World, Volume 3, Issue 2 (June 2022) – 12 articles

Environmental determinism is often used to explain past social collapses and to predict the future of modern human societies. We assess the availability of natural resources and the resulting carrying capacity (a basic concept of environmental determinism) through a toy model based on Hurst–Kolmogorov dynamics. We also highlight the role of social cohesion, and we evaluate it from an entropic viewpoint. Furthermore, we make the case that, when it comes to the demise of civilizations, while environmental influences may be in the mix, social dynamics is the main driver behind their decline and eventual collapse. We examine several prehistorical and historical cases of civilization collapse, the most characteristic being that of the Minoan civilization, whose disappearance c. 1100 BC has fostered several causative hypotheses. In general, we note that these hypotheses are based on catastrophic environmental causes, which nevertheless occurred a few hundred years before the collapse of Minoans. Specifically, around 1500 BC, Minoans managed to overpass many environmental adversities. As we have not found justified reasons based on the environmental determinism for when the collapse occurred (around 1100 BC), we hypothesize a possible transformation of the Minoans’ social structure as the cause of the collapse. Full article

The new Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic was responsible for one of the worst public health crises in Brazil, which led to the implementation of economic policies to keep social distance. Our aim is to perform an epidemiological analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, in 2021, highlighting the impact of government commercial policies on pandemic control. This is an epidemiological, observational, and analytical study with secondary data. We constructed a regression for count data using the Poisson model. Data adherence to the regression was verified by Cameron & Trivedi and the Likelihood Ratio tests. According to the Poisson model, there was a statistically significant association (p < 0.001) between the adoption of rigid commercial interventions and the drop in deaths. Moreover, we revealed a consistency between the economic policies and the number of screening tests applied, which may have contributed to the deaths behavior. This study shows the importance of institutionalizing economic policies and their positive impacts on pandemic control; however, it raises the discussion about the serious repercussions of these measures on population vulnerability. Full article

In rural Kyrgyzstan, the energy need is usually derived from multiple natural energy resources such as firewood, charcoal, agricultural residues, animal dung, and wood branches, which are considered common and predominant practices. Because of the non-sustainable resources and heavy reliance on the environment, Kyrgyzstan is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in Central Asia. On the contrary, the great renewable energy potential in Kyrgyzstan is untapped, which could be the most promising solution to ensuring sustainable energy supply in the country. However, because of the lack of scientific knowledge, current energy policies, and the lack of infrastructure, renewable resources are mainly untapped. To exploit the country’s renewable energy potential, there is a need for a systematic diagnosis to develop a strategy to explore renewables in Kyrgyzstan, which is currently missing in the existing literature. In that regard, the presented study aims to assess the current status of renewable energy sources by considering the local energy context from a potential point of view. Further to this, it provides a comparative overview through a matrix of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Such novel analysis would be the fundamental base for formulating policy advice and a national plan to enhance the utilization of renewable energy in Kyrgyzstan. The presented analysis was carried out based on the extensive literature review, the country’s national plan, and the existing energy policies of Kyrgyzstan. The article found out that there is huge potential available for the renewable energy market. As compared to other renewable energy sources, solar energy has great potential and can be considered one of the pioneer sustainable sources for integration into the country’s power generation framework. Full article

This article takes a critical view on austerity policy and examines its social and economic consequences for the case of Greece. By introducing the concept of “growthless employment” it demonstrates that the implementation of internal devaluation policies had a substantial impact on the Greek society that needs to be addressed. Within a decade, household disposable income was reduced to an unprecedented level while the labour market was extensively deregulated as several indicators can display. The seemingly paradoxical case of employment without growth—hence, growthless employment—can be interpreted as the consequence of the intensity of the mix of austerity policies that was imposed as “one-size-fits-all” without taking the peculiar structure of the Greek economy into account. A descriptive examination of this idiosyncratic state of affairs is offered, providing new insights on how the level of depreciation can be better assessed. It is argued that the overall severity of the crisis is better captured by the level of disposable income whereas a modified measurement of poverty and income depreciation is introduced for the same purpose. Lastly it is maintained that Greece has suffered by an enormous outflow of its productive-aged population in the aftermath of the crisis. All the above concretise the idea of growthless employment in Greece. Full article

In this last paper in a series of four, we will enquire into key developments affecting economic growth in the near future, consider potential restructuring effects that current and future economic events could cause and survey suggestions from literature for long-term sustainability of growth trends. Discussing climate change, COVID-19 economic recovery, automation, and future growth with a view to global development, we explore where growth may take economies, and how we may foster growth in a rapidly changing international economic landscape. Full article

Systems thinking competence is one of the key sustainability competences to make the future more sustainable by focusing on individuals’ capability to analyse sustainability problems across different sectors and scales. The other competencies to foster systems thinking are futures thinking competence, values and critical thinking competence, action-oriented competence, and collaboration competence. In this study, we examined Finnish people’s systems thinking competence and its connections to sustainable transformation. The survey data collected from Finns (n = 2006) were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical regression analysis. The study showed that the sustainability component loaded reliably into principal components. In particular, the Cronbach’s alpha (0.91) and Spearman–Brown (0.90) were high for systems thinking competence. The hierarchical regression analysis showed that Finns’ values, critical thinking, and individual action-oriented competence predict their systems thinking competence. The results indicate that Finns’ ideas of climate change and biodiversity loss mitigation arise from their individual values and opinions that actions are implemented in an ethically just way. Full article

