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12 million jobs will be lost to automation across Europe by 2040, says Forrester

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Forrester forecasts that 34 percent of European jobs are at risk and 12 million jobs will be lost to automation across five European countries – France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK – by 2040.

While the pandemic continues to pressure European businesses to invest more heavily and rapidly in automation, it’s not the only factor contributing to the forecasted job loss.

According to Forrester’s Future of Jobs Forecast, 2020 to 2040 (Europe-5), workers with little bargaining power are most at risk of displacement, especially in countries where many are subject to casual employment contracts, including zero-hour contracts in the UK, which require no guaranteed working hours, or part-time jobs with low wages, such as “mini-jobs” in Germany. [Read more…] about 12 million jobs will be lost to automation across Europe by 2040, says Forrester

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RUDN mathematician builds a COVID-19 spread model – it shows how vaccination affects pandemic

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RUDN University mathematicians built a model of COVID-19 spreading based on two regression models. The mathematicians divided the countries into three groups, depending on the spreading rate and on the climatic conditions, and found a suitable mathematical approximation for each of them.

Based on the model, the mathematicians predicted the subsequent waves. The forecast was accurate in countries where mass vaccination was not introduced. The results are published in Mathematics.

The epidemy spreading rate within the country depends, among other things, on the climatic conditions: temperature, humidity, winds. For example, in the cold season, dry air dries the nasal mucus out which acts as a first line of defence to the virus. Therefore, a person becomes infected faster. High temperature, on the contrary, prevents the virus from surviving. [Read more…] about RUDN mathematician builds a COVID-19 spread model – it shows how vaccination affects pandemic

Plastic waste has some economic benefit for developing countries

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For decades, wealthy nations have transported plastic trash, and the environmental problems that go with it, to poorer countries, but researchers have found a potential bright side to this seemingly unequal trade: plastic waste may provide an economic boon for the lower-income countries.

In a study published in the Journal of World Systems Research, Yikang Bai of Washington State University and Jennifer Givens of Utah State University analyzed 11 years of data on the global plastics trade against economic measures for 85 countries.

They found that the import of plastic waste was associated with growth in gross domestic product per capita in the lower-income countries. [Read more…] about Plastic waste has some economic benefit for developing countries

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    New global rules curb unrestricted plastic waste exportsGovernments at the 14th Conference of the Parties (COP14) of the Basel Convention acted to restrict rampant plastic waste exports by requiring countries to obtain prior informed consent before exporting contaminated or mixed plastic waste. A deluge of plastic waste exports from developed countries has polluted developing countries in Southeast…
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  • Plastic waste disintegrates into nanoparticles, study finds
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    Plastic waste disintegrates into nanoparticles, study findsThere is a considerable risk that plastic waste in the environment releases nano-sized particles known as nanoplastics, according to a new study from Lund University. The researchers studied what happened when takeaway coffee cup lids, for example, were subjected to mechanical breakdown, in an effort to mimic the degradation that…
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  • Scientists calculate impact of China’s ban on plastic waste imports
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    Scientists calculate impact of China’s ban on plastic waste importsWhile recycling is often touted as the solution to the large-scale production of plastic waste, upwards of half of the plastic waste intended for recycling is exported from higher income countries to other nations, with China historically taking the largest share. But in 2017, China passed the "National Sword" policy,…
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  • Serving size, satisfaction influence food waste on campus
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    Serving size, satisfaction influence food waste on campusUnderstanding what drives food choices can help high-volume food service operations like universities reduce waste, according to a new study. Researchers have concluded that food waste in places like university cafeterias is driven by how much people put on their plates, how familiar they are with what's on the menu…
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  • US Department of Energy to invest $25 million in polymer upcyling, plastic waste reuse research
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    US Department of Energy to invest $25 million in polymer upcyling, plastic waste reuse researchThe US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced plans to invest $25 million in fundamental science to lay the groundwork for technology that finds reuses for plastic waste, makes strides toward addressing the global plastic waste crisis, and reduces the climate impacts of plastic production. DOE's research investment will focus…
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Study: Culture influences mask wearing

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Around the world and within the U.S., the percentage of people wearing masks during the Covid-19 pandemic has varied enormously. What explains this? A new study co-authored by an MIT faculty member finds that a public sense of “collectivism” clearly predicts mask usage, adding a cultural and psychological perspective to the issue.

