1,721,054 research outputs found
Resource or waste? A perspective of plastics degradation in soil with a focus on end-of-life options. One step beyond
Full text linkPlastics have surpassed traditional materials across numerous industries due to their versatility, durability, and cost-effectiveness. However, their persistence in ecosystems, particularly in soil, presents serious environmental challenges. This narrative review builds on previous work by analysing over 300 studies on plastics in soil, with a focus on degradation and potential reuse. Special attention is given to research published since 2019. The review classifies plastics by resin type and examines their degradation processes under various soil conditions, covering both conventional and biodegradable polymers. Polyethylene emerges as the most extensively studied polymer, while interest in biodegradable alternatives like polylactic acid (PLA) and polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) is increasing. Additionally, the review highlights advancements in microplastics research, particularly their interactions with co-contaminants and effects on soil organisms. Despite significant progress, challenges remain in standardizing methods for measuring plastic degradation in soil. The review emphasizes the need for further research to establish consistent methods and reliable indicators for degradation, while also exploring innovative recycling technologies for use in agricultural soil management. It stresses the importance of advancing a circular economy for plastics, integrating policy and practical solutions to reduce environmental impacts
War is undermining soil health and availability more than urbanisation
No full textEver since the Earth has witnessed the dawn of mankind it has had to deal with conflicts and their consequences. The number of ongoing conflicts continues to increase year by year, as does the power of the weapons at stake. Consequently, also increasing is the impact of warfare on the total environment, which is already in crisis due to climate change and exponential population growth. Although now emphasis is mostly given to the necessity that the urban sprawl and the operation of companies causing planetary harm should be carefully regulated, by collating up-to-date data on the size of the footprint of various human activities, here we show that warfare is undermining soil health and availability for productive use much more than urbanisation and other infrastructures have hitherto done. This means that modern, wide-ranging conflicts are no longer bearable from an environmental point of view – as well as from the ethical, social, and economic ones – and this should be an additional, primary reason to prompt the international community to discourage or stop them as far as possible with tireless mediation
Connecting existing cemeteries saving good soils (for livings)
Full text linkBackground: Urban sprawl consumes and degrades productive soils worldwide. Fast and safe decomposition of corpses requires high-quality functional soils, and land use which competes with both agriculture and buildings. On one hand, cremation does not require much land, but it has a high energy footprint, produces atmospheric pollution, and is unacceptable to some religious communities. On the other hand, as exhumations are not practiced, "green burials" require more surface area than current burial practices, so a new paradigm for managing land use is required. Conclusions: In this paper, we propose a concept for 'green belt communalities' (i.e., ecological corridors with multiple, yet flexible, uses and services for future generations). With the expansion of urban centers, ecological corridors gradually disappear. Cemeteries for burial plots preclude alternative uses of the land for a long time. By combining these two aspects (need for connectivity and land take imposed by cemeteries), two positive results can be achieved: protecting memories of the past and connecting ecosystems with multiple-use corridors. This new paradigm works best in flat or hilly terrain where there are already several urban agglomerations that contain traditional cemeteries. Stakeholders who might consider this concept are local administrators, planners, and the communities of individuals who share specific beliefs on burial systems
Challenges in developing reliable phosphorus predictive models: Unpredictable release under soil redox changes
Full text linkPhosphorus (P), crucial for plant nutrition, is unevenly distributed in the Earth's crust, necessitating its supplementation in agriculture through fertilizers. However, excessive use can lead to water pollution. Our research focuses on the P adsorbing complex, investigating P release due to flooding, using 12 well-characterized soils with contrasting properties. Our research measures directly the P-adsorbing complex using adsorption/desorption isotherms. We observed that the P concentration in the solution —sufficient to prevent desorption yet low enough to avoid further sorption by the soil— decreases when the soil undergoes complete reduction (anoxia). When grouped by similarity, calcareous soils exhibit higher maximum P adsorption capacities (Xmax) under alternating reducing conditions (ARC) compared to continuous reducing conditions (CRC). In slightly acidic soils, CRC leads to a wider spread in Xmax values than ARC. For acidic, organic matter-rich soils, ARC results in the highest Xmax values (123 mmol P kg−1 soil) compared to CRC, whereas in acidic, light-textured soils, CRC shows significantly higher mean Xmax values than ARC. Nevertheless, we were unable to develop a predictive model for soil P desorption based on key intrinsic properties and climate. When an environmental or anthropogenic transformation induces anoxia, the P released does not follow a predictable pattern
The impractical supremacy of local identity on the worthless soils of Mappano
Full text linkIntroduction
Soil is under pressure worldwide. In Italy, in the last two decades, land consumption has reached an average rate of 8 m2, demonstrating the failure of urban planning in controlling these phenomena. Despite the renewed recognition of the central role of soil resources, which has triggered numerous initiatives and actions, soil resources are still seen as a second-tier priority. No governance body exists to coordinate initiatives to ensure that soils are appropriately represented in decision-making processes. Global Soil Partnership draws our attention to the need for coordination to avoid fragmentation of efforts and wastage of resources. Both at a global and at a local level, the area of fertile soils is limited and is increasingly under pressure by competing land uses for settlement, infrastructure, raw materials extraction, agriculture, and forestry.
