Despite being small, microbes, and especially bacteria, contribute a lot to the global carbon cycle — the movement of carbon in various forms through nature. Its level in the atmosphere, and so its influence on climate change, is controlled by a series of sources and sinks, such as respiration and photosynthesis respectively.

Now, new research from Imperial College London and University of Exeter scientists has shown that, when warmed, bacterial communities that have matured to co-operate release more carbon dioxide (CO₂) than communities that are in competition with each other.

The results are published in Nature Microbiology.

Co-author Dr Tom Clegg, who led the theory development from the Department of Life Sciences (Silwood Park) at Imperial, said: “Our findings have far-reaching implications given the significant contributions that bacterial communities make to the carbon cycle. We show that changes in bacterial species interactions can rapidly and substantially increase the carbon emissions from natural ecosystems worldwide.”

Bacteria — like humans — respire, taking in oxygen and releasing CO₂. Of the many factors that control their level of respiration, temperature is particularly important.

Bacteria form communities of different species in all habitable environments, including in soil, puddles, and in our guts. When communities first form, the bacterial species are often ‘competitive’, each trying to get the best resources.

However, over time these communities mature to co-operate by facilitating each other’s resource use. In this scenario, each species plays a role in the community that ensures its overall ‘health’, for example several species working together to decompose leaf litter to access the nutrients.

Previously, researchers had assumed that the response of bacterial communities to rising temperatures was mainly governed by individual species’ metabolism changes: as the environment warms, individual cells have to respire faster to survive. However, as these species interact, the team behind the new paper wanted to test if the level of co-operation in the community changed this picture.

They built a mathematical model that showed co-operative communities are more sensitive to warming, meaning that as temperatures rise, they release CO₂ at an accelerated rate. The team tested their model in lab experiments with communities from geothermal streams in Iceland, which showed that a shift from competition to facilitation caused a 60% increase in the sensitivity of community respiration to warming.

Dr Francisca García from the Environment and Sustainability Institute at the University of Exeter (Penryn) said: “Researchers should incorporate this phenomenon in models as it has the potential to substantially improve the accuracy of predictions about the effects of ongoing and future climate change on the global carbon cycle.

“Indeed, new bacterial communities are assembling on melting glaciers and permafrost driven by climate change as we speak, and as they become more cooperative, this will likely amplify the carbon emissions from these rapidly changing environments.”

Every year about 20 billion pairs of footwear are produced across the globe. Unfortunately, the fashion industry is known for pollution, an immense water and carbon footprint, and poor working conditions. However, a handful of footwear companies are creating fundamentally more sustainable products and inspiring corporate giving programs.

These innovative brands are taking actions such as opting for ocean freight over air freight to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, partnering with BLOOM for algae-based EVA footbeds, and using recycled water bottles in their footwear materials. They are creating fashionable products using bio-based or recycled materials, reducing packaging waste, and paying a living wage to their workers. Let’s explore some of these footwear brands that are leaders in sustainable footwear.

Click to view the comparison chart of the products we tested.

Third-Party Certifications & Ratings

These programs help shoppers identify more sustainable and socially-responsible companies that meet a higher standard.

• Fashion Transparency Index ranks 250 of the world’s largest fashion brands and retailers using their public disclosure of human rights and environmental policies, practices, and impacts throughout their supply chains and operations.
• PETA-Approved Vegan products feature vegan alternatives to animal-derived materials, such as leather and fur, so this certification allows shoppers to identify cruelty-free products easily.
• Bluesign-Approved textile materials meet criteria for pollution control, promoting occupational safety and consumer health.
• Carbon Negative certification shows a company is accounting for its impact on the planet and is beyond carbon neutral.
• Leather Working Group (LWG) certifications help ensure a more “responsible and transparent leather supply chain” and include an auditing standard.
• Forest Stewardship Council-certified forests are responsibly managed and provide environmental, social, and economic benefits.
• Carbon Neutral certification uses the Carbon Neutral protocol to measure, mitigate, and offset emissions to achieve carbon neutrality.

Casual Shoes & Sneakers

This comfortable footwear is ideal for less formal settings and prioritizes comfort.

Water-Repellent Shoes – Allbirds Wool Runner-Up Mizzle Plus for Women (also available for men)

The Mizzle Plus is a super cozy merino wool shoe with a water-repellent shield. This is quite an innovation because Allbirds has made a high-top with biobased materials that can withstand some rain and relatively cold temperatures. Still, we don’t recommend jumping in rain puddles with them. The Allbird Runner-up Mizzle Plus is an impressive shoe on our list that combines comfort, functionality, and style with some remarkable sustainability features.

These Allbirds are made with ZQ-certified merino wool and FSC-certified natural rubber soles. Whereas some shoe manufacturers use concerning chemicals, Allbirds uses an ECO Passport-certified (OEKO-TEX), fluorine-free water repellent shield. The company is a leader in sustainable footwear, has been a certified B Corp since 2016, and has a score of 89.4.

