Green washing: Do you know what you're buying?

Microalgae-based sunscreens as green and sustainable cosmetic products

Recently, microalgal biotechnology has attained great acceptance among various researchers and industries for the green and sustainable production of different bioactive compounds. They provide multiple metabolites and molecules, making them an ideal candidate for cosmetic formulators and cosmeceutical companies. Nevertheless, numerous microalgae strains have never been studied for their pharmaceutical, nutritional and cosmeceutical purposes. Even less, only some have been cultivated on a large scale for bioactive compound production. Here, we have studied the cosmetic and cosmeceutical potentials of different microalgal strains for sunscreen as adjuvants and boosters in a green, carbon-neutral and sustainable platform. Other bioactive compounds were exploited, and the available products in the market and the published patents were also reviewed. From our review, it will be possible to combine the fundamental and practical aspects of microalgal biotechnology toward a greener and more sustainable future for the cosmetic/cosmeceutical areas of the photoprotection scenario.

A Systems Innovation Perspective on Implementation and Sustainment Barriers for Healthy Food Store Interventions: A Reflexive Monitoring in Action Study in Dutch Supermarkets

BACKGROUND

Healthy food store interventions (HFIs) are an important health-promotion tool, but face implementation and sustainment barriers. This paper aims to explore the underlying factors that produce these barriers using an innovative systems innovation perspective, through the case study of a multi-component HFI. The HFI was implemented in a minor, national, cooperative supermarket chain, in the Netherlands, a competitive market where price-based competition is the norm.

METHODS

The HFI was implemented for 6-12 months, in six stores. It was implemented by the researchers, and maintained by store employees. The study applied a Reflexive Monitoring in Action (RMA) approach, meaning that the researchers monitored stores' adherence to the HFI, via store visits, to identify potential issues. Subsequently, the researchers interviewed the store managers responsible for the intervention, to have them reflect upon the barriers leading to these adherence issues, underlying systemic factors, and potential solutions. The stores implemented these solutions, and during the next monitoring visit the researchers evaluated whether the barrier had been resolved.

RESULTS

We found that the HFI often clashed with regular activities of the stores (eg, competing over the same spaces) and that store managers generally prioritized these regular activities. This prioritization was based on the greater commercial value of those regular activities (eg, selling unhealthy products) according to store managers, based on their beliefs and assumptions about commerce, health, and consumer preferences. Due to the limited resources of supermarkets (eg, people, time, space), and the HFI often not fitting within the existing structures of the stores as easily as traditional practices, store managers often neglected the HFI components in favor of regular store activities.

CONCLUSION

Our findings illustrate the systemic factors that produce implementation barriers for HFIs, and the dynamics by which this production occurs. These insights help future researchers to anticipate and respond to such barriers.

Pedagogical Orientations and Evolving Responsibilities of Technological Universities: A Literature Review of the History of Engineering Education

Current societal changes and challenges demand a broader role of technological universities, thus opening the question of how their role evolved over time and how to frame their current responsibility. In response to urgent calls for debating and redefining the identity of contemporary technological universities, this paper has two aims. The first aim is to identify the key characteristics and orientations marking the development of technological universities, as recorded in the history of engineering education. The second aim is to articulate the responsibility of contemporary technological universities given their different orientations and characteristics. For this, we first provide a non-systematic literature review of the key pedagogical orientations of technological universities, grounded in the history of engineering education. The five major orientations of technological universities presented in the paper are technical, economic, social, political, and ecological. We then use this historical survey to articulate the responsibilities of contemporary technological universities reflecting the different orientations. Technological universities can promote and foster the development of scientific, professional, civic, legal, or intra- and inter- generational responsibility. We argue that responsibility is not specific to any particular orientation, such that the concept is broadened to complement each orientation or mix of orientations of a technological university. Our contribution thus serves as a call for technological universities to self-reflect on their mission and identity, by offering a lens for identifying the orientations they currently foster and making explicit the responsibility arising from their current orientation or the ones they strive to cultivate.

Trading wood for water and carbon in peatland forests? Rewetting is worth more than wood production

While traditional forest management systems aim at maximizing timber production, sustainable forest management focuses on the multiple benefits of entire forest landscapes. The latter is now at the top of policy agendas. This calls for learning through evaluation to support the implementation of policies aiming towards multi-functional forest landscapes. The aim of this study is to quantify the economic trade-offs among natural, current, and re-wetted peatland forests using seven indicators, viz. drainage maintenance, rewetting, water retention, wood production, and three types of carbon sequestration as economic indicators. We discuss ways to adapt to and mitigate effect of forest draining on climate change toward securing multi-functional forest landscapes. The cost benefit analysis showed that in a potential natural state, Lithuania's peatland forests would deliver an economic benefit of ∼€176.1 million annually. In contrast, compared to natural peatland forests, the drainage of peatland forests for wood production has caused a loss of ∼€309 million annually. In comparison, peatland forest rewetting is estimated to increase the economic value by ∼€170 million annually. This study shows that satisfying different ecosystem services is a balancing act, and that a focus on wood production has resulted in net losses when foregone values of water storage and carbon sequestration are considered. Valuation of different sets of ecosystems service benefits and disservices must be assessed, and can be used as a tool towards creating, implementing and monitoring consequences of policies on both sustainability and biodiversity.

