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International audience; An important yet largely unexamined issue is how the interaction between deforestation and pollution affects economic and environmental sustainability.This article seeks to bridge the gap by introducing a dynamic model of pollution accumulation where polluting emissions can be mitigated and the absorption efficiency of pollution sinks can be restored. We assume that emissions are due to a production activity, and we include deforestation both as an additional source of emissions and as a cause of the exhaustion of environmental absorption efficiency. To account for the fact that the switching of natural sinks to a pollution source can be either possible, and in such a case even reversible, or impossible, we consider that restoration efforts can be either independent from or dependent on environmental absorption efficiency, i.e., state-independent versus state-dependent restoration efforts. We determine (i) whether production or deforestation is the most detrimental from environmental and social welfare perspectives, and (ii) how state-dependent restoration process affects pollution accumulation and deforestation policies and the related environmental and social welfare consequences.

Background Diet-related greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) mainly comes from animal-sourced foods. As progressive changes are more acceptable for a sustainable food transition, we aimed to identify nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable optimized diets ensuring a gradual reduction in GHGe, using observed diet from a large sample of French adults, while considering the mode of food production (organic vs conventional farming) and the co-production link between milk and beef. Material and method Based on the consumption of 257 organic and conventional foods among 29,413 participants (75% women, age: 53.5 ± 14.0y) of the NutriNet-Sante study, we modelled optimal diets according to GHGe reduction scenarios in 5% steps, from 0 to 50% with nutritional, acceptability, and coproduct constraints, for men, premenopausal and menopausal women separately. Results Gradual GHGe decrease under these constraints led to optimal diets with an overall decrease in animal foods, with marked reductions in dairy products (up to −83%), together with a stable but largely redistributed meat consumption in favor of poultry (up to +182%) and pork (up to +46%) and at the expense of ruminant meat (down to −92%). Amounts of legumes increases dramatically (up to +238%). The greater the reduction in diet-related GHGe, the lower the cumulative energy demand (about −25%) and land use (about −43%). The proportion of organic food increased from ~30% in the observed diets to ~70% in the optimized diets. Conclusion Our results suggest that meeting both nutrient reference value and environmental objectives of up to 50% GHGe reduction requires the reduction of animal foods together with important substitutions between animal food groups, which result in drastic reductions in beef and dairy products. Further research is required to explore alignment with long-term health value and conflict with acceptability, in particular for even greater GHGe reductions.

Concentrations of nine organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) and eight polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were measured in samples of indoor dust (n = 85) and air (n = 45) from Australian houses, offices, hotels, and transportation (buses, trains, and aircraft). All target compounds were detected in indoor dust and air samples. Median ∑9OPFRs concentrations were 40 μg/g in dust and 44 ng/m3 in indoor air, while median ∑8PBDEs concentrations were 2.1 μg/g and 0.049 ng/m3. Concentrations of FRs were higher in rooms that contained carpet, air conditioners, and various electronic items. Estimated daily intakes in adults are 14000 pg/kg body weight/day and 330 pg/kg body weight/day for ∑9OPFRs and ∑8PBDEs, respectively. Our results suggest that for the volatile FRs such as tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) and TCIPP, inhalation is expected to be the more important intake pathway compared to dust ingestion and dermal contact.

