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Land pollution research: progress, challenges, and prospects

Ling Gao 1 , Tianzhen Hu 2 , Li Li 5,2 , Maoyuan Zhou 1 and Baoqing Zhu 4,3

Published 4 November 2022 • © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd Environmental Research Communications , Volume 4 , Number 11 Citation Ling Gao et al 2022 Environ. Res. Commun. 4 112001 DOI 10.1088/2515-7620/ac9e49

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1 School of Economics, Xiamen University, People's Republic of China

2 School of Marxism, Fudan University, People's Republic of China

3 School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, People's Republic of China

Author notes

4 The contributions of all authors in this paper are equal, so alphabetically by authors' last name.

5 Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.

Li Li https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6011-2843

Baoqing Zhu https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7163-3740

• Received 26 April 2022
• Revised 12 October 2022
• Accepted 27 October 2022
• Published 4 November 2022

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Method : Single-anonymous Revisions: 2 Screened for originality? No

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This paper comprehensively searched all the literature on the subject of 'land pollution' through the core collection of the Web of Science database, and systematically processed the research literature from 1944 to 2021 using CiteSpace software, and carried out bibliometric analysis and visual presentation, which uncovers the LP research dynamics in detail, and draw the following conclusions: First, through the indicator of betweenness centrality, the basic authors and journals of the subject are obtained; from the perspective of publishing institutions and affiliated countries, the United States is an important research center for LP. Second, keywords such as 'land use', 'air pollution', 'impact', 'soil pollution' and 'management' are all high-frequency words. The results of keyword clustering and co-citation information in the literature indicate the natural-social dimensions of LP research, such as the use and quality of air, land, and water, as well as urbanization and environmental policies. However, challenges remain and current LP studies are still characterized by a certain degree of fragmentation, which should be enriched by combining land use changes and should require combining experimental results with socioeconomic analysis to propose joint LP remediation approaches. Finally, local and regional forces may strongly influence the LP process, and the drivers of globalization should be emphasized.

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1. Introduction

Land is the space carrier of human activities, the most basic production factor for human social and economic development, and the most basic survival resource for urban and rural residents. Since the 1960s, the problem of land pollution (LP) has gradually attracted widespread attention. On the one hand, scholars have paid attention to the causes of LP from the aspects of waste treatment, mining, urbanization, agrochemicals, and soil erosion (Heidi et al 2008 , Guo et al 2020 , Lee et al 2021 ). On the other hand, scholars have also explored the impact of LP from the aspects of socio-economic development, ecological environment, and human health, and explored ways to control LP from the aspects of pollution reduction and land restoration (Mone et al 2004 , Jin et al 2018 ). Therefore, the challenge of LP is how to solve the relationship between meeting human needs and maintaining the long-term ability of the biosphere to provide goods and services (Foley et al 2005 , Swette and Lambin 2021 ).

There are two approaches to defining LP in academia: soil pollution in a narrow sense and LP in a broad sense. In a narrow sense, soil pollution and LP are not a term (soil pollution focuses on factory chemicals or sewage and other wastewater). In this article, we will define it more broadly, including garbage and industrial waste, agricultural pesticides and fertilizers, the impact of mining and other industrial firms, the undesirable consequences of urbanization, and the systemic destruction of soil by over-intensive agriculture. As an important factor affecting human health, LP control poses a great challenge to the function of the ecosystem, which has a significant impact on human development (Ma et al 2020 ). How to take effective measures to deal with the deteriorating LP, guarantee and improve the quality of land resources, and further understand the dynamic relationship between the natural environment and human life has become one of the urgent problems in contemporary academia.

Based on the above background, this research conducted a comprehensive search of all the documents on the subject of 'land pollution' through the core collection of the Web of Science database, and used CiteSpace software to systematically process the research documents from 1944 to 2021 and conduct a bibliometric analysis. LP research dynamics revealed in detail based on visual statistics, This article attempts to address the following issues:

• (1)   What are the general trends of LP research?
• (2)   Which common issues in the natural-social dimension of LP research have received attention?
• (3)   What are the research challenges and future directions?

2. Data and methods

2.1. data source and data selection.

The sample data selected in this paper comes from the core collection of the Web of Science database ( https://clarivate.com/webofsciencegroup/solutions/web-of-science-core-collection/ , accessed on September 10, 2021). 5 By setting the search subject in the core collection of the Web of Science database as 'land pollution', the document type as 'Article', the language as 'English', and the complete time interval from 1944 to 2021, we found the total volume of published papers issued is 3022, and the final sample is subject to the effective processing of the software. The browsing/processing time is September 11, 2021. The overall trend is shown in figure 1 . It should be noted that the first article appeared in 1944. After 1970, the volume of published papers gradually maintained a continuity in time, but the volume of published papers every year was small. Therefore, in order to facilitate the presentation, we aggregate the data from 1944 to 1999 (202 articles in total), and retain the original data for the volume of published papers published from 2000 to 2021. It can be found that the general trend of the volume of research papers on LP from 1944 to 2020 is on the rise.

Figure 1.  Overall publishing trend of LP.

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2.2. Bibliometric methods

We mainly use CiteSpace software to conduct bibliometric research. 6 CiteSpace is a data mining and visualization analysis software jointly developed by Professor Chen Chaomei from the School of Information Science and Technology of Drexel University and WISE Laboratory of Dalian University of Technology. The version we use is CiteSpace 5.7. R2. Compared with the previous version of CiteSpace software, a major advantage of this software version is that there is no need to format the documents in the core collection of the Web of Science database.

The specific operation steps of our paper are as follows: select all the 3022 documents filtered in the core collection of the Web of Science database and export them as TXT format files, save them in the Data file and create a new Project file. After running the CiteSpace software, you can get visual maps such as research author, research institution, keyword clustering, keyword emergence, keyword time zone map, document co-citation, journal co-citation, author co-citation, etc., and finally, the research trends of LP perform quantitative analysis and visualization, from which the research context, research hotspots and frontier topics of the subject can be derived.

3. Results and visualization of literatures concerning LP research

Running the CiteSpace software to process the keyword 'land pollution', the time slice is set to 1 year, and the effective processing results are 2987. We get the following results.

3.1. Analysis of general information

3.1.1. analysis of authors.

Using the Author analysis function of CiteSpace, the author's co-occurrence network map is obtained, as shown in figure 2 . Among them, the size of the font indicates the volume of articles published by the author or the importance of the author (the same below), and the line between the authors indicates the cooperative relationship between each other. The results show that the top three authors by the volume of published papers are: Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, with 16 articles in total, and the first article was published in 2014 (such as Nieuwenhuijsen et al 2014a , 2014b ); Jordi Sunyer (tied for the first with Nieuwenhuijsen), both of which were 16 articles, and the first article was published in 2016 (such as Iñiguez et al 2016a , Porta et al 2016b ); Bert Brunekreef, 15 articles in total, first published in 2014 (such as Wang et al 2014 ); Michael Jerrett, 12 articles in total, first published in 2009 (such as Jerrett et al 2009 , Su et al 2009 ); Marianne Hatzopoulou (tied for third with Brunekreef), both of 12 articles, first published in 2016 (such as Shekarrizfard et al 2016 , Weichenthal et al 2016 ).

Figure 2.  Author's Co-occurrence Map.

By analyzing the co-citation and betweenness centrality of key nodes, the author's co-citation analysis is based on the author as a unit to study the situation where the documents published by multiple authors are cited by other authors at the same time. This can identify authoritative authors with high influence in the field. According to the betweenness centrality indicator, the author's co-citation map is shown in figure 3 . It turns out that among the scholars of environmental pollution research, the top four betweenness centrality indicator of authors are Braden JB (0.14), Cervero R (0.08), Brunekreef B (0.08, tied for second), and Hoek G (0.07).

