Climate change : strategies for mitigation and adaptation

The sustainability of life on Earth is under increasing threat due to humaninduced climate change. This perilous change in the Earth's climate is caused by increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, primarily due to emissions associated with burning fossil fuels. Over the next two to three decades, the effects of climate change, such as heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, storms, and floods, are expected to worsen, posing greater risks to human health and global stability. These trends call for the implementation of mitigation and adaptation strategies. Pollution and environmental degradation exacerbate existing problems and make people and nature more susceptible to the effects of climate change. In this review, we examine the current state of global climate change from different perspectives. We summarize evidence of climate change in Earth’s spheres, discuss emission pathways and drivers of climate change, and analyze the impact of climate change on environmental and human health. We also explore strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation and highlight key challenges for reversing and adapting to global climate change

A review of green remediation strategies for heavy metal contaminated soil

Heavy metals and metalloids can accumulate in soil, with potentially toxic effects to human health and ecosystems, threatening the sustainable use and management of soil resources. Although a number of remediation technologies, such as Solidification/Stabilization (S/S), soil washing, electrokinetic remediation and chemical oxidation/reduction can be applied for the immobilization, removal or detoxification of heavy metals in soil, the environmental, social and economic impacts associated with these conventional approaches hinder their overall sustainability. More attempts have been made to maximize the 'net environmental benefit' in various ways, including recovering resources, embracing nature-based solutions (NBS), and saving energy with the emergence and development of the 'green and sustainable remediation' (GSR) movement. This review critically discusses these green remediation strategies, and the novel soil amendments being utilized in these sustainable approaches. Iron-based amendments are the most promising candidates in green remediation due to the highest stabilization performances for both oxyanions and metallic cations as well as relatively low disturbance to soil. In comparison, waste-derived materials suffer from risks of contaminant release in the long run, reducing the overall sustainability despite their low costs. It has been found that phytoremediation and green amendment-based S/S are typically the 'greenest' remediation strategies, but wise decisions should be made on the basis of case-specific sustainability assessment results. Finally, it is proposed that integration of several green remediation techniques may have a synergistic effect on remediation efficiency

A fast analytical protocol for simultaneous speciation of arsenic by Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) hyphenated to Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) as a modern advancement in liquid chromatography approaches

Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) hyphenated to High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Ion Chromatography (IC) are widely used for simultaneous speciation of arsenic (As). Longer retention time resulting in a slow separation is the major drawback of these existing approaches. Besides, fast separations achieved from HPLC based methods have always resulted in poor resolution and baseline separation between peaks. For the first time, the present study aimed to improve the existing HPLC related methods in order to develop a fast analytical protocol based on Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) hyphenated to ICP-MS detection for simultaneous separation and quantification of arsenite (As(III)), arsenate (As(V)), dimethylarsonate (DMA(V)) and monomethylarsenate (MMA(V)). Two types of ammonium-based mobile phases (i.e. NH4H2PO4 and NH4NO3) were examined at different eluent concentrations and pH to choose the most effective eluent system. Results demonstrated that the mixed mobile phase containing 8.5 mM of NH4H2PO4 and NH4NO3 (1:1) at pH 6.0 is the most effective eluent achieving the separation of As species with improved resolutions within 5 min which is almost a double saving in analysis time per sample compared to the existing methods (9–15 min). Faster separation is analytically cost effective in terms of ICP-MS running cost and energy consumption. Unlike HPLC, UHPLC did not generate a higher column back pressure with increasing flow rate up to 2.5 mL/min resulting in a faster separation with excellent resolution of peaks. Limits of detection for As species were in the range of 0.3–0.5 μg/L. The proposed method was applied to quantify As species present in commercially available rice varieties in Australia and Sri Lanka. Results of speciation analysis indicated that As(III) is the dominant species, ranging from 53 to 100% in the rice grains. The proposed analytical protocol based on UHPLC-ICP-MS provided an accurate and reliable identification and quantification of As species with the advantages of rapid separation, excellent resolution, and low detection limits. Such a recent trend in fundamental research could be a turning point for future environmental and biological research to further improve this strategy for the speciation of other toxic metal(loid)s in food, water and biological samples

Groundwater hydrochemistry, source identification and pollution assessment in intensive industrial areas, eastern Chinese loess plateau

Groundwater is essential for regional ecological-economic system and is an important resource of drinking water, especially in the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), where is a typical water-limited ecosystem. Groundwater quality deterioration will affect water security and exacerbate the water shortages. Groundwater hydrochemistry, pollution source apportionment, quality and health risks were evaluated based on analysis of major ions and selected trace elements in seasonal samples of the Fen River Basin (FRB) in the eastern CLP. Groundwaters in the FRB were mainly HCO3--Ca-2(+)-Na+ water type with low dissolved solutes in upstream samples, high values in midstream samples and medium values in downstream samples. Solutes in upstream samples were mainly derived from carbonate weathering, while those in midstream and downstream samples came from silicate weathering, evaporites dissolution and anthropogenic sources. Self-organizing map (SOM) showed the hydrochemistry remained unchanged from dry to wet season for most sampling points. The seasonal variations of Ag, Cd, Ni, Pb, and Tl were significant due to anthropogenic input. High NO3- in upstream and downstream samples resulted primarily from sewage discharge, and high SO42- in midstream and downstream samples was from gypsum- and coal-related industries. In addition, anthropogenic input related to coal industries significantly aggravates pollution of As, Ni, Ag, Fe, and Mn. Influenced by evaporites and anthropogenic input, midstream samples had high salinity, total hardness and water quality indices (WQIs) and were unsuitable for irrigation or drinking purposes. Seasonal variation of WQI in the FRB was unsignificant except Jiaokou River sub-basin, where groundwater quality was worse in the wet season than the dry season due to coal mining. Great attention should be paid to the high non-carcinogenic risks of exposure to F, V, Mn, and Cr via dermal absorption, particularly for children. Overall, groundwater quality in the FRB was best in upstream, medium in midstream and worst in midstream based on different index. Groundwater quality is deteriorated by anthropogenic input and the sewage discharge in the FRB should be strictly controlled. Our report provides a reference for groundwater pollution evaluation and source identification in similar areas. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved