tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/solutions-journalism-15643/articlesSolutions Journalism – The Conversation2023-10-24T12:25:09Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2132092023-10-24T12:25:09Z2023-10-24T12:25:09ZLet the community work it out: Throwback to early internet days could fix social media’s crisis of legitimacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555410/original/file-20231023-15-otewua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3489%2C2331&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Content moderators like these workers make decisions about online communities based on company dictates.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/content-moderators-work-at-a-facebook-office-in-austin-news-photo/1142321813">Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the 2018 documentary “<a href="https://gebrueder-beetz.de/en/productions/the-cleaners/">The Cleaners</a>,” a young man in Manila, Philippines, explains his work as a content moderator: “We see the pictures on the screen. You then go through the pictures and delete those that don’t meet the guidelines. The daily quota of pictures is 25,000.” As he speaks, his mouse clicks, deleting offending images while allowing others to remain online.</p>
<p>The man in Manila is one of thousands of content moderators hired as contractors by social media platforms – <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/31/1167246714/googles-ghost-workers-are-demanding-to-be-seen-by-the-tech-giant">10,000 at Google alone</a>. Content moderation on an industrial scale like this is part of the everyday experience for users of social media. Occasionally a post someone makes is removed, or a post someone thinks is offensive is allowed to go viral. </p>
<p>Similarly, platforms add and remove features without input from the people who are most affected by those decisions. Whether you are outraged or unperturbed, most people don’t think much about the history of a system in which people in conference rooms in Silicon Valley and Manila determine your experiences online.</p>
<p>But why should a few companies – or a few billionaire owners – have the power to decide everything about online spaces that billions of people use? This unaccountable model of governance has led stakeholders of all stripes to criticize platforms’ decisions as <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2021-08/Double_Standards_Content_Moderation.pdf">arbitrary</a>, <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/12/twitter-files-explained-elon-musk-taibbi-weiss-hunter-biden-laptop.html">corrupt</a> or <a href="https://www.oxfordstrategyreview.com/content/social-irresponsibility-how-social-media-works-for-the-west-but-fails-the-rest">irresponsible</a>. In the early, pre-web days of the social internet, decisions about the spaces people gathered in online were often made by members of the community. Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231196864">examination of the early history of online governance</a> suggests that social media platforms could return – at least in part – to models of community governance in order to address their crisis of legitimacy.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iGCGhD8i-o4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The documentary ‘The Cleaners’ shows some of the hidden costs of Big Tech’s customer service approach to content moderation.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Online governance – a history</h2>
<p>In many early online spaces, governance was handled by community members, not by professionals. One early online space, <a href="https://thenewstack.io/a-look-back-in-time-the-forgotten-fame-of-lambdamoo/">LambdaMOO</a>, invited users to build their own governance system, which devolved power from the hands of those who technically controlled the space – administrators known as “wizards” – to members of the community. This was accomplished via a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.1996.tb00185.x">formal petitioning process and a set of appointed mediators</a> who resolved conflicts between users.</p>
<p>Other spaces had more informal processes for incorporating community input. For example, on bulletin board systems, users <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300248142/the-modem-world/">voted with their wallets</a>, removing critical financial support if they disagreed with the decisions made by the system’s administrators. Other spaces, like text-based Usenet newsgroups, gave users substantial power to shape their experiences. The newsgroups left obvious spam in place, but gave users tools to block it if they chose to. Usenet’s administrators argued that it was fairer to allow each user <a href="https://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2021/01/12/usenet_spam">to make decisions that reflected their individual preferences</a> rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.</p>
<p>The graphical web expanded use of the internet from <a href="https://www.internetworldstats.com/emarketing.htm">a few million users to hundreds of millions within a decade</a> from 1995 to 2005. During this rapid expansion, community governance was replaced with governance models inspired by customer service, which focused on scale and cost. </p>
<p>This switch from community governance to customer service made sense to the fast-growing companies that made up the late 1990s internet boom. Promising their investors that they could grow rapidly and make changes quickly, companies looked for approaches to the complex work of governing online spaces <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231196864">that centralized power and increased efficiency</a>. </p>
<p>While this customer service model of governance allowed early user-generated content sites like Craigslist and GeoCities <a href="https://datasociety.net/library/origins-of-trust-and-safety/">to grow rapidly</a>, it set the stage for the crisis of legitimacy facing social media platforms today. Contemporary battles over social media are rooted in the sense that the people and processes governing online spaces are unaccountable to the communities that gather in them. </p>
<h2>Paths to community control</h2>
<p>Implementing community governance in today’s platforms could take a number of different forms, some of which are already being experimented with.</p>
<p>Advisory boards like Meta’s <a href="https://about.meta.com/actions/oversight-board-facts/">Oversight Board</a> are one way to involve outside stakeholders in platform governance, providing independent — albeit limited — review of platform decisions. X (formerly Twitter) is taking a more democratic approach with its <a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/using-x/community-notes">Community Notes</a> initiative, which allows users to contextualize information on the platform by crowdsourcing notes and ratings.</p>
<p>Some may question whether community governance can be implemented successfully in platforms that serve billions of users. In response, we point to Wikipedia. It is entirely community-governed and has created an open encyclopedia that’s become the foremost information resource in many languages. Wikipedia is surprisingly resilient to vandalism and abuse, with robust procedures that ensure a resource used by billions remains accessible, accurate and reasonably civil.</p>
<p>On a smaller scale, total self-governance – echoing early online spaces – could be key for communities that serve specific subsets of users. For example, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/">Archive of Our Own</a> was created after fan-fiction authors – people who write original stories using characters and worlds from published books, television shows and movies – found existing platforms unwelcoming. For example, many fan-fiction authors were <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/15/23200176/history-of-ao3-archive-of-our-own-fanfiction">kicked off social media platforms</a> due to overzealous copyright enforcement or concerns about sexual content.</p>
<p>Fed up with platforms that didn’t understand their work or their culture, a group of authors designed and built their own platform specifically to meet the needs of their community. AO3, as it is colloquially known, serves millions of people a month, includes tools specific to the needs of fan-fiction authors, and is governed by the same people it serves.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="text above and below a photo of two people in lab coats standing in a hallway" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=817&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552396/original/file-20231005-25-mahqjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1027&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">X, formerly Twitter, allows people to use Community Notes to append relevant information to posts that contain inaccuracies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/kareem_carr/status/1709198073174311207/photo/1">Screen capture by The Conversation U.S.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hybrid models, like on Reddit, <a href="https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy">mix centralized and self-governance</a>. Reddit hosts a collection of interest-based communities called subreddits that have their own rules, norms and teams of moderators. Underlying a subreddit’s governance structure is a set of rules, processes and features that apply to everyone. Not every subreddit is a sterling example of a healthy online community, but more are than are not.</p>
<p>There are also technical approaches to community governance. One approach would enable users to choose the algorithms that curate their social media feeds. Imagine that instead of only being able to use Facebook’s algorithm, you could choose from a suite of algorithms provided by third parties – for example, from The New York Times or Fox News.</p>
<p>More radically decentralized platforms like Mastodon devolve control to a network of servers that are similar in structure to email. This makes it easier to choose an experience that matches your preferences. You can choose which Mastodon server to use, and can switch easily – just like you can choose whether to use Gmail or Outlook for email – and can change your mind, all while maintaining access to the wider email network. </p>
<p>Additionally, advancements in generative AI – which shows <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/MS.2023.3265877">early promise in producing computer code</a> – could make it easier for people, even those without a technical background, to build custom online spaces when they find existing spaces unsuitable. This would relieve pressure on online spaces to be everything for everyone and support a sense of agency in the digital public sphere.</p>
<p>There are also more indirect ways to support community governance. Increasing transparency – for example, by providing access to data about the impact of platforms’ decisions – can help researchers, policymakers and the public hold online platforms accountable. Further, encouraging ethical professional norms among engineers and product designers can make online spaces more respectful of the communities they serve.</p>
<h2>Going forward by going back</h2>
<p>Between now and the end of 2024, national elections are scheduled in many countries, including Argentina, Australia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Taiwan, the U.K. and the U.S. This is all but certain to lead to conflicts over online spaces. </p>
<p>We believe it is time to consider not just how online spaces can be governed efficiently and in service to corporate bottom lines, but how they can be governed fairly and legitimately. Giving communities more control over the spaces they participate in is a proven way to do just that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213209/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ethan Zuckerman receives funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Knight Foundation and the (US) National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chand Rajendra-Nicolucci receives funding from the MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. </span></em></p>In the days of online bulletin board systems, community members decided what was acceptable. Reviving that approach to content moderation offers Big Tech a path to legitimacy as public spaces.Ethan Zuckerman, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Communication, and Information, UMass AmherstChand Rajendra-Nicolucci, Research Fellow, Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure, UMass AmherstLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2156522023-10-19T19:24:01Z2023-10-19T19:24:01ZNew class of recyclable polymer materials could one day help reduce single-use plastic waste<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554111/original/file-20231016-23-gcf4fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=79%2C3%2C2038%2C1397&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Single-use plastics. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/various-types-of-plastic-trash-on-the-grass-plastic-royalty-free-image/1325351577?phrase=plastic&adppopup=true">Anton Petrus/Moment</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.unep.org/interactives/beat-plastic-pollution/">Hundreds of millions of tons</a> of single-use plastic ends up in landfills every year, and even the small percentage of plastic that gets recycled can’t last forever. But our group of materials scientists has developed a new method for creating and deconstructing polymers that could lead to more easily recycled plastics – ones that don’t require you to carefully sort out all your recycling on trash day. </p>
<p>In the century since their conception, people have come to understand the enormous impacts – beneficial as well as detrimental – plastics have on human lives and the environment. As a <a href="https://miyakelab.colostate.edu/">group of polymer scientists</a> dedicated to inventing sustainable solutions for real-world problems, we set out to tackle this issue by rethinking the way polymers are designed and making plastics with recyclability built right in. </p>
<h2>Why use plastics, anyway?</h2>
<p>Everyday items including milk jugs, grocery bags, takeout containers and even ropes are made from a class of <a href="https://www.polymersolutions.com/blog/top-types-of-polyolefins-the-most-common-kind-of-plastics/">polymers called polyolefins</a>. Polyolefins make up around <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/plastic-waste-polymer">half of the plastics</a> produced and disposed of every year. </p>
<p>These polymers are used in plastics commonly labeled as HDPE, LLDPE or PP, or by their recycling codes #2, #4 and #5, respectively. These plastics are incredibly durable because the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b06635">chemical bonds</a> that make them up are extremely stable. But in a world set up for single-use consumption, this is no longer a design feature but rather a design flaw. </p>
<p><iframe id="2k7dQ" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/2k7dQ/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Imagine if half of the plastics used today were recyclable by twice as many processes as they are now. While that wouldn’t get the recycling rate to 100%, a jump from single digits – <a href="https://www.energy.gov/articles/department-energy-releases-plastics-innovation-challenge-draft-roadmap-and-request">currently around 9%</a> – to double digits would make a big dent in the plastics produced, the plastics accumulated in the environment and their capacity for recycling and reuse. </p>
<h2>Recycling methods we already have</h2>
<p>Even the plastics that make it to a recycling facility <a href="https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/plastics-and-the-circular-economy-deep-dive">can’t be reused</a> in exactly the same way they were used before – the recycling process degrades the material, so it loses utility and value. Instead of making a plastic cup that is downgraded each time it gets recycled, manufacturers could potentially make plastics once, collect them and reuse them on and on.</p>
<p>Conventional recycling requires careful sorting of all the collected materials, which can be hard with so many different plastics. Here in the U.S., collection happens mainly through <a href="https://www.container-recycling.org/index.php/issues/single-stream-recycling">single stream recycling</a> – everything from metal cans, glass bottles, cardboard boxes and plastic cups end up in the same bin. Separating paper from metal doesn’t require complex technology, but sorting a polypropylene container from a polyethylene milk jug is hard to do without the occasional mistake. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554113/original/file-20231016-20-hwyi6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two workers, in bright yellow, stand at a conveyor belt covered in plastics in a recycling facility." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554113/original/file-20231016-20-hwyi6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554113/original/file-20231016-20-hwyi6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554113/original/file-20231016-20-hwyi6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554113/original/file-20231016-20-hwyi6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554113/original/file-20231016-20-hwyi6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554113/original/file-20231016-20-hwyi6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554113/original/file-20231016-20-hwyi6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Recycling workers sort through materials.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/OhioRecycling/d1c2014b8c194d55b9f06a328b2dd4a5/photo?Query=recycling%20plant&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=181&currentItemNo=22&vs=true">AP Photo/Mark Gillispie</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When two different plastics are mixed together during recycling, their useful properties are hugely reduced – to the point of <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-its-so-hard-to-recycle-plastic/">making them useless</a>. </p>
<p>But say you can recycle one of these plastics by a different method, so it doesn’t end up contaminating the recycling stream. When we mixed samples of polypropylene with a polymer we made, we were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adh3353">still able to depolymerize</a> – or break down the material – and regain our building blocks without chemically affecting the polypropylene. This indicated that a contaminated waste stream could still recover its value, and the material in it could go on to be recycled, either mechanically or chemically. </p>
<h2>Plastics we need − but more recyclable</h2>
<p>In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adh3353">a study published in October 2023</a>, our team developed a series of polymers with only two simple building blocks – one soft polymer and one hard polymer – that mimicked polyolefins but could also be chemically recycled.</p>
<p>Connecting two different polymers together multiple times until they form a single, long molecule creates what’s called a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/jacsau.1c00500">multiblock polymer</a>. Just by adjusting how much of each polymer type goes into the multiblock polymer, our team created a wide range of materials with properties that spanned across polyolefin types. But creating these multiblock polymers is easier said than done. </p>
<p>To link these hard and soft polymers, we <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adh3353">adapted a technique</a> that had previously been used only on very small molecules. This method is improved relative to traditional methods of making polymers in a step-by-step fashion, developed in the 1920s, where the reactive groups on the end of the molecules need to be exactly matched. </p>
<p>In our method, the reactive groups are now the same as each other, meaning we didn’t have to worry about pairing the ends of each building block to make polymers that can compete with the polyolefins we already use. Using the same strategy, applied in reverse by adding hydrogen, we could disconnect the polymers back into their building blocks and easily separate them to use again. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554857/original/file-20231019-21-9enk8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A graph showing a steady increase in single-use plastic use across all plastic types shown, from X to projected in 2050." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554857/original/file-20231019-21-9enk8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554857/original/file-20231019-21-9enk8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554857/original/file-20231019-21-9enk8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554857/original/file-20231019-21-9enk8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554857/original/file-20231019-21-9enk8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554857/original/file-20231019-21-9enk8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554857/original/file-20231019-21-9enk8w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Realized and predicted production of commodity plastics through 2050.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021/01/f82/Plastics%20Innovation%20Challenge%20Draft%20Roadmap.pdf">International Energy Agency</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With an almost <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/plastic-consumption-course-nearly-double-by-2050-research-2023-02-27/">twofold increase in annual plastic use</a> projected through 2050, the complexity and quantity of plastic recycling will only increase. It’s an important consideration when designing new materials and products. </p>
<p>Using just two building blocks to make plastics that have a huge variety of properties can go a long way toward reducing and streamlining the number of different plastics used to make the products we need. Instead of needing one plastic to make something pliable, another for something stiff, and a third, fourth and fifth for properties in between, we could control the behavior of plastics by just changing how much of each building block is there.</p>
<p>Although we’re still in the process of answering some big questions about these polymers, we believe this work is a step in the right direction toward more sustainable plastics. </p>
<p>We were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adh3353">able to create materials</a> that mimic the properties of plastics the world relies on, and our sights are now set on creating plastic compositions that you couldn’t with existing methods.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215652/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Harry receives funding from RePLACE (Redesigning Polymers to Leverage a Circular Economy) funded by the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Rettner receives funding from RePLACE (Redesigning Polymers to Leverage a Circular Economy) funded by the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy.</span></em></p>A team of scientists has developed a method for creating a new class of plastic materials that are potentially more recyclable than single-use plastics.Katherine Harry, PhD Student in Chemistry, Colorado State UniversityEmma Rettner, PhD Candidate in Materials Science and Engineering, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1995882023-09-19T12:15:26Z2023-09-19T12:15:26Z3 powerful earthquakes strike Afghanistan in one week – here’s how people around the world prepare for disasters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553577/original/file-20231012-17-685tzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C34%2C5760%2C3768&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Survivors search through rubble on Oct. 7, 2023, in western Afghanistan, where a series of powerful earthquakes have killed thousands.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/search-operation-for-the-bodies-and-those-who-remained-news-photo/1715818309?adppopup=true">Anadolu Agency/via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Herat, in western Afghanistan, experienced a 6.3 magnititude earthquake on Oct. 11, 2023 – following <a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-earthquake-herat-c0181a41ae82e68892f7ba8ff988a07b">two more earlier in the same week</a>. </p>
<p>The mountains of Afghanistan are especially prone to earthquakes, but the truth is that earthquakes, flooding and hurricanes can happen anywhere. Nowhere is the risk zero.</p>
<p>But humans can make good decisions to lower the odds of hazards turning into disasters. Technology can help determine where to make investments to save the most lives.</p>
<p>The terrible devastation caused by the three <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/rescuers-race-find-survivors-over-48-hours-after-morocco-quake-2023-09-11/">6.3 magnitude earthquakes</a> in Afghanistan is the result of the presence of centuries-old historic buildings and the continued use of <a href="https://news.northeastern.edu/2023/09/10/morocco-earthquake-construction/">old construction methods</a>, such as clay bricks and unreinforced masonry. These building materials are <a href="https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/14263">prevalent worldwide</a>, particularly in <a href="https://vividbay.com/concrete-vs-wood-developing-countries-use-concrete/">developing countries</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="In a remote, rural setting, a man searches through the debris of what was once a home." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553110/original/file-20231010-17-j3bviw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mountainous villages in Afghanistan were devastated by a series of strong earthquakes and aftershocks that began on Oct. 7, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Muhammad Balabuluki/AFP via Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=1rRpM1QAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Engineers like me</a> tend to focus on tangible decisions related to how buildings are constructed – for example, the amount and location of steel reinforcement. Over the last several decades, I’ve conducted the world’s largest <a href="http://doi.org/10.1061/%28ASCE%29ST.1943-541X.0000222">shake table tests</a>, placing a full-size apartment building on a platform that simulates seismic activity, and I’ve led teams of experts to investigate earthquakes around the world. But devastation – like <a href="https://miyamotointernational.com/2023-herat-afghanistan-earthquake-preliminary-shelter-and-housing-response/?utm_source=English+Global+List&utm_campaign=aa31d6c71e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_11_26_05_59_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_544794d98f-aa31d6c71e-33641653&mc_cid=aa31d6c71e&mc_eid=576174da53">we are seeing in Afghanistan now</a> – continues. </p>
<p>Each disaster underlines the need to make our homes, offices and schools safer and more earthquake-resilient. But retrofitting buildings is expensive – and that cost represents a daunting challenge for developing nations like Afghanistan, <a href="https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2023/10/358192/historical-sites-in-earthquake-hit-areas-in-morocco-reopen-for-visitors">Morocco</a> and <a href="https://www.un.org/en/turkiye-syria-earthquake-response">Syria</a> – all three of which were devastated recently by major earthquakes. It is also challenging in developed nations like Turkey, Japan and the United States.</p>
<p>And yet, I am optimistic because I know thousands of engineers around the world are working and collaborating to make earthquakes less deadly.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people walk by buildings devastated by the earthquake." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547569/original/file-20230911-8366-vfgz9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Morocco earthquake in early September 2023 damaged thousands of homes and buildings, including many of the country’s long-standing historical landmarks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/residents-pass-by-damaged-buildings-near-the-epicenter-at-news-photo/1659167845?adppopup=true">Wang Dongzhen/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How earthquakes devastate buildings</h2>
<p>Before we can discuss how to make people safer in earthquakes, it helps to understand the forces at work during these destructive events.</p>
<p>The extent of the damage done by an earthquake is determined by several factors, including magnitude – or how much energy the earthquake releases from its fault; depth of <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-a-fault-and-what-are-different-types#:%7E:text=A%20fault%20is%20a%20fracture,millimeters%20to%20thousands%20of%20kilometers">the fault</a> and how far the building is from the epicenter of the quake. </p>
<p>An epicenter is the location on the surface of the Earth above the fault. Essentially, it is ground zero for the quake, where shaking is most intense and buildings are more likely to collapse.</p>
<p>If the columns and walls of a multi-story building are not stiff and strong enough to resist the forces of an earthquake, gravity takes over. The building usually collapses at the bottom floor level, causing the stories above to follow. Anyone inside can be trapped or crushed by falling debris. Stopping this requires significant investment, <a href="https://www.nist.gov/buildings-construction/understanding-building-codes">modern design codes</a> and code enforcement. There are always challenges – but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some success stories.</p>
<h2>California plans ahead</h2>
<p>Consider the city of San Francisco. More than a decade ago, this densely populated Northern California city realized it had thousands of apartment buildings with parking at the ground level. These are known as “soft-story” buildings and are more prone to collapse because they lack <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/structural/soft-story-seismic-retrofitting.htm">the strength and stiffness of reinforcing</a> at the ground level. Many are likely to collapse in a moderate-to-major earthquake, while many more would require months to repair. </p>
<p>Through a self-study <a href="https://sfgov.org/sfc/sites/default/files/ESIP/FileCenter/Documents/9757-atc522.pdf">completed in 2010</a>, San Francisco recognized that even if nobody was killed or injured in an earthquake, damage to these multi-unit residential buildings would result in a significant number of people losing their homes and leaving the city, changing its character forever. In 2013, the city began <a href="https://sfgov.org/sfc/sites/default/files/ESIP/FileCenter/Documents/10118-Legislation_Final.pdf">a mandatory retrofit program</a>. So far, <a href="https://sfgov.org/sfc/esip/soft-story">more than 700 soft-story buildings</a> have been retrofitted. Federal <a href="https://www.californiaresidentialmitigationprogram.com/How-to-Pay-for-a-Seismic-Retrofit/Earthquake-Soft-Story">grants of up to US$13,000</a> that became available in early 2023 are expected to accelerate this progress.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ladbs.org/services/core-services/plan-check-permit/plan-check-permit-special-assistance/mandatory-retrofit-programs/soft-story-retrofit-program">Los Angeles</a> followed suit in 2015, passing a law that required retrofitting of both soft-story wood-framed and older concrete buildings prone to collapse. As of 2023, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-22/poll-large-majority-los-angeles-residents-back-earthquake-retrofit">69% of soft-story buildings in LA</a> had been retrofitted. Progress on the concrete structures has been slower but is moving ahead.</p>