Allbirds is on track to cut its carbon emissions to near zero by 2030. It uses renewable energy, maximizes ocean shipping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and supports regenerative agriculture for wool production.

Fit: True to size, available only in whole sizes

Road Running Shoe – Brooks Ghost 15 for Women

The Ghost is Brooks’ first carbon-neutral running shoe, and the Ghost 15 has 6% fewer carbon emissions than the Ghost 14. The company performed a lifecycle assessment that included the materials production, product assembly, packaging, distribution, and end-of-life to understand the impact and make incremental improvements.

All the upper materials contain a high percentage of recycled content, and they offset emissions with carbon credits. The Ghost line shows how Brooks is taking steps to be a more environmentally friendly brand, but it would be great to see a higher percentage of recycled content in Brook and carbon offsets more widely used throughout Brooks products. The Ghost 15 is available for both men and women and in a variety of colors.

Although Brooks Sports has set some clear sustainability goals, such as net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, we’d like to see shorter timelines. It is slowly transitioning to a circular business model that also incorporates recycled polyester and nylon yarn in footwear and apparel and aims to use 50% biobased or recycled content by 2030. It received a relatively low rating by the Fashion Transparency Index 2022 of 27, considerably lower than New Balance (41), ASICS (44), Reebok (48), Adidas (51), Nike (53), Converse (53), and Puma (58). but did fairly well in the policies and commitments category, so improvements may be on the horizon.

Fit: True to size

Sneakers – Cariuma Low Top 4oceans for Women (also available for men)

This limited-edition shoe is a classic Cariuma low top that celebrates Worlds Ocean Day 2022 and supports 4ocean’s worldwide cleanup initiatives. With each pair, 2 pounds of plastic and debris is removed from coastlines, oceans, and rivers. This casual vegan sneaker has more cushion and arch support than you might expect, thanks to its insoles that contain cork and mamona oil. They come in three colors (blue, white, or gray), and all have the classic cap-toe design. These sneakers are available in both men’s and women’s, and seem durable and well-made.

The shoes are made largely of post-consumer recycled plastics and organic cotton. Cariuma plants two trees in Brazil for every pair of shoes they sell as part of its mission to restore biodiversity and the carbon-capturing ability of rainforests. The company has an impressive list of certifications, including Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), bluesign-certified chemicals, Global Recycled Standard certification, and OEKO-TEX. It also uses innovative bio-based materials, such as bamboo, cork, and sugarcane.

Fit: Cariumas are true to size.

Sneakers – Cariuma OCA Highs for Women (also available for men)

These high-top sneakers feature a timeless design rooted in the culture of skateboarding and surfing but with a modern makeover. We find them more comfortable than Converse and Vans, in part due to the memory foam insoles (described above). The OCA highs come in both men’s and women’s, and there are various colors and material options for the upper fabric and three sole colors.

Cariuma sources leather and suede materials from Leather Working Group (LWG) Gold-rated suppliers and all of the water used in the tanning process is recycled and reused.

Fit: Cariumas are true to size.

Casual Orthotic Shoes – Therafit Sienna Sidezip Sport for Women

If you are looking to combine style and exceptional comfort, the Sienna is an excellent choice. One of the first things we noticed when wearing these shoes is how they naturally encouraged us to stand up straight and walk without caving in the arches. If you’ve ever had the experience of a yoga teacher instructing you to stand with proper alignment and posture, these shoes magically and effortlessly achieve this.

Therafit shoes, sandals, and boots feature patented technology designed to prevent foot pain and support proper alignment, so it’s no wonder they are American Podiatric Medical Association-approved. The Therafit Sienna comes in many colors and has a functional side zipper.

Therafit has been a Certified B Corp since 2013, says that philanthropy is part of its DNA, and donates $1 to the non-profit of your choice for every pair of Therafit shoes sold. It partners with non-profits working in “medical research, education, and the preservation of our planet and its resources.” Although we are impressed with Therafit’s philanthropic endeavors, it would be great to see greater use of recycled and bio-based materials in its orthotic footwear.

Fit: Therafit shoes are not true to size and run a bit small. We suggest ordering a half or full size larger than normal.

Waterproof Footwear

The following shoes are waterproof and ideal for wet weather and exploring the outdoors.

Waterproof Snow Boots – Bogs Bozeman Tall Yulex Boots for Men

Made of Yulex Natural Rubber from FSC-certified forests, these boots are both durable and 30% lighter than comparable boots. In addition, these seamless boots are super rugged and perform very well in rain, snow, and cold conditions. We’ve owned several pairs of insulated Bogs boots that have kept our toes warm in very frigid weather and lasted for years despite heavy use. These Yulex boots might be our most durable pair yet. Although these boots are for men, there are similar Yulex snow boots available for women.

Bogs has been making some impressive strides to become a sustainable company and reduce its “carbon bootprint.” It is partnering with BLOOM to use algae-based EVA footbeds across its entire line, helping promote water quality and healthy ecosystems. It sources leather from LWG Gold-rated tanneries, and its durafresh odor protection technology uses probiotics instead of pesticides. Its rubber factories reduce waste by using up to 40% post-consumer recycled material, and the Classic Casual line features recycled laces, outsoles, webbing, textiles, and binding.

Fit: True to size, available only in whole sizes

Waterproof Hiking Sneaker – Forsake Cascade Trail for Women (also available for men)

This is an excellent shoe for colder or wet weather and is an excellent choice for exploring the great outdoors. The Cascade Trail is available in four colors and is rugged yet lightweight. Forsake is also partnering with BLOOM to create an EVA footbed that is 20% algae-based, which helps promote clean water and air. These hiking sneakers also have a men’s line.

Forsake is taking numerous steps to be a sustainable company, such as being Climate Neutral certified, offering UPS carbon-neutral shipping, and transporting footwear from Asian factories via ocean instead of air freight. It uses 100% recycled packaging and sources LWG Gold-rated leather (for its non-vegan products). Forsake works to reduce its carbon footprint through efficiency improvements and its carbon offsets in 2021 supported Envira Amazonia, a rainforest conservation project in Brazil.

Fit: True to size

Winter Hiking Boot – Icebug Stride BUGrip for Women

Icebug makes it easy to stay active in icy winter conditions with its studded shoes and boots. The BUGrip outsoles have 16 steel studs plus some rubber soles that grip ice and provide excellent stability.

Because we live in Midcoast Maine and it can get very icy here, we have traction cleats or crampons that we can put over our boots or shoes as needed. But these don’t offer the same stability as a product with studs built into the shoe. Icebug also makes studded winter running shoes and other traction footwear products for both men and women. The Stride BUGrip boots are super warm, have a wide toe box, and have a recycled polyester fleece lining and a waterproof coating. The midsoles are 20% BLOOM foam and contain 28% recycled materials.

Icebug is a Swedish company that became the first “climate positive” footwear company in 2019 by offsetting 200% of its carbon emissions. It continues to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and increase the use of renewable energy in its Tier 1 factories. As a company that doesn’t use air freight from its factories to the warehouse, it dramatically reduces carbon emissions, but the company has to allow longer lead times. Icebug is also reducing the number of materials it uses and switching to more sustainable alternatives that consume less water and require fewer chemicals, and it uses bluesign-approved textile materials.

Fit: True to size, allows a bit of extra space for thick socks

Waterproof Shoe – Native Nova Hydroknit for Women

This knit shoe features a waterproof membrane made from 50% recycled PET yarn with water and stain-resistant spray protection. It features a light rubber outsole. The stretchy fabric hugs the foot yet keeps it dry and warm, so it’s ideal for cold or wet weather. We find them relatively easy to get on and off, but that might not be the case for someone with wide feed.

Native has taken an innovative approach to sustainability in creating its limited-edition Plant Shoe, a compostable, plant-based shoe made from materials including jute, pineapple husk, linen, and treated with natural oils. The Remix Project gives used shoes a second life and recycles them into playground equipment or donates them to other good causes. Simply request a free shipping label online and drop them off at a UPS location. Plus, Native Shoes has set ambitious greenhouse emissions reductions targets for 2030.

Fit: True to size

Boots

These eco-friendly boots feature natural rubber, vegan leather, and Leather Working Group-certified leather.

Paddock Boots – Nisolo Carmen Chelsea Boot, Sold by Made Trade for Women

This is another excellent product that combines style, comfort, and sustainability. These Chelsea boots have a stacked leather heel, water-resistant leather upper, and a memory foam insole. It took a day or two to break them in, which is common with leather shoes. Unlike many of the shoes featured in this article, the toe box is relatively slender, and they have a slightly elegant look.

Nisolo uses 95% LWG-certified leather, which is always a byproduct of the meat industry and is sourced from the United States and northern Mexico. The company has an impressive 115.4 B Corp score, which increased from 89 in 2017, showing Nisolo is dedicated to making sustainability improvements. The boots are made in an ethical factory in Peru that Nisolo owns and operates.

Made Trade and Nisolo are an excellent combo because Made Trade carries ethically made and sustainably sourced goods and offers carbon-neutral shipping. Its rigorous application process examines the manufacturing process, materials, labor practices, third-party verifications, and more to ensure it meets Made Trade’s core values of “equity, sustainability, and transparency.”

