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Marxist ecological philosophy carries profound implications and serves as the guiding principle for constructing an ecologically advanced society. The essence and fundamental principle of Marxist philosophy is to demand individuals to fully utilize their subjective agency and achieve the harmonization and integration of humanity and the natural world by adhering to objective rules. An extensive examination of Marxist ecological philosophy holds significant theoretical and practical significance in the pursuit of constructing a harmonious and sustainable planet.

This paper calculates the level of digital economy development and the degree of economic and ecological integration in 100 countries from 2009 to 2022 using the entropy weight method and equal weight method. It empirically tests the impact, influencing mechanisms, and spatial effects of the digital economy on the integration of economy and ecology. Furthermore, it analyzes the coordination degree of the digital economy and economic–ecological integration across different continents using coupling coordination analysis. The research results are as follows: First, the digital economy has promoted the integrated development of economy and ecology in various countries, with a more significant effect in high-income and upper-middle-income countries. Countries with higher levels of digital economy development show a more pronounced promoting effect. Second, the digital economy can reduce energy consumption, promote the efficient utilization of clean energy, lower carbon emissions, and thus facilitate the integrated development of economy and ecology through industrial structure optimization and driving technological innovation. Third, a country’s digital economy has a positive spillover effect on the economic and ecological integration development of its neighboring countries. The coupling coordination analysis reveals that Europe has the highest coupling coordination degree of the digital economy and economic–ecological integration, with significant spatial autocorrelation. This is followed by the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Therefore, countries should actively promote digital economy development, strengthen digital economic cooperation, jointly address international environmental and climate issues, and promote the integration of economy and ecology.

The research objective of this paper is to examine the role of bionic design in advancing sustainable development within industrial design by outlining its theoretical framework; analyzing its applications in morphological, functional, and material aspects; identifying current challenges; and projecting future trends toward eco-integration, resource efficiency, and technological innovation. First, the definition, development history, and theoretical basis of the sustainable development of bionic design are outlined. Secondly, the application of bionic design in sustainable industrial design is analyzed in depth, including the application of morphological bionic design in exploring the combination of nature and innovation, the role of functional bionic design in integrating biological function and product innovation, and the harmonious unification of material bionic and environmental friendliness. Finally, it points out the current challenges faced by bionic design, such as barriers in design practice and market acceptance issues, and looks forward to the sustainable development trend of bionic design, including eco-integration, resource efficiency enhancement, technological innovation, integrated application, etc., to provide new ideas and impetus for the sustainable development of the industrial design field in the future.

This essay takes initial steps on a journey with an Irish eco-spiritual philosopher, the late John Moriarty. As a gateway into his broader oeuvre and way of thinking, we explore Moriarty’s image of the Christian mystical Easter journey—the Triduum Sacrum—as a vision for humanity and the planet. After briefly reviewing his spiritual biography, we consider Moriarty’s re-framing of the story as a journey to the bottom of a symbolic Grand Canyon, a mystical trail beyond historical time to a primordial unity before the evolution of the species. There, the total integration of the natural ecumene is experienced. For Moriarty, this journey leads not only into the past, but prefigures a pilgrimage that everyone can—and should—take. Analyzing primarily his own writing, we highlight the intercultural roots and ecumenical connections of Moriarty’s work, which draws extensively on spiritual traditions and contemporary debates from across the world. On that basis, we sign-post directions for further research into a potential post-Christian ecology as a new way of thinking about the earth and our role on it, based on an attitude of Gelassenheit.

Phytoindication represents a long-established ecological approach; however, its conceptual basis remains contested, particularly concerning whether it is merely a surrogate for measuring environmental factors or a distinct method for assessing biotic system responses. In this study, we analysed vegetation communities of the sandy terrace in the Dnipro-Oril Nature Reserve (Ukraine) using ecological indicator values, naturalness, and hemeroby indices. The Dnipro-Oril Nature Reserve provides an ideal setting for this study, as it integrates strong natural gradients of soil moisture, nutrient availability, and topography with pronounced anthropogenic influences from the surrounding industrial landscape. This allows the assessment of both natural and human-driven components of ecological variability within a single system. A dataset of 1079 relevés was collected and classified into 24 associations. Multivariate analyses were applied to reveal different aspects of vegetation–environment relationships: MANOVA was used to assess whether plant associations differed significantly in their ecological indicator profiles, CCA to identify the main gradients of species composition constrained by environmental factors, and partial CCA to isolate the specific patterns of vegetation response attributable to individual predictors while controlling for covariates. We found that the indicator values were not independent but strongly intercorrelated, reflecting integrated biotic responses rather than methodological artefacts. This was confirmed by consistent ecological interpretation of the principal component structure and the concordance between ordination patterns and vegetation classification results. Two primary gradients were identified: a natural gradient, which combines soil moisture and nutrient availability with decreasing light, temperature, continentality, and soil pH; and an anthropogenic gradient, represented by the hemeroby–naturalness axis. The interplay of these gradients offers a comprehensive explanation for vegetation structure across various spatial scales, with natural factors shaping community types and anthropogenic influences exerting broader, less specific effects due to their diffuse impact across multiple plant associations. Our findings reveal a novel conceptual perspective, supporting the view that phytoindication is a unique ecological tool for assessing the integrated response of plant communities to environmental drivers, including both natural and anthropogenic gradients, rather than a simplified or less precise substitute for instrumental measurements. Nevertheless, the use of phytoindication does not eliminate the need for instrumental measurements in situations requiring precise quantification of specific physical or chemical environmental parameters. The correlated structure of indicator values revealed in this study demonstrates that phytoindication patterns are specific to each landscape. Therefore, comparative assessments across regions or time periods should be based on the correlation patterns of indicator values rather than their absolute scores.

This study investigates the foundational causes of unsustainability that obstruct efforts to address global challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation, water crises, and public health deterioration. Using qualitative research with in-depth expert interviews from education, environmental studies, and business, it finds that these global challenges, while visible on the surface, are deeply rooted in worldviews that shape human behavior, societal structures, and policies. Building on this insight, the thematic analysis manifests three interrelated systemic paradigms as the fundamental drivers of unsustainability: a crisis of wholeness, reflected in fragmented identities and collective disorientation; a disconnection from nature, shaped by human-centered perspectives; and the influence of dominant political-economic systems which prioritize growth logics over ecological and social concerns. These paradigms underlie both structural and cognitive barriers to systemic transformation, which influence the design and implementation of education for sustainability. By clarifying a body of knowledge and systemic paradigms regarding unsustainability, this paper calls for transformative education that promotes a holistic, value-based approach, eco-empathy, and critical thinking, aiming to equip future generations with the tools to challenge and transform unsustainable systems.

A process based model integrating the effects of UV‐B radiation to molecular level processes and their consequences to whole plant growth and development was developed from key parameters in the published literature. Model simulations showed that UV‐B radiation induced changes in plant metabolic and/or photosynthesis rates can result in plant growth inhibitions. The costs of effective epidermal UV‐B radiation absorptive compounds did not result in any significant changes in plant growth, but any associated metabolic costs effectively reduced the potential plant biomass. The model showed significant interactions between UV‐B radiation effects and temperature and any factor leading to inhibition of photosynthetic production or plant growth during the midday, but the effects were not cumulative for all factors. Vegetative growth were significantly delayed in species that do not exhibit reproductive cycles during a growing season, but vegetative growth and reproductive yield in species completing their life cycle in one growing season did not appear to be delayed more than 2–5 days, probably within the natural variability of the life cycles for many species. This is the first model to integrate the effects of increased UV‐B radiation through molecular level processes and their consequences to whole plant growth and development. We modeled the effects of UV‐B radiation from molecular interactions to whole plant growth. Cost of secondary metabolites might not be significant. There were significant UV‐B radiation – temperature interactions. Growth was delayed 2–5 days per growing season.

A process‐based model integrating the effects of UV‐B radiation through epidermis, cellular DNA, and its consequences to the leaf expansion was developed from key parameters in the published literature. Enhanced UV‐B radiation‐induced DNA damage significantly delayed cell division, resulting in significant reductions in leaf growth and development. Ambient UV‐B radiation‐induced DNA damage significantly reduced the leaf growth of species with high relative epidermal absorbance at longer wavelengths and average/low pyrimidine cyclobutane dimers (CPD) photorepair rates. Leaf expansion was highly dependent on the number of CPD present in the DNA, as a result of UV‐B radiation dose, quantitative and qualitative absorptive properties of epidermal pigments, and repair mechanisms. Formation of pyrimidine‐pyrimidone (6‐4) photoproducts (6‐4PP) has no effect on the leaf expansion. Repair mechanisms could not solely prevent the UV‐B radiation interference with the cell division. Avoidance or effective shielding by increased or modified qualitative epidermal absorptance was required. Sustained increased UV‐B radiation levels are more detrimental than short, high doses of UV‐B radiation. The combination of low temperature and increased UV‐B radiation was more significant in the level of UV‐B radiation‐induced damage than UV‐B radiation alone. Slow‐growing leaves were more affected by increased UV‐B radiation than fast‐growing leaves. There is considerable research regarding the effects of UV‐B radiation on plant processes, but not much on how they are related. This is the first mathematical model to integrate the effects of increased UV‐B radiation on molecular to organ level, and examine hypothesis too difficult to approach through experimental research.

The eco-technological architecture works to improve the efficiency of energy consumption, and the interaction of the building and its systems with the external environment as a living outlet that affects and is affected by the external environment. The research paper aims to devise sustainable ecological design criteria during all stages of sustainable building design by studying the integration between the ecology system and Eco technology on the hot, dry climatic environment and its direct impact on architecture to achieve compatibility and compatibility with the surrounding environment, leading to a more interactive architecture with the environment, an attempt to achieve ecological design features. By analyzing the architectural output resulting from the eco-technological concept, and achieving the highest degrees of comfort in the internal environment with the highest possible performance and the lowest possible cost, it positively affects the comfort of users. Therefore, architectural designers must move towards eco-technological thinking to pay attention to the energy rationalization system and the sustainability of buildings, realizing the importance of analyzing the basic principles of the eco-technological approach to obtain an environmentally compatible interior design, and paying attention to the technological means available to achieve energy efficiency in internal spaces in ways that do not affect the external environment.

Integration and monitoring are pressing conceptual and methodological challenges in social-ecological systems (SES) research. This paper follows a social learning process, called participatory self-observation, piloted by a group of action-researchers to improve SES integration and monitoring, using the Tsitsa River Catchment in South Africa as a case study. The participatory self-observation process reflected on lessons to enhance integration and integrated monitoring of biophysical, social, and social-ecological data in SES projects; for adaptive planning and management. Three focal points emerged for improving the challenges of SES integration: the need for participatory people-based processes, the importance of applied praxis tasks to catalyze meaningful integration, and the need for transdisciplinary teams to value non-biophysical research. Five focal areas emerged as major challenges for SES monitoring: the integration of qualitative and quantitative data, data overload, the scale of SES monitoring, the need to center SES monitoring around learning, and good working relationships to enable data flow. Recommendations to further develop integrated monitoring and management of SESs include (i) using people-based approaches that focus on applied work which includes rigorous collection of quantitative, biophysical data, (ii) identifying essential data needs through an essential variable approach, and (iii) combining quantitative monitoring with participatory people-based processes.