<p>Retrofitting a multi-unit apartment buildings in California costs between $60,000 and $130,000 – but the investment for a typical single-family home in the U.S. <a href="https://www.earthquakeauthority.com/Blog/2020/Benefits-Seismic-Upgrades-Why-Retrofit-Your-Home">starts as low as $3,000</a>.</p>
<p>Communities outside the U.S. have also built back better after earthquakes.</p>
<p>In 2005, Kobe, Japan, was rocked by a major earthquake that resulted in more than 5,000 fatalities and $200 billion in damage. As the city rebuilt, officials took the opportunity to improve their building code using updated <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0958-9465(99)00042-6">strengthening and stiffening techniques</a>.</p>
<p>Christchurch, New Zealand, was devastated in 2011 by two earthquakes that destroyed much of the downtown area. While many buildings didn’t collapse – a sign that the building code worked to some degree – many were damaged beyond repair. Demolishing them presented an opportunity to <a href="https://www.atcouncil.org/docman/atc-15-16-papers/188-p4-01-macrae/file">focus on resilient construction</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Amidst the rubble, a team of uniformed firefighters in hard hats search through the debris left by the quake." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547591/original/file-20230911-17-v1m7nf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Amizmiz, Morocco, search-and-rescue teams look for survivors trapped beneath the rubble in September 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/firefighters-are-seen-digging-among-the-rubble-in-search-of-news-photo/1659521984?adppopup=true">Davide Bonaldo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Focusing efforts</h2>
<p>So how can people and governments figure out where best to invest to decrease our exposure to natural hazards?</p>
<p>The center I co-direct brings together specialists from <a href="http://resilience.colostate.edu">14 universities</a> to determine how to measure a community’s resilience to natural hazards to enable them to plan for, absorb and recover rapidly from hazards. A <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/12/presidential-policy-directive-critical-infrastructure-security-and-resil">policy directive</a> during the Obama administration resulted in funds being focused on improving resilience throughout the U.S.</p>
<p>To improve resilience, we have to be able to quantify and measure it. To do this, we’ve developed a computer model called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcns.2023.07.004">IN-CORE</a> that communities can use to measure the short- and long-term effects of “what if” scenarios on their households, social institutions, physical infrastructure and local economy. Each interacting algorithm that makes up the model is based on scientifically rigorous research documented in the teams’ <a href="http://resilience.colostate.edu/publications.shtml">almost 200 peer-reviewed publications over the last eight years</a>. Our system allows stakeholders to make resilience-informed decisions and measure the impacts on vulnerable populations. For example, we know that it is vital that social institutions such as schools and hospitals <a href="https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/civil-engineering-magazine/issues/magazine-issue/article/2021/03/performance-based-seismic-design-succeeds-in-turkey">remain intact</a> after a disaster.</p>
<p>One example of utilizing IN-CORE is the center’s engagement with Salt Lake County, Utah. The county is planning for a major earthquake – an event that is inevitable <a href="https://earthquake.usgs.gov/cfusion/external_grants/reports/G13AP00003.pdf">according to experts from the U.S. Geological Survey</a>. Understanding where investment will have its biggest impact is critical because time and money are limited. Our system will help Salt Lake County determine which building retrofits will provide the most return on investment based on physical services, social services and economic and population stability.</p>
<p>One goal of the <a href="https://www.in-core.org">IN-CORE Project</a> is to assist communities recently identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, as <a href="https://www.fema.gov/partnerships/community-disaster-resilience-zones">Community Disaster Resilience Zones</a>. These are areas in the U.S. most at risk from the effects of natural hazards and climate change. </p>
<p>More broadly, we plan to partner with communities and regions worldwide, always staying focused on ensuring socially equitable solutions. For example, as recent earthquakes in Morocco and Afghanistan show, it is important to consider not just urban centers, but rural communities that often <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/12/africa/morocco-earthquake-village-atlas-mountains/index.html">suffer a great deal of loss</a>.</p>
<p><em>This article was updated to include details from the Afghanistan earthquakes in October 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199588/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John van de Lindt receives funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to co-lead the development of IN-CORE mentioned in the article. </span></em></p>One way to prevent the destruction wrought by a devastating earthquake – like the one that hit Morocco in September 2023 – is to construct resilient homes and buildings.John van de Lindt, Professor of Civil Engineering, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1878332022-08-11T12:13:24Z2022-08-11T12:13:24ZThere’s reason for people on opposing sides of abortion to talk, even if they disagree – it helps build respect, understanding and can lead to policy change<p>The Supreme Court’s <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/19-1392">decision to overturn</a> Roe v. Wade has split the country into joyous supporters and furious dissenters. Emotions are running high, and some protests have <a href="https://time.com/6194085/abortion-protests-guns-violence-extremists/">turned violent</a>. Yet research shows that people on either side of the abortion rights issue can bridge their divide if they speak directly and respectfully with one another.</p>
<p>In July 2022, former leaders of prominent abortion-rights and anti-abortion advocacy organizations in Massachusetts gathered to discuss a new <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/Daily/2022/20220801/Lessons-of-Boston-s-secret-abortion-talks-Understanding-vs.-agreement">documentary film series</a> <a href="https://www.intergroupresources.com/rc/Fostering%20Dialogue%20Across%20Divides.pdf">about</a> <a href="https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/57e552041c882348567f1676/593c1ebf230b5002a4a2179b_1.1.%20Talking%20with%20the%20Enemy%2C%20Boston%20Globe.pdf">conversations they had regularly</a> from 1995 to 2001. The warm friendships that they developed across their deep differences on abortion persist today, decades after their first meeting.</p>
<p>Nicki Gamble, the former president and CEO of <a href="https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-massachusetts">Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts</a>, said during the panel that the opportunity to engage with anti-abortion activists “changed my life.” </p>
<p>Others agreed.</p>
<p>“The facilitators made us really listen,” said Madeline McComish, former president of <a href="https://www.masscitizensforlife.org/">Massachusetts Citizens for Life</a>. “Most of the time the pro-choice women had said something different than what we thought.”</p>
<p>My <a href="https://odc.aom.org/HigherLogic/System/DownloadDocumentFile.ashx?DocumentFileKey=7690fa68-7776-e2e1-5162-c52758d7d2fb&forceDialog=1">research</a> on talks between abortion-rights and anti-abortion advocates found that respectful conversation produces numerous positive outcomes. It helps people listen more deeply and forge personal connections, which can reduce negative stereotypes and foster respect and empathy. In Boston, this translated to a lessening of inflammatory public language.</p>
<p>It can also lead people on opposite sides of an issue to evolve their views and develop more nuanced, complex perspectives. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Men dressed as police officers and investigators stand outside a generic looking brick building, blocked off with yellow police tape." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478562/original/file-20220810-9567-eziox2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police block off a Massachusetts abortion clinic where two people were killed in 1994.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/proabortion-demonstration-after-a-christian-fundamentalist-killed-two-picture-id525610370?s=2048x2048">Brooks Kraft/Contributor</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>De-escalating violence</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://whatisessential.org/impact-stories/abortion-dialogues-greater-boston">Abortion Dialogues</a>, as they are known, were launched in Boston in response to <a href="https://time.com/3648437/john-salvi-shootings/">lethal shootings</a> in 1994 by an anti-abortion rights gunman at two local abortion clinics. </p>
<p>At <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2022/05/17/photos-1990s-abortion-show-how-present-is-like-past/">that time</a>, the country was deeply polarized about abortion, rocked by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/11/30/us/anti-abortion-violence">violent protests</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/29/us/30abortion-clinic-violence.html">murders</a> of prominent doctors who provided abortions. </p>
<p>Six women activists for and against abortion rights started confidential talks in Boston in 1995, hoping to de-escalate the violence.</p>
<p>They soon discovered that their moral worldviews presented two irreconcilable philosophies about how to live in the world. </p>
<p>The three participants on the “pro-life,” side, as they chose to call themselves, are all observant Catholics from Boston. They made life choices based on a worldview that there is one truth, guided by their faith, about moral rights and wrongs. </p>
<p>In contrast, the women on the “pro-choice” side, as they referred to themselves, said that they recognized a diversity of personal beliefs and weighed many circumstances in making life choices. </p>
<p>“The pro-choice side does not believe there are moral absolutes,” explained one “pro-life” leader who participated in the talks in a confidential research interview in 2008. “The pro-life participants would force others to conduct their lives according to the ‘one’ truth that they believe,” countered a “pro-choice” activist who also engaged in the talks. </p>
<p>Despite this irreconcilable difference, the participants valued their conversations. They enjoyed talking with people with whom they had formerly sparred via news interviews. </p>
<p>Gradually, each side’s negative stereotypes were replaced by greater understanding and respect for their opponents. They also discovered that they enjoyed each other’s company. They grew to be friends, celebrated birthdays together and shared the ups and downs of their lives. </p>
<p>Rehumanizing the fight led to their hoped-for public outcome – the participants toned down their name calling, spoke up loudly for nonviolent means of change and instructed their organizations to treat the people on the other side with respect.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A blue lit room shows five middle aged and older women sitting at the front of an auditorium." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478571/original/file-20220810-4746-ghzqoi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Boston women who are former leaders of abortion-rights and anti-abortion organizations spoke together in July 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kate W. Isaacs</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Truth statements and policy</h2>
<p>The Boston leaders didn’t try to agree on policy, but in June 2022, a different, small group of 22 residents in Jessamine Country, Kentucky, interested in abortion rights succeeded in doing just that. </p>
<p>They used a guide for how to structure conversations produced by the nonprofit <a href="https://braverangels.org/">Braver Angels</a>, an organization I volunteer with, that sets out how to find common ground among those <a href="https://braverangels.org/what-we-do/common-ground/#:%7E:text=What%20is%20the%20Braver%20Angels,change%2C%20electoral%20reform%20or%20abortion.">with opposing viewpoints</a>. Their aim: create agreements <a href="https://braverangels.org/if-we-could-get-past-this-issue-we-could-talk-about-almost-anything-heres-how-the-jessamine-county-alliance-dove-into-a-heated-debate/">about abortion</a> between conservatives and liberals. </p>
<p>One key to the group’s success was a selection of background readings by abortion-rights and anti-abortion authors that established a shared set of facts about abortion. For instance, there is a strong link between abortion and poverty, in that <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states">3 out of 4 women</a> seeking abortions are poor or low-income.</p>
<p>The Kentucky abortion conversation also focused on a goal everyone could support – reducing unwanted pregnancies and, consequently, abortions. The result was <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/137HNquSyyod7k2PJbWjGEmLLNvGS2ApC/edit">unanimous agreement</a> on two concrete policy recommendations: better, age-appropriate sex education in Kentucky schools, and long-acting reversible contraception that is free of charge for Kentucky residents, modeled after the Colorado <a href="http://www.larc4co.com">contraception program</a>, which reduced abortion rates by 60% and birth rates by 59% among teenagers aged 15-19 from 2009 to 2014.</p>
<p>The participants are now working to communicate their recommendations to state legislators, local pastors, the local health department and the news media.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman holds a toddler girl in a pink snowsuit and appears to talk in a heated manner with a middle aged woman wearing glasses and a black jacket." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478565/original/file-20220810-9577-n9g31l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An abortion rights activist argues with an anti-abortion advocate at a 1992 rally in Washington.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/prochoice-advocate-michelle-redstockings-holds-her-three-year-old-picture-id1231303438?s=2048x2048">Hai Do/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Beyond these cases</h2>
<p>The empathetic dialogue strategies used in Massachusetts and Kentucky may work in the longer term to reduce polarization in other places, too, and build greater consensus on future policy.</p>
<p>Ireland, for example, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/26/ireland-votes-by-landslide-to-legalise-abortion">voted in 2018</a> to roll back the country’s restrictive abortion law, replacing it with a new constitutional amendment that permits abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and later if a woman’s life or health is at risk or the fetus has an abnormality.</p>
<p>Just as the Kentucky group did with their shared readings before they met, <a href="https://www.irishamerica.com/2022/06/abortion-legal-ireland/">Ireland undertook</a> joint fact-finding before the amendment vote, via a 100-person constitutional convention. When it came time to vote, empathetic story sharing played a key role. Nearly <a href="https://www.irishamerica.com/2022/06/abortion-legal-ireland/">40% of those</a> who voted to remove the abortion prohibition said their vote had been influenced by hearing from a woman about her experience. </p>
<p>These same lessons could apply to abortion in the U.S.</p>
<p>John Wood Jr., chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, called for the same respectful type of conversation <a href="https://braverangels.org/a-hopeful-argument-for-choice-a-tearful-tale-in-favor-of-life/">in a story he told in July 2022 about</a> his long-ago teenage girlfriend’s abortion. </p>
<p>“I cannot hate my fellow Americans who have dedicated their lives to either side of this issue,” he wrote. “There is deep humanity on each side of this divide.”</p>
<p>The groups in Massachusetts and Kentucky show that dialogue works. They built personal connections that crossed their respective ideologies, showed respect for different opinions and pushed for change that they could all support.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187833/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate W. Isaacs is affiliated with Braver Angels as a volunteer facilitator. </span></em></p>When ideological enemies talk across their great divides, something good can happen – it reduces stereotypes and inflammatory language directed at people who don’t agree on the abortion rights issue.Kate W. Isaacs, Lecturer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1330362020-04-17T12:10:21Z2020-04-17T12:10:21Z3 innovations helping the homeless in Eugene, Oregon<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328187/original/file-20200415-153347-1mmekoj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Volunteers are building villages of tiny houses for formerly homeless people.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.squareonevillages.org/cvc">Bruce Kelsh/Cottage Village Coalition</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Even when the economy is booming, the United States has trouble figuring out how to <a href="https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.4007">deal with homelessness</a>. Now, with <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-high-will-unemployment-go-during-the-great-depression-1-in-4-americans-were-out-of-work-135508">unemployment soaring</a> and millions of <a href="https://www.wltz.com/2020/04/13/1-3-of-americans-didnt-pay-rent-in-april/">Americans unable to pay their rent</a>, solutions are more needed than ever.</p>
<p>I think it’s worth considering some of the ways <a href="https://kval.com/news/local/new-estimate-shows-eugenes-population-has-risen-to-above-171000-for-first-time-ever">Eugene, Oregon</a> – a city of about 170,000 people – has approached this problem. A citywide effort to count the homeless in December 2019 found 2,165 people who were either sleeping in shelters or on the streets. With 432 homeless persons for every 100,000 residents, Eugene has the <a href="https://www.security.org/resources/homeless-statistics/">highest number of homeless per capita</a> in the country. The <a href="https://www.usich.gov/news/white-house-releases-report-on-state-of-homelessness/">national average is only 170</a>. Despite a recent uptick, the total number of the homeless in Eugene <a href="https://www.eugene-or.gov/DocumentCenter/View/45881/TAC-Report_Final">fell between 2011 and 2016</a>.</p>
<p>When I <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nF2HybYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra&gmla=AJsN-F71h2CaG2f0hRgGk74j-UU9T5s7Xz4Q4Xb_KovDW25phhW5GjHmMqjnHmypOOg91msT831Q7GBfiorhm8N4nsvRZiAofudcF1vlJPzYDfZlFBmTNlM&sciund=3773653863845255366">studied the mid-sized city’s approaches</a>, three programs struck me as particularly promising. All of them are a result of the local government working with nonprofits and concerned residents to solve this daunting problem.</p>
<h2>A local housing movement</h2>
<p>Efforts to do more about homelessness in Eugene took shape during the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2012.708923">Occupy movement</a>, which began in <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/washington-whispers/articles/2011/10/17/how-occupy-wall-street-started-and-spread">New York City in 2011</a> to protest inequality and soon spread <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/10/15/141382468/occupy-wall-street-inspires-worldwide-protests">across the globe</a>.</p>
<p>In December 2011, an Occupy encampment, located at a park in the middle of the city, hosted hundreds of the homeless, championing <a href="https://www.dailyemerald.com/ethos/eight-years-later-occupy-eugene-s-influence/article_326e8ebc-ada8-11e9-83f8-67cfa01b50d6.html">homelessness as the movement’s main cause in the city</a>. </p>
<p>The camp triggered a citywide public debate over how to solve this problem. That debate, in turn, led to close collaboration between the city and county governments, neighborhood associations, local nonprofits and activists and the city’s homeless community. Besides providing services for the homeless, several <a href="https://www.eugene-or.gov/3470/Homelessness">innovative programs</a> came out of this collaboration.</p>
<h2>1. Occupy Medical</h2>
<p>Being homeless is fraught with medical and health problems, from <a href="https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.39.1.2">sleep deprivation</a> to a high <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/acem.13358">risk of becoming injured</a>. Eugene’s <a href="https://www.occupy-medical.org/">Occupy Medical</a>, a clinic with both mobile services and a permanent location, is staffed by volunteer doctors, nurses, nutritionists and other health professionals – and also offers services like basic grooming.</p>
<p>The clinic requires no insurance or even an identity card. Anyone seeking medical help is welcome on a no-questions-asked basis. “It’s more than just a free clinic,” the clinic manager explained during an interview I conducted. “It’s the model that we have of judgment-free, patient-centered care, integrated health, community involvement and recapturing your own body.”</p>
<h2>2. ‘Rest Stops’</h2>
<p>Eugene <a href="https://www.eugene-or.gov/3484/Illegal-Camping">bans sleeping in public places</a>, which can lead the homeless to spend their nights in nearby <a href="https://kpic.com/news/local/peaceful-protests-organized-in-eugene-to-fight-homeless-camping-ban">forests and along river banks</a>. Its “<a href="https://www.eugene-or.gov/3706/Rest-Stops">Rest Stop</a>” program, a collaboration between the local city government and nonprofits, offers safe temporary shelter for people to transition to more permanent lodging.</p>
<p>Eugene’s authorities provide land in parcels big enough to host up to 20 individuals in <a href="https://communitysupportedshelters.org/conestoga-huts">Conestoga Huts</a>, hard-shelled, insulated tents that were locally designed and built. The huts are mobile and can not be connected to electricity, gas or running water. Occupants are allowed to stay for up to 12 months. During their stay, occupants are expected to get mental health services, apply for jobs and seek out affordable housing. <a href="https://kval.com/news/local/city-of-eugene-makes-three-major-changes-to-rest-stop-ordinance-passed-on-monday">Nonprofits fund and operate these places</a> at no cost to taxpayers. No alcohol or drugs are allowed on the premises.</p>
<h2>3. Tiny house villages</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/fcsr.12205">Tiny houses</a>, free-standing homes that may or may not include kitchens and bathrooms and are only up to 400 square feet in size, are growing more popular. Villages of these diminutive homes <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/timmurphywriter/tiny-homes">reserved for the homeless</a> are springing up everywhere from <a href="https://shelterforce.org/2019/03/15/tiny-house-villages-in-seattle-an-efficient-response-to-our-homelessness-crisis/">Seattle</a> to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/austin-homeless-tiny-homes-village-community-first-photos-2019-10">Austin</a> to <a href="https://casscommunity.org/tinyhomes/">Detroit</a>. </p>
<p>Eugene led the way in 2013 with its <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/religion-and-ethics-newsweekly-tiny-houses-homeless/">Opportunity Village</a>, building on the lessons it learned through the Rest Stop program. The village offered permanent housing structures with access to shared kitchen, bathroom and laundry facilities for <a href="https://www.squareonevillages.org/opportunity">30 individuals</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/bd125b_f81ce553ab8b4a0c810e3b991bd063bf.pdf">Emerald Village Eugene</a> expanded to offer 22 permanent, fully equipped houses that range in size from 160 to 288 square feet. Volunteers designed and built the structures and residents are maintaining them and the surrounding land, enforcing their own village code and screening future occupants. Individuals and families began moving into this village in 2018. Their payments of between US$250 and $350 per month cover all their housing, utilities and maintenance costs. The rent residents pay goes toward their purchase of a stake in the land and their homes. A third village of tiny houses in the nearby community of <a href="https://eead3e67-3a27-4098-aa25-9fa572882b1f.filesusr.com/ugd/6e1afc_46143f20f858472cbfdacf98aa55761e.pdf">Cottage Grove</a> will accommodate another 13 tiny houses people, following a similar model.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KX2_Q5ejUpc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">People who used to be homeless have settled down in tiny homes custom-built to accommodate them in Eugene, Oregon.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133036/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mohamed Hassan Awad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nonprofits and concerned residents are teaming up with the local government to solve a daunting problem in a city with the nation’s highest per-capita rate of homelessnesss.Mohamed Hassan Awad, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, California State University, Los AngelesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1362072020-04-15T12:11:36Z2020-04-15T12:11:36ZStudents fight pandemic – and get real-world experience – by using 3D printers to make face shields<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327508/original/file-20200413-96019-18bgl0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C340%2C679%2C586&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Health care workers at Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach, Missouri, wear face shields donated by students from Camdenton High School in Camdenton, Missouri.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Provided courtesy of Camdenton High School</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When high school teachers in Camdenton, Missouri, read about how personal protective equipment for health care workers was in <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/03-03-2020-shortage-of-personal-protective-equipment-endangering-health-workers-worldwide">short supply</a> due to the COVID-19 outbreak – and how <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2020/03/24/calling-all-makers-with-3d-printers-join-critical-mission-to-make-face-masks-and-shields-for-2020-healthcare-workers/">anyone with a 3D printer could help</a> fill the void – they sprung into action.</p>
<p>The educators asked their fellow teachers at Camdenton Middle School, which had already secured 3D printers as part of a <a href="https://education.missouri.edu/2018/10/emints-national-center-awarded-22-4-million-to-help-rural-schools/">federal education grant</a>, if they and their students could use the machines to make urgently needed face shields for health care workers. The middle school teachers gladly agreed.</p>
<p>Now, as the new coronavirus <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html">continues to spread</a>, Camdenton High School has produced hundreds of these shields for health care workers and has plans to produce more in collaboration with other schools. The work will be aided by a five-year <a href="https://education.missouri.edu/2018/10/emints-national-center-awarded-22-4-million-to-help-rural-schools/">US$18.6 million federal grant</a> that I helped the community obtain to train educators to use STEM in all grades and subject areas to teach students to solve problems that affect their communities. Through the grant, my colleagues and I expect to reach 58 rural middle schools, 406 teachers and nearly 27,000 students.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hJORNMUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researcher</a> who focuses on <a href="https://www.nae.edu/24985/Changing-the-Conversation-Messages-for-Improving-Public-Understanding-of-Engineering">STEM education</a>, I know that this effort is doing more than just bridging a gap in personal protective equipment. Doing <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/1157/2/022018/pdf">hands-on projects</a> that solve real-world problems <a href="https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ijpbl/article/view/28220">gets students more interested in science</a> technology, engineering and mathematics.</p>
<p>Hands-on projects also improve what researchers like me call “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-017-9693-1">self-efficacy</a>.” That’s the belief a person has in their ability to successfully do a similar task in the future. Research also shows that students – particularly girls and students of color – become motivated and interested in engineering when it is tied to <a href="https://www.nae.edu/24985/Changing-the-Conversation-Messages-for-Improving-Public-Understanding-of-Engineering">working for the social good</a>. </p>
<p>It also helps tremendously when the project is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131512002990?casa_token=pUNVfkZmuzwAAAAA:qxCudkwFK7Y9uRUf7BXa0L7bAh2uarPn1B50vmBPVtJ0iP3f2a48Z_iblEuYasca--KHucbX3NZx">authentic</a> – students do real science and engineering, the work is meaningful outside of school and students actually care about what they produce.</p>
<h2>Making the shields</h2>
<p>With school closed, the 15 high school students involved with the project had only limited dealings with the 3D printers. For instance, to keep in line with social distancing rules, only one or two students were permitted in the school to work on the printers at once.</p>
<p>However, students were still able to do meaningful tasks. For example, they searched for face shield designs and proposed different design solutions, such as figuring out alternative materials to use due to shortages of certain parts of the shield that cannot be printed. Students loaded the design onto the printers. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327631/original/file-20200414-117587-1bq8mtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327631/original/file-20200414-117587-1bq8mtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327631/original/file-20200414-117587-1bq8mtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327631/original/file-20200414-117587-1bq8mtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327631/original/file-20200414-117587-1bq8mtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327631/original/file-20200414-117587-1bq8mtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327631/original/file-20200414-117587-1bq8mtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327631/original/file-20200414-117587-1bq8mtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Camdenton High School student operates a 3D printer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Camdenton High School</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The project team consists of <a href="http://emints.org/">eMINTS</a>, an organization that helps educators integrate technology into school curriculum, along with myself as director of the <a href="https://sislt.missouri.edu/2017/07/wemake-design-learn-lab/">WeMake – Design & Learn Lab</a>. Both eMINTS and my lab are housed at the College of Education, University of Missouri. </p>
