Environmental regulation and corporate financialization: insight from Blue Sky Protection Campaign in China.

Environmental regulation restricts corporate pollution emissions and affects corporate investment decisions and asset allocation. Based on the data of A-share listed enterprises in China from 2013 to 2021 and the difference in differences (DID) model, this paper identifies the impact of environmental regulation on corporate financialization with the help of the "Blue Sky Protection Campaign (2018-2020)" (BSPC) of China. The results indicate that environmental regulation has a crowding-out effect on corporate financialization. Enterprises with stricter financing constraints receive more significant crowding-out effects. This paper provides a new perspective on the "Porter hypothesis." Under the constraint of financial resources and high environmental protection costs, enterprises carry out innovative activities and environmental protection investments by consuming financial assets to reduce the risk of environmental violations. The government's environmental regulation is an effective way to guide the financial development of enterprises, control environmental pollution, and promote enterprise innovation.

Impact of Covid-19 pandemic lockdown on the urban litter and clean environment index.

Changing the level of pollution in the urban environment is one of the consequences of Covid-19. Litter are one of the most important urban pollutants affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In this research, the pollution level of urban areas during the Covid-19 pandemic was investigated by studying the urban environment. To this end, the protocol of observation and counting was used and litter were studied in two groups including common litter and Covid-19 related litter in Yasuj, Iran. The results were interpreted based on the clean environment index (CEI). The time of observation was selected based on the peak of the disease and the decline in the incidence rate. The results showed that on average, at the peak of the disease, the density of the litter was reduced by 19% compared to the low lockdown related to Covid-19. The CEI on average was 4.76 at the peak of the disease that was interpreted in the clean status, while the CEI on average was 5.94 at the low lockdown related to Covid-19 so interpreted in the moderate status. Among urban land uses, recreational areas with a difference of more than 60% showed the greatest impact caused by Covid-19, while in commercial areas this difference was less than 3%. The effect of Covid-19 related litter on the calculated index was 73% in the worst case and 0.8% in the lowest case. Although Covid-19 decreased the number of litter in urban areas, the emergence of Covid-19 lockdown related litter was a cause for concern and led to increasing the CEI.

Plastic or plastic-free life: From formation to removal.

Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) have caused global environmental concerns due to their ubiquitous existence in our surrounding environment and the potential threats posed to the ecosystem and human health. This review aims to extend current knowledge on the formation and degradation of MPs and NPs. The paper presents the potential sources of MPs and NPs including plastic containers, textiles, cosmetics, personal care products, COVID-19 wastes, and other plastic products. Once in the natural environment, the fragmentation and degradation of plastic wastes are thought to be initiated by physical, chemical, and biological factors. The corresponding degradation mechanism will be presented in the present review. Given the plastic life and environment, humans are inevitably exposed to MPs and NPs through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact. The potential risks MPs/NPs pose to humans will be also discussed in our study. Currently, the relevance of MP/NP exposure to human health outcomes is still controversial and not yet fully understood. Deciphering the translocation and degradation of plastics in the human body will be helpful to reveal their potential organotoxicity. In this case, available approaches to alleviate MP/NP pollution and advanced strategies to reduce MP/NP toxicity in humans are recommended to build a plastic-free life.

Pandemic COVID-19 ends but soil pollution increases: Impacts and a new approach for risk assessment.

For three years, a large amount of manufactured pollutants such as plastics, antibiotics and disinfectants has been released into the environment due to COVID-19. The accumulation of these pollutants in the environment has exacerbated the damage to the soil system. However, since the epidemic outbreak, the focus of researchers and public attention has consistently been on human health. It is noteworthy that studies conducted in conjunction with soil pollution and COVID-19 represent only 4 % of all COVID-19 studies. In order to enhance researchers' and the public awareness of the seriousness on the COVID-19 derived soil pollution, we propose the viewpoint that "pandemic COVID-19 ends but soil pollution increases" and recommend a whole-cell biosensor based new method to assess the environmental risk of COVID-19 derived pollutants. This approach is expected to provide a new way for environmental risk assessment of soils affected by contaminants produced from the pandemic.

Global face mask pollution: threats to the environment and wildlife, and potential solutions.

