Microbes without Borders: Uniting Societies for Climate Action

Background: The rising concern about climate change and risks associated with it around the world and locally compared to the disproportionate level of awareness in Jos Metropolis inspired this study. Achieving adaptation to climate change always relies on the level of awareness. Hence effort must be made to intensify awareness. Though religious leaders in the study area have significant followership to positively change the tides of climate change awareness, risk perception, adaptation, and action, the opportunity is not harnessed. The study sought to project the role and attitude of religious leaders in Jos Metropolis in the global climate crisis. Methodology: Through a survey of a systematically drawn sample of 293 religious leaders using the Climate Change Survey Questionnaire (CCSQ), data was gathered to answer questions on climate change awareness, climate risk perception, attitude towards climate change, and the role of religious leaders in fighting the climate crisis. The reliability of the CCSQ was computed using the Cronbach Alpha method to be 0.98 after validation by experts in the field of Geography. Findings: Insights from the data suggest that religious leaders have a superficial awareness but lack meaningful awareness of climate change, giving rise to the shrouded perception of climate risks. Further, their attitude towards climate change issues was found to be positive, but not to the extent of neither taking individual measures to reduce climate change nor accepting organized media communications on climate change as factual. The level of awareness, risk perception, and attitude of the subjects under study were sufficient to inspire acceptance of climate change issues for discussions in churches/mosques and inclusion in their strategic plans. Findings also revealed that though nearly all the religious leaders have never taught in church/mosque on the subject of climate change or taken climate action in their immediate communities, the result shows the willingness of religious leaders to accept informed persons/experts to talk to their members on climate change. Recommendations: Considering the necessity of awareness in combating climate change, it is recommended that the government should seek opportunities to deepen awareness among religious leaders which could have a ripple effect on the Nigerian populace. Religious leaders were advised to teach or create platforms to bring awareness of climate change and its risks to their members. Circulation of climate laws and policies to religious leaders and the public is strongly advocated.

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Climate justice is increasingly prominent in climate change communication and advocacy but little is known about public understanding of the concept or how widely it resonates with different groups. In our global survey of 5,627 adults in 11 countries spanning the global north and south, most participants (66.2%) had never heard of climate justice. Nonetheless, endorsement of climate justice beliefs was widespread (for example, acknowledging the disproportionate impact of climate change on poor people and the underpinning roles of capitalism and colonialism in the climate crisis). Climate justice beliefs were also associated with various indices of climate action and policy support. These associations tended to be stronger in countries with high GHG emissions and where social inequality is also more politically salient. The results highlight the value of climate justice as a motive for climate action across diverse geographical contexts.

Legislative responses to climate change vary significantly between countries, often reflecting a combination of political, economic, and social factors. A comparative analysis of Nigeria and the USA reveals distinct approaches shaped by their unique contexts, though both face similar challenges in addressing this global crisis. In Nigeria, a developing nation with a growing population and economy heavily dependent on fossil fuels, legislative efforts to combat climate change have been relatively nascent. The country faces a multitude of environmental challenges, including deforestation, desertification, and pollution, exacerbated by inadequate infrastructure and weak enforcement mechanisms. However, recent years have seen some progress, with the Nigerian government acknowledging the need for action through initiatives like the National Climate Change Policy and Response Strategy. Legislative measures such as the Climate Change Bill aim to institutionalize climate action, although implementation remains a challenge due to limited resources and competing priorities. Conversely, the USA, as one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases, has a long history of climate policy debate and action. While federal efforts have fluctuated depending on the political landscape, individual states have taken significant strides in implementing climate legislation. States like California have enacted ambitious measures to reduce emissions, promote renewable energy, and enhance resilience to climate impacts. At the federal level, policies such as the Clean Air Act and the Paris Agreement (from which the USA had withdrawn but later rejoined) demonstrate a commitment to addressing climate change, although partisan divisions often hinder progress on comprehensive legislation. A key difference between the two countries lies in their levels of development and capacity to mitigate and adapt to climate change. While the USA possesses greater financial and technological resources, Nigeria grapples with structural challenges that impede effective climate action. Additionally, socio-economic disparities within each country influence the distribution of environmental risks and benefits, highlighting the importance of equity in climate policy. While Nigeria and the USA approach legislative responses to climate change from different perspectives, both face common obstacles in transitioning to a sustainable future. Effective climate policy requires not only legislative action but also international cooperation, technological innovation, and socio-economic transformation to mitigate the impacts of climate change and build resilience for future generations.

