Population,Development and Global Warming: Averting the Tragedy of the Climate Commons

Carbon emissions from fossil fuel use and other human activity are predicted to cause a significant warming of the global climate, according to a growing consensus of scientists. Global warming would have substantial negative effects on the world environment and economy. Human population and economic growth continue to drive both energy use and carbon emissions. While the developed countries are the largest source of present and past emissions, developing countries are rapidly catching up. China will probably surpass the United States as the largest carbon emitter early in the next century. The global warming treaty signed in Rio in 1992 relies entirely on voluntary emission caps for developed countries and has had little or no apparent effect on emissions. Much stronger steps must be taken to avoid or lessen potential climate change. A globally determined but nationally imposed carbon tax should be adopted to internalize the future costs of carbon emissions into the present cost of fossil fuel and other carbon sources. This would allow the maximum use of free market forces and individual choice to determine how carbon emission reductions are achieved. In addition, national emission caps for all countries should be established. International trade mechanisms can be used to support universal implementation of these measures. Where possible, global warming policy should include strong but equitable incentives for sustainable development and population stabilization, important goals in themselves regardless of the extent of future climate change.     

人口结构、城镇化与碳排放——基于跨国面板数据的实证研究

文章基于美国、中国、日本、英国等9国1961～2010年的面板数据对人口年龄结构、城镇化与碳排放之间的关系进行实证分析。结果表明,人口规模、人均GDP、二氧化碳排放强度、化石能源占能源消费总量的比重及人口结构与全球碳排放显著相关。此外,人口城镇化率与碳排放的关系呈倒U形,即在人口城镇化的早期会促进二氧化碳的排放,但随着城镇化的进一步扩大则会抑制碳排放;而人口的年龄结构,尤其是人口的老龄化程度对碳排放量的影响则具有U形的特点,即在人口老化的初期由于老年人群的消费模式会减少碳排放,但当人口老龄化进一步加剧后,老年人对医疗护理等方面的需求增多,以致需要更多的经济活动支持这部分开支,因而会造成碳排放的增加。     

Population growth and air quality in California

Demographers are often interested in the environmental impacts of population growth. I examine the impact of growth specifically on air quality in California. In recent decades, California has suffered from notoriously polluted air and has experienced rapid population growth. Despite the population .growth, air quality actually has improved since the early 1980s due to aggressive regulatory efforts. Using data for 56 counties, I analyze the contribution of population growth to trends in atmospheric emissions of five regulated pollutants from 1980 to 1990, controlling for trends in per capita income and regulatory efforts. The analysis is disaggregated by source of emissions and demonstrates that population growth is strongly associated with some sources of emissions but not with others. Thus, the overall impact of population growth depends upon the composition of production and consumption activities in each county. I also explore whether the trend in number of households predicts better than the trend in number of persons, and whether the impact of population growth depends upon the age structure or source of growth (immigration or domestic increase). Generally, these alternative specifications of population do not improve the models of atmospheric emissions.     

Three Centuries of Global Population Growth: A Spatial Referenced Population (Density) Database for 1700–2000

The Earths surface has changed considerably over the past centuries. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1700s, humans from the Old World started to colonize the New World. The colonization processes lead to major changes in global land use and land cover. Large parts of the original land cover have been altered (e.g., deforestation), leading to extra emissions of GHGs to the atmosphere and enhancing global climate change. The spatial and temporal aspects are still not very well known. More and more global integrated environmental assessments concerning global sustainability require long time series of global change indicators, of which population is an important one. This study presents an update of the geo-referenced historical population maps for the period 1700–2000, part of the History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE), which can be used in integrated models of global change and/or global sustainability.     

On Development,Demography and Climate Change: The End of the World as We Know it?

