While socioeconomic status (SES), time in preschool (TiP) and their interaction are related to reading ability, the results have been mixed. This study assessed whether the shared environment mediated these associations using a longitudinal behavior genetic design. Further, this study contrasted the source of variance in reading accounted for by (a) SES and TiP, against that of (b) genes, the shared environment, and the unique environment. Participants were 511 monozygotic twin pairs, and 515 dizygotic same-sex twin pairs from Australia, the United States and Scandinavia. They were assessed at preschool, kindergarten, grade 1, and grade 2. The interaction between TiP and SES did not explain variance in reading at any stage. At preschool, SES and TiP combined accounted for 9% of the total variance in reading, or 17.6% of the shared environment variance. Of that 9%, SES explained 8.1% independent of TiP. By Grade 2, SES and TiP explained 4% of the total variance, or 57% of the shared environment variance. Of that 4%, SES accounted for 3% with TiP accounting for just 1%. It was found that SES, but not TiP, had a small but significant influence on reading over time, and is a substantial mediator of the shared environment influence of reading by Grade 2.

This article examines the constitutional environmental duties (CED) of legal persons (natural and artificial) in Africa. Based on a systematic analysis of the constitutions of 54 African countries, it provides empirical evidence of the substantial presence of CED of persons and sheds light on the framing of their relationship with constitutional environmental rights and the environmental duties of the state. This account of a specific category of duties of persons, from a non-Western perspective, is an important contribution to legal scholarship. It unsettles the dominant paradigm of “rights of individuals and duties of the state” by challenging the dismissal of the CED of persons as “symbolic” or “aspirational” and highlights the functional elements of these duties, which can be used to address violations of rights and / or the non-performance of duties by the state. These findings also have broader implications for constitutional, environmental and human rights law.

Nature’s Brew uses the relatable history of beer to explore the history of capitalism in the modern United States. More than simply a commodity history, this interdisciplinary dissertation adopts both environmental history and business history lenses to tell a more-than-human history of American brewing and industrial food production from the nineteenth century to today. Nature’s Brew argues that the unique biological and material properties of the organic, mineral, and chemical components used to produce a can of beer played crucial roles in shaping the development and environmental footprint of American brewing. Without human entanglements with things like yeast, hops, alcohol, barley, coal, water, pesticides, and aluminum, the transition to large-scale industrial brewing or even modern craft brewing—which are often not as distinct as craft brewers insist—would not have been possible. By looking at the key ingredients and materials found in beer, Nature’s Brew demonstrates that non-humans were vital in shaping the brewing industry’s trajectory and influenced, enabled, and limited brewers’ choices at critical junctions. The approach used in this project allows us to evaluate the creation of modern capitalistic food systems from a unique perspective, the micro-level. Placing material things under the historical microscope encourages historians to understand how these systems are not purely human endeavors under complete human control.

Carbon competence refers to individuals’ knowledge and understanding concerning the causes and impacts of greenhouse gas concentrations. Using a robust and expansive version of the concept, this essay poses the question of whether contemporary democratic theory demonstrates carbon competence. I argue that prevailing approaches reveal low carbon competence in two respects: implicit or explicit underestimation of the scope and severity of the ecological crisis, and commitment to normative strictures that actively discourage the possibility of rapid decarbonization. As exemplary models, I foreground the work of Nadia Urbinati, Cristina Lafont, and Hélène Landemore.

This article contributes a machine learning approach to detecting environmental crimes in Brazil. Detecting these crimes is important for the health of the environment and public safety. The measurement of environmental crimes is challenging, in part due to efforts of those involved to remain hidden. However, administrative data on embargoes—legal liens on parcels of land—identify locations where the government documented some of these crimes. Using these data, the analysis develops a method for detecting yet-unidentified locations of these crimes. Embargo data are merged with a wide range of predictors that capture features of the physical environment, as well as demographic, socioeconomic, political, and public safety attributes. After training a series of models on these data, the random forest (RF) model performs best (AUC = 0.92). Overall, a combination of changes in vegetation, homicide rates, the prevalence of young men, human development, employment, the presence of a poverty reduction program, and political factors that capture local electoral competition and participation are important predictors of illegal deforestation. These findings—some unsurprising and some surprising—show the value of multicausal, cross-disciplinary approaches to understanding and detecting environmental crime. The practical gains from integrating remote sensing, a wide range of administrative data, and machine learning help build more effective crime detection, enhancing the government’s ability to conduct forest enforcement more safely and efficiently. Future research is promising as more and better data become available, and the approach can be extended to detect other illicit behavior, in Brazil and elsewhere.

