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In the United States, average household size decreased significantly over the past half century. From 1950 to 2010, the number of households increased 72% faster than population size. In this paper we consider how this drift toward more and smaller households, occurring alongside rising affluence, undermines efforts to curb carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions by eroding household scale economies of consumption and associated CO 2 emissions. To estimate the household scaling of CO 2 emissions, we link consumer expenditure data to an economic input–output life-cycle assessment model. We find that the CO 2 scaling benefits of cohabitation are compellingly large, with the carbon footprint of a representative person cohabiting with others being 23% less, on average, than if that same person lived alone. Additionally, we find that household scale economies: 1) decrease in income, reflecting the rise in the percentage of household expenditures devoted to more rival goods and services; and 2) increase intuitively in household size, reflecting the direct expenditure sharing benefits of cohabitation. The combined downward pressure on scale economies from declining household size and rising incomes, typifying the trajectory of developing societies toward more and smaller households and rising affluence, places significant upward pressure on CO 2 emissions globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roughly 20 percent of current CO2 emissions will likely remain in the atmosphere for thousands of years (Solomon et al. ). Despite this, climate damages attributable to current emissions that occur beyond 150 years or so have almost no effect on the current optimal carbon tax in typical integrated assessment models. The source of this strong result is conventional economic discounting. The current paper builds on recent work by Gerlagh and Liski () and Iverson (J Environ Econ Manag 66:598-608, , ) to demonstrate this fact in a simple way and to show that it is not robust to plausible changes in the calibration approach for discounting parameters. Specifically, when time preference rates decline, a possibility supported by a wide variety of studies from psychology and economics, long run consumption impacts are potentially very important and so are long run features of the carbon cycle. The paper follows (Gerlagh and Liski ) in showing that this remains true even when the discounting parameters are calibrated to match historical interests rates, thus avoiding the main economic critique of the Stern Review (Stern ; Nordhaus ; Weitzman Rev Econ Stat 91:1-19 ). The effects are quantified using a formula for the optimal carbon tax from Iverson (J Environ Econ Manag 66:598-608, , ), which we use to decompose the current optimal tax into the cumulative contribution from consumption impacts at different horizons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study examines exposure risks associated with lead smelter emissions at children's public playgrounds in Port Pirie, South Australia. Lead and other metal values were measured in air, soil, surface dust and on pre- and post-play hand wipes. Playgrounds closest to the smelter were significantly more lead contaminated compared to those further away (t(27.545) = 3.76; p = .001). Port Pirie post-play hand wipes contained significantly higher lead loadings (maximum hand lead value of 49,432 μg/m2) than pre-play hand wipes (t(27) = 3.57, p = .001). A 1% increase in air lead (μg/m3) was related to a 0.713% increase in lead dust on play surfaces (95% CI, 0.253–1.174), and a 0.612% increase in post-play wipe lead (95% CI, 0.257–0.970). Contaminated dust from smelter emissions is determined as the source and cause of childhood lead poisoning at a rate of approximately one child every third day. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We evaluate air Pb emissions and latent aggravated assault behavior at the scale of the city. We accomplish this by regressing annual Federal Bureau of Investigation aggravated assault rate records against the rise and fall of annual vehicle Pb emissions in Chicago (Illinois), Indianapolis (Indiana), Minneapolis (Minnesota), San Diego (California), Atlanta (Georgia), and New Orleans (Louisiana). Other things held equal, a 1% increase in tonnages of air Pb released 22years prior raises the present period aggravated assault rate by 0.46% (95% CI, 0.28 to 0.64). Overall our model explains 90% of the variation in aggravated assault across the cities examined. In the case of New Orleans, 85% of temporal variation in the aggravated assault rate is explained by the annual rise and fall of air Pb (total=10,179metric tons) released on the population of New Orleans 22years earlier. For every metric ton of Pb released 22years prior, a latent increase of 1.59 (95% CI, 1.36 to 1.83, p<0.001) aggravated assaults per 100,000 were reported. Vehicles consuming fuel containing Pb additives contributed much larger quantities of Pb dust than generally recognized. Our findings along with others predict that prevention of children''s lead exposure from lead dust now will realize numerous societal benefits two decades into the future, including lower rates of aggravated assault. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article adapts a theory of ecological modernization to characterize countries by their economic, political, and cultural development to estimate their structural and strategic readiness to commit and comply with the Kyoto Protocol. Hypotheses logically derived from ecological modernization theory perform as expected, with substantial variation in Kyoto Protocol ratification explained by our variable pool. Results from logistic and Cox proportional hazards regression tests show that democratic openness, gross domestic product (GDP) output per unit of energy input, CO2 emissions per capita, and record of international cooperation on transboundary environmental problems significantly predict whether or not a country is party to the Protocol, and how quickly a country submits an instrument of ratification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]