Fit: Not true to size and tend to run small; order a bit larger than your usual shoe size

Leather Boots – Timberland Grayfield Women’s Boots for Women

These Timberlands are surprisingly lightweight and comfortable yet sturdy. Be prepared for lots of compliments when you wear them because these boots are stylin’. They are reasonably priced and have moderate but not significant arch support. Although we haven’t tried them out in warmer weather, they probably will fare better because they are so light despite a thick sole. Grayfield boots feature a ReBOTL lining made from processed PET bottles.

Timberland is also achieving some impressive sustainability milestones, such as using nearly 500,000 pounds of recycled rubber in its footwear annually. Timberloop, its circular design platform, refurbishes gently-used gear or else reuses and recycles materials, and it sources leather from LWG gold and silver tanneries.

Timberland also ranks high in the Fashion Transparency Index 2022, rating 66. Although this might not sound like a stellar score, it’s among the top-performing brands. We are impressed that Timberland, which was founded in 1952, has made so much progress within such a large and well-established company.

Fit: Not true to size and tend to run big; so order a bit smaller than your usual shoe size

Vegan Leather Dock Boots – Will’s Vegan Store Dock Boots for Men

These boots feature water-resistant Italian vegan leather with 69% bio-based content. They have excellent treads and are a vegan version of classic dock boots. Unfortunately, many products are out of stock on the website, making it a bit tricky to order, but the company certainly takes sustainability seriously.

Will’s Vegan Store launched in 2013 as an ethically made, cruelty-free footwear company, and it’s interesting watching its subsequent sustainability progress. It became certified carbon neutral certified in 2016. It introduced bio-based content into its vegan leather in 2017, recycled options in 2019, and now has a fully biodegradable sneaker. While its vegan suede is 100% polyurethane, it is seeking more sustainable alternatives. Also, customers can mail back their footwear at the end of life for recycling.

Fit: True to size, uses European sizing

Flats & Flip Flops

This footwear is ideal for warmer weather or indoor use.

Slide Sandal – Indosole Slide for Women (also available for men)

We love many of the sustainable features of these handmade sandals, but were disappointed with overall comfort. Indosole uses minimal packaging, and the soles are made from old tires from Indonesian landfills. There is also a layer of natural rubber between the recycled tires and the footbed. The company also has active in corporate giving programs, such as providing food to Bali, Indonesia, families when the tourism industry collapsed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated travel restrictions.

While the waterproof slides are well made and attractive, we found them less comfortable than expected, despite the contoured footbed. The soles were quite rigid and the footbed texture felt rough against the foot.

Indosoles was created with a vision of finding a useful purpose for spent tires, which can be a breeding ground for mosquito-borne illnesses in tropical climates. Tires are not biodegradable and are sometimes burned, creating toxic fumes. To date, Indosoles has kept more than 80,000 tires from landfills.

Fit: Indosole slides aren’t available in half sizes. We recommend a larger size if you’re between sizes.

Flip Flops – Sanuk Ziggy Flip Flops for Men

This lightweight flip flop is comfortable and features a nice mesh material. The midsoles are thick and bouncy and are slightly contoured. Sanuk makes a variety of products for men, women, and children, including sandals, slippers, sneakers, and loafers. The company has been making numerous sustainability strides.

Sanuk moved the majority of its production from China to Vietnam, which helped reduce the carbon footprint of its products because Vietnam uses a lot of hydropower, while China generates a lot of electricity from coal. The company is taking steps to reduce waste, conserve water, and avoid hazardous chemicals.

It sources many natural and recycled materials, like straw, hemp, and recycled cotton, polyester, and EVA. For example, its new Veg Out collection is 100% plant-based and made with recycled natural materials. Although most of its products are vegan, when it does use leather, it sources it from LWG tanneries. Sanuk performed a lifecycle analysis of its packaging and has been using less plastic and paper.

Fit: True to size

Flats – Rothy’s Mary Jane for Women

This versatile flat features a flexible sole and square toe, and it hugs the foot with a strap. Rothy’s Mary Janes are super comfortable, soft, and machine washable. The shoes are made from recycled water bottles, and the outsoles contain some natural rubber.

Rothy’s uses recycled water bottles in all its products and has repurposed millions of water bottles to date. It also uses ocean-bound marine plastics in bags and algae-based foam in its sandals. The company also offsets carbon emissions with CarbonFund.org and owns and operates its own LEED-certified factory in China, which it says makes it easier to reduce waste and implement sustainable innovation.

Fit: True to size

Footbeds

Quality shot insoles can help boost alignment, maintain proper arch support, and improve weight distribution.

Insoles – Sole Performance Medium with Met Pad (Unisex)

This footbed is designed to relieve foot pain by distributing weight and pressure and supporting the natural alignment of the foot bones. These inserts are a simple way to revamp a pair of shoes that isn’t comfortable or that lacks arch support. We find them ideal for sneakers, hiking boots, and running shoes. They quickly became a product we use almost daily.

You can either heat the footbed in the oven at 200° F for 2 minutes or wear them for a few days to have them naturally mold to your foot. Because they are temperature sensitive, avoid leaving them in the car on hot days or in direct sunlight.

