scholarly journals The Failure of Lifestyle Environmentalism and the Promise of the Green New Deal for Working-Class People

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-21
Author(s):  
Karen Bell ◽  
Gnisha Bevan

There is an urgent need to address a range of environmental issues, including climate change, but the policies enacted to date have usually done nothing to address class inequities and have often led to increased working-class disadvantage. The causes of the climate and other environmental crises have often been located in problematic individual lifestyles, with little recognition of the time, economic and health constraints that make it difficult for working-class people to adopt green lifestyles. The Green New Deal (GND) presented an alternative policy paradigm that argued for environmental policies that, rather than increasing the pressure on disadvantaged groups, would have co-benefits for working-class people, low-income groups and communities of colour. However, the policy did not lead to electoral success for the political leaders that proposed it, in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), due to opposition representations of it as costly and threatening to working-class jobs. We interviewed 40 working-class people in the UK to find out how much they knew about the Green New Deal, what they thought about it as an environmental policy and how they felt about environmentalism, more generally. Our research indicates that there was a general lack of knowledge about GND, but great enthusiasm about it once explained, albeit with reservations about its implementation and limitations. The GND has huge potential to benefit the lives of working-class people but, we conclude, more, and better, outreach is needed for people to understand its potential to improve their lives.

2020 ◽  
Vol 119 (820) ◽  
pp. 303-309
Author(s):  
J. Nicholas Ziegler

Comparing the virus responses in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States shows that in order for scientific expertise to result in effective policy, rational political leadership is required. Each of these three countries is known for advanced biomedical research, yet their experiences in the COVID-19 pandemic diverged widely. Germany’s political leadership carefully followed scientific advice and organized public–private partnerships to scale up testing, resulting in relatively low infection levels. The UK and US political responses were far more erratic and less informed by scientific advice—and proved much less effective.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 3717
Author(s):  
James C. Young ◽  
Rudy Arthur ◽  
Michelle Spruce ◽  
Hywel T. P. Williams

Heatwaves cause thousands of deaths every year, yet the social impacts of heat are poorly measured. Temperature alone is not sufficient to measure impacts and “heatwaves” are defined differently in different cities/countries. This study used data from the microblogging platform Twitter to detect different scales of response and varying attitudes to heatwaves within the United Kingdom (UK), the United States of America (US) and Australia. At the country scale, the volume of heat-related Twitter activity increased exponentially as temperature increased. The initial social reaction differed between countries, with a larger response to heatwaves elicited from the UK than from Australia, despite the comparatively milder conditions in the UK. Language analysis reveals that the UK user population typically responds with concern for individual wellbeing and discomfort, whereas Australian and US users typically focus on the environmental consequences. At the city scale, differing responses are seen in London, Sydney and New York on governmentally defined heatwave days; sentiment changes predictably in London and New York over a 24-h period, while sentiment is more constant in Sydney. This study shows that social media data can provide robust observations of public response to heat, suggesting that social sensing of heatwaves might be useful for preparedness and mitigation.


1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 148-151
Author(s):  
Debra H. Fiser

Definition Drowning is defined as death caused by submersion, whereas near-drowning connotes survival for some time period following submersion. The following remarks pertain to the near-drowning victim who presents for acute medical management. Epidemiology Because reporting of near-drowning incidents is incomplete, most of the available epidemiologic information focuses on drowning deaths, which number more than 6500 per year in the United States. Data from King County, Washington, however, suggest that near-drownings slightly out-number drownings. Drowning rates are highest for children under the age of 5 years and between the ages of 15 and 24 years. Males drown 4 times more frequently than females. African-Americans and low-income groups also are affected disproportionately, except for those drownings involving boats and residential swimming pools, which more often are owned by middle class groups. Drownings peak during the summer months and are most common in the southern and western United States and Alaska. Forty to 45% of all drownings occur while the victim is swimming and 12% to 29% are boat-related. Alcohol plays a substantial role in these deaths. Between one half and three quarters of all drownings occur in lakes, ponds, rivers, and the ocean. More than 40% of all submersions in these bodies of water involve older adolescents or young adults.


Author(s):  
Thomas Klammer ◽  
Neil Wilner ◽  
Jan Smolarski

Capital expenditures can be crucial to firms long-term success, especially in a complex global environment. As companies increasingly compete in the global market place, it is important to study project evaluation processes from an international perspective. Capital investments involve substantial monetary commitments and risks that affect long-term firm profitability and influence capital allocation decisions in the future. Survey research in the area of capital expenditure analysis has been extensively done in both the United States [US] and the United Kingdom [UK]. This research is the first comparative survey of practices in both countries that we are aware of. A direct comparison of the use of project evaluation, management science, and risk management techniques in the two countries is made. The survey instrument used is an adaptation of the Klammer [1970] instrument that has been used repeatedly in surveys of American firms. This is the first time that it has been applied to British firms. The use of a common instrument allows for more meaningful comparisons. The samples consisted of 127 American and 59 British firms with sales of at least $100 million and capital expenditures of at least $10 million. Preliminary results indicate a continued extensive use of discounted cash flow techniques by US firms. Techniques such as payback or urgency continue to be used, but to a lesser degree than discounting. Firms in the UK also make extensive use of discounting but do so to a lesser degree than their American counterparts. Payback is widely used in the UK. Risk management techniques are widely used in both countries, with sensitivity analysis being the most popular technique in both countries. Extensive use of technical and administrative procedures, such as detailed budgets, standardized forms and post-audits, are evidenced in both countries. The paper offers reasons that have to do with organizational structure and form, as well as market differences, to explain our results.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eszter Bokányi ◽  
Sándor Juhász ◽  
Márton Karsai ◽  
Balázs Lengyel

