Newswise — ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell University researchers are calling on their colleagues around the world to focus on how aging global populations will intersect with climate change and calls for environmental sustainability.
In the article “Environmental Sustainability in an Aging Society: A Research Agenda,” which appears in the April issue of the Journal of Aging and Health, professor of Human Development, Karl Pillemer, and four Cornell colleagues argue that environmental threats disproportionally affect the health of the aging.
“These risks are likely to increase as the effects of climate change are felt,” the authors write. “The older population is at greater risk for adverse health effects from extreme temperatures, susceptibility to disease, stresses on the food and water supply, and reduced ability to mobilize quickly.”
In addition to being affected by climate change, aging populations also might shape environmental change.
An aging population may contribute to environmental problems – older people now drive more and use mass transit less than they used to; take more medications, which need to be disposed of safely; and as they age and restructure their living arrangements, their residential energy efficiency changes and their independent and assisted living facilities are often built in environmentally sensitive areas.
Older people may provide solutions to environmental problems, the researchers state, through their involvement in environmental volunteerism.
Few scientific studies, however, have focused on how aging and environmental sustainability intersect. The article suggests several topics for future research, including environmental threats to the health of older people, pro-environmental behavior and volunteerism in later life, and environmental impacts of housing and living arrangements.
The article stems from the 2009 Cornell Conference on Aging and the Environment, co-sponsored by Cornell’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future.
Co-authors of the article include Nancy Wells, associate professor of design and environmental analysis; Rhoda Meador, associate director of extension and outreach, College of Human Ecology; Jennifer Parise, graduate student; and Linda Wagenet, former senior extension associate in development sociology.
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