As climate change intensifies, growing public awareness and gradual changes in behaviour will hopefully translate into transformative motion. We explore how lifestyles and governance systems need to vary to deliver a sustainable, low-carbon future for the UK.

Our research in Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformation suggests that the knowledge, attitudes and behavior of the British public about climate change have improved significantly during the last decade. Recycling rates are rising, energy consumption is decreasingAND polls show that more voters are taking climate change into consideration when selecting which party to vote for.

In the recent scientific workWe reviewed over 240 academic studies to summarise the ways people can act of their different roles to take motion on climate change. We then compared surveys from 2008 and 2022 asking Britons about their knowledge of climate change, their attitudes towards it and their consumer decisions. We call the knowledge, skills and motivation needed to scale back an individual’s carbon footprint ‘carbon capacity’.

In 2008, 66% of respondents said they knew ‘a fair amount’ or ‘a lot’ about climate change; this rose to 80% in 2022. Over the identical period, the proportion of respondents who said they were conversant in the term ‘carbon footprint’ rose from 51% to 68%. We also found that a big majority (81%) of individuals within the UK agree that ‘significant lifestyle changes’ are needed to attain climate targets.

More engagement at home and in stores

Energy efficiency in homes has improved significantly. For example, the proportion of people that say they usually turn off lights in empty rooms has increased from 67.2% in 2008 to 73.3% in 2022.

The percentage of people that usually buy organic, locally produced and seasonal food has increased from 12.6% to 19.2%. The popularity of eating meat is largely influenced by: Demographic aspectsand we found that younger, higher educated, left-leaning people were more more likely to limit the quantity of beef of their food plan.

Recycling rates have also improved since 2008, rising from just over 70% to almost 78% of individuals saying they recycle at home. In 2022, almost 25% said they often buy products with less packaging, up from just 11% in 2008. Younger people and oldsters are much more more likely to buy second-hand, repair or reuse items.

One of the actions aimed toward increasing the capability of the complete population to avoid wasting carbon is let’s discuss climate changeAround two-thirds (64%) of individuals surveyed in 2022 said that they had talked about climate change prior to now month, and again we found that younger, higher educated and more affluent people were most probably to achieve this.

There has been a noticeable increase within the practice of writing to politicians about climate issues (4.9% in 2022, up from 0.4%), which may be attributed to the increased ease of doing so – for instance, using email templates and online petitions. This is consistent with evidence that UK politicians have experienced a major increase generally correspondence lately, particularly in the course of the pandemic.

Bigger and harder changes are needed

Although people reported that that they had increased their efforts to avoid wasting energy at home, more effective measures were introduced, equivalent to the installation of warmth pumps still lagging behind. Structural barriers, particularly those related to home ownership, prevent many individuals from taking motion to enhance energy efficiency. For example, private and social renters could also be more constrained in making these improvements than homeowners.

The percentage of people that say they’re flying less due to climate change has fallen barely, from 23.8% in 2008 to 21.7% in 2022. However, six in 10 people said in the newest survey that they would really like to travel more. Although it was noted noticeable increase in distant work lately it it didn’t amount to to an overall reduction in transport-related emissions amongst UK residents.

There is a growing interest in sustainable food decisions and Meat consumption within the UK is falling. However, our research shows that the proportion of vegetarians and vegans stays relatively low at 7.7%, having fallen by one percentage point since 2008 – although estimates of vegetarianism vary across studies.

Our findings also show that people significantly underestimate food waste. According to food waste charity Wrap, UK households generate a mean of 241 kg of food waste per 12 months – which equates to 16% of all food purchased. However, 91% of respondents to our 2022 survey believed that the food they waste was lower than 10% of what they bought.

There appears to be a growing awareness and commitment to reducing carbon footprints within the UK. Younger, more educated and wealthier people are inclined to be probably the most committed and more in a position to change their lifestyles. This shows how essential addressing socio-economic inequalities might be to any climate solution.

The progress made to this point is commendable, but incremental changes to on a regular basis habits, equivalent to turning off the lights and recycling, have gone further than more effective changes, equivalent to installing low-carbon heating systems or making significant dietary changes. More widespread lifestyle changes are needed to handle the total range of environmental challenges.

Measures to encourage people to make higher decisions about climate are inclined to fail preferred by decision makersIf we’re serious about increasing the UK’s ability to scale back carbon emissions, we want to see more concrete measures, equivalent to removing barriers to make low-carbon living decisions easy, inexpensive and attractive.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — During the heat dome that blanketed much of the Southeast in June, Stacey Freeman used window units to cool her poorly insulated mobile home in Fayetteville, N.C. The 44-year-old mom relied on space heaters during the winter.

In each cases, her energy bills bumped into tons of of dollars a month.

“Sometimes I have to choose whether to pay the electric bill,” Freeman said, “or pay all the rent, buy food, or not let my son play sports?”

As a regional field organizer for PowerUp NC, Freeman’s job is to help people properly weatherize their homes, especially in the Sandhills region where she lives and works and where poverty and rising temperatures make residents vulnerable to the health effects of climate change.

But Freeman’s income is just too high to afford the services she helps others obtain through her grassroots initiative for sustainability, clean energy and environmental justice.

