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 The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change: From 25 Years of inaction to a Global Transformation for Public Health
by N. Watts, M. Amann, S. Ayeb-Karlsson, K. Belesova, T. Bouley, M. Boykoff, et al.
The Lancet, doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32464-9 (2017).
Summary: The Lancet Countdown tracks progress on health and climate change and provides an independent assessment of the health effects of climate change, the implementation of the Paris Agreement,1 and the health implications of these actions. It follows on from the work of the 2015 Lancet Commission on Health and Climate Change,2 which concluded that anthropogenic climate change threatens to undermine the past 50 years of gains in public health, and conversely, that a comprehensive response to climate change could be “the greatest global health opportunity of the 21st century”. The Lancet Countdown is a collaboration between 24 academic institutions and intergovernmental organizations based in every continent and with representation from a wide range of disciplines. Read more ... |
 Making Sense of Climate Engineering: A Focus Group Study of Lay Publics in Four Countries
by V. Wibeck, A. Hansson, J. Anshelm, S. Asayama, L. Dilling, P. M. Feetham, R. Hauser, A. Ishii, and M. Sugiyama
Climatic Change, 1-14, doi: 10.1007/s10584-017-2067-0 (2017).
Abstract: This study explores sense-making about climate engineering among lay focus group participants in Japan, New Zealand, the USA and Sweden. In total, 23 qualitative focus group interviews of 136 participants were conducted. The analyses considered sense-making strategies and heuristics among the focus group participants and identified commonalities and variations in the data, exploring participants’ initial and spontaneous reactions to climate engineering and to several recurrent arguments that feature in scientific and public debate (e.g. climate emergency). We found that, despite this study’s wide geographical scope, heterogeneous focus group compositions, and the use of different moderators, common themes emerged. Participants made sense of climate engineering in similar ways, for example, through context-dependent analogies and metaphorical descriptions. With few exceptions, participants largely expressed negative views of large-scale deliberate intervention in climate systems as a means to address anthropogenic global warming. Read more ... |
 Student Content Production of Climate Communications
by B. Osnes, R. Safran, and M. Boykoff
What is Sustainable Journalism?, Ed. P. Berglez, U. Olausson, and M. Ots, Peter Lang (2017).
This edited volume, which elaborates on the idea and concept of sustainable journalism, is the result of a perceived lack of integral research approaches to journalism and sustainable development. Thirty years ago, in 1987, the Brundtland Report pointed out economic growth, social equality and environmental protection as the three main pillars of a sustainable development. These pillars are intertwined, interdependent, and need to be reconciled. However, usually, scholars interested in the business crisis of the media industry tend to leave the social and environmental dimensions of journalism aside, and vice versa. What Is Sustainable Journalism? is the first book that discusses and examines the economic, social and environmental challenges of professional journalism simultaneously. This unique book and fresh contribution to the discussion of the future of journalism assembles international expertise in all three fields, arguing for the necessity of integral research perspectives and for sustainable journalism as the key to long-term survival of professional journalism. The book is relevant for scholars and master’s students in media economy, media and communication, and environmental communication. Read more ... |
 Participatory Framework for Assessment and Improvement of Tools (ParFAIT): Increasing the Impact and Relevance of Water Management Decision Support Research
by R. Smith, J. Kasprzyk, and L. Dilling
Environmental Modelling & Software, 95 432-446, doi: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2017.05.004 (2017).
Abstract: This paper proposes the Participatory Framework for Assessment and Improvement of Tools (ParFAIT) as a way to address low uptake of Water Resources Systems Optimization (WRSO) tools. ParFAIT is a transdisciplinary process conducted in five stages, two of which are participatory modeling (PM) exercises. Herein we describe the framework, introduce our candidate tool- Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA)-assisted optimization, and present the results of our first PM workshop. The PM workshop, designed to solicit input on a tool testbed, was held in February 2015 with representatives from six Front Range, Colorado, water utilities. Our results include an expanded characterization of the decision making landscape, feedback on water utility decisions and performance goals commonly employed in WRSO studies, and new questions that warrant future investigation by researchers. Read more ... |
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