Exploring the potential of blockchain technology within the fashion and textile supply chain with a focus on traceability, transparency, and product authenticity: A systematic review

Blockchain Technology has shown tremendous potential to be a foundation for the currently shifting paradigm towards more traceable and transparent supply chains. This review highlights the opportunities that exist in adapting Blockchain Technology in the fashion and textile supply chain, while also providing insight into the challenges of adopting this technology. This paper provides a systematic review of the potential of Blockchain Technology within the fashion and textile industry’s supply chain to analyse its role in traceability, transparency, and product authenticity. To achieve this, a substantive number of research papers and non-scholarly resources have been scrutinised. An emphasis was placed on topics regarding Blockchain Technology (BT), the fashion and textile industry and supply chain (manufacturing and distribution), traceability, transparency, and product authenticity. The selected research papers range from empirical analysis, argumentative, case studies, opinion articles, review articles, short reports, and book chapters.

Greenwashing and Bluewashing in Black Friday-Related Sustainable Fashion Marketing on Instagram

Growing awareness of the fashion industry’s negative impact on people and the environment has led to considerable growth of the sustainable fashion market. At the same time, Black Friday purchases increase annually as the sales event develops into a global phenomenon. As sustainable fashion brands are choosing to participate in the event, many communicate their offers via the social media platform Instagram. To gain a competitive advantage and maintain their sustainable corporate images, some brands use greenwashing and/or bluewashing strategies. The first part of this study explores which strategies were employed in Instagram content posted by sustainable brands, using quantitative and qualitative content analysis. We propose a research-based model of nine greenwashing/bluewashing strategies. The second part of the study examines predictive factors for consumer evaluations of Black Friday ads by sustainable brands, using an online survey and a stepwise multiple regression analysis. Findings show that consumers’ critical attitude towards Black Friday and high ad skepticism predict positive evaluations while sustainable purchase behavior predicts negative evaluations. These insights suggest that ‘sustainable’ Black Friday campaigns may appeal to consumers who show a general concern for the environment and issues of social sustainability, but not to those who exhibit actual sustainable behavior.

The physics of conservation culturomics: the mass-energy-information equivalence principle to address misrepresented controversies

The application of the mass-energy-information equivalence principle developed after the experimentally demonstrated Landauer's principle on thermodynamics, entropy, and information is an unexplored but promising path in search of objectivity and compatibility between strict physical and mathematical entities and relative human behavior in biodiversity conservation issues. Conservation culturomics is proposed as the epistemic methodology and programme to trace the evolution in cultural human-nature relationships. Historically, controversies do persist between pro- vs. non- environmental opinions and policies. The proposed combination of physics and culturomics is feasible, although complex, multileveled, and depending on a series of academic, technical, and political prerequisites. In the era of staggering information technologies, Internet use proliferation and cultural relativism, reliable information on conservation knowledge vs. often unfounded story-tellings is a sine qua non for the development of badly needed modern global conservation strategies, targets, and goals.

Understanding American premium chocolate consumer perception of craft chocolate and desirable product attributes using focus groups and projective mapping

Craft chocolate is a relatively new and fast-growing segment of the American chocolate market. To understand American premium chocolate consumer perception of craft chocolate and desirable chocolate product attributes, we conducted a mixed-methods study using focus groups and projective mapping. Projective mapping revealed that participants segmented products in terms of quality based upon usage occasion rather than cost or other factors. We found that American premium chocolate consumers use search attributes such as segmentation, price, availability, and packaging as quality determinants. Additionally, they desire credence attributes that convey trust through, for example, the presence or absence of sustainability certifications, or a semblance of meaning. Premium chocolate consumers seek out experience attributes such as utility and/or joy, which are achieved by purchasing a chocolate product as a gift, for its nostalgic purposes, or for desired post-ingestive effects. We propose a Desirable Chocolate Attribute Concept Map to explain our findings.