This article examines East German experts’ participation in development projects in Mongolia and their conceptions of environments during the Cold War. Starting in the 1950s, East Germany (German Democratic Republic, GDR) and Mongolia intensified economic ties that aimed to industrialise Mongolia and align with communist objectives. The endeavours were intended to provide development aid, though they also provided the GDR with access to natural resources it could not obtain domestically. Drawing on sources from numerous German archives, this article argues that East German development projects followed broader patterns of exploitation and consumption between Europe and the Global South after the Second World War. Communist trade relations dissolved with the end of the Cold War, but they set the stage for trade and environmental impacts that have continued to this day.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global threat, and responsible antimicrobial use (AMU) in animals is crucial. However, AMR development is influenced by numerous factors. This scoping review aims to describe the association between AMR, AMU, and other risk factors in European livestock farms. Understanding the impact of different risk factors is essential for mitigating AMR. The results confirm that the AMR prevalence varies between livestock farms and that AMU affects this prevalence. At herd level, factors related to infection pressure and AMU have been predominantly studied and are often associated with AMR. Only a few other factors such as temperature and metals or disinfectants in the farm environment have been investigated. Overall, the associations between AMR and the studied farm level. Risk factors, including AMU, were variable and complex. The studies varied in their methodological approaches. Different AMR indicators were used, with phenotypic resistance in indicator Escherichia coli being most common, and resistome characterisation gaining interest in recent years. Some studies did not include AMU data or had insufficiently detailed data, while some calculated treatment incidences in different ways. Standardised measures for risk factors and outcome variables would facilitate comparisons between studies and meta-analyses. For deeper insights into resistance dynamics, resistome characterisation is preferable, whereas phenotypic characterisation of pathogenic bacteria is more appropriate for developing clinical guidelines, and resistance profiles in indicator bacteria are useful for monitoring. In conclusion, farm-level risk factors are complex and risk factor studies including AMU, using validated methods, sufficient sample sizes, and sound statistical analyses are still needed.

The interaction across law, rights and nature has led to a resurgence in the significance of sacred and natural sites to nature conservation. In Africa, this turn was marked by the adoption of the Resolution on the Protection of Sacred Natural Sites and Territories by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in 2017. However, this resolution remains entangled in the Anglo-German heritage of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Given the expansive mandate of the African Commission under the 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, this article argues that the African Commission might consider formulating an Africa-focused characterization of sacred and natural sites, away from its reference to the IUCN’s definition, and in accordance with Africa’s needs within the context of the leading role of the Charter and related Africa-centred nature-specific treaties.

Agrifood systems (AFSs) generate environmental, social and health costs unaccounted for in market prices. True cost accounting makes hidden costs explicit, providing evidence for enhanced sustainability, equity and resilience. Combining project sites’ micro-level and national-level data, we assess externalities in Kenya and Viet Nam. At the national level, we find that externalities constitute one-third of AFS output value in Kenya, with social costs accounting for three-quarters of this total. In Viet Nam, externalities represent one-sixth of output, driven by environmental costs, constituting three-quarters of externalities. In project sites, external costs (excluding health) account for 30 per cent of production costs in Kenya, mostly driven by social costs (84 per cent). External costs represent 24 per cent of production costs in Viet Nam, among which environmental costs (61 per cent) dominate. Strategies to reduce costs include stronger labour regulations, investments in resource-efficient technologies and prudent input management. Priority interventions include empowering workers, strengthening farmer performance and addressing gender-based labour disparities.