Health in the green economy
viii, 122 s. : il. ; 30 cm
- MeSH
- Housing standards MeSH
- Environmental Health MeSH
- Risk Assessment MeSH
- Climate Change MeSH
- Conservation of Natural Resources MeSH
- Conspectus
- Veřejné zdraví a hygiena
- NML Fields
- environmentální vědy
- NML Publication type
- publikace WHO
As national efforts to reduce CO2 emissions intensify, policy-makers need increasingly specific, subnational information about the sources of CO2 and the potential reductions and economic implications of different possible policies. This is particularly true in China, a large and economically diverse country that has rapidly industrialized and urbanized and that has pledged under the Paris Agreement that its emissions will peak by 2030. We present new, city-level estimates of CO2 emissions for 182 Chinese cities, decomposed into 17 different fossil fuels, 46 socioeconomic sectors, and 7 industrial processes. We find that more affluent cities have systematically lower emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP), supported by imports from less affluent, industrial cities located nearby. In turn, clusters of industrial cities are supported by nearby centers of coal or oil extraction. Whereas policies directly targeting manufacturing and electric power infrastructure would drastically undermine the GDP of industrial cities, consumption-based policies might allow emission reductions to be subsidized by those with greater ability to pay. In particular, sector-based analysis of each city suggests that technological improvements could be a practical and effective means of reducing emissions while maintaining growth and the current economic structure and energy system. We explore city-level emission reductions under three scenarios of technological progress to show that substantial reductions (up to 31%) are possible by updating a disproportionately small fraction of existing infrastructure.
- MeSH
- Climate Change * MeSH
- Environmental Monitoring * MeSH
- Carbon Dioxide analysis MeSH
- Climate * MeSH
- Industry MeSH
- Cities MeSH
- Geography MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Geographicals
- China MeSH
- Cities MeSH
Effectively reducing climate change requires marked, global behavior change. However, it is unclear which strategies are most likely to motivate people to change their climate beliefs and behaviors. Here, we tested 11 expert-crowdsourced interventions on four climate mitigation outcomes: beliefs, policy support, information sharing intention, and an effortful tree-planting behavioral task. Across 59,440 participants from 63 countries, the interventions' effectiveness was small, largely limited to nonclimate skeptics, and differed across outcomes: Beliefs were strengthened mostly by decreasing psychological distance (by 2.3%), policy support by writing a letter to a future-generation member (2.6%), information sharing by negative emotion induction (12.1%), and no intervention increased the more effortful behavior-several interventions even reduced tree planting. Last, the effects of each intervention differed depending on people's initial climate beliefs. These findings suggest that the impact of behavioral climate interventions varies across audiences and target behaviors.
- MeSH
- Behavioral Sciences * MeSH
- Climate Change * MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Policy MeSH
- Intention MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
Society, as much as an individual, has a certain capacity to cope with issues. The preparedness of the society for the issue significantly enhances the ability to overcome the issue with minimum possible harm. This article considers psychological consequences of climate change, the major challenge for society, from the perspective of European security. It proposes an increasement of aggressive behavior and intergroup hostility as a direct and indirect psychological consequence of climate change. In the final section, crisis intervention and de-securitization of climate change debate are considered to serve as mitigating factors for future development.
In order to foster the potential of exclosures to sequester carbon, it is understood that they are increasingly assisted through enrichment planting. To study the impact of the enrichment planting on carbon sequestration process, five exclosures with enrichment planting and five pure naturally regenerated exclosures were selected. Along parallel transects, 20 × 20 m plots were laid at 100 m intervals where all woody vegetations were counted and measured for their diameter and total height. For soil sampling, five subplots at the center and four at each corner of the plots were established. The samples were collected at a depth of 0-0.2 m, and this procedure was repeated for each plot. In this case, when good management practices were implemented (such as Wukro exclosures), significant differences in organic soil carbon above the ground and the total carbon between naturally regenerated and enriched exclosures (P < 0.05) were found. The mean estimates of the above ground carbon, soil carbon, and total carbon were respectively 8.08, 31.04, and 39.12 ton/ha for natural regeneration vs. 7.94, 31.00, and 38.93 ton/ha for enriched regeneration. Lower altitudes had significantly higher soil organic carbon (P < 0.05) than the higher altitudes. However, the slope had an insignificant effect on carbon distribution. Enriched exclosures performed more poorly in carbon sequestration. This was possibly due to the disturbances caused by mass plantation and poor post plantation follow up, since improved performance (P < 0.05) was seen in one enriched exclosure with better management practices.
- MeSH
- Climate Change * MeSH
- Soil * MeSH
- Carbon Sequestration MeSH
- Carbon MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Geographicals
- Ethiopia MeSH
Thermoregulatory behaviour represents an important component of ectotherm non-genetic adaptive capacity that mitigates the impact of ongoing climate change. The buffering role of behavioural thermoregulation has been attributed solely to the ability to maintain near optimal body temperature for sufficiently extended periods under altered thermal conditions. The widespread occurrence of plastic modification of target temperatures that an ectotherm aims to achieve (preferred body temperatures) has been largely overlooked. I argue that plasticity of target temperatures may significantly contribute to an ectotherm's adaptive capacity. Its contribution to population persistence depends on both the effectiveness of acute thermoregulatory adjustments (reactivity) in buffering selection pressures in a changing thermal environment, and the total costs of thermoregulation (i.e. reactivity and plasticity) in a given environment. The direction and magnitude of plastic shifts in preferred body temperatures can be incorporated into mechanistic models, to improve predictions of the impact of global climate change on ectotherm populations.