They are made with ReCORK recycled wine corks, a material that is naturally antimicrobial and is overwhelmingly carbon negative. Sole also uses BLOOM algae foam, a bio-based material that partially replaces the fossil-fuel-based material in its sandals. Algae is a quickly renewable resource and harvesting it helps protect natural ecosystems from harmful algae blooms.

Fit: Sole Insoles are not available in half sizes. If in between sizes, order half a size up and trim them down.

Leading the Way Towards More Sustainable Footwear

Although the footwear industry isn’t known for being sustainable, numerous companies that are sourcing cleaner materials, minimizing emissions, and using cruelty-free materials. We were especially impressed by the sustainability initiatives and ingenuity of Allbirds, Bogs, Cariuma, Forsake, Icebug, Indosole, Nisolo, Rothy, Sanuk, Sole, and Will’s Vegan Shoes. These companies are leading the industry toward a greener and cleaner future.

Such genetic experiments — typically conducted in the laboratory in animal models such as mice and zebrafish — have been a mainstay of developmental biology research for decades. Much can be learned about a gene’s function in animal studies in which a gene is missing or overexpressed, but these experiments are also expensive and time-consuming.

In contrast, the newly developed software called CellOracle — described Feb. 8 in the journal Nature — can model hundreds of genetic experiments in a matter of minutes, helping scientists identify key genes that play important roles in development but that may have been missed by older, slower techniques. CellOracle is open source, with the code and information about the software available at this link.

“The scientific community has collected enough data from animal experiments that we now can do more than observe biology happening — we can build computer models of how genes interact with each other and predict what will happen when one gene is missing,” said senior author Samantha A. Morris, PhD, an associate professor of developmental biology and of genetics. “And we can do this without any experimental intervention. Once we identify an important gene, we still need to do the lab experiments to verify the finding. But this computational method helps scientists narrow down which genes are most important.”

CellOracle, which was included in a recent technology feature in the journal Nature, is one of a number of relatively new software systems designed to model insights into cellular gene regulation. Rather than simply identify the networks, CellOracle is unique in its ability to let researchers test out what happens when a network is disrupted in a specific way.

Morris and her team harnessed the well-known developmental processes of blood cell formation in mice and humans and embryonic development in zebrafish to validate that CellOracle works properly. Their studies, in collaboration with the lab of co-author and zebrafish development expert Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, PhD, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor and head of the Department of Developmental Biology, also uncovered new roles for certain genes in zebrafish development that had not previously been identified.

And in a related paper online in the journal Stem Cell Reports, Morris and her colleagues used CellOracle to predict what happens when certain genes are dialed up beyond their usual expression levels.

“We found that if we dialed up two specific genes, we can transform skin cells into a type of cell that can repair damaged intestine and liver,” Morris said. “In terms of regenerative medicine, these predictive tools are valuable in modeling how we can reprogram cells into becoming the types of cells that can promote healing after injury or disease.”

According to Morris, most laboratory methods for converting stem cells into different cell types, such as blood cells or liver cells, are inefficient. Maybe 2% of the cells arrive at the desired destination. Tools like CellOracle can help scientist identify what factors should be added to the cocktail to guide more cells into the desired cell type, such as those capable repairing the gut and liver.

At present, CellOracle can model cell identity in more than 10 different species, including humans, mice, zebrafish, yeast, chickens, Guinea pigs, rats, fruit flies, roundworms, the Arabidopsis plant and two species of frog.

“We get a lot of requests to add different species,” Morris said. “We’re working on adding axolotl, which is a type of salamander. They are cool animals for studying regeneration because of their ability to regrow entire limbs and other complex organs and tissues.”

A new paper studying terrestrial amplification focuses on how geochemical records of past climate on land and at the sea surface allow scientists to better predict the extent to which land will warm more than oceans — and will also get drier — due to current and future greenhouse gas emissions. “The core idea of our study was to look to the past to better predict how future warming will unfold differently over land and sea,” says Alan Seltzer, an assistant scientist in the Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the lead author of the paper.

“One reason why understanding terrestrial amplification matters is that under future global warming, the magnitude of warming that the planet will experience is not going to be the same everywhere,” says Seltzer. “Adding a firm basis to climate model simulations, that is rooted in observations of past climate and basic physics, can tell us about how the regional differences in ongoing and future warming.” Seltzer notes that terrestrial amplification (TA) is analogous to “polar amplification,” a prediction of climate models that higher latitudes will experience more warming than low latitudes.

Although modern observational records are noisy due to big year-to-year variations driven by other parts of the climate system, the prediction of greater warming over land surfaces is now apparent in climate data since the 1980s. The drivers of this terrestrial amplification have been linked to changes in moisture over land and sea, through a theory developed by climate scientists over the past decade. This new study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, “uses paleoclimate data for the first time to evaluate the theory for how land and sea surfaces will be impacted by future warming,” Seltzer says. “The research gives us more certainty in the way models predict regional changes in future warming.”

