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The main aim of this study was to determine how chains of modern international retailers can achieve a competitive advantage (CA) by introducing private labels (PLs) in the organic category and can, in turn, stimulate the consumption of food produced with respect to sustainability principles. The research was conducted with the use of a qualitative approach and involved two steps. First, in order to select retailers with organic private labels (OPLs) and producers delivering products under OPLs, in-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with the representatives of management boards of 17 enterprises. Second, in order to analyze the assortment-based competitive advantage of the OPLs in depth, 8 enterprises were analyzed. In order to explore the price-related competitive advantage, three products offered under PLs, organic PLs, producer brands, and imported brands were selected for subsequent analysis. For retail chains, it was found that the introduction of OPLs is the source of CA via six contributors, namely, price, range of assortment, type of PLs, image of the retailer, sustainability and specific process, and product-related attributes of organic food. Extension of offers with organic private labels makes it easier for consumers to buy organic food at more affordable prices and follow the principles of proper nutrition and a sustainable diet with low environmental impact. At the same time, the international retailers can position themselves as chains contributing to more sustainable consumption.

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Celem niniejszego artykułu jest nakreślenie kierunków działań związanych z kształtowaniem trwałej i zrównoważonej konsumpcji, na tle wyników badań i analiz w zakresie poziomu strat i marnotrawstwa żywności w łańcuchu żywnościowym przeprowadzonych w ramach projektu badawczego PROM. Punktem wyjścia jest zarysowanie problematyki strat i marnotrawstwa żywności w świetle danych dostępnych na poziomie globalnym, europejskim i krajowym oraz pokazanie, że problematyka ta ma charakter interdyscyplinarny – społeczny, ekonomiczny, ekologiczny i że stanowi właściwy przedmiot refleksji ekofilozoficznej i etyczno-środowiskowej. Negatywne dla środowiska, społeczeństwa i gospodarki tendencje związane ze współczesnym poziomem strat i marnotrawstwa żywności na wszystkich etapach łańcucha rolno-żywnościowego, wymagają zmian obecnych wzorców konsumpcji na zgodne z wymogami trwałego i zrównoważonego rozwoju. Transformacja ta wymaga wprowadzenia zmian o charakterze aksjologicznym i etycznym, które są szczególnie wskazane na końcowym etapie łańcucha żywnościowego – nabywania żywności przez konsumentów i sposobu postępowania z nią w gospodarstwach domowych. Artykuł kreśli również kierunki dalszych badań mających na celu przygotowanie właściwej, całościowej podstawy teoretycznej do projektowania adekwatnych działań implementacyjnych trwałego i zrównoważonego rozwoju w obszarze konsumpcji.

Our study aimed to explore the factors limiting the development of the organic food sector in Poland from the perspective of processing, distributing, and retailing companies. We used a qualitative approach with in-depth semi-structured interviews with the management board representatives of 17 large- and medium-sized enterprises and the owners of 10 small and medium companies. The potential limiting factors, including legal, economic, technological, and environmental factors, were identified by reviewing the corporate and market reports of processing and retailing companies operating in the Polish organic sector. We used a thematic analysis recommended in the literature to analyze qualitative data. The main factors indicated by the managers were the legal concerns, limitations resulting from a lack of constant supply of organic raw materials, and increased competition on domestic and international markets. In addition, business activities in the Polish organic sector were affected by the instability of the financial situation in terms of financial liquidity, adequate cost, capital structure, and credits. The results of the study may be of value for policymakers to ensure sustainable development of the organic food sector in Poland.

The problem of real‐time quality control of streamflow data is addressed. Five methods are investigated via a Monte‐Carlo simulation experiment based on streamflow data from Bird Creek basin in Oklahoma. The five methods include three deterministic approaches and two statistical approaches. The relative performance of the investigated methods is evaluated under hypothesized random mechanism generating isolated outliers. The deterministic method based on streamflow gradient analysis and the statistical method based on forecast residual analysis perform best in detecting such outliers.

The objective of the article is to present the concept of practical consumer ethics, which may constitute the axiological basis of sustainable consumption and such an attitude of the consumer that will prevent the negative impact of food consumption on the natural and social environment and will counteract the food waste. The authors consider ethical consumption against the background of the normative pattern of sustainable consumption, which is the practical operationalisation of the concept of sustainable development. This pattern implies, on the one hand, consumer ethics and, on the other hand, an environmentally and socially responsible lifestyle. Against this background, the authors postulate the concept of frugalism as a practical ethics of consumption, based on aretological assumptions and the values of Henryk Skolimowski's ecological ethics. Frugalism, in its normative assumptions, contributes to deconsumption by changing the system of values, attitudes and preferences of a consumer, who voluntarily decides to limit the amount of purchased products, preferring those that are recycled and more sustainable. The authors present comparative statements of the features of the consumerist and frugalistic attitudes.

Increased temperature in the epilimnion and hypoxia in the metalimnion of a lake would result in an increase of positive-size-selective fish predation on zooplankton and in turn in a decrease of mean body size in zooplankton populations and communities. We tested this hypothesis in four types of experiments with juvenile rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus) foraging on Daphnia longispina in an indoor twin column tank system. In each experiment of the first three types, one column contained one of three types of experimental treatments differing from the control treatment (in the other column) by the following: (i) elevated temperature in the epilimnion, (ii) hypoxia in the metalimnion and (iii) simultaneous elevated temperature in the epilimnion and hypoxia in the metalimnion. In the fourth type of experiment, the gradients of temperature and oxygen concentration in both columns were the same, but prior to the experiments, Daphnia and fish in the control treatment were acclimated to normoxia and, in the experimental treatment, to hypoxia. The results confirmed our hypothesis, since the predation rate of fish was greater in each of the first three experimental treatments than in the control. We did not detect an effect of the acclimation to hypoxia on the predation rate of the fish.