No future, no kids –no kids, no future?
AbstractIndividuals around the world believe global climate change is a major threat, with media attention and polling suggesting young adults may decide to go childfree as a result. Yet, there is limited research on the link between environmental concern and reproductive attitudes. The purpose of this research was to explore how climate change-related concerns affect reproductive attitudes and motivations to remain childfree. Two studies were conducted: study 1 consisted of a content analysis of reader comments on articles discussing going childfree in response to climate change, and study 2 featured semi-structured inter...
Source: Population and Environment - March 16, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Rising seas, immobilities, and translocality in small island states: case studies from Fiji and Tuvalu
AbstractAs increasing global temperatures lead to sea level rise and associated impacts (e.g. flooding, erosion, saltwater intrusion), the relocation of people and assets away from sites of coastal risk has been viewed by some as a certainty. However, many people affected by emerging coastal changes remain in sites of residence. Here we examine the experiences of residents in three low-lying villages across two small island states: Dreketi and Karoko inFiji, and Funafala inTuvalu. Analysis of qualitative data from interviews shows that residents are concerned about local coastal changes, and largely attribute them to clima...
Source: Population and Environment - March 10, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Climate anomalies and childhood growth in Peru
This study tested whether susceptibility to linear growth faltering is higher among Peruvian children from indigenous, rural, low-education, and low-income households. High-resolution weather and household survey data from Demographic and Health Survey 1996 –2012 were used to explore height-for-agez-scores (HAZ) at each year of life from 0 to 5. Rural, indigenous children at age 0 –1 experience a HAZ reduction of 0.35 units associated with prenatal excess rainfall which is also observed at age 4–5. Urban, non-indigenous children at age 4–5 experience a HAZ increase of 0.07 units associated with postnatal excess rai...
Source: Population and Environment - March 2, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Climate variability and health in extremely vulnerable communities: investigating variations in surface water conditions and food security in the West African Sahel
AbstractIn this project we consider the ways that different livelihood strategies impact the climate-health linkage. Specifically, we build on knowledge of livestock mobility in the Sahel and use remotely sensed-based measures of waterholes with health survey data to investigate the linkages between child health outcomes related to food security. We focus on the landscape characteristics relevant to limitedly studied, but highly climate-vulnerable populations, pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in the Sahel. We combine remotely sensed-based data on surface waterholes and spatially referenced health survey data and use flex...
Source: Population and Environment - February 21, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Childhood exposure to polluted neighborhood environments and intergenerational income mobility, teenage birth, and incarceration in the USA
AbstractThis paper joins a growing body of research linking measures of the physical environment to population well-being, with a focus on neighborhood toxins. Extending a national database on the social mobility of American children growing up in over 70,000 Census tracts, we explore the association between childhood exposure to two forms of pollutants and three socioeconomic outcomes for African Americans, whites, and Latinos. We find that children who grew up in Census tracts with higher levels of traffic-related air pollution and housing-derived lead risk experienced lower adult incomes on average relative to their par...
Source: Population and Environment - February 10, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Climatic conditions and infant care: implications for child nutrition in rural Ethiopia
AbstractWe examine the relationships between climatic conditions, breastfeeding behavior, and maternal time use in Ethiopia. Infant feeding practices are important predictors of child nutrition that may be affected by a number of factors including mother ’s time engaging in agricultural labor, food security, cultural beliefs, and antenatal care. We use panel data from the Living Standards Measurement Study to investigate linkages between climatic conditions during a child’s first year of life and year prior to birth and duration of exclusive bre astfeeding. We then explore one potential mechanism: women’s agricultura...
Source: Population and Environment - January 29, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Disentangling the relationship between immigration and environmental emissions
This study provides a more compelling and accurate disentangling of the link between immigration and environmental emissions by using panel US state-level data over the 1997 –2014 period and by controlling for endogeneity, other confounding factors, and spatial variation. It presents evidence of a negative and bidirectional link between the share of immigrants and emissions of CO2, CH4, and N2O. These findings suggest that immigration may indeed yield environmental benefits and that environmental quality may represent an important factor or amenity influencing immigration flows. Future research should build on these resu...