The paper investigates terrestrial amplification during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) — which occurred about 20,000 years ago — in the low latitudes, which they define as 30?S-30?N. It is in those latitudes, the authors say, where the theoretical basis for TA is most applicable. The authors drew on new compilations of paleoclimate records on land and from the sea surface to estimate the magnitude of TA in the LGM, to compare with climate model simulations and theoretical expectations. Efforts to better understand how cold the continents were in the LGM are an ongoing focus of Seltzer’s research at WHOI, and this new paper builds upon a recent study that used insights from dissolved gases trapped in ancient groundwater as a thermometer for the past land surface.

The authors extended a thermodynamic theory for terrestrial amplification that is based on coupled changes in moist static energy (the potential energy represented by the temperature, moisture content, and elevation of a parcel of air) between land and sea. In the LGM, when sea level was 120 meters lower than today due to the growth of large ice sheets on land, the sea surface was slightly warmer and more humid than it would have been without a change in sea level. By taking this effect into account and drawing on paleoclimate records, the authors were able to directly compare past terrestrial amplification to future predictions. The paper notes that while the mechanisms underlying TA are well understood to arise from fundamental thermodynamic differences between humid air over the ocean and drier air over land, a number of factors — natural variability, observational limitations, thermal lags, and non-CO₂ forcings — have previously precluded a precise estimate of TA from 20^th century warming. “Narrowing the range of terrestrial amplification will aid in future predictions of low latitude climate change, with relevance to both heat stress and water availability,” the paper states.

Co-author Pierre-Henri Blard says the paper is a “step forward for climate science,” and it will be significant for other scientific fields and the general public. “We show that a simple model, involving humidity and sea level changes, robustly describes the amplification of temperature changes over the continent — at low to mid-latitudes at any time scale — as being 40% larger than over the ocean. This result is important because, while most paleoclimatic archives are located in the ocean, the present and future of humanity crucially rely on our knowledge of continental climates,” says Blard, a Director of Research at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the Center for Petrographic and Geochemical Research (CRPG) in Nancy, France.

The research is important “because it helps us make sense of Earth’s past climate record and how to relate it to our models and expectations for the future,” co-author Steven Sherwood says. The paper “should clear up any misconceptions that land and ocean warm or cool at the same rate in different climates — we know otherwise and should use that knowledge. The implications for the future are that Earth’s continents will continue to warm faster than the oceans as global warming continues, until hopefully we reach net zero and bring this to a stop,” says Sherwood, a professor in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes in the University of New South Wales’s Climate Change Research Center, Sydney, Australia.

Co-author Masa Kageyama says she considers the paper important “because it touches on a feature which is ubiquitous in climate change projections, produced by complex climate models: continents warm more than oceans. In this paper, we analyze this feature for a climate change, from the last glacial maximum to present, the amplitude of which is of the same order of magnitude as the expected warming in the next centuries,” says Kageyama, director of research at CNRS’ Climate and Environment Sciences Laboratory (LSCE) at the Pierre Simon Laplace Institute at the University of Paris-Saclay, France.

“It is remarkable that tropical temperature reconstructions, state-of-the-art climate models, and a simple theory relying on the coupled changes of moisture and heat over continents and oceans all converge to provide a robust estimate of terrestrial amplification,” says Kageyama. “In my view, this strengthens the projections for future climate change, and at the same time brings new understanding of past climate changes.”

Funding for this research was provided by a National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences award and by the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

While we can already feel the effects of climate change on our skins, the majority of the European population still does not consider climate change, the environment, and energy to be among the most pressing issues for national policymaking. Support from the public, however, is crucial to enable stringent and sustainable environmental policy in democracies.

To raise the motivation of the general population towards climate action, we need to know which factors drive concern in people for the climate and the environment. In a new study published in Global Environmental Change, Jonas Peisker, a researcher in the IIASA Population and Just Societies Program, addressed how environmental preferences in 206 European regions are shaped by socioeconomic, geographical, and meteorological circumstances.

“I wanted to offer a data-driven perspective on the determinants of environmental concern that highlights the relevance of individuals’ embeddedness in socioeconomic and environmental contexts,” explains Peisker. “While previous research has only considered a few contextual influences at a time, this study allows for a comparison of their relative importance, including also factors that differ mostly between regions, such as inequality, income level, or geographical features.”

To find determinants of environmental concern, Peisker used the method of Bayesian Model Averaging based on 25 Eurobarometer surveys conducted between 2009 and 2019 combined with measures of the regional economy, population, geography, environmental quality, and meteorological events.

