Using transfer learning-based plant disease classification and detection for sustainable agriculture.

Subsistence farmers and global food security depend on sufficient food production, which aligns with the UN's "Zero Hunger," "Climate Action," and "Responsible Consumption and Production" sustainable development goals. In addition to already available methods for early disease detection and classification facing overfitting and fine feature extraction complexities during the training process, how early signs of green attacks can be identified or classified remains uncertain. Most pests and disease symptoms are seen in plant leaves and fruits, yet their diagnosis by experts in the laboratory is expensive, tedious, labor-intensive, and time-consuming. Notably, how plant pests and diseases can be appropriately detected and timely prevented is a hotspot paradigm in smart, sustainable agriculture remains unknown. In recent years, deep transfer learning has demonstrated tremendous advances in the recognition accuracy of object detection and image classification systems since these frameworks utilize previously acquired knowledge to solve similar problems more effectively and quickly. Therefore, in this research, we introduce two plant disease detection (PDDNet) models of early fusion (AE) and the lead voting ensemble (LVE) integrated with nine pre-trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and fine-tuned by deep feature extraction for efficient plant disease identification and classification. The experiments were carried out on 15 classes of the popular PlantVillage dataset, which has 54,305 image samples of different plant disease species in 38 categories. Hyperparameter fine-tuning was done with popular pre-trained models, including DenseNet201, ResNet101, ResNet50, GoogleNet, AlexNet, ResNet18, EfficientNetB7, NASNetMobile, and ConvNeXtSmall. We test these CNNs on the stated plant disease detection and classification problem, both independently and as part of an ensemble. In the final phase, a logistic regression (LR) classifier is utilized to determine the performance of various CNN model combinations. A comparative analysis was also performed on classifiers, deep learning, the proposed model, and similar state-of-the-art studies. The experiments demonstrated that PDDNet-AE and PDDNet-LVE achieved 96.74% and 97.79%, respectively, compared to current CNNs when tested on several plant diseases, depicting its exceptional robustness and generalization capabilities and mitigating current concerns in plant disease detection and classification.

Fish mortality in the Amazonian drought of 2023: the role of experimental biology in our response to climate change.

Higher temperatures exacerbate drought conditions by increasing evaporation rates, reducing soil moisture and altering precipitation patterns. As global temperatures rise as a result of climate change, these effects intensify, leading to more frequent and severe droughts. This link between higher temperatures and drought is particularly evident in sensitive ecosystems like the Amazon rainforest, where reduced rainfall and higher evaporation rates result in significantly lower water levels, threatening biodiversity and human livelihoods. As an example, the serious drought experienced in the Amazon basin in 2023 resulted in a significant decline in fish populations. Elevated water temperatures, reaching up to 38°C, led to mass mortality events, because these temperatures surpass the thermal tolerance of many Amazonian fish species. We know this because our group has collected data on critical thermal maxima (CTmax) for various fish species over multiple years. Additionally, warmer waters can cause hypoxia, further exacerbating fish mortality. Thus, even Amazon fish species, which have relatively high thermal tolerance, are being impacted by climate change. The Amazon drought experienced in 2023 underscores the urgent need for climate action to mitigate the devastating effects on Amazonian biodiversity. The fact that we have been able to link fish mortality events to data on the thermal tolerance of fishes emphasizes the important role of experimental biology in elucidating the mechanisms behind these events, a link that we aim to highlight in this Perspective.

Psychology of Climate Change.

Human behavior plays a critical role in causing global climate change as well as in responding to it. In this article, I review important insights on the psychology of climate change. I first discuss factors that affect the likelihood that individuals engage in a wide range of climate actions. Next, I review the processes through which values affect climate actions and reflect on how to motivate climate actions among people who do not strongly care about nature, the environment, and climate change. Then I explain that even people who may be motivated to engage in climate actions may not do so when they face major barriers to act. This implies that to promote wide-scale climate actions, broader system changes are needed. I discuss relevant factors that affect public support for system changes that facilitate and enable climate action. Finally, I summarize key lessons learned and identify important questions for future research.

'You can't really separate these risks, our environment, our animals and us': Australian children's perceptions of the risks of the climate crisis.

Perceptions of the risks associated with the climate crisis are shaped by a range of social and political contexts and information sources. While some have expressed concerns about the impact of the spread of climate misinformation through social media platforms on young people, others have shown that the youth climate movement has played a key role in countering misinformation. Despite this, there has been very limited research with children about how they conceptualize the risks associated with the climate crisis, how they receive climate information, and how they understand and apply this to their own and others' lives. The following qualitative study used photo-elicitation techniques and in-depth interviews with Australian children to address this gap. A total of n = 28 children (12-16 years) participated, with four themes constructed from the data using a reflexive approach to thematic analysis. Children were concerned about how the climate crisis would continue to harm their futures and the health of planet and people. They recognized that some groups and countries would experience more risks associated with the climate crisis as compared to others. While they received information from a range of different sources (school, family, social media), they mostly used social media to seek out climate information. They recognized that social media sites could be a source of climate misinformation, and argued that a range of strategies were needed to identify and counter false information about the climate crisis. Children's perspectives must be harnessed to improve information about climate risks and action.

Understanding nurses' experience of climate change and then climate action in Western Canada.

AIM: To understand nurses' personal and professional experiences with the heat dome, drought and forest fires of 2021 and how those events impacted their perspectives on climate action. DESIGN: A naturalistic inquiry using qualitative description. METHOD: Twelve nurses from the interior of British Columbia, Canada, were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Thematic analysis was employed. No patient or public involvement. RESULTS: Data analysis yielded three themes to describe nurses' perspective on climate change: health impacts; climate action and system influences. These experiences contributed to nurses' beliefs about climate change, how to take climate action in their personal lives and their challenges enacting climate action in their workplace settings. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses' challenges with enacting environmentally responsible practices in their workplace highlight the need for engagement throughout institutions in supporting environmentally friendly initiatives. IMPACT: The importance of system-level changes in healthcare institutions for planetary health.

Synthesis of aminopropyl triethoxysilane/melamine incorporated superhydrophilic membranes for simultaneous removal of oil, metals, and Salt ions from produced water.

Water treatment has turned out to be more important in most societies due to the expansion of most economies and to advancement of industrialization. Developing efficient materials and technologies for water treatment is of high interest. Thin film nanocomposite membranes are regarded as the most effective membranes available for salts, hydrocarbon, and environmental pollutants removal. These membranes improve productivity while using less energy than conventional asymmetric membranes. Here, the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes have been successfully modified via dip single-step coating by silica-aminopropyl triethoxysilane/trimesic acid/melamine nanocomposite (Si-APTES-TA-MM). The developed membranes were evaluated for separating the emulsified oil/water mixture, the surface wettability of the membrane materials is therefore essential. During the conditioning step, that is when the freshwater was introduced, the prepared membrane reached a flux of about 27.77 L m-2 h-1. However, when the contaminated water was introduced, the flux reached 18 L m-2 h-1, alongside an applied pressure of 400 kPa. Interestingly, during the first 8 h of the filtration test, the membrane showed 90 % rejection for ions including Mg2+, and SO42- and ≈100 % for organic pollutants including pentane, isooctane, toluene, and hexadecane. Also, the membrane showed 98 % rejection for heavy metals including strontium, lead, and cobalt ions. As per the results, the membrane could be recommended as a promising candidate to be used for a mixture of salt ions, hydrocarbons, and mixtures of heavy metals from wastewater.

Data Scaling: Implications for Climate Action and Governance in the UK.