Figure 3.  Author's Co-citation Map.

3.1.2. Analysis of research institutions

Using the Institutional analysis function of CiteSpace, we get the figure of the institutional co-occurrence network, as shown in figure 4 .

Figure 4.  Co-occurrence Map of Research Institutions.

According to the volume of published papers and centrality indicators, the statistical information of the institution is shown in table 1 . It turns out that the top five publications are: Chinese Academy of Sciences (154 articles), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (72 articles), Beijing Normal University (43 articles), Utrecht University (41 articles), and University of California, Berkeley (34 articles). The centrality index reflects the cooperative relationship between institutions. The presentation of the centrality index in the paper is automatically arranged and generated by the software, so there is a situation where the same centrality involves multiple institutions. According to table 2 , Utrecht University in the Netherlands and University of Melbourne in Australia are ranked first in terms of centrality, both of which are 0.06. It should be noted that 'Years' in the table refers to the time when the author's or institution's first article appeared.

Table 1.  Volume of published papers by institutions and centrality (Top10).

Table 2.  Centrality of institutions (Top10).

3.1.3. Analysis of author's nations

Using the Nations analysis function of CiteSpace, we get the country co-occurrence network map, as shown in figure 5 .

Figure 5.  State Co-occurrence Map.

Similarly, according to the volume of published papers and centrality indicators, the relevant statistical information is organized as shown in tables 3 and 4 . It can be seen that the US (943 papers), China (790 papers), and the UK (297 papers) ranked the top three in terms of publication volume. The top three countries in terms of centrality are the US (0.32), Netherlands (0.21), and the UK (0.2). It can be found that the US is far ahead not only in the volume of published papers but also in centrality indicators, so it is the most important nation in the study of LP. The total amount of Chinese publications is also very high, but the centrality is not high, which shows that China needs to further strengthen its international cooperation in the publication of documents in the future, and better integrate with the research on worldwide frontier issues.

Table 3.  Volume of published papers by nations (Top10).

Table 4.  Centrality of nations (Top10).

3.1.4. Analysis of journals

By searching the LP in the database, we can get the journals that focus on this topic. As shown in figure 6 , we can find that the top five journals are Sustainability (242 papers), International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Abbreviation: IJERPH, 193 papers), Land Use Policy (108 papers), Science of the Total Environment (98 papers) and Journal of Cleaner Production (79 papers).

Figure 6.  Volume of papers on LP topics published in the journals.

Selecting the Cited Journal option in the CiteSpace node type to perform a 'journal co-citation' analysis. From this we have obtained high-impact journals among foreign journals. The results are shown in figure 7 . According to the centrality index, relevant statistical information is shown in table 5 . And, the information of co-citation frequency is reflected in table 6 . It can be found that AMBIO (0.13) ranks first in centrality, 7 so it is an authoritative journal for the study of LP.

Figure 7.  The journals Co-citation map.

Table 5.  Co-citation centrality of journals (Top 10).

Table 6.  Co-citation Frequency Of Journals (Top 10).

(Note: The full name of ATMOS ENVIRON is Atmospheric Environment , the full name of ENVIRON PLANN A is Environment and Planning A-Economy and Space , the full name of AM J AGR ECON is American Journal of Agricultural Economics , the full name of ANN NY ACAD SCI is Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences , the full name of ENVIRON PLANN B is Environment and Planning B-Planning and Design, the full name of URBAN STUD is Urban Studies , the full name of QJ ECON is Quarterly Journal of Economics , the full name of ARCH ENVIRON HEALTH is Archives of Environmental Health , the full name of Sci Total Environ is Science of the Total Environment , the full name of Environ Sci Technol is Environmental Science & Technology , the full name of J Environ Manage is Journal of Environmental Management , the full name of Ecol Econ is Ecological Economics , the full name of Environ Pollut is Environmental Pollution , the full name of Environ Health Persp is Environmental Health Perspectives .)

3.2. Analysis of topical information

3.2.1. keyword co-occurrence.

Keyword co-occurrence analysis is the most common and effective analysis method for document content. The keywords are the refinement of the core content of the papers. Through the high-frequency co-occurrence of keywords, we can intuitively identify and determine the research context and frontier hot issues of the selected subject area (such as 'Land Pollution' in this article). Select the 'Keyword' option in the CiteSpace node type to get the keyword co-occurrence graph, and the result is shown in figure 8 . Among them, 'land use' (552 times), 'pollution' (540 times), 'air pollution' (469 times), 'impact' (410 times), and 'management' (259 times) are all high-frequency words. Furthermore, by focusing on centrality information, we found that the top three are 'pollution' (0.16), 'agriculture' (0.09), 'air pollution' (0.08) and 'climate change' (0.08, tied for third).

Figure 8.  Keyword Co-occurrence map.

3.2.2. Keyword burstiness

CiteSpace can do burstiness analysis of keywords, which can well grasp the research hotspots of specific selected topics in a certain year. From the perspective of the time evolution of keywords, if the frequency of occurrence of a keyword in a certain year increase, it means that the topic represented by the keyword is a hot spot in that year. This type of keyword is called a burst term. Furthermore, in order to further obtain information such as the burst strength, beginning year, and duration of keywords, and to discover research hotspots and their evolutionary trajectories in different periods of time, through the Control Panel selects the keyword burstiness option to calculate, filters the top ten keywords according to the burst strength. The relevant statistical information is shown in table 7 . We can find that the top three burst strengths of LP studies are agriculture (13.32), pollution (11.92), and conservation (8.48).

Table 7.  Keyword burstiness information (Top10).

3.2.3. Keyword clustering

Although the direction of the selected topic is determined, the keywords in different journal articles are trivial and independent, so it is necessary to perform cluster analysis on these keywords. Cluster analysis can not only systematically integrate and classify decentralized keywords, but also help researchers to understand the detailed research directions involved in this subject area conveniently and intuitively. Keyword clustering analysis is one of the characteristic functions of CiteSpace. It provides three algorithms: LSI, LLR, and MI. The results of the three algorithms are not the same. The LLR algorithm is more commonly used. The clustering results of LP studies are summarized as shown in table 8 .

Table 8.  Clustering results based on LLR algorithm.

Table 8 clearly reflects the clustering results of the LP study. Among them, there are 12 first-level clustering results. Due to limitations of paper, the author selected 10 related keywords for the second-level clustering results. Correspondingly, the index value for evaluating the clustering result is reflected in the Q Value and the S Value. According to the corresponding interval of the value, it can be found that the overall clustering structure of this paper is significant (Q = 0.4524 > 0.3), and the clustering result is reliable (S = 0.7551 > 0.7). 8

From the clustering results in table 8 , it can be found that the current research covers different aspects of the natural environment and ecological pollution research more comprehensively, and partly involves the dimensions of human social development. It should be pointed out that the results of LP research involved in the natural ecological environment are more abundant, such as 'air pollution' (Mayer 1999 , Brunekreef and Holgate 2002 , Chen et al 2017 ), 'water quality' (Olmstead 2010 , Tyagi et al 2013 , Boyd 2019 ) , 'soil conservation' (McConnell 1983 , Blanco and Lal 2008 , Hellin 2019 ), 'air quality' (Jones 1999 , Jacob and Winner 2009 , Wolkoff 2018 ), 'land cover' (Lambin et al 2001 , Lambin et al 2003 , Wulder et al 2018 ) and other topics. These issues are essentially closely related to the production and living activities of human society. Therefore, the natural issues in the world today are, to a great extent, natural-social issues.

