Environmental Crises at the End of Safavid History: The Collapse of Iran's Early Modern Imperial Ecology, 1666–1722

The 17th century was a period of transition in world history. It was marked globally by social movements emerging in response to widespread drought, famine, disease, warfare, and dislocation linked to climate change. Historians have yet to situate Safavid Iran (1501–1722) within the “General Crisis.” This article, coauthored by an environmental historian and a climate scientist, revisits primary sources and incorporates tree-ring evidence to argue that an ecological crisis beginning in the late 17th century contributed to the collapse of the imperial ecology of the Safavid Empire. A declining resource base and demographic decline conditioned the unraveling of imperial networks and the empire's eventual fall to a small band of Afghan raiders in 1722. Ultimately, this article makes a case for the connectedness of Iran to broader global environmental trends in this period, with local circumstances and human agency shaping a period of acute environmental crisis in Iran.

Critical theory and the future of humanity: A reply to Asger Sørensen

The article entails a critical discussion of the book Capitalism, Alienation and Critique by Asger Sørensen. Like Sørensen’s book, it stresses the importance of the first generation of critical theory – especially Horkheimer and Adorno – although Sørensen is at the same time critized for neglecting the insights of Horkheimer and Adornos work from the mid-1940s and onwards. In arguing for the actuality of especially the late Horkheimer, the article emphasizes the following topics: (1) The problems of education and ‘Bildung’, (2) The historical transformation of the critique of Capitalism after the Second World War and (3) The drawbacks of classical humanism when it comes to grasping the current political and ecological crisis.

Mindful Sustainable Consumption and Sustainability Chatbots in Fast Fashion Retailing During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic and ecological crisis are paving the way for new consumption models based on customers’ conscious choices and the subsequent integration of sustainable policies into retailers’ business strategies. As a consequence, the current consumer trends suggest that more people are becoming aware of their consumption standards and their repercussion on the environment and society. Statistics demonstrate that, in their purchasing processes, these “mindful customers” now search for a sustainable, self-sufficient way of living in harmony with nature. This paper argues that artificial intelligence (AI) is able to facilitate this process in the marketplace. More specifically, mindfulness with the support of AI technologies could be a plausible way to activate sustainable consumption patterns for avoiding overconsumption. The life-changing ability of mindful consumption is reviewed in this paper across domains of sustainability. Using a comprehensive literature review, the paper first outlines the theoretical and conceptual foundations of the mindful sustainable consumption (MSC) approach that fills the literature gap that almost always separates mindful consumption from sustainability. Second, the new conceptual approach is applied through a strategic framework in the field of fast fashion retailing through the use of AI-powered chatbots. In particular, the study defines a new category of chatbots, named sustainability chatbots (SC), which could convey mindful and sustainable consumption choices. The paper highlights that the MSC approach combined with the support of SC could enable marketing managers to create the appropriate context for embedding sustainability into consumer behaviour and fast fashion retailers’ strategies from a value co-creation perspective.

Protecting those who protect nature by supporting conservationists’ mental wellbeing

Biodiversity conservation work can be challenging but rewarding, with potential consequences for conservationists’ mental health. Yet, little is known about patterns of mental health among conservationists and its associated protective and risk factors. A better understanding can help improve working conditions, supporting conservationists’ job satisfaction, productivity, and engagement, while reducing costs from staff turnover, absenteeism, and presenteeism. We surveyed 2311 conservationists across 143 countries, asking about experiences of psychological distress, personal characteristics, and workplace conditions. Moderate or severe distress was reported by 27.8%. Respondents with low dispositional and conservation-specific optimism, poor physical health, limited social support, women, and early-career professionals were most at risk. Heavy workload, job demands, and organisational instability were linked to higher distress, but job stability and satisfaction with one’s contributions to conservation were associated with lower distress. We suggest ways employers and others could support conservationists’ mental health and ability to tackle the global ecological crisis.