Local actors have growing prominence in climate governance but key capacities and powers remain with national policymakers. Coordination between national and local climate action is therefore of increasing importance. Underappreciated in existing academic and policy literature, coordination between actors at different scales can be affected not only by politics and institutional arrangements, but also by methods of data analysis. Exploring two datasets of GHG emissions by local area in England-one of consumption-based emissions and the other of territorial emissions-this paper shows the potential for a data scaling problem known as the modifiable areal unit problem and its possible consequences for the efficacy and equity implications of climate action. While this analysis is conceptual and does not identify specific instances of the modifiable areal unit problem or its consequences, it calls attention to methods of data analysis as possible contributors to climate governance challenges. Among other areas, future analysis is needed to explore how data scaling and other aspects of data processing and analysis may affect our understanding of non-state actors' contribution to climate action.

Closing the equity deficit: Sustainability justice in municipal climate action planning in Waterloo region.

There is growing recognition that often well-intended climate action solutions perpetuate and exacerbate manifestations of colonialism and racism due to the lack of equity and justice considerations in designing and implementing these solutions. There is limited research exploring why the integration of these considerations are lacking in municipal climate action planning. This exploratory descriptive qualitative study explored how municipal actors perceive and understand equity and justice in municipal climate action planning as a step toward addressing this issue. Semistructured interviews were conducted with seven members of the core management group from ClimateAction Waterloo region, and a template analysis of the interview data resulted in six themes. Findings suggested that those involved in municipal climate action planning understand and perceive justice and equity considerations as important to their work, however, translating this understanding to practice is a challenge due to structural (governmental and societal) and capacity (limited time, funding, resources, and knowledge) barriers. By better understanding how key actors consider justice and equity, we identify shifting colonial mental models as a potential pathway for transformative change given the central role of these actors.

Views of Psychiatrists and Psychiatry Trainees on Climate Change: Distress, Training Needs, and Envisioned Role.

OBJECTIVE: Increasing evidence demonstrates that climate change has effects on mental health. Given the magnitude of climate change's health consequences, mitigation and adaptation will require massive societal changes and the involvement of individuals and professional organizations. The aim of this research was to assess the views of psychiatrists and psychiatrists-in-training about climate change and its effects on health, perceived barriers to discussing climate change in their clinical, teaching, research, and advocacy work, personal preparedness for climate action, and expected roles of their professional organizations. METHODS: The authors administered an online anonymous survey to members of two mid-Atlantic professional psychiatric organizations. Measures included an adaptation of The International Climate and Health Survey and demographic and career characteristics. Descriptive statistics for categorical variables were conducted. RESULTS: The majority of the 67 participants who completed the survey were White and senior in their career, and almost all were clinicians. Most were concerned about climate change and its mental health effects on patients and supported their organizations' engagement in activities related to this topic. Barriers to engagement in climate change action included lack of time and believing it would not make a difference. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate a desire of psychiatrists involved in teaching, research, and clinical work to address climate change and a need for training. These findings highlight the need for preparedness as newer generations face more disasters related to climate change, and experience psychological distress related to climate change.

Australian young people's perspectives about the political determinants of the climate crisis.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: There has been little focus on young people's views about the political determinants of the climate crisis. As young people are likely to be the group most impacted by political decisions relating to the climate crisis, it is essential to understand their views about government decision-making. METHODS: A qualitatively-led online survey of n = 500 young Australians aged 15-24 years. Open text questions sought young people's views about current government climate policies, perceptions about policy effectiveness, and how governments could improve their climate responses. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to interpret and construct themes from the data. RESULTS: Young people perceived that governments were not taking serious action on the climate crisis. They stated that climate policies were largely influenced by economic imperatives, rather than concern for the wellbeing of current and future generations. They perceived that governments had a duty of care to protect them from the climate crisis, and needed to engage young people in climate discussions and decision-making. CONCLUSIONS: Young people's perspectives about the political determinants of the climate crisis provides information about their understanding of government policies and their recommendations for action. There is a need for collaboration between young people and decision-makers to urgently develop effective climate policies. SO WHAT?: Young people understand key issues relating to the political determinants of the climate crisis. The health promotion community has a role in advocating for structural changes in policymaking processes to ensure young people have a seat at the decision-making table.

Applying cultural perspective in Indonesia municipal solid waste management process towards a grounded climate concept and action: A mini-review of opportunities and challenges.

