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\"This book explores how tools of the Digital Age might be mobilized to solve our most pressing environmental challenges, from climate change to biodiversity loss. It argues that digital technology might accelerate environmental sustainability and that engaging with environmental issues may transform Big Tech for the better, if the sector successfully addresses spiraling energy use, pollution, privacy and surveillance issues\"-- Provided by publisher.

The growth of the digital economy has created new forms of inequality of opportunity. This paper studies whether the development of the digital economy expands the income gap between urban and rural areas from theoretical and empirical. The research based on the panel data of 202 cities from 2011 to 2019 in China shows that: (1) Although the digital economy can promote the improvement of both urban and rural absolute income levels, it has a greater positive impact on urban residents’ income levels than on rural residents’, resulting in a widening of the urban-rural income gap. (2) The analysis of the action mechanism reveals that employment in the information service industry and the depth of digital finance use are two crucial mechanisms for the digital economy to widen the income gap between urban and rural areas. (3) The spatial Durbin model(SDM) and the spatial error model(SEM) based on three spatial weight matrices show that the impact of the digital economy on the urban-rural income gap is also characterized by spatial spillover, and the development of the digital economy will also have a negative impact on the urban-rural income gap in neighboring regions as well. (4) The main conclusions still hold after the robustness of quasi-natural experiments based on the strategy of \"Broadband China\" and the selection of historical data as instrumental variables. This research is helpful to understand the effects, mechanisms and spatial characteristics of digital economy on urban-rural income gap.

Based on panel data from 30 provinces in China, this paper uses a two-way fixed effect model to empirically test the influence of regional digital economy development on the level of low-carbon, inclusive growth. The empirical study shows that: (1) The digital economy has a significant inverted U-shaped impact on China’s regional low-carbon, inclusive growth. It shows that regional digital economic development has a significant inverted U-shaped impact on low-carbon, inclusive growth (the inflection point is 0.3081), and it was found that most of the observations fall on the left side of the inverted U shape. (2) The inverted U-shaped influence has significant heterogeneity in the regional location, information degree, and factor productivity level. (3) The digital economy promotes low-carbon, inclusive growth mainly by improving the overall efficiency of source allocation, but low-carbon, inclusive growth may be curbed by distorting the allocation of capital elements. (4) Via dimensionality reduction analysis, we found that the inverted U-shaped impact of digital applications and digital finance on regional low-carbon, inclusive growth is more obvious. In addition, we also found that the inverted U-shaped impact of regional digital economic development on low-carbon ecology and social inclusiveness is more obvious. This study provides an important reference value for relevant departments to formulate low-carbon, inclusive development policies from the perspective of regional digital economic development.

Background The rapid development of digital health has reduced the time and cost of medical treatment, bringing efficient and economical benefits. However, older adults all over the world are deficient in digital health knowledge and skills to varying degrees. This study intends to investigate the current status and influencing factors of digital health literacy among community-dwelling older adults in Southwest China, so as to provide theoretical reference for global digital health researches and the construction of gerontological digital health service models. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted from September 2020 to April 2021 in Chongqing, China. 572 community-dwelling older adults (≥ 65 years) were surveyed by stratified sampling. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, Internet usage, attitude towards Internet health information and digital health literacy were collected. Wherein, the digital health literacy assessment adopted the Digital Health Literacy Assessment Scale for community-dwelling older adults, which was developed by the research group, proven to be with good internal consistency (0.941), split-half reliability (0.889), test–retest reliability (0.941), content validity (0.967), criterion validity (0.938) and construct validity. The influencing factors were explored by univariate analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. Results The average score of digital health literacy was 37.10 (SD 18.65). Univariate analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in the comparison of digital health literacy according to 16 variables, such as different age and education levels. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that education level, marital status, self-rated health status, degree of health concerns, duration of Internet usage, time spent using the Internet per day, frequency of Internet usage, frequency of receiving guidance passively from family members, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived reliability were positively correlated with digital health literacy, while age and perceived risk were negatively correlated with digital health literacy. Conclusion The overall digital health literacy of community-dwelling older adults in Southwest China is relatively low. In the future, health professionals should fully consider the diverse influencing factors of digital health literacy, assess individual differences and provide targeted intervention programs. Meanwhile, global public health authorities should integrate health resources effectively, and seek health service models for older adults in line with the development of the digital age to narrow the digital divide.