Face masks are an indispensable low-cost public healthcare necessity for containing viral transmission. After the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) became a pandemic, there was an unprecedented demand for, and subsequent increase in face mask production and use, leading to global ecological challenges, including excessive resource consumption and significant environmental pollution. Here, we review the global demand volume for face masks and the associated energy consumption and pollution potential throughout their life cycle. First, the production and distribution processes consume petroleum-based raw materials and other energy sources and release greenhouse gases. Second, most methods of mask waste disposal result in secondary microplastic pollution and the release of toxic gases and organic substances. Third, face masks discarded in outdoor environments represent a new plastic pollutant and pose significant challenges to the environment and wildlife in various ecosystems. Therefore, the long-term impacts on environmental and wildlife health aspects related to the production, use, and disposal of face masks should be considered and urgently investigated. Here, we propose five reasonable countermeasures to alleviate these global-scale ecological crises induced by mask use during and following the COVID-19 pandemic era: increasing public awareness; improving mask waste management; innovating waste disposal methods; developing biodegradable masks; and formulating relevant policies and regulations. Implementation of these measures will help address the pollution caused by face masks.

Artisanal trawl fisheries as a sentinel of marine litter pollution.

Systematic seafloor surveys are a highly desirable method of marine litter monitoring, but the high costs involved in seafloor sampling are not a trivial handicap. In the present work, we explore the opportunity provided by the artisanal trawling fisheries to obtain systematic data on marine litter in the Gulf of Cadiz between 2019 and 2021. We find that plastic was the most frequent material, with a prevalence of single-use and fishing-related items. Litter densities decreased with increasing distance to shore with a seasonal migration of the main litter hotspots. During pre-lockdown and post-lockdown stages derived from COVID-19, marine litter density decreased by 65 %, likely related to the decline in tourism and outdoor recreational activities. A continuous collaboration of 33 % of the local fleet would imply a removal of hundreds of thousands of items each year. The artisanal trawl fishing sector can play a unique role of monitoring marine litter on the seabed.

Obesity related to environmental pollutants, diet and epigenetic mechanisms / La obesidad y su relación con los contaminantes ambientales, la alimentación y los mecanismos epigenéticos

Introduction: Obesity is a chronic disease resulting from environmental, psychological and genetic factors. The objective was to carry out a bibliometry of the scientific literature on this pathology related to environmental pollutants, food and epigenetics, to elucidate lines of research. Materials and method: The documents were managed from the Web of Science database. The search strategy was Obesity AND (pollution OR contamination) in the Titles field, AND (epigenetic * OR obesity OR food OR nutrition OR diet) in Themes. 654 articles were found: 577 original investigations and 77 reviews. The articles were exported in BibTeX format to be analyzed with the Bibliometrix program. Results: The evolution of the production of reports per year has been upward. In 2020, the average number of references of the original articles was 38 and of the review articles, 200. Based on the Lotka index combined with the h index, the most prominent author was Joel Schwartz. The United States concentrated the largest production of scientific articles, which coincides with the location of the institutions with the highest affiliation of the authors. The 5 most frequent keywords were: air pollution, particulate matter, obesity, pollution and epigenetics. Conclusions: A line of research on obesity linked to DNA methylation, oxidative stress and PM2.5 is proposed; which will contribute to reducing this pandemic and, therefore, will impact the morbidity and mortality profiles of non-communicable diseases and COVID-19.

Introducción: La obesidad es una enfermedad crónica resultante de factores ambientales, psicológicos y genéticos. El objetivo fue realizar una bibliometría de la literatura científica sobre esta patología relacionada con contaminantes ambientales, alimentación y epigenética, para dilucidar líneas de investigación. Materiales y método: Los documentos se gestionaron de la base de datos Web of Science. La estrategia de búsqueda fue Obesity AND (pollution OR contamination) en el campo Titles, AND (epigenetic* OR obesity OR alimentation OR nutrition OR diet) en Themes. Se encontraron 654 artículos: 577 investigaciones originales y 77 revisiones. Los artículos se exportaron en formato BibTeX para ser analizados con el programa Bibliometrix. Resultados: La evolución que ha tenido la producción de infrmes por año ha sido ascendente. En 2020, el promedio del número de referencias de los artículos originales fue de 38 y de los artículos de revisión, 200. Con base en el índice de Lotka aunado con el índice h, el autor más destacado fue Schwartz. Estados Unidos concentró la mayor producción de artículos científicos, lo que coincide con la ubicación de las instituciones con más adscripción de los autores. Las cinco palabras clave más frecuentes fueron: contaminación del aire, material particulado, obesidad, contaminación y epigenética. Conclusiones: Se propone una línea de investigación sobre la obesidad vinculada con la metilación del ADN, estrés oxidativo y material particulado fino; lo que contribuirá a reducir esta pandemia y por lo tanto, impactará en los perfiles de morbimortalidad de las enfermedades no transmisibles y de la COVID-19.