The pursuit of wealth has been a basic occupation of humans; as it turns out, wealth increases life expectancy. Analyzing global data, we show that money, probably connected with medical care, increase life expectancy. However, the base of real wealth is access to the Water–Energy–Food nexus, and the access to this also increases life expectancy. The first objective of this study was to compare the present values of wealth with antiquity, and we showed that about 1.4 billion people live in the present under the average lower wages of antiquity. As a case study, we analyze the construction of the Hadrianic aqueduct. We present a detailed description of the construction and the used methods, and we identify the total requirement of labor–time. Then, we investigate the wages of various occupations in the first century AD. The second objective of this study was the estimation of the total cost of daily wages for the construction of the project and the effect of the aqueduct on Athenians’ quality of life. Finally, we show that, today, about two billion people live with less available water than Athenians had with the Hadrianic aqueduct in the second century A.D. Full article

In this paper, we explore the idea of social innovation as both a conceptual and practical means of delivering positive social, economic and environmental outcomes in marginal rural areas. Definitions are critically appraised, and the dual contemporary origins of the term social innovation (in management sciences and critical social science) are explored. There has been much conceptual confusion, in particular about the extent to which civil society agency is central or desirable in social innovation. Social innovation can be seen to be closely connected to a range of theories that inform both innovation and rural development, but it lacks a singular theoretical “home”. Social innovation can also have a dark side, which merits scrutiny. Three case studies illustrate social innovation processes and outcomes in different parts of Europe. Where committed actors, local enabling agency and overarching policies align, the outcomes of social innovations can be considerable. If rarely transformational, social innovation has shown itself capable of delivering positive socioeconomic and environmental outcomes in more bounded spatial settings. It seems questionable whether social innovation will survive as an organising and capacity-building concept alongside more established principles, such as community-led local development, which, although not exactly social innovation, is very similar and already firmly embedded in policy guidance or whether it will be replaced by new equally fuzzy ideas, such as the smart village approach. Full article

This study applies consistent fuzzy preference relations (CFPR) to evaluate the influential criteria of revitalization strategies (RS) for the hospitality industry in the post-pandemic (COVID-19) era in Taiwan. A real case applies CFPR in order to analyze the relationship between governmental implementation and industrial expectations in Taiwan. The results indicate that “market revitalization”, such as the Taiwanese government’s implementation of various stimulus vouchers and coupons to encourage market consumption and revitalize the overall economy, is considered the most essential/important criteria for RS. This study strengthens the government sector by evaluating the heterogeneity of revitalization strategies best used to formulate the actions to pilot industries as a global contribution to fight the COVID-19 pandemic within a global crisis. Full article

The objective of the paper is to examine whether female participation in the labor force (FPLF) is influenced by a country’s participation in international markets through foreign direct investment (FDI)—a proxy for globalization. We obtained a panel dataset from the World Development Indicators database for 99 countries from 2001 to 2018, and used the system generalized method of moments (system GMM) to estimate a dynamic panel model with appropriate specification tests. The results show that FDI encourages FPLF to some extent, but the positive effects are more robust for low- and middle-income countries than high-income countries. We also found that results are sensitive to extreme outlier observations in the explanatory factor FDI. These results have important policy implications for low- and middle-income countries; they recommend a focus on sectors that generate higher FDI, as these sectors stand to yield the greatest benefits with regards to female labor force participation. Full article

Greenery is one of the most influential factors in reducing the outdoor air temperature and enhancing the microclimate in hot areas. Previous studies focused on studying Urban Heat Islands (UHI) on a specific level; this research investigates the impact of greenery on different levels and three types of UHI, pedestrian, canopy, and boundary, to provide a holistic image of greenery impact on the atmosphere. Further, whereas vegetation impact has been addressed in previous studies, no valuable study has been found that investigates the impact of vegetation within the local climate conditions of the UAE. In this research, different types of greenery will be investigated to find their impact on outdoor microclimate parameters and the UHI within the hot climate conditions of the UAE. The case study of this research is a boulevard located in Dubai; the International Media Protection Zone’s main boulevard was selected to simulate different scenarios based on vegetation type and Leaf Area Density (LAD) using ENVI-met. The results showed that 12 m trees and the cylindrical tree are the most effective vegetation in reducing the air temperature; the variation between these scenarios and the existing case reaches 0.70 °C and 0.66 °C, respectively. The 10 m trees also have an influencing impact on reducing the air temperature by 0.50 °C. The same vegetation types showed a positive performance in absorbing shortwave radiation. The reduction in the reflected wave compared to the reference case was 36.07 W/m² and 31.45 W/m² for the 12 m and 10 m trees, respectively. Furthermore, the reduction in air temperature of a proposed scenario can reach 2.41 °C, 1.12 °C, and 1.08 °C for the investigated UHI levels. The results of this study will provide a canyon greenery prototype, with optimized performance in hot, humid climate areas. Full article

In contrast to the way economic history is often presented, our aim is to provide a concise coverage of economic growth in the UK in four short essays that are written for a general audience of non-economists. In this first essay, we explore the drastic change Britain underwent in the mid-18th century, as agriculture and traditional production methods began to mechanise, increasing productivity to exceed the limits of the land and human strength. For the first time, people witnessed increases in the standard of living within a generation as national wealth soared. It ended centuries of subsistence living in which growth was negligible. As the 19th century dawned, Britain welcomed the steam era, an ignition of modernity, transforming travel, trade and production. We shed light on the wider repercussions of Britain’s economic dominance, highlighting the consequences of rapid urbanisation and assessing the implications of the era of Imperial strength. Full article