Urban cemeteries on a global scale raise concerns due to their potential to concentrate differing levels of hazardous pollutants in their native soils due to the unnatural concentration of burials in a limited space. It is paramount for sustainability that designers of future cemeteries take this into account in order to minimize the deposition and movement of these contaminants within the soil profile. The objective of this manuscript is to identify the levels of certain hazardous element contamination, specifically heavy metals, in the soil of horizontal urban cemeteries that do not utilize herbicides for weed control. In this, solutions were sought for the construction of future urban cemeteries capable of mitigating further contamination of the environment by the increase in interments. The soils of three urban cemeteries (A, B and C) in the Brazilian city of Carazinho, in Rio Grande do Sul State, were sampled with 5 monitoring points in the internal area and 5 points in the external area of the cemeteries. At each point, 3 replications were performed at two depths (0-20 and 20-40 cm), totaling 180 samples in all, to determine the concentration of the following metals: copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr) (g kg-1). In addition, online interviews with 15 architects who design cemeteries were conducted. Architectural design solutions to mitigate environmental contamination were modeled utilizing the Building Information Modeling system (BIM). The results showed an excess of Cu in the soil of cemeteries A, B and C, surpassing the standards allowed by Brazilian federal regulations. A total of 80% of the interviewed architects expressed their preference for the vertical cemetery, with gas and effluent treatment systems to mitigate environmental impacts.

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Geospatial analyses have gained fundamental importance on a global scale following emphasis on sustainability. Here we geospatially analyze images from Landsat 2/5/7/8 satellites captured during 1975 to 2020 in order to determine changes in land use. Sentinel-3B OLCI (Ocean Land Color Instrument) images obtained in 2019 and 2021 were utilized to assess water resources, based on water turbidity levels (TSM_NN), suspended pollution potential (ADG_443_NN) and the presence of chlorophyll-a (CHL_NN) in order to temporally monitor the effectiveness of Brazilian legislation currently in force. This work on sustainability standards was applied to a hydrographic basin dedicated to agricultural production located in southern Brazil. Satellite images from Landsat 2/5/7/8 (1975 to 2020) and Sentinel-3B OLCI (2019 and 2021) revealed that changes in land use, vegetation cover and water in the Capinguí Dam reservoir detected high concentrations of ADG_443_NN (3830 m−1), CHL_NN (20,290 mg m−3) and TSM_NN (100 gm−3). These results can alert the population to the risks to public health and harm to hydrographic preservation, capable of covering large regions.

The analysis of marine matter using the Sentinel-3B OLCI (Ocean Land Color Instrument) satellite is the most advanced technique for evaluating: the absorption of colored detrital and dissolved material (ADG_443_NN), total suspended matter concentration (TSM_NN) and of chlorophyll-a (CHL_NN) on a global scale. The objective is to analyze ADG_443_NN, TSM_NN and CHL_NN using the Sentinel-3B OLCI satellite and the presence of Fe-nanoparticles (NPs) + hazardous elements (HEs) in suspended sediments (SSs) in the maritime estuary of the Colombian city of Barranquilla. The study used the unpublished image of the Sentinel-3B OLCI satellite in the evaluation of ADG_443_NN, TSM_NN and CHL_NN in 72 sampled points. Subsequently, 36 samples of SSs were carried out in the Magdalena River, in the identification of Fe-NPs by advanced electron microscopies. The Sentinel-3B satellite revealed particulate accumulations in OCE1 through the intensity of OLCI in ocean. There was also a high Fe-NPs intensity of SSs in the Magdalena channel, spreading contamination to large regions.

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The effect of global climate change on the temperature of urban areas has become more pronounced in the past couple decades, impacting population and quality of life. The United Nations (UN), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have emphasized the impact of urban structures on microclimatic. A better understanding of these effects is important to formulate effective strategies that would contribute to address the impacts of increased urban growth. Here we address a case study of the Vila Rodrigues neighborhood, located in Passo Fundo City in southern Brazil to analyze the variations of emissivity, temperature and vegetation of the terrestrial surface, with influence of buildings. We employ Landsat satellite images, and unpublished data provided by the NASA, interpolated and classified in the QGIS software, using Bands 4, 5 and 10, converted to Gray Level (NC). This procedure allowed the spectral radiance of the reflectance temperature to be obtained. The Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were used, with correction of emissivity and spectral error, in the identification of the surface temperature of different areas in the Villa Rodrigues. The results showed a total variation of 3.86ºC among the sampled points, which is increased by the difference in significance of the thermal balance in urban areas under open sky with buildings. We suggest that green areas and parks with abundant vegetative cover and the application of new building materials in future constructions would help to improve the urban climate, and such regulation of the local temperature on global scale is an effective step towards addressing the adverse effects from climate change.