The News You Choose: News Media Preferences Amplify Views on Climate Change

How do choices among information sources reinforce political differences on topics such as climate change? Environmental sociologists have observed large-scale and long-term impacts from news media and think-tank reports, while experimental science-communication studies detect more immediate effects from variations in supplied information. Applying generalized structural equation modeling to recent survey data, previous work is extended to show that political ideology, education and their interaction predict news media information choices in much the same way they predict opinions about climate change itself. Consequently, media information sources serve as intervening variables that can reinforce and, through their own independent effects, amplify existing beliefs about climate change. Results provide empirical support for selective exposure and biased assimilation as mechanisms widening political divisions on climate change in the United States. The findings fit with the reinforcing spirals framework suggesting partisan media strengthens climate change beliefs which then influences subsequent use of media

Eyes Off the Earth? Public Opinion Regarding Climate Science and NASA

In this brief, authors Lawrence Hamilton, Jessica Brunacini, and Stephanie Pfirman report the results of two nationwide Polar, Environment, and Science surveys on climate change conducted in 2016, as well as a follow-up April 2017 Granite State Poll asking New Hampshire residents their thoughts on proposed cuts to the NASA program. Seventy-three percent of respondents in the nationwide survey said they trust science agencies such as NASA for information about climate change. The second-most-trusted source of information about climate change is family and friends. Despite political divisions, science agencies such as NASA are trusted by substantial majorities within every political group. Deep cuts to NASA Earth-observing satellite programs have been proposed by the president and in Congress. However, more than 80 percent of survey respondents (including majorities in all political groups) favor continuing or expanding NASA’s Earth observations, rather than cutting them

Covid-19, Export Restrictions, and the WTO: Magnifying Global Divisions in a Time of Crisis

Trade policy has been an important part of the global response to Covid-19. In order to boost production and increase the supply of critical goods, countries have lowered tariff barriers, put export restrictions in place, and smoothed the path to issue compulsory licenses for patented medicines and medical devices. All of these measures touch on trade policy, and fall under the ambit of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This raises the question: do the flexibilities built into WTO law give countries the policy space they need to take emergency measures during this health crisis? This short paper explains the WTO rules and their application to national trade measures in response to Covid-19 using the example of export restrictions. It finds that from a legal perspective, WTO rules are flexible enough to permit countries to deviate from their normal obligations during this time of crisis. However, from a justice perspective, these flexibilities will be far more useful for wealthy developed states than for those with less purchasing power and production capacity. Indeed, the flexibility built into WTO law may prove ineffectual—and even detrimental—for poorer states, as it permits the wealthy the policy space to take measures in their own interest while leaving the less powerful without access to critical goods. The paper concludes that here, as elsewhere, the negative economic effects of Covid-19 will fall disproportionately on the poor and the vulnerable

In the Wake of the Spill: Environmental Views Along the Gulf Coast

Abstract Objectives We analyze patterns in environmental views of Gulf Coast residents, in the wake of the 2010 oil spill. To what extent do spill-related and other environmental views vary with individual characteristics, personal experience with the spill, or characteristics of place? Methods About 2,000 residents of selected coastal regions in Louisiana and Florida were interviewed by telephone in late summer 2010. Results One-quarter of the respondents said that their environmental views had changed as a result of the spill. Despite reporting more change, more spill effects, and greater threats from climate-induced sea-level rise, Louisiana respondents were less likely to support a deepwater moratorium, alternative energy, or resource conservation. Conclusions Results are consistent with real effects from the spill. Differences between Louisiana and Florida respondents are not explained by spill effects or individual characteristics, however. The patterns reflect biophysical differences of the coastlines that shaped their socioeconomic development

Reheating predictions in single field inflation

Reheating is a transition era after the end of inflation, during which the inflaton is converted into the particles that populate the Universe at later times. No direct cosmological observables are normally traceable to this period of reheating. Indirect bounds can however be derived. One possibility is to consider cosmological evolution for observable CMB scales from the time of Hubble crossing to the present time. Depending upon the model, the duration and final temperature after reheating, as well as its equation of state, may be directly linked to inflationary observables. For single-field inflationary models, if we approximate reheating by a constant equation of state, one can derive relations between the reheating duration (or final temperature), its equation of state parameter, and the scalar power spectrum amplitude and spectral index. While this is a simple approximation, by restricting the equation of state to lie within a broad physically allowed range, one can in turn bracket an allowed range of $n_s$ and $r$ for these models. The added constraints can help break degeneracies between inflation models that otherwise overlap in their predictions for $n_s$ and $r$.Comment: 32 pages, 15 figures. Revised in response to comments on the original version, and in preparation for submission for publication. More references and a new figure were adde

A State of the Art Review of Agriculture-Nutrition Linkages

This paper explores the latest evidence on the relationships between agriculture and nutrition in food-insecure regions. First, it summarises the levels and consequences of undernutrition. Second, it reviews some contextual factors that might affect the relationship between agriculture and nutrition. Third, it reviews the state of the art knowledge on the links between agriculture and nutrition, drawing on recent reviews and studies. Fourth, it reviews the key research questions that need to be addressed and suggests some methods for answering them. Finally, the paper concludes with some implications for the AgriDiet project.Irish Aid and Higher Education Authorit