scholarly journals The Human Dimensions of Coastal Adaptation Strategies

Author(s):  
Chad J. McGuire

Not only are humans responsible for the anthropogenic causes of currently observed climate change, but we are also responsible for our responses to climate change. How we choose to respond provides important insights into our ability to collectively act in the face of threats with the unique characteristics of climate change. This communication attempts to provide an overview of some the difficulties in forging new policy directions along our coastlines in an era of climate change. It is meant as a referential framing for the research presented in this special issue. As this communication is being written, the world is gripped by a global pandemic caused by a variant of the coronavirus. There are important corollaries between the underlying characteristics of the coronavirus and the causes and effects of climate change. Seeing how the global citizenry is responding to the current epidemic provides some insight into the difficulties in fostering collective action towards climate change. As with the pandemic, the issue is not really one of understanding the problem, but rather the varying human responses to the problem. We can expect the same difficulties as we continue to confront the ever-growing problem of climate change.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 546
Author(s):  
Chad J. McGuire

Not only are humans responsible for the anthropogenic causes of currently observed climate change, but we are also responsible for our responses to climate change. How we choose to respond provides important insights into our ability to collectively act in the face of threats with the unique characteristics of climate change. This communication attempts to provide an overview of some of the difficulties in forging new policy directions along our coastlines in an era of climate change. It is meant as a referential framing for the research presented in this Special Issue. As this communication is being written, the world is gripped by a global pandemic caused by a variant of the coronavirus. There are important corollaries between the underlying characteristics of the coronavirus and the causes and effects of climate change. Seeing how the global citizenry is responding to the current epidemic provides some insight into the difficulties in fostering collective action towards climate change. As with the pandemic, the issue is not really one of understanding the problem, but rather the varying human responses to the problem. We can expect the same difficulties as we continue to confront the ever-growing problem of climate change.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arathy Puthillam

That American and European participants are overrepresented in psychological studies has been previously established. In addition, researchers also often tend to be similarly homogenous. This continues to be alarming, especially given that this research is being used to inform policies across the world. In the face of a global pandemic where behavioral scientists propose solutions, we ask who is conducting research and on what samples. Forty papers on COVID-19 published in PsyArxiV were analyzed; the nationalities of the authors and the samples they recruited were assessed. Findings suggest that an overwhelming majority of the samples recruited were from the US and the authors were based in US and German institutions. Next, men constituted a large proportion of primary and sole authors. The implications of these findings are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8206
Author(s):  
Andrew Spring ◽  
Erin Nelson ◽  
Irena Knezevic ◽  
Patricia Ballamingie ◽  
Alison Blay-Palmer

Since we first conceived of this Special Issue, “Levering Sustainable Food Systems to Address Climate Change—Possible Transformations”, COVID-19 has turned the world upside down [...]


2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
P Van Den Hazel

Abstract The impacts of climate change are not distributed equally. Some people will experience natural disasters first hand, some will be affected more gradually over time, and some will experience only indirect impacts. There are data from the United nations that show the interest of youth on climate change. Close to half a million youth around the world have taken action on climate change through SGP [small grants programmes] projects in their homes, schools and communities. (UNDP, 2015). 84% of the surveyed young people agree that they need more information to prevent climate change. (UNEP, 2011). Furthermore, about 73% of surveyed youth say they currently feel the effects climate change. (UNEP, GlobeScan Survey, 2008). Some 89% of youth respondents say young people can make a difference on climate change. [UNEP, 2008]. But only 9% of youth are very confident the world will act quickly enough to address climate change. [UNEP, 2008]. Young people are key actors in raising awareness, running educational programmes, promoting sustainable lifestyles, conserving nature, supporting renewable energy, adopting environmentally-friendly practices and implementing adaptation and mitigation projects[UNFCCC]. Action by youth, as protest school strikes or speeches to the UN by Greta Thunberg, urge immediate action from governments, business leaders and school leaders. There are different reasons for this action by youth. The psycho-social impacts of a changing climate are generally under lighted in these reasons. Are the responses by society enough to minimize suffering and promote resilience of youth in the face of the challenging impacts of climate change? Or do governments and businesses enough while they increasingly seem to be moving toward action on climate change, as they proclaim to cut their own emissions or be active in their energy transition? It is not clear whether those actions are enough to satisfy the next generation of customers, employees and decision makers.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Lavkush Dwivedi