<p>Matching funds for the 3D printers were provided by <a href="https://kcav.com/">Kansas City AV</a>, an organization that facilitates videoconferencing and technology in schools. Teachers, students and other community members are volunteering their time to produce and distribute the face shields to local hospitals and health care providers and nursing homes.</p>
<p>The face shields must be sterilized or at least disinfected before they are handed off. Face shields should not be confused with face masks. Face shields have <a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/136842/download">less stringent regulations</a> than <a href="https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/3d-printing-medical-devices/faqs-3d-printing-medical-devices-accessories-components-and-parts-during-covid-19-pandemic">face masks</a> and are used to protect health care workers any time they work with sick people who are coughing.</p>
<h2>STEM workers of the future</h2>
<p>The COVID-19 crisis will inevitably continue to present a lot of challenges. Within those challenges will be opportunities for students to learn through taking a hands-on approach to real-world problems. Support from <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328262711_Adapting_Maker_Education_to_pupil's_abilities_How_clear_bordered_tasks_can_lead_to_discovery_behaviour">teachers will be key</a>.</p>
<p>When it comes to turning the face shield project and similar ones into learning opportunities, we can’t just give students a problem and say “go.” Research shows that just doing projects alone <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/B:EDPR.0000034022.16470.f3">does not lead to learning for students</a>. Students need help and guidance on tying together the project with science, articulating what they did and reflecting on their experience. Students will then begin to see themselves as the scientists and engineers of the future. And when the next crisis comes along, they will be better prepared to confront it.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johannes Strobel has consulted in the past for ETA Hand2Mind and was lead designer for Hands-on Standards STEM in Action, a product of this company. He has received funding from NSF and US Department of Education through competitively awarded grants. He serves on several advisory boards for other NSF grantees.</span></em></p>The COVID-19 outbreak presents many opportunities for students to develop needed solutions to real-life problems, says a researcher overseeing school project to produce personal protective equipment.Johannes Strobel, Professor of Information Science & Learning Technologies, University of Missouri-ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1356242020-04-09T12:09:10Z2020-04-09T12:09:10ZHow can the houseless fight the coronavirus? A community organization partners with academics to create a grassroots hand-washing infrastructure<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325850/original/file-20200406-125671-o1exyp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Natosha, a houseless resident in Los Angeles' Skid Row points to a DIY handwashing station. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMAhnqPoUgOXte2ZWtU5UQSZe2Q_gePmeGUE2XrRQlGK5uVmTb30yGkd0vN1SO4_Q?key=bkxSNVZSZmYyTEZBRnF5eElvQUJQUWhvSHhUQkJn">Pete White/LA CAN</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The day the governor of California <a href="https://la.eater.com/2020/3/17/21183590/california-governor-gavin-newsom-shut-down-covid-19-coronavirus-statewide-dine-in-restaurants">ordered the closure</a> of dine-in restaurant operations, gyms, fitness centers and movie theaters because of the coronavirus, staff members of the Los Angeles Community Action Network, a grassroots human rights organization comprised of poor housed and houseless Angelenos, scouted the streets of Skid Row to check on the hand-washing stations the city had installed, phones in hand.</p>
<p>General Dogon, one of the staff, stopped at one station and pumped the foot pedal to turn it on. Turning to face his colleague Monique Noel’s phone camera, he said: “<a href="https://www.facebook.com/lacanetwork/videos/252149842614428/?v=252149842614428">The problem is, there is no water</a>.”</p>
<p>In Downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row, <a href="https://www.lahsa.org/documents?id=3527-hc2019-skid-row-data-summary.pdf">an estimated 4,757</a> people experience houselessness on a given night, and approximately 2,783 of them live unsheltered on the street. These residents cannot easily follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advice to stay at home and wash their hands frequently. </p>
<p>City officials said they <a href="https://twitter.com/LACity/status/1239392272715665408">installed 250 hand-washing stations</a> across the city, but by Dogon’s count on March 16, the day of the governor’s order, only a few had been placed in Skid Row. Several of the stations were dirty and lacked soap, fresh water or both. </p>
<p>Before COVID-19 became a crisis in LA, we – a <a href="https://annenberg.usc.edu/communication/communication-phd/doctoral-students/cerianne-robertson">Ph.D. student studying media power and cities</a>, a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Graham_Diguiseppi">Ph.D. student studying health interventions for youth experiencing homelessness</a> and <a href="https://annenberg.usc.edu/faculty/communication/fran%C3%A7ois-bar">a professor studying social and economic impacts of information technologies</a> – were engaged in participatory research projects with the Los Angeles Community Action Network (<a href="http://cangress.org">LA CAN)</a> and other students in a USC-Annenberg graduate seminar on “Research, Practice and Social Change.” Recognizing the immense threat that COVID-19 poses to residents of informal settlements, this community-university collaborative began building a grassroots network of DIY hand-washing stations.</p>
<p>The hope is that others may learn from our story and provide rapid response to support houseless communities in their own neighborhoods and cities. We believe our story demonstrates the power and importance of community ownership and organizations that build grassroots networks over time. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326619/original/file-20200408-86439-38jvw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326619/original/file-20200408-86439-38jvw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326619/original/file-20200408-86439-38jvw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326619/original/file-20200408-86439-38jvw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326619/original/file-20200408-86439-38jvw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326619/original/file-20200408-86439-38jvw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/326619/original/file-20200408-86439-38jvw3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An artist-assisted DIY hand-washing station for the homeless.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/mariequinnproductionsla/">Marie Quinn</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Switching plans because of COVID-19</h2>
<p>The idea was born at a meeting of LA CAN’s Human Rights Strategy Committee where participants were discussing the impact of COVID-19 on the organization’s “<a href="https://cangress.wordpress.com/tag/the-dirty-divide/">Dirty Divide</a>” campaign, a decades-long effort to advocate for improvements to Skid Row’s inadequate public health infrastructure. </p>
<p>That led to a conversation about how the Congolese fought the Ebola crisis – with sanitation stations – and how to emulate this in Skid Row. LA CAN shared the idea with the USC team on what would be the first of many Zoom videoconference calls over the following days. </p>
<p>The LA CAN / USC collaborative researched a number of DIY hand-washing station models, experimented with building prototypes and got five pilot stations on the streets within the first few days, with over a dozen more ready to be deployed soon. The group is also <a href="http://skidrowpower.com/handwashing/">mapping the DIY stations</a>, as well as existing sanitation spots and hand washing stations <a href="https://www.lahsa.org/documents?id=4340-hygiene-services-locations.pdf">newly installed by the city</a>.</p>
<p>For inspiration, the collaborative assembled a scrapbook of <a href="http://skidrowpower.com/diy-handwashing/">examples from around the world</a> showing how people have improvised hand-washing stations.</p>
<p>The “dragon station,” our modified version of a <a href="https://www.instructables.com/id/Camp-Sink-Temporary-Hand-Washing-Station/">DIY Camp Sink</a>, is a community favorite. For about US$50-$70 worth of materials, this turns two buckets with lids, a pump, a hose and some sort of basin – and, in our case, a plastic dragon repurposed as a faucet and soap dispenser – into a mechanism that takes clean water from one bucket and disposes dirty water into the other. In comparison, the commercial hand-washing stations we researched cost over $400 and were in high demand, taking a minimum of four to six weeks to ship.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QOuCjTP4pVY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A Los Angeles Community Action Network worker tests city-installed hand-washing stations in Skid Row.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Community-centered design</h2>
<p>The city’s top-down approach was to drop off hand-washing stations that need to be periodically refilled with soap and water, but now city workers are staying #SaferAtHome and the stations have run dry. After touring some of the city’s empty sanitation stations on April 3, U.S. District Judge <a href="https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2020-04-06/coronavirus-skid-row-hand-washing-station-employee-injured-syringe?fbclid=IwAR08YIL4lwQQq3sLefHx06Sn_8_aiCQgSgAig4jtdTSCuLNNNn8S-KqQZQU">David O. Carter concluded</a> that “the sanitation facilities in Skid Row continue to be inadequate to meet the exigencies of the COVID-19 health crisis.”</p>
<p>In contrast, the LA CAN / USC group is attempting to build a bottom-up grassroots network. Friends and supporters make DIY hand-washing stations. They’re not quite as slick as the city’s but are arguably prettier, as they’re <a href="http://skidrowpower.com/handwashing-art">hand-painted</a> with designs and instructions. </p>
<p>LA CAN places the hand-washing stations with street community leaders that the organization knows from its years of organizing work in the neighborhood. These leaders maintain the stations, explain how they work to other Skid Row residents, share knowledge about safe practices and generally support their community. To refill the stations, they call on nearby supporters including housed neighbors and adjacent buildings and stores, some of whom also provide liquid soap and sanitizer – a grassroots networks in action. </p>
<h2>Building a support network beyond Skid Row</h2>
<p>Mutual aid is flourishing beyond Skid Row, too. Artist <a href="https://www.jessiekb.com/">Jessica Kendall-Bar</a> illustrated a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lacanetwork/photos/a.463098237472/10157334284717473/?type=3&theater">how-to guide</a> for building a hand-washing station. And folks from local groups including Street Watch LA, Human Rights Watch LA and Mutual Aid LA lend a hand in building, distributing and maintaining these stations.</p>
<p>People from around the city are also contributing to <a href="http://skidrowpower.com/handwashing#map">the hand-washing station map</a> – not only identifying the sanitation locations, but also providing updates on the availability of soap and water at each station. The icons for each station turn green if they are fully functional, red if they have run dry and yellow if they have water but something else is wrong. They are blue when their status is unknown; there may be a station there but no one has checked it out. </p>
<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1ak8NcsKDwokcV0T9j0eQALz7rIHNWzwq&hl=en&ll=34.0439213%2C-118.2446656&z=16" width="100%" height="600"></iframe>
<p>The participants and supporters from beyond Skid Row are a mix of people from LA CAN’s organizing and human rights networks and people from the USC network, highlighting what we see as an advantage of a collaboration between community organizers and academic researchers. </p>
<p>The group divides tasks strategically among the participants. LA CAN staff take the lead on community outreach and station implementation, drawing on their existing relationships in and knowledge of the neighborhood. Besides building and testing prototype stations, the USC team’s contributions are mostly virtual: building the map and making content for the <a href="https://cangress.org/donate/">fundraising campaign</a> via LA CAN’s social media platforms, always taking cues from the experts at the community organization. </p>
<p>To create lasting change, we believe grassroots organizations and academics must work together to understand obstacles, design and test practical solutions, and develop community practices around those solutions. Forging and strengthening these relationships over time means that when a new crisis strikes, we can be ready to hit the ground running.</p>
<p>[<em>Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-facts">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135624/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A community effort is creating do-it-yourself hand-washing stations for the homeless population in Los Angeles.Cerianne Robertson, Ph.D. student in Communication, USC Annenberg School for Communication and JournalismFrançois Bar, Professor of Communication and Spatial Sciences, USC Annenberg School for Communication and JournalismGraham DiGuiseppi, Ph.D. student in the Department of Children, Youth and Families, USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1324792020-03-04T19:01:49Z2020-03-04T19:01:49ZVaccines without needles – new shelf-stable film could revolutionize how medicines are distributed worldwide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318665/original/file-20200304-66112-9v1pww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C43%2C1115%2C817&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Films that dissolve rapidly when placed under the tongue or high in the cheek will make vaccines cheaper and more reliable.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen C. Schafer</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The race is on to identify an effective vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. Once discovered, the next challenge will be manufacturing and distributing it around the world. </p>
<p>My research group has developed a novel method to stabilize live viruses and other biological medicines <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau4819">in a rapidly dissolving film</a> that does not require refrigeration and can be given by mouth.</p>
<p>Since the ingredients to make the film are inexpensive and the process is relatively simple, it could make vaccine campaigns much more affordable. Large quantities could be shipped and distributed easily given its flat, space saving shape.</p>
<p>Globally, vaccination rates have improved over the past decade, but are still too low – 13.5 million children were <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/vaccination">not vaccinated in 2018</a>. This new technology, recently published <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau4819">in the journal Science Advances</a>, has the potential to dramatically improve global access to vaccines and other biological medicines.</p>
<h2>Inspired by hard candy</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318397/original/file-20200303-66084-1403psg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C177%2C2297%2C1661&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318397/original/file-20200303-66084-1403psg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C177%2C2297%2C1661&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318397/original/file-20200303-66084-1403psg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318397/original/file-20200303-66084-1403psg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318397/original/file-20200303-66084-1403psg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318397/original/file-20200303-66084-1403psg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318397/original/file-20200303-66084-1403psg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318397/original/file-20200303-66084-1403psg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not your grandmother’s vaccine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maria Croyle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My research team began developing this technology in 2007, when the National Institutes of Health asked us to develop a needle-free, shelf-stable delivery method for a vaccine. </p>
<p>The idea of developing a film was inspired by a documentary about how the DNA of insects and other living things can be preserved for millions of years in amber. This got us thinking about hard candy, like my grandmother used to make.</p>
<p>It was a simple idea, yet no one had tried it. So we went to work mixing a variety of formulations containing natural ingredients like sugars and salts and testing them for their ability to form a solid amber-like candy.</p>
<p>Initially, many of the preparations we tested either killed the organism as the film formed or crystallized during storage, shredding the virus or the bacteria we were trying to preserve.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318668/original/file-20200304-66052-112hifn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318668/original/file-20200304-66052-112hifn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318668/original/file-20200304-66052-112hifn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=103&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318668/original/file-20200304-66052-112hifn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=103&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318668/original/file-20200304-66052-112hifn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=103&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318668/original/file-20200304-66052-112hifn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=129&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318668/original/file-20200304-66052-112hifn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=129&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318668/original/file-20200304-66052-112hifn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=129&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vaccines like those for measles, polio, influenza, hepatitis B and Ebola, as well as many of the therapeutic antibodies used to treat infections and cancer, can be carefully sandwiched between protective layers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen C. Schafer</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But finally, after about 450 tries over the course of a year, we found a formulation that could suspend viruses and bacteria in a peelable film.</p>
<p>As we gained more experience with the production process, we worked to simplify it so extensive technical training would not be needed to make it. Additionally, we tweaked the ingredients so they would dry faster, enabling one to make a batch of vaccine in the morning and ship it after lunch. </p>
<p>I’m involved with a startup aiming to get this technology to market within the next two years. </p>
<h2>More benefits</h2>
<p>All stored vaccines lose their potency over time. The rate at which they do so mostly depends on the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1586/erv.09.20">temperature at which they are kept</a>. Keeping vaccines continuously refrigerated is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2007.02.052">difficult and expensive</a> – and in some parts of the world, <a href="https://theconversation.com/cracking-the-cold-chain-challenge-is-key-to-making-vaccines-ubiquitous-99329">nearly impossible</a>. So creating a vaccine that can be stored and transported at room temperature is a huge advantage. </p>
<p>The biggest breakthrough for this project came when we were finishing up our Ebola vaccine project and found films containing virus made three years ago, stored in a sealed container on the lab bench. On a whim, we rehydrated them and tested them to determine if the vaccine was still capable of inducing an immune response. To our surprise, more than 95% of the viruses in the film were still active. To achieve this kind of shelf-life for an unrefrigerated vaccine was astonishing.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318436/original/file-20200303-66069-18ofksf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318436/original/file-20200303-66069-18ofksf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/318436/original/file-20200303-66069-18ofksf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318436/original/file-20200303-66069-18ofksf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318436/original/file-20200303-66069-18ofksf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=361&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318436/original/file-20200303-66069-18ofksf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318436/original/file-20200303-66069-18ofksf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/318436/original/file-20200303-66069-18ofksf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The film can stabilize the vaccine in a space-saving format, making it easier to ship and distribute around the globe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen Schafer and Maria Croyle</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The ecological footprint left by global immunization campaigns is not often considered. The 2004 Philippine Measles Elimination Campaign, which immunized 18 million children in one month, generated 19.5 million syringes, or 143 tons of sharps waste and nearly 80 tons <a href="https://noharm-global.org/documents/disposal-mass-immunization-waste-without-incineration">of nonhazardous waste</a> – empty vials, syringe wrappers, caps, cotton swabs and packaging. The implications for a larger campaign are significant.</p>
<p>Our film, by contrast, can be distributed by health workers equipped with only an envelope containing the vaccine. Once taken, it will leave no trace, except for a healthy global population.</p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132479/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The film technology developed in the Croyle Laboratory at the College of Pharmacy, University of Texas at Austin, has been licensed to a new startup company based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina for which Dr. Croyle is a scientific advisor. Dr. Croyle currently receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. </span></em></p>Inspired by amber and hard candy, researchers figured out a new, needle-free, shelf-stable way to preserve vaccines, making them easier to ship and administer around the world.Maria Croyle, Professor of Pharmaceutics, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1249222019-10-09T22:35:44Z2019-10-09T22:35:44ZDrop the doom and gloom: Climate journalism is about empowerment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296105/original/file-20191008-128652-1k2rhjz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2634&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A farmer who installed solar panels to power his irrigation systems on the family farm walks by the panels near Claresholm, Alta., in June 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is a simple irony in dealing with climate change. To get a handle on the problem means that, at a certain level, the conversation has to move away from climate change. What does that mean?</p>
<p>The secretary general of Amnesty International shed some light on this apparent contradiction ahead of September’s United Nations climate change conference in New York.</p>
<p>“I think one of the catastrophic mistakes we made in 1992, when the Rio Earth Summit happened, was framing our response to the threat of climate change solely or primarily as an environmental issue,” <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2019/9/19/kumi_naidoo_climate_change_global_strikes">Kumi Naidoo said</a> on the news program <em>Democracy Now!</em></p>
<p>“I think we needed to have done then what we are trying to do now … which is to ensure that we bring a cross-cutting understanding of climate change and bring a more human-centric approach to addressing (it).”</p>
<p>This means, Naidoo said, dealing with climate change by focusing on human rights and on reducing inequality.</p>
<h2>Broadening the climate conversation</h2>
<p>When it comes to climate-related economic issues, news narratives typically focus on the trade-off between jobs and protecting the environment. </p>
<p>That was one of the findings of a <a href="https://www.policyalternatives.ca/jobs-vs-environment">December 2018 study</a> by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. “Although they tend to choose different sides, mainstream and alternative media both frequently reinforce the assumption that there is an inevitable trade-off between environmental protection and job creation,” the study concluded.</p>
<p>What if the discussion in the news media, and in politics, instead focused on what a post-carbon economy would actually look like, and, crucially, how such an economy would actually thrive? It’s the vision of a society and of a prosperous, modern economy that has climate change <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/09/19/the-climate-issue">baked into it</a>.</p>
<p>But how does the world actually get there, especially when mitigating climate change is still largely seen as an impediment to economic growth?</p>
<p>Better climate change communication is a good place to start.</p>
<h2>Making the uncomfortable comfortable</h2>
<p>Mitigating climate change is often seen in the context of making choices that can be undesirable: flying less, buying less, ditching the car.</p>
<p>Instead, the choices people must make to fight climate change can be framed as enjoyable, desirable or even moral, instead of avoidable. In other words, things that people actually want to do.</p>
<p>To make that shift, University of Michigan sustainability professor Andy Hoffman argues for a “<a href="https://ssir.org/book_reviews/entry/climate_science_as_culture_war">consensus-based</a>” approach to climate change. Such an approach treats climate change as a cultural issue instead of simply as a scientific and environmental problem. It “frames climate change mitigation as a gain rather than a loss to specific cultural groups,” Hoffman writes. He adds:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“To be effective, climate communicators must use the language of the cultural community they are engaging.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s important to speak to people about climate change <a href="https://beccconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/marshall_presentation2018.pdf">through values</a> that make sense to them.</p>
<p>Stories of people taking action that others around them <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/SOCIAL-NORMS%3A-AN-UNDERESTIMATED-AND-UNDEREMPLOYED-Griskevicius-Cialdini/8791b3ce170ee1328adb2df83d75c36fdad326e9">can relate to</a> also have a huge impact. A neighbour enjoying their electric vehicle (and saving on gas) has a far more persuasive influence over other residents on the block than an expert on the news telling people they need to drive less.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296301/original/file-20191009-3894-h2vr9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296301/original/file-20191009-3894-h2vr9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296301/original/file-20191009-3894-h2vr9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296301/original/file-20191009-3894-h2vr9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296301/original/file-20191009-3894-h2vr9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296301/original/file-20191009-3894-h2vr9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296301/original/file-20191009-3894-h2vr9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A neighbour’s love of her electric car is likely a lot more compelling than experts urging people to drive electric vehicles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A different narrative</h2>
<p>When it comes to climate change coverage, doom and gloom is <a href="https://shorensteincenter.org/media-disengagement-climate-change/">usually the lead</a>. There is also a heavy emphasis in conventional climate journalism on <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/individual-action-matters-climate-communicators-need-to-give-useful-advice-researcher-says-1.5085245">individual lifestyle changes</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, climate journalism can play a much more important role in painting the picture of how a post-carbon economy might actually work. That process can begin with a conversation around solutions that are already being implemented, especially those that are happening through collective action and a sense of empowerment.</p>
<p>A great example is <a href="https://globalnews.ca/video/5958382/tsou-ke-nation-becomes-model-for-sustainable-living">a recent Global News report</a> on the T’Sou-ke Nation on Vancouver Island, a community that is taking renewable energy production into its own hands. Or <a href="https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/eden-mills-ontario-canadas-first-carbon-neutral-community/">a story in <em>Maclean’s</em> magazine</a> about an Ontario town that is working toward a greener future.</p>
<p>These <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327141609_Engaging_climate_communication_Audiences_frames_values_and_norms">forms of storytelling</a> are crucial for the conversation to shift toward a new default position: climate change as the current upon which the economy rides. Ultimately, it will require political will for the world to get there. But support is building, and it’s the masses who are leading the way.</p>
<p>“If you actually look at the most beautiful parts of our histories, it’s mass movements, it’s collectives, it’s groundswells,” author and activist Rebecca Solnit <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-sept-30-2019-1.5300478/everyone-loves-a-good-hero-story-but-this-author-says-we-need-to-look-at-the-bigger-picture-1.5303050">recently said</a> on CBC Radio’s <em>The Current.</em></p>