Climate change affects human health; however, there have been no large-scale, systematic efforts to quantify the heat-related human health impacts that have already occurred due to climate change. Here, we use empirical data from 732 locations in 43 countries to estimate the mortality burdens associated with the additional heat exposure that has resulted from recent human-induced warming, during the period 1991-2018. Across all study countries, we find that 37.0% (range 20.5-76.3%) of warm-season heat-related deaths can be attributed to anthropogenic climate change and that increased mortality is evident on every continent. Burdens varied geographically but were of the order of dozens to hundreds of deaths per year in many locations. Our findings support the urgent need for more ambitious mitigation and adaptation strategies to minimize the public health impacts of climate change.
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
Air pollution and climate change have a significant impact on human health and well-being and contribute to the onset and aggravation of allergic rhinitis and asthma among other chronic respiratory diseases. In Westernized countries, households have experienced a process of increasing insulation and individuals tend to spend most of their time indoors. These sequelae implicate a high exposure to indoor allergens (house dust mites, pets, molds, etc), tobacco smoke, and other pollutants, which have an impact on respiratory health. Outdoor air pollution derived from traffic and other human activities not only has a direct negative effect on human health but also enhances the allergenicity of some plants and contributes to global warming. Climate change modifies the availability and distribution of plant- and fungal-derived allergens and increases the frequency of extreme climate events. This review summarizes the effects of indoor air pollution, outdoor air pollution, and subsequent climate change on asthma and allergic rhinitis in children and adults and addresses the policy adjustments and lifestyle changes required to mitigate their deleterious effects.
- MeSH
- Allergens MeSH
- Rhinitis, Allergic * epidemiology etiology MeSH
- Asthma * epidemiology etiology MeSH
- Child MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Climate Change MeSH
- Air Pollutants * adverse effects MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Air Pollution * adverse effects MeSH
- Air Pollution, Indoor * adverse effects MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Check Tag
- Child MeSH
- Adult MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Animals MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
- Review MeSH
Plant growth is affected by light availability, light capture, and the efficiency of light energy utilisation within the photosynthetic uptake processes. The radiation use efficiency (RUE) of four even-aged, fully stocked mature Norway spruce stands along a temperature, precipitation, and altitudinal gradient of the Czech Republic was investigated. A new straightforward, methodological approach involving an analysis of digital hemispherical photographs for RUE estimation was applied. The highest annual RUE value (0.72 g MJ-1) was observed in the stand characterised by the lowest mean annual air temperature, the highest annual amount of precipitation, located at the highest altitude, and with the lowest site index reflecting site fertility. From the viewpoint of global climate change mitigation, this stand fixed 4.14 Mg ha-1 and 13.93 Mg ha-1 of carbon units and CO2 molecules into above-ground biomass, respectively. The lowest RUE value (0.21 g MJ-1) within the studied growing season was found in the stand located at the lowest altitude representing the site with the highest mean air temperature and the lowest amount of precipitation where 1.27 Mg ha-1 and 4.28 Mg ha-1 of carbon units and CO2 molecules, respectively, were fixed. From the tested meteorological variables (mean air temperature, the monthly sums of temperature, precipitation, and air humidity), RUE was only significantly dependent on air temperature. Therefore, global warming can lead to diminishing RUE and carbon sequestration in Norway spruce stands, especially at low altitudes.
- MeSH
- Climate Change * MeSH
- Picea * MeSH
- Trees MeSH
- Temperature MeSH
- Plant Transpiration MeSH
- Carbon MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Geographicals
- Czech Republic MeSH
- Norway MeSH
Biochar is a soil-improving substrate made from phytomass pyrolysis. In Southeast Asia, its application decreases due to the long-term growth of biochar cost and thus caused further prolongation of the payback period. In the Euro-American civilization the biochar application is already almost forgotten once it has been much earlier recognized that the crop yields can be increased much faster with higher doses of nutrients and other agrochemicals. The payback period can be expected in decades. Such a long-time investment into soil fertility raises also many ethical questions. The final decision combines issues of social responsibility, risk and other financial indicators as well as personal preferences and more. The attitudes of Western and Central European decision makers in the agriculture business segment were analyzed on the basis of electronic questionnaire survey and a subsequent interview through their local unions. According to the data, most of them did not know about the possibilities of a more environmentally friendly approach to soil enhancement based on the addition of a fertilizer in the form of biochar. Among others, the collected data also shows that the decision makers from Western Europe have a much different ethical approach to the land and financial indicators than the Central Europeans.
- MeSH
- Charcoal economics MeSH
- Climate Change economics MeSH
- Humans MeSH
- Costs and Cost Analysis * MeSH
- Commerce * MeSH
- Fertilizers economics MeSH
- Surveys and Questionnaires MeSH
- Soil chemistry MeSH
- Agriculture economics MeSH
- Environment MeSH
- Check Tag
- Humans MeSH
- Publication type
- Journal Article MeSH
- Geographicals
- Europe MeSH