In one draft note, Sraffa states that: “The difference between the ‘Physical real costs’ and the Ricardo–Marxian theory of ‘labour costs’ is that the first does, and the latter does not, include in them the natural resources that are used up in the course of production (such as coal, iron, exhaustion of land) [Air, water, etc. are not used up: as there is an unlimited supply, no subtraction can be made from [infinity ]. This is fundamental because it does away with ‘human energy’ and such metaphysical things. ... But how are we going to replace these natural things? There are three cases: a) they can be reproduced by labour (land properties, with manures etc.); b) they can be substituted by labour (coal by hydroelectric plant: or by spending in research and discovery of new sources and new methods of economising); c) they cannot be either reproduced nor substituted - and in this case they cannot find a place in a theory of continuous production and consumption: they are dynamical facts, i.e. a stock that is being gradually exhausted and cannot be renewed, and must ultimately lead to destruction of the society. But this case does not satisfy our conditions of a society that just manages to keep continuously alive” (Sraffa’s Unpublished Papers and Correspondence, Trinity College Library, Cambridge, UK, as catalogued by Jonathan Smith, D3:12:42: 33, dated 25 March 1946; Sraffa’s emphasis, quoted in Kurz et al., 2000). Thus Sraffa states that his theory, the “Physical real costs” theory, is taking into account the natural resources. I argue that this is not true: my position is that Sraffa is not dealing with natural resources, but with commodities produced by industries and exchanged in the market. Thus all resources which are not produced by industries or which are not exchanged in the market (for instance, wastes) are not encompassed by its model, and can not receive a price. And we have a confirmation of this when, in chapter Ⅺ of his book, Sraffa explicitly introduces natural resources: “natural resources which are used in production, such as land and mineral deposits, and which being in short supply enable their owners to obtain a rent, can be said to occupy among means of production a position equivalent to that of 'non-basics' among products. Being employed in production, but not themselves produced, they are the converse of commodities which, although produced, are not used in production” (Sraffa, 1960, § 85). In this chapter, we will see how Sraffa deals with natural resources in his book, through the problematic of the rent, in section [1] (after a short introduction about the introduction of the rent in Quesnay and Ricardo's theories). Then we will see how the neo-Ricardians manage to introduce these resources in their models and how they deals with general environmental problems. First we will see the case of exhaustible resources in section [2] and then we will study the introduction of waste, the management of pollution control and the exploitation of renewable resources in section [3].

The paper presents results of the research which was carried out in KTU APINI when implementing one stage of the PF7 program project “Polygeneration of energy, fuels, and fertilizers from biomass residues and sewage sludge (ENERCOM)” (No TREN/FP7/EN/218916). The research objective was to assess possibilities of producing solid recovered fuel (SRF) from compost produced from pre-treated sewage sludge and biomass residuals in “Soil-Concept” plant (Luxemburg). Feasibility of producing pellets and briquettes using the composites of compost, sawdust, and peat was analyzed. Technical and environmental evaluations of SRF production were carried out on the basis of pelleting and briquetting tests. Main chemical and physical parameters of produced SRF were analyzed and compared to the recovered fuel classificatory (CEN/TC 343). All pellets and briquettes, produced during the experiment, were attributed to a certain class of recovered fuel. Results of technical and environmental evaluations of SRF production and their burning as well as conclusions and recommendations made are presented. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.erem.62.4.2742

International audience; Natural plankton communities from a tropical freshwater reservoir (Combani Reservoir, Mayotte Island, Mozambique Channel) were exposed, in 20-l nutrient-enriched microcosms, to two nominal concentrations of three pesticides: the herbicides diuron (2.2 and 11 mu g/l) and paraquat (10 and 40.5 mu g/l) and the insecticide fenitrothion (10 and 100 mu g/l), commonly used in the tropics for agriculture and disease vector control. Bacterioplankton, phytoplankton, and zooplankton communities were monitored for 5 days after exposure, and the concentrations of toxicant and major nutrients were measured. Bacterioplankton growth was noticeable in all systems and was slightly affected by pesticide at any concentration. A transitory increase in thymidine-based bacterial production was observed in diuron- and fenitrothion-treated microcosms, followed by a marked decrease in all microcosms after 5 days. The functional diversity of bacterioplankton, evaluated using BIOLOG ECO (R) microplates, was reduced by exposure to the highest pesticide concentrations. Phytoplankton was affected by pesticides in different ways. Chlorophyll biomass and biovolumes were increased by diuron addition and decreased by paraquat, whereas fenitrothion-treated microcosms remained unaffected relative to controls. Phytoplankton taxonomic diversity was decreased by paraquat and high doses of fenitrothion but was unaffected by addition of diuron. The decrease in diversity was due to a reduction in the number of species, whereas the density of small cells increased, especially after addition of paraquat. Heterotrophic flagellates were sensitive to paraquat and to the highest diuron concentration; a reduction in biomass of up to 90% was observed for 40.5 mu g/l paraquat. Zooplankton, dominated by Thermocyclops decipiens and Diaphanosoma excisum, was slightly sensitive to diuron, and very sensitive to paraquat. High concentrations of the insecticide fenitrothion were effective only on young stages. The potential direct and indirect effects of pesticide contamination on such a simplified plankton food web, typical of newly constructed reservoirs, appear to differ significantly depending on the biological compartment considered. The overall sensitivity of tropical plankton is comparable to the sensitivity for temperate systems, and direct and indirect effects appeared rapidly, within 5 days of exposure.