Climate change

Earth Day: ‘Green muscle memory’ and climate education promote behaviour change

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Thursday, April 18, 2024

This year, organizers of Earth Day are calling for widespread climate education as a critical step in the fight against climate change.

Key Points:

This year, organizers of Earth Day are calling for widespread climate education as a critical step in the fight against climate change.
A new report, released in time for global attention for Earth Day on April 22, highlights the impact of climate education on promoting behaviour change in the next generation.

How knowledge becomes ingrained

Teachers have become increasingly concerned about best practices for supporting their charges as young people express anxiety about environmental futures.
Similarly, Finnish researchers use biking as an analogy to describe the process by which knowledge becomes ingrained in people’s memory.
The bike model advocates ways of learning that consider knowledge, identity, emotions and world views.
More than half of the survey respondents were from Ontario (25 per cent) and Québec (29 per cent).

Challenges with climate education

However, inclusion of climate education in formal school curricula has come with its own set of challenges.
Educators in Ontario reported a lack of classroom resources as a barrier when integrating climate change education within the curriculum.
The United Nations has declared climate education “a critical agent in addressing the issue of climate change” as climate education increases across different settings and for various age groups.

Educators finding ways

More and more educators are taking steps to find ways to teach climate education in schools.
As an instructor for several undergraduate-level courses, Olsen focuses on equipping budding educators with the skills and knowledge to incorporate climate education in their classrooms.

All aspects of curricula

Embedding climate education into all aspects of curricula can take a variety of approaches in and outside of the classroom.
Environmental education has been packaged in different forms, including broadening school curricula with inclusion in science, but also subjects including English, math and art.

Preety Sharma is a public health and development consultant. As a freelance journalist, she covers climate change, public health and nutrition. Ayeshah Haque is a Clinical Content Specialist at the Association for Ontario Midwives.

Frank Elderson: “Know thyself” – avoiding policy mistakes in light of the prevailing climate science

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Thursday, April 18, 2024

Stock market development and familiarity (language and distance) are considered key determinants for home bias.

Key Points:

Stock market development and familiarity (language and distance) are considered key determinants for home bias.
The literature neglects however that investors often invest in foreign funds domiciled in financial centers.

Isabel Schnabel: The future of inflation (forecast) targeting

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Thursday, April 18, 2024

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Stock market development and familiarity (language and distance) are considered key determinants for home bias.

Key Points:

Stock market development and familiarity (language and distance) are considered key determinants for home bias.
The literature neglects however that investors often invest in foreign funds domiciled in financial centers.

Forecast processes and methodologies: results of the 2023 special survey - Survey conducted on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the ECB SPF

Retrieved on:

Thursday, April 18, 2024

Stock market development and familiarity (language and distance) are considered key determinants for home bias.

Key Points:

Stock market development and familiarity (language and distance) are considered key determinants for home bias.
The literature neglects however that investors often invest in foreign funds domiciled in financial centers.

Feedback on the input provided by the European Parliament as part of its resolution on the ECB’s Annual Report 2022

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Thursday, April 18, 2024

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Beyond managing related risks, the financial sector can also contribute to the transition toward a net-zero economy.

Key Points:

Beyond managing related risks, the financial sector can also contribute to the transition toward a net-zero economy.
Our work aims to enhance data transparency in climate change analysis, while informing monetary policy, financial stability and banking supervision.
The indicators we have developed focus on the euro area financial sector and are built from harmonised granular datasets.

Using research to solve societal problems starts with building connections and making space for young people

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Often, when scientists do research around a specific societal challenge, they hope their work will help solve that larger problem.

Key Points:

Often, when scientists do research around a specific societal challenge, they hope their work will help solve that larger problem.
Yet translating findings into long-lasting, community-driven solutions is much harder than most expect.
Issues like climate change, renewable energy, public health and migration are complex, making direct solutions challenging to develop and implement.

Defining use-inspired research

A framework called use-inspired research and engagement, or UIRE, acknowledges this fact.
In use-inspired research, the potential applications of findings for society shape the directions of exploration.
Use-inspired research expands on translational research, prioritizing building connections between practitioners and communities.
In the U.S., the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act in 2022 further codified use-inspired research.