A Neuroscientific Approach to Explore Consumers’ Intentions Towards Sustainability within the Luxury Fashion Industry

Little is presently known about customers’ expectations and the unspoken relevant factors which lead them to prefer or not sustainable luxury products. This study aimed to deepen the understanding of luxury consumers’ implicit intentions towards sustainability by using, for the first time, a neuroscientific approach applied to the luxury fashion domain. A greater cortical activity related to cognitive and emotional aspects was hypothesized for luxury sustainability-oriented consumers than for non-sustainability-oriented subjects when presented with sustainability-related cues. Sixteen luxury consumers were divided into two groups according to their sensitivity towards sustainability issues. They were asked to observe a set of 10 stimuli depicting sustainability issues and then to interact with a salesperson while their cortical activity was recorded by an electroencephalogram (EEG). Frequency band analysis revealed higher levels of beta, delta, and theta band EEG activity in temporoparietal than frontocentral areas when observing pictures related to sustainability and a specific right temporoparietal theta band activation for the Nonsustainable Group. An increased level of knowledge of sustainability themes was confirmed by the correct detection of stimuli valence and a significant presence of delta power when the salesperson explained the brand’s sustainable policy. The specific brain responses related to sensitivity towards sustainability and the different effect of knowledge on sustainability topics based on group differences are discussed here in light of emotional behavior.

Greenwash and Green Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Green Skepticism

Along with the acceleration of green marketing in recent years, greenwash has been utilized by firms to get ahead of their rivals. Underpinned by the cognition–affect–behavior (C-A-B) paradigm, this study examines a model linking greenwash and green skepticism with green purchase intentions. It also investigates the moderating role of information and knowledge on the relationship between greenwash and green purchase intentions. Data were obtained from 419 Vietnamese consumers who had been involved in purchasing green vegetables using an online survey. Multivariate data analysis demonstrated that greenwash was negatively associated with green purchase intentions and that green skepticism mediated this negative association. In addition, the moderating effect of information and knowledge was confirmed. These findings enrich the extant knowledge on the relationship between greenwash and green purchase intentions. They also have important implications for firms that aim to reduce consumers’ skepticism and increase their intentions to purchase green food.

Is an Incentive Policy for Energy Efficient Products Effective for Air Purifiers? The Case of South Korea

Recent increases in fine and ultrafine dust in South Korea have led to sharp increases in the sale of air purifiers, and that trend is expected to continue. As the sale of air purifiers increases, the energy that is consumed by air purifiers also increases. Therefore, improving the energy efficiency of air purifiers is an important part of improving the overall energy efficiency of society. We studied how different incentive policies affect consumer behavior because encouraging people to buy energy efficient air purifiers is important. We first investigated consumer preferences regarding air purifiers. Stated preference data were gathered from a choice experiment and a mixed logit model was used for the analysis. The results show that the most preferred attribute was price, followed by an eco-label. Based on that result, we conducted a scenario analysis to examine the economic and environmental effects of an incentive policy and eco-labeling. The monetary incentive policy increased the market share for air purifiers with a first-grade energy efficiency rating to 2.2%. The annual electricity use reduction was 5.9 GWh, with a CO2 emission reduction of 2520 tons and a policy monetary benefit of KRW 441,340,922 when we converted the effect of that market share change into economic and environmental terms. Eco-labeling also brought considerable change in the market share. These results provide a reference for implementing policies to encourage consumers to purchase energy efficient air purifiers.

The Impact of Pollution Prevention on Toxic Environmental Releases from U.S. Manufacturing Facilities

Between 1991 and 2012, the facilities that reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Program conducted 370,000 source reduction projects. We use this data set to conduct the first quasi-experimental retrospective evaluation of how implementing a source reduction (pollution prevention) project affects the quantity of toxic chemicals released to the environment by an average industrial facility. We use a differences-in-differences methodology, which measures how implementing a source reduction project affects a facility's releases of targeted chemicals, relative to releases of (a) other untargeted chemicals from the same facility, or (b) the same chemical from other facilities in the same industry. We find that the average source reduction project causes a 9-16% decrease in releases of targeted chemicals in the year of implementation. Source reduction techniques vary in effectiveness: for example, raw material modification causes a large decrease in releases, while inventory control has no detectable effect. Our analysis suggests that in aggregate, the source reduction projects carried out in the U.S. since 1991 have prevented between 5 and 14 billion pounds of toxic releases.

Characterization of cleaning and disinfecting tasks and product use among hospital occupations

BACKGROUND

Healthcare workers have an elevated prevalence of asthma and related symptoms associated with the use of cleaning/disinfecting products. The objective of this study was to identify and characterize cleaning/disinfecting tasks and products used among hospital occupations.

METHODS

Workers from 14 occupations at five hospitals were monitored for 216 shifts, and work tasks and products used were recorded at five-minute intervals. The major chemical constituents of each product were identified from safety data sheets.

RESULTS

Cleaning and disinfecting tasks were performed with a high frequency at least once per shift in many occupations. Medical equipment preparers, housekeepers, floor strippers/waxers, and endoscopy technicians spent on average 108-177 min/shift performing cleaning/disinfecting tasks. Many occupations used products containing amines and quaternary ammonium compounds for >100 min/shift.

CONCLUSIONS

This analysis demonstrates that many occupations besides housekeeping incur exposures to cleaning/disinfecting products, albeit for different durations and using products containing different chemicals.