The study found that favorable economic contexts, such as a relatively high income level and low inflation, foster environmental concern. This is likely related to the idea of a “finite pool of worry” in which more immediate issues like economic security crowd out less immediate issues like climate policy. Interestingly, rising energy prices only lowered environmental concerns up to a certain point at which environmental concerns started to rise as well. At this point, energy supply could become an issue which raises environmental concerns in itself.

The results showed that a more equal distribution of income and wealth had a positive impact on the prioritization of environmental issues, suggesting that social cohesion is beneficial for green concerns. Moreover, Peisker found that regions with greenhouse gas-intensive industries had lower environmental concern among locals. This could be related to worries about the potential effects of environmental policies on economic competitiveness in the transition from fossil to clean technology. While environmental factors, such as having a low-elevation coastline, also influence environmental concern, overall, the socioeconomic context proved more important.

“The results of the study emphasize that social cohesion and a just transition to carbon neutrality are key for the bottom-up support for environmental policy,” says Peisker. “Climate policy and environmental protection are likely to be unpopular if they are increasing income and wealth inequality, inflation, and unemployment. Therefore, a way to support climate action could be to emphasize the co-benefits of environmental policy, for instance, positive employment effects of the transition to renewable energy sources.”

The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes celebrates inspiring young people from across the U.S. and Canada who are making the world a better place. The young heroes we honor demonstrate that anyone can make a difference, no matter their age. We shine the spotlight on these dedicated young people to inspire countless others with their examples.

If you know a young person making a difference, be sure to encourage them to apply for our 2023 awards cycle. The online application is now open so young leaders can access it and begin compiling their materials. Applications are due April 15, with winners announced in late September.

Established in 2001 by author T. A. Barron, the Barron Prize annually honors 25 outstanding young leaders ages 8 to 18 who have made a significant positive difference to people or the environment. Fifteen top winners each receive $10,000 to support their service work or higher education.

Meet Recent Winners of the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes

Here are some of the fantastic things that recent winners are doing to help protect the planet, along with their encouraging and insightful words of wisdom.

Anna De Volld founded Promote Our Pollinators to raise awareness of pollinators’ importance and devastating decline and to provide ways to promote their population growth.

“Find something you’re passionate about, no matter how small, and see how you can use it to change the world,” says Anna.

Aseel Rawashdeh developed an inexpensive and environmentally friendly solution to mosquito-borne diseases, creating a larvicide that could be produced in industrial quantities.

“I’ve realized the power of dedicating myself to a cause,” says Aseel. “What kept me going was the prospect of contributing a solution to a global issue.”

Austin Picinich founded Save Our Salmon Through Art to create vibrant public art projects in the Greater Seattle area that engage, educate, and empower communities to restore salmon spawning streams.

“I’ve learned that the power of WE can start with one person — even if that person is just a high schooler who likes art,” says Austin.

Jack Dalton, known as the Kid Conservationist, works to protect critically endangered orangutans and their rainforest habitat, as well as to educate and inspire people to protect the environment.

“I’ve learned that I can take on challenging causes and persevere because it’s the right thing to do,” says Jack. “If you want something to change, you need to do something about it.”

Karina Samuel founded the Florida chapter of Bye Bye Plastic Bags, an international student-led nonprofit committed to reducing the amount of plastic on the planet.

“I believe those who have the power to fight for change have the responsibility to do so,” says Karina.

Laalitya Acharya invented Nereid, a low-cost, globally applicable device that uses artificial intelligence to detect water contamination within seconds.  Her hands-on educational programs, now offered online, have reached thousands of people in nearly a dozen countries.

“Our story has just begun and I’m so excited to see where it goes!” says Laalitya.

Lucy Westlake founded LucyClimbs to raise awareness of the need for clean water in developing countries by climbing the world’s highest mountains. She is the youngest American woman ever to summit Everest.

“I want to inspire a generation of young people to use their gifts and passions to make the world a better place,” says Lucy. “If not me, then who? If not now, then when?”

Luna Abadía founded the Effective Climate Action Project to increase awareness of solutions to climate change – especially the possibilities of systemic thinking and collective action.

“Youth have the strongest voice in this fight. We’re the ones with passion and the ability to view the world with hope,” says Luna. “No one is ever too young to raise their voice and make a difference.”

Sri Nihal Tammana created Recycle My Battery, a nonprofit that installs free battery recycling bins and educates young people and adults about battery recycling.

“Earth gives us so much – oxygen, food, water – so it’s important that we give something back when we can,” says Nihal. 

William Charouhis founded We Are Forces of Nature and its A Million Mangroves initiative to combat climate change and protect coastlines from the effects of sea level rise.

“Youth have a can-do attitude, says Will. “We don’t understand bureaucracy, so we don’t let it stop us.”

Do You Know a Future Young Hero?

The Barron Prize celebrates the efforts of youth who have demonstrated initiative, tenacity, courage, intelligence, generosity, and high moral purpose. We invite public-spirited young people across North America to visit barronprize.org for more information about the application requirements.