Government-Enterprise Collusion and the Effectiveness of Environmental Regulations: Implications for Public Health.

Effective environmental management will create a win-win situation for building an ecological civilization with the potential to control the COVID-19 pandemic. From the perspective of government-enterprise collusion (GEC), this study analyzes the moderating effects of the officials' promotion incentives and turnover on the effectiveness of environmental regulations utilizing a panel dataset on 276 cities in China from 2003 to 2019. The study reveals the following empirical results: First, promotion incentives positively moderate the relationship between environmental regulations and environmental pollution, mainly air pollution; results for water pollution are not significant. Compared with general cities, the positive moderating effect of promotion incentives in high-level cities is weaker and the negative moderating effect is more potent. Additionally, the moderating effect of promotion incentives is predominantly positive in the new developmental stage from 2013 to 2019. Second, the negative moderating effect of officials' turnover on the effectiveness of environmental regulations is mainly observed for water pollution but not evident for air pollution. Compared with high-level cities, officials' turnover in general cities is more conducive to the effectiveness of environmental regulations. These findings provide beneficial insights for promoting green growth by improving official governance and destroying GEC.

Local Fiscal Pressure and Public Health: Evidence from China.

Under the dual challenges of global downward economic pressure and the COVID-19 pandemic, studying the impact of local government fiscal pressure on public health is a meaningful endeavor. First, this paper analyzes the impact of local government fiscal pressure on public health and clarifies its impact mechanisms. Second, by utilizing panel data of 31 Chinese provinces from 2000 to 2020, two-way fixed-effects and mediating-effects models are developed to identify the effects and impact mechanisms of local government fiscal pressure on public health. The results show that local government fiscal pressure can be detrimental to public health through three main mechanisms: reducing public health fiscal expenditures, hindering industrial structure upgrading, and exacerbating environmental pollution. Heterogeneity analysis finds that the negative effects of local government fiscal pressure on public health mainly exist in Central and Western China. Accordingly, three policy implications are proposed: optimizing the fiscal system, accelerating industrial upgrading, and improving the appraisal system of local officers.

The Short- and Long-Run Impacts of Air Pollution on Human Health: New Evidence from China.

Under the background of the far-reaching impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on global economic development, the interactive effect of economic recovery and pollution rebound makes the research topic of air pollution and human health receive attention again. Matching a series of new datasets and employing thermal inversion as an instrumental variable, this study investigates the physical and mental health effect of air pollution jointly in China. We find that in the short run, the above inference holds for both physical and mental health. These short-run influences are credible after a series of robustness checks and vary with different individual characteristics and geographical locations. We also find that in the long run, air pollution only damages mental health. Finally, this study calculates the health cost of air pollution. The above findings indicate that in China, the effect of air pollution on physical and mental health cannot be ignored. The government needs to consider the heterogeneity and long-run and short-run differences in the health effects of air pollution when formulating corresponding environmental and medical policies.

The predictive model for COVID-19 pandemic plastic pollution by using deep learning method.

Pandemic plastics (e.g., masks, gloves, aprons, and sanitizer bottles) are global consequences of COVID-19 pandemic-infected waste, which has increased significantly throughout the world. These hazardous wastes play an important role in environmental pollution and indirectly spread COVID-19. Predicting the environmental impacts of these wastes can be used to provide situational management, conduct control procedures, and reduce the COVID-19 effects. In this regard, the presented study attempted to provide a deep learning-based predictive model for forecasting the expansion of the pandemic plastic in the megacities of Iran. As a methodology, a database was gathered from February 27, 2020, to October 10, 2021, for COVID-19 spread and personal protective equipment usage in this period. The dataset was trained and validated using training (80%) and testing (20%) datasets by a deep neural network (DNN) procedure to forecast pandemic plastic pollution. Performance of the DNN-based model is controlled by the confusion matrix, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and justified by the k-nearest neighbours, decision tree, random forests, support vector machines, Gaussian naïve Bayes, logistic regression, and multilayer perceptron methods. According to the comparative modelling results, the DNN-based model was found to predict more accurately than other methods and have a significant predominance over others with a lower errors rate (MSE = 0.024, RMSE = 0.027, MAPE = 0.025). The ROC curve analysis results (overall accuracy) indicate the DNN model (AUC = 0.929) had the highest score among others.