On the one hand, human social activities will bring land pollution problems, on the other hand, these can also carry out reasonable and scientific control and protection of the natural environment. The promulgation of a series of policies related to environmental pollution prevention and control and ecological protection, and the development of innovation-driven green technologies reflect the agency of mankind in the face of natural problems. For example, Jahiel ( 1998 ) pointed out that China's Ninth National People's Congress not only made reforms in the field of government management system, but also clearly stated that environmental issues are serious issues that the central government needs to pay more attention to in the future. Khanna ( 2001 ) argues that the approach to environmental protection has evolved from a regulatory-driven adversarial 'government-led' approach to a more proactive approach, including voluntary and 'enterprise-led' and 'social-led' initiatives to self-regulate the environmental performance of society and the market. At the same time, the government has provided more and more environmental information on enterprises and products to attract market forces and communities, and by showing their preference for environmentally friendly companies to create demand for corporate environmental self-regulation. Jaffe et al ( 2002 ) pointed out that in the past ten years, the relationship between technological change and environmental policy has attracted more and more attention from scholars and policy makers, not only because the environmental impact of social activities is significantly affected by technological changes, but also environmental policy intervention will produce new constraints and incentives that affect the technological development process. Annicchiarico & Di ( 2015 ) studied the dynamic behavior of the economy under different environmental policy systems based on the new Keynesian model, and found that the emission cap policy may suppress macroeconomic fluctuations; staggered price adjustments have significantly changed the environmental policy systems that have been implemented performance; the response of the best environmental policy is strongly influenced by the degree of price adjustment and the response of monetary policy. Yoeli et al ( 2017 ) believes that in order to increase consumer protection of energy and other resources, government agencies, public utilities, and energy-related companies can supplement regulatory and market-based policy. Carlsson et al ( 2021 ) discussed the use of green nudge (behavioral intervention aimed at reducing negative externalities) as an environmental policy tool. Therefore, they proposed a new framework. Empirical research shows that whether it is pure or ethical, green nudge will have a significant impact on behavior and the environment, but its impact is highly dependent on the environment. To sum up, we can clearly see from the clustering results that the research topics and directions related to LP basically cover all issues related to the natural environment and ecology, and also show a close relationship with human social activities.

According to the clustering results, we can further obtain the time-line graph of keyword, as shown in figure 9 .

Figure 9.  Keyword evolution time-line graph.

3.2.4. Literature co-citation

Literature co-citation is essentially the same as the principle of author co-citation and journal co-citation. It reflects the citation phenomenon between two specific articles. This relationship is caused by citing them at the same time by a specific other article. At the same time, the relationship between the two cited articles is dynamic. By analyzing the betweenness centrality of key nodes, the basic authoritative literature in the field of LP studies can be identified. The result is shown in figure 10 .

Figure 10.  Literature Co-citation map.

Still exporting it according to the indicator of betweenness centrality, the detailed information we get is shown in table 9 .

Table 9.  Literatures listed by betweenness centrality indicators (Top 10).

Table 9 shows the basic and representative literature on LP research, involving several fields: (1) climate change air pollution and air quality issues, such as Lubowski et al ( 2006 ) discussed the impact of land use change on carbon emissions and climate change. They believe that if the US chooses to implement the greenhouse gas emission reduction plan, it is necessary to decide whether to include carbon sequestration policies as part of the domestic portfolio of compliance activities. Han et al ( 2014 ) discussed the relationship between urbanization level and air pollution. They pointed out that there is a causal relationship between land pollution and air pollution. (2) land use and soil pollution issues, such as Beelen et al ( 2013 ) used land use regression (LUR) to explain and predict the spatial comparison of air pollution concentration, and explained the environmental pollution caused by land use. Brook et al ( 2010 ) discussed the relationship between land use change and air pollution and its impact on cardiovascular disease. (3) agricultural issues and the decline of biodiversity, such as Polasky et al ( 2008 ) developed a landscape-level model to analyze the biological and economic consequences of alternative land use patterns. They found that land pollution caused by land use reduced biodiversity. Fezzi et al ( 2010 ) described a statistical method to derive the impact of policy options aimed at reducing nitrate diffusion pollution on the farm economy. Butchart et al ( 2010 ) and Kalcic et al ( 2012 ) discussed the relationship between global biodiversity reduction and land pollution. (4) global water supply and cost accounting, such as Hoekstra ( 2011 ) discussed the challenge of land pollution to global water supply. He believes that land pollution will greatly increase the treatment cost of water supply. (5) worldwide disease problems, such as Lim et al ( 2012 ) found that land pollution leads to the re-pollution of livestock, vegetables, and fruits, forming a serious dietary risk of exceeding the content of harmful substances.

4. Discussion: challenges and prospects

The above analysis shows that LP research still has some shortcomings and needs to be further improved. From the perspective of research objects, the current research on LP mainly presents two types of characteristics: one part of the literature takes LP as an independent variable to explore the impact of LP on social and economic development and ecosystem services, and the other part of the literature takes LP as the dependent variable to explore the impact of spatial environmental factors on LP. We found that most of this literature suffers from quantitative bias and relies mainly on new methods, especially cluster analysis. Many studies have used GIS to quantify the impact of LP on social and economic development and ecosystem services, or geospatial methods to determine the impact of environmental factors on LP in a region. However, our study shows that integrated studies emphasizing the natural and human dimensions of land contamination are clearly lacking. A complex systems approach can help scholars to study the causal relationships between LP and the corresponding policy design, socioeconomics, and environment. Therefore, it is necessary to bring land use change as a factor into this process and its consequences. Secondly, among the studies related to land pollution and environmental remediation, different remediation methods correspond to the factors leading to land pollution and the scale of land pollution, but these methods are often single remediation strategies and do not do cost-benefit or socio-economic perspectives, we believe that the research needs to combine experimental results with socio-economic analysis to propose joint pollution remediation methods. Finally, local, or regional forces undoubtedly have a great influence on the LP process, and the driving forces from globalization cannot be ignored. Cross-border (transnational) LP has become an important reality of current LP problems, and land pollution from large flows of runoff, ocean currents, air currents, goods, people and capital play an important role in the open land system, especially global climate change has become an important topic in land pollution research. Research needs to link local LP and global-scale factors, but LP is currently under-researched at the broadest scales.

4.1. Bringing land use change as a factor into LP studies

Although many current studies have brought land use as a factor into LP studies, current LP studies are to some extent fragmented. On the one hand, current studies focus more on land use types related to human use such as agricultural land, industrial land, urbanization, etc.; on the other hand, current studies seldom take the time of land use change as a variable and do not examine the land use transition. On the other hand, the current studies seldom consider land use change over time as a variable and do not examine the mechanisms and effects of land use transition on land pollution. The process of land use change is coupled between humans and nature and needs to be studied from an integrated perspective (Aspinall and Staiano 2017 , Verburg et al 2013 ). Therefore, presenting trend changes in land use patterns in a land systems science approach (including land scale, land spatial pattern, pollution, and degradation patterns, etc.) is beneficial to improve the explanatory power of existing studies on land pollution formation (Robinson 2006 , Verburg et al 2013 ). Our study shows that integrated studies emphasizing the natural and human dimensions of land pollution are clearly inadequate. In particular, after bringing land use change as a factor into LP studies, the study of causal relationships between LP and corresponding policy design, socioeconomics and environment (integrated study of natural and human dimensions) will also be more widely emphasized.

