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Independent Thinking in an Uncertain World: A Mind of One’s Own
by Valerie A. Brown John A. Harris David Waltner-ToewsAny effective response to an uncertain future will require independently thinking individuals working together. Human ideas and actions have led to unprecedented changes in the relationships among humans, and between humans and the Earth. Changes in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the energy we use are evidence of Nature – which has no special interest in sustaining human life – looking out for itself. Even the evolutionary context for humans has altered. Evolutionary pressures from the digital communication revolution have been added to those from natural systems. For humans to