Come April 15, we’ll begin reviewing applications, a process that spans months and calls on the heads and hearts of our judging committee. It’s truly inspiring to review hundreds of applications from courageous and compassionate young people. And honestly, it’s a daunting task to choose just 25 young heroes from them. Still, after a great deal of deliberation and debate, we always arrive at a group of winners and honorees who embody so much goodness. It’s an honor to shine the spotlight on them so that their work and heroic ideals can inspire us all.

About the Author

Barbara Ann Richman helped launch the Barron Prize in 2001 and has served as its executive director ever since. With degrees from the University of Virginia and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, she has taught elementary school in the Boston area, directed educational programming at a regional nature center in Colorado, and taught at Fort Lewis College. She has also developed curricula for the U.S. Forest Service and numerous environmental organizations.

A team of researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC have now begun to document the actual impact of electric vehicle adoption in the first study to use real-world data to link electric cars, air pollution and health. Leveraging publicly available datasets, the researchers analyzed a “natural experiment” occurring in California as residents in the state rapidly transitioned to electric cars, or light-duty zero emissions vehicles (ZEVs). The results were just published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

The team compared data on total ZEV registration, air pollution levels and asthma-related emergency room visits across the state between 2013 to 2019. As ZEV adoption increased within a given zip code, local air pollution levels and emergency room visits dropped.

“When we think about the actions related to climate change, often it’s on a global level,” said Erika Garcia, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine and the study’s lead author. “But the idea that changes being made at the local level can improve the health of your own community could be a powerful message to the public and to policy makers.”

The researchers also found that while total ZEVs increased over time, adoption was considerably slower in low-resource zip codes — what the researchers refer to as the “adoption gap.” That disparity points to an opportunity to restore environmental justice in communities that are disproportionately affected by pollution and related health problems.

“The impacts of climate change on health can be challenging to talk about because they can feel very scary,” said Sandrah Eckel, PhD, an associate professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine and the study’s senior author. “We’re excited about shifting the conversation towards climate change mitigation and adaptation, and these results suggest that transitioning to ZEVs is a key piece of that.”

Benefits for health and the climate

To study the effects of electric vehicle adoption, the research team analyzed and compared four different datasets. First, they obtained data on ZEVs (which includes battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cell cars) from the California Department of Motor Vehicles and tabulated the total number registered in each zip code for every year between 2013 and 2019.

They also obtained data from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency air monitoring sites on levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), an air pollutant related to traffic, and zip code level asthma-related visits to the emergency room. Asthma is one of the health concerns long linked with air pollutants such as NO₂, which can also cause and exacerbate other respiratory diseases, as well as problems with the heart, brain and other organ systems.

Finally, the researchers calculated the percentage of adults in each zip code who held bachelor’s degrees. Educational attainment levels are frequently used as an indicator of a neighborhood’s socioeconomic status.

At the zip code level, for every additional 20 ZEVs per 1,000 people, there was a 3.2% drop in the rate of asthma-related emergency visits and a small suggestive reduction in NO₂ levels. On average across zip codes in the state, ZEVs increased from 1.4 to 14.6 per 1,000 people between 2013 and 2019. ZEV adoption was significantly lower in zip codes with lower levels of educational attainment. For example, a zip code with 17% of the population having a bachelor’s degree had, on average, an annual increase of 0.70 ZEVs per 1,000 people compared to an annual increase of 3.6 ZEVs per 1,000 people for a zip code with 47% of the population having a bachelor’s degree.

Past research has shown that underserved communities, such as lower-income neighborhoods, tend to face worse pollution and associated respiratory problems than more affluent areas. If ZEVs replace gas-powered cars in those neighborhoods, they could stand to benefit substantially.

“Should continuing research support our findings, we want to make sure that those communities that are overburdened with the traffic-related air pollution are truly benefiting from this climate mitigation effort,” Garcia said.

More to learn

While climate change is a massive health threat, mitigating it offers a massive public health opportunity, Eckel said. As one of the first studies to quantify the real-world environmental and health benefits of ZEVs, the research can help demonstrate the power of this mitigation measure, including possibly reduced health care utilization and expenditures.

The findings are promising, Garcia said, but many questions remain. Future studies should consider additional impacts of ZEVs, including emissions related to brake and tire wear, mining of materials for their manufacture, and disposal of old cars. The researchers also hope to study additional types of pollutants and other classes of vehicles, in addition to conducting a follow-up study of the effects of the ever-growing share of ZEVs in the state.

Moving forward, transitioning to ZEVs is just one part of the solution, Eckel said. Shifting to public transport and active transport, including walking and biking, are other key ways to boost environmental and public health.

This work was supported by the University of Southern California Office of Research Strategic Directions for Research Award and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [P30ES007048, P2CES033433].