Excess human emissions, largely from industrialized nations, cause the climate crisis. Calls for climate action are thus inherently group-based (i.e., target people from industrialized nations) and often critical (i.e., challenging unsustainable lifestyles). Because group criticism by fellow ingroup members has been shown to be more acceptable than criticism by outsiders (intergroup sensitivity effect), we argue that critical calls for climate action across group-boundaries are ineffective as compared to the same calls by a messenger within that group. In the present work, American and European participants consistently rejected criticism of insufficient climate action in the U.S. and Europe (i.e., “the West”) from a Chinese participant (outgroup source) as compared to the same comments from participants from their own region (ingroup sources). Further, joint membership in the superordinate group “the West” was sufficient to make criticism acceptable; extended ingroup commenters (e.g., Europeans for American participants) were equally accepted as ingroup sources. Exploratory moderation analyses showed that the group-based rejection of criticism emerged only among participants with moderate-to-high beliefs in the existence of climate change but not among climate change deniers. We discuss how changing group processes can help master the climate crisis. • Unsustainable lifestyles among different groups cause the climate crisis • Different groups are thus a legitimate target for critical calls to climate action • Outgroup calls were consistently rejected as compared to the same ingroup calls • Responses to calls by full and extended ingroup (superordinate group) did not differ • Redefining group boundaries could be one key to mastering the climate crisis

Climate change generates considerable uncertainty about impacts, vulnerability, and broad‐scale change to society. While scientific consensus is well established, social consensus—on what the issues are, what it means for nations, communities, and every life, and what we ought to do about it as a society and civilization—is harder to achieve. This “human” layer of the climate challenge is crucial yet seldom sufficiently integrated into climate action. Publics can struggle to connect their climate concern with support for climate action, while others exhibit fear, resistance, forms of denial, and pushback against climate policies. This occurs against a cultural backdrop of increasing polarization, particularly in pluralistic liberal democracies like Canada. This paper presents qualitative research in the Canadian context in which climate actors across sectors examined the current sensemaking challenges regarding climate change. Sensemaking refers to how people mentally, emotionally, cognitively, and socially construct an understanding of the world. Respondents discussed key psycho‐social and sensemaking challenges regarding climate action, many of which pertain to the emotions provoked around perceptions of a ‘just transition,’ such as feeling left behind by unfair distribution of benefits from climate action investments and feeling frustration, lack of autonomy, and loss of agency regarding changes in identity and livelihoods due to climate action. The paper submits that a better understanding of these psycho‐social and sensemaking challenges—specifically, those involving affect, emotions, worldviews, and identity—could help generate agency, uptake, and social support of climate practices and policies, as well as lessen the divides between anti‐ and pro‐climate action views.

The gap between climate pledges and action remains wide, including in the United States, where politicization and misconceptions hinder action. Interactive simulations could help overcome this gap by enhancing knowledge about climate change and motivating action. But little is known about whether this approach increases knowledge about climate solutions or whether such gains persist over time and foster real-world action. Here we analyze the impact of the En-ROADS Climate Action Simulation on participants’ understanding of high-leverage climate solutions, affective engagement, intent to act, and real-world action. Data from 1246 participants show gains in climate knowledge and engagement, sustained over 6 months, and fostering real-world actions. These gains are not influenced by participants’ sociodemographic traits or sociopolitical values. These results, together with the simulation’s accessibility and adaptability to diverse settings, highlight its potential to foster informed climate action. The climate action simulation exercise increased participants’ knowledge about high-impact climate actions and policies, and those gains persisted for at least 6 months, according to survey data and statistical analysis.

Trade has become an increasingly core part and defining feature of our globalising world economy, and so by default has become integrally linked to climate change and action. Trade has not only rapidly expanded over recent decades but also driven contemporary economic development and growth, especially in countries where carbon and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have too risen sharply. Increasing attention has consequently been afforded to the nexus between trade and climate change. Trade is now a key front for climate action. For some time, neoliberal environmentalism has been viewed as the dominant discourse on climate policy and other aspects of environmental governance. However, it has been very rarely applied to, or its relevance tested against the trade-climate nexus specifically. The paper presents a study on this relationship based on new original empirical research and the investigation of the following hypotheses or research questions. To what extent has neoliberal environmentalism thus far dominated mainstream international and global discourses on trade-linked efforts on climate action? What have been the principal features of neoliberal environmentalism within these discourses? Do the results of the study’s empirical research suggest the need to include other relevant analytical approaches to develop a better comprehension of how trade-climate nexus issues are being addressed? In addressing the above the paper develops an analytical framework comprises modelled normative elements of neoliberal environmentalism as well as relevant concepts of state-market relations. This frames the discursive evaluation of the study’s research that is based on a multi-stage, in-depth text analysis of 37 key publications produced by global economic institutions (GEIs) on the trade-climate nexus from 2007 to 2022. Market-based instruments (MBIs) were found to be by far the strongest normative element in this text corpus. This subsequently provided scope for exploring whether different forms of ‘climate interventionism’ were evident in the trade-climate nexus, and thus more nuanced and alternative understandings of the subject. The paper’s main contribution to the literature on this subject is to open up ideas and debate concerning how important aspects of neoliberal environmentalism overlap with, and can be better understood in the context of state-market relations. Evidence from this study’s research suggests that in the trade-climate nexus discourse there exists considerable space for states and international institutions to adopt, promote and innovate different forms of climate interventionism through various trade policy and governance actions. It is further argued that MBI-based trade related policies can only take us so far in climate action efforts. More ardent forms of state and other institutional interventions, from the local to the global-international levels, are required to ultimately achieve increasingly urgent climate goals.