This mini-review emphasises the role of municipal solid waste (MSW) as the biggest contributor to climate change, as well as the need for more grounded climate action. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 2023 Synthesis Report by the co-facilitators on the technical dialogue Key Finding 3 of applying the 'whole-of-society' approach in this article is interpreted as a cultural approach in MSW management planning and implementation process. Using anthropological critiques of development, the cultural approach is frequently considered an obstacle or a justification for a project's failure rather than an important aspect of the people being developed. Therefore, the goal of this mini-review is to showcase the findings and explore the practical application of UNFCCC Key Finding 3, emphasising its importance in every phase of the solid waste management process for climate action. This mini-review argues that applying a cultural perspective presents both opportunities and challenges. More importantly, without careful acknowledgement and consideration, opportunities can become challenges, if not vice versa. The discussion section explores the ways in which religious and economic conditions might offer a contextual understanding and effective techniques for managing MSW at the local level. To apply Key Finding 3 in practice, academia needs to move away from generality and embrace multiple 'modernities', while practitioners also need to include cultural perspectives to complement scientific knowledge.

Meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals with Mechanochemistry.

Chemistry traditionally relies on reactions in solution, but this method is increasingly problematic due to the scale of chemical processes and their economic and environmental impact. Handling residual chemical waste, including solvents, incurs significant costs and environmental pressure. Conversely, novel chemical approaches are needed to address pressing societal issues such as climate change, energy scarcity, food insecurity, and waste pollution. Mechanochemistry, a sustainable chemistry discipline that uses mechanical action to induce chemical reactivity without bulk solvents, is a hot topic in academic research on sustainable and green chemistry. Given its fundamentally different working principles from solution chemistry, mechanochemistry offers more efficient chemical processes and the opportunity to design new chemical reactions. Mechanochemistry has a profound impact on many urgent issues facing our society and it is now necessary to use mechanochemistry to address them. This Minireview aims to provide a guide for using mechanochemistry to meet the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), thereby contributing to a prosperous society. Detailed analysis shows that mechanochemistry connects with most UN SDGs and offers more cost-efficiency than other approaches together with a superior environmental performance.

Impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on aquatic ecosystem - A review.

All living things depend on their natural environment, either directly or indirectly, for their high quality of life, growth, nutrition, and development. Due to the fast emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), the Earth's climate system is being negatively impacted by global warming. Stresses caused by climate change, such as rising and hotter seas, increased droughts and floods, and acrid waters, threaten the world's most populated areas and aquatic ecosystems. As a result, the aquatic ecosystems of the globe are quickly reaching hazardous conditions. Marine ecosystems are essential parts of the world's environment and provide several benefits to the human population, such as water for drinking and irrigation, leisure activities, and habitat for commercially significant fisheries. Although local human activities have influenced coastal zones for millennia, it is still unclear how these impacts and stresses from climate change may combine to endanger coastal ecosystems. Recent studies have shown that rising levels of greenhouse gases are causing ocean systems to experience conditions not seen in several million years, which may cause profound and irreversible ecological shifts. Ocean productivity has declined, food web dynamics have changed, habitat-forming species are less common, species ranges have changed, and disease prevalence has increased due to human climate change. We provide an outline of the interaction between global warming and the influence of humans along the coastline. This review aims to demonstrate the significance of long-term monitoring, the creation of ecological indicators, and the applications of understanding how aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem functioning respond to global warming. This review discusses the effects of current climate change on marine biological processes both now and in the future, describes present climate change concerning historical change, and considers the potential roles aquatic systems could play in mitigating the effects of global climate change.

Impact of air pollutants on climate change and prediction of air quality index using machine learning models.

The impact of air pollution in Chennai metropolitan city, a southern Indian coastal city was examined to predict the Air Quality Index (AQI). Regular monitoring and prediction of the Air Quality Index (AQI) are critical for combating air pollution. The current study created machine learning models such as XGBoost, Random Forest, BaggingRegressor, and LGBMRegressor for the prediction of the AQI using the historical data available from 2017 to 2022. According to historical data, the AQI is highest in January, with a mean value of 104.6 g/gm, and the lowest in August, with a mean AQI value of 63.87 g/gm. Particulate matter, gaseous pollutants, and meteorological parameters were used to predict AQI, and the heat map generated showed that of all the parameters, PM2.5 has the greatest impact on AQI, with a value of 0.91. The log transformation method is used to normalize datasets and determine skewness and kurtosis. The XGBoost model demonstrated strong performance, achieving an R2 (correlation coefficient) of 0.9935, a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.02, a mean square error (MSE) of 0.001, and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.04. In comparison, the LightGBM model's prediction was less effective, as it attained an R2 of 0.9748. According to the study, the AQI in Chennai has been increasing over the last two years, and if the same conditions persist, the city's air pollution will worsen in the future. Furthermore, accurate future air quality level predictions can be made using historical data and advanced machine learning algorithms.

Medical students as advocates for a healthy planet and healthy people: Designing an assessment that prepares learners to take action on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

PURPOSE: Health professionals are being called on to be advocates for the planet to ensure health and well-being for current and future generations. Clean air, flourishing ecosystems, a stable climate, and nutritious food are required for health and well-being. Considering the deteriorating state of our natural environment, today's health professionals need to be advocates for a healthy planet. This places an onus on tertiary institutions to prepare graduates to 'take action' for the planet and all of its inhabitants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This report outlines the development of a team-based Planetary Health Assignment that equips learners to use at least two of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It was identified at the design stage that an effective planetary health educational intervention should not only encourage learners to take action, but also embed creativity, with the best products available for public scrutiny. Several pedagogical principles were used in the design (authentic assessment, learner-centredness, creativity, scholarship). RESULTS: During the first five years of implementation, minor refinements were made based on learner and academic feedback. The assignment criteria sheet was improved to the point that it encouraged thoughtful and reflective submissions, and tasked learners to provide achievable and realistic solutions to pressing environmental issues. The marking rubric was also developed to provide quality feedback and insights for students. CONCLUSIONS: The design of this assessment, framed by the SDGs, allows learners flexibility in their choices while still meeting the required learning outcomes. With the assignment underpinned by a robust design, it provides students with both knowledge and experiences about how they might take action on the SDGs and become advocates for a healthy planet.

Evaluation of emission reduction and other societal and environmental outcomes: Structured decision making for the Louisiana climate action plan.

Climate action planning continues to accelerate rapidly across the globe as communities seek to prepare to thrive in an uncertain future. Climate action planning is a particularly contentious and complex topic in the southern United States, however, because of significant economic reliance on industries that contribute substantially to greenhouse gas emissions, and due to a complicated relationship between industry and persistent racial and economic inequities that contribute to distrust between communities, businesses, and state governments. Within the last decade, research efforts have begun to evaluate approaches used to develop city, state, and national-level climate action plans, finding that planning efforts are often as diverse as the localities they represent. Climate action planning processes that evaluate the potential implications of climate action on greenhouse gas emissions and societal values are often driven by either qualitative stakeholder engagement or by the results of numerical models. While both approaches are valuable, they also have limitations that can result in climate action plans that are unrealistic or unimplementable. Limited research is available that assesses planning efforts that integrate multiple evaluation methodologies. In this study, we evaluate the strengths and limitations of integrating qualitative and quantitative climate action evaluation methodologies in a planning process grounded in structured decision making using Louisiana as a case study. This mixed method planning approach applied both quantitative numerical models and qualitative expert elicitation to evaluate potential implications of climate action for Louisiana. We found that integration of approaches through a transparent, structured, and objectives-orientated process allowed for robust analysis of potential climate actions while engendering process buy-in across diverse stakeholder interests. This process ultimately resulted in the unanimous adoption of Louisiana's climate action plan, characterized by a wholistic and implementable set of climate actions balanced against the values of Louisianians. The process outlined in this study represents a replicable approach for other climate action planning efforts.

CO2 uptake by activated hydrochar derived from orange peel (Citrus reticulata): Influence of carbonization temperature.

