TY - JOUR

T1 - Second comment on 'The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions'

AU - Pedersen, Rebecca Laycock

AU - Lam, David P. M.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2018 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.

PY - 2018/6/13

Y1 - 2018/6/13

N2 - Wynes and Nicholas (2017a Environ. Res. Lett. 12 1–9) recently published an article that reviewed academic and grey literature to identify the most impactful individual actions for reducing carbon emissions in developed countries, identifying having 'one fewer child' as by far the most impactful action. This action was recommended with little context considering its controversial nature. We argue that there are three issue-areas that Wynes and Nicholas should have engaged with to improve the clarity of their recommendations and reduced the potential for misunderstanding, which are (1) the extent to which individual actions in one's private life can address climate change in relation to collective actions and actions in the professional sphere (2) the role of overconsumption in driving climate change and (3) the extent to which family planning is a human right. We also suggest that engagement with these issue-areas are a step towards a better practice in academic writing on population as an environmental issue.

AB - Wynes and Nicholas (2017a Environ. Res. Lett. 12 1–9) recently published an article that reviewed academic and grey literature to identify the most impactful individual actions for reducing carbon emissions in developed countries, identifying having 'one fewer child' as by far the most impactful action. This action was recommended with little context considering its controversial nature. We argue that there are three issue-areas that Wynes and Nicholas should have engaged with to improve the clarity of their recommendations and reduced the potential for misunderstanding, which are (1) the extent to which individual actions in one's private life can address climate change in relation to collective actions and actions in the professional sphere (2) the role of overconsumption in driving climate change and (3) the extent to which family planning is a human right. We also suggest that engagement with these issue-areas are a step towards a better practice in academic writing on population as an environmental issue.

KW - behaviour change

KW - birth control

KW - consumption

KW - climate change

KW - collective action

KW - family planning

KW - sustainability

KW - Sustainability Science

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049801578&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/99f5cb20-c436-3145-8082-8fbbf0bbafb5/

U2 - 10.1088/1748-9326/aac9d0

DO - 10.1088/1748-9326/aac9d0

M3 - Comments / Debate / Reports

VL - 13

JO - Environmental Research Letters

JF - Environmental Research Letters

SN - 1748-9318

IS - 6

M1 - 068001

ER -