The open science movement is transforming scientific practice with the goal of enhancing the transparency, productivity, and reproducibility of research. Nevertheless, transparency is a complex concept, and efforts to promote some forms of transparency may do relatively little to advance other important forms of transparency. Drawing from the literature in history, philosophy, and sociology of science, we aim to distinguish between different forms of scientific transparency. Our goal is to identify strategies for achieving forms of transparency that are relevant not only to scientists but also to decision makers and members of the public. We draw a distinction between \"scientifically relevant transparency\" and \"socially relevant transparency.\" Most of the prominent strategies associated with the open science movement (e.g., making data publicly available and registering studies) are designed primarily to promote scientifically relevant transparency. To achieve socially relevant transparency, which is particularly important in fields like environmental health, further steps are needed to provide scientific information in ways that are relevant to decision makers and members of the public. Promoting socially relevant transparency will require a range of activities by many different individuals and institutions. We propose an array of strategies that can be pursued by scientists and other scholars, journals, universities, funders, government agencies, and members of the public. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4808.

How cities can build on the “sharing economy” and smart technology to deliver a “sharing paradigm” that supports justice, solidarity, and sustainability. The future of humanity is urban, and the nature of urban space enables, and necessitates, sharing—of resources, goods and services, experiences. Yet traditional forms of sharing have been undermined in modern cities by social fragmentation and commercialization of the public realm. In Sharing Cities, Duncan McLaren and Julian Agyeman argue that the intersection of cities' highly networked physical space with new digital technologies and new mediated forms of sharing offers cities the opportunity to connect smart technology to justice, solidarity, and sustainability. McLaren and Agyeman explore the opportunities and risks for sustainability, solidarity, and justice in the changing nature of sharing. McLaren and Agyeman propose a new “sharing paradigm,” which goes beyond the faddish “sharing economy”—seen in such ventures as Uber and TaskRabbit—to envision models of sharing that are not always commercial but also communal, encouraging trust and collaboration. Detailed case studies of San Francisco, Seoul, Copenhagen, Medellín, Amsterdam, and Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) contextualize the authors' discussions of collaborative consumption and production; the shared public realm, both physical and virtual; the design of sharing to enhance equity and justice; and the prospects for scaling up the sharing paradigm though city governance. They show how sharing could shift values and norms, enable civic engagement and political activism, and rebuild a shared urban commons. Their case for sharing and solidarity offers a powerful alternative for urban futures to conventional “race-to-the-bottom” narratives of competition, enclosure, and division.

Background Social capital has been linked to health behaviours, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. Previous studies have found that health literacy played the role of a mediator in the relationships among social capital, individual physical activity and nutrition. But it is not clear whether eHealth literacy mediates the impact of social capital on health behaviours. Therefore, our research aimed to explore the relationships among social capital (structural and cognitive social capital), eHealth literacy, and the health behaviours of elderly people, and to analyse the mediating effect of eHealth literacy, while providing a theoretical basis for a health behaviour intervention for elderly people. Methods From January to February 2019, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of 1201 Chinese people aged over 60 years using the Chinese Shortened Social Capital Scale (contains two subscales of structural social capital and cognitive social capital), eHealth Literacy Scale, and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile. We used structural equation modelling to test a hypothetical mediation model. Results The mean scores of social capital was 72.07 (SD = 13.03), 17.24 (SD = 9.34) for eHealth literacy, and 112.23 (SD = 23.25) for health behaviours. Social capital and eHealth literacy were significantly correlated with health behaviours, and social capital and structural social capital were significantly correlated with eHealth literacy. Lastly, eHealth literacy mediated the relationship between structural social capital and health behaviours. Conclusions eHealth literacy was an important mediating factor for elderly people’s structural social capital and health behaviours. Therefore, social capital and eHealth literacy must be considered when designing and implementing health behaviour intervention programmes for elderly people.