4.2. Socio-economic analysis of LP remediation methods

Environmental remediation is an important research topic among LP studies, and these studies mainly focus on technical strategies for environmental remediation, such as physical remediation, solidification/stabilization techniques, leaching methods, application of chelating agents, microbial remediation, phytoremediation, vermicomposting, etc. (Elżbieta and Krystyna 2015 , Dhaliwal et al 2020 ). Among the current studies related to land contamination and environmental remediation, different remediation methods correspond to different scales of land contamination according to the factors that lead to land contamination and the scale of land contamination, but these methods are often single remediation strategies, and the treatment efficiency of a single remediation technique may be reduced due to the complexity of certain contaminants. And without cost-benefit or socio-economic perspectives, we believe that the research needs to combine LP experimental results with socio-economic analysis to propose joint pollution remediation methods. In addition, land remediation projects also show obvious regional characteristics, for example, for land contaminated by industrial pollution sources, combined physical-chemical remediation techniques are mostly used, such as the application of combined soil replacement-solidification/stabilization remediation techniques, combined solidification/stabilization-leaching remediation techniques, and combined chelating agent-leaching remediation techniques. Land contaminated by agricultural pollution sources generally uses physical-chemical or chemical-biological remediation techniques. By taking advantage of rapid physical or chemical remediation, the characteristics of nondestructive bioremediation techniques can be combined. For land contaminated by domestic pollution sources, combined phytoremediation-microbial remediation and combined microbial-Earthworm remediation-phytoremediation remediation techniques are generally used (Wu et al 2022 ). Therefore, appropriate remediation techniques should be selected based on socioeconomic factors, pollutant types, pollutant sources, and predictions of remediation costs/effectiveness.

4.3. Linking regional LP to globalization

The betweenness centrality indicator (table 9 ) indicates that the impact of globalization on LP has become the focus of current research. However, in the literature review, we still see that LP studies have a tradition of region-based studies, focusing on the causes of land pollution and its impacts in a particular region. With globalization, there are indications that LP has a large impact on global environmental change, global health, and global biodiversity; while global warming, global natural factors (runoff, ocean currents, air currents, etc.) and global movement of people/capital have a negative impact on land pollution. However, the distant drivers of LP have received little attention. In order to understand the impact of global forces on regional land pollution, it is necessary to capture visible or invisible information related to LP using information geography and statistical methods or approaches, which include information geography methods such as remote sensing, GIS, and also methods such as qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). These methods help to discover that LP-related causality is not limited to local factors, but also includes the effects of globalization, such as market economies, technology diffusion, international political forces, and ethnic conflicts/wars (Tang 2015 ).

5. Conclusion

The paper locates 'land pollution' in the core collection of the Web of Science database, uses CiteSpace software to process all relevant research articles, and presents the research dynamics on LP completely and clearly. We draw the following conclusions:

First, through the indicator of betweenness centrality, basic and authoritative authors in this field include Braden Brennan, Cervero Robert, Brunekreef Bert, Hoek Gerard, etc.; basic and authoritative journals include AMBIO , Science , Atmospheric Environment , etc. From the perspective of institutions and affiliated nations that publish papers, the United States is an important place for research on LP.

Second, keywords such as 'land use', 'soil pollution', 'air pollution', 'impact', and 'management' are all high-frequency words. The result of keyword clustering and the co-citation information of documents indicate the historical dynamics of LP research, which mainly include natural dimensions such as air, land, and water, as well as social dimensions such as urbanization and environmental policies. In addition, through careful inspection, it can be found that these two dimensions are intertwined. The change or deterioration of the natural environment poses challenges to human survival, social production, social life, and related governance, and we can exert our agency and take corresponding scientific measures to deal with these major challenges.

Third, in academic research, there is more cooperation among countries, which can be clearly seen from the connection between countries in figure 5 . The question is, how to convert academic achievements into practical performance, that is, to generate actual returns for the control of LP, which requires more practical consultation and concerted actions among various countries, and truly regard the problem of LP as a global problem. Therefore, we believe that social organizations may become a third force alongside the market and government to deal with LP. And this may be a focus for future academic research and action.

Finally, current LP research remains challenges and prospects: (1) future research needs to incorporate land use change as a factor in the LP formation process and its consequences; (2) research needs to combine experimental results with socioeconomic analysis to propose joint pollution remediation methods; (3) local, or regional forces may have a strong influence on the LP process, and the driving forces from globalization cannot be ignored.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available at the following URL/DOI: https://doi.org/Web of Science database (https://clarivate.com/webofsciencegroup/solutions/web-of-science-core-collection/) .

Author contributions

Conceptualization, L L and L G, methodology, B Z and M Z, software, T H, validation, L L, L G and B Z, formal analysis, T H All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This research was funded by the Ministry of Education China, grant number 21YJC790033.

Institutional review board statement

Not applicable.

Informed consent statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Curated by a team of in-house Web of Science™ Editors, the Web of Science Core Collection™ contains over 21,100 peer-reviewed, high-quality scholarly journals published worldwide (including Open Access journals) in over 250 sciences, social sciences, and arts & humanities disciplines.

CiteSpace software can be used to observe the research trend or dynamics of a certain research field, and it is a bibliometric tool that presents authors, research institutions, keywords, and other aspects in a visual map so that relevant researchers can easily and efficiently grasp the specific or basic situation of the research field.

AMBIO is an international environmental and ecological science journal founded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1972. AMBIO's main topics include environmental impact assessment, biodiversity and its protection, environment and sustainable development, animal and plant ecosystems and global changes, and several major environmental and ecological issues.

Q Value: Modularity, which means the value of clustering module. It is generally believed that Q > 0.3 means that the cluster structure is significant; S Value: Silhouette, which means the average contour value of the cluster. It is generally believed that a cluster of S > 0.5 is reasonable, and S > 0.7 It means that the clustering is reliable.

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Unbundling the Pollution Haven Hypothesis

• M. Scott Taylor

The "Pollution Haven Hypothesis" (PHH) is one of the most hotly debated predictions in all of international economics. This paper explains the theory behind the PHH by dividing the hypothesis into a series of logical steps linking assumptions on exogenous country characteristics to predictions on trade flows and pollution levels. I then discuss recent theoretical and empirical contributions investigating the PHH to show how each contribution either questions the logical inevitability, or the empirical significance of one or more steps in the pollution haven chain of logic. Suggestions for future research are also provided.

©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston

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Photo: The world's biggest copper mine, Escondida Mine in Chile, produces roughly 5.5 percent of global copper each year; you can see the scar it's left on the landscape in this satellite photo. But we all use copper (it's in the computer you're using right now) so is this actual "land pollution" or just very necessary land use? Photo by NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA-GSFC) .

Chart: Urbanization goes hand-in-hand with other changes in land use, such as deforestation. In 2020, the world had about 96 percent as much forested area as it had in 1990—a huge loss of forest in total. This chart shows 16 example countries that have either gained forest (green) or lost it (orange), with the world total shown in the middle (yellow). For each country, the bar shows the percentage of forest area in 2020 compared to 1990, so 100 percent would be no change. Drawn by explainthatstuff.com in 2023 using the latest available data from UN Food and Agriculture Organization/World Bank , published under a Creative Commons BY-4.0 license .

Photo: Greenfield to brownfield: This once-green field will soon be a large housing estate. People need homes to live in, but they also need green spaces—and agricultural land to feed them.

Photo: Soil erosion turns fields into deserts. Photo by Jack Dykinga courtesy of US Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) .

“ When you choose what to eat, what to wear or what to drive, think about how your choice impacts the land—for better or for worse. ” Monique Barbut, Executive Secretary, UNCCD, 2018.

Photo: Will we ever properly clean up old nuclear sites? Here, low-level nuclear waste is being placed in "interim storage" (in other words, buried "temporarily" in the ground) until a better, long-term solution can be found. Photo courtesy of US Department of Energy .

