The coronavirus sorely drives home to the world the missed opportunities for a socio-ecological turnaround. A Vienna-based research group led by Ingolfur Blühdorn is investigating why environmental protection would have required at least as much determined action as the fight against the pandemic and why sustainability is so elusive. Continue reading “No socio-ecological transformation in sight?”
A new model is designed to visualize material flows of the world economy and global production chains. Using large amounts of data that trace the path from the origin of a product to its consumer will make it easier to develop efficient strategies for conserving resources and protecting the climate. Continue reading “Visualizing the environmental impact of consumerism”
At higher education institutions (HEIs), regional commitment that is not profit-oriented often suffers from neglect. At the same time, sustainable regional development is becoming an increasingly important factor. As current studies show, there is still a lot of work to be done if HEIs are to be more of a driving force at regional level. Continue reading “Regional is not banal”
On the Greek island of Samothrace, a team of researchers from Vienna have been investigating the interaction between human society and nature in order to prevent the collapse of the system. In this context, many local processes have been initiated to ensure a sustainable future for the island community. Continue reading “Waste, goats and a research project”
The architect Barbara Imhof explores fungi serving as architects and producers of construction materials, the design of habitats for other planets and how to build cities from sand and solar energy using 3D printers. Continue reading “Thinking across boundaries”
Realistic forecasts of future global resource consumption are the focus of a project currently funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF. The project is developing a model that enables the determination of global material flows, from extraction to disposal and recycling, in correlation with material stocks. Continue reading “Ecologists calculate resource stocks worldwide”