In this study, activated hydrochar was prepared from orange peel (OP) waste using KOH for the first time for potential environmental applications. The influence of hydrothermal carbonization temperature (180 °C, 200 °C, and 220 °C) on the CO2 adsorption capacity of OP-derived activated hydrochar (OP-180, OP-200, and OP-220) was investigated. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images revealed that the activated OP hydrochar has high microporosity, a desired attribute for effective adsorption. The yield and the oxygen content of the hydrochar decreased with the increasing process temperature whereas the carbon content showed an increase. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy showed the presence of various functional groups including ketone, aldehydes, esters, and carboxyl in the hydrochar. CO2 adsorption isotherm was determined for all hydrochar samples. At 25 °C and 1 bar, OP-220 showed the highest CO2 uptake at 3.045 mmol/g. The use of OP waste for CO2 adsorption applications contributes to carbon neutrality and a circular economy.

COVID-19 response in Africa: impacts and lessons for environmental management and climate change adaptation.

The COVID-19 pandemic adds pressure on Africa; the most vulnerable continent to climate change impacts, threatening the realization of most Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The continent is witnessing an increase in intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, and environmental change. The COVID-19 was managed relatively well across in the continent, providing lessons and impetus for environmental management and addressing climate change. This work examines the possible impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the environment and climate change, analyses its management and draws lessons from it for climate change response in Africa. The data, findings and lessons are drawn from peer reviewed articles and credible grey literature on COVID-19 in Africa. The COVID-19 pandemic spread quickly, causing loss of lives and stagnation of the global economy, overshadowing the current climate crisis. The pandemic was managed through swift response by the top political leadership, research and innovations across Africa providing possible solutions to COVID-19 challenges, and redirection of funds to manage the pandemic. The well-coordinated COVID-19 containment strategy under the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention increased sharing of resources including data was a success in limiting the spread of the virus. These strategies, among others, proved effective in limiting the spread and impact of COVID-19. The findings provide lessons that stakeholders and policy-makers can leverage in the management of the environment and address climate change. These approaches require solid commitment and practical-oriented leadership. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10668-023-02956-0.

Climate Action for (My) Children.

How do we motivate cooperation across the generations-between parents and children? Here we study voluntary climate action (VCA), which is costly to today's decision-makers but essential to enable sustainable living for future generations. We predict that "offspring observability" is critical: parents will be more likely to invest in VCA when their own offspring observes their action, whereas when adults or genetically unrelated children observe them, the effect will be smaller. In a large-scale lab-in-the-field experiment, we observe a remarkable magnitude of VCA: parents invest 82% of their 69€ endowment into VCA, resulting in almost 14,000 real trees being planted. Parents' VCA varies across conditions, with the largest treatment effect occurring when a parent's own child is the observer. In subgroup analyses, we find that larger treatment effects occur among parents with a high school diploma. Moreover, VCA for parents who believe in climate change is most affected by the presence of their own child. In contrast, VCA of climate change skeptical parents is most influenced by the presence of children to whom they are not related. Our findings have implications for policy-makers interested in designing programs to encourage voluntary climate action and sustaining intergenerational public goods.

Why We Should Preach to the Climate Change Choir: The Importance of Science Communication That Engages People Who Already Accept Climate Change.

AbstractClimate change is one of the most urgent issues facing society today, and scientists have an important opportunity to teach students and other audiences about climate change. With climate communication, it can be tempting to think that the primary goal should be to get more people to accept climate change, but true climate literacy requires not just an understanding of the reality of climate change but also acting on that understanding. Here, I argue that there is an important role for communicating about climate change with people who already accept that it is occurring. Such communication can help people improve their understanding, increasing their certainty regarding climate change and its drivers, and spur them to take action. Social science research has important insights regarding how to communicate in a way that encourages people to change behaviors, including aiming to increase personal and collective efficacy and helping people figure out how to meet key needs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change communicators should seek out audiences that already accept climate change, helping those individuals deepen their understanding and energizing and empowering these people to act.