Photo: Bioremediation. Thankfully, microorganisms don't mind tackling the kind of waste we'd prefer to dump and ignore. Here, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee are testing whether soils contaminated with toxic chemicals such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) can be cleaned up by bacteria. Photo courtesy of US Department of Energy .

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• Earth Matters by Lynn Dicks et al. Dorling Kindersley, 2008. A multi-award-winning book that takes us on a biome-by-biome tour of the world. Best for ages 8–10.

Text copyright © Chris Woodford 2012, 2023. All rights reserved. Full copyright notice and terms of use .

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Land Pollution: Causes, Effects, And Solutions For The Future

Land pollution is a serious problem that impacts humans, animals, and the earth. Without taking measures now to reduce pollution levels, permanent changes to the land can occur. The adverse changes to the environment due to land pollution are subtle, but the problem is much bigger than it appears.

Even though most people have a general understanding of pollution , they may not realize the significance of land pollution. Here is a look at land pollution, its causes, its impact, and solutions to the problem.

What Is Land Pollution?

The basic definition of land pollution is the destruction and contamination of the land through the direct and indirect actions of humans. The pollution results in changes to the land, such as soil erosion. Some of the changes are irreversible, while others are not.

The effects of land pollution do not necessarily appear overnight. It is the result of long-term destruction from human activities. For instance, the damage from chemicals from an oil spill can take months or even years to be fully realized.

Causes of Land Pollution

There are several known causes of land pollution. Of those, there are six factors that contribute more than others.

1. Deforestation and soil erosion

When forests are cleared for development and to meet the demand for wood supply, the soil is loosened in the process. Without the protection of the trees, the land becomes barren over time and starts to erode.

2. Agricultural chemicals

Part of the farming process often involves the use of harmful pesticides and insecticides to protect crops. However, the chemicals can cause the land to become barren. The once-fertile soil is then more susceptible to environmental elements, such as the wind.

3. Industrialization

The Industrial Revolution may have resulted in significant positive changes to the economy and society, but it also led to significant pollution of the land. Through unsafe disposal practices for chemicals used in manufacturing, poor regulation, and the overwhelming number of industries and factories that are polluting the land daily, industrialization has become one of the main contributors to the pollution problem.

The mining process can lead to the creation of large open spaces beneath the surface of the earth. This can result in the land caving in, which compromises the integrity of the land. Mining also results in harmful chemicals, such as uranium, being disturbed and released into the environment.

5. Landfills

The garbage found at landfills is filled with toxins that eventually seep into the earth. During rains, the toxins are washed into other areas and the pollution is spread. As the population grows, the amount of garbage filling landfills also grows.

6. Human sewage

Untreated human waste can produce toxic gases that can seep into the ground. As with air pollution, the soil quality is negatively impacted, and land nearby can be contaminated. In addition to this, the probability of human illnesses occurring increases.

Soil Pollution – Causes, Effects and What To Do About It?

Water Pollution Facts: What Are The Causes And Solutions?

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19911 Water and Land Pollution

• Published: July 2002
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Water covers 70% of the earth’s surface. Only 3% of this is freshwater, which is indispensable in sustaining plant and animal life. The amount of freshwater is maintained constant by the hydrological cycle. This cycle involves evaporation from oceans and inland waters, transpiration from plants, precipitation, infiltration into the soil, and runoff of surface water into lakes and rivers. The infiltrated water is used for plant growth and recharges groundwater reserves. Although the global supply of available freshwater is sufficient to maintain life, the worldwide distribution of freshwater is not even. In some areas the supply is limited because of climatic conditions or cannot meet the demands of high population density. In other places, although there is no shortage of freshwater, the water supply is contaminated with industrial chemicals and is thus unfit for human use. Moreover, fish and other aquatic species living in chemically contaminated water become unfit for human consumption. Thus, water pollution deprives us and other species of two essential ingredients for survival: water and food. An example of hydrologic changes caused by urbanization is given in Figure 11.1. Conditions before and after urbanization were measured in Ontario, Canada, by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (1). In the urban setting, pervious areas are replaced with impervious ones (such as streets, parking lots, and shopping centers). Groundwater replenishment is greatly reduced and runoff is considerably increased by these changes. Thus, urbanization not only contributes to water pollution; it also increases the possibility of floods. Nitrogen is an important element for sustenance of life. However, in order to be incorporated into living matter it has to be converted into an assimilative form—an oxide or ammonia. Until the beginning of the twentieth century most of the atmospheric nitrogen was converted into assimilative form by soil microorganisms and by lightning. Nitrogen compounds which were not utilized by living matter did not accumulate because the denitrifying bacteria decomposed them to elemental nitrogen which was then released back into the atmosphere. In this way the nitrogen cycle was completed.

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• Perspective
• Published: 19 April 2024

Effects of urban-induced mutations on ecology, evolution and health

• Marc T. J. Johnson   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9719-0522 1 , 2 ,
• Irtaqa Arif 1 , 2 ,
• Francesco Marchetti 3 ,
• Jason Munshi-South   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8067-4341 4 ,
• Rob W. Ness 1 , 2 ,
• Marta Szulkin   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7355-5846 5 ,
• Brian C. Verrelli   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9670-4920 6 ,
• Carole L. Yauk 7 ,
• Daniel N. Anstett 8 ,
• Warren Booth 9 ,
• Aude E. Caizergues 1 , 2 ,
• Elizabeth J. Carlen   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6732-565X 10 ,
• Anthony Dant 11 ,
• Josefa González   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9824-027X 12 ,
• César González Lagos   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5679-4610 13 , 14 ,
• Madeleine Oman   ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0000-1438-3477 1 , 2 ,
• Megan Phifer-Rixey 15 ,
• Diana J. Rennison   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5944-0743 16 ,
• Michael S. Rosenberg   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7882-2467 6 &
• Kristin M. Winchell   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5217-4809 17  

Nature Ecology & Evolution ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Evolutionary genetics
• Urban ecology

Increasing evidence suggests that urbanization is associated with higher mutation rates, which can affect the health and evolution of organisms that inhabit cities. Elevated pollution levels in urban areas can induce DNA damage, leading to de novo mutations. Studies on mutations induced by urban pollution are most prevalent in humans and microorganisms, whereas studies of non-human eukaryotes are rare, even though increased mutation rates have the potential to affect organisms and their populations in contemporary time. Our Perspective explores how higher mutation rates in urban environments could impact the fitness, ecology and evolution of populations. Most mutations will be neutral or deleterious, and higher mutation rates associated with elevated pollution in urban populations can increase the risk of cancer in humans and potentially other species. We highlight the potential for urban-driven increased deleterious mutational loads in some organisms, which could lead to a decline in population growth of a wide diversity of organisms. Although beneficial mutations are expected to be rare, we argue that higher mutation rates in urban areas could influence adaptive evolution, especially in organisms with short generation times. Finally, we explore avenues for future research to better understand the effects of urban-induced mutations on the fitness, ecology and evolution of city-dwelling organisms.

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Acknowledgements

The ideas for this Perspective were developed over several workshops and meetings, including the Urban Eco-Evo Research Coordination Network (NSF DEB-184063), the ‘Satellite Workshop on Urban Evolutionary and Ecological “Omics”’ funded by the Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution, and the Center for Biological Data Science at Virginia Commonwealth University. M.T.J.J. was supported by an NSERC Steacie Fellowship, a Canada Research Chair and an NSERC Discovery Grant. C.L.Y. was supported by a Canada Research Chair and, along with F.M., a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Innovations in Regulatory Sciences Award. D.N.A. was supported by a Plant Resilience Institute Fellowship from Michigan State University. E.J.C. was funded by NSF DBI-2109587 and the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis. M.P.-R. (DEB-2332998) and W.B. (DEB-1754394) received funding from the National Science Foundation. C.G.L. was funded by ANID PIA/BASAL FB0002. J.G. was supported by grant PID2020-115874GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by grant 2021 SGR 00417 funded by Departament de Recerca i Universitats, Generalitat de Catalunya. M.S. was supported by NCN Opus grant 2021/41/B/NZ8/04472.