Associations of socioeconomic status with infectious diseases mediated by lifestyle, environmental pollution and chronic comorbidities: a comprehensive evaluation based on UK Biobank.

BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic status (SES) inequity was recognized as a driver of some certain infectious diseases. However, few studies evaluated the association between SES and the burden of overall infections, and even fewer identified preventable mediators. This study aimed to assess the association between SES and overall infectious diseases burden, and the potential roles of factors including lifestyle, environmental pollution, chronic disease history. METHODS: We included 401,009 participants from the UK Biobank (UKB) and defined the infection status for each participant according to their diagnosis records. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to define SES for each participant. We further defined healthy lifestyle score, environment pollution score (EPS) and four types of chronic comorbidities. We used multivariate logistic regression to test the associations between the four above covariates and infectious diseases. Then, we performed the mediation and interaction analysis to explain the relationships between SES and other variables on infectious diseases. Finally, we employed seven types of sensitivity analyses, including considering the Townsend deprivation index as an area level SES variable, repeating our main analysis for some individual or composite factors and in some subgroups, as well as in an external data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, to verify the main results. RESULTS: In UKB, 60,771 (15.2%) participants were diagnosed with infectious diseases during follow-up. Lower SES [odds ratio (OR) = 1.5570] were associated with higher risk of overall infections. Lifestyle score mediated 2.9% of effects from SES, which ranged from 2.9 to 4.0% in different infection subtypes, while cardiovascular disease (CVD) mediated a proportion of 6.2% with a range from 2.1 to 6.8%. In addition, SES showed significant negative interaction with lifestyle score (OR = 0.8650) and a history of cancer (OR = 0.9096), while a significant synergy interaction was observed between SES and EPS (OR = 1.0024). In subgroup analysis, we found that males and African (AFR) with lower SES showed much higher infection risk. Results from sensitivity and validation analyses showed relative consistent with the main analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Low SES is shown to be an important risk factor for infectious disease, part of which may be mediated by poor lifestyle and chronic comorbidities. Efforts to enhance health education and improve the quality of living environment may help reduce burden of infectious disease, especially for people with low SES.

Environmental pollution by plastics during the pandemic and its effectson human health / Contaminación ambiental por plásticos durante la pandemia y sus efectos en la salud humana

La historia del plástico se remonta a mediados del siglo XIX, y se considera que se origina por el interés de cambiar la materia prima en la fabricación de las bolas de billar, hechas originalmente en marfil. Desde entonces y a lo largo de muchos años, el polietileno, cloruro de polivinilo, poliestireno, polimetilmetacrilato, polietilentereftalato (PET), las poliamidas y otras sustancias similares han formado parte del día a día de la humanidad, a tal punto que algunos expertos en el tema consideran que estamos viviendo "La era del plástico". Todos los insumos y elementos plásticos han facilitado la vida, pero también han causado una gran contaminación ambiental que afecta la fauna, la flora y por supuesto al ser humano. La gran mayoría de los países han comprendido esta situación y han promulgado leyes o diseñado estrategias con el fin de contener el uso inadecuado y la generación de la contaminación causada por el plástico. Muchas de estas medidas han sido frenadas e incluso revertidas debido a la pandemia por COVID-19, que además de todas las afectaciones conocidas, ha causado un desmesurado incremento en el uso de materiales plásticos, como los elementos de protección personal, con el consecuente aumento de la contaminación y los riesgos que esta genera en la salud humana. Estos temas son tratados en este artículo, con el fin de concientizar al personal médico y a la población en general

The history of plastic dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, and it is considered that it originates from the interest in changing the raw material in the manufacture of billiard balls, originally made of ivory. Since then and for many years, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, polymethyl methacrylate, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyamides and other similar substances have been part of humanity's daily life, to the point that some consider that we are living 'The era of plastic'.All the inputs and plastic elements have made life easier, but they have also caused great environmental pollution that affects fauna and flora, and of course the human being. The vast majority of countries have understood this situation, have enacted laws and designed strategies in order to contain the inappropriate use and generation of pollution caused by plastic.Many of these measures have been stopped and even reversed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which in addition to all the known effects, has caused a disproportionate increase in the use of plastic materials, such as personal protection elements with the consequent increase in pollution and the risks it generates for human health. These issues are addressed in this article, in order to raise awareness among medical personnel and the general population

Post-Global Pandemic Challenges and improvements in advanced detection and removal processes of toxic pollutants: Editorial.