The study uses a series of datasets about mask usage and public attitudes, along with well-established empirical indices of collectivism, to evaluate the impact of those cultural differences on this element of the pandemic response.

“Our data both within the United States and across the world shows that collectivism is a strong and important predictor of whether people in a region wear masks or not,” says Jackson G. Lu, an assistant professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and co-author of a new paper detailing the results. [Read more…] about Study: Culture influences mask wearing

New global rules curb unrestricted plastic waste exports

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Governments at the 14th Conference of the Parties (COP14) of the Basel Convention acted to restrict rampant plastic waste exports by requiring countries to obtain prior informed consent before exporting contaminated or mixed plastic waste.

A deluge of plastic waste exports from developed countries has polluted developing countries in Southeast Asia after China closed the door to waste imports in 2018. IPEN, the global network of environmental health, science and public interest organizations that has exposed environmental impacts of plastic waste exports to developing countries, applauded the move as a critical step to stem the toxic tide of plastic waste.

Norway proposed the new restrictions and received overwhelming support at the meeting. Opponents of the decision included Argentina, Brazil, US, and the chemicals and plastics industries. Aggressive industry and US lobbying at a previous UN meeting temporarily slowed progress on the plastics waste issue, but at this meeting, governments took a dramatic step forward. [Read more…] about New global rules curb unrestricted plastic waste exports

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  • Plastic waste has some economic benefit for developing countries
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    Plastic waste has some economic benefit for developing countriesFor decades, wealthy nations have transported plastic trash, and the environmental problems that go with it, to poorer countries, but researchers have found a potential bright side to this seemingly unequal trade: plastic waste may provide an economic boon for the lower-income countries. In a study published in the Journal of…
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  • Rivers are the ‘main culprit’ for carrying plastic debris into the sea
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  • Plastic waste disintegrates into nanoparticles, study finds
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    Plastic waste disintegrates into nanoparticles, study findsThere is a considerable risk that plastic waste in the environment releases nano-sized particles known as nanoplastics, according to a new study from Lund University. The researchers studied what happened when takeaway coffee cup lids, for example, were subjected to mechanical breakdown, in an effort to mimic the degradation that…
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  • US Department of Energy to invest $25 million in polymer upcyling, plastic waste reuse research
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Virtual pollination trade uncovers global dependence on biodiversity for food consumption

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Recently, a published study in Science Advances assessed the contribution of pollinators to international market flows and showed that biodiversity conservation is essential to sustain global consumption patterns.

This study results from the work of an interdisciplinary team that integrated researchers across the fields of economics, ecology, environmental sciences and social sciences.

Given the growing global demand for crops, sustainability in agriculture is one of the main challenges for human society. Together with the excessive use of chemical inputs, the loss of natural habitat associated with cropland expansion is one of the main drivers of biodiversity decline, and more specifically of pollinator decline. [Read more…] about Virtual pollination trade uncovers global dependence on biodiversity for food consumption

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The value of cooperation for sustainable development in transboundary river basins

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Can cooperation across sectors and countries help to achieve sustainable development? How do stakeholders in the Indus and Zambezi basins envision the future and how can they make that future a reality?

Researchers at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) looked into these questions as part of a large-scale initiative with international partners.

In November 2016, IIASA partnered with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to establish the Integrated Solutions for Water, Energy, and Land (ISWEL) project. [Read more…] about The value of cooperation for sustainable development in transboundary river basins

Happiness really does come for free

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Economic growth is often prescribed as a sure way of increasing the well-being of people in low-income countries, but a study led by McGill and the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Technologies at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) suggests that there may be good reason to question this assumption.

The researchers set out to find out how people rate their subjective well-being in societies where money plays a minimal role, and which are not usually included in global happiness surveys. They found that the majority of people reported remarkably high levels of happiness. This was especially true in the communities with the lowest levels of monetization, where citizens reported a degree of happiness comparable to that found in Scandinavian countries which typically rate highest in the world.

The results suggest that high levels of subjective well-being can be achieved with minimal monetization, challenging the perception that economic growth will automatically raise life satisfaction among low-income populations. [Read more…] about Happiness really does come for free

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