Socioecology Research Today

Climate change harms health and damages and diminishes environmental resources. Gradually it will cause health systems to reduce services, standards of care, and opportunities to express patient autonomy. Prominent public health organizations are responding with preparedness, mitigation, and educational programs. The design and effectiveness of these programs, and of similar programs in other sectors, would [...]

In the course of an interesting discussion with Bill Moyers, Tim DeChristopher says: “And I think those are the challenges that we now face as a climate movement as it’s in all likelihood too late for any amount of emissions reductions to stop runaway climate change which means that we are on this path of [...]

In the aftermath of the March 2011 accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the future contribution of nuclear power to the global energy supply has become somewhat uncertain. Because nuclear power is an abundant, low-carbon source of base-load power, it could make a large contribution to mitigation of global climate change and air [...]

There is growing recognition that humans are faced with a critical and narrowing window of opportunity to halt or reverse some of the key indicators involved in the environmental crisis. Given human activities’ scale and impact, as well as the overly narrow perspectives of environmental research’s dominant natural sciences, a major effort is necessary to [...]

One of the prominent features of contemporary society is an increased anxiety over risks. The potentially adverse effects of industrial development and technological innovation are the subject of widespread social concern, leading to a surge in the number of ‘risk disputes’ that involve novel technologies and projected environmental catastrophes. These ‘risk disputes’ are taking place [...]

This article examines the concepts ‘environment’ and ‘expertise’. It is argued that these concepts, while having long and diverse individual histories, acquired new meaning through a process of mutual co-production which occurred largely in the period 1920–1960, thus significantly preceding the common understanding of environmentalism as a phenomenon emerging in the 1960s. It is further [...]

Climate science suggests that, to have a high probability of limiting global warming to an average temperature increase of 2 °C, global greenhouse gas emissions must peak by 2020 and be reduced to close to zero by 2040. However, the current trend is heading towards at least 4 °C by 2100 and little effective action [...]

In a report released yesterday, the Bar Association makes these proposals related to environmental issues in New York City: II. INFRASTRUCTURE, THE ENVIRONMENT AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 11 A. Continue to Pursue an Ambitious Environmental Agenda ……………………………. 11 1. Continue to Advocate for Municipal, National and Global Action on Climate Change …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 12 2. Encourage [...]

Besides marine inundation, it is largely unrecognized that low-lying coastal areas may also be vulnerable to groundwater inundation, which is localized coastal-plain flooding due to a rise of the groundwater table with sea level. Measurements of the coastal groundwater elevation and tidal influence in urban Honolulu, Hawaii, allow estimates of the mean water table, which [...]

The rapid application of carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a much heralded means to tackle emissions from both existing and future sources that, however, simply may not deliver the expected benefits. Apart from some doubts about the efficacy of the geological storage, the present stall in deploying carbon capture and storage (no fossil-fuel power [...]