AbstractMillions commute to work every day in cities and interact with colleagues, partners, friends, and strangers. Commuting facilitates the mixing of people from distant and diverse neighborhoods, but whether this has an imprint on social inclusion or instead, connections remain assortative is less explored. In this paper, we aim to better understand income sorting in social networks inside cities and investigate how commuting distance conditions the online social ties of Twitter users in the 50 largest metropolitan areas of the United States. An above-median commuting distance in cities is linked to more diverse individual networks, moreover, we find that longer commutes are associated with a nearly uniform, moderate reduction of overall social tie assortativity across all cities. This suggests a universal relation between long-distance commutes and the integration of social networks. Our results inform policy that facilitating access across distant neighborhoods can advance the social inclusion of low-income groups.


1997 ◽  
Vol 1997 ◽  
pp. 25-25
Author(s):  
R A Mrode ◽  
G J T Swanson

Mastitis remains a costly health problem to dairy farmers despite a significant reduction in both clinical and sub-clinical mastitis over the last 25 years. This reduction has been due predominantly to the success of management control programmes. The continuing losses have raised the interest in breeding as a means to reduce mastitis incidence. Somatic Cell Counts (SCC) have been used since 1977 as an indirect means of monitoring mastitis within dairy herds. Since 1991 an optional individual cell count service has been offered by Milk Recording Organisations in the UK. The result is that 0.80 of recorded cows have SCC records. The Animal Data Centre has analysed the SCC data to establish genetic parameters and produced preliminary evaluations on bulls and cows (Mrode et al, 1996). As a forerunner to launching SCC evaluations it is important to determine whether SCC evaluations in the UK agree with similar evaluations overseas.


Author(s):  
D.V. Shram ◽  

The article is devoted to the antimonopoly regulation of IT giants` activities. The author presents an overview of the main trends in foreign and Russian legislation in this area. The problems the antimonopoly regulation of digital markets faces are the following: the complexity of determining the criteria for the dominant position of economic entities in the digital economy and the criteria for assessing the economic concentration in the commodity digital markets; the identification and suppression of cartels; the relationship between competition law and intellectual property rights in the digital age. Some aspects of these problems are considered through the prism of the main trends in the antimonopoly policy in the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Russia. The investigation findings of the USA House of Representatives Antitrust Subcommittee against Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook are presented. The author justifies the need to separate them, which requires the adoption of appropriate amendments to the antimonopoly legislation. The article analyzes the draft law of the European Commission on the regulation of digital markets – Digital Markets Act, reveals the criteria for classifying IT companies as «gatekeepers», and notes the specific approaches to antimonopoly regulation in the UK and the US. The article describes the concepts «digital platform» and «network effects», presented in the «fifth antimonopoly package of amendments», developed in 2018 by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation, and gives an overview of the comments of the Ministry of Economic Development regarding these concepts wording in the text of the draft law, which formed the basis for the negative conclusion of the regulator. It is concluded that in the context of the digital markets’ globalization, there is a need for the international legal nature antitrust norms formation, since regional legislation obviously cannot cope with the monopolistic activities of IT giants.


2021 ◽  
pp. 98-118
Author(s):  
Sandro Galea

This chapter investigates how politics and power shape health outcomes, with special emphasis on how these forces intersect with economic inequality and the disproportionate burden of sickness experienced by low-income populations. During the spread of COVID-19, American political leadership faced a test of its ability to respond to sudden crisis. Rising to such a difficult occasion requires detailed plans for what to do in such a scenario, robust public health infrastructure, and leadership which takes decisive, data-informed action, listening to experts and communicating clearly and consistently with the public. Tragically, COVID-19 found the United States lacking in all these areas. Political leaders are in a position to mold public opinion, nudging the public mind towards new ways of thinking. The precise term for this is “shifting the Overton window.” By helping to mainstream a cavalier attitude towards COVID-19, the Trump administration shifted the Overton window towards greater acceptance of behaviors which create poorer health. The chapter then looks at the failure to adequately address race in the US. Among the factors that shape health, the area of race is particularly sensitive to political dynamics.


Author(s):  
Rudolf Bilous

Diabetic nephropathy is the commonest cause of endstage renal disease in the developed world, causing 44% of prevalent cases requiring renal replacement therapy in the United States of America in 2012 and 25% in the United Kingdom in 2013. Incident rates have increased slightly in the UK at 25% of all new patients accepted onto RRT in 2013. Most patients have type 2 diabetes, and in most countries the proportion with endstage renal disease who have type 1 diabetes is falling....


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