This paper comments on the issue of global warming and climate change, in an attempt to provide fresh perspective. Essentially, five main arguments are made. First, that the process of modern economic development has been based on the burning of fossil fuels, and that this will continue to apply for the foreseeable future. Second, that in large part due to momentum in economic and demographic processes, it is inevitable that there will be a major rise in atmospheric CO₂ during the present century. Third, that available data on global temperatures suggest strongly that the coming warming will be appreciably faster than anything that humanity has experienced during historical times. Moreover, especially in a system that is being forced, the chance of an abrupt change in climate happening must be rated as fair. Fourth, that while it is impossible to attach precise probabilities to different scenarios, the range of plausible unpleasant climate outcomes seems at least as great as the range of more manageable ones. The consequences of future climate change may be considerable; indeed, they could be almost inconceivable—with several negative changes occurring simultaneously and to cumulative adverse effect. There is an urgent need to improve ways of thinking about what could happen. Fifth, the paper maintains that the human response to other difficult ‘long’ threats—such as that posed by HIV/AIDS—reveals a broadly analogous sequence of social reactions (e.g. denial, avoidance, recrimination) to that which is unfolding with respect to carbon emissions and climate change. Therefore the view expressed here is that major behavioral change to limit world carbon emissions is unlikely in the foreseeable future, and that the broad sway of future events is probably now set to run its course.This paper is a personal assessment of what is occurring with respect to the subject of global warming and climate change. Nevertheless it is an attempt to examine the topic objectively. The paper tries to concentrate on the essentials—from both the social and the environmental sciences—and, quite deliberately, it presents basic data on the subject for the reader's own consideration. The paper's subtitle is taken from a television program broadcast in January 2005 as part of UK Channel Four's War on Terra season. I thank Tim Forsyth, Chris Wilson, and especially Brian O'Neill for their help and advice. However, and most certainly, the usual disclaimer applies.     

Atmospheric lifetime of carbon dioxide

The yearly carbon dioxide (CO₂) released by animal and plant respiration is in balance with photosynthetic carbon fixation. However, human activities (fuel burning) add about 10% above this equilibrium amount. The excess CO₂ of anthropogenic origin is absorbed in about equal parts by the atmosphere and the surface layer of the oceans. The deep ocean is potentially a large reservoir for CO₂ storage, but the exchange rate between ocean layers is slow (thousands of years). The present concentration of atmospheric CO₂ is 350 ppmv. During the last interglacial period it hovered near 270 ppmv. The range during the Riss and Wurm ice ages was about 180 to 240 ppmv.     

Estimating Traffic Emissions Using Demographic and Socio-Economic Variables in 18 Chilean Urban Areas

A macro-scale methodology for vehicle emissions estimation is described. The methodology is based on both correlations between activity level and PM, CO, THC and NO _x vehicle emissions and relationships between demographic and socio-economic variables and transportation activity level. First, pollutant emissions were correlated with transportation activity, expressed as vehicle-km/year, using existing data collected from mobile sources emission inventories in nine urban cities of Chile. Second, demographic and socio-economic variables were pre-selected from those that could intuitively be correlated with vehicle activity level and considering the data availability. Using the individual R ² correlation coefficient as variable selection criterion, population, the number of vehicles, fuel consumption, gross domestic product, average family incomes and road kilometers were finally chosen. A different set of explicative variables was considered for different vehicle categories, based on the selection criterion above mentioned. Then, correlation functions between these variables and transport activity were obtained by non-linear Gauss–Newton least square method. This methodology was applied to eighteen provinces of the country obtaining total annual emission for mobile sources, divided into six main vehicles categories.     

我国家庭动态变化对二氧化碳排放的影响分析

人口数量及其增长率常常被认为是二氧化碳排放增长的重要推动力之一,而家庭变动对二氧化碳排放的影响往往被忽视。基于此,采用VAR模型,通过脉冲响应函数来考察人口和家庭变动对二氧化碳排放的动态影响,并用方差分解法揭示其相互影响程度及差异。结果表明,家庭层面变量对二氧化碳排放的影响远大于人口总量对二氧化碳排放的影响。考察人口总量、平均家庭规模以及家庭户变动三者对二氧化碳排放影响的贡献差异发现,平均家庭规模对二氧化碳排放的影响大于家庭户变动对二氧化碳排放的影响,且大于人口总量对二氧化碳排放的影响。相对于人口总量,以家庭户为视角来研究人口因素对二氧化碳的影响更为重要。因此,在节能减排的政策建议中,应当更多倡导推广有利于可持续发展的家庭户模式,家庭减排对于减排目标的实现将具有更大的潜力。     

The estimation of population density of the green rice leafhopper,Nephotettix cinticeps Uhler, in spring field by the capture recapture method

Summary The population parameters of green rice leafhopper,Nephotettix cincticeps in hibernated generation was estimated by the capture-recapture method on the gramineous weeds of resting paddy field from late in April to mid-May, 1962–1965. The difficulty of applying the capture-recapture method to this insect is caused from the low density and the low activity of the leafhopper, so that it is necessary to make the suitable plan of capture-recapture series and to construct the special method to detect the population parameters. The number of adults differed greatly among the years and among the plots in the same year. But, in general, the density was relatively high late in April, and decreased rapidly in May. The number of males was higher than that of females late in April, but decreased rapidly to become lower in May. The sampling efficiency with sweep-net depends upon the many factors, such as weather and floristic conditions; especially the atmospheric temperature and the force of wind are considered to affect greatly to the efficiency. In general, low temperature and strong wind are the cause of low sampling efficiency. Contribution from JIBP-PT No. 20.     

Before,Now, and After: Assessing Hurricane Katrina Relief

We assess governmental and non-governmental responses to disasters using primary data of Hurricane Katrina survivors along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Non-governmental sources include nonprofit relief groups, faith-based organizations, and survivors’ self-identified social networks. We assess the impact of these governmental and non-governmental relief efforts on survivors’ economic, psychological, physical, and social effects from the disaster. Our results show that social isolation significantly increases perceptions of disaster disturbance and decreases perceived rates of disaster relief. Additionally, survivors perceive that social networks provide greater sources of psychological, financial and social disaster relief than government sources. However, survivors’ social networks decay sharply in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, and they do not appear to fully recover a year from the disaster. These social networks themselves are not fully resilient to a disaster.

Energy, population and the environment: exploring Canada’s record on CO2 emissions and energy use relative to other OECD countries

Across the OECD, Canada??s record on CO₂ emissions is particularly poor, with overall emissions up 32% over the 1990?C2007 period. The current paper seeks to better understand this situation by making systematic comparisons of Canada with other OECD countries. For Canada overall, the rapid increase in emissions over the 1990?C2007 period can be explained by several factors, including major population growth, increased affluence (although to a lesser extent than elsewhere in the OECD), a continued dependence on fossil fuels, while continuing to increase its overall demand for energy. While the energy intensity of Canada??s economy has declined somewhat over recent years, it actually lagged behind most OECD countries on this front and remains one of the most energy intense economies in the world (2nd highest in the OECD on our indicator of energy intensity). While there are many factors responsible for this, Canada??s particularly energy-intensive industrial structure is certainly relevant, as is the importance of its primary sector relative to most developed nations.     

A cost valuation model based on a stochastic representation of the IPAT equation

Within the framework of models for human-driven environmental impact based on the IPAT equation, we develop a model for the evolution of impact (expressed in terms of carbon dioxide emissions) and for the valuation of the economic cost associated to its reduction. We use a stochastic representation of the IPAT equation that is alternative to the STIRPAT model. This first step leads to a stochastic differential equations model that describes trends in carbon dioxide emissions on the basis of economic and demographic dynamics. As an example, we estimate the model parameters for the United States. We then use this framework to build a model for the assessment of the economic costs related to a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions for a country committed to respect an international agreement, such as the Kyoto protocol. In particular, we show that the adherence to an environmental treaty may be traced back to a problem of cost valuation and to a decision under risk. This allows us to use the mathematical tools that have been developed in quantitative finance, in the context of option pricing, to determine the expected investment that is required to reduce the emissions of a country by a certain amount and within a well-defined temporal frame.

Intergenerational transfers in US county-level CO2 emissions, 2007

Research has shown that increases in carbon emissions and resulting climate change are not driven by population size alone, but also associated with industrialization, urbanization, and economic development. Further, industrialization and development may, in part, be driven by changing demographic structure, and in particular the process of population aging. Fluctuations in age composition shape aggregate production and consumption. Viewed through this lens, the carbon dioxide emissions of an analytical unit (county, province, state, nation) can be considered a product of its age composition. This analysis tests several demographic theories of age-specific production and consumption on US county-level carbon dioxide emissions. Using a modified STIRPAT framework, econometric estimates identify a positive correlation between county-level labor force participation and total carbon dioxide emissions. These effects are a result of general economic activity as opposed to growth only in energy intensive industrial sectors, a relationship that is widely hypothesized but under-developed in carbon emission estimates. In addition, results show larger households are associated with lower aggregate emissions, confirming the hypothesis that areas of declining household size will experience higher future emissions. In general, this research demonstrates the importance of adding nuance to emission estimates by integrating demographic dimensions beyond population size and growth.     

我国人口态势与消费模式对碳排放的影响分析

本文应用STIRPAT扩展模型,考察近30年来我国人口规模、人口结构、居民消费及技术进步因素对碳排放的影响。研究发现,居民消费与人口结构变化对我国碳排放的影响已超过人口规模的单一影响力。居民消费水平提高与碳排放增长高度相关,居民消费模式变化正在成为我国碳排放的新的增长点;人口结构因素中,人口城镇化率的提高通过对化石能源消费、水泥制造及土地利用变化等的影响导致碳排放增长;人口年龄结构变化对生产的影响大于对消费的影响,其对碳排放影响的主要途径是生产领域劳动力的丰富供应;家庭户规模减小导致人均消费支出的增加及总户数消费规模的扩张,以家庭户为分析单位考察其对碳排放的影响具有较高的解释力。针对分析结果,探讨了未来我国低碳社会发展的相关应对之策。     

中国城市化与二氧化碳排放量的协整分析

中国经济未来仍将保持良好的发展态势,经济增长的同时常常伴随着城市化过程,含碳能源的消费带动城市化进程的同时,也使得大气中的二氧化碳含量明显增加,发展与环保之间的关系值得权衡。在已有的理论基础上,采用1978～2006年的相关统计数据对中国城市化与含碳能源消费发生的二氧化碳排放量进行协整分析,同时建立误差修正模型,并运用Granger因果关系检验的方法,反映经济发展过程中城市化与二氧化碳排放量之间的规律性变化。城市化与二氧化碳排放量之间存在着长期稳定的均衡关系,二期滞后时,具有协整关系。同时Granger因果关系检验结果表明,中国的城市化进程不同于发达工业化国家,与二氧化碳排放量之间不具有理论上的双向因果关系。二期滞后时,城市化是二氧化碳排放量的Granger原因,但后者不是前者的原因,对其不具有反馈效应。     

Inclusiveness as Construction of Open Identity: How Social Relationships Affect Attitudes Towards Immigrants in European Societies

Studies of individual and group-level sources of prejudice have contributed to today’s greater understanding of the emergence of prejudice and discriminatory attitudes towards immigrants. Yet, scholars have claimed that future research should investigate institutional and socio-political macro-level factors affecting individuals’ attitudes towards outsiders (Ceobanu and Escandell in Ann Rev Sociol 36:309–328, 2010). To contribute to filling this knowledge gap, this article goes across levels of analysis and theories to provide insights about group-level sources influencing attitudes towards immigrants. These sources are taken into account as both institutional and social factors involved in processes of national identity constructions. To this purpose, this work combines Blumer’s perspective (Pac Sociol Rev 1:3–7, 1958) with both the distinction Weber (Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Tübingen, Mohr, 1922) made between open and closed social relationships and some other theoretical contributions that emerged in the field. The findings of a multilevel analysis confirm that, whereby inclusive socio-political factors are involved in the processes of countries’ identity constructions, individuals show more positive attitudes towards immigrants. In addition, in inclusive countries, a society’s high regard for its own traditions and customs influences individual members to appreciate other cultures and show positive dispositions towards outsiders.     

Modeling Comprehensive Dispersion of the Administrative Villages and Its Association with Economic Poverty: A Case Study from Poverty-Stricken Mountainous County,China

Identifying the dispersion of the administrative villages is one of prerequisites for the rational allocation of sources and services during implementing “Entire-Village Advancement” poverty alleviation strategy of China. From the perspective of an administrative village scale, this paper develops a methodology serving the construction of a comprehensive dispersion evaluation model and the examination of the relationship between dispersion and economic poverty. Specially, we develops an village-level comprehensive dispersion evaluation model that is presented in two forms of Euclidean Dispersion Index (EDI) versus Dispersion Composite Index (DCI), using spatial statistical analysis to examine the comprehensive dispersion of the administrative village and its association with the Net Income of Village Residents (NIVR) under different geographic and socioeconomic conditions. The case study in Neixiang County of China shows that, DCI is more rational and objective than EDI for scoring details of the village’s dispersion, especially in the mountainous area; DCI has a more significant spatial autocorrelation and a more significantly negative relationship to NIVR than EDI; the negative correlation between DCI and NIVR is obviously stronger in mountainous area than that in the hill and plain area; The closer to the economic circle, the higher NIVR vs. the lower DCI. Which not only provides new perspective and way to deal with dispersion, but also helps guide policies for effective poverty interventions.     

An Exploration of the Experience of Lesbians with Chronic Illness

An exploration of the challenges facing lesbians with chronic conditions and their coping strategies was investigated by examining the experiences of participants who were clients of a volunteer organization serving chronically ill lesbians. This article reports the results associated with those challenges, with its ultimate goal being and to assess the effectiveness of current services. Using the participant observation method, as employed by O'Toole (2000 O'Toole, C. J. 2000. The view from below: Developing a knowledge base about an unknown population. Sexuality and Disability, 18(3): 207–224. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the analysis was based on multiple data sources and 10 years experience within the volunteer organization, including 3 years in direct client support. A qualitative method served as the primary focus for the study. The quantitative method preceded the qualitative method and provided limited supporting data. The total number of participants included all past and current clients, but the number participating in each data source varied. Qualitative sources included archival structured interviews (n = 69), taped interviews (n = 5-6), and extensive comments written in response to the quantitative surveys (n = 14). The quantitative measures (n = 14) included the researcher-developed Chronic Conditions Challenges Checklist (C4) and the Short Form of the McGill Pain Questionnaire ([SF-MPQ]; Melzack, 1998 Melzack, R. 1998. “The short-form McGill pain questionnaire”. In The compendium of quality of life instruments, Edited by: Salek, S. 2J:3–2J:3C. New York: Wiley. (Compiler) [Google Scholar] ). A content analysis of all data sources found a number of challenges that met the criteria of being identified in at least two data sources and across multiple participants. Challenges included those related to the disease process (i.e., pain, fatigue, and decreases in mobility) to impacts of the condition (financial security, ability to participate, support from family of origin and independence, loneliness, and issues related to mental health). Challenges were discussed in terms of those that are similar to and different from other women suffering from chronic illness, as well as their relevance to related literature.     

Estimates of the number of illegal aliens: An analysis of the sources of disagreement

This article analyzes differences in estimates of the number of illegal aliens in the United States. Although smaller than differences among estimates made by some of the earlier studies, estimates constructed in the past decade often differ by several million. An examination of the problems involved in making these estimates produced four likely sources of the discrepancies. The four sources of disagreement are discussed, followed by suggestions for improving the reliability of the estimates. Some consequences for immigration law reform are also addressed.     

Urban and peri-urban agriculture and its implication on food and nutrition insecurity in northern Ghana: a socio-spatial analysis along the urban–rural continuum

Food and nutrition insecurity remains a challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. Several studies have examined food and nutrition insecurity in urban or rural areas but have not captured the whole continuum. Between November and December 2013, 240 households were surveyed along the urban–rural continuum in Northern Ghana. The study objective was to understand the socio-spatial dynamics of household food and nutrition insecurity and to investigate the role played by urban, peri-urban and rural agriculture. The study found that there was more involvement in agriculture in rural areas compared to peri-urban areas and urban areas. Households from urban areas were more food insecure (HFIAS >?11) compared to their counterparts in peri-urban and the rural areas. Stunting increased by 3.4 times (p?=?0.048) among households located in the peri-urban area. Wasting was reduced by 0.16 times among household that produced staple food or vegetables (p?=?0.011). Overweight was reduced by 0.04 times among households that produced livestock (p?=?0.031). The results reveal a socio-spatial dimension of food and nutrition insecurity that is related to agricultural activities.