Infectious diseases and consequent immune imbalancesare major constraint in human health managementthroughout the world. However, in recentdecades enormous efforts have been made to elucidatethe immunomodulatory approaches againstinfectious diseases. Immunomodulation is a therapeuticapproach in which we try to intervene inauto regulating processes of the defense system toadjust the immune response at a desired level.The present special issue on cutting edge issues inImmunomodulation like Immune stimulation, Immunesuppression, Immune potentiating and immunereinforcement summarizes our current understandingof this complex mosaic. The accompanyingselection of recent articles from across theworld provides further insight into this topic. 


e-mentor ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-63
Author(s):  
Dominika P. Brodowicz ◽  

Today's cities face many challenges, including those related to the aging of the population, climate change, or broadly understood public safety and health. Examples from many places around the world show that without access to modern technologies, cities, companies, and public institutions could not function, provide services or care for the safety of billions of people living in urban areas. That is especially vital in conditions of the threat to many people's health and life and shutdown of economies caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, the article aims to present selected examples of smart solutions used in cities in the face of the challenges related to ensuring security. Their functionality in pandemic conditions is also described both at present and if the state of emergency continued for the following years. The study proved that the importance of smart solutions for contemporary cities' functioning is growing in the face of the threat to the residents' health and life caused by COVID-19. That mainly applies to tools in the area of e-government, e-education, and e-services in the healthcare sector, including applications for reporting and informing about clusters of virus infections.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manos Tsakiris ◽  
Neza Vehar ◽  
Stephen M Fleming ◽  
Sophie De Beukelaer ◽  
Max Rollwage

Updating one’s beliefs about the causes and effects of climate change is crucial for altering attitudes and behaviours. Importantly, metacognitive abilities - insight into the (in)correctness of one’s beliefs- play a key role in the formation of polarized beliefs. We investigated the role of domain-general and domain-specific metacognition in updating prior beliefs about climate change across the spectrum of climate change scepticism. We also considered the role of how climate science is communicated in the form of textual or visuo-textual presentations. We show that climate change scepticism is associated with differences in domain-general as well as domain-specific metacognitive abilities. Moreover, domain-general metacognitive sensitivity influenced belief updating in an asymmetric way : lower domain-general metacognition decreased the updating of prior beliefs, especially in the face of negative evidence. Our findings highlight the role of metacognitive failures in revising erroneous beliefs about climate change and point to their adverse social effects.


Urban Health ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 129-138
Author(s):  
Patrick L. Kinney

Global climate change represents one of the sentinel changes the world is facing and that will threaten population health in this century. In the context of urban health, climate change threatens to increase urban heat island effects, to change exposure to pollution, and to increase urban residents’ risk of exposure to natural disasters, among other phenomena. And yet urban innovation is central to the longer term solution to climate change from the development of innovative approaches that reduce cities’ carbon footprint to initiatives that increase urban resilience in the face of climate change threats. This chapter discusses the threat that climate change poses for urban populations and potential approaches that can mitigate this challenge toward improving urban health.


Author(s):  
Christian W. McMillen

There will be more pandemics. A pandemic might come from an old, familiar foe such as influenza or might emerge from a new source—a zoonosis that makes its way into humans, perhaps. The epilogue asks how the world will confront pandemics in the future. It is likely that patterns established long ago will re-emerge. But how will new challenges, like climate change, affect future pandemics and our ability to respond? Will lessons learned from the past help with plans for the future? One thing is clear: in the face of a serious pandemic much of the developing world’s public health infrastructure will be woefully overburdened. This must be addressed.


Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 506
Author(s):  
John W. Compton

This article is born out of a deep concern for our current ecological crisis and serves as a beginning foundational work for how the Christian tradition can address global climate change. Our current way of being gives precedence to the autonomous individual, whose freedom is characterized by disregard for other creatures. John Zizioulas’ communal ontology demonstrates that as the world was created out of God’s loving will, it is comprised of relationship. Living into individuation and division is a refusal of this communion with other creatures and God, but the Eucharist serves as the ritual that brings Christians into communion through the remembrance of Christ. Ian McFarland’s work on the theology of creation provides the helpful nuance that creaturely movement in communion must include the full diversity of creatures. I then turn to Bruce Morrill’s work to demonstrate that the Eucharistic practice must have bearing beyond the walls of the church. It leads practitioners to live into eschatological hope and kenotic service to the world. John Seligman’s ritual theory demonstrates that ritual practice can accomplish these goals because it creates a subjunctive ‘as-if’ world in the face of the world that is perceived as chaotic. Through the continuous practice of the ritual, participants are then formed to live into this subjunctive ‘as-if’ world without ritual precedence. In this way, the Eucharistic practice can prepare practitioners to live into the kenotic service to a world broken by individuation that has led to global climate change and creaturely destruction.


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