<p>“We need a framework in which maybe everybody is potentially a hero, and it’s not the exceptional but the ordinary people who change the world.”</p>
<p>As stories about collective action become a more prominent feature of climate journalism, so too will climate change start to feel more accessible and less scary. In the near future, climate change will not be something big, distant and seemingly impossible to overcome.</p>
<p>Instead, it will just be a fact of life around which everything else revolves, including human rights, jobs and the economy. The best climate change story, in other words, may very well not be a climate change story at all.</p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=thanksforreading">Thanks for reading! We can send you The Conversation’s stories every day in an informative email. Sign up today.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124922/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kamyar Razavi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Climate journalism can play an important role in painting the picture of a post-carbon economy. It should start by encouraging collective action and a sense of empowerment for everyday people.Kamyar Razavi, PhD candidate in the School of Communication, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1201362019-07-15T20:29:56Z2019-07-15T20:29:56ZThe counter-intuitive solution to getting people to care about climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283580/original/file-20190710-44472-wtxu1n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=76%2C58%2C2896%2C1962&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Zero-emissions energy is part of the solution to climate change.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/departmentofenergy/9444506505">U.S. Department of Energy/flickr</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a May episode of <em>Last Week Tonight With John Oliver</em>, Bill Nye the Science Guy took a <a href="https://twitter.com/girlsreallyrule/status/1128028533241073665?s=20">blowtorch to a miniature globe</a>. It was an effort to startle Americans out of their complacency over climate change. </p>
<p>Whether on late-night TV or the nightly news, alarm is a recurring feature of climate change stories. Climate news is full of references to worsening wildfires, melting glaciers and rising seas. </p>
<p>However, this emphasis on doom and gloom can leave citizens feeling helpless and hopeless that they can make a difference. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JDcro7dPqpA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Green New Deal,’ Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO). The segment with Bill Nye begins at 18:20.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“Threatening messages can capture the public’s attention and create a sense of urgency, leading to a heightened level of concern,” <a href="https://climateaccess.org/resource/tip-sheet-balancing-hope-and-threat">according to</a> Climate Access, a non-profit research group. “But worry by itself is not an effective motivator for action, as it more often leads to resignation and hopelessness.”</p>
<h1>Rethinking climate coverage</h1>
<p>One approach that can better engage news audiences is a style of reporting known as solutions journalism. </p>
<p>Solutions journalism is reporting on ways that people and governments meaningfully respond to difficult problems. It is an alternative to just reporting on the problem itself.</p>
<p>Solutions stories are not fluffy, good news stories. Instead, they are hard news stories meant to highlight <a href="https://learninglab.solutionsjournalism.org/en/courses/basic-toolkit/introduction/how-do-i-know-its-solutions-journalism">what has worked</a> based on tangible proof. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-journalists-can-rebut-trumps-fake-news-claims-110307">How journalists can rebut Trump's 'fake news' claims</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The approach <a href="https://thewholestory.solutionsjournalism.org/what-we-know-and-dont-about-the-impact-of-solutions-journalism-61ae0c4a0890">has been shown</a> to increase interest in a subject, and to elevate the public’s sense of self-efficacy. </p>
<h2>More facts ≠ more concern</h2>
<p>No subject is arguably more timely for a solutions-oriented approach right now than climate change. The evidence could not be more clear. The planet has heated up steadily since the Industrial Revolution. <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/DecadalTemp">Most of that warming</a> has happened over the past four decades. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283583/original/file-20190710-44437-6rg6br.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283583/original/file-20190710-44437-6rg6br.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283583/original/file-20190710-44437-6rg6br.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283583/original/file-20190710-44437-6rg6br.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283583/original/file-20190710-44437-6rg6br.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283583/original/file-20190710-44437-6rg6br.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283583/original/file-20190710-44437-6rg6br.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Earth’s average global temperature from 2013 to 2017, as compared to a baseline average from 1951 to 1980. Yellows, oranges and reds show regions that are warmer than the baseline.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite all the evidence, mustering the political will to take climate change more seriously is a persistent problem. Why is that? </p>
<p>There are <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/wcc.11">many reasons</a> why politicians and the public have difficulty engaging with climate change. For example, climate change can feel distant, and there is often little immediate gratification for dealing with it. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, academics, governments and journalists have long assumed that citizens would take action <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327141609_Engaging_climate_communication_Audiences_frames_values_and_norms">if only they had more facts about climate change</a>. </p>
<p>However, there is growing evidence that more facts do not translate into more concern. In a <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2193133">widely cited study</a>, Dan Kahan, a professor of law and psychology at Yale Law School, and his colleagues found that people who had more knowledge about the science of climate change were not necessarily more concerned about it. Instead, lack of concern had much more to do with people’s personal beliefs and values. </p>
<h2>Effective climate communication</h2>
<p>Effective climate change communication challenges the idea that more facts produce more concern. Instead, effective climate change communication considers that tapping into <a href="https://beccconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/marshall_presentation2018.pdf">people’s values</a> is a far more effective strategy for engagement. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-some-conservatives-are-blind-to-climate-change-91549">Why some conservatives are blind to climate change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Good climate communicators ask the question: what is it about people’s experiences and circumstances that make them unlikely to engage with the climate crisis right now? </p>
<p>Effective climate communication also begins with the premise that climate audiences are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327141609_Engaging_climate_communication_Audiences_frames_values_and_norms">not simply a monolithic whole</a>, equally interested or disinterested in the climate crisis. Good climate communication calibrates messages of hope or alarm <a href="http://environment.yale.edu/climate-communication-OFF/files/Global_Warmings_Six_Americas_book_chapter_2014.pdf">depending on who</a> the messages are being communicated to. </p>
<h2>Engaging by example</h2>
<p>Solutions-oriented journalism on climate change provides examples of how <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327141609_Engaging_climate_communication_Audiences_frames_values_and_norms">ordinary people are making a difference</a>. It illustrates how those changes are having a tangible, beneficial improvement on their lives. </p>
<p>For instance, climate stories can reflect locally sourced food and its health impacts, or the cost savings on gas from buying an electric vehicle. </p>
<p>This style is markedly different from the conventional doom-and-gloom approach to climate reporting, which builds on the standard of <a href="https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/10.1162/152638001316881395?utm_source=Medium&utm_campaign=ftaf04202018">individual action</a>. Instead, a solutions-oriented approach to climate news underscores the importance of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327141702_Contesting_conflict_Efficacy_advocacy_and_alternative_media_in_British_Columbia">collective action</a> and political mobilization. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283584/original/file-20190710-44437-yeko9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/283584/original/file-20190710-44437-yeko9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283584/original/file-20190710-44437-yeko9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283584/original/file-20190710-44437-yeko9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283584/original/file-20190710-44437-yeko9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283584/original/file-20190710-44437-yeko9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/283584/original/file-20190710-44437-yeko9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students protest the Belgian government’s climate policies in Brussels in February 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Climate as crisis</h2>
<p>There is also an important role in environmental communication for what Steve Schwarze, a University of Montana communication studies professor, refers to as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00335630600938609">environmental melodrama</a>.” </p>
<p>Highly dramatic accounts of personal or political struggle are typically associated with the oversimplification of complex problems. But melodrama can also produce “productive forms of polarization,” according to Schwarze. For example, melodrama can galvanize a group of citizens around a common cause, or it can be deployed to point out who the villains in the story are. </p>
<p>It’s becoming increasingly clear that a one-size-fits-all approach to climate change communication is not sufficient for engaging news audiences.</p>
<p>Instead, effectively engaging the public on climate change requires a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/04/climate-fear-or-hope-change-debate">careful calibration of messages</a> framed around solutions, the urgency of the climate crisis and individuals’ reasons for engaging or not engaging with the subject in the first place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120136/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kamyar Razavi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Good communication about climate change requires much more than just alarming messages about all the scary impacts of a warming planet.Kamyar Razavi, Television news producer & PhD candidate, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1103072019-01-29T23:35:56Z2019-01-29T23:35:56ZHow journalists can rebut Trump’s ‘fake news’ claims<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255893/original/file-20190128-108351-1lr5lmk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to cry 'fake news' and stir up distrust of the media, it's time to embrace 'solutions journalism' that focuses on how to solve problems.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With every Twitter tirade by U.S. President Donald Trump, it becomes more clear that the world needs good journalism.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1089340201204441088"}"></div></p>
<p>But it’s also clear that American politics has become terribly polarized despite a strong tradition of journalists calling out misdeeds and speaking truth to power. </p>
<p>The news media wield tremendous responsibility over democratic discourse. Yet all too often the media are blamed for fuelling mistrust and for peddling fake news. It’s time to push back. </p>
<p>One way to do this is by employing a different strategy for reporting the news through what’s known as <a href="http://j-source.ca/article/solutions-journalism-covering-social-innovation/">“solutions journalism.”</a></p>
<p>Contrary to what the name might imply, solutions journalism is not about reporters telling readers how to solve the world’s most difficult problems. Nor is solutions journalism about feel-good stories and fluff. </p>
<p>Instead, solutions journalism is all about hard news told through cold, hard facts. </p>
<h2>Negative news</h2>
<p>News reports typically identify a conflict (a war), diagnose its causes (ISIS) and draw on sources (military analysts) to shed light on what’s going on. </p>
<p>But there’s a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1993.tb01304.x">fourth frame</a>, identified by journalism scholar Robert Entman, that is easy to overlook in news reports — discussing remedies to problems. </p>
<p>Solutions journalism tries to change the journalistic equation by giving more prominence to solutions. It reports on responses to social problems by moving the solutions out of the footnotes and into the tough stuff at the top of a story. </p>
<p>Many journalists <a href="https://thewholestory.solutionsjournalism.org/solutions-journalism-is-biased-and-other-myths-4b8f2beb69bf">push back on solutions journalism</a>, arguing that it is not the job of journalists to tell people how to solve the world’s ills. But solutions journalism is not about advocating for solutions. It’s about turning a light on the remedies by making them a more prominent part of the narrative. </p>
<p>So what would a solutions story look like in practice? For instance, where a typical climate change story may report on the latest doom-and-gloom statistics about forest fires, a solutions-oriented piece might explore the simple steps you can take to fireproof your backyard and your home. </p>
<p>The solutions story still gets you thinking about climate change and forest fires, but in a way that is far more familiar and accessible. </p>
<h2>Positive psychology to produce news</h2>
<p>Like journalism, the field of psychology has long focused on negative emotions, such as anxiety, anger or fear. Journalism scholars Karen McIntyre and Cathrine Gyldensted say this <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2018.1472527">“disease model of the world”</a> explains the excessive emphasis in news reports on chaos, conflict and all that is wrong in the world —as opposed to what is actually working. </p>
<p>They make a case for a “well-being” approach to news reporting — one that considers the positive as well as the negative. This matters because of the role that positive emotions play in psychology. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=332&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255896/original/file-20190128-108355-hufep.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Politicians and other officials would still be held to account for societal ills with ‘solutions journalism.’ But the coverage would also include information on how to solve those problems.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to Barbara Fredrickson, a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1693418/pdf/15347528.pdf">positive emotions</a> can have the effect of “widening the array of thoughts and actions that come to mind.” Not only do positive thoughts “<em>signal</em> optimal functioning,” she writes, they also “<em>produce</em> optimal functioning.” </p>
<p>In other words, when we think about what is possible, not only do we feel good, but we are better able to see into the distance and connect the dots. </p>
<h2>The solution <em>is</em> the story</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, in the news industry, there is still a perception that a story about something that’s going right may not attract as large an audience as a story or headline about what’s going wrong. </p>
<p>That may be true in the instant we come across a negative headline and feel the urge to click it. But, as Fredrickson notes, negative emotions narrow our attention spans and constrain how broadly we think about issues or problems. </p>
<p>It’s this constraining dynamic that can drive people into echo chambers and filter bubbles. It also <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/spiral-of-cynicism-9780195090642?cc=ca&lang=en&">makes people cynical</a>, and that’s neither good for society nor a good long-term business strategy for the news industry. </p>
<p>According to McIntyre and Gyldensted, one of the ways journalists can open up a discussion about solutions is by adding a future orientation to their story — by asking, and trying to answer, the question: “What now?” </p>
<p>“For example, reporters can ask their sources how problems could be solved, how people could collaborate, or what kind of progress their sources envision,” they write. </p>
<p>Another technique for drawing out solutions is for reporters to ask questions that get at people’s <a href="https://thewholestory.solutionsjournalism.org/complicating-the-narratives-b91ea06ddf63">reasons for thinking</a> a certain way — or that tap into what “the other side” thinks. </p>
<p>Using these and other techniques, solutions journalism gives people more reasons to think there are ways out of difficult problems — because there usually are. Ultimately, the approach is about painting a more complete picture of the world and about giving people fewer reasons to turn away from the news.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110307/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kamyar Razavi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>“Solutions journalism” aims to give more prominence to solution-oriented narratives. It reports on responses to social problems by moving the solutions out of the footnotes.Kamyar Razavi, Television news producer & PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1089772018-12-21T16:49:43Z2018-12-21T16:49:43ZCelebrating solutions that chip away at big problems: 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251644/original/file-20181219-45394-rklicz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">No longer tangled and pointing in the right direction</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/thinking-about-structuring-business-process-solutions-1028847439">turgaygundogdu/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: As we come to the end of the year, Conversation editors take a look back at the stories that – for them – exemplified 2018.</em></p>
<p>Slowing the pace of climate change, increasing access to health care and comprehensively covering the news are very different but worthy goals with some things in common. </p>
<p>One is gridlock. The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/10/world/climate-change-us-coal-cop24/index.html">nation’s leaders</a> are <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/sabotage-watch-tracking-efforts-to-undermine-the-aca">doing little</a> to <a href="http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-trump-cuts-public-radio-broadcasting-rural-lc.html">solve these problems</a>.</p>
<p>Another is sticker shock: Holding the line at <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/ipcc-report-climate-change-impacts-forests-emissions/">2 degrees Celsius</a> of global warming – <a href="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/global-warming-limit-degrees-ipcc-climate-change">or less</a> – would cost trillions of dollars and require <a href="https://www.wri.org/publication/transforming-agriculture-climate-resilience-framework-systemic-change">systemic change</a>. The same goes for securing adequate <a href="https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/jul/21/how-expensive-would-single-payer-system-be/">medical treatment</a> for <a href="https://www.thebalance.com/how-does-health-insurance-work-3306069">all Americans</a>. <a href="https://www.knightfoundation.org/public-media-white-paper-2017-levin">Reporting the news</a> costs billions, but nobody knows how to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2016.1246373">pay that tab</a> either.</p>
<p>To see how disheartening this is, search the internet for the terms “<a href="https://350.org/overcoming-despair/">climate change</a>,” “<a href="https://www.boswellbooks.com/book/9781595985941">health care</a>” or “<a href="https://www.cjr.org/analysis/crisis-of-trust-inside-newsrooms.php">newsrooms</a>” and “despair.” You’ll generate hundreds of thousands of hits or more.</p>
<p>That’s why I like to pause, especially at the year’s end, to celebrate innovations and encouraging trends that chip away at huge challenges.</p>
<h2>1. Bypassing drug shortages</h2>
<p>For example, the emergence of <a href="https://theconversation.com/nonprofit-drugmaker-civica-rx-aims-to-cure-a-health-care-system-ailment-104744">Civica Rx</a> is encouraging. The nonprofit generic drugmaker, which launched in 2018, will soon begin producing 14 hospital-administered generics. Most of them are too scarce to meet demand. </p>
<p>The venture has not disclosed its business model. But “should it choose to do so, Civica Rx could theoretically set the price at or near the cost of production,” writes <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ckOu9WsAAAAJ&hl=en">Stacie B. Dusetzina</a>, a Vanderbilt University health policy and cancer scholar. That would make a big difference in a country where pharmaceuticals can sell for <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/11/30/12945756/prescription-drug-prices-explained">triple what they cost elsewhere</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="CMBR7" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/CMBR7/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>If Civica Rx succeeds at making treatment in hospitals cheaper and better, there will be fewer excuses for not fixing the rest of the health care system’s broken pieces. </p>
<h2>2. Scrapping emissions</h2>
<p>Just as Civica Rx makes it possible to feel more optimistic about the future of U.S. health care, the industrial-scale repurposing of steel and aluminum holds promise regarding climate change.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.isri.org/recycling-commodities/recycling-industry-yearbook">Scrap metal gets recycled</a> the way cans and boxes from <a href="https://www.citylab.com/city-makers-connections/recycling/">your household</a> do, only on a bigger scale. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-recycling-more-steel-and-aluminum-could-slash-imports-without-a-trade-war-97766">Repurposing metal</a> from demolished buildings and nonroadworthy cars saves money, tempers landfill problems and uses much less energy than starting from scratch.</p>
<p>Because the process requires less power, it “has a much-smaller carbon footprint,” explains <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=4XQeuikAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Daniel Cooper</a>, a University of Michigan mechanical engineer. “The greenhouse gas emissions for recycling steel are around one-quarter of what they are for making new steel, and recycling aluminum cuts emissions by more than 80 percent.”</p>
<p><iframe id="fX2LY" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/fX2LY/10/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Granted, <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/business/US-Struggles-With-What-to-Do-With-Tons-of-Recycled-Material-489971551.html">China’s unwillingness to import</a> as much American junk as it used to due to <a href="https://waste-management-world.com/a/tariffs-creating-more-problems-than-they-solve-for-metal-recyclers">trade tensions</a> is disrupting global scrap markets.</p>
<p>But the U.S. could potentially use all of steel and aluminum it throws out right here, Cooper contends. That would cut down on emissions even more by bypassing the <a href="https://theconversation.com/cargo-ships-are-emitting-boatloads-of-carbon-and-nobody-wants-to-take-the-blame-108731">carbon released into the atmosphere from hauling cargo</a> across oceans.</p>
<h2>3. Teaming up between newsrooms</h2>
<p>The traditional way to cover the news is inefficient. Many journalists often report on the same events and scandals, working in isolation and duplicating efforts. </p>
<p>That’s starting to change, observes <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=n_3ICpcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">Magda Konieczna</a>, an assistant professor of journalism at Temple University. </p>
<p>A growing number of news organizations “are sharing their high-quality journalism with other outlets,” she explains. “By teaming up, they can inform bigger audiences about the problems like corruption, environmental dangers and abusive business practices.”</p>
<p>Most of the time, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nonprofit-newsrooms-are-reaching-bigger-audiences-by-teaming-up-with-other-outlets-102293">sharing involves news nonprofits</a> without big audiences, Konieczna finds. This collaborative approach helps “elevate the quality of the media where people are already going for news: newspapers and newscasts, whether directly or through Facebook and Twitter.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108977/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Fixes for small pieces of massive problems show that overarching crises may be less hopeless than they appear.Emily Schwartz Greco, Philanthropy + Nonprofits Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1077062018-12-21T11:43:14Z2018-12-21T11:43:14ZNot all consumers are equal – in terms of what they save by using efficient appliances<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249471/original/file-20181207-128208-xnpix4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The more laundry you do, the more you can save with efficient washers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mother-son-doing-housework-together-1012816933">Rawpixel/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Have you ever seen one of those big yellow cards on refrigerators, washing machines and other new appliances? These <a href="https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0072-shopping-home-appliances-use-energyguide-label">government-mandated notices</a> indicate about how much energy the average U.S. consumer will save by replacing their older model at home with one of these shiny new things.</p>
<p>Trouble is, different people use their appliances very differently – so most of us aren’t average consumers. </p>
<p>When <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=A9RAOJEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">we researched</a> how <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JK5UuEYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">behavioral differences</a> varied, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oT2XYdcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">we found</a> that Americans use vastly different amounts of energy to light our homes, watch TV and make toast. As a result, we determined that the money and carbon pollution that can be saved from swapping out inefficient televisions and dryers for more efficient ones depends above all on what kind of consumer is buying. </p>
<h2>The ranges are big</h2>
<p>The biggest driver of how much money consumers can save by using more efficient appliances is their behavior. For example, 14 percent of the population either <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421516300751">watches TV or leaves their television on</a> for an average of 7.7 hours per day, while half of Americans watch only an hour a day. </p>
<p>And while 45 percent of U.S. <a href="https://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/">households do laundry between two and four times every week</a>, 10 percent of us are running between 10 and 15 loads. Another 8 percent use their washers and dryers once a week or less.</p>
<p>If you don’t use an efficient appliance very often, it’s harder to get the savings needed to compensate for the cost of buying it. For example, a standard top-loading washing machine that is about US$200 cheaper than an efficient model that uses <a href="https://www.energystar.gov/products/clothes_washer_specification_version_8_0">up to 50 percent less energy</a>. To justify the more efficient model, a consumer wants to save more than the <a href="https://www.energystar.gov/sites/default/files/asset/document/appliance_calculator">extra $200 sticker price</a> in their utility bills before replacing the appliance, typically about <a href="https://home.howstuffworks.com/replace-or-repair-washing-machine2.htm">11 years later</a>.</p>
<p>We found that a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.10.035">household’s bottom line</a> for buying a high-efficiency washing machine versus a standard one ranged from a $100 loss to saving $1,560. Where you might land on this spectrum depends on how many loads of laundry you and yours do every week and to a lesser extent, where you live.</p>
<p>With this big a range, knowing the average savings isn’t much help when you’re deciding whether to spend the extra money on an efficient model.</p>
<p><iframe id="tiBZc" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/tiBZc/8/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>For some appliances, however, behavior plays a smaller role. Unless you hold your refrigerator door open for hours at a time, it probably costs you the same amount to run it as it would in anyone else’s home. </p>
<h2>Demographics, behavior and geography</h2>
<p>Demographics plays a big role. Heavy television watchers tend to be <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421516300751">elderly and retired</a>. Families that constantly do laundry <a href="https://www.eia.gov/consumption/residential/">usually have little kids</a>.</p>
<p>Personal preferences matter as well. For example, two single people with similar jobs may watch different amounts of television depending on how they spend their free time.</p>
<p>It also matters how much you pay for electricity and natural gas, which depends on where you live.</p>
<p>For instance, the average <a href="https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/#/topic/7">U.S. residential electricity rate</a> in 2017 was about 13 cents per kilowatt-hour, the energy it takes to power a laptop for two or three days. But in Washington state, a kilowatt-hour costs less than a dime, while people in Hawaii had to pay 29.5 cents per kilowatt-hour – making it the most expensive state for ratepayers.</p>
<p><iframe id="NmU64" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/NmU64/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Likewise, the environmental benefits of energy-efficient appliances varies from place to place.</p>