Like a growing variety of Americans, Freeman is battling what is named energy povertyincluding the inability to pay utility bills for heating or cooling the home. Households that spend greater than 6% Some researchers suggest that around 20% of their income from electricity bills goes to the energy poor.

Energy poverty can increase exposure to extreme heat or cold, which increases the risk of respiratory problems, heart problems, allergies, kidney disease and other health problems. And that burden falls disproportionately on households in communities of color, which experience it at a rate 60% higher than in white communities.

Public health and environmental experts say that as climate change continues to drive extreme weather, greater policy efforts are needed to help vulnerable communities, especially during heatwaves.

“Energy poverty is just one example of how climate change can exacerbate existing inequities in our communities,” said Summer Tonizzo, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Extreme heat is the leading explanation for weather-related deaths in the U.S., and the risk increases as temperatures rise. Last yr, 2,302 people died in the U.S. died of heat-related causeswhich is a 44% increase compared to 2021. In one week in early July this yr, extreme heat killed at the very least 28 people, according to The Washington Postbased on reports from government officials, health workers and local media reports.

Yet 1 in 7 households spends about 14% of their income on energy, according to RMI, an energy and sustainability think tank. Nationally 16% of households lives in energy poverty, according to an evaluation co-authored by Noah Kittner, an assistant professor of public health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“Old, inefficient buildings and heating systems force people to supplement their energy needs in ways that increase costs,” Kittner said.

Pregnant women, people with heart or lung disease, young children, older people, and people who work or exercise outdoors are most vulnerable to heat-related health problems. High temperatures have also been linked to mental health problems, equivalent to suicide and severe depression.

Location is one other risk factor. For example, in the historically black community in Raleigh often called Method, temperatures might be 10 to 20 degrees warmer than nearby areas with more vegetation and less development, said La’Meshia Whittington, an environmental justice and clean energy advocate. Interstate 440 runs through Method, and the city stores shuttle buses there, often with their engines running.

“That creates a lot of pollution that heats the area,” Whittington said. “There’s no ground to absorb the heat. Instead, it bounces off the shingles, the roofs, the sidewalks, and creates a furnace.”

Method residents often complain of chronic headaches and respiratory problems, she added.

While rural areas tend to have cooler temperatures than nearby urban areas because they’ve less asphalt and more trees, they often lack resources like health care facilities and cooling centers. Substandard housing and higher poverty rates contribute to high rates of heat-related illnesses.

As Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University, puts it, energy poverty “is about burdens piling up without any means of addressing them at the individual level.”

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In many parts of the country, extreme heat is a comparatively latest problem. Policymakers have historically focused on the risks posed by lower temperatures.

The federal low-income home energy assistance program, established greater than 4 a long time ago, has a funding formula that favors states with a chilly climate over those experiencing extreme heat, according to a Georgetown University study. Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Texas and Nevada have the lowest proportional allocations of federal funds, while North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska have the highest.

North Carolina relies heavily on private donors and local nonprofits like PowerUp to provide fans and air conditioners during the summer, but the state doesn’t subsidize energy bills.

On extremely hot days, Freeman and her colleagues at PowerUp NC work with state health officials to direct vulnerable people to cooling centers.

On a private level, staying cool this summer meant sending my son to a free, open-air recreation center as a substitute of paying for him to play in a sports league.

“We do things that don’t cost anything,” she said. “We’re just trying to keep up with the electric bill.”

Healthbeat is a nonprofit public health newsroom published by Citizen News Company AND KFF Health News. Sign up for newsletters Here.KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth health journalism and is considered one of the major operating programs of KFF, an independent source of health policy research, polling and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

HBCU GO, an Allen Media Group company and leading media provider to the nation’s 107 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Procter & Gamble are joining forces to rejoice HBCU culture.

The partnership features a industrial campaign titled “THIS IS HOW WE HBCYOU” that may run through the 2024 football season. The partnership also includes the “2024 HBCU GO Sports Pre-Game Live Kick-Off Show,” the first-ever HBCU GO live on-campus show leading as much as the most important games of the season, including the Southern Heritage Classic on Saturday between Tennessee State and Arkansas Pine Bluff.

Eric Austin, Vice President of Global Marketing and Media Innovation at Procter & Gamble, said, “We strive to meet the unique needs of all consumers. Together with HBCU GO Allen Media Group, we are able to authentically connect and empower Black consumers—in their everyday lives, through great brand innovation at the right cultural moments.”

P&G’s #HowWeHBCYOU ad campaign, powered by AMG, highlights the importance of supporting HBCUs and their students to support their success and continued growth.

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The “2024 HBCU GO Sports Pre-Game Live Kick-Off Show,” hosted by Jasmine McKoy, former Carolina Panthers defensive end Tre Boston and HBCU Gameday’s Tolly Carr, will give fans of the 4 major HBCU football conferences live access to all of the interviews and game strategy, in addition to a taste of HBCU culture.

In addition to the Southern Classic on Saturday, the event schedule includes:

Oct. 12: Bethune Cookman vs. Alabama A&M, homecoming game;
Oct. 19: Arkansas Pine Bluff vs. Grambling State, return game;
Oct. 26: Jackson State vs. Bethune Cookman, homecoming game;
November 9: Mississippi Valley vs. Jackson State.

For more details about HBCU GO, visit HBCUGO.TV.