Abstract
In this issue of Sustainability and Climate Change we highlight topics from coal and the use and impact of plastic to waterborne disease. Our contributors offer opportunities for engagement from curriculum design to community partnerships and point out the potential challenges of sustainability, namely the dynamic aspects of implementation and the risks of convergence related to a limited perspective.
These discussions and others we have included in our previous issues provide ideas that can be implemented in various settings as well as modified to increase understanding of situations removed from the context of their writing. Ideas are what we are focused on disseminating at Sustainability and Climate Change and this is highlighted in both our book reviews, which this month address a religious perspective and the rationale and social norm of collectivism. As of the start of this year, we have short podcasts available featuring the authors of the books we review. Please take a moment to stop by the Journal's homepage and hear from the speakers highlighted in the Sustainability Speakers Series.
As part of our overall initiative, I am also happy and excited to announce the launch of our special issue dedicated to student research. The Call for Papers is provided on the Journal's homepage and appears in this issue. The discussion of sustainability often references the significance of the youth and the need for age inclusive discussion. The explicit intention of this special issue is to provide a dedicated publication to achieve the latter. We encourage authors and author teams at the undergraduate and graduate level, as well as those five years or less into their post-graduate level, including PhD candidates to submit viewpoint, commentaries, perspectives, and original research. Submissions will be subject to review by professionals and academics engaged in the focus area of the submission. The deadline for submissions is November 1, 2022, and the issue will be published in early 2023. We look forward to submissions and working with students to engage in the historical relevance of sustainability and climate change.
Arguably, all times are historic, the limitations of acknowledgment are often related to those living; it is in how we define the extraordinary that determines the perception of an event. For example, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has historic properties but independent of the military action, it has other aspects that relate to the past and can provide insight on how we can enable a sustainable future.
In July 1979, then United States President Jimmy Carter pleaded with the American public to reduce dependence on foreign oil as an act of patriotism. Since that time, on a global scale, dependence on fossil fuel-based energy production has increased. Further, countries consume what they do not produce. The latter has allowed for a trade-off between the present and the future, as some countries were slow to condemn Russia due to their oil dependency and others, like the United States, have facilitated increased reserves.
As our readers are aware, fossil fuels are tied to manmade climate change. Most recently with the Paris Agreement, the needed modification in fossil-fuel-based energy use and conservation have been addressed and committed to for some time. However, the inconvenience of augmenting consumption to promote a future aligned to the natural world remains challenging to implement. The challenge rests in understanding and engaging stakeholders to a common goal for the future that includes action in the present, where we are able act on conscience because we refuse to let maintenance of present lifestyles pre-empt our empathy. These recent set of events highlights the significance of the exchange of ideas. In doing so we promote engagement on issues and connection between values and actions.
I look forward to your submissions and invite your research and ideas! Thank you for your readership and support as we provide a platform to enable a better future.
Madhavi Venkatesan, PhD
Editor-in-Chief