<p>When consumers need less electricity, local utilities don’t have to generate as much of it. Ratcheting down production at a coal plant will reduce a lot of carbon emissions, while turning down a hydropower plant won’t because it doesn’t emit carbon to begin with.</p>
<p>The benefits of using less energy to do your laundry for society and the planet depend, therefore, on how your region is generating electricity. When we calculated this effect using real-world data, we found, for example, that saving the same amount of energy in coal-dependent Pennsylvania reduced 4.4 times more carbon than in <a href="https://www.epa.gov/energy/emissions-generation-resource-integrated-database-egrid">hydropower-rich Washington state</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="6c14D" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/6c14D/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Getting better energy info</h2>
<p>Based on our findings, we believe that the government and utilities should pay more attention to the many differences between consumers, including where they live, to make the most of their <a href="https://www.energystar.gov/products/appliances/clothes_washers">efforts to increase appliance efficiency</a>.</p>
<p>For example, we calculate that families with three or more kids save on average $570 from an efficient washer before replacing it, and 25 percent of them save more than $1,000. These families have a bigger incentive to buy an efficient washer compared to an average consumer, who would only save $125.</p>
<p>Getting a good estimate for how much they personally will save could influence and expedite their decision to upgrade their laundry room.</p>
<p>Ensuring that the public has this information could also help the environment. The consumers who would save the most money are also the ones who can potentially reduce their carbon emissions the most by using more efficient appliances.</p>
<h2>Making it happen</h2>
<p>We also see some straightforward ways to make this happen. </p>
<p>First, consumers should be able to find out what their own potential energy savings would be. Tailoring this information could be accomplished relatively easily with a simple app for use by customers and sales staff. Apps like these are already helping homeowners see how much money they might save in the long run from installing <a href="https://companycam.com/blog/apps-for-solar-industry">rooftop solar panels</a>.</p>
<p>Utility rebate programs can also be improved with a more personalized approach. <a href="https://www.energystar.gov/rebate-finder">Many utilities will offer money back</a> if their customers buy an efficient appliance. Utilities could encourage larger savings by targeting the kind of people likely to save more with an efficient appliance. </p>
<p>In addition to the yellow energy use labels, the U.S. government also runs the Energy Star program, which certifies efficient appliances. Despite <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/elizabeth-noll/congress-rejects-trumps-dismantling-clean-energy-funding">coming under attack from the Trump administration</a>, these programs have been low-cost and <a href="https://www.energystar.gov/about/origins_mission/energy_star_numbers">effective ways</a> to promote energy efficiency. </p>
<p>But personalized information has potential to take promoting energy efficiency to the next level.</p>
<p>It’s one of those everybody-wins situations: Utilities will save more energy and customers will save more money. With carbon emissions declining more swiftly, the whole world benefits as some progress will be made toward slowing the pace of climate change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107706/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric Williams receives funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric Hittinger receives funding from the US National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashok Sekar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People who use an appliance a lot save more from an energy efficient model. With the right app, they could easily get a sense of their own potential savings when they shop.Eric Williams, Professor of Sustainability, Rochester Institute of TechnologyAshok Sekar, Postdoctoral Fellow, Energy Systems Transformation (EST) Research Group, The University of Texas at AustinEric Hittinger, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Rochester Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1062982018-11-30T11:43:09Z2018-11-30T11:43:09ZWhy companies should help pay for the biodiversity that’s good for their bottom line<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247764/original/file-20181128-32197-acek3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Like Dr. Seuss' imaginary truffula trees, baobabs are endangered.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/baobab-trees-along-rural-road-sunny-187374941?src=9ZLuob-EaU_q-jI-8AjQgQ-1-27">Dudarev Mikhail/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/43157/the-lorax-by-dr-seuss/9780394823379/">The Lorax</a>,” an entrepreneur regrets wiping out all the make-believe truffala trees by chopping them down to maximize his short-term gains. As the Dr. Seuss tale ends, the Once-ler – the man responsible for this environmental tragedy – tells a young child that “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”</p>
<p>Likewise, many corporations that profit from nature’s bounty, such as <a href="https://globescan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/GlobeScan-SustainAbility-Leaders-Survey-2018-Report.pdf">Unilever, Patagonia and Interface</a>, <a href="https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJGENVI.2018.091461">appear to be reaching a similar conclusion</a>. They are realizing that it’s time for the business world to do more about conservation. </p>
<p>We, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Vj5ov_QAAAAJ&hl=en">two economists</a> who have extensively researched <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tTkcCloAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">natural resources and development</a>, are proposing a new way to solve the problem of species and ecosystem loss. Corporations that benefit from biodiversity could forge what <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/03/stop-biodiversity-loss-or-we-could-face-our-own-extinction-warns-un">some are calling a “new deal for nature”</a> by paying part of the tab for biodiversity conservation. </p>
<h2>Biodiversity</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/biodiversity/">Biodiversity</a>, the variety of all natural ecosystems and species, is being lost at an unprecedented rate. According to the recent <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/living-planet-report-2018">World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Report</a>, the populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians have fallen by an average of 60 percent in just over 40 years. The scientists Gerardo Ceballos, Paul R. Ehrlich and Rodolfo Dirzo have dubbed this decline and an impending <a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/elizabeth-kolbert">wave of extinctions</a> a “<a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2017/07/05/1704949114.DCSupplemental">biological annihilation</a>.” </p>
<p>We argue that many businesses are threatened by the loss of species and ecosystems, such as <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/declining_bee_populations_pose_a_threat_to_global_agriculture">declining bee populations</a> and dwindling <a href="http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/421871/icode/">stocks of fish</a>, <a href="http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/articles/natural-forests-still-in-decline-despite-global-coordination-behind-new-york-declaration-on-forests/">forests</a>, <a href="http://sdg.iisd.org/news/ramsar-global-outlook-wetlands-under-far-greater-threat-than-forests/">wetlands</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/feb/01/endangeredhabitats.conservation">mangroves</a>. Without an array of ecosystems and species, it’s tough for farmers to grow crops or ranchers to raise animals.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5735771/">pharmaceutical industry</a> needs them to make and create drugs. For example, one team of U.S.-based researchers estimates that the pharmaceutical value of marine biodiversity for anti-cancer drug discovery could range from US$563 billion to as much as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.09.030">$5.7 trillion</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://conservationgateway.org/ConservationPractices/Marine/crr/library/Documents/FinancingNaturalInfrastructureReport.pdf">Insurance companies</a> depend on coastal wetlands to minimize the impact of big storms. For example, an international group of researchers estimated that preserving one hectare of <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/27657/117757-BRI-PUBLIC-MangroveProtectionServices.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y">mangroves in the Philippines</a> yields more than $3,200 in flood-reduction benefits each year.</p>
<p>A global treaty, the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/convention/">Convention on Biological Diversity</a> does set worldwide conservation targets. But we believe they may not be <a href="https://eowilsonfoundation.org/half-earth-our-planet-s-fight-for-life/">ambitious enough</a>. <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/more-needs-be-done-protect-biodiversity">Cristiana Pașca Palmer</a>, who serves as the UN’s biodiversity chief, is <a href="https://www.cbd.int/sp/">considering raising the treaty’s targets</a> to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/67/6/534/3102935%5Blink%20text%5D(https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/13/make-half-the-world-more-nature-friendly-by-2050-says-un-chief)">conserve at least half</a> of terrestrial, inland water, coastal, and marine habitats to preserve biodiversity. </p>
<p>But the existing efforts to preserve biodiversity are not only inadequate. They’re <a href="http://www.rff.org/research/publications/challenge-rio20-funding">underfunded</a>.</p>
<h2>New way to pay</h2>
<p>Global biodiversity protection <a href="http://www.rff.org/research/publications/challenge-rio20-funding">requires $100 billion annually</a>, according to a previous study one of us conducted, yet the international community <a href="http://www.thegef.org/about-us">spends up to $10 billion</a> each year on biodiversity conservation.</p>
<p>Much of the world’s biodiversity is in developing countries, which lack the financial wherewithal to adequately conserve it.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247765/original/file-20181128-32180-14wrw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247765/original/file-20181128-32180-14wrw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247765/original/file-20181128-32180-14wrw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247765/original/file-20181128-32180-14wrw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247765/original/file-20181128-32180-14wrw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=818&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247765/original/file-20181128-32180-14wrw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247765/original/file-20181128-32180-14wrw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247765/original/file-20181128-32180-14wrw2k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1028&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Lorax could speak for the trees, but he lacked the cash to preserve them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.seussville.com/media/">Random House Children's Books</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As we have explained with our colleague <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=thvv8QUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Thomas J. Dean</a> in <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.aar3454">Science magazine</a>, we believe that involving businesses in an international environmental agreement could help bridge a chronic funding gap.</p>
<p>A key part of this new deal for nature would be making the corporations that depend on the health of natural ecosystems and species help foot the bill to preserve biodiversity.</p>
<h2>Benefiting the bottom line</h2>
<p>Why would corporations want to get involved?</p>
<p>First off, it may benefit their bottom line. Big companies depend on robust natural ecosystems systems and individual species.</p>
<p>We calculate that the increase in revenue and profits from biodiversity conservation could generate between $25 billion and <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6388/486">$50 billion annually to fund global conservation</a> efforts.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/03/29/1520420113.short">The seafood industry stands to gain</a> $53 billion annually from an increase in marine stocks. This could generate $5 billion to $10 billion each year to spend on <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6388/486">preserving biodiversity</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://conservationgateway.org/ConservationPractices/Marine/crr/library/Documents/FinancingNaturalInfrastructureReport.pdf">The insurance industry</a> could see an additional <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6388/486">$52 billion</a> from increasing the area of protected coastal wetlands with a similar investment.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature20588">Agriculture also has an incentive</a> to protect habitats of wild pollinators, who along with managed populations enhance global crop production by an amount a global group of scientists estimates to be worth between <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature20588">$235 billion to $577 billion annually</a>. </p>
<p>What’s more, there is <a href="https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJGENVI.2018.091461">growing evidence</a> that when corporations engage in environmental stewardship, they <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smj.2131">become more attractive investments</a> and their borrowing costs decline. </p>
<p><iframe id="SB85F" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/SB85F/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Corporate social responsibility</h2>
<p>There is a second reason why big companies are sometimes willing to take action and pay to conserve biodiversity: <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/corp-social-responsibility.asp">corporate social responsibility</a>, an ethos that builds into business models a commitment to protect the environment and benefit society.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ramsar.org/news/ramsar-wetland-conservation-awards">Danone is a leader</a> in this regard. It established the first partnership agreement between a global environmental convention and a private company over 20 years ago.</p>
<p>Since then, the multinational corporation best known for its <a href="https://www.danone.com/brands.html">yogurt and bottled water</a> has promoted and supported the sustainable use and management of wetlands.</p>
<p>Danone, for example, worked with <a href="https://www.ramsar.org/news/ramsars-long-time-partner-danone-evian-awarded-best-corporate-offsetting-program-2016-for-its">local partners</a> to replant <a href="https://www.ramsar.org/about/the-danone-group">mangroves in approximately 500 Senegalese villages</a>. We believe this reforestation project shows that investments in nature can be sustainable and scalable business models.</p>
<p>Danone, which earned <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/danone-2017-profit-up-on-sales-of-waters-2018-02-16">$3 billion in profits</a> in 2017, has its own $80 million “<a href="http://ecosysteme.danone.com/impact/">Ecosystem Fund</a>.” It’s just one of <a href="https://www.cbd.int/business/gp.shtml">an increasing number of companies</a> taking concrete steps toward biodiversity protection, even though they are not required by any law or national policy.</p>
<p>More than <a href="https://www.cbd.int/business/gp.shtml">21 national and regional initiatives</a> have been established to encourage partnerships between business and biodiversity conservation. For example, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0127533">10 of the 13 biggest seafood companies</a> that control up to 16 percent of global marine catch and 40 percent of the largest and most valuable fisheries have come together to support <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0127533">an ocean stewardship initiative</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, the <a href="https://icfpa.org/">International Council of Forest and Paper Associations</a>, which represents the global forest products industry, now engages in <a href="https://www.apawood.org/sustainable-forest-management-certification">sustainable forest management certification</a>.</p>
<p>The total <a href="https://www.icfpa.org/resources/">area of forests worldwide deemed to be subject to sustainable practices</a> supplying the industry increased from 62 million hectares, 12 percent of the total global forest area, in 2000, to 310 million hectares in 2015, according to the industry group. That’s more than half of the total global forest area. The annual revenue of the world’s 100 largest global forest, paper and packaging companies is over <a href="https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/assets/pwc-annual-fpp-industry-survey-2016-10.pdf">$300 billion</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="WuCmj" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/WuCmj/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>A new deal for nature</h2>
<p>In addition to creating <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/mpa.html">marine reserves</a>, protecting forests, preserving the habitats of wild pollinators and conserving coastal wetlands, the <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6388/486.full">private sector</a> could also help finance conservation efforts in developing countries.</p>
<p>Based on our calculations, if the seafood sector were to set aside up to 20 percent of the increase in profits it gets from sustainably managing marine biomass stocks, it could conceivably spend up to $10 billion annually for marine biodiversity conservation.</p>
<p>And we estimate that by channeling up to 10 percent of the gains from sustainable forest management, the forest products industry could raise as much as $30 billion each year for investment in increasing protected forest area.</p>
<p>An agricultural sector contribution of around 10 percent of the benefits it derives from wild pollination services would amount to about $20 billion to $60 billion per year in additional financing for the conservation, creation and restoration of wild pollinator habitats.</p>
<p>All told, this business-world support could help close the $100 billion gap in global biodiversity conservation funding. This would go a long way toward slowing, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0130-0">and potentially reversing</a>, biodiversity loss.</p>
<p>There are, of course, <a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2013/03/4-barriers-overcome-achieving-corporate-environmental-sustainability">barriers to corporate conservation</a>. The costs may be high. It may be hard for to businesses to assess the long-term value of biodiversity conservation benefits and integrate them into investment decisions. And it is possible that some of the corporations that take this step could be at a competitive disadvantage, especially in the short term. </p>
<p>But a number of companies are already showing that they believe investing in ecosystem preservation is worth it. In our view, corporate support for international biodiversity conservation is essential to prevent “<a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2017/07/05/1704949114.DCSupplemental">biological annihilation</a>.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Without an array of ecosystems and species, it’s tough for farmers to grow crops or ranchers to raise animals.Joanne Burgess, Assistant Professor of Economics, Colorado State UniversityEdward Barbier, Professor of Economics, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1062242018-11-14T11:47:22Z2018-11-14T11:47:22ZCraigslist can cut solid waste, one used sofa at a time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/245400/original/file-20181113-194516-5f4xx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trash or treasure?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/interior-garage-sale-housewares-clothing-sporting-136598444?src=WuFQxy-qLCVhy5_PhJzjlw-1-13">trekandshoot/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The average American generates about <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/05/zero-waste-families-plastic-culture/">1,500 pounds of garbage</a> annually, and then spends lots of tax dollars disposing of it. </p>
<p>Even as recycling has taken off across the country in recent decades, the volume of all this <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-07/image6.png">trash has kept growing</a> – albeit at a slower pace. </p>
<p>Since I research how people are using the internet to reuse products, share resources and generally make more <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TaHEoR4AAAAJ&hl=en">sustainable choices</a>, I decided to see whether Craigslist might be helping to at least slow the pace of solid waste growth. </p>
<h2>New to you</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.craigslist.org/about/sites">Craigslist</a> is the best-known website for buying and selling, or simply giving away, used stuff. Others include <a href="https://www.freecycle.org/">Freecycle</a>, <a href="https://us.letgo.com/en">LetGo</a>, <a href="https://www.gumtree.com/">Gumtree</a> and <a href="https://www.olx.com/">OLX</a>.</p>
<p>Founded by Craig Newmark, in 1995 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Craigslist <a href="https://www.craigslist.org/about/expansion">rapidly expanded</a> once internet access became widespread starting 2000. It now operates in <a href="https://geo.craigslist.org/iso/us">413 U.S. metro regions the U.S.</a> and the website draws more than <a href="https://www.rank2traffic.com/craigslist.org">400 million visitors every month</a>, mostly in North America.</p>
<p>People in just about all of the nation’s heavily populated areas, including Abilene, Texas, Rockford, Illinois, and Hartford, Connecticut, use Craigslist. But its arrival was staggered.</p>
<p>Furniture, clothing and appliances are the <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-sell-things-on-craigslist-and-not-get-murdered_b_9754772">most commonly exchanged items</a>. But it’s also a system for ditching or obtaining everything from <a href="http://greatperformersacademy.com/entrepreneurs/top-10-items-to-flip-for-profit-on-craigslist">diapers to trucks</a>. </p>
<p>In a study that I recently described in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2963">Management Science</a>, I looked at whether exchanging this stuff <a href="https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/advancing-sustainable-materials-management-0">keeps it out of landfills and incinerators</a>.</p>
<p>Specifically, I checked what happened in California, Florida, Minnesota, North Carolina and South Carolina, five states with the best annual county-level solid waste data. Using statistical techniques, I contrasted what happened with solid waste rates in counties in those states after they became Craigslist hubs with what was going on in comparable places where it had not arrived yet. </p>
<p>I found that the volume of consumer-generated waste declines by 3 to 5 percent when Craigslist becomes active in an area. I also saw that this effect persisted for at least two or three years once local residents become more apt to reusing furniture, clothing, appliances and other stuff that they bought through Craigslist.</p>
<p><iframe id="i3Wou" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/i3Wou/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Bigger and better garage sales</h2>
<p>Craigslist is among the more successful pillars of what is commonly known as the <a href="https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/concept">circular economy</a>. That is, efforts to keep products and materials in use for as long as possible. </p>
<p>Interestingly, it has counterparts that encourage exchanges and reduce waste within industries and in the business world. <a href="https://2good2waste.com/">2GoodtoWaste</a> and the <a href="http://usbcsd.org/materials/">Materials Marketplace</a> are two of more popular online industrial reuse marketplaces. The extent and variety of these listings can attract enough buyers to create markets for just about anything, from surplus chemicals to salvaged wood.</p>
<p>Craigslist and its business-world equivalents may seem to be nothing more than a gargantuan garage sale with a website. But this model has distinct advantages, as my study showed. The sheer number of listed items and people who list them is massive, boosting the chance that you might find something pretty similar to, if not exactly, what you need.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106224/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suvrat Dhanorkar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The internet makes it easier for discarded stuff to land in someone else’s home instead of the dump.Suvrat Dhanorkar, Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1038222018-10-22T10:39:42Z2018-10-22T10:39:42ZHow a game can move people from climate apathy to action<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240517/original/file-20181014-109213-1hhmbjl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">High school students at the University of Maine Farmington’s Upward Bound program playing the World Climate simulation.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mary Sinclair</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been called a “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/09/opinion/climate-change-ipcc-report.html">deafening</a>” alarm and an “<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/10/1022492">ear-splitting wake-up call</a>” about the need for sweeping climate action. But will one more scientific report move countries to dramatically cut emissions?</p>
<p>Evidence, so far, says no. Countless scientific studies have been published since the 1970s on the dangers of climate change, many offering <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how-well-have-climate-models-projected-global-warming?utm_content=buffer471c9&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer">similar projections</a>. And social science research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.366">showing people research doesn’t work</a>. So, if more reports and information don’t spark action, what will? </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202877">recent study</a> led by the University of Massachusetts Lowell <a href="http://climate-change-initiative.org/home">Climate Change Initiative</a>, we identified a promising approach: Playing a game called the World Climate Simulation, originally developed by the nonprofit organization <a href="https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/c-roads/">Climate Interactive</a>, in which participants play delegates at international climate change negotiations. </p>
<p>We examined how this experience affected more than 2,000 participants from nine countries, ranging from middle school students to CEOs. Across this diverse population, people who participated in World Climate deepened their understanding of climate change and became emotionally engaged in the issue. They came away believing that it was not too late for meaningful action. These emotional responses were linked to a stronger desire to learn and do more, from reducing their personal carbon footprints to taking political action. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/afO3lDX37tQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Professor John Sterman of the MIT Sloan School of Management leads World Climate for an MIT Executive Education class and explains the power of this approach.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How it works</h2>
<p>Participants in World Climate take on the roles of delegates from different countries or regions and are charged with reaching an agreement to limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Each delegation offers policies to manage its own greenhouse gas emissions. They also pledge either to support or request money from the <a href="https://www.greenclimate.fund/home">Green Climate Fund</a>, which was created to help developing countries cut their emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.</p>
<p>Each group’s decisions are entered into <a href="https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/c-roads/">C-ROADS</a>, a climate policy model that has been used to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.350.6264.1018">support actual negotiations</a>, immediately showing them the expected climate impacts of their choices. First round results usually fall short as participants resist making deep cuts to their own region’s emissions, demand more money from the Green Climate Fund, or assume the pledges they and others have made are enough to meet the global goal. When those pledges are not enough, the simulation shows everyone the harm that could result. </p>
<p>Participants then negotiate again, using C-ROADS to explore the consequences of more ambitious emission cuts. As in the real world, people learn through trial and error until they succeed. But unlike the real world, there is no cost or risk of failure. </p>
<p>For many players, the impact is deep and personal: “I feel like I was a part of something way bigger than myself. I am going to look for ways on campus to get involved,” one undergraduate participant said afterward. </p>
<p>“Since the simulation, I … have been continually thinking about the effects of our consumption and how it affects others,” a high school educator reflected.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241544/original/file-20181021-105748-bx8usi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241544/original/file-20181021-105748-bx8usi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241544/original/file-20181021-105748-bx8usi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241544/original/file-20181021-105748-bx8usi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241544/original/file-20181021-105748-bx8usi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241544/original/file-20181021-105748-bx8usi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241544/original/file-20181021-105748-bx8usi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241544/original/file-20181021-105748-bx8usi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The October 2018 IPCC report warns that limiting warming to 1.5 degrees C would require ‘rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented’ cuts to carbon dioxide emissions, beginning within the next 12 years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IPCC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Play together, not just with the ‘usual suspects’</h2>