Achieving the goals and actions of SDG11 ‘Sustainable Cities and Communities’ requires targeted sustainability and climate policies, and skilled and focused implementation. What are the roles and required skills of sustainability professionals in this implementation? In-depth interviews with 20 Australian sustainability professionals in public and private sector roles examined barriers and facilitators for implementation of SDG11-related climate and sustainability policies and programs. Results indicate that sustainability professionals, with their high levels of knowledge of climate science and actions, are relied on for specialist advice. Sustainability professionals were found to act as facilitators or intermediaries, linking and championing action within their organisations and between built environment sectors. Likewise, sustainability professionals were found to act as change agents facilitating transitions towards stronger urban sustainability and climate action. While they are pivotal for many organisations’ effectiveness, their work is often reliant on their ‘intervention’ skills of persuasion, as much as wider organisational power.

Despite a clear mandate for addressing gender equality in climate policy and action, gender considerations tend to be sidelined or watered down at national/program levels. The Green Climate Fund is well placed to help bridge this gap and contribute toward a global vision to address gender equality and women's empowerment in climate policy and action. For this, the updated gender policy of the Green Climate Fund must be guided by a 'gender-responsive' approach, and hence move beyond the 'gender-sensitive' approach of the current gender policy. The objectives of the new gender policy should be two-fold: (i) advance gender equality and women's empowerment through climate change mitigation and/or adaptation actions; (ii) minimize gender-related risks and safeguard women's rights in all climate change actions. The Gender Policy and Action Plan need to be aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. This will allow for clearer sets of targets and progress indicators for assessing the Fund's contribution toward enhancing gender equality and women's empowerment (SDG5).Key pointsDespite a clear mandate for addressing gender equality in climate policy and action, gender considerations tend to be sidelined or watered down at national/program levels. The Green Climate Fund is well placed to help bridge this gap and contribute toward a global vision to address gender equality and women's empowerment in climate policy and action.For this, the updated gender policy of the Green Climate Fund must be guided by a 'gender-responsive' approach, and hence move beyond the 'gender-sensitive' approach of the current gender policy.The objectives of the new gender policy should be two-fold: (i) advance gender equality and women's empowerment through climate change mitigation and/or adaptation actions; (ii) minimize gender-related risks and safeguard women's rights in all climate change actions.The Gender Policy and Action Plan need to be aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. This will allow for clearer sets of targets and progress indicators for assessing the Fund's contribution toward enhancing gender equality and women's empowerment (SDG5).

Experiences of and responses to climate change are diverse, influenced by many socioeconomic, spatial, and physical factors. Academics and activists have called for climate policies and practices that affirm climate justice; ensuring that climate policies cater for all rather than reinforcing existing systemic inequalities. Climate justice often focuses on the scale of the urban through climate urbanism, which is emerging as a new mode to consider how urban lives are lived in relation to the climate crisis, mitigation, and action. Criticisms exist that climate urbanism is a continuation of neoliberal urbanism with little to no consideration of marginalised groups’ experiences. However, by only considering dominant narratives within climate urbanism, we risk perpetuating the inequalities that already exist for marginalised groups. Building on the work of academics, artists, and activists working with indigenous communities, this article advocates for an intersectional approach to climate urbanism amongst marginalised groups. An intersectional approach allows scholars to investigate groups of people through multiple axes of identity and consider the kyriarchal multiple systems that dominate and oppress people. I contextualise the need for an intersectional approach by looking at Irish Travellers as a marginalised group and the current Irish climate policy context. Lessons from climate action in one marginalised group can enable broader conceptualisations of concepts such as climate justice and climate urbanism. As an emerging research agenda, to prevent the reproduction of systemic inequalities through climate policies, academics need to advocate for intersectional climate urbanism.

Research on the mechanism of how climate change affects cultivated soil organic carbon is the basis for the management of cultivated land quality in the context of climate change. Crop phenological responses to climate change have an important effect on cultivated soil organic carbon as well. However, previous research primarily focused on the independent effects of climate change or crop phenological responses on the changes in soil organic carbon, and few studies have analyzed the changes in cultivated soil organic carbon under the combined influence of both factors or quantified their contribution rates to the changes in cultivated soil organic carbon. Based on topsoil samples in 2008 and 2021, annual pre-season and mid-season climate data from 2008 to 2021, and the phenological parameters extracted from the enhanced vegetation index （EVI） time series from 2007 to 2022, a soil organic carbon predictive model was constructed using the random forest algorithm. The total change in soil organic carbon from 2008 to 2021, the change in soil organic carbon under climate change alone, and the change in soil organic carbon under the synergistic influence of climate change and crop phenological responses were simulated. Furthermore, the contributions of climate change and crop phenological responses to the changes in cultivated soil organic carbon were distinguished and quantified. Moreover, the dominant influencing factors of soil organic carbon changes and their spatial distributions were identified and analyzed. The results were as follows： ① Under the synergistic influence of climate change and crop phenological responses, a decrease was observed in soil organic carbon in 74.15% of the cultivated land area in Fujian Province during the years 2008-2021, with an average decrease of 2.20 g·kg-1. Additionally, there was an increase in soil organic carbon in 25.85% of the cultivated area, with an average increase of 1.48 g·kg-1. ②The average contribution rates of pre-season climate, crop phenological responses to climate change, mid-season climate, and phenological changes resulting from cultivars shifts or other adjustments of agricultural measures to soil organic carbon changes were 34.08%, 28.56%, 22.75%, and 14.61%, respectively. Overall, climate change had a greater impact on the changes in cultivated soil organic carbon in Fujian Province than the crop phenological response to climate change. ③ The regions where climate change and phenological response jointly acted as dominant influencing factors held the largest area, accounting for 47.06% of the total cultivated land area in Fujian Province, and the regions where climate change was the dominant influencing factor alone held the second-largest area, accounting for 28.64% of the total cultivated land area. ④ Higher contribution rates of pre-season climate factors and phenological changes resulting from cultivar shifts or other adjustments of agricultural measures tended to be distributed in higher-altitude areas, whereas higher contribution rates of mid-season climate factors and phenological responses to climate change tended to be distributed in lower-altitude areas. These research findings can provide a theoretical basis for decision making regarding the management of cultivated land quality and the safeguarding of food security in the context of climate change.

Climate movements led by students and the youth worldwide (and in particular, those in richer economies) have been recognized as having a formidable voice and making important contributions towards a more radical societal transformation to face the climate crisis. However, little is said about the contribution of popular sectors, who have been mobilizing for decades and demanding broader structural transformations—with proposals that tackle environmental issues more broadly and the climate crisis in particular—but who are not directly involved in climate politics arenas, such as the United Nations Climate Change conferences. Usually portrayed as vulnerable, as those most affected by climate events, as victims and receivers of adaptation strategies, or, as resilient, rarely do popular sectors appear as agents of transformation. Critical scholars have advocated for understanding the climate crisis as part of multiple crises, including the biodiversity crisis, a crisis of care, and a crisis of democracy. Situating our article within this scholarship, we argue that the scholarly and societal debate on climate change will further benefit from broadening the scope of which social subjects are considered as part of the climate movement. Based on our research with rural popular feminist movements in Brazil, and in particular, the coalition Marcha das Margaridas, we address the following questions: how are their diagnostics of, and proposals to, overcome the climate crisis embedded in their broader project of transformation? Additionally, how does their political identity within class, gender, and rural categories of inequality inform their positions?

Climate change is a major threat to public health worldwide. Conversely, well-designed action to mitigate climate change offers numerous opportunities to improve health and equity. Despite this, comprehensive climate action has not been forthcoming within New Zealand. The media plays an important role in shaping public opinion and support for policy change. Previous literature has suggested that certain types of framing may be more effective than others at encouraging support for climate action and policy. This includes positive, personally relevant framing, as well as key journalistic tools which appear counter-intuitive, such as an increase in human interest stories and 'sensationalist' framing. We undertook a qualitative thematic analysis of climate change and health media coverage in two online New Zealand news outlets to understand how the issue was framed, and how it may be framed more effectively to encourage climate action. We compared the framing used by journalists in mainstream media outlet the New Zealand Herald Online (NZHO) with that of contributors to independent news repository site Scoop. Content in both outlets emphasized the threat unchecked climate change poses to health, which overshadowed the positive health opportunities of climate action. The NZHO was more prone to negative framing, and more likely to favour stories which could be sensationalized and were international in scope. We considered the possible effectiveness of the framing we found for attracting greater media attention and encouraging support for climate action and policy.

Unpacking the right-populist threat to climate action: Poland's pro-governmental media on energy transition and climate change