect of soil CO₂ and N₂O emissions were conducted, and the kinetics of CO₂ and N₂O as influenced by changes in soil biochemical factors were analyzed. The effects of different lignocellulose components (lignin, cellulose, and xylan) on soil CO₂ and N₂O emissions were further studied. The results showed that straw pretreatment did not affect CO₂ emissions. Both CO₂ and N₂O emissions increased when the C and N contents increased. However, applying PCS to 70% water-filled pore space soil effectively decreased the soil N₂O emissions, by 41.8%-76.3% compared with adding the same level of CS. Moreover, extracellular enzyme activities related to C and N cycling were triggered, and the nosZI and nosZII abundances were significantly stimulated by the PCS application. These effects are closely related to the initial soluble C content of this treatment. Furthermore, adding xylan can significantly reduce N₂O emissions. Overall, our data suggest that the environmentally beneficial effects of returning straw can be greatly enhanced by applying the straw-degrading white-rot fungi of P. chrysosporium in the North China Plain soil. Future studies are needed in the field to upscale this technology.

Office buildings occupancy analysis and prediction associated with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Buildings' occupancy is one of the important factors causing the energy performance and sustainability gap in buildings. Better occupancy prediction decreases this gap both in the design stage and in the use phase of the building. Machine learning-based models proved to be very accurate and fast for occupancy prediction when buildings are exploited under normal conditions. Meanwhile, during the Covid-19 pandemic occupancy of the offices has dramatically changed. The study presents 2 office buildings' long-term monitoring results for different periods of the pandemic. It aims to analyse actual occupancies during the pandemic and its influence on the ELM (Extreme Learning Machine) based occupancy-forecasting models' reliability. The results show much lower actual occupancies in the offices than given in standards and methodologies; it is still low even when quarantines are cancelled. Average peak occupancy within the whole measured period is: for Building A - 12-20% and for Building B - 2-23%. The daily occupancy schedules differ for both offices as they belong to different industries. ELM-SA model has shown low accuracies during pandemic periods as a result of lower occupancies - R2 = 0.27-0.56.

Spatial Analysis of Environmental Impacts Linked to Changes in Urban Mobility Patterns during COVID-19: Lessons Learned from the Cartagena Case Study

The impact of the pandemic caused by COVID-19 on urban pollution in our cities is a proven fact, although its mechanisms are not known in great detail. The change in urban mobility patterns due to the restrictions imposed on the population during lockdown is a phenomenon that can be parameterized and studied from the perspective of spatial analysis. This study proposes an analysis of the guiding parameters of these changes from the perspective of spatial analysis. To do so, the case study of the city of Cartagena, a medium-sized city in Spain, has been analyzed throughout the period of mobility restrictions due to COVID-19. By means of a geostatistical analysis, changes in urban mobility patterns and the modal distribution of transport have been correlated with the evolution of environmental air quality indicators in the city. The results show that despite the positive effect of the pandemic in its beginnings on the environmental impact of urban mobility, the changes generated in the behavior patterns of current mobility users favor the most polluting modes of travel in cities.

Public concerns and burdens associated with face mask-wearing: Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic

This study attempts to identify and categorize the key concerns of wearing masks. An online survey was used to collect data from 2746 people in the United States. Results show that the mask-wearing concerns can be classified into three categories; discomfort barriers (physical discomfort and communication discomfort), external factors (overstated news about coronavirus threat, political beliefs, and absence of mask-wearing culture), and usability issues (lack of effectiveness, unnecessariness of masks in certain cases, and mask maintenance issues). The findings demonstrate that all mentioned concerns strongly shape people's attitudes toward wearing masks, except for political beliefs and lack of effectiveness.

Photocatalytic Inactivation of Viruses Using Graphitic Carbon Nitride-Based Photocatalysts: Virucidal Performance and Mechanism

The prevalence of lethal viral infections necessitates the innovation of novel disinfection techniques for contaminated surfaces, air, and wastewater as significant transmission media of disease. The instigated research has led to the development of photocatalysis as an effective renewable solar-driven technology relying on the reactive oxidative species, mainly hydroxyl (OH●) and superoxide (O2●−) radicals, for rupturing the capsid shell of the virus and loss of pathogenicity. Metal-free graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), which possesses a visible light active bandgap structure, low toxicity, and high thermal stability, has recently attracted attention for viral inactivation. In addition, g-C3N4-based photocatalysts have also experienced a renaissance in many domains, including environment, energy conversion, and biomedical applications. Herein, we discuss the three aspects of the antiviral mechanism, intending to highlight the advantages of photocatalysis over traditional viral disinfection techniques. The sole agenda of the review is to summarize the significant research on g-C3N4-based photocatalysts for viral inactivation by reactive oxidative species generation. An evaluation of the photocatalysis operational parameters affecting viral inactivation kinetics is presented. An overview of the prevailing challenges and sustainable solutions is presented to fill in the existing knowledge gaps. Given the merits of graphitic carbon nitride and the heterogeneous photocatalytic viral inactivation mechanism, we hope that further research will contribute to preventing the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and future calamities.