Every two years, the Pollutant Toxic Ions and Molecules Conference, PTIM, meets the environmentalist, biologist, chemists and health researchers in Costa de Caparica, Portugal, to showcase the latest technologies, methodologies and research advances in pollution detection, contamination control, remediation, and related health issues, as well as policy implications.

Plastic pollution induced by the COVID-19: Environmental challenges and outlook.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also caused an environmental challenge, especially plastic pollution. This study is aimed to provide a systematic review of the current status and outlook of research on plastic pollution caused by the COVID-19 pandemic using a bibliometrics approach. The results indicate developed countries were the first to pay attention to the impact of plastics on the ocean and ecological environment during COVID-19 and conducted related research, and then developing countries followed up and started research. Research in developed countries is absolutely dominant in plastic pollution induced by the COVID-19, although the plastic pollution faced by developing countries is also very serious. The author's co-occurrence analysis shows the Matthew effect. Keyword clustering shows that plastics have a harsh chain-like impact on the ecological environment from land to ocean to atmosphere. The non-degradable components of plastic bring a serious impact the ocean ecosystems, and then pose a serious threat to the entire ecosystem environment.

Analysis of Marine Microplastic Pollution of Disposable Masks under COVID-19 Epidemic-A DPSIR Framework.

Marine microplastic pollution (MMP) is becoming one of the most pressing environmental problems facing humanity today. The novel coronavirus epidemic has raised the issue of environmental contamination caused by large-scale improper disposal of medical waste such as disposable masks (DMs). To assess the impact of MMP caused by DMs and to seek solutions for the prevention and control of MMP, this study uses the Driving force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework to establish a causal chain of MMP caused by DMs. The conclusion shows that the novel coronavirus epidemic has led to a surge in the use of DMs, which has brought pressure on resource constraints and environmental pollution at the same time. Improperly DMs enter the environment and eventually transform into MMP, which not only endangers the marine ecological system but also poses potential human health risks as well as economic and social hazards. In addition, further research on environmentally friendly masks (cloth masks and biodegradable masks) is essential to mitigate the environmental damage caused by the large-scale global use of DMs. This study provides a scientific and theoretical basis for the assessment of MMP from discarded DMs, and the findings of this study will provide a reference for the formulation of relevant policies.

Environmental Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experience of Bogotá, 2020.

During the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, several environmental factors have influenced activities and protection policy measures in cities. This has had a major effect on climate change and global environmental catastrophe. In many countries, the strategy of closing various activities such as tourism and industrial production stopped normal life, transportation, etc. This closure has a positive impact on the environment. However, the massive use of masks and personal protection could significantly increase pollution worldwide. The impact on the environment needs to be calculated to have information for public health actions. In this study, we present a first overview of the potential impacts of COVID-19 on some environmental matrices in Bogotá, Colombia.

The environmental pollution caused by cemeteries and cremations: A review.

In recent years the funeral industry has drawn attention from the scientific community concerning the potential pollution of the environment and the urban environment. In this review, the pollution caused by the cemeteries and crematoria around the world was addressed. The traditional burial leads to the production of ions, in the form of organic and heavy metals, bacteria, fungi, and viruses, that spread along with the soil and underwater. The crematoria produce small particles, trace gases (SOx, NOx, CO), and toxic organic volatiles. The effluent generated by both methods can lead to several environmental problems and further threaten human health. The current solution for the cemeteries in the development of a system in which effluent generated by the traditional burials are collected and treated before realizing in the environment. In addition to that, the green burial should be an alternative, since the corpse does not go through the embalming process, thus eliminating the presence of any undesired chemicals, that are further leached onto the environment. The crematoria should be employed as it is, however, the gas treatment station should be employed, to ensure the minimization of the impact on the environment. Last, future researches regarding the treatment of the cemeteries leached still need to be explored as well as the optimization and further development of the crematoria gas treatment process.