DSpace-CRIS 8

Global concerns over environmental issues have reached unprecedented levels in recent years, with strong evidence linking extreme weather events to human influence. In response, vibrant activist movements have emerged, advocating for urgent environmental action. These movements engage in a spectrum of actions, from normative (e.g., organizing marches) to more extreme and potentially illegal activities (e.g., blocking roads or property destruction). Environmental activism, defined as collective action aimed at advocating for policy changes, has been extensively studied, revealing insights into its dynamics, including the role of education in fostering environmental consciousness and the related behavioral outcomes, including the tendency to radicalization. While radicalization has often been equated with terrorism and, therefore, with violent manifestations, it actually refers to a psychological process that does not necessarily lead to violence and can manifest itself in various contexts, including environmental activism. Although current instances of violent radicalization in environmental movements are rare, there is a growing concern, highlighted by public institutions and scholars, that escalating climate crises and perceived inefficacy of normative measures may lead to future radicalization. In this report, we discuss how to foster peaceful climate change activism and reduce the risk of radicalization through educational programs by reviewing definitions of the wide spectrum of environmental activism and the theoretical approaches used to study them, discussing the effectiveness of different actions and the portrayal of climate change activists in the media, and focusing on environmental litigations and the role of environmental literacy as a potential tool to empower climate change movements.

Sielovados – Bažnyčios veiklos, skirtos skelbti Dievo Žodį ir gelbstinčią malonę ypač tiems, kurie patiria įvairių sunkumų bei yra sudėtingose dvasinėse situacijose, – veikimo akiratyje yra ir jūrininkai. Jūrininko profesija apibūdinama kaip viena rizikingiausių, ji reikalauja ilgo atitolimo nuo šeimos, socialinės izoliacijos, kelia emocinį stresą, fizinių pavojų. Ši profesija dažnai romantizuojama, tačiau iš tiesų jūrininkai susiduria su psichologinėmis ir socialinėmis problemomis, tokiomis kaip vienatvė, depresija ir priklausomybės. Laivo aplinka nėra pritaikyta jų dvasiniams ir emociniams poreikiams, o sudėtingos darbo sąlygos sekina psichinę jūreivių sveikatą. Straipsnyje atskleidžiama jūrininkų sielovados svarba, apibūdinama jos specifika, akcentuojama teigiama šios veiklos įtaka jūrininkų gyvenimo kokybei. Sielovados vaidmuo yra svarbus padedant jūrininkams įveikti iškilusius iššūkius. Sielovadininkai veikia kaip tarpininkai tarp jūros ir sausumos pasaulių, teikdami tiek praktinę, tiek dvasinę pagalbą. Jie padeda jūrininkams palaikyti ryšį su šeimomis, organizuoja religines apeigas ir teikia emocinį palaikymą. Be to, jūrininkų sielovada apima įvairias funkcijas, pvz., gydymą, dvasinį vadovavimą, susitaikymą ir palaikymą. Šios paslaugos ypač svarbios dėl jūrininkų izoliacijos ir ribotų galimybių dalyvauti bendruomenės gyvenime. Straipsnyje taip pat aptariami iššūkiai, su kuriais susiduria jūrininkų sielovadininkai, tarp jų – laiko trūkumas uostuose, kultūriniai skirtumai ir praktiniai sunkumai. Pabrėžiama, kad sielovada turėtų atitikti jūrininkų poreikius ir būti derinama su Bažnyčios misija. Lietuvos jūrininkų sielovada dar tik vystosi, tačiau sėkmingai plėtojamos iniciatyvos rodo, kad šios veiklos svarba nuolat auga. Straipsnyje, pristatant jūrininkų sielovados sampratą ir reikšmingumą bei aptariant jūrininkų sielovadinės veiklos iššūkius, siekiama atskleisti jūrininkų sielovadinės veiklos realijas ir ypatumus.

Under current circumstances, coastal lagoons are net emitters of nitrous oxide (N2O) to the atmosphere. We hypothesize that widespread nitrogen-driven coastal eutrophication will enhance N2O production and emissions from coastal lagoons. Here, we quantified spatial and temporal patterns of sediment-water and water-air N2O fluxes in three large eutrophic lagoons in Europe. Annual sediment N2O fluxes ranged between −0.3 ± 0.3 (summer) and 10.6 ± 2.0 μmol m−2 d−1 (spring). In spring, conspicuous sediment effluxes were mainly supported by high nitrate concentrations (89–202 μM) and incomplete denitrification. In summer, a small sediment influx was related to nitrate limitation (0–9 μM), potentially leading to N2O demand for denitrification. The water-air N2O fluxes were comparable with benthic fluxes, indicating that sediment was the main source of N2O to the atmosphere. The hypereutrophic Curonian Lagoon had the largest N2O emission at 4.9 ± 2.1 μmol m−2 d−1, while the less eutrophic Oder and Vistula lagoons emitted 2.5 ± 1.0 and 2.0 ± 0.7 μmol m−2 d−1, respectively. Our observations, combined with earlier measurements in coastal lagoons worldwide, revealed a lagoon median (Q1–Q3) N2O emission of 14.2 (2.7–29.8) Gg yr−1, which is about 48% higher than previous estimates. Eutrophication driven by large nitrogen inputs is thus a significant driver of coastal N2O emissions globally.