Organizational Learning Capacity and Sustainability Challenges in Times of Crisis: A Study on Tourism SMEs in Galicia (Spain)

The COVID-19 crisis has encouraged a major shift towards greater environmental awareness and sustainable consumption. However, in times of severe crisis, SMEs primarily look to return to normalcy and their own survival rather than implementing a sustainable agenda. This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the learning problems faced by small tourism enterprises in a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper explores the learning capacity of SMEs and the importance of establishing mechanisms that provide SMEs with the keys to organizational learning as a source of continuous knowledge. Open-ended semi-structured interviews with 39 tourism SMEs managers in Galicia (Spain) were conducted during the toughest months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that SMEs have not been fully involved in the learning process, which is mainly related to knowledge transfer and integration. DMOs can act as promoters of knowledge management for organizational preparedness by providing SMEs with learning mechanisms and strategies to go beyond simple problem solving when they arise.

Climate change and their impacts in the Balearic Islands: a guide for policy design in Mediterranean regions

Understanding the local effects of global warming-derived impacts is important to island systems due to their fragile environmental conditions. This is especially true when it comes to Mediterranean insular regions as they are climate change (CC) hotspots where adaptation and mitigation policy design is an urgent matter. Looking at 2030 as a time horizon for climate action and focusing on the Balearic Islands, this paper reviews the physical changes projected for the coming decades as a result of CC and analyses their impacts on regional environmental, economic and social variables. Mitigation and adaptation measures are also proposed based on the identified priority impacts. The fact the Balearics are a top world holiday destination allows the analysis to serve as a guide to other Mediterranean islands with tourism-based economies facing similar CC scenarios. Results show the projected rise of temperature and sea level; the reduction of the average precipitation and increase in evapotranspiration, the droughts and the increase in ocean acidification and deoxygenation are the main threats faced by the Balearics, this putting their economy at risk due to the high tourism's vulnerability to CC. Mitigation and adaptation action on terrestrial and marine ecosystems, water resources, energy, infrastructure and urban planning, human health, economy, law and education is recommended. Sustainable mobility and waste managing are also viewed as important fields for mitigation action. Conclusions show that diversifying the current socioeconomic model is needed to increase the community and territory resilience.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10113-021-01810-1.

Climate change during the COVID-19 outbreak: scoping future perspectives

Neither war nor recession or any kind of prior disaster has been considered a prelude to the looming threat of climate change over the past era as coronavirus (hereafter COVID-19) has in only a few months. Although numerous studies have already been published on this topic, there has not been compelling evidence critically assessing the impact of COVID-19 by and on climate change. The present study fills this gap by taking a more holistic approach to elaborate factors, e.g., natural and anthropogenic factors, ocean submesoscales, radiative forces, and greenhouse gas/CO₂ emissions, that may affect climate change in a more prevalent and pronounced manner. Based on the statistical data collected from the NASA Earth Observatory, the European Space Agency, and the Global Carbon Project, the findings of this study reveal that the climate/environment has improved during COVID-19, including better environmental quality and water quality with low carbon emissions and sound pollution. In the lockdown during the epidemic, the emissions of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) significantly decreased because of the lower usage of transportation, decreased electricity demand, and halted industrial activities. The policy implications of this study suggested that keeping the climate healthy even in the post-COVID-19 era is a serious concern that needs to be addressed by investing in clean and green projects, ensuring green energy evolution, dealing with a large volume of medical waste, building health-ensuring and livable societies, and halting the funding of pollution. For governmental and regulatory bodies, these factors will provide a strong foundation to build safer, healthier, and environmentally friendly societies for generations to come.

Social Relations and Everyday Consumption Rituals: Barriers or Prerequisites for Sustainability Transformation?

