“Environmental Sustainability Needs Humanities” Topical Collection on Discover Sustainability: Aiding the social transitions toward an eco-surplus utopia

AISDL Team

February 20, 2024

“There must be a plan of action because delaying will be dangerous. Kingfisher is unsure if he is too worried, but every time he counts the fish in the pond, the number of fish seems to decrease. The hot and stressful weather also makes his feathers molt and grow slower. The situation seems life-threatening!”

—In “GHG Emissions”; The Kingfisher Story Collection [1]



Illustration: A flowerpecker’s nest; ©2013 photo courtesy of Q. H. Vuong

Committing to contribute to promoting the 11th progressive cultural element – environmental-healing value – and building the eco-surplus culture for sustainable development [2-4], the AISDL Team (represented by Drs. Minh-Hoang Nguyen and Quan-Hoang Vuong) has collaborated with Discover Sustainability to launch “Environmental Sustainability Needs Humanities” Topical Collection.

Discover Sustainability (Scopus-indexed with a 2022 CiteScore of 2.2, ESCI with a JIF of 2.6) is a multi-disciplinary, open-access, community-focused journal supporting multi-disciplinary research and policy developments addressing all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As climate change and biodiversity loss are mainly anthropogenic-induced, these environmental issues have to be and can only be solved by humans. Sole technological transformation and innovation are largely insufficient for solving the environmental problems, but social transitions are also required. Humans’ underpinning value systems, goals, beliefs, and worldviews must be changed to leverage the sustainability transformation within the human society, as they define how humans interact with nature, generate knowledge and technologies, and utilize natural and artificial resources. Therefore, the humanistic values of this era demand the inclusion of environmental sustainability, and building an eco-surplus culture is essential for the social transition away from eco-deficit dystopia. In contributing to the generation of knowledge that aids the social transitions toward an eco-surplus utopia, the Topical Collection welcomes various types of articles across disciplines, including Research, Reviews, Perspectives, Comments, Brief Communications, Case Studies, Registered Reports, and Data Notes that are related but not limited to these issues:

• Socio-cultural and economic issues that help mitigate and adapt to climate change and prevent biodiversity loss
• Socio-cultural and economic issues that support the development and implementation of nature-based solutions and artificial technologies for achieving environmental sustainability
• Factors that help restore the connection between nature and humans, such as science, art, literature, and lived experiences
• The psychology towards climate change, biodiversity loss, social transition, and technological transformation
• The roles of creativity, serendipity, and knowledge management in sustainability transformation
• Sustainable financing mechanism for climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as biodiversity conservation
• The roles of urban and rural humans in addressing climate change and biodiversity loss
• Global agreement, national commitments, and local actions for addressing climate change and biodiversity loss

The keywords relevant to this Topical Collection are Nature-human nexus, environmental degradation, climate change, biodiversity loss, community science, citizen science, artificial intelligence, technology, innovations, knowledge management, humanities, adaptation and mitigation, conservation, finance, etc.

If you are interested in preparing a manuscript for consideration at Discover Sustainability as part of this Collection, please let us know. We would be happy to provide further details.

Submission Details:
Status: Upcoming (Open for submission from 15 February 2024)
Deadline: 15 August 2024

To submit your manuscript for consideration at Discover Sustainability as part of this Collection, please select the “Environmental Sustainability Needs Humanities” Collection from the collection list on the “Details” tab during your submission. Refer to the submission guidelines provided by the Journal. Authors should also express their interest in the Collection in their cover letter.

All manuscripts submitted to a Collection are assessed according to the standard Discover Sustainability editorial criteria and peer review process and are subject to all standard journal policies. If accepted for publication, an article processing charge applies (with a standard waiver policy).

For further information, we encourage you to send an email to the AISDL Team (aisdl_team@mindsponge.info) or the Guest Editor, Dr. Minh-Hoang Nguyen (hoang.nguyenminh@phenikaa-uni.edu.vn).

References

[1] Vuong QH. (2022). The Kingfisher Story Collection. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BG2NNHY6

[2] Vuong QH. (2021). The semiconducting principle of monetary and environmental values exchange. Economics and Business Letters, 10(3), 284-290. https://reunido.uniovi.es/index.php/EBL/article/view/15872

[3] Nguyen MH, Jones TE. (2022). Building eco-surplus culture among urban residents as a novel strategy to improve finance for conservation in protected areas. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9, 426. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-022-01441-9

[4] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH. (2024). Kingfisher: contemplating the connection between nature and humans through science, art, literature, and lived experiences. Pacific Conservation Biology, 30, PC23044. https://www.publish.csiro.au/PC/PC23044