Discussion and Evaluation
Here, we show that an administrative event, such as the creation of a new small municipality, can take place without any consideration of land and soil risks. This is particularly problematic in the Italian context as recent studies demonstrate that increasing local power in land use decisions coupled with weak control by the central administration and the high fragmentation and small dimension of municipalities has boosted land consumption. The fragmentation of municipalities has been detrimental to land conservation.
Case description
The case study of Mappano (in the northwestern Italian region of Piedmont on the periphery of the regional capital city of Turin) is emblematic to demonstrate the role played by the supremacy of local identity or local interests despite the acknowledged importance of the key role played by soil everywhere. The contradiction highlighted by this case raises discussion amid some crucial issues as to the role of local urban planning and the protection of soil, which cannot be fragmented or subject to local short-term visions/interests.
Conclusions
In this perspective, urban planning has to address soil and land issues by introducing new rules and competences at the local level and beyond
Outlook from the soil perspective of urban expansion and food security
Full text linkThe use of soil as support for built-up areas represents only one of its several functions. Farmlands at the fringe of conurbations have more chance of being converted into built-up areas due to the favourable topography and the accessibility to existing infrastructure, being in the vicinity of urban areas. We analysed the global land-take during the period 2000–2014. The data are based on a global dataset describing the spatial evolution of human settlements using the Global Human Settlement Layer, which was derived from Landsat images collected in 1975, 1990, 2000 and 2014. Although the global land-take represents roughly 0.1% of the global terrestrial Earth, it affects 1% of the naturally fertile soils, according to the proposed Soil Productivity Indexes (SPI), based upon the potential soil productivity, calculated on the basis of the Harmonized World Soil Database. We have found that, few large conurbations develop on potentially high productive soil, while scarcely productive soils sustain the expansion of several megalopolises. On a global scale and through the centuries, considered comparatively as individual overall age of settlements, a trend between the intrinsic quality of the soils and its use for settlement purposes as major competitor, was not observed
Soil is the best testifier of the diachronous dawn of the Anthropocene
No full textHumans act at worldwide scale as a growing geomorphic agent since mid-Holocene (8,200–4,200 y BP) through the pervasive impacts of domestication, deforestation, agriculture, urbanization, and mining. The concept of Anthropocene has been introduced exactly to indicate the timespan in which humans have joined with other natural forces in impacting the outermost shell of the planet and the biosphere. Soils, which are the Earth's skin, are sensitive archives of any major human-induced local to global change. Especially when buried, soils can permanently preserve the primordial traces of a significant impact of man on the environment, which occurred at different times and rates in different areas. As a result, we assert that the oldest “anthropogenic” soils from all around the world collectively are an appropriate marker for the diachronous dawn of an early Anthropocene
Plastic end-of-life alternatives, with a focus on the agricultural sector
Full text linkThe end of life (EoL) of plastic polymers depends on when they stop being considered a resource and begin to be considered a waste. Even with dynamic management, plastic pollution will increase in the coming decades. Reduction strategies focus on reducing the quantities of materials used in the construction of individual objects for packaging, support for reuse and recycling, incentives for gathering low-value plastics, awareness, and simplification. The agricultural sector, a sector in which the use of plastic is (apparently) not high, needs to combine environmental, social, and above all economic aspects, which can help entrepreneurs in the sector to optimize the recycling process
Unnamed soils, lost opportunities
No full textHave you ever read a scientific article about brown bear referred to as “an animal with long, thick brown fur and
a shoulder height up to 150 cm” instead of using its scientific name, Ursus arctos? Or one where Oryza sativa is defined as “a plant that may grow to 1.8 m and produce pendulous inflorescences 50 cm long with edible caryopses”? Science employs as much as possible simple, stable, and widely accepted international classification systems for naming beings and things. The best known of such systems is the Linnaean system for naming organisms by two Latin terms, which refer to genus and species. Classifications are used in other fields, such as astronomy, chemistry, metallurgy, physics, and archeology
Il suolo dentro e intorno alle città
Full text linkQuando una città occupa un suolo tutto cambia: cambia il funzionamento, cambiano le funzioni del suolo. Il ruolo principale diventa quello di sorreggere gli edifici e le infrastrutture e, in questo, il suolo riesce solitamente bene. Così bene che ci si
comincia a chiedere se l’espansione urbana non sia dannosa in termini ecologici cioè se non sottragga una parte troppo rilevante alle altre funzioni del suolo. Il problema del consumo di suolo si delinea dunque come un danno ecologico complessivo, una perdita quasi irrimediabile di servizi ecosistemici. Naturalmente la lotta al consumo di suolo deve essere condotta anche con strumenti normativi ed economici che incentivino ristrutturazioni e ricostruzioni, disincentivando l’utilizzo di terreni liberi
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