Macro-institutional structures and consumerist culture force and urge people to reproduce unsustainable levels of consumption. A crucial role for sociology, the article argues, is to address theoretically and empirically the intersection between social relations and (over)consumption. The purpose with this article is to address how social relations are involved in both reproducing and challenging consumer culture. This is done by emphasizing the intersection of consumer culture and socially integrating everyday rituals and drawing on literature on both voluntary and involuntary (the pandemic) disruption of consumer practices. The Covid-19 pandemic brings unexpected opportunities to highlight this intersection, as the pandemic offers a window of opportunity for lifestyle change. The review shows there are important lessons about both challenges and opportunities, gained from both voluntary and involuntary disruption of consumer practices.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on socio-economic, energy-environment and transport sector globally and sustainable development goal (SDG)

The United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) want to have a peaceful world where human life will be in a safe, healthy, sustainable environment without any inequalities. However, the year 2020 experienced a global pandemic due to COVID-19. This COVID-19 created an adverse impact on human life, economic, environment, and energy and transport sector compared to the pre-COVID-19 scenario. These above-mentioned sectors are interrelated and thus lockdown strategy and stay at home rules to reduce the COVID-19 transmission had a drastic effect on them. With lockdown, all industry and transport sectors were closed, energy demand reduced greatly but the time shift of energy demand had a critical impact on grid and energy generation. Decreased energy demand caused a silver lining with an improved environment. However, drowned economy creating a negative impact on the human mind and financial condition, which at times led to life-ending decisions. Transport sector which faced a financial dip last year trying to coming out from the losses which are not feasible without government aid and a new customer-friendly policy. Sustainable transport and the electric vehicle should take high gear. While people are staying at home or using work from home scheme, building indoor environment must specially be taken care of as a compromised indoor environment affects and increases the risk of many diseases. Also, the energy-efficient building will play a key role to abate the enhanced building energy demand and more generation from renewable sources should be in priority. It is still too early to predict any forecast about the regain period of all those sectors but with vaccination now being introduced and implemented but still, it can be considered as an ongoing process as its final results are yet to be seen. As of now, COVID-19 still continue to grow in certain areas causing anxiety and destruction. With all these causes, effects, and restoration plans, still SDGs will be suffered in great order to attain their target by 2030 and collaborative support from all countries can only help in this time.

Appraising the impact of air transport on the environment: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

The spread of the COVID-19 disease caused by the respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection has resulted in unpredicted measures restricting daily flights. Although passenger demand for travel has considerably reduced, the pre-existing impacts of gases generated by aeroplane engines on the environment are still substantial. This paper uses a modelling-based scenario analysis to assess the restriction policies relating to air transport in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia during and after the pandemic and their effects on the environment. The simulation results highlight the need to reduce the negative environmental impact produced by the aviation sector and suggest that policymakers should try to focus on creating ways to reduce the impact made by the aviation industry on the environment, through a coordinated environmental policy between countries, including the three that are the subject of the present case study in order to highlight these issues.

Challenges, Strategies, and Recommendations for the Huge Surge in Plastic and Medical Waste during the Global COVID-19 Pandemic with Circular Economy Approach

After December 2019, the globe was affected by a new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes severe respiratory illnesses, which is responsible for increasing environmental problem consequences related to the extra consumption of medical waste and single-use plastics (such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and packaging plastics). Although the consumption of these plastics protects our life during this crisis, it is pivotal to move toward plastic recycling processes and environmentally friendly and sustainable alternatives, like bio-based degradable plastics with a circular economy perspective. This review article collected scattered information and provided a future perspective on how worldwide COVID-19 disruption can perform as a catalyst to improve plastic and medical waste management. Additionally, this paper illustrates the most effective disinfection technologies for COVID-19 wastes, such as high/low heat technologies and chemical disinfection, and PPE reusing processes, including dry heat, vaporized hydrogen peroxide, ozone, and UV light during the outbreak. In this vein, medical waste treatment facilities must be more automatic, with a minimum of personnel involved. Moreover, some recent valid guidelines from different international organizations and countries, future outlook, and practical recommendations that could be effective during this epidemic or even in the post-pandemic world for plastic and medical waste management were provided. Ultimately, governments should improve their waste management because of the potential of pathogen transmission or increased plastic and medical waste generation and try to enhance the environmental knowledge of society. People also should revise their viewpoints on plastic consumption by elevating sustainable behaviors, abandoning old habits, and adjusting to novel ones.

Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to Examine Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Moderating Effect of COVID-19 Beliefs

The COVID-19 pandemic and climate change issues present evident interdependencies which justify the spread of connected beliefs. We examine possible changes in individuals’ pro-environmental behavior in light of this pandemic, using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework. A questionnaire survey was submitted to the same sample of individuals, before and during the pandemic. Our evidence, based on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has not led to a weakening in TPB construct relationships, or in related Pro-Environmental Behavior (PEB). Conversely, through our Partial Least Squares-Multi-Group Analysis (PLS-MGA), we show that individuals with greater awareness of interdependencies between the COVID-19 and climate change exhibit both higher Intention and reinforced Pro-Environmental Behaviors. This finding reveals interesting policy implications in terms of innovative behavioral drivers that should be employed to steer public support towards climate-oriented initiatives.