Ask Your Doctor About: Prescribing Activism for Eco-Anxiety in Adolescents

Climate change is an ongoing public health crisis. Efforts to protect future generations\u27 physical and mental health are more urgent than ever. Youth, in particular, are experiencing eco-anxiety, a specific form of anxiety relating to stress or distress caused by environmental changes and one’s knowledge of them due to the climate crisis. This scoping review provides a better understanding of the value of youth climate change activism as a strategy to mitigate eco-anxiety. This review evaluates the current definitions of eco-anxiety, the risk factors for eco-anxiety among adolescents, and considers the benefits and drawbacks of youth activism. To identify relevant literature, I searched various databases, related research suggested by database algorithms, reference lists of resulting literature, and grey literature sources such as global reports and governmental resources. I summarize the findings on eco-anxiety and activism and provide recommendations for future research to inform effective public health practices and policy. As we shift our focus to the societal impacts of climate change, we must elevate the issue of eco-anxiety to protect young people and the future

Natural ventilation versus air pollution: assessing the impact of outdoor pollution on natural ventilation potential in informal settlements in India

Abstract Despite the proven benefits of natural ventilation (NV) as an effective low-carbon solution to meet growing cooling demand, its effectiveness can be constrained by poor outdoor air quality. Here, we propose a modeling approach that integrates highly granular air pollution data with a coupled EnergyPlus and differential equation airflow model to evaluate how NV potential for space cooling changes when accounting for air pollution exposure (PM2.5). Given the high vulnerability of low-income populations to air pollution and the dearth of energy and thermal comfort research on informal settlements, we applied our model to a typical informal settlement residence in two large Indian cities: New Delhi and Bangalore. Our results indicate that outdoor PM2.5 levels have a significant impact on NV potential especially in highly polluted cities like New Delhi. However, we found that low-cost filtration (MERV 14) increased the NV potential by 25% and protected occupants from harmful exposure to PM2.5 with a minor energy penalty of 6%. We further find that adoption of low-cost filtration is a viable low-carbon solution pathway as it provides both thermal comfort and exposure protection at 65% less energy intensity — energy intensity reduced to 60 kWh/m2 from 173.5 kWh/m2 in case of adoption of potentially unaffordable full mechanical air conditioning. Our work highlights ample opportunities for reducing both air pollution and energy consumption in informal settlements across major Indian cities. Finally, our work can guide building designers and policymakers to reform building codes for adopting low-cost air filtration coupled with NV and subsequently reduce energy demand and associated environmental emissions.</jats:p

Cool roofs can mitigate cooling energy demand for informal settlement dwellers

Cities are critical to meeting our sustainable energy goals. Informal settlement redevelopment programs represent an opportunity to improve living conditions and curb increasing demand for active cooling. We introduce an energy modeling framework for informal settlements to investigate how building design decisions influence the onset of heat stress and energy-intensive cooling demand. We show that occupants of tropically-located informal settlements are most vulnerable to prolonged heat stress year-round. Up to 98% of annual heat stress exposure can be mitigated by improving the building envelope. We find a universal solution (cool roofs) that reduces up to 91% of annual heat stress exposure. Finally, we show how proposed redevelopment building schemes could worsen thermal conditions of dwellers and further increase urban energy demand. Our results underscore how building design affects human well-being and highlight potential near-term and long-term pathways for reducing energy-intensive cooling demand for 800+ million informal settlement dwellers worldwide