Sustainability is not just a word, it is a highly complex issue. If we turn just one adjusting screw, this has manifold effects in many respects.

As Editor-in-Chief of a journal in the field of environmental research, I will focus on sustainability in the environment. If you look at the remediation of soil or water with the help of plants, you quickly realize that on the one hand there is an improvement, but on the other hand, there is a new problem. Plants take up toxic metals from contaminated soils or waters and accumulate them. In this way, soils and waters can be freed from contamination. However, it is only a shift of the problem because toxic metals still exist in the plants. What do you do with them now? Burn them? That is not a solution either, because toxic elements can then be released into the air in the form of particulate matter (PM), PM10 or PM2.5, or they remain in the ash, which would have to be disposed of properly. Land application or discharge into water bodies is prohibited for good reason. Landfilling them is also not a good idea, because years later we will face exactly the same problem of contaminated soil and water. A more sustainable approach would be to see if plants very specifically take up only one type of metal in order to recover it from the plants, for example. This is where the term urban mining ultimately comes into play, or quite explicitly phytomining.

I could now give many more examples, which you, dear readers and authors of the numerous articles in the journal, can and do describe all too well yourselves.

Water is essential for life and therefore its purification is of great interest and also has a large share in CLEAN – Soil, Air, Water. In many cases, natural materials are used, which very clearly reflects sustainability.

In addition, sustainable management of soils using natural amendments such as straw and microbial biomass or only slightly modified additives, as well as consideration of urban soils, can also be found in the journal, and questions about invasive species in relation to soil properties and climatic effects are also addressed. Furthermore, aspects of avoiding waste of resources are a topic, especially in view of resource scarcity. How and where can existing waste be used sustainably, whether as an adsorbent, an additive, or in the form of renewable energy? And how clean is the air we breathe? Several contributions from all over the world are devoted to this question.

The journal CLEAN – Soil, Air, Water offers a colorful bouquet of topics on air, water, and soil. Next year, you can look forward to topical issues on “Wastewater Treatment Plants – Sustainable Biorefinery Sources” with Professor Maulin Shah and on “Ecological Engineering in Environmental Rehabilitation” with Professor Volker Lüderitz as guest editors. There will be probably a topical issue on “Turning Solid Wastes into Sustainable Materials” with Dr. Chongqing Wang as guest editor. All guest editors are affiliated with the journal as Editor or Advisory Board Members.

I am also pleased with the further increase in IF this year to 1.770. Many thanks to all authors, readers, and the members of the Executive Board as well as the Advisory Board.

Stay healthy and let's all look forward with confidence to 2022.

Yours sincerely

可持续性不仅仅是一个词，它是一个高度复杂的问题。如果我们只转动一个调节螺钉，这会在许多方面产生多方面的影响。

作为环境研究领域期刊的主编，我将专注于环境的可持续性。如果你在植物的帮助下看待土壤或水的修复，你很快就会意识到，一方面有改善，但另一方面又出现了新的问题。植物从受污染的土壤或水中吸收有毒金属并积累它们。这样，土壤和水就可以免受污染。然而，这只是问题的转移，因为有毒金属仍然存在于植物中。你现在对他们做什么？烧掉它们？这也不是一个解决方案，因为有毒元素会以颗粒物 (PM)、PM10 或 PM2.5 的形式释放到空气中，或者它们会留在灰烬中，必须妥善处理。有充分理由禁止土地使用或排放到水体中。将它们填埋也不是一个好主意，因为多年后我们将面临同样的土壤和水污染问题。例如，一种更可持续的方法是查看植物是否非常专门地只吸收一种金属，以便从植物中回收它。这就是城市采矿这个术语最终发挥作用的地方，或者说是非常明确的植物采矿。

我现在可以举出更多的例子，亲爱的读者和期刊中众多文章的作者，你们可以而且确实可以很好地描述自己。

水是生命所必需的，因此它的净化是非常重要的，并且在清洁——土壤、空气、水中也占有很大的份额。在许多情况下，使用天然材料，这非常清楚地反映了可持续性。

此外，还可以在期刊中找到使用稻草和微生物生物质等自然改良剂或仅略微改良的添加剂对土壤进行可持续管理，以及对城市土壤的考虑，以及与土壤特性和气候有关的入侵物种的问题影响也得到解决。此外，避免资源浪费也是一个话题，特别是考虑到资源稀缺性。现有废物如何以及在何处可持续使用，无论是作为吸附剂、添加剂还是以可再生能源的形式？我们呼吸的空气有多干净？来自世界各地的几篇文章都致力于解决这个问题。

CLEAN – Soil, Air, Water杂志提供了一系列关于空气、水和土壤的主题。明年，您可以期待与 Maulin Shah 教授合作的“废水处理厂 - 可持续生物炼制资源”以及由 Volker Lüderitz 教授作为客座编辑的“环境修复中的生态工程”的专题。可能会有一个主题为“将固体废物转化为可持续材料”，由王重庆博士担任客座编辑。所有客座编辑都隶属于该期刊，担任编辑或顾问委员会成员。

我也很高兴今年 IF 进一步增加到 1.770。非常感谢所有作者、读者、执行委员会成员以及咨询委员会。

保持健康，让我们充满信心地展望 2022 年。

此致