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Introduction: One of the major challenges for higher education institutions in the last decade has been (and will continue to be) the integration of sustainability into their curricula and the development of sustainability competences in students. Education for Sustainability (ES) can help prepare students to meet the challenges of making societies more sustainable. However, as a first step toward this goal, teachers need to incorporate ES into their teaching. In this regard, this research aimed to analyze if members of the teaching staff have started this integration and, if so, which sustainability-related topics have been introduced and which skills do they consider contribute to the development of future graduates. Methods: A questionnaire was administered to teaching staff at the University of the Basque Country in 2022. A total of 403 teachers completed the questionnaire, expressing their perceptions through open-ended questions. Results: In general terms teachers incorporate ES into their teaching (71.22%). However, they do this mainly within the framework of two general themes: "Environmental awareness and energy" - most used by teachers of experimental sciences and engineering - and "Social commitment," most used by teachers of social sciences and those who are familiar with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Regarding the key competences that ES provides for future graduates, those most frequently mentioned were "training of professionals committed to society" and "critical thinking and ethics." These competences were particularly notable in the discourse of teachers who were aware of the 2030 Agenda and who use active methodologies in their classrooms. Finally, the opinion that sustainability has little to do with their teaching (28.78%) was notably expressed by teachers less familiar with the 2030 Agenda. Discussion: Thus, it can be concluded that, aside from knowledge of the 2030 Agenda, factors such as the sustainability policy of the institution, area of teaching expertise, and the use of active methodologies all play a significant role in determining whether competences for sustainable development are integrated into higher education teaching.
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Lignin in animal diets is a limiting factor due to its low digestibility. This study assessed the effects of thermal or mechanical pre-treatments and enzymatic hydrolysis on spent coffee grounds' (SCG) nutritional value and digestibility. A first trial studied the effect of thermal pre-treatment and hydrolysis with removal of the liquid part and a second trial studied mechanical pre-treatment and hydrolysis with and without removal of the liquid part. Autoclaving did not improve the enzymatic performance nor the nutritional value. Hydrolysis reduced the digestibility of the solid phase and impaired its ruminal fermentation efficiency. Hydrolysates without removing the liquid part improved its nutritional value, but not compared with unprocessed SCG. Grinding increased crude protein and reduced crude fibre and protein, which led to greater fermentation and in vitro digestibility. Thus, grinding emerges as the most promising valorisation strategy to improve SCG nutritional characteristics and their use for animal feed, contributing to the circular economy.
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The organisational life cycle assessment (O-LCA) and the social organisational life cycle assessment (SO-LCA) of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU were conducted. The data presented in this paper support the calculation of the environmental and social footprint of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU for year 2016 [1], and may be used as a reference for future calculations of the environmental and social footprint of higher education institutions and other organisations. This dataset provides detailed information on the UPV/EHU and the boundaries considered; on the compilation and quantification of the life cycle inventory (LCI) -which included a transport survey conducted in summer 2018-; and on the modelling process followed for the calculation of the environmental and social footprints, based on the ecoinvent 3.3 database [2] and PSILCA-based Soca v1 add-on [3, 4], and carried out with the openLCA free software [5]. The dataset also includes the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results provided by the CML (baseline, 2015) [6] and ReCiPe (endpoint (H), 2008) [7] LCIA methods and post-processed social impacts provided by the Social Impacts Weighting Method [3], disaggregated by subprocesses and impact locations. Data is provided for the reference year (2016), and some aggregated data is also provided for alternative scenarios that were explored in order to check pathways to reduce social and environmental impacts of the academic activity of the UPV/EHU [1].
RESUMEN
The impact of the lockdown, during the period from March to June in 2020, upon the air quality of the Basque Country in northern Spain is analyzed. The evaluation accounts for the meteorology of the period. Daily and sub-daily analysis of aerosol and ozone records show that the territory was repeatedly affected by episodes of pollutants from outer regions. Three episodes of PM10 and ten of PM2.5 were caused by transported anthropogenic European sulfates, African dust, and wildland fires. The region, with a varied orographic climatology, shows high and diverse industrial activity. Urban and interurban road traffic of the region decreased by 49% and 53%, respectively, whereas industrial activity showed a lower reduction of 20%. Consequently, the average concentrations of NO2 in the cities during the period fell to 12.4 µg·m-3 (-45%). Ozone showed up to five exceedances of the WHOAQG for the daily maximum 8-h average in both rural and urban sites, associated with transport through France and the Bay of Biscay, under periods of European blocking anticyclones. However, averages showed a moderate decrease (-11%) in rural environments, in line with the precursor reductions, and disparate changes in the cities, which reproduced the weekend effect of their historical records. The PM10 decreased less than expected (-10% and -21%, in the urban and rural environments, respectively), probably caused by the modest decrease of industrial activity around urban sites and favorable meteorology for secondary aerosol formation, which could also influence the lower changes observed in the PM2.5 (-1% and +3% at the urban and rural sites, respectively). Consequently, in a future low NOx traffic emission scenario, the inter-regional PM and ozone control will require actions across various sectors, including the industry and common pollution control strategies.