Background. Treatment with angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors reduces the rate of cardiovascular events among patients with left-ventricular dysfunction and those at high risk of such events. We assessed whether the ACE inhibitor perindopril reduced cardiovascular risk in a low-risk population with stable coronary heart disease and no apparent heart failure. Methods We recruited patients from October, 1997, to June, 2000. 13 655 patients were registered with previous myocardial infarction (64%), angiographic evidence of coronary artery disease (61%), coronary revascularisation (55%), or a positive stress test only (5%). After a run-in period of 4 weeks, in which all patients received perindopril, 12 218 patients were randomly assigned perindopril 8 mg once daily (n=6110), or matching placebo (n=6108). The mean follow-up was 4.2 years, and the primary endpoint was cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or cardiac arrest. Analysis was by intention to treat...

Recent comprehensive data provided through the DAISIE project (www.europe-aliens.org) have facilitated the development of the first pan-European assessment of the impacts of alien plants, vertebrates, and invertebrates – in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments – on ecosystem services. There are 1094 species with documented ecological impacts and 1347 with economic impacts. The two taxonomic groups with the most species causing impacts are terrestrial invertebrates and terrestrial plants. The North Sea is the maritime region that suffers the most impacts. Across taxa and regions, ecological and economic impacts are highly correlated. Terrestrial invertebrates create greater economic impacts than ecological impacts, while the reverse is true for terrestrial plants. Alien species from all taxonomic groups affect “supporting”, “provisioning”, “regulating”, and “cultural” services and interfere with human well-being. Terrestrial vertebrates are responsible for the greatest range of impacts, and these are widely distributed across Europe. Here, we present a review of the financial costs, as the first step toward calculating an estimate of the economic consequences of alien species in Europe.

1 Pathways describe the processes that result in the introduction of alien species from one location to another. A framework is proposed to facilitate the comparative analysis of invasion pathways by a wide range of taxa in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Comparisons with a range of data helped identify existing gaps in current knowledge of pathways and highlight the limitations of existing legislation to manage introductions of alien species. The scheme aims for universality but uses the European Union as a case study for the regulatory perspectives. 2 Alien species may arrive and enter a new region through three broad mechanisms: importation of a commodity, arrival of a transport vector, and/or natural spread from a neighbouring region where the species is itself alien. These three mechanisms result in six principal pathways: release, escape, contaminant, stowaway, corridor and unaided. 3 Alien species transported as commodities may be introduced as a deliberate release or as an escape from captivity. Many species are not intentionally transported but arrive as a contaminant of a commodity, for example pathogens and pests. Stowaways are directly associated with human transport but arrive independently of a specific commodity, for example organisms transported in ballast water, cargo and airfreight. The corridor pathway highlights the role transport infrastructures play in the introduction of alien species. The unaided pathway describes situations where natural spread results in alien species arriving into a new region from a donor region where it is also alien. 4 Vertebrate pathways tend to be characterized as deliberate releases, invertebrates as contaminants and plants as escapes. Pathogenic micro-organisms and fungi are generally introduced as contaminants of their hosts. The corridor and unaided pathways are often ignored in pathway assessments but warrant further detailed consideration. 5 Synthesis and applications. Intentional releases and escapes should be straightforward to monitor and regulate but, in practice, developing legislation has proved difficult. New introductions continue to occur through contaminant, stowaway, corridor and unaided pathways. These pathways represent special challenges for management and legislation. The present framework should enable these trends to be monitored more clearly and hopefully lead to the development of appropriate regulations or codes of practice to stem the number of future introductions.

The accelerating rates of international trade, travel, and transport in the latter half of the twentieth century have led to the progressive mixing of biota from across the world and the number of species introduced to new regions continues to increase. The importance of biogeographic, climatic, economic, and demographic factors as drivers of this trend is increasingly being realized but as yet there is no consensus regarding their relative importance. Whereas little may be done to mitigate the effects of geography and climate on invasions, a wider range of options may exist to moderate the impacts of economic and demographic drivers. Here we use the most recent data available from Europe to partition between macroecological, economic, and demographic variables the variation in alien species richness of bryophytes, fungi, vascular plants, terrestrial insects, aquatic invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Only national wealth and human population density were statistically significant predictors in the majority of models when analyzed jointly with climate, geography, and land cover. The economic and demographic variables reflect the intensity of human activities and integrate the effect of factors that directly determine the outcome of invasion such as propagule pressure, pathways of introduction, eutrophication, and the intensity of anthropogenic disturbance. The strong influence of economic and demographic variables on the levels of invasion by alien species demonstrates that future solutions to the problem of biological invasions at a national scale lie in mitigating the negative environmental consequences of human activities that generate wealth and by promoting more sustainable population growth.