<p>Climate change has become <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2016.1208995">highly politicized</a> in the United States, with political orientation often determining people’s views, rather than science or data. For example, conservatives who oppose international agreements or government action to address the problem often react by denying that climate change is real, or is caused primarily by human actions, or poses a grave threat to our prosperity, security and health. </p>
<p>Overcoming this barrier has proven to be extremely difficult, yet is essential for effective action. We were therefore quite surprised to find that World Climate is effective with Americans who are free-market proponents – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916505277998">a political view linked to denial</a> of human-caused climate change. World Climate also has a bigger impact on people who were less inclined to take action or knew less about climate change before the simulation than those who were already engaged. </p>
<p>While most Americans say that climate change is important to them, they don’t talk about it in their daily lives. World Climate is a richly social experience that breaks down this “<a href="http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/climate-spiral-silence-america/">spiral of silence</a>.” As participants negotiate, they talk about the issues face to face. They discover shared concerns, which creates an opportunity to move on to the important next step: Doing something about them.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241471/original/file-20181019-105757-1wvzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241471/original/file-20181019-105757-1wvzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241471/original/file-20181019-105757-1wvzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241471/original/file-20181019-105757-1wvzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241471/original/file-20181019-105757-1wvzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=895&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241471/original/file-20181019-105757-1wvzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241471/original/file-20181019-105757-1wvzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241471/original/file-20181019-105757-1wvzgtz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1125&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/10/04/public-views-on-climate-change-and-climate-scientists/">Pew Research Center</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Getting to scale</h2>
<p>Mitigating the threat of climate change requires science-based, grassroots action at scale. And as the IPCC report makes clear, there’s no time to waste. However, telling people about the threat doesn’t work. They have to learn for themselves; our research shows that World Climate can help. </p>
<p><a href="http://climate-change-initiative.org/world-climate-classrooms">Everything people need to run World Climate</a>, including the <a href="https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/c-roads/">C-ROADS model</a>, is freely available online. The program is <a href="https://cleanet.org/resources/43001.html">aligned with U.S. national education standards</a> and has also been designated as an official resource for schools in France, Germany and South Korea. It is adaptable and relevant to academic disciplines ranging from physics to ethics. </p>
<p>Since mid-2015 World Climate has been played by more than <a href="https://www.climateinteractive.org/programs/world-climate/">46,000 people in 85 countries</a>, including students, community groups, executives, policymakers and military leaders. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202877.g005">More than 80 percent</a> said it increased their motivation to combat climate change, regardless of their political orientation or prior engagement with the issue. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0202877#sec014">Our research shows</a> that World Climate acts as a climate change communication tool that enables people to learn and feel for themselves – experiences that together have the potential to motivate action informed by science. </p>
<p>For most of history, experience has been humans’ best teacher, enabling us to understand the world around us while stimulating emotions such as fear, anger, worry and hope that drive us to act. But waiting for experience to show how disastrous the impacts of climate change could be is not a realistic option. Just as pilots train in flight simulators so they can save passengers when real emergencies strike, people can now learn about climate change through simulated experience and become motivated to address it, instead of suffering the real-world consequences of inaction. </p>
<p><em>Co-authors of the study described in this article included J.D. Sterman, MIT Sloan School; T. Franck, E. Johnston and A.P. Jones, Climate Interactive; E. Fracassi, Instituto Tecnologico de Buenos Aires; F. Kapmeier, Reutlingen University; K. Rath, SageFox Consulting Group; and V. Kurker, UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103822/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Juliette N. Rooney-Varga receives funding from the National Science Foundation. This work was supported in part by National Science Foundation grants DUE-124558, ICER-1701062, and DRL-1759163.</span></em></p>In the ‘World Climate’ simulation, people play delegates to UN climate negotiations and work to strike an agreement that meets global climate goals. Playing it has made thousands want to take action.Juliette N. Rooney-Varga, Associate Professor of Environmental Science, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1022342018-09-06T17:42:55Z2018-09-06T17:42:55ZLow-income neighborhoods would gain the most from green roofs in cities like Chicago<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235070/original/file-20180905-45169-pgfw1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Morris Inn on the University of Notre Dame campus has had a green roof since 2013.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ashish Sharma</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Heat waves aren’t just a source of discomfort. They’re the nation’s deadliest weather hazard, accounting for <a href="http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/hazstats.shtml">a fifth of all deaths caused by natural hazards in the U.S.</a> </p>
<p>Most of the time, low-income people who live in cities face the biggest risks tied to extreme heat. That’s because <a href="https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/ua/urban-rural-2010.html">urban areas</a>, especially neighborhoods with few parks or yards, absorb high amounts of solar radiation during the day – keeping night temperatures higher than in suburbs and rural areas.</p>
<p>I’m an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JlSZCaoAAAAJ">atmospheric scientist</a> who studies urban environments in an <a href="https://environmentalchange.nd.edu/">interdisciplinary way</a> that combines science, engineering and social sciences. I belong to a team of researchers and other professionals that’s looking into one solution we believe will help cool off homes, businesses and other structures all summer long: green roofs.</p>
<p><iframe id="2AlJf" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/2AlJf/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Urban ecosystems</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.epa.gov/green-infrastructure/what-green-infrastructure">Green infrastructure</a> encompasses a range of methods to manage weather impacts, providing many community benefits in cost-effective ways.</p>
<p>For example, using <a href="https://www.go-gba.org/resources/green-building-methods/permeable-pavements/">permeable pavement</a>, <a href="https://www.cwp.org/urban-tree-canopy/">planting and preserving trees and other green spaces</a>, establishing <a href="https://www.dwell.com/article/living-green-walls-101-their-benefits-and-how-theyre-made-350955f3">vertical gardens</a> on a building’s exterior and making <a href="https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/energy-efficient-home-design/cool-roofs">rooftops white</a> can all help moderate urban temperatures, cut utility bills and make neighborhoods nicer places to live.</p>
<p>Many cities are also experimenting with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/064004">green roofs</a>, rooftops that are partially or completely covered in <a href="http://myplantconnection.com/green-roofs-maintenance.php">drought-resistant</a> plants with drainage and leak detection systems, to see if they can cool off urban heat.</p>
<p>These roofs can serve as a source of insulation or shade, cut electricity consumption, add green space and reduce air pollution. However, <a href="https://theconversation.com/green-and-cool-roofs-provide-relief-for-hot-cities-but-should-be-sited-carefully-60766">bunching too many of them</a> together in large areas could actually reduce air quality by increasing humidity and pollution.</p>
<p>I led a recent study that used an interdisciplinary approach to see where it would make the most sense to install green roofs to cool off homes in hot neighborhoods. As we explained in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aad93c">Environmental Research Letters</a>, an academic journal, we identified Chicago’s most vulnerable, heat-stressed neighborhoods – communities that would benefit most from <a href="https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/chicago_green_roofs.html">this amenity</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1034885753770135552"}"></div></p>
<h2>Straining utilities and burdening the poor</h2>
<p>When temperature spike in cities, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/heat-islands/heat-island-impacts#energy">electricity use rises sharply</a> making it hard for utilities susceptible to <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130719103146.htm">power outages</a>. When the lights go out, critical services such as drinking water, transportation and health care can be jeopardized. And poorer people, whose neighborhoods tend to be the hottest, can be the most at risk.</p>
<p>Some of the <a href="https://states.aarp.org/cooling-assistance-available-low-income-seniors-individuals-medical-needs/">poorest Americans</a>, of course, do not even have air conditioning. In other cases, they may have it installed but face so much economic hardship that they can’t afford to use it. </p>
<p>Chicago is most vulnerable to outages in July, when temperatures tend to peak. Electricity usage gets nearly as high in December due to the widespread use of <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-10-27/business/0610270271_1_holiday-lights-outdoor-bulbs-holiday-season">Christmas lights</a> throughout the <a href="http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/media/enews/2006/2006-07_Holiday-Energy.htm#lights">holiday season</a>, the <a href="https://www.4abc.com/blog/household-heating-statistics/">electric heat</a> consumed by 20 percent of local residents and the incidence of many of the year’s longest nights.</p>
<p><iframe id="B26T5" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/B26T5/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Green roofs can help avoid outages by lowering rooftop surface temperatures. In turn, residents may consume less air conditioning and ease the strain on the grid when it matters most. But how green roofs should be deployed to maximize these benefits remains an open question.</p>
<h2>Where to invest</h2>
<p>My team identified neighborhoods that had the most to gain from green roofs by figuring out which neighborhoods had the most <a href="https://ahs-vt.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=5bfd71bdeff242d4a8f0d2780369807a">heat vulnerability</a>, and the greatest potential <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/064004/meta">reductions in rooftop temperatures with green roofs</a>, and <a href="https://data.cityofchicago.org/Environment-Sustainable-Development/Energy-Usage-2010/8yq3-m6wp">used the most electricity</a> for air conditioning.</p>
<p>People who reside in poor vulnerable neighborhoods consistently use relatively little air conditioning. However, businesses located in vulnerable neighborhoods do use more energy than enterprises located in more affluent areas because <a href="https://www.epa.gov/heat-islands">temperatures tend to get and stay higher</a> in poorer neighborhoods, requiring more energy to cool down interiors.</p>
<p>We designed steps for urban planners and city officials to scientifically set priorities for a public effort to install green roofs, neighborhood by neighborhood. </p>
<p>Most of the communities we determined would get the biggest benefits from green roofs are located on Chicago’s South Side and West Side. Given that between 1986 and 2015, an average of <a href="https://weather.com/science/weather-explainers/news/weather-event-fatalities-heat">130 people lost their lives across U.S.</a> every year due to heat stress, for many of these residents it could be a matter of life and death.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102234/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashish Sharma does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Taking this step may improve the quality of life for vulnerable people and reduce the amount of air conditioning they use, making their neighborhoods less prone to power outages.Ashish Sharma, Research Assistant Professor, University of Notre DameLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/986812018-07-31T10:41:01Z2018-07-31T10:41:01ZA new look at racial disparities in police use of deadly force<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229888/original/file-20180730-106511-luikyb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters on the University of Cincinnati campus.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/John Minchillo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the most important social issues of the last five years is fatal police shootings of black Americans.</p>
<p>The concern that police fatally shoot blacks at higher rates than whites has given rise to a strong push for department-wide interventions for police officers. Such interventions, usually in the form of <a href="https://trustandjustice.org/resources/intervention/implicit-bias">“implicit bias” training</a>, rely on changing the beliefs that officers have about minorities as a means of reducing this racial disparity.</p>
<p>But are the assumptions underlying these interventions reasonable? Is there strong evidence that faulty officer decision-making is responsible for the racial disparity in fatal police shootings?</p>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/31/the-counted-police-killings-2015-young-black-men">clear evidence</a> of racial differences in fatal police shootings in terms of population proportions. Black Americans are only about <a href="https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_15_5YR_DP05&src=pt">13 percent of the population</a>, but make up over 30 percent of people fatally shot by police.</p>
<p>It is from this evidence that many <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-are-so-many-black-americans-killed-by-police/">news outlets</a> and <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/">activists</a> conclude that police officers are racially-biased in their decisions to shoot. If this is true, then it makes good sense to target officer bias.</p>
<p>But is comparing the percentages of blacks and whites shot to the percentages of blacks and whites in the population really the right comparison? Does it tell us what we need to know about how to reduce fatal police shootings? </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cesariolab.com/police">My colleagues and I</a> have expertise in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ttizi7gAAAAJ&hl=en">decision-making</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VzsNt-MAAAAJ&hl=en">police use of force</a>. We tested whether these population-level comparisons provide us with the information we need to reduce police shootings. Our recent work, <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550618775108?journalCode=sppa">published in Social Psychological and Personality Science</a>, reveals a different view of police bias.</p>
<h2>Importance of benchmarks</h2>
<p>Using population-level comparisons as a benchmark for evidence of officer racial bias relies on the assumption that people of all races are equally involved in situations where officers are likely to use deadly force. We argue that this assumption has led to a misdiagnosis of the problem, and by extension, solutions that won’t work.</p>
<p>Consider the following example: Imagine that you want to know if there is racial disparity in who receives cancer treatment. You find that among those receiving treatment, blacks make up 13 percent. Comparing this to the overall population of 13 percent, you would conclude that no racial disparity existed. </p>
<p>Yet suppose you learn that blacks make up 75 percent of people with cancer. Surely you would conclude that there is racial disparity in receiving treatment. That’s because the relevant pool is those who need treatment, not the general population.</p>
<h2>More likely to be shot, compared to what?</h2>
<p>As with the cancer example above, it is crucial to choose the correct benchmark or pool of individuals to compare an outcome with. </p>
<p>In the case of police shootings, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1745-9133.12174">the evidence is clear</a> that fatal shootings are strongly tied to situations in which violent crime is being committed or suspected of being committed. A typical fatal police shooting occurs when there is the potential for imminent death to an officer or other citizen. Almost <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1745-9133.12269">85 percent</a> of police fatal shootings involve armed citizens.</p>
<p>Given this, we can ask, “Are blacks shot more than whites given their presence in situations in which police shootings are likely to occur?”</p>
<p>To answer the question, my colleagues and I <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550618775108?journalCode=sppa">analyzed the largest database of fatal police shootings to date</a>, The Guardian’s database of police shootings, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/series/counted-us-police-killings">The Counted</a>. It covers all known shootings from 2015 to 2016. We calculated the odds of being shot for blacks and whites given violent crime rates for each group, which we established by using 16 different measures of crime across four databases. We used these different crime rates as a means of estimating presence in deadly force situations.</p>
<p><iframe id="91Wtl" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/91Wtl/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>One might ask, “Isn’t using arrest data to assess crime rates wrong, given that police are more likely to police black communities and arrest black citizens?”</p>
<p>If police are more likely to arrest black citizens than white citizens – without any actual racial differences in criminal behavior – this would inflate crime estimates for blacks and would skew our findings.</p>
<p>To deal with this, we also looked at a different set of data to measure crime – <a href="https://wonder.cdc.gov/ucd-icd10.html">death by assault records</a> from the Centers for Disease Control. These data are derived from death certificates. Whether police are more likely to arrest one race or another for, say, homicide would have no impact on the CDC’s counts for how often members of each race die from assault. Thus, the data provide a way to estimate rates of violent crime that is not biased from police arrest decisions (although it is possible that this data could be subject to other kinds of errors).</p>
<p>When we considered the rates at which people from different groups are likely to be present in these contexts, a different picture emerged. </p>
<p>The differences in involvement in criminal situations between black and white citizens fully explains the population-level disparity in fatal police shootings.</p>
<p>This suggests that officer bias – in terms of officers making different shooting decisions for black and white citizens – is not necessarily the cause of black citizens being shot at higher rates. Even if officers were making the same decisions about whether to use deadly force for black and white citizens, population-level disparities would still emerge given these crime rate differences. </p>
<p>What about shootings of unarmed citizens? The results were too uncertain to draw firm conclusions one way or another. This is because the number of fatal shootings in which a citizen is unarmed and not assaulting an officer is small – about 6 percent of all fatal shootings, or <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550618775108?journalCode=sppa">45 people every year</a>.</p>
<p>To be clear, there is a population-level racial disparity in fatal police shootings. But our work suggests this disparity is explained by differences in rates of exposure to the police, rather than racial bias by officers making deadly force decisions.</p>
<h2>Now what?</h2>
<p>These results may help explain why department-wide implicit bias training has not been – <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-29854-001">and will not be</a> – effective. It is not addressing the root of the problem. The notion that all officers across the profession are biased in this important decision is not supported by the data. </p>
<p>Instead, our research suggests two paths for reducing fatal police shootings and reducing the population-level gap in these shootings.</p>
<p>First, the most effective means of reducing police shootings would be to reduce violent crime, particularly crimes involving firearms. While this may seem obvious, the point has been lost in most public discussions. The decision to shoot usually happens in certain contexts – reducing the frequency of those events will directly reduce police shootings.</p>
<p>At the same time, it would also reduce police shootings of innocent unarmed citizens who live in neighborhoods with high rates of violent crime. One recent example is the case of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/22/nyregion/housing-patrols-can-mean-safety-or-peril-to-residents.html">Akai Gurley</a>, an unarmed black man who was killed by police patrolling a public housing building in New York City with high rates of violent crime. Reducing violent crime rates would reduce the expectation that officers have of encountering armed individuals in such locations, likely reducing such mistakes.</p>
<p>Second, researchers need to develop tools that accurately identify those few officers who do show robust evidence of racial bias and identify which psychological processes are responsible for such bias. Officers might treat black and white citizens differently due to implicit bias, explicit racism, or even something much more basic such as low skill at visually distinguishing harmless objects from guns. </p>
<p>Targeted interventions, based on a scientific understanding of bias, are needed – not blanket, untested interventions based on faulty assumptions. <a href="https://www.cesariolab.com/research">Our lab</a> has recently been awarded a National Science Foundation grant to develop such interventions.</p>
<p>All research has limitations, and ours is no exception. Our analyses look at national data and cannot speak to any individual case or police officer. Moreover, there is <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w22399">robust evidence of racial bias</a> in other use-of-force behaviors, such as Taser use – just not the use of deadly force. Anti-bias training might be effective in stemming these racially-biased policing behaviors. </p>
<p>Finally, the question of why crime rates are different across racial groups in the U.S. is a complicated question beyond the scope of this research, and thus we do not speak to this issue. Nonetheless, we believe that any research that can suggest new and innovative interventions to address this important problem should be encouraged.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98681/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph Cesario has received funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Leibniz Institute for Psychology Information (ZPID). </span></em></p>Does it make sense to compare the percentage of black Americans shot by police to the percentage of black Americans in the population? A new analysis suggests a different way of looking at the data.Joseph Cesario, Associate Professor of Psychology, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1002962018-07-27T10:43:51Z2018-07-27T10:43:51ZApartments rarely come with access to charging stations. But electric vehicles need them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229478/original/file-20180726-106496-1tlnlkq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most garages can double as EV charging stations.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-charging-electric-car-outlet-home-1092177395">Shutterstock.com/riopatuca</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Americans have now purchased more than <a href="https://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/">800,000 electric vehicles</a>, counting both plug-in hybrids and all-electric models. That may sound like a lot of EVs, and it is a <a href="https://insideevs.com/monthly-plug-in-sales-scorecard/">big jump from the less than 5,000</a> that were on the road in 2010. But this is still <a href="https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2010/mv1.cfm">less than 1 percent of all U.S. registered vehicles</a>, despite the recent availability of <a href="https://theconversation.com/range-anxiety-todays-electric-cars-can-cover-vast-majority-of-daily-u-s-driving-needs-63909">longer-range, more affordable</a> EV models like the <a href="https://www.motortrend.com/news/chevrolet-bolt-ev-2017-car-of-the-year/">Chevrolet Bolt</a>. </p>
<p>Policymakers nonetheless see EVs as having great potential to <a href="https://about.bnef.com/electric-vehicle-outlook/">reduce carbon dioxide emissions</a> and other forms of pollution, and are supporting tax credits and other policies to encourage people to buy EVs. California, for example, aims to have <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2018/01/26/governor-brown-takes-action-to-increase-zero-emission-vehicles-fund-new-climate-investments/">5 million of them</a> on its roads by 2030.</p>
<p>But to meet ambitious goals like that, EVs will need to stop being a niche product and appeal to as many drivers as possible.</p>
<p>I am an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=4YjEZY4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">energy economist</a> working on transportation policy, and I’ve looked at newly available data to try to understand why people purchase EVs. It turns out that renting a home may be one of the biggest barriers. </p>
<h2>A striking difference</h2>
<p>New <a href="https://nhts.ornl.gov/">federal data</a> show that homeowners are more than three times more likely than renters to own an EV. And since <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2018/04/american-families-face-a-growing-rent-burden#0-overview">43 million</a> U.S. households – 37 percent of all households – rent their homes, it is worth thinking hard about why this gap exists. </p>
<p><iframe id="Ir4Iw" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Ir4Iw/7/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>By analyzing the Transportation Department’s newly released 2017 <a href="https://nhts.ornl.gov/">National Household Travel Survey</a> data, I found striking differences in EV ownership between homeowners and renters. In California, homeowners are three times more likely to own an EV than renters.</p>
<p>The gap is even wider for the rest of the U.S., where homeowners are six times more likely to own an EV than renters.</p>
<h2>Income isn’t everything</h2>
<p>You might be thinking that this gap is caused by income. It is true that EV ownership is <a href="https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2015/07/20/are-clean-energy-tax-credits-equitable/">higher for richer people</a>, which is only natural since <a href="https://www.energysage.com/electric-vehicles/costs-and-benefits-evs/evs-vs-fossil-fuel-vehicles/">EVs cost more to buy</a> than comparable gasoline-powered vehicles although <a href="https://www.energy.gov/articles/egallon-what-it-and-why-it-s-important">charging them is cheaper</a> than filling a tank. </p>
<p>But I learned that homeowners are more likely than renters to own EVs, even when they have similar income levels. For example, among households earning between US$75,000 and $100,000 per year, 1 in 130 homeowners owns an EV, compared to 1 in 370 renters.</p>
<p><iframe id="fR8XQ" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/fR8XQ/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Parking and charging</h2>
<p>The other big difference between homeowners and renters is having a place to park.</p>
<p>Most homeowners have a garage, a driveway or both. That makes charging extremely convenient for them because they can charge their vehicles at night. </p>
<p>It’s not so easy, however, for many renters. Renters are more likely to live in multi-unit buildings and parking spots may not be assigned, or there may not be any parking spots at all. The federal data doesn’t provide any information about parking availability, but this likely helps explain the disparity between homeowners and renter EV ownership rates. </p>
<p>There is also the related question of charging equipment.</p>
<p>For homeowners, it is relatively straightforward to invest in a <a href="https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098401_electric-car-charging-the-basics-you-need-to-know">240-volt outlet</a>, electric panel upgrades and other improvements to speed up charging. These investments can cost $1,000 or more, but are a good investment for a homeowner planning to stay put.</p>
<p>Making this investment is trickier for renters, however. They may not want to invest their own money in a property they don’t own and their landlords may be unwilling to let them do it in any case due to liability and other concerns. </p>
<p>This quandary is what economists call a <a href="https://econpapers.repec.org/article/eeeenergy/v_3a5_3ay_3a1980_3ai_3a4_3ap_3a355-371.htm">landlord-tenant problem</a>. In theory, a landlord could make investments like this, and then charge higher rent to recoup the cost. In practice, however, this can get complicated.</p>
<p>Even if the current tenant has an EV – the next tenant may not. And if future tenants don’t have EVs then they won’t need – or appreciate – having charging equipment handy. Several studies, including work by <a href="https://ei.haas.berkeley.edu/research/papers/WP246.pdf">economist Erica Myers</a>, show that renters tend not to value the energy-related investments their landlords make.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229486/original/file-20180726-106499-vgrme2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229486/original/file-20180726-106499-vgrme2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229486/original/file-20180726-106499-vgrme2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229486/original/file-20180726-106499-vgrme2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229486/original/file-20180726-106499-vgrme2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229486/original/file-20180726-106499-vgrme2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229486/original/file-20180726-106499-vgrme2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229486/original/file-20180726-106499-vgrme2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Electric car charging station in a Miami, Fla., garage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/miami-florida-october-02-2017-electric-732461311">Shutterstock.com/Rudy Umans</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Public support for charging</h2>
