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\"How can the tracks of dinosaurs best be interpreted and used to reconstruct them? In many Mesozoic sedimentary rock formations, fossilized footprints of bipedal, three-toed (tridactyl) dinosaurs are preserved in huge numbers, often with few or no skeletons. Such tracks sometimes provide the only clues to the former presence of dinosaurs, but their interpretation can be challenging: How different in size and shape can footprints be and yet have been made by the same kind of dinosaur? How similar can they be and yet have been made by different kinds of dinosaurs? To what extent can tridactyl dinosaur footprints serve as proxies for the biodiversity of their makers? Profusely illustrated and meticulously researched, Noah's Ravens quantitatively explores a variety of approaches to interpreting the tracks, carefully examining within-species and across-species variability in foot and footprint shape in nonavian dinosaurs and their close living relatives. The results help decipher one of the world's most important assemblages of fossil dinosaur tracks, found in sedimentary rocks deposited in ancient rift valleys of eastern North America. Those often beautifully preserved tracks were among the first studied by paleontologists, and they were initially interpreted as having been made by big birds--one of which was jokingly identified as Noah's legendary raven\"-- Provided by publisher.

An integrated method is required for comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts and economic benefits of rice production systems. Therefore, the objective of this study was to apply different footprinting approaches (carbon footprint (CF), nitrogen footprint (NF), water footprint (WF)) and determine the economic return on organic rice farming (OF) and conventional rice farming (CVF) at the farm scale. Over the 4-year study period (2018–2021), the results showed lower net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in OF (3289.1 kg CO2eq ha−1 year−1) than in CVF (4921.7 kg CO2eq ha−1 year−1), indicating that the use of OF can mitigate the GHG emissions from soil carbon sequestration. However, there was a higher CF intensity in OF (1.17 kg CO2eq kg−1 rice yield) than in CVF (0.93 kg CO2eq kg−1 rice yield) due to the lower yield. The NF intensities of OF and CVF were 0.34 and 11.94 kg Neq kg−1 rice yield, respectively. The total WF of CVF (1470.1 m3 ton−1) was higher than that in OF (1216.3 m3 ton−1). The gray water in CVF was significantly higher than that in OF due to the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Although the rice yield in OF was nearly two times lower than that in CVF, the economic return was higher due to lower production costs and higher rice prices. However, more field studies and long-term monitoring are needed for future research.

Much of the world’s data are stored, managed, and distributed by data centers. Data centers require a tremendous amount of energy to operate, accounting for around 1.8% of electricity use in the United States. Large amounts of water are also required to operate data centers, both directly for liquid cooling and indirectly to produce electricity. For the first time, we calculate spatially-detailed carbon and water footprints of data centers operating within the United States, which is home to around one-quarter of all data center servers globally. Our bottom-up approach reveals one-fifth of data center servers direct water footprint comes from moderately to highly water stressed watersheds, while nearly half of servers are fully or partially powered by power plants located within water stressed regions. Approximately 0.5% of total US greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to data centers. We investigate tradeoffs and synergies between data center’s water and energy utilization by strategically locating data centers in areas of the country that will minimize one or more environmental footprints. Our study quantifies the environmental implications behind our data creation and storage and shows a path to decrease the environmental footprint of our increasing digital footprint.

PurposeBattery electric vehicles (BEVs) have been widely publicized. Their driving performances depend mainly on lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Research on this topic has been concerned with the battery pack’s integrative environmental burden based on battery components, functional unit settings during the production phase, and different electricity grids during the use phase. We adopt a synthetic index to evaluate the sustainability of battery packs.MethodsA life cycle assessment (LCA) is used to reveal the aspects of global warming potential (GWP), water consumption, and ecological impact during the two phases. An integrative indicator, the footprint-friendly negative index (FFNI), is combined with footprint family indicators of battery packs and electricity sources. We investigate two cases of 1 kg battery production and 1 kWh battery production to assess nickel–cobalt–manganese (NMC) and lithium–iron phosphate (LFP) battery packs and compare their degrees of environmental friendliness. Then, we break down the battery pack to identify the key factors influencing the environmental burden and use sensitivity analysis to analyze the causes. Moreover, we evaluate the environmental impact of battery packs during the use phase among different regions.Results and discussionRegardless of the functional unit (FU), the weights of the carbon footprint (CF), water footprint (WF), and ecological footprint (EF) are approximately the same. The results of the integrative environmental indicator, the FFNI, illustrate that the LFP is approximately 0.014, which is lower than that of the NMC battery pack in the mass production case. When using energy units as the FU, the FFNI of the NMC is 0.015, which reflects a lower environmental burden than that of other battery packs. In the use phase, 1kWh electricity consumption in China and Europe has the highest and lowest FFNI, respectively. When breaking down the battery-pack components, the simplified model advocates the cathode as the major contributor that determines the total environmental performance. In the following sensitivity analysis, the battery management system (BMS) is found to be the most intensive part of the footprint of most battery packs.ConclusionFU can influence the evaluation results. Developing proper renewable energy sources can reduce the footprints of battery packs during the use phase. The positive electrode pastes in the battery cell, BMS, and packaging in the battery pack can influence the environmental burden. Adopting green materials in sections like the BMS may be a specific measure to enhance the environmental friendliness of a battery pack during the production phase.

Low-carbon tourism is an important way for the tourism industry to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. In order to promote the development of Guilin as a world-class tourism city and ensure the sustainable development of the tourism industry in Guilin, this paper combines the concept of carbon footprint and the theory of life cycle to build a tourists’ carbon footprint life cycle analysis model of Guilin. Taking tourists in Guilin as an example, the composition and changes of tourists’ carbon footprint are dynamically analyzed. The research shows that: (1) The overall tourism carbon footprint of Guilin showed an upward trend during 2011–2019. From 2020 to 2022, due to the impact of COVID-19, Guilin’s tourism carbon footprint has decreased significantly. The per capita carbon footprint of tourism in Guilin showed a downward trend from 2011 to 2022; (2) The order of the size of Guilin’s tourism carbon footprint is tourism transportation > tourism catering > tourism accommodation > tourism activities; (3) From 2011 to 2022, the carbon footprint of tourism transportation in Guilin showed an obvious narrowing state, while the carbon footprint of tourism accommodation, tourism activities, and tourism catering showed an obvious expanding trend. Based on the characteristics of the carbon footprint of Guilin’s tourism and the current situation of the development of Guilin’s tourism, this paper puts forward suggestions on reducing carbon emissions, forms a new tool for evaluating and constructing low-carbon tourism, and provides a scientific basis and practical reference significance for the sustainable development of low-carbon tourism in Guilin.

Academic mobility for field work, research dissemination and global outreach is increasingly recognized as an important contributor to the overall environmental footprint of research institutions. Student mobility, while less studied, also contributes to universities' environmental footprint. Université de Montréal (UdeM) is the largest university in Montréal, Canada. It has a research budget of 450M$, employs 1426 full-time professors, and has a total student population of 33 125 undergraduate and 12 505 graduate students. To assess the footprint of academic mobility at UdeM, we surveyed the research community (n = 703; including professors, research professionals and graduate students) about their travel habits. We also measured the contribution from travel undertaken by sports teams and international students as well as students engaged in study abroad and internships programs using data provided by the university. While the average distance travelled for work and research purposes by the UdeM community is around 8525 km/person, professors travel more than 33 000 km/person per year. We also estimated that the 5785 international students or students enroled in study abroad programs travel annually around 12 600 km/person. UdeM's per capita annual travel-related C and N footprints vary, with international students generating for example 3.85 T CO2 and 0.53 kg N while professors generate 10.76 T CO2 and 2.19 kg N. Air travel emissions are the main contributors to these footprints. We provide insights into the distribution of travel-related environmental footprint within the university, the main reasons for travelling, the most frequent destinations, and the factors preventing researchers from reducing their travel-related environmental impact.