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Marc T. J. Johnson, Irtaqa Arif, Rob W. Ness, Aude E. Caizergues & Madeleine Oman

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M.T.J.J. conceived and led the project. All authors (M.T.J.J., I.A., F.M., J.M.-S., R.W.N., M.S., B.C.V., C.L.Y., D.N.A., W.B., A.E.C., E.J.C., A.D., J.G., C.G.L., M.O., M.P.-R., D.J.R., M.S.R. and K.M.W.) contributed to brainstorming the ideas covered in the paper, and the original outline was written by the lead team members (F.M., J.M.-S., R.W.N., M.S., B.C.V. and C.L.Y.). I.A., M.T.J.J., F.M., J.M.-S., R.W.N., M.S., B.C.V., K.M.W. and C.L.Y. led the writing of specific sections and/or the preparation of the figures and tables. All remaining authors (D.N.A., W.B., A.E.C., E.J.C., A.D., J.G., C.G.L., M.O., M.P.-R., D.J.R., M.S.R. and K.M.W.) contributed to one or more sections, and all authors (M.T.J.J., I.A., F.M., J.M.-S., R.W.N., M.S., B.C.V., C.L.Y., D.N.A., W.B., A.E.C., E.J.C., A.D., J.G., C.G.L., M.O., M.P.-R., D.J.R., M.S.R. and K.M.W.) edited the final drafts of the paper.

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Johnson, M.T.J., Arif, I., Marchetti, F. et al. Effects of urban-induced mutations on ecology, evolution and health. Nat Ecol Evol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02401-z

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An approach to the pollution haven and pollution halo hypotheses in Asian countries

• Research Article
• Published: 11 February 2023
• Volume 30 , pages 49270–49289, ( 2023 )

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• Muhammad Ali Abbasi 1 ,
• Misbah Nosheen   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4612-6269 1 &
• Hafeez Ur Rahman 1  

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Present climate change consists of global warming that is caused by the emission of greenhouse gases, generally carbon dioxide. The study examines the pollution haven, pollution halo, and environmental Kuznets curve for a number of Asian countries during the period of 1985 to 2020. Outcomes suggest that urbanization, gross domestic product per capita, energy consumption, and foreign direct investment inflow have positive effects, while gross domestic product square, foreign direct investment square, and tourism have negative effects on emissions of carbon dioxide. Furthermore, findings support the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve, pollution haven, and pollution halo hypothesis for the selected Asian countries. We also find robust results of rationality of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore; of pollution haven hypothesis for Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, and Singapore; and of pollution halo hypothesis for Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, and Singapore.

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Data availability.

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Abbasi, M.A., Nosheen, M. & Rahman, H.U. An approach to the pollution haven and pollution halo hypotheses in Asian countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30 , 49270–49289 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-25548-x

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Can we end plastic pollution? Negotiators land in Ottawa this week to work on a global treaty

Canada hosts the second-to-last negotiation on the road to a binding agreement on plastic pollution.

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A key week of negotiations kicks off Tuesday, as representatives from 176 countries descend on Ottawa to tackle global challenges posed by plastics.

The fourth and penultimate instalment of talks tees up a final session later this year in Korea, where parties hope to sign onto a binding international treaty on plastic pollution.

"This process is really a once-in-a-generation opportunity to end plastic pollution. It's a historic process," said Eirik Lindebjerg, the World Wide Fund for Nature's global plastics policy lead.

To date, negotiations have amounted to a bulky 69-page draft . Negotiators will now work to whittle that text down to a list of core issues. Succeeding at that will be key to scoring a global treaty at the final session. 

In the draft's opening lines, the parties agree that "rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution represent a serious environmental problem at a global scale."

But the tension point is whether plastic production or waste management should be the focus of the agreement, with conflicting interests slowing negotiations to date.

"Ottawa really needs to be a turning point," said Graham Forbes, the global plastics project leader at Greenpeace. "We're in a make-or-break moment for the global plastics treaty negotiations." 

Plastics are everywhere

Plastic waste is a ubiquitous global problem, with seven billion tonnes of the synthetic material generated globally since the 1950s, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, with some 98 per cent of single-use plastic produced directly from fossil fuels, rather than recycled materials. 

The OECD estimates that just nine per cent of plastic created has ever been recycled.

• When you drink bottled water, you're drinking lots and lots of nanoplastics
• Plastics clogging world's oceans, researchers say

Most of it ends up in landfill, some is burned, and other plastic pollution ends up in rivers, lakes and oceans. Trillions of pieces of plastic  are harming marine ecosystems, entangling some creatures and being eaten by others. Scientists estimate most seabirds now have plastic in their guts .

"Plastic pollution is fuelling what we call the triple planetary crisis," said Forbes. "It's accelerating climate change, decimating biodiversity and threatening to pollute every corner of our planet, including the human body ."

Through their lifecycle, the OECD estimates plastics account for approximately 3.4 per cent of emissions making them what it calls a significant contributor to rising global temperatures.

The UNEP estimates that, without action, nearly a fifth of the world's shrinking carbon budget — the emissions allowance to keep warming under 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels — will be taken up by plastic production and use by 2040.

Earlier negotiations fell short

While it's not clear what form a global plastics treaty might take this, a 2022 Ipsos survey suggests there is public appetite to do something.

In the poll, conducted online across 28 countries, 75 per cent of people surveyed want to see a ban on single use plastics as soon as possible, and most supported an international treaty to combat plastic pollution.

A core group of 60 countries, including Canada, have taken that ambition a step further, establishing the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution , and aiming to end plastic pollution by 2040.

• MARKETPLACE Canada's plastic recycling dumped and burned overseas

But international agreements are complex, and earlier sessions in Punta del Este, Uruguay, Paris, and Nairobi are widely considered to have fallen short.

"We see at these negotiations that industry associations, from oil and gas and from the petrochemical sector are very active, and are pushing often against global binding action," said Lindebjerg.

"The fossil fuel industry is using plastics as a way to offset declines in energy and transportation as the world moves towards a low carbon, fossil fuel-free future. And they're just flooding the world with plastics," said Forbes.

The Canadian Chemistry Industry Association, which represents plastic companies in Canada, says that's not the position of its members.

"I think everyone is laser-focused on ensuring that this gets done by the end of the year," said the organization's VP of policy, Isabelle Des Chênes, in an interview with CBC News.

Curbing production and improving waste management

The industry is drawing attention to opportunities to improve reuse and recycling initiatives. 

"There's a lot of plastic and there's a lot of plastic for a reason," said Des Chênes. "It helps to preserve our food [...] it's really important in the transportation phase."

She hopes the treaty will address how to make plastics better.

"It really needs to look at product design, how the products are developed, whether it's with recycled content, whether they're designed for reuse and resell, whether they're designed for recyclability." 

Bait and Switch: Recycling's Dirty Secret

Other advocacy groups believe the treaty's emphasis should be on production. 

"I think the worst case scenario for Ottawa is that they remove options to address plastic production. We start to craft a waste management treaty that throws good money after bad, and continue the illusion that we can recycle our way out of this," said Forbes.

In reality, the proposed treaty aims to tackle both production and waste.

"There is a broad majority of countries that want to see a strong treaty, a treaty with common global rules throughout the lifecycle of plastics." said Lindebjerg. 