<p>California policymakers are well aware of these challenges and that is a big reason why they are investing heavily in charging stations. The state is spending <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2018/01/26/governor-brown-takes-action-to-increase-zero-emission-vehicles-fund-new-climate-investments/">$2.5 billion</a> to bring 250,000 charging stations statewide by 2025. Each of these stations will support several EVs, so this will make charging much easier for EV owners. </p>
<p>Much of this funding will cover the cost of building charging stations in communities with a lot of renters. The big utility Pacific Gas & Electric, for example, is making <a href="https://www.utilitydive.com/news/pge-taps-evbox-to-build-up-to-25k-charging-stations/523093/">multifamily residences</a> a high priority as it builds thousands of new charging stations across the state. As this charging infrastructure grows, the EV market is bound to expand as well. </p>
<p>I’m eager to see whether these investments will narrow the homeowner-renter gap.</p>
<p>While writing this article, I searched on the <a href="https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_rent/San-Francisco-CA_rb/?fromHomePage=true&shouldFireSellPageImplicitClaimGA=false&fromHomePageTab=rent">Zillow real estate website</a> for rental listings in San Francisco and could find only four apartments that mentioned EV charging as an amenity. </p>
<p>This isn’t many compared to the more than 1,000 of the apartments on the market, but I have no doubt that there will be many more landlords giving their tenants a place to plug in their cars as more renters buy EVs in the near future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100296/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucas Davis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As EVs make more inroads, giving tenants somewhere to plug in their cars could become a selling point.Lucas Davis, Professor at the Haas School of Business, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/997082018-07-25T10:38:01Z2018-07-25T10:38:01ZAI more accurate than animal testing for spotting toxic chemicals<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228869/original/file-20180723-189332-1iznxa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">These rats are in special cages for urine collection. Every year, millions of animals are used for testing chemicals that are used in industrial products.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/animal-experiments-urine-collection-using-white-738846352?src=au4jbW6OZYGllstFIRXYcQ-1-87">By unoL/shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Most consumers would be dismayed with how little we know about the majority of chemicals. Only 3 percent of industrial chemicals – mostly drugs and pesticides – are comprehensively tested. Most of the 80,000 to 140,000 chemicals in consumer products have not been tested at all or just examined superficially to see what harm they may do locally, at the site of contact and at extremely high doses.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=qwAR168AAAAJ&hl=en">I am a physician and former head of the European Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods of the European Commission</a> (2002-2008), and I am dedicated to finding faster, cheaper and more accurate methods of testing the safety of chemicals. To that end, I now lead a new program at Johns Hopkins University to revamp the safety sciences.</p>
<p>As part of this effort, we have now developed a computer method of testing chemicals that could save more than a US$1 billion annually and more than 2 million animals. Especially in times where the <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Rolling-back-chemical-security-regulations-is-13085922.php">government is rolling back regulations</a> on the chemical industry, new methods to identify dangerous substances are critical for human and environmental health. </p>
<h2>How the computer took over from the lab rat</h2>
<p>Our computerized testing is possible because of <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/reach_en.htm">Europe’s REACH</a> (Registration, Evaluation, Authorizations and Restriction of Chemicals) legislation: It was the first worldwide regulation to systematical log existing industrial chemicals. Over a period of one decade from 2008 to 2018, at least those chemicals produced or marketed at more than 1 ton per year in Europe had to be registered with increasing safety test information depending on the quantity sold. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228888/original/file-20180723-189332-1rk6pkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228888/original/file-20180723-189332-1rk6pkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228888/original/file-20180723-189332-1rk6pkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228888/original/file-20180723-189332-1rk6pkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228888/original/file-20180723-189332-1rk6pkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228888/original/file-20180723-189332-1rk6pkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228888/original/file-20180723-189332-1rk6pkk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thousands of new chemicals are developed and used each year in consumer products without being tested for toxicity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chemistry-reaction-formula-toning-135146540">By Garsya/shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/4601080a">Our team published a critical analysis</a> of European testing demands in 2009 that concluded the demands of the legislation could only be met by adopting new methods of chemical analysis. Europe does not track new chemicals below an annual market or production volume of 1 ton. But the similar size U.S. chemical industry brings about 1,000 chemicals at this tonnage range to the market each year. However, Europe does a much better job in requesting safety data. This also highlights how many new substances should be assessed every year even when they are produced in small quantities below 1 ton, which are not regulated in Europe. Inexpensive and fast computer methods lend themselves to this purpose.</p>
<p>Our group took advantage of the fact that REACH made its safety data on registered chemicals publicly available. In 2016, we reformatted the REACH data, making it machine-readable and creating <a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2016.19365">the largest toxicological database</a> ever. It logged 10,000 chemicals and connected them to the 800,000 associated studies.</p>
<p>This laid the foundation for testing whether animals tests – considered the gold standard for safety testing – were reproducible. Some chemicals were tested surprisingly often in the same animal test. For example, two chemicals were tested more than 90 times in rabbit eyes; 69 chemicals were tested more than 45 times. This enormous waste of animals, however, enabled us to study whether these animal tests yielded consistent results. </p>
<p>Our analysis showed that these tests, which consume more than 2 million animals per year worldwide, are simply not very reliable – when tested in animals a chemical known to be toxic is only proven so in about 70 percent of repeated animal tests. These were animal tests done according to OECD test guidelines under Good Laboratory Practice – which is to say, the best you can get. This clearly shows that the quality of these tests is overrated and agencies must try alternative strategies to assess the toxicity of various compounds.</p>
<h2>Big data more reliable than animal testing</h2>
<p>Following the vision of <a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/460208a">Toxicology for the 21st Century</a>, <a href="https://ncats.nih.gov/tox21/about">a movement led by U.S. agencies</a> to revamp safety testing, important work was carried out by my Ph.D. student Tom Luechtefeld at the Johns Hopkins <a href="http://caat.jhsph.edu">Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing</a>. Teaming up with Underwriters Laboratories, we have now leveraged an expanded database and machine learning to predict toxic properties. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/toxsci/kfy152">As we report</a> in the journal Toxicological Sciences, we developed a novel algorithm and database for analyzing chemicals and determining their toxicity – what we call read-across structure activity relationship, RASAR. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228877/original/file-20180723-189338-15dfob2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228877/original/file-20180723-189338-15dfob2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228877/original/file-20180723-189338-15dfob2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228877/original/file-20180723-189338-15dfob2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228877/original/file-20180723-189338-15dfob2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228877/original/file-20180723-189338-15dfob2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228877/original/file-20180723-189338-15dfob2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This graphic reveals a small part of the chemical universe. Each dot represents a different chemical. Chemicals that are close together have similar structures and often properties.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Hartung</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To do this, we first created an enormous database with 10 million chemical structures by adding more public databases filled with chemical data, which, if you crunch the numbers, represent 50 trillion pairs of chemicals. A supercomputer then created a map of the chemical universe, in which chemicals are positioned close together if they share many structures in common and far where they don’t. Most of the time, any molecule close to a toxic molecule is also dangerous. Even more likely if many toxic substances are close, harmless substances are far. Any substance can now be analyzed by placing it into this map. </p>
<p>If this sounds simple, it’s not. It requires half a billion mathematical calculations per chemical to see where it fits. The chemical neighborhood focuses on 74 characteristics which are used to predict the properties of a substance. Using the properties of the neighboring chemicals, we can predict whether an untested chemical is hazardous. For example, for predicting whether a chemical will cause eye irritation, our computer program not only uses information from similar chemicals, which were tested on rabbit eyes, but also information for skin irritation. This is because what typically irritates the skin also harms the eye. </p>
<h2>How well does the computer identify toxic chemicals?</h2>
<p>This method will be used for new untested substances. However, if you do this for chemicals for which you actually have data, and compare prediction with reality, you can test how well this prediction works. We did this for 48,000 chemicals that were well characterized for at least one aspect of toxicity, and we found the toxic substances in 89 percent of cases. </p>
<p>This is clearly more accurate that the corresponding animal tests which only yield <a href="http://doi.org/10.1038/4601080a">the correct answer 70 percent of the time</a>. The RASAR shall now be formally validated by an interagency committee of 16 U.S. agencies, including the EPA and FDA, that will challenge our computer program with chemicals for which the outcome is unknown. This is a prerequisite for acceptance and use in many countries and industries.</p>
<p>The potential is enormous: The RASAR approach is in essence based on chemical data that was registered for the 2010 and 2013 REACH deadlines. If our estimates are correct and chemical producers would have not registered chemicals after 2013, and instead used our RASAR program, we would have saved 2.8 million animals and $490 million in testing costs – and received more reliable data. We have to admit that this is a very theoretical calculation, but it shows how valuable this approach could be for other regulatory programs and safety assessments.</p>
<p>In the future, a chemist could check RASAR before even synthesizing their next chemical to check whether the new structure will have problems. Or a product developer can pick alternatives to toxic substances to use in their products. This is a powerful technology, which is only starting to show all its potential.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99708/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Hartung consults Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and receives shares of their respective sales. His PhD student Tom Luechtefeld received funding from an NIH training grant. </span></em></p>Testing new industrial chemicals is essential for public health and the environment. But animal testing is costly, and too many chemicals are left untested. A new AI tool may solve the problem.Thomas Hartung, Professor of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/982292018-07-12T10:25:30Z2018-07-12T10:25:30ZHere’s how to encourage more girls to pursue science and math careers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227235/original/file-20180711-27039-1hov54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Negative stereotypes about girls' ability can discourage from them pursuing careers in math and science, researchers say.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/little-girls-using-microscope-learning-science-632450861?src=asNmO7zExZgjXh-uYgS99w-1-22">Rawpixel.com/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/como-alentar-a-las-ninas-a-estudiar-carreras-cientificas-y-matematicas-7-estrategias-102301">Leer en español</a></em>.</p>
<p>Women remain <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/">underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,</a> or STEM. In the field of engineering, for example, women earned <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17310/digest/fod-women/engineering.cfm">fewer than 20 percent of doctorates</a> in 2014.</p>
<p>Such gaps, however, are not the result of differences in intellectual ability. Girls currently make up <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2016014">over half of the United States’ gifted student population</a>. If girls have the <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=117713">smarts needed for success in STEM</a>, then what factors explain why they don’t pursue education and careers in these fields? </p>
<p>There are two types of beliefs that discourage girls from pursuing STEM at an early age: a) negative stereotypes about their intellectual abilities, and b) stereotypes about the people who work in STEM careers as being “nerdy” or socially awkward.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://www.cimpianlab.com/">researchers</a> who study how <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=56SPtZMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">stereotypes</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-DZfNWIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">other psychological factors</a> can dissuade girls from pursuing careers in math and science, we believe that parents and educators <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/adtzh/">can help turn things around</a> and close the gender gaps in STEM.</p>
<h2>Combat stereotypes about gender and intellect</h2>
<p><a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6323/389">As early as first grade</a>, girls are less likely than boys to associate their own gender with intellectual ability. Given how <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10463280701489053">pervasive</a> these stereotypes are, how can parents and teachers step in and shield girls from the belief that they’re less intellectually capable – and therefore less suited to STEM – than boys?</p>
<h2>Teach a growth mindset</h2>
<p>One potential strategy is to help girls adopt a <a href="http://mindsetscholarsnetwork.org/learning-mindsets/growth-mindset/">growth mindset</a>, or the belief that their abilities can be developed as opposed to being static and unchangeable. Negative stereotypes rest on the assumption that girls lack the innate ability needed for success. Emphasizing how skills <a href="https://theconversation.com/growth-mindset-interventions-yield-impressive-results-97423">change and develop over time</a> challenges this belief.</p>
<p>When promoting a growth mindset, it’s essential to convey that effort and strategies build ability, and that this is true for everyone – not just girls. For example, a teacher or parent might say, “Anyone who wants to become good at math has to practice by doing lots of problems, especially hard ones that they can learn from.” Unless effort is made to seem normal for everyone, parents and teachers may <a href="https://spsptalks.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/women-and-the-stem-sciences-when-trying-hard-isnt-natural">unintentionally suggest that girls need to work extra hard</a> to compensate for low ability.</p>
<h2>Teach the value of failure</h2>
<p>Another component of fostering a growth mindset is to <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/06/476884049/how-to-teach-children-that-failure-is-the-secret-to-success">frame failure as a learning opportunity</a> instead of something to be avoided or brushed under the carpet when it occurs. This can be done by focusing on the learning process – for example, discovering where the mistakes come from and troubleshooting new strategies for the next time. When children see how their efforts have paid off, they’ll be more likely to view STEM ability from a growth perspective.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227197/original/file-20180711-27021-1a8cp75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227197/original/file-20180711-27021-1a8cp75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/227197/original/file-20180711-27021-1a8cp75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227197/original/file-20180711-27021-1a8cp75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227197/original/file-20180711-27021-1a8cp75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227197/original/file-20180711-27021-1a8cp75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1118&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227197/original/file-20180711-27021-1a8cp75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1118&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/227197/original/file-20180711-27021-1a8cp75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1118&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Culver Elementary School first-grade student Infiniti Collins holds a picture of Mae Jemison, the first female African-American astronaut, in 2003, in Evansville, Indiana.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-IN-USA-APHSINEVA101-apjmaybury-AFRI-/9836d62b53ef49a4862080400c4f9134/32/0">Bob Gwaltney/AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Talk about successful women</h2>
<p>Stereotypes can also be challenged by exposing girls to <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2010-25580-001.html">examples of women</a> who have succeeded in STEM.</p>
<p>The key is to portray these women as <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550611405218">relatable</a> and to highlight how they became scientists, making it easier for girls to <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-07500-025">envision themselves</a> following a similar path to success.</p>
<h2>Provide opportunities to succeed</h2>
<p>Another strategy is to provide <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002209651730200X">opportunities</a> for girls to succeed at STEM-related tasks to begin building their confidence. For example, a teacher might frame a programming assignment as a game instead, which might help young girls feel more motivated and capable of success.</p>
<h2>Combat false stereotypes about STEM</h2>
<p>When children imagine themselves holding different jobs in the future, they might question <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002209651730200X">whether they are similar</a> to the people who tend to have those jobs. A mismatch between a young person’s self-concept and their impression of the members in a certain field can make the field <a href="https://depts.washington.edu/sibl/gender-and-stem/">seem like an unattractive career option</a>. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, media depictions of people in STEM are often narrow and perpetuate <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/12/upshot/techs-damaging-myth-of-the-loner-genius-nerd.html">false stereotypes</a>, such as that scientists are eccentric, “nerdy” or “geeky,” obsessive and detached from reality. </p>
<p>Similarly, scientists’ work is assumed to be <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00189/full">lonely and isolating</a>. It is also seen as being done in pursuit of <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1088868316642141">self-centered goals</a>, such as satisfying one’s curiosity, as opposed to altruistic goals, such as helping others.</p>
<p>These cultural images act as a barrier for girls specifically: Girls are socialized to think of themselves as <a href="https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1990.tb01929.x">different from the average scientist</a> on most of these dimensions, leading them to favor fields populated by people with whom they more <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1948550611405218">readily identify</a> and who have <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-18538-001">more altruistic goals</a>.</p>
<p>However, many modern scientists don’t fit the image of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/12/upshot/techs-damaging-myth-of-the-loner-genius-nerd.html">“geeky,” eccentric loner</a>, and they do work <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/30/we-hail-individual-geniuses-success-in-science-collaboration-nobel-prize">collaboratively</a> for the good of others.</p>
<h2>Help children relate to people in STEM</h2>
<p>To counteract the effects of these images, parents and teachers can introduce children to diverse and relatable examples of people in STEM. They can do so through online resources, such as <a href="http://lookslikescience.tumblr.com/">This is What a Scientist Looks Like</a> and <a href="https://www.skypeascientist.com/">Skype a Scientist</a>. </p>
<p>Parents and teachers might also tell children that <a href="http://sustainable-nano.com/2013/06/25/teamwork-wins-why-science-is-not-an-individual-sport/">scientists often work together in teams</a> and invent things that <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277561130_Closing_the_Communal_Gap_The_Importance_of_Communal_Affordances_in_Science_Career_Motivation">help people in their everyday lives</a>. These types of messages are likely to help both girls and boys because they reveal <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797611435530">a deeper purpose</a> for learning STEM-related subjects.</p>
<h2>Create an environment that promotes science</h2>
<p>Some have <a href="https://quillette.com/2018/06/19/why-women-dont-code/">attributed women’s underrepresentation in STEM</a> to their <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3914586-Googles-Ideological-Echo-Chamber.html">inherent preferences</a>. However, the scientific evidence indicates that these preferences are shaped by cultural beliefs. They are not determined by innate differences.</p>
<p>Parents and educators are in a great position to help dispel stereotypes that discourage girls from becoming scientists. And one of the best ways to do that, we believe, is to create environments that promote the idea that science careers are within their reach.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98229/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jilana Boston receives funding from the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrei Cimpian receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>Stereotypes may discourage girls from pursuing STEM careers, but research suggests several ways that parents and teachers can turn things around.Jilana Boston, Ph.D. Student in Cognitive Development, New York UniversityAndrei Cimpian, Associate Professor of Psychology, New York UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/711432018-07-11T11:14:36Z2018-07-11T11:14:36ZHarnessing natural gas to harvest water from the air might solve 2 big problems at once<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225741/original/file-20180702-116120-19vdix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Oil drilling produces natural gas that often gets burned on the spot, going to waste.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Natural-Gas-Flaring/e35081b97d9d4f68ac845dc8c5405234/1/0">AP Photo/Eric Gay</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the biggest freshwater reservoirs in the world is, literally, up in the air. </p>
<p>Between <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135943111633839X">6 and 18 million gallons of freshwater</a> hover above every square mile of land, not counting droplets trapped in clouds. Scientists realized this centuries ago but they have never quite figured out how to bring the water down to earth. The effort required to condense it would consume such vast quantities of energy that it has always appeared to make any effort to capture and use this water uneconomical.</p>
<p>But while <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JlzFIp4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">studying this topic</a>, two of my University of Texas at Austin colleagues and I came up with a concept that might just work: that of using the natural gas that is otherwise <a href="http://memagazineselect.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/article.aspx?articleid=2676390">flared from oilfields</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.02.096">harvest atmospheric moisture</a>.</p>
<p>We haven’t given it a try yet but we believe it has the potential to be practical and economically viable, especially as <a href="https://globalriskinsights.com/2016/12/economic-cost-global-water-scarcity/">water gets scarcer and more expensive</a>. What’s more, the latest research about the extent of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-natural-gas-industry-is-leaking-way-more-methane-than-previously-thought-heres-why-that-matters-98918">natural gas methane leaks</a> and greenhouse gas emissions underscore why it is important to give this technology a shot.</p>
<h2>Let there be water</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135943111633839X">Here’s how the process would work</a>. Excess gas, that would otherwise go to waste, could power an engine of a big refrigeration unit. This industrial-scale refrigerator would swallow lots of humid air, condensing this moisture into water much like how the air conditioning systems operate in office and residential buildings.</p>
<p>The amount of water that could be collected would depend on the quantity of natural gas available, the weather and the refrigeration system’s efficiency. We project that for every cubic meter of gas, this process will capture <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.02.096">up to 2.3 gallons of water</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152836/original/image-20170116-8783-ytaeh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152836/original/image-20170116-8783-ytaeh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152836/original/image-20170116-8783-ytaeh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152836/original/image-20170116-8783-ytaeh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152836/original/image-20170116-8783-ytaeh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152836/original/image-20170116-8783-ytaeh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152836/original/image-20170116-8783-ytaeh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152836/original/image-20170116-8783-ytaeh9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">By using flared gas to power refrigeration, water can be harvested from the air.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vaibhav Bahadur</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Water for oil</h2>
<p>There are many uses for this water, which we believe would be fit for human consumption, including food processing, mining and other industries. I see many benefits to this approach to oil production, which is very water-intensive.</p>
<p>Drilling for oil and natural gas with hydraulic fracturing, a technique commonly called fracking, takes lots of water. On average, one well requires <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/3/034024/meta">2.5 million gallons of it</a>, which is enough to fill four Olympic-sized swimming pools. And there are <a href="https://www.fractracker.org/2017/03/34-states-active-drilling-2016/">more than a million of these wells</a> in the U.S. alone.</p>
<p>Yet about <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/02/05/ceres-report-fracking-water-supplies/5230583/">half of the nation’s wells are in parched areas</a> in Texas and other southern states.</p>
<p>And there are some oil patches, including the <a href="http://memagazineselect.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/article.aspx?articleid=2676390">Eagle Ford in Texas</a>, where water scarcity is making it challenging to produce oil.</p>
<p>Drilling sites are often remote, meaning frackers must haul water to wellpads in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.07.062">hundreds of trucks</a> that have to travel 50 miles or more.</p>
<p>I have calculated that <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/3/034024/meta">tapping excess gas to capture water</a> would provide a fifth of the water used in fracking the parched Eagle Ford Shale region in South Texas.</p>
<h2>A waste of energy</h2>
<p>Worldwide, about <a href="https://www.climatecentral.org/news/satellite-shows-us-most-gas-flares-world-20297">4 percent of the natural gas extracted from oil and gas fields gets flared</a>, and this practice is common in the U.S. Add all this up, and it paints a disturbing picture of global waste and environmental pollution.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tvl4TnYGu5A?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">SkyTruth uses Google imagery to map natural gas flaring around the world.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And we cannot see any environmental downsides to giving it a try.</p>
<h2>It has to be hot</h2>