Source: Population and Environment - January 12, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Population living on permafrost in the Arctic
We present the first estimates of the number of inhabitants on permafrost in the Arctic Circumpolar Permafrost Region (ACPR) and project changes as a result of permafrost thaw. We combine current and projected populations at settlement level with permafrost extent. Key findings indicate that there are 1162 permafrost settlements in the ACPR, accommodating 5 million inhabitants, of whom 1 million live along a coast. Climate-driven permafrost projections suggest that by 2050, 42% of the permafrost settlements will become permafrost-free due to thawing. Among the settlements remaining on permafrost, 42% are in high hazard zon...
Source: Population and Environment - January 6, 2021 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Real-time information on air pollution and avoidance behavior: evidence from South Korea
This study provides new empirical evidence on the relationship between information about air pollution and avoidance behavior. Many countries provide real-time information to describe the current level of air pollution exposure. However, little research has been done on people ’s reactions to that real-time information. Using data on attendance at professional baseball games in South Korea, this study investigates whether real-time information on particulate matter affects individuals’ decisions to participate in outdoor activities. Regression models that include vari ous fixed effects are used for the analysis, with t...
Source: Population and Environment - November 10, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Moving up the energy ladder: does socio-religious status matter?
AbstractThis paper investigates the role played by socio-religious categories in determining primary cooking fuel choices among Indian households. We study this role in the broader context of climbing up the energy ladder. Our estimates based on a sample of 601,509 households and using multinomial probit regression suggest that socio-religious status along with economic status is critical in the choice of modern eco-friendly fuels. We find that belonging to a marginalized community in Hindu religion significantly dampens a households ’ likelihood to move up the ladder when compared with upper caste households. While intr...
Source: Population and Environment - November 9, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Drought and disproportionate disease: an investigation of gendered vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS in less-developed nations
AbstractEnvironmental change and climate-related disasters are an under-examined factor impacting women ’s health, globally. Drawing on ecofeminist theory, we conduct analyses examining if the HIV burden among women is higher in nations that experience suffering from droughts. Specifically, we posit that droughts, which typically impact more people and for greater lengths of time than other climate- related disasters, have a unique impact on women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. We use a cross-national dataset of less-developed countries and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to explore and compare relationships betw...
Source: Population and Environment - October 24, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Petrochemical releases disproportionately affected socially vulnerable populations along the Texas Gulf Coast after Hurricane Harvey
AbstractHurricane Harvey resulted in a natural-technological disaster in which flooding caused petrochemical facilities to release hazardous chemicals. Natural-technological disasters are rarely analyzed from an environmental justice (EJ) perspective. We calculated a Hurricane Harvey petrochemical hazard density index (PHDI) based on the locations of 42 facilities with reported releases along the Texas Gulf Coast. We used sociodemographic data from the American Community Survey to examine census tract-level social inequalities in PHDI (n = 1099 tracts). Results from generalized estimating equations indicate that tracts...
Source: Population and Environment - October 13, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Comparative assessment of gridded population data sets for complex topography: a study of Southwest China
AbstractPopulation estimates for high-resolution spatial grid cells data can reflect detailed spatial distribution of population, which are valuable for epidemiological studies, disaster risk assessments, and public resource allocation. However, choice of source data and methods for producing gridded population data sets can introduce spatial bias, especially in regions with complex geography. We assess the performance of four gridded population data sets from 2015 for the Dian-Gui-Qian region of Southwest China: Gridded Population of the World version 4 (GPW4), Global Human Settlement (GHS), LandScan, and WorldPop. At the...
Source: Population and Environment - October 3, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Social change, out-migration, and exit from farming in Nepal
AbstractThough international out-migration is widespread, little evidence exists regarding the consequences for economic change in sending countries, particularly in the densely populated agricultural areas of Asia. We examine associations between labor out-migration, remittances, and agricultural change in Nepal. Existing studies of this important population-environment relationship generally ignore the role of local community context, which is known to shape demographic behavior and likely exit from farming as well. Research offers opposing views of the consequences of out-migration for agricultural change —(1) loss of...
Source: Population and Environment - October 2, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
Amenities or disamenities? Estimating the impacts of extreme heat and wildfire on domestic US migration
AbstractFor decades, Americans have generally been moving away from the Northeast and the Midwest toward the South and West. Mountainous and desert areas in the West and Southwest have been especially popular internal migration destinations. However, these same areas are particularly susceptible to the increasing impacts of climate change on extreme heat and wildfire. This paper investigates relationships between disaster-level fire events and extreme heat on county-level migration in the USA using annual panel data for the years 1990 –2015. Are wildfire and extreme heat associated with changes in migration patterns? And...
Source: Population and Environment - September 29, 2020 Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research
