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Championing Clean Air: Our Shared Responsibility

A breath of fresh air is hard to find. More than 99 percent of the world’s population now breathes unhealthy air, and poor air quality is linked to 1 in 8 deaths globally. In low- and middle-income countries, the statistics are worse. India had a staggering 99 of the top 100 worst polluted cities in the world in 2019, and populations in South Asia and Africa face the highest burden of disease related to air quality. Air pollution has ripple effects on everything from health, to economic growth, to the climate crisis.

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Sustainability in the Global South Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All: Here’s Why

The circular economy, a crucial means to an end to achieve sustainable development, offers an opportunity to change the way we live and work. It provides a pathway to live within our planet’s limits by making the concept of ‘waste’ obsolete, and drastically lowering emissions and material use. While the idea behind a circular economy is not new, it’s growing in popularity: circular economy strategies, action plans and agendas are increasingly making their way into policy and business strategies.

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The digital revolution could unlock a green transformation of the global economy

Life has changed almost beyond recognition in the last few decades. Artificial intelligence (AI) has substituted entire job fields – intelligent software can now review legal documents, a job which was previously only carried out by lawyers. Machine learning means technical systems can pull together entire libraries of information in a single handheld device. Virtual spaces now exist where people from all over the world can share, connect and chat instantly.
In 2019, it’s clear that digital innovations will continue to change society and the economy, but it’s uncertain whether these new technologies will benefit the global transformation to sustainability. Will digital technologies allow everyone to live in a world where their development isn’t dependent on exhausting finite resources and increasing emissions?

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Climate Justice in the Context of the Global South

Millions of people in low- and middle-income countries will soon face the extreme effects of climate change – repercussions they had very little hand in creating. Described as the “biggest threat to public health” we will face this century, climate change will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable, who mostly reside in Global South nations.
Much of MDPI’s research is dedicated to climate justice and the issues surrounding this concept.

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Dispelling Myths, Embracing Action: How We Can Own and Resolve the Climate Crisis Together

In the narrative of the climate crisis, a series of pervasive myths shape our perceptions and actions, often limiting our sense of agency and urgency. These myths, rooted in misinformation, resignation, or misunderstanding, suggest that the issue is too vast, too complex, or even too distant to be influenced by individual efforts. However, dismantling these myths is crucial for empowering ourselves and our communities to take meaningful, impactful actions towards a sustainable future. This blog post aims to address these common myths, explore how they shape our behaviour, and offer strategies for breaking free from these limiting beliefs to take ownership of the climate crisis.

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The digital economy’s environmental footprint is threatening the planet

Modern society has given significant attention to the promises of the digital economy over the past decade. But it has given little attention to its negative environmental footprint.
Our smartphones rely on rare earth metals, and cloud computing, data centres, artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies consume large amounts of electricity, often sourced from coal-fired power plants.
These are crucial blind spots we must address if we hope to capture the full potential of the digital economy. Without urgent system-wide actions, the digital economy and green economy will be incompatible with each other and could lead to more greenhouse gas emissions, accelerate climate change and pose great threats to humanity.

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How used clothes became part of Africa’s creative economy – and fashion sense

In recent years the global secondhand apparel market for clothing and shoes has grown exponentially. In 2002 used clothing exports were worth US$1.4 billion. Despite a slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic exports were close to US$4 billion in 2020.
Some of this growth has been driven by well known brands and high street retailers developing in-house clothing resale and establishing partnerships with digital secondhand platforms to find new uses for preloved fashions, especially luxury fashions.
In the west, secondhand clothing has acquired a new cachet for its sustainability and its role in circular economies. A circular economy links production and consumption to minimise waste through reusing, repairing, refurbishing, recycling as well as sharing and leasing.

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Shifting discourses of climate security in India: domestic and international dimensions

The Indian perspectives on climate security are influenced by both domestic and international imperatives. The logic followed by India is not typically the same as that adopted by countries of the Global North. India’s discourses on the interconnections between climate change and security are largely conditioned by developmental priorities (domestic) and geopolitical pressures (international), which are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

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Independence Day 2024: India’s future, its youth, face their greatest challenge yet — the climate crisis

Nationalism enjoys popularity across party lines. It might therefore be fitting for Indian youth to ask themselves: what is the thread of Indianness that binds us as brothers and sisters? The first guess would be the territory — coincidentally, the focus of the first part of the Constitution of India. Ecology and climate, then, become our shared national concern.
Unfortunately, climate change is not a widely popular concern in India.

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