One in three police homicides could have been avoided without endangering police or the public, according to a study. Eight percent of all homicides of adult men in the United States are committed by police. Using data from 2008–2017 from the National Officer-Involved Homicide Database, Josh Leung-Gagné compared police homicide rates across the 711 local...
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Reinforcing the Diverse Ways People Access Seafood Can Ensure Healthy Communities in the Face of Change
As climate change affects the oceans, coastal communities, particularly those at the front lines of ocean warming and sea level rise, are facing pressures that could threaten their access to aquatic foods. “Climate change and other economic shocks are impacting how people access seafood, and typically households that are most reliant on seafood, such as...
As Cities Grow, How Will City Trash, Wastewater, and Emissions Rise?
More than half of the world’s population—4.4 billion people—lives in cities, and that proportion will grow to two-thirds by the year 2050, according to the United Nations. As the world’s population expands, and becomes increasingly urbanized, many have raised concerns about the impact of waste—from house trash to wastewater to greenhouse gas emissions—on the planet....
Food from Urban Agriculture Has Carbon Footprint 6 Times Larger Than Conventional Produce
A new University of Michigan-led international study finds that fruits and vegetables grown in urban farms and gardens have a carbon footprint that is, on average, six times greater than conventionally grown produce. However, a few city-grown crops equaled or outperformed conventional agriculture under certain conditions. Tomatoes grown in the soil of open-air urban plots...
A Statewide Survey Shows the Digital Divide Narrowing in California, but Many Low-Income Residents Remain Under-Connected
Statewide broadband adoption remains high with 91% of households in California enjoying high-speed internet access at home, according to new survey results released today by USC, the California Emerging Technology Fund and the California Department of Technology. The overall findings are consistent with the 2021 results of the biennial Statewide Digital Equity Survey, which monitors Californians’ digital access. The...
College Applications Rose in States That Legalized Recreational Marijuana
Colleges in states where recreational marijuana became legal over the past decade saw a significant but short-term boost in applications from top-notch students. They also got more applications overall. Those were the key findings of a new study our team published recently in the peer-reviewed journal Contemporary Economic Policy. In the year that a particular...
Understanding Climate Mobilities: New Study Examines Perspectives from South Florida Practitioners
Understanding Climate Mobilities: New study examines perspectives from South Florida practitioners As climate change continues to impact people across South Florida, the need for adaptive responses becomes increasingly important. A recent study led by researchers at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, assessed the perspectives of 76 diverse South...
Nourishing Communities: Neighborhood Restaurants as Social Infrastructure
Studies on sustainability inevitably touch on food-related topics like food security, culinary heritage, and the sustenance of vulnerable people. Social sustainability is one of the three pillars of sustainability, alongside environmental and economic sustainability, and has become a pivotal topic in various research fields. It includes concerns about social justice, resource distribution and recognition, and...
Consistency Key to Corporate Expressions of Racial Solidarity
Why do some corporate expressions of solidarity with marginalized groups register as genuine, while others seem performative or even backfire? An analysis of statements by Fortune 500 companies following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd finds that costly actions, such as donating money to social justice groups, aren’t enough to convey allyship to Black...
Digital Payment Platforms Can Easily Be Misused for Drug Dealing
Digital payment platforms such as Venmo work great for sharing a dinner bill with friends, buying gifts at a pop-up shop or making payments without cash or credit cards. But these digital payment platforms have a dark side: They can be misused for drug dealing and other illicit activity, suggest researchers from the University of...