Mylène Riva

Across the Arctic, rapid and unprecedented climate change is reshaping ecosystems and human systems alike, impacting the conditions that support health and well-being, known as the social determinants of health. Guided by holistic understandings of health and a strength-based approach, this research aims to document community-level conditions in the Inuvialuit Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk that support sense of place, health, and well-being across generations, and describe how and where these conditions are influenced by climate-driven landscape changes. Findings draw on data collected using photovoice with 6 high school youth and semi-structured interviews with 21 adults and Elders. Results highlight that climate drivers of change are impacting the different facets of health—mental, physical, and relational—as well as the conditions that sustain them. Across age groups, participants emphasized that relationships with each other, with Inuvialuit culture, and with place are central to being healthy and well. These relationships are nurtured both within the community and through time spent out on the land. Prioritizing locally identified needs and intergenerational perspectives within climate change research and adaptation can guide context-specific strategies that centre the health of people and of the land. Grounding adaptation in this way moves beyond physical protections against natural hazards to sustaining the social and cultural ties embedded in place, thereby upholding the relational value of landscapes.

Background: Having diverse crops and animals on small farms is broadly seen as a way to support both farmer nutrition and environmental resilience. However, studies often find only a weak statistical relationship between the diversity produced and the diversity consumed. Understanding why smallholder farmers produce diversity is central both for operationalizing agriculture-nutrition linkages and for supporting resilient agro-ecosystems. Objective: This study examines farmers’ own reasons for producing diversity and explores how these reasons shape the production-diet relationship. Methods: As part of a mixed methods, participatory action research program in highland Ecuador, a community researcher conducted activity-based interviews with Indigenous and mestizo/a farmers ( n = 26); interviews were analyzed using cognitive mapping and cultural domain analysis. Results: On average, farmers cultivated 49 different edible plants and five types of livestock, but they regularly consumed only about half of them. Products were consumed “rarely or never” because of availability limitations, preparation difficulty, taste, or because they were mainly used for other purposes. Farmers grew diverse edible plants for many reasons beyond consumption, including economic (88% of participants), socio-affective (85%), agronomic (50%), and health-and-safety (31%) motives. Conclusions: The findings help explain why statistical associations between production and diet are often small. The importance of social and emotional (affective) values in informing farmers’ production decisions adds a critical, yet underexplored, dimension to a literature that otherwise centers the assumption that farmers mostly make their decisions based on instrumental, cause-and-effect pathways. Lessons provide insights to better align programming with farmers’ endogenous decision-making rationale.

The transition to clean energy requires sustainable energy storage technologies. The current default is lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), which face issues of safety, resource scarcity, and ethical risks. Alternatively, sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) offer a better fit for certain niche applications and show potential for mainstream applications like electric vehicles and grid storage. To determine the viable pathways towards mainstreaming SIB technology, we took a dual approach consisting of a macro, multi-level perspective and micro, inside-out sustainability framework. We identified five pathways – Demand, Community, Technology, Supply Chain, and Policy – each of which is based on historical examples of technological case studies that are relevant to SIBs, aligns with current geopolitical and socio-enviro-economic contexts, and supports collaborative action between governments, businesses, and users. We then combined the pathways in an interconnected system to identify the structural factors (e.g., resources, policies) and individual actors (in their roles as consumers, producers, legitimators, intermediaries, policymakers, and citizens) that are responsible for the sociotechnical transition to SIBs. Our findings suggest that the convergence of individual and group choices, supported by structural pressures, can drive the mainstreaming of SIBs and advance sustainable energy storage. This highlights the importance of interdisciplinary approaches that generate integrated knowledge, and research studies into how inner worlds shape sociotechnical transitions.

Previous research investigating the association between income inequality and health outcomes reported mixed results. Although there is extensive research on this topic, there is limited empirical evidence within Canada. This paper adds to previous Canadian research by testing the hypothesis that there is an association between urban income inequality and health. To do so, we combined information from the Canadian Census/National Household Survey and the Canadian Community Health Survey for the years 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016, which yields on average more than 135,000 individual‐level respondents living in 126 urban areas. Using multilevel logistic regression models, we found that a one‐unit increase in the Gini coefficient is associated with an increased likelihood of poorer self‐rated health across all Census years (with ORs between 1.02 and 1.03; 95% CIs of 1.00–1.05), with the association appearing to be weaker in 2006. Income inequality has similar negative effects on self‐rated mental health, an association that is also consistent across the period of study. Additional analysis shows that the association between inequality and both health indicators is, however, sensitive to the choice of inequality measure. Future research in the Canadian context would benefit from longitudinal analysis.