Producing science in partnership

Together, these teams apply the results and develop products, implement behavior changes, or further inform community decision-making.
For example, a large hospital, an academic organization and several nonprofits may partner together to explore issues affecting health care accessibility in the region.

These groups can then collaborate further to develop specific programs, such as educational initiatives and enhanced health care services.
They can tailor these to the needs of the community they serve.
Use-inspired research matters because it looks at all the different issues facing a community holistically and keeps them in mind when investigating potential solutions.
UIRE is not a substitute for basic, foundational research, which explores new questions to fundamentally understand a topic.

Harnessing early-career engagement

They also focus on making the findings accessible to those outside academia.
To craft necessary solutions for complex societal problems, institutions will need to continue backing traditional scholars who excel at pure basic research.
Creating opportunities for the ongoing involvement of young people will seed a vibrant future for use-inspired research and engagement.

Zoey England is currently completing a Use-Inspired Research Science Communications fellowship, funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation. She has also received funding from CTNext. Jennifer Forbey receives funding from the National Science Foundation. Michael Muszynski receives funding from the National Science Foundation. He is affiliated with the Maize Genetics Cooperation.

Don’t trust politicians? That may not be such a bad thing

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Wednesday, April 10, 2024

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But if you’re one of the distrustful majority, that may not be such a bad thing.

Key Points:

But if you’re one of the distrustful majority, that may not be such a bad thing.
In a 2021 survey, just 24.5% of respondents across OECD, countries said they trust political parties.
National polls repeatedly show similar results, particularly in the wake of scandals involving politicians misbehaving.
Self-evidently, trustworthy leaders are preferable – but that doesn’t mean trusting them unconditionally once they’re in power.

Trust isn’t a ‘thing’

But there’s no optimal survey result, and no one should expect complete trust.
People talk metaphorically of “building” trust, but trust isn’t a “thing” that’s literally broken and rebuilt.
Political trust is about an underlying “deal” that keeps a society together and functioning.
People disagree about whom to trust, and judgment will partly depend on which politicians promote the policies people prefer.

Government is a work in progress

But leadership and government are themselves problems about which people have debated for millennia, with still no universally agreed solution in sight.
It’s worth noting, for example, that in China, most people tell pollsters that they trust their government.
There may be disagreements about how best to govern, but all states practice, by necessity, some form of government.

As there’s no handy administrative formula for political trust, such personal and political self-examination has to persist.
Telling surveyors that you don’t trust politicians is a gentle and valid form of political resistance.

Grant Duncan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

A landslide forced me from my home – and I experienced our failure to deal with climate change at first hand

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Wednesday, April 10, 2024

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These cracks soon became a landslide affecting several homes overlooking the Gill, ultimately swallowing tonnes of land and trees and leaving chunks of our properties at the bottom of the valley.

Key Points:

These cracks soon became a landslide affecting several homes overlooking the Gill, ultimately swallowing tonnes of land and trees and leaving chunks of our properties at the bottom of the valley.
The local council has forced my family out of our home, which is now teetering on the edge of a cliff.

This is worrying, as events like these will become more and more common in the years to come.
Although Hastings is a coastal town, our property is inland, so this could happen to anyone, anywhere.

No one wants to take responsibility

This response – or lack thereof – reveals a troubling incentive structure, where the fear of assuming liability results in inaction.
Our attempts to be rehoused or to have the landslide damage addressed were met with challenges at every turn.

Previously rare events aren’t factored in

The landslide reveals current climate governance frameworks are inadequate, since they simply don’t consider previously rare events like these.
This means landslide victims have to do it themselves, at enormous personal cost, and often without any prior technical or policy experience.

A call for systemic change

In an ideal world, this issue would be dealt with by local authorities or utility companies.
So we need policies that empower (or force) local authorities and utility companies to act without fear of legal liability.
As the climate changes, catastrophes like this one can happen to anyone, no matter how secure we may feel.

Ralitsa Hiteva is a member of the Green Party.

