While consumption of fossil fuels is increasing and global awareness of global warming is growing, the intentions of households to reduce their own consumption are not keeping pace. The new issue of the journal Social Change in Switzerland shows with the help of a survey of 5,000 households that only one third of individuals say they want to reduce their carbon footprint. Moreover, among the latter, this intention is hardly translated into concrete intentions in terms of car use, electricity or heating.

Researchers from NCCR LIVES and the Swiss Centre for Affectives Sciences (CISA, UNIGE) have shown that the decline in cognitive abilities after 50 years of age results ina decline in physical activity, and that – contrary to what has been suggested by the literature to date – the inverse relationship is much weaker.