The transition to clean energy requires sustainable energy storage technologies. The current default is lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), which face issues of safety, resource scarcity, and ethical risks. Alternatively, sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) offer a better fit for certain niche applications and show potential for mainstream applications like electric vehicles and grid storage. In this context, we mapped the steps required in mainstreaming SIB technology by applying a dual approach that employs a macro, multi-level perspective and micro, inside-out sustainability framework. We identified five pathways – Demand, Community, Technology, Supply Chain, and Policy – each of which is based on historical examples of technological case studies that are relevant to SIBs, aligns with current geopolitical and socio-enviro-economic contexts, and supports collaborative action between governments, businesses, and users. Combining the pathways in an interconnected system, we identified the structural factors (e.g., resources, policies) and individual actors (in their roles as consumers, producers, legitimators, intermediaries, policymakers, and citizens) that are responsible for the sociotechnical transition to SIBs. Our findings suggest that the convergence of individual and group choices, supported by structural pressures, can drive the mainstreaming of SIBs and advance sustainable energy storage. This highlights the increasing importance of interdisciplinary approaches that generate integrated knowledge and of further research into how inner worlds can manifest into shaping sociotechnical transitions.

Energy poverty is a persistent challenge in many high-income countries. In Canada, and in the province of British Columbia (BC), energy poverty is driven by energy costs, lower incomes, and inefficient housing. Despite BC’s leadership in clean energy and climate, the province lacks a comprehensive strategy explicitly addressing energy poverty. This paper presents a policy landscape analysis of 114 initiatives planned and implemented in BC between 1989 and 2023, that may influence energy poverty outcomes. Using a combined inductive and deductive classification framework, initiatives were analyzed by policy typology, focus area, delivery agent, scale, and beneficiary group. The analysis shows that policy activity increased substantially after 2020, largely driven by clean energy policies. However, initiatives remain concentrated in energy efficiency and retrofit programs that primarily benefit homeowners. Programs specifically targeting low-income households remain limited in both number and scope, while consumer protection measures are scarce and affordability interventions are rarely embedded within regulatory mechanisms. Although energy poverty rates in BC have remained relatively stable over time, existing initiatives have not produced measurable reductions. Overall, BC’s policy response to energy poverty remains indirect, with most initiatives addressing it as a co-benefit of climate and energy transition policies rather than as an explicit policy objective. A more deliberate and equity-centered policy strategy will be required to meaningfully reduce energy poverty during energy transition.

The cost of public transportation has been identified as a critical barrier to social inclusion, supportive services, housing, and employment for people experiencing homelessness. However, little research has explored the efficacy of affordability-based interventions in addressing this barrier to essential transportation. This article examines the impact of a three-month free public transit intervention on access to essential destinations and quality of life for youth experiencing homelessness in Toronto, Canada. Semi-structured interviews and a longitudinal survey were used to assess participants’ perceived access to essential destinations and quality of life before and during the free transit intervention. A realist evaluation framework was used to evaluate the context of the intervention, the generative mechanisms of change, and the outcomes of the intervention. Pre-intervention findings revealed that the cost of public transit suppressed travel demand, leading to limited access to employment, education, healthcare, food, and social connections. During the intervention, youth reported that the provision of free monthly transit passes improved their access to essential destinations, including employment, housing opportunities, supportive services, healthcare, food security programs, and social connections. These changes were associated with improved social inclusion, financial security, mental well-being, and feelings of agency. Findings suggest that transit equity interventions have the potential to alleviate suppressed travel demand, increase access to essential destinations, and improve quality of life for youth experiencing homelessness in Toronto and in similar urban contexts.

The cost of public transportation has been identified as a critical barrier to social inclusion, supportive services, housing, and employment for people experiencing homelessness. However, little research has explored the efficacy of affordability-based interventions in addressing this barrier to essential transportation. This article examines the impact of a three-month free public transit intervention on access to essential destinations and quality of life for youth experiencing homelessness in Toronto, Canada. Semi-structured interviews and a longitudinal survey were used to assess participants’ perceived access to essential destinations and quality of life before and during the free transit intervention. A realist evaluation framework was used to evaluate the context of the intervention, the generative mechanisms of change, and the outcomes of the intervention. Pre-intervention findings revealed that the cost of public transit suppressed travel demand, leading to limited access to employment, education, healthcare, food, and social connections. During the intervention, youth reported that the provision of free monthly transit passes improved their access to essential destinations, including employment, housing opportunities, supportive services, healthcare, food security programs, and social connections. These changes were associated with improved social inclusion, financial security, mental well-being, and feelings of agency. Findings suggest that transit equity interventions have the potential to alleviate suppressed travel demand, increase access to essential destinations, and improve quality of life for youth experiencing homelessness in Toronto and in similar urban contexts.