An economist explains: Textbook economics is badly flawed when it comes to climate change

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

But economists are hardly infallible experts on the carbon tax and other fiscal measures implemented by governments.

Key Points:

But economists are hardly infallible experts on the carbon tax and other fiscal measures implemented by governments.
While the carbon tax increase kicked in, the Alberta fuel tax was hiked by 13 cents the same day.
In other words, the carbon tax has been a blessing for Smith as she deflects attention away from her own government’s role in raising gas prices.

Double standards

For instance, some homeowners have blamed the carbon tax for higher electricity bills in Alberta, ignoring the fact that the carbon tax does not apply to the electricity sector.
Double standards abound on the carbon tax.
While protesters chant “Axe the tax,” they ignore that fossil fuel subsidies cost them more than the carbon tax.

Textbook economics backs carbon tax

As an economics instructor, a key lesson is that the carbon tax is the least costly method to address carbon emissions.
In my pedagogical paper on climate change, I refer to McGill University economist Chris Ragan, who states that the carbon tax is more efficient than regulation.
But the carbon tax incentivizes investment in new technologies to limit the tax payment.

The limits of textbook economics

The way textbook economics approaches climate change through externalities suggests it’s simply a minor aberration.
Energy and raw materials are ignored, which means that biophysical or ecological limits are disregarded in the pursuit of growth.
Keen argues that mainstream economics assumes 90 per cent of GDP will be unaffected by climate change.
In short, he argues, mainstream economics has been complicit in the existential crisis of climate change.

Radical solutions

But it may be too little too late, necessitating radical solutions beyond the carbon tax.
In this regard, Keen argues that carbon pricing is not enough, calling for carbon rationing.
This happens by going beyond textbook economics and technical jargon by highlighting the ecological and biophysical limits to growth.

I am not affiliated with any organization. Though, I have in the past done research assistance work for the Parkland Institute.

Why some of British Columbia’s kelp forests are in more danger than others

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Wednesday, April 10, 2024

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Kelp forests help to support fisheries, draw down carbon and improve water quality — in the process contributing billions to the global economy.

Key Points:

Kelp forests help to support fisheries, draw down carbon and improve water quality — in the process contributing billions to the global economy.
We also show that, despite recent impacts of climate change, kelp forests in some areas have remained stable, offering hope for future kelp forests and shedding light on the drivers of ecosystem resilience.

Marine forests in hot water

Beginning in 2014, a string of marine heat waves created warmer-than-usual conditions that have wreaked havoc on a range of ocean species.
Marine heat waves are becoming longer and more intense as greenhouse gas emissions continue.
Together, marine heat waves and seastar declines led to devastating kelp forest losses along many parts of North America’s west coast over the past decade.

Threats to kelp in Western Canada

Thanks to ancient glaciers that carved up and reshaped Canada’s Pacific coast, B.C.’s kelp forests inhabit a rich mosaic of environments.
Nearly 40,000 islands and dozens of glacial fjords create diverse habitats for kelp.
In these areas, kelp forests have experienced large losses, especially over the past decade.
In some parts of B.C.’s central and northern coasts, some kelp forests are also in decline despite cooler waters.

Reasons for optimism

kelp forests have remained stable.
In fact, some of these healthy kelp forests might even be growing.
Areas with cool water temperatures, such as the Strait of Juan de Fuca, have stable kelp forests, despite extensive losses close by.

Innovative solutions are needed to save kelp

kelp forests are faring under intense ocean warming driven by climate change.
Read more:
NZ’s vital kelp forests are in peril from ocean warming – threatening the important species that rely on them
Global and regional initiatives to protect and restore kelp forests are gaining momentum.
This might include restoration of important predators in the ecosystem, controlling urchins so that kelp forests can flourish, or developing new techniques to restore kelp forests using strains capable of surviving warming conditions.

He is affiliated with The Kelp Rescue Initiative, based at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, and was affiliated with the University of Victoria during this project.
Christopher Neufeld received funding relevant to this project from the Ngan-Page Family Fund via The Kelp Rescue Initiative, based at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre.
She is affiliated with The Kelp Rescue Initiative, based at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre.