Bringing climate change home to meet your community: stakeholder perceptions of offshore wind energy in Humboldt County, California

As impacts from anthropogenic climate change continue to manifest at global and local scales, communities are increasingly seeking solutions to transition the world away from fossil fuels. Novel renewable energy technologies, including offshore floating wind energy, continue to garner developer interest. Technological success, however, is one small piece in the effort to decarbonize. Project developers are required to engage in political and bureaucratic processes and work with communities where projects may be sited. Balancing community perceptions and needs, as well as permitting and leasing processes, with increasing pressure to decarbonize will be key as the fight against climate change continues. This research explores stakeholder perceptions of proposed offshore wind energy development as they relate to the development process and climate change in Humboldt County, California. I utilized semi-structured interviews, procedural analysis, and participant observations to identify the ways in which stakeholders balance their general support of renewable energy and concern for climate change with the impacts and ‘unknowns’ of localized development. I find that stakeholders weigh numerous concerns when considering offshore wind development in Humboldt County, and climate change is not the most salient factor in the discussion. Indeed, stakeholders themselves are unsure how to balance impacts from climate change with impacts from project development, much less where their respective communities fit in that discussion

Modelling the medium-term dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in England in the Omicron era

England has experienced a heavy burden of COVID-19, with multiple waves of SARS-CoV-2 transmission since early 2020 and high infection levels following the emergence and spread of Omicron variants since late 2021. In response to rising Omicron cases, booster vaccinations were accelerated and offered to all adults in England. Using a model fitted to more than 2 years of epidemiological data, we project potential dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infections, hospital admissions and deaths in England to December 2022. We consider key uncertainties including future behavioural change and waning immunity and assess the effectiveness of booster vaccinations in mitigating SARS-CoV-2 disease burden between October 2021 and December 2022. If no new variants emerge, SARS-CoV-2 transmission is expected to decline, with low levels remaining in the coming months. The extent to which projected SARS-CoV-2 transmission resurges later in 2022 depends largely on assumptions around waning immunity and to some extent, behaviour, and seasonality