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1. Unraveling complex causal processes that affect sustainability requires more integration between empirical and modeling approaches

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2215676120  

   Schlüter, Maja; Brelsford, Christa; Ferraro, Paul J.; Orach, Kirill; Qiu, Minghao; Smith, Martin D. (October 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   Scientists seek to understand the causal processes that generate sustainability problems and determine effective solutions. Yet, causal inquiry in nature–society systems is hampered by conceptual and methodological challenges that arise from nature–society interdependencies and the complex dynamics they create. Here, we demonstrate how sustainability scientists can address these challenges and make more robust causal claims through better integration between empirical analyses and process- or agent-based modeling. To illustrate how these different epistemological traditions can be integrated, we present four studies of air pollution regulation, natural resource management, and the spread of COVID-19. The studies show how integration can improve empirical estimates of causal effects, inform future research designs and data collection, enhance understanding of the complex dynamics that underlie observed temporal patterns, and elucidate causal mechanisms and the contexts in which they operate. These advances in causal understanding can help sustainability scientists develop better theories of phenomena where social and ecological processes are dynamically intertwined and prior causal knowledge and data are limited. The improved causal understanding also enhances governance by helping scientists and practitioners choose among potential interventions, decide when and how the timing of an intervention matters, and anticipate unexpected outcomes. Methodological integration, however, requires skills and efforts of all involved to learn how members of the respective other tradition think and analyze nature–society systems. 

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2. Cultural values predict national COVID-19 death rates

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00080-2  

   Ruck, Damian J.; Borycz, Joshua; Bentley, R. Alexander (February 2021, SN Social Sciences)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract National responses to a pandemic require populations to comply through personal behaviors that occur in a cultural context. Here we show that aggregated cultural values of nations, derived from World Values Survey data, have been at least as important as top-down government actions in predicting the impact of COVID-19. At the population level, the cultural factor of cosmopolitanism, together with obesity, predict higher numbers of deaths in the first two months of COVID-19 on the scale of nations. At the state level, the complementary variables of government efficiency and public trust in institutions predict lower death numbers. The difference in effect between individual beliefs and behaviors, versus state-level actions, suggests that open cosmopolitan societies may face greater challenges in limiting a future pandemic or other event requiring a coordinated national response among the population. More generally, mass cultural values should be considered in crisis preparations. 

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3. Measuring Personal Values in Cross-Cultural User-Generated Content

   Yiting Shen, Steven R. (January 2019, International Conference on Social Informatics)
4. Catalyst Layer Ink Interactions That Affect Coatability

   https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0191805jes  

   Dixit, Marm B.; Harkey, Brice A.; Shen, Fengyu; Hatzell, Kelsey B. (January 2018, Journal of The Electrochemical Society)
5. Differential fertility makes society more conservative on family values

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1918006117  

   Vogl, Tom S.; Freese, Jeremy (April 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   Data from the General Social Survey indicate that higher-fertility individuals and their children are more conservative on “family values” issues, especially regarding abortion and same-sex marriage. This pattern implies that differential fertility has increased and will continue to increase public support for conservative policies on these issues. The association of family size with conservatism is specific to traditional-family issues and can be attributed in large part to the greater religiosity and lower educational attainment of individuals from larger families. Over the 2004 to 2018 period, opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion was 3 to 4 percentage points more prevalent than it would have been were traditional-family conservatism independent of family size in the current generation. For same-sex marriage, evolutionary forces have grown in relative importance as society as a whole has liberalized. As of 2018, differential fertility raised the number of US adults opposed to same-sex marriage by 17%, from 46.9 million to 54.8 million. 

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