Background China is one of the world’s fastest-aging countries. Population aging and social-economic development show close relations. This study aims to illustrate the spatial-temporal distribution and movement of gravity centers of population aging and social-economic factors and thier spatial interaction across the provinces in China. Methods Factors of elderly population rate (EPR), elderly dependency ratio (EDR), per capita gross regional product (GRP pc ), and urban population rate (UPR) were collected. Distribution patterns were detected by using global spatial autocorrelation, Kernel density estimation, and coefficient of variation. Further, Arc GIS software was used to find the gravity centers and their movement trends yearly from 2002 to 2018. The spatial interaction between the variables was investigated based on bivariate spatial autocorrelation analysis. Results The results showed a larger variety of global spatial autocorrelation indexed by Moran’s I and stable trends of dispersion degree without obvious convergence in EPR and EDR. Furthermore, the gravity centers of the proportion of EPR and EDR moved northeastward. In contrast, the economic and urbanization factors showed a southwestward movement, which exhibited an reverse trend compared to population aging indicators. Moreover, the movement rates of EPR and EDR (15.12 and 18.75 km/year, respectively) were higher than that of GRP pc (13.79 km/year) and UPR (6.89 km/year) annually during the study period. Further, the bivariate spatial autocorrelation variation is in line with the movement trends of gravity centers which showed a polarization trend of population aging and social-economic factors that the difference between southwest and northeast directions and exhibited a tendency to expand in China. Conclusions In sum, our findings revealed the difference in spatio-temporal distribution and variation between population aging and social-economic factors in China. It further indicates that the opposite movements of gravity centers and the change of the BiLISA in space which may result in the increase of the economic burden of the elderly care in northern China. Hence, future development policy should focus on the social-economic growth and distribution of old-aged supporting resources, especially in northern China.

Background Health literacy and health-information seeking behaviour (HISB) play vital roles in health outcome improvements. This study examines the extent of income-related inequality in health literacy and health-information seeking as well as the contributions of the main socioeconomic determinants in China. Methods We analysed representative data of participants aged over 18 years as well as older adults from the Guangzhou Community Health Survey. A concentration index (CI) was used to quantify the degree of income-related inequity in health literacy and health-information seeking. Probit regression models were employed to decompose the CI into the contributions to each factor. Results Results showed a significant pro-rich distribution of adequate health literacy (CI: 0.0602, P < 0.001; horizontal index [HI]: 0.0562, P < 0.001) and HISB from healthcare professionals (CI: 0.105, P < 0.001; HI: 0.0965, P < 0.001). The pro-rich distribution of health literacy was mainly attributable to education background (contribution: 54.76%), whereas income inequalities contributed most to the pro-rich distribution of health-information seeking among an urban population (contribution: 62.53%). Conclusion Public interventions in China to reduce inequality in health literacy and HISBs among the urban population, coupled with easily accessible information sources on health, warrant further attention from policymakers.

Based on a meta-analysis, this paper highlights the strength and relevance of several social incentive factors concerning pro-environmental behaviors, including social influence, network factors (like network size, network connection and leadership), trust in others, and trust in institutions. Firstly, our results suggest that social influence is necessary for the emergence of pro-environmental behaviors. More specifically, an internal social influence (i.e., motivating people to change their perceptions and attitudes) is essential to promote pro-environmental behaviors. Secondly, network connection encourages pro-environmental behaviors, meaning that the effectiveness of a conservation policy can be improved if connections among individuals are increased. Finally, trust in institutions can dictate individual behaviors to shape policy design and generate desired policy outcomes.