INC-4, as the Canada-based session is called, is expected to host more than 4,200 participants, making it the most attended session since INC-1 kick-started negotiations in Uruguay in November 2022.

INC-4 will continue through until April 29, with negotiators resuming talks for the fifth and final session in Busan, Republic of Korea in late-November.

With files from Susan Ormiston and Sarah Bridge

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jill English is the International Climate Producer for CBC News. Working with Senior Correspondent Susan Ormiston, she covers the impacts of climate change on people, places and power dynamics around the world.

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Judge warns Trump of jail time as trial testimony continues in New York

New epa rules will force fossil fuel power plants to cut pollution.

AES Indiana’s Petersburg Generating Station in Petersburg, Indiana, has been burning coal since the 1960s but will shutter all of its coal-firing units over the next few years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released a sweeping set of rules aimed at cutting air, water and land pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants. (Robert Zullo/States Newsroom)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released a sweeping set of rules aimed at cutting air, water and land pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants.

Environmental and clean energy groups celebrated the announcement as long overdue, particularly for coal-burning power plants, which have saddled hundreds of communities across the country with dirty air and hundreds of millions of tons of toxic coal ash waste. The ash has leached a host of toxins – including arsenic, mercury, lead, cadmium, radium and other pollutants – into ground and surface water.

“Today is the culmination of years of advocacy for common-sense safeguards that will have a direct impact on communities long forced to suffer in the shadow of the dirtiest power plants in the country,” said Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, one of the nation’s oldest and largest environmental organizations. “It is also a major step forward in our movement’s fight to decarbonize the electric sector and help avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”

But some electric industry and pro-coal organizations blasted the rules as a threat to jobs and electric reliability at a time when power demands are surging . They also criticized the rule’s reliance on largely unproven carbon capture technologies.

America’s Power, a trade organization for the nation’s fleet of about 400 coal power plants across 42 states, called the number of new rules “unprecedented,” singling out the new emissions standards that will force existing coal plants to cut their carbon emissions by 90% by the 2032 if they intend to keep running past 2039.  Michelle Bloodworth, the group’s president and CEO, called the rule “an extreme and unlawful overreach that endangers America’s supply of dependable and affordable electricity.”

Indiana impacts

The Hoosier Environmental Council (HEC) celebrated the news as a win for Indiana communities and water supplies, saying when coal ash is poorly disposed it is a public health threat.

A map of coal-fired power plant locations in Indiana. (Hoosier Environmental Council)

“Indiana particularly needs these revisions to EPA’s coal ash rule because Indiana passed a law prohibiting any requirements for coal ash that are not in the federal rule. It is not possible for Indiana to do anything on coal ash other than what is in the federal rule,” said Indra Frank, Water Policy Director for the Hoosier Environmental Council. “With this step by EPA, Indiana will have significantly better protection for our communities and our water supplies”

The HEC news release said the changes close significant loopholes and bring millions of tons of Indiana coal ash under cleanup and water protection requirements. Two previously exempt types of coal ash disposal will come under requirements: ‘legacy surface impoundments’ where coal ash was placed in impoundments and the power plant stopped producing power before 2015 and ‘coal combustion residual management units or CCRMU’ where coal ash was placed on land but not in a regulated disposal unit. The changes will go into effect in 6 months.

‘This forces that’

Many experts expect the regulations to be litigated, particularly the carbon rule, since the last time the EPA tried to restrict carbon emissions from power plants, a group of states led by West Virginia mounted a successful legal challenge that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

But Julie McNamara, deputy policy director with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the agency took great pains to conform the rule to the legal constraints outlined by the court.

“This rule is specifically responsive to that Supreme Court decision,” she said. “Which doesn’t mean that it won’t go to the courts but this is so carefully hewn to that decision that it should be robust.”

The four rules EPA released Thursday mainly target coal-fired power plants.

“By developing these standards in a clear, transparent, inclusive manner, EPA is cutting pollution while ensuring that power companies can make smart investments and continue to deliver reliable electricity for all Americans,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said.

In some ways, they attach a framework to a sea change in electric generation that is already well under way, McNamara said.

Coal accounted for jus t 16% of U.S. electric generation in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In 1990, by comparison, it comprised more than 54% of power generation. However, some states are more reliant on coal power than others.

In 2021, the most coal-dependent states were West Virginia, Missouri, Wyoming and Kentucky, per a 2022 report by  the EIA .

“This rulemaking adds structure to that transition,” McNamara said. “For those who have chosen not to assess the future use of their coal plants, this forces that.”

Heather O’Neill, president and CEO of the clean energy trade group Advanced Energy United, said the new regulations are a chance for utilities to embrace cheaper, cleaner and more reliable options for the electric grid.

“Instead of looking to build new gas plants or prolong the life of old coal plants, utilities should be taking advantage of the cheaper, cleaner, and more trusty tools in the toolbox,” she said.

The carbon rule

In 2009, the EPA concluded that greenhouse gas emissions “endanger our nation’s public health and welfare,” the agency wrote, adding that since that time, “the evidence of the harms posed by GHG emissions has only grown and Americans experience the destructive and worsening effects of climate change every day.”

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The new carbon emissions regulation will apply to existing coal plants and new natural gas plants. Coal plants that plan to operate beyond 2039 will have to capture 90% of their carbon emissions by 2032. New gas plants are split into three categories based on their capacity factor , a measure of how much electricity is generated over a period of time relative to the maximum amount it could have produced. The plants that run the most (more than 40% capacity factor) will have to capture 90% of their carbon emissions by 2032. Existing gas plants will be regulated under a forthcoming rule that “more comprehensively addresses GHG emissions from this portion of the fleet,” the agency said.

Michelle Solomon, a senior policy analyst for Energy Innovation, an energy and climate policy think tank, predicts that most coal plants will close rather than install the costly technology to capture carbon emissions.

“Climate goals aside, the public health impacts of the rules in securing the retirement of coal fired power plants is so important,” she said. Coal power in the U.S. has been increasingly pressured by cheaper gas and renewable generation and mounting environmental restrictions, but some grid operators have still been caught flat-footed by the pace of coal plant closures.

“I think the role of this rule, to provide that certainty about where we’re going, is so crucial to get the entities that have control over the rate of the transition to start to take action here,” she said. But the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s CEO, Jim Matheson, called the rules “unlawful, unrealistic and unachievable” noting that it relies on technology “that is not ready for prime time.”

And Todd Snitchler, president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association, a trade group for competitive power suppliers, called the rule “a painful example of aspirational policy outpacing physical and operational realities” because of its reliance on unproven carbon capture and hydrogen blending technologies to cut emissions.

A beefed up Mercury and Air Toxic Standards rule

The EPA called the revision to the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards   “the most significant update since MATS was first issued in February 2012.” It predicted the rule would cut emissions of mercury and other air pollutants like nickel, arsenic, lead, soot, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and others. It cuts the mercury limit by 70% for power plants fired by lignite coal, which is the lowest grade of coal and one of the dirtiest to burn for power generation.

For all coal plants, the emissions limit for toxic metals is reduced by 67%. The EPA says the rule will result in major cuts in releases of mercury and other hazardous metals, fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide.  The agency projects “$300 million in health benefits,” including reducing risks of heart attacks, cancer and developmental delays in children and $130 million in climate benefits.

Stronger wastewater discharge limits for power plants

Coal fired power plants use huge volumes of water, and when the wastewater is returned to lakes, rivers and streams it can be laden with mercury, arsenic and other metals as well as bromide, chloride and other pollution and contaminate drinking water and harm aquatic life.

SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST.