Ecolinguistics: A half-century overview

The last 50 years have witnessed ecolinguistics come into bloom as a mature domain. This paper aims to examine the half-century development of ecolinguistics by reviewing its backgrounds, definitions, strands, and approaches, and also briefly previewing its future horizons. The birth of ecolinguistics can be attributed to such ecological necessities as the ecological crisis as an essential root, and an ecological perspective for linguistics as a linguistic necessity, together with six ecolinguistic turns in this domain (Section 2). Since the emergence of ecolinguistics in the 1970s, various definitions for ecolinguistics as an evolving concept have come into being, involving the geographical, conceptual, disciplinary, methodological, and practical sides (Section 3). Figures who have contributed to the development of this domain can be divided into old strands like Haugenian and Hallidayan ecolinguistics, as well as new strands such as strong ecolinguistics and the latest radical embodied ecolinguistics (Section 4). Given the diverse definitions and strands, a set of approaches have taken shape, ranging from the Haugenian approach to ecological discourse analysis (Section 5). Due to major problems found in reviewing four parts of ecolinguistics, it is high time three shifts in perspective be put into effect in ecolinguistics that can promise its future horizons.

Exploring the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on Algeria’s energy used and climate change based on Olduvai theory

The Death of Industrial Civilization explains how the contemporary ecological crisis within industrial society is caused by the values inherent in unlimited economic growth and competitive materialism. It demonstrates the central role and importance of electricity, and what policy makers need to do in order to ensure that current and future systems remain reliable even as they are transformed by the rise of clean energy technologies. The novel COVID19 pandemic has created an unprecedented global health and economic crisis. The result of such a scenario is that energy demand contracts by 6%, the largest in 70 years in percentage terms and the largest ever in absolute terms. The impact of Covid19 on energy demand in 2020 would be more than seven times larger than the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on global energy demand and this is what the Olduvai theory is defined by e=energy production/population. It states that the life expectancy of Industrial Civilization is less than or equal to 100 years.

The Digital Tech Deal: a socialist framework for the twenty-first century

The twenty-first century global economy is largely driven by Big Tech and, more broadly, digital capitalism. This is a global phenomenon, with US power at the centre preying on global markets through the process of digital colonialism. Mainstream antidotes to the ills of Big Tech and digital capitalism are US/Eurocentric and revolve around a collection of liberal and progressive capitalist reforms, including anti-trust, limited privacy laws, unionisation of Big Tech, algorithmic discrimination and content moderation – all of which are conceived within a capitalist framework which ignores or neglects digital colonialism and the twenty-first century ecological crisis, despite their analytical and moral centrality to contemporary political economy. This author argues that a combination of political, economic and social alternatives based on a Digital Tech Deal are needed to turn the tide against digital colonisation, entailing the socialisation of knowledge and infrastructure; passing socialist laws that support digital socialism; and new narratives about the tech ecosystem. These solutions are to be nested within an anti-colonial, eco-socialist framework that embraces degrowth to ensure environmental sustainability and socioeconomic justice.

Penanaman Karakter Peduli Lingkungan Melalui Pengajaran Fikih Ekologi Pada Anak Usia Dini

This research is a library research, with the title Cultivating Environmentally Concerned Characters through Teaching Ecological Jurisprudence in Early Childhood. This research uses library materials as the main data source, and the main references in this research are ecological and Islamic books, character education and books on early childhood. The purpose of this study is combining two materials at once, namely environmental fiqh material and its role in shaping the character of early childhood. The results showed. First, environmental damage or the current ecological crisis is not actually due to ecological succession factors. However, the damage occurred precisely because of an anthropogenic disaster by human activities. Second, in environmental fiqh it contains material that is very important to study, namely maqoshidu shari'ah, especially hifdzu al-bi'ah. Thirdly, environmental care character is very urgent, especially given to early childhood, and for now studying this section is an obligation.

The Architecture of Eco-Theology: Towards a New Typology for Christian Sacred Space

This paper will begin by exploring the underlying scriptural and theological foundations for a Christian response to the ecological crisis with particular focus on the writings of cultural historian, Father Thomas Berry, CP. It will then describe the first worship space in Canada that attempts to embody the emergent “Eco-theology” to invoke both the transcendental and imminent presence of the divine by reconsidering every design decision from first principles. As articulated in its architecture, the traditional elements of Roman Catholic sacred space have been re-imagined and given unique expression to emphasize that when we gather for Christian worship, we do so within the greater context of creation. St. Gabriel’s Passionist Parish church therefore represents a distinctly new typology for Christian Worship that contributes towards an understanding of early scriptural teachings which emphasized the sacredness of all creation and not just the sacredness of humankind. The new building as sacred space presents a “Gestalt whole”, and like the medieval cathedrals of Europe, becomes itself a form of Catechetical pedagogy, engaging the senses, demanding reflection, and inviting transformation.