International Journal of Social Quality

Christina Nunez and the National Geographic staff state that:

as humans continue to pour greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, oceans have tempered the effect. The world's seas have absorbed more than 90 percent of the heat from these gases, but it's taking a toll on our oceans: 2021 set a new record for ocean heating [the absorption has reached its limits, referred to as a tipping point]. Rising seas is one of those climate change effects. Average sea levels have swelled over 8 inches (about 23 cm) since 1880, with about three of these inches gained in the last 25 years. Every year, the sea rises another .13 inches (3.2. mm). New research published on February 15, 2022 shows that sea level rise is accelerating and projected to rise by a foot by 2050 … [it is supposed] that the projected rise will occur regardless, even if carbon emissions are drastically cut … [on the basis of recent analysis of NASA and European data] scientists also point out that the extent to which countries work together to limit release of more greenhouse gases may have a significant impact on how quickly seas rise, and how much (Nunez 2022).

Ukraine is currently facing enormous humanitarian challenges as a result of the ongoing aggression of the Russian government and its military and financial establishment. This article discusses essential aspects of the societal impacts of this aggression. Our attention is focused on the recovery of the socioeconomic and financial sphere and of human potential. Emphasis is placed on the expediency of Ukraine's implementation of a social quality-based management approach after the end of the war. This may help politicians and citizens to rethink and reconstruct Ukrainian society on the basis of socioeconomic security, social cohesion, social inclusion, and guaranteed societal opportunities, rooted in the societal values of equality and solidarity, social justice, human dignity, and eco-equilibrium. We argue that introducing the concept of social quality, adapted to domestic conditions, into the public administration system of postwar Ukraine would contribute to rethinking the “social contract” so as to gradually find a reasonable balance between two priorities: the simultaneous increase of efforts to systematically eliminate the threats of external aggression and the accelerated restoration of the national socioeconomic space on principles of sustainable, inclusive development.

The COVID-19 pandemic compelled many African countries to make decisions that limited livelihood choices. This article examines how informal traders (IT) in Kumasi, Ghana responded to the COVID-19. It explores the livelihood capacities, socioeconomic, sociocultural, and sociopolitical values of informal economics. Using data from multiple sources, the purchase and sale of personal protective equipment (PPE) emerged as the dominant livelihood activity. The results show that IT innovated their way of trading, realigned livelihood activities, and created cross-sectoral networks that enhanced social cohesion. The emerging informal market catalyzed spin-off activities that linked values of the informal sector to the public, distributing agencies, producing companies, and the government. We argue that IT constitute a “natural” and “indispensable” share of Ghana's urban economic, cultural, and governance space. The values of IT expressed within and between these distinct societal spheres should be amplified in the development discourses of countries like Ghana.

During each pandemic in human history, cities have become the centers of the disasters that have unfolded. The main reason is that cities develop unevenly. Some favorable factors promoting city development are also important factors that facilitate the spread of viruses; the urbanization development path that tends toward polarized development greatly increases the risk of central cities becoming epicenters of disaster. This article will take the Wuhan urban agglomeration as an example to explore the reasons for weak points of urban agglomerations in the context of COVID-19, and will then examine their new development, new directions, new modes, and future. This has extremely important practical value and strategic significance for the high-quality development of China and for the future transformation of the world's urban civilization.

The international political economy is developing carbon markets based on decisions made in Glasgow in 2021 at COP26. The development of such markets is problematic. An examination of the history of the agreements made at the climate change conferences indicates issues that remain pertinent today. These include the ability of markets to provide the necessary reductions in fossil fuel emissions at a scale large enough to combat climate change; the integrity of current systems for the accounting of carbon; possible negative impacts on natural capital generally and biodiversity in particular arising from such mechanisms; the inherent risks associated with trying to simultaneously deliver other (co-)benefits; and clarity over the extent to which the rights will be safeguarded. While there is an urgency in ensuring that mechanisms will deliver the emissions reductions required, the risks of carbon market failure remain due to the insufficiency of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the lack of transparency of carbon markets. Integrity systems based on sound principles for governing the integrity of carbon offsets and other mechanisms to reduce emissions are required. Unless standards are adopted, the likelihood of combatting climate change effectively, in the context of the danger of greenwashing and the ongoing pandemic, remains uncertain.

In this article I address three main crises of the Anthropocene: energy and climate, biodiversity and food, and peace and security. To obtain overall sustainability, natural scientists and engineers have developed the Energy Transition Model, the Carbon Transition Model, and the Agri-food-nature Transition Model. From these models two facts stand out. The age of fossil fuels and of livestock farming will come to an end. Because a sustainable society also has sociopolitical and legal, socioeconomic and financial, sociocultural and welfare, and socioenvironmental and ecological aspects, the contribution of human scientists to overall sustainability is also crucial.