Environmentalism has become an important social and corporate issue during the twenty-first century. Consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious and are demanding green products from manufacturers. This has resulted in the emergence of new concepts like green marketing and green consumerism. Over the years various studies have investigated the concept of green consumer behaviour and have listed out factors that work as either barriers or enablers when it comes to consumer adoption of environmentally sustainable products or lifestyles. The present study aims to identify and evaluate the enablers that facilitate consumer adoption of green products. Using Interpretive Structural Modelling a series of initial relationships was established that predict how the joint effect of these enablers affect green consumer behaviour and green product adoption.

Toxic substances have a deleterious effect on biological systems if accrued in ecosystems beyond their acceptable limit. A natural ecosystem can become contaminated due to the excessive release of toxic substances by various anthropogenic and natural activities, which necessitates rehabilitation of the environmental contamination. Phytoremediation is an eco-friendly and cost-efficient method of biotechnological mitigation for the remediation of polluted ecosystems and revegetation of contaminated sites. The information provided in this review was collected by utilizing various sources of research information, such as ResearchGate, Google Scholar, the Scopus database and other relevant resources. In this review paper, we discuss (i) various organic and inorganic contaminants; (ii) sources of contamination and their adverse effects on terrestrial and aquatic life; (iii) approaches to the phytoremediation process, including phytoextraction, rhizoremediation, phytostabilization, phytovolatilization, rhizofiltration, phytodegradation, phytodesalination and phytohydraulics, and their underlying mechanisms; (iv) the functions of various microbes and plant enzymes in the biodegradation process and their potential applications; and (v) advantages and limitations of the phytoremediation technique. The reported research aimed to adequately appraise the efficacy of the phytoremediation treatment and facilitate a thorough understanding of specific contaminants and their underlying biodegradation pathways. Detailed procedures and information regarding characteristics of ideal plants, sources of heavy metal contamination, rhizodegradation techniques, suitable species and removal of these contaminants are put forward for further application. Scientists, planners and policymakers should focus on evaluating possible risk-free alternative techniques to restore polluted soil, air and water bodies by involving local inhabitants and concerned stakeholders.

Emerging hybrid technologies have better potential than conventional technology for diversifying the desalination industry, which is presently being dominated by thermal and membrane-based desalination. Notwithstanding the technological maturity of the desalination processes, they remain highly energy-intensive processes and have certain disadvantages. Therefore, the hybridization of thermal and membrane desalination processes holds great attention to mitigate limitations of individual processes in terms of energy consumption, quality and quantity of potable water, overall efficiency and productivity. This paper provides an oversight of conventional and developing desalination technologies, emphasizing their existing state and subsequent potential to reduce water scarcity. Conventional hybrid desalination systems (NF-RO-MSF, MED-AD, FO-MED, MSF-MED, RO-MED, RO-MSF and RO-MD) are briefly discussed. This study reveals that the integration of solar thermal energy with desalination has a great potential to substantially reduce greenhouse emissions besides providing the quality and/or quantity of potable water in cost-effective ways. Due to its abundant availability with minimal/no carbon footprint and the ability to generate both thermal and electrical energy, solar energy is considered better than other renewable energy technologies. The findings further suggest that hybrid desalination systems are technically sound and environmentally suitable; however, a significant study of the research process and development is still required to make this technology efficient and economically viable.