Understanding Perceptions of Climate Change, Priorities, and Decision-Making among Municipalities in Lima, Peru to Better Inform Adaptation and Mitigation Planning

Climate change and public health in South America: a scoping review of governance and public engagement research

This scoping review examines peer-reviewed literature of governance and public engagement at the intersection of public health and climate change in South America. The review shows significant gaps in academic publications, particularly because health was mostly a secondary theme examined in the studies. The few studies about governmental interventions (e.g., policies and programs) suggest that these have not been effective. Regarding public engagement, no studies examined social media engagement with health and climate change, and only one examined news coverage. Finally, most articles focused primarily on individual countries, with few comparative or regional analyses of South America. Strategic action addressing climate change and its effects on public health needs to be based on empirical evidence.

The Causes and Role of Antinatalism in Poland in the Context of Climate Change, Obstetric Care, and Mental Health

Antinatalism is an umbrella term for numerous moral dilemmas associated with procreation. In the past few years, the deterioration of environmental conditions, social difficulties, global worsening of people's mental health, and pandemics have induced discussion about antinatalism. Therefore, we aimed to characterize antinatalists in the Polish population in terms of the frequency and description of the main reasons behind this phenomenon. The cross-sectional study was performed in the Polish population. An online, four-part survey was performed between 19 and 25 January 2022. The study group comprised 1240 respondents. Antinatalists (n = 472, 38%) were defined as people who do not have children and want to be childless in the future, whereas pronatalists (n = 768, 62%) consisted of people who want to have offspring in the future and/or already have children. The opinion that climate change is a significant reason not to have a child appeared twice as often among antinatalists. Additionally, the performed binary logistic regression model highlighted the importance of the fear of climate change as an independent factor facilitating an antinatalistic attitude. Regarding females, the following factors discouraging them from having a child were observed: fear of child's congenital diseases, pregnancy complications, dissatisfaction with medical services, and fear of exacerbation of maternal chronic diseases. Anxiety, depression, and stress were not found to be statistically different between pro- and antinatalist groups. However, further analysis revealed that female antinatalists were significantly more depressive and anxious. Our study helps us to understand why, as mentioned beforehand, around 38% of respondents prefer to stay childless. In conclusion, antinatalism views have become relatively prevalent in society, and its reasons include environmental antinatalism and medical factors, including depression and anxiety. However, better access to medical services and changes in climate politics were not found to be significant factors in encouraging society to decide to have offspring.

Diagnosis of the Extreme Climate Events of Temperature and Precipitation in Metropolitan Lima during 1965–2013

The most extreme precipitation event in Metropolitan Lima (ML) occurred on 15 January 1970 (16 mm), this event caused serious damage, and the real vulnerability of this city was evidenced; the population is still not prepared to resist events of this nature. This research describes the local climate variability and extreme climate indices of temperature and precipitation. In addition, the most extreme precipitation event in ML is analyzed. Extreme climate indices were identified based on the methodology proposed by the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI). Some extreme temperature indices highlight an initial trend toward warm conditions (1965–1998); this trend has changed towards cold conditions since 1999, consistent with the thermal cooling during the last two decades in ML (−0.5 °C/decade) and other coastal areas of Peru. The variations of extreme temperature indices are mainly modulated by sea-surface temperature (SST) alterations in the Niño 1 + 2 region (moderate to strong correlations were found). Extreme precipitation indices show trends toward wet conditions after the 1980s, the influence of the Pacific Ocean SST on the extreme precipitation indices in ML is weak and variable in sign. The most extreme precipitation event in ML is associated with a convergence process between moisture fluxes from the east (Amazon region) at high and mid levels and moisture fluxes from the west (Pacific Ocean) at low levels, and near the surface.

The Correlation Between COVID-19 Activities and Climate Factors in Different Climate Types Areas

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of human infection with corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Moscow, Lima, Kuwait, and Singapore to analyze the effects of climate factors on the incidence of COVID-19.

METHODS

Collect the daily incidence of COVID-19 and related climate data in four areas, construct a negative binomial regression model, and analyze the correlation between the incidence of COVID-19 and meteorological factors.

RESULTS

AH was the climate factor affecting the incidence of COVID-19 in Moscow, Lima, and Singapore; Ta and RH were the climate factors affecting the incidence of COVID-19 in Kuwait.

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence of COVID-19 in four areas were all associated with the humidity, and climate factors should be taken into consideration when epidemic prevention measures are taken, and environment humidification may be a feasible approach to decrease COVID-19 virus transmission.

How Climate Change Beliefs among U.S. Teachers Do and Do Not Translate to Students

Research suggests climate change beliefs among science teachers mirror those of the general public, raising questions of whether teachers may be perpetuating polarization of public opinion through their classrooms. We began answering these questions with a survey of middle school science teachers (n = 24) and their students (n = 369) in North Carolina, USA. Similar to previous studies, we found that though nearly all (92.1%) of students had teachers who believe that global warming is happening, few (12%) are in classrooms with teachers who recognize that global warming is anthropogenic. We found that teacher beliefs that global warming is happening and student climate change knowledge were the strongest predictors of student belief that global warming is happening and human caused. Conversely, teacher beliefs about human causes of global warming had no relationship with student beliefs, suggesting that science teachers’ low recognition of the causes of global warming is not necessarily problematic in terms of student outcomes. These findings may be explained by previous research suggesting adolescents interpret scientific information relatively independently of ideological constraints. Though teacher polarization may be problematic in its own right, it appears that as long as climate change information is presented in classrooms, students deduce anthropogenic causes.