The new rule is projected to cut about 670 million pounds of pollutants discharged in wastewater from coal plants per year. Plants that will cease coal combustion over the next decade can abide by less stringent rules.

“Power plants for far too long have been able to get away with treating our waterways like an open sewer,” said Thomas Cmar, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, during a briefing on the new rules earlier this week.

Closing a coal ash loophole

Coal ash, what’s left after coal has been burned for power generation, is one the nation’s largest waste streams. The 2015 EPA Coal Combustion Residuals rule were the first federal regulations for coal ash. But that rule left about half of the ash sitting at power plant sites and other locations – much of it in unlined disposal pits – unregulated because it did not apply to so-called “legacy impoundments” that were not being used to accept new ash.

“We’re going to see a long-awaited crackdown on coal ash pollution from America’s coal plants, and it’ll be a huge win for America’s health and water resources,” said Lisa Evans, a senior attorney with Earthjustice. “They are all likely leaking toxic chemicals like arsenic into groundwater and most contain levels of radioactivity that can be dangerous to human health.”

Groundwater monitoring data shows that the vast majority of ash ponds at coal plants are contaminating groundwater, said Abel Russ, a senior attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project. Butunder the old rule, Russ said, facilities could dodge cleanup requirements by blaming contamination on older ash dumps not covered by the regulation.

“This is a huge loophole,” Russ said. “You can’t restore groundwater quality if you’re only addressing half of the coal ash sources on site.”

However, several attorneys on the Earthjustice briefing said the new rules, which will require monitoring at clean up and hundreds of more ash sites, will only be as good as the enforcement.

“It’s meaningful only if these utilities obey the law. Unfortunately to date, many of them have not,” said Frank Holleman, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.

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The post New EPA rules will force fossil fuel power plants to cut pollution appeared first on Indiana Capital Chronicle .

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How do you build without over polluting? That's the challenge of new Catan board game

Nathan Rott

A new version of the popular board game Catan, which hits shelves this summer, introduces energy production and pollution into the gameplay. Catan GmbH hide caption

A new version of the popular board game Catan, which hits shelves this summer, introduces energy production and pollution into the gameplay.

In the original version of the popular board game Settlers of Catan, players start on an undeveloped island and are encouraged to "fulfill your manifest destiny." To win you have to collect resources and develop, claiming land by building settlements, cities, and roads.

A new version of the board game, Catan: New Energies , introduces a 21st-century twist — pollution. Expand responsibly or lose. In the new version, modern Catan needs energy. To get that energy players have to build power plants, and those plants can run on renewable energy or fossil fuels. Power plants operated on fossil fuels allow you to build faster but also create more pollution. Too much pollution causes catastrophes.

Building renewable energy-based power plants has benefits in the new game, including minimizing pollution for everyone, but it also makes you grow slower. Catan GmbH hide caption

Building renewable energy-based power plants has benefits in the new game, including minimizing pollution for everyone, but it also makes you grow slower.

"Generally it's tough to depict reality in a game. The reality is always so much more complex," said Benjamin Teuber, managing director of Catan's production company and co-developer of the new game. Games, he adds, need to be fun.

Catan: New Energies makes players choose between renewable energy or fossil fuel-based power plants. The latter allows you to grow faster but creates more pollution. Catan GmbH hide caption

Catan: New Energies makes players choose between renewable energy or fossil fuel-based power plants. The latter allows you to grow faster but creates more pollution.

The newest iteration of Catan will hit shelves this summer. And it aims to mirror reality in a couple of clear ways: Energy from fossil fuels creates more planet-altering pollution than renewables; too much pollution leads to bad things ; those bad things are felt unequally .

"Sometimes flooding hits everybody, just as we see [in the real world]," said Teuber. "It doesn't matter who created the pollution. It affects everyone."

Teuber, who co-developed New Energies with his late dad, Klaus Teuber, said the game was an old idea they dusted off during the Covid-19 pandemic. It's one that's become increasingly relevant as the real world grapples with the effects of real pollution: a rapidly warming planet that's worsening wildfires, floods, and heatwaves.

The game's developers are aware of the relevancy. "It's a very interesting topic in every culture that we publish in," Teuber said.

Polls show climate change is viewed as a major concern across many parts of the world. But adapting to the changes and addressing its roots have proven difficult . Teuber said he thinks board games can help move the conversation forward. Board games generally require people to sit around a shared table, to read each other, to negotiate and take risks, "without having a severe and bad consequence," he said. "Unless divorce is the result."

Climate change experienced through board games

Catan: New Energies is not the only new board game centered on climate change. Daybreak , the latest game from the creator of Pandemic, a popular cooperative board game, tasks players with working together to cut carbon emissions and limit global warming.

In a blog post on Daybreak's website, the game's co-designer Matteo Menapace wrote that he and co-creator Matt Leacock were inspired to make the game because they were both worried about climate change and weren't sure what to do about it.

"The problem with the question 'what can I do about climate change,' is how it implies climate action is like a single-player game, with you alone fighting against this huge invisible enemy," Menapace wrote . They believe addressing climate change and its causes will require a collective effort. That's why Daybreak requires "total cooperation," Menapace wrote. "It's a big leap from the current state of climate (in)action, but not an unreasonable one... and we aim for this game to play a role in accelerating this shift."

Catan Studio, the developer and publisher of Catan games, isn't as explicit in its intentions with its new game. The phrase "climate change" doesn't show up in any of the Catan: New Energies' promotional materials, packaging, or rulebooks. "Pollution" is the catch-all term for the problem.

Teuber said they talked about adding the term but decided to focus on energy and presenting players with the option of fossil fuels or renewable. "We assume players will draw their own conclusions as they engage with the game," he said. The game's studio does note in its press materials that according to "evidence-based research and expert sources, [the] new game elements will get players thinking and talking about important issues."

A 2019 review of published research on board games and behavior by a team of Japanese researchers showed that "as a tool, board games can be expected to improve the understanding of knowledge, enhance interpersonal interactions among participants, and increase the motivation of participants." Though, it noted, the number of published studies on the topic is limited.

Dialogue from gameplay

"What games are really powerful at is starting dialogues," said Sam Illingworth, an associate professor of science communication at Edinburgh Napier University in the UK.

In the gaming world, there's a concept called the Magic Circle — a theory attributed to Johann Huizinga, a Dutch cultural historian, who in the 1930's posited that play creates a separate world with separate rules.

"It's the idea that we suspend disbelief on the gaming table," Illingworth said. "Like in the game Monopoly, it's perfectly good – strictly advisable – for me to want to bankrupt you, which is behavior that's morally repugnant away from the gaming table, but it means that those social hierarchies can break down and we can have conversations that we wouldn't normally be able to have."

In 2019, Illingworth co-designed a playable expansion to the original Catan that added climate change and sustainability to the gameplay. They called it Catan: Global Warming and posted the rules and instructions on how to adapt a regular Catan game online.

In the add-on, if players add too many greenhouse gasses, the whole island is destroyed and nobody wins. "So that creates a game state where psychologically there's obvious causality between actions and what happens, right?" Illingworth said. "So rather than just having a conversation about what might happen, you're actually experiencing it."

In Catan: New Energies, if pollution reaches too high a level to continue, the win goes to the person who built the most renewable energy power plants.

While workshopping the new game with colleagues, Teuber said they would often play too aggressively, aiming to "grow, grow, grow," they would build out fossil fuel power plants, he said. "We always manage to over pollute."

Test groups did the same. But after those games, the players would often come back and say, "We had heavy discussions afterwards," Teuber said. "We all felt kind of bad, we learned and thing or two, and the next game we played differently."

• fossil fuel
• renewable energy
• board games
• air pollution
• climate change