<p>This technique would not work in many cold and dry places. It would work best in areas that are hot and humid, including Texas and other southern states in the U.S., Mexico, Venezuela, Middle East and Africa year-round. And it might be viable for about half the year in cooler gas-producing oil patches like <a href="https://geology.com/articles/bakken-formation.shtml">North Dakota’s Bakken Formation</a>.</p>
<p>Interestingly, many regions with ample natural gas reserves have perpetual water scarcity and hot, humid climates. Examples include countries in the Middle East and Africa, the American Southwest, Mexico and Venezuela. </p>
<p>There have been efforts to stop wasting the natural gas produced as a byproduct of oil drilling before. But when oil producers have sought to capture and sell the fuel, rather than flare it, they have mostly failed because they have been <a href="https://memagazineselect.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/article.aspx?articleid=2676390">economically unviable</a>.</p>
<p>I believe that this new approach would work better than mandating or encouraging the capturing of natural gas for other uses because it is easier to pull off. It also solves a separate problem at a time when water is becoming an increasingly valuable and scarce commodity.</p>
<p>There are other efforts to condense water in the air underway. For example, table-top atmospheric water harvesters powered by electricity <a href="https://ecoloblue.com/49-atmospheric-water-generator">are available for sale</a>. This idea to do it on an industrial scale, therefore, is not as far-fetched as it may appear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71143/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vaibhav Bahadur has no commercial interests in the technology discussed in this article, as of today.</span></em></p>Energy that otherwise would go to waste might someday power industrial-scale condensation.Vaibhav Bahadur, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/987962018-06-28T10:36:30Z2018-06-28T10:36:30ZBlockchain-based property registries may help lift poor people out of poverty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224994/original/file-20180626-112607-lzp8td.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many rural farmers in India lack clear ownership of the land they work and live on.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/India-Agriculture/278df052afb840c2aa8c56dcf921c108/5/0">AP Photo/Anupam Nath</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many developing countries don’t have a working system of tracking property rights, and what they do have can be fragile and incomplete. In Haiti, for instance, a large earthquake in 2010 <a href="http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Haiti_quake_destroyed_or_damaged_60_years_of_archives_999.html">destroyed all the municipal buildings that stored documents</a> confirming many small farmers’ ownership of the land they worked. Even years later, many farmers <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/01/11/503159694/blockchain-could-be-a-force-for-good-but-first-you-have-to-understand-it">didn’t have proof that they were landowners</a>. People are <a href="http://www.coindesk.com/blockchain-land-registry-solution-seeking-problem">still fighting over their land</a>.</p>
<p>This sort of problem – caused by natural disasters or not – is widespread, causing financial hardship for families in the developing world. Without an official, enforceable legal title to their property, people can’t resolve disputes over who can use which land for what – like who can farm where. They also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-landrights-desoto/property-rights-for-worlds-poor-could-unlock-trillions-in-dead-capital-economist-idUSKCN10C1C1">can’t borrow against their existing assets</a> to invest in their homes, businesses or communities. The value of those properties, and the lost economic opportunities for owners of assets without formal documentation, has been <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/03/could-blockchain-technology-help-the-worlds-poor">estimated at US$20 trillion</a> worldwide.</p>
<p>From <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Qx3YMi4AAAAJ&hl=en">researching</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-blockchain-technology-help-poor-people-around-the-world-76059">blockchains</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-cryptocurrencies-a-dream-come-true-for-cyber-extortionists-80115">cryptocurrencies</a> for the past three years, I have become convinced that these technologies have the potential to fight <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDo_Jlov9R4&t=12s">root causes of poverty</a> – including by securely recording property ownership.</p>
<p>I’m far from alone: Blockchain-based land registries have started up in <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/bermuda-launch-blockchain-land-registry/">Bermuda</a>, <a href="http://www.coindesk.com/blockchain-land-registry-tech-gets-test-brazil">Brazil</a>, <a href="http://www.eurasianet.org/node/83286">Georgia</a>, <a href="http://blocktribune.com/blockchain-land-registry-bitland-foodcoin-ecosystem-partner/">Ghana</a>, <a href="http://www.coindesk.com/debate-factom-land-title-honduras/">Honduras</a>, <a href="https://tinyurl.com/ydc5fc3b">India</a>, <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/russias-government-test-blockchain-land-registry-system/">Russia</a> and <a href="https://www.iafrikan.com/2017/10/13/rwanda-government-blockchain-project/">Rwanda</a>. The problems these efforts are addressing are significant.</p>
<h2>Current challenges in land registries</h2>
<p>Across the world, land registries are inefficient and unreliable – or even downright corrupt. In Honduras, some government officials altered the country’s land ownership database, <a href="https://in.reuters.com/article/usa-honduras-technology/honduras-to-build-land-title-registry-using-bitcoin-technology-idINKBN0O01V720150515">stealing property for themselves – including beachfront getaways</a>.</p>
<p>In many African countries, more than <a href="http://www.fieldfisher.com/publications/2017/02/blockchain-the-trust-machine-that-africa-needs">90 percent of rural land is not registered</a>. In Ghana, <a href="http://www.itwebafrica.com/enterprise-solutions/505-africa/236272-land-registry-based-on-blockchain-for-africa">78 percent of land is unregistered</a>, and the country’s courts have a long backlog of <a href="http://internationalbanker.com/finance/blockchain-impacting-industry/">land dispute cases</a>.</p>
<p>In India, millions of rural families <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/india/2013-02-19/untitled">lack legal ownership of the land they live and work on</a>. The lack of secure land ownership is a <a href="https://scroll.in/article/741036/why-the-modi-government-must-work-on-land-reform-before-land-acquisition">bigger cause of poverty</a> in the country than the caste system or a high illiteracy rate.</p>
<p>Brazil has no single centralized land registry. Instead, about <a href="https://cryptovest.com/news/brazil-could-call-upon-blockchain-to-combat-corruption/">3,400 private agents – called “cartorios” – register and check land ownership</a>. The system is confusing, with many different documents created in different historical periods. Most land documents <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(01)00039-0">lack specific geographic references</a> on property boundaries. Little wonder, then, that the system is plagued by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-property-blockchain/can-blockchain-save-the-amazon-in-corruption-mired-brazil-idUSKBN1FE113">corruption and double allocations</a> – two formal documents each saying someone else owns a piece of land.</p>
<p>These fragile and incomplete property rights systems in the developing world can affect the entire planet. In Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, illicit land grabbers forge deeds and use violence and bribery to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(01)00039-0">falsely claim ownership of property</a>, often under fake names, which the locals call <a href="http://philip.inpa.gov.br/publ_livres/Preprints/2001/LAND-tenureWD.htm">“fantasmas,” or “ghosts.”</a> Then they <a href="https://www.roughguides.com/destinations/south-america/brazil/amazon/eastern-amazonia/southern-para/">clear-cut the rainforest</a>, which has <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation/">serious environmental effects</a>. Having <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21068-8_8">“improved” the land by converting it to pasture</a>, these land thieves then are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(01)00039-0">eligible to register as the formal owners of the land they stole</a>. This cycle has repeated for years, contributing to widespread Amazon deforestation.</p>
<h2>How blockchain-based land registries work</h2>
<p>Using a blockchain system to record transactions could help solve these problems. A blockchain is a secure database that’s stored in a distributed – but connected – set of computers around the internet. It’s not susceptible to tampering, and every addition to the database must be <a href="https://hbr.org/2017/03/blockchain-will-help-us-prove-our-identities-in-a-digital-world">digitally signed</a>, making clear who’s changing what and when. So instead of a system with multiple conflicting documents, some of which may have been forged or altered, there’s only one record with a clear history of modifications, including who did what when.</p>
<p>Blockchain transactions can include all kinds of information, including geographic boundaries or serial numbers and an owner’s identity. In Ghana, for instance, the nonprofit Bitland runs a <a href="http://www.itwebafrica.com/enterprise-solutions/505-africa/236272-land-registry-based-on-blockchain-for-africa">blockchain-based land registry system</a> with a written description of each parcel of land as well as GPS coordinates of boundary points and satellite photos of the area.</p>
<p>A collaboration between a U.S.-based blockchain startup and a Brazilian real estate registry has created a record-keeping system for land in the <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/blockchain-land-registry-tech-gets-test-brazil/">southern coastal municipalities of Pelotas and Morro Redondo</a>. Its blockchain database contains details like the property’s address, the owner’s name and contact information, zoning rules and a unique identification number for the property itself.</p>
<p>Blockchain can provide other advantages too. For instance, when transferring land in the republic of Georgia, the buyer and the seller go to a public registry house and pay a fee between $50 and $200. Moving this process onto a blockchain <a href="https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/bitfury-announces-blockchain-land-titling-project-with-the-republic-of-georgia-and-economist-hernando-de-soto-1461769012/">could drop the costs to no more than 10 cents</a>.</p>
<h2>Remaining challenges</h2>
<p>Just starting a blockchain-based database isn’t enough to solve these problems, though. Data must be accurate when it’s entered, and records must include enough information to be authoritative about the properties they’re referring to. A new technological system won’t fix much in countries where it’s <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/blockchain-could-be-the-answer-to-cybersecurity-maybe-1527645960">hard to determine the legitimate owner</a> in the first place. Also, bureaucrats may object to new record-keeping systems that <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/business/21722869-anti-establishment-technology-faces-ironic-turn-fortune-governments-may-be-big-backers">reduce their power, status and privileges</a>. </p>
<p>However, in places where governments or others who create the systems are viewed as <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/blockchain-could-be-the-answer-to-cybersecurity-maybe-1527645960">fair and impartial</a> and run a transparent process, blockchain-based land registry systems could give many of the world’s poorest people their first real asset. Once they have straightened out complex, corrupt and contradictory registry systems, people can safely invest in, borrow against and truly improve their properties, helping lift themselves out of poverty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98796/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nir Kshetri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Without secure records of property ownership, many poor people around the world have trouble improving their economic situations. Several countries are already trying blockchain-based land registries.Nir Kshetri, Professor of Management, University of North Carolina – GreensboroLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/955042018-06-25T10:35:19Z2018-06-25T10:35:19ZSocial impact bonds, explained<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224497/original/file-20180622-26558-2u0n8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, front, after she signed a law that allows pay-for-success funding for projects aiming to reduce female incarceration rates.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Prison-Population-Oklahoma/2381f82ce32a429e9a7d21892c547e90/1/0">AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A new approach to fighting poverty and solving some of society’s other big problems is emerging at a time when the federal government and states are <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-05-25/safety-net-welfare-programs-are-not-breaking-the-bank">cutting back on safety-net spending</a>.</p>
<p>Instead of relying on tax revenue or straightforward charity, state and local governments are <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/nml.12">signing contracts</a> with Wall Street investment houses and banks as well as foundations. These contracts, often called “<a href="http://socialfinance.org/what-we-do-2/">social impact bonds</a>,” leverage capital from investors and expertise from service providers to do everything from rehabilitating young offenders to helping the homeless find shelter.</p>
<p>As professors who teach <a href="https://tspppa.gwu.edu/joseph-j-cordes">economics</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KjmhYp4AAAAJ&hl=en">public administration</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cOIs2IQAAAAJ&hl=en">management</a>, we believe that social impact bonds have the potential to bring needed financing to support innovative ways of delivering social services – such as the rehabilitation of formerly incarcerated people and housing the homeless. At the same time, <a href="https://govlab.hks.harvard.edu/social-impact-bond-lab">funding projects this way</a> will probably cost more due to the additional coordination and evaluation required.</p>
<h2>How they work</h2>
<p>Despite their name, <a href="https://govlab.hks.harvard.edu/pub">social impact bonds</a> are not securities sold in capital markets. Rather they are multiparty contracts between governments seeking financial support for innovative programs and policies and <a href="http://socialfinance.org/what-we-do-2/">funders with money to lend them</a>. These contracts include incentives and safeguards to make it more likely that the parties will fulfill their obligations.</p>
<p>Whether investors are repaid – and to what degree – depends on how much progress the underlying program makes toward achieving its goals. </p>
<p>The contracts typically specify some minimal level of success that must be achieved before any money gets paid back. If the program’s performance beats those expectations, the investors get repaid along a sliding scale. In a best-case scenario, there’s a full repayment and even a small profit. </p>
<p>Ideally, these ventures save taxpayer dollars by reducing the need for government services at no additional cost to the public. Rather than pocketing the proceeds, the backers are encouraged to recycle this capital to back other projects.</p>
<h2>Juvenile justice</h2>
<p>In a recent study published in the <a href="https://rdcu.be/1nuv">Nonprofit Management & Leadership Journal</a>, researcher <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/billwinfrey">William Winfrey</a> and the three of us followed what happened when <a href="https://www.thirdsectorcap.org/portfolio/massachusetts-juvenile-justice-pfs-initiative/">a social impact bond</a> raised money for the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice Pay for Success Initiative.</p>
<p>Goldman Sachs, along with several foundations, provided financing for a program working with 929 youthful offenders. Instead of the more traditional punitive approaches, it uses <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/1/13/14258350/private-prisons-reform-trump-incarceration">cognitive behavioral therapy</a> – getting people to spot the beliefs and feelings that feed their problems and then replace them with more productive thought patterns and behavior – and job training to prevent former inmates from re-offending and returning to prison.</p>
<p>The results of the Massachusetts Juvenile Justice Initiative are not yet in, so it is too soon to tell whether this experiment will prove successful. But we have been able to estimate that the administrative costs associated with using the social impact bond structure may have only increased the project’s cost by 10 percent, a relatively low percentage given how complicated the social impact bond contract is with many different parties involved.</p>
<p>The nation’s debut social impact bond sought to help <a href="https://www.mdrc.org/project/social-impact-bond-project-rikers-island#overview">Rikers Island inmates stay out of trouble after their time behind bars</a> through education and counseling. This project <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-anderson/what-we-learned-from-the-_1_b_7710272.html">failed to meet its benchmarks</a>. The <a href="http://www.payforsuccess.org/project/utah-high-quality-preschool-program">second U.S. social impact bond program</a> targeted early childhood education in Salt Lake County, Utah. This program was declared a success because it <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/how-goldman-sachs-made-money-investing-in-preschool-in-utah/433248/">achieved a 99 percent success rate</a> in reducing the need for special education in elementary school.</p>
<p>About half of the <a href="https://sibdatabase.socialfinance.org.uk/">20 social impact bonds launched so far in the U.S.</a> have backed efforts to solve criminal justice issues. For example, they have aimed to reduce juvenile offender recidivism or the incarceration of mothers of young children.</p>
<p>The Obama White House strongly <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/social-impact-bonds.aspx">encouraged state and local governments to harness these bonds</a> in an experiment the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/963">Trump administration has also embraced</a>. </p>
<h2>Do they work?</h2>
<p>In the eight years since the <a href="https://sibdatabase.socialfinance.org.uk/?project_id=5">first social impact bonds</a> were launched, a total of 108 have <a href="https://sibdatabase.socialfinance.org.uk/">raised about US$392 million</a>, impacting more than 700,000 people in 25 countries.</p>
<p>This approach has also amassed many supporters. <a href="http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/putting-markets-work-profit-global-good/">Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin</a>, for example, is excited to see a new avenue opening up for impact investing.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w18991">There are also skeptics</a>, however. Many of these critics, such as <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/social-impact-bond-wars-defense-responds-prosecution-rests">nonprofit scholar Mark Rosenman</a>, do not see why profit-seeking investors should have a say regarding the delivery of services for people facing economic hardship.</p>
<p>Another potential limitation of relying on social impact bonds is that such arrangements are most suited to innovations in the delivery of social services that save money, something that not all improvements in social services can do. </p>
<p>Based on the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07352166.2018.1465347">mixed track record so far</a>, we believe it’s too early to tell if social impact bonds can help resolve intractable problems like mass incarceration. But as long as investors, nonprofits and government agencies can heed the <a href="https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/no-success-like-failure-ny-sees-social-impact-bond-pluses">lessons from successes and failures alike</a>, we are cautiously optimistic regarding their potential to supplement taxation and charitable donations as a source of revenue to do good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95504/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>These partnerships between investors, governments and nonprofits are a new way to pay for programs and services that help people in need and address intractable problems like mass incarceration.Sheela Pandey, Assistant Professor of Management, School of Business Administration, Harrisburg campus, Penn StateJoseph J. Cordes, Professor of Economics, Public Policy and Public Administration, and International Affairs, Associate Director, Trachtenberg School, Co-Director: George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center, George Washington UniversitySanjay K. Pandey, Professor and Shapiro Chair of Public Policy and Public Administration, Trachtenberg School, George Washington UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/946092018-06-22T10:28:26Z2018-06-22T10:28:26ZThe 3 stages of giving: Deference, arrogance and inquiry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223034/original/file-20180613-32304-1e39cxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Great minds don't always think alike.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/alzheimer-dementia-brain-disease-memory-loss-693976189">Lightspring/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you had US$1 million to give to charities aiming to eradicate poverty, how would you do it?</p>
<p>Would you support a soup kitchen? A financial literacy program? Educational scholarships? Organizations pressing for policy changes?</p>
<p>I <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=svGb9ZEAAAAJ&hl=en">worked for nonprofits</a> for many years before realizing the way I approached solving social problems said more about me than it did about the problem I wanted to solve. If I really wanted to make a difference, I had to think about how I was thinking about the problem. And, if I wanted to make a difference at a broader level, I had to help donors and nonprofit leaders think about how they think.</p>
<p>Nonprofit fundraisers consider many demographic characteristics to explain and predict charitable giving, such as age, gender, income, and marital and parental status. As far as I could tell, no scholars had considered “how people think” as a category worth considering.</p>
<p>My quest led me to <a href="https://search.proquest.com/docview/1688791425/526E0955CF264572PQ/7?accountid=10920">obtain my Ph.D.</a> and learn to analyze how an individual’s thinking changes over time. Along the way, I found that how people construct their ideas influences their philanthropic choices, and that how donors think is as important as what they think.</p>
<h2>How donors think</h2>
<p>Human beings develop increasingly complex ways of making sense of the world over the course of a lifetime. To a large extent, this is intuitive – you probably expect a 20-year-old to think about many things differently than a 50-year-old. How people think, however, is largely unconscious. People are rarely aware of how they are thinking in the moment.</p>
<p>Yet how individuals think influences how they interpret the world, how they feel and how they behave. And, as I explain in a recent article in <a href="https://rdcu.be/1nt9">Nonprofit Management & Leadership</a>, how donors think also influences how they choose to give.</p>
<p>Through a series of two <a href="https://js.sagamorepub.com/jnel/article/view/8723">in-depth interviews</a>, I interviewed 11 philanthropists about where and how they give, and I assessed the complexity with which they approached their giving. This pilot study amassed preliminary evidence linking how people think to their ideas about charitable giving.</p>
<h2>Early stages</h2>
<p>One of the people I interviewed is a woman I’ll call “Paula.” She’s an executive who currently manages a sizable foundation. Prior to this, she owned her own business. She has about seven years of experience in philanthropy and she spends a lot of time working with nonprofits. Paula did two things throughout her interviews: She hesitated when asked to speak her mind and she frequently deferred to other people’s opinions. Despite her decades of professional experience, she still leaned on the ideas of others to make sense of the world.</p>
<p>Developmental theorists – scholars of how people grow and change over time – like <a href="https://www.gse.harvard.edu/faculty/robert-kegan">Robert Kegan</a> and <a href="http://www.williamrtorbert.com/global-leadership-profile/">William Torbert</a> would describe this as “an early stage of development,” by which they mean being unable to separate your own ideas from what others think. Therefore, Paula leans on others’ ideas, experience and feelings to decide what to do.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223037/original/file-20180613-32339-x0m9zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223037/original/file-20180613-32339-x0m9zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223037/original/file-20180613-32339-x0m9zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223037/original/file-20180613-32339-x0m9zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223037/original/file-20180613-32339-x0m9zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223037/original/file-20180613-32339-x0m9zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223037/original/file-20180613-32339-x0m9zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223037/original/file-20180613-32339-x0m9zo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The Thinker’ at the Musee Rodin in Paris.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/paris-aug-3-thinker-musee-rodin-665293516?src=xLYDMFQMIaiWCy_e53py7Q-1-3">Shutterstock/Susan Montgomery</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Middle stages</h2>
<p>“Joseph” is a businessman with decades of experience donating to nonprofits, working on nonprofit boards and serving as a nonprofit executive director. He feels confident that he’s learned a thing or two about how nonprofits should be managed. When I asked what he wanted other philanthropists to know, he said most nonprofits should probably close down.</p>
<p>“While they are passion-rich, they’re strategy-poor,” he said. “They are sopping up resources – dollars and board members – for organizations that will never become sustainable or scaled.”</p>
<p>On the surface, his quote may seem like the counsel of a confident person who has been there, done that. What strikes me, however, is that Joseph is doing something Paula is not: expressing his own opinion, based on his experience and expertise.</p>
<p>Developmental theorists would describe this as a “middle stage of development,” in which people draw from a variety of experiences, knowledge and perspectives to come up with their own original ideas.</p>
<p>You might notice one other thing – Joseph doesn’t question his own opinion. He argues that the only reason to run a nonprofit is to make a big impact on the problems addressed by its mission. He does not wonder if there might be other valid reasons, such as developing community-based relationships, addressing local needs or providing services to populations not served by larger programs. The ability to question your own assumptions marks the transition from middle to later stages of development.</p>
<h2>Later stages</h2>
<p>“Phyllis” is another successful executive and a longtime philanthropist. She once took part in a nonprofit evaluation conference just for the sake of learning. There, she attended a session on a new way for donors to evaluate the causes they support.</p>
<p>She noticed audience members hanging their heads, perhaps lamenting that their old ways of doing evaluation were insufficient and they needed to learn yet another new technique to do it “right.” Phyllis had a different perspective: “We have to find new ways of talking about impact and evaluating impact, and none of the evaluation methods is going to be the answer.”</p>
<p>She proceeded to consider that philanthropists and foundations needed to change how they were thinking about evaluation – the answer wasn’t a new technique, but an evaluation of why evaluation was done in the first place.</p>
<p>Thinking about the purpose of evaluation, she reasoned, would free leaders and donors from overly rigid approaches. </p>
<p>Here, Phyllis is demonstrating a subtle but important shift from focusing on what to think to focusing on how to think, and specifically to questioning the assumptions behind how and why nonprofits evaluate their programs. In thinking about how to think about evaluation, Phyllis opens up new possibilities for these groups and their donors.</p>
<p>Experts would describe this as a movement toward “a later stage of development,” in which people question and deconstruct the assumptions behind their ideas. It is very rare and most people don’t get to the point where they do this regularly or without effort, according to developmental theorists. </p>
<h2>How donors give</h2>
<p>The dollars Phyllis gives away are no better or more important than Paula’s or Joseph’s. However, if any of them want to solve the complex problems facing humanity today, I believe that they must each think about how they think about these problems.</p>
<p>For example, I observed that donors in earlier stages of development spoke often of what could be described as reactive giving – donations that address what feels like urgent, immediate needs, like feeding the homeless right away.</p>
<p>Donors in middle stages of development preferred to make strategic gifts that resulted in outcomes they considered to be important, such as increasing the number of low-income students who go to college.</p>
<p>Donors in later stages of development talked about long-term impact. Their discussions interwove the short- and medium-term activities into a long-term, often generational perspective. They often funded educational opportunities that improved staff’s ability to do their job, to build the capacity of the organizations they chose to support.</p>
<p>There is no one right way to give. Each of these perspectives adds value.</p>
<p>While this was a pilot study, my findings are consistent with what developmental scholars have found: How people think – the structure of their thoughts – informs their thoughts and actions. And this, I believe, is worth thinking about. Especially if philanthropists want to solve complex problems.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94609/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer A. Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Thinking about philanthropy in a more complex way may help donors do more good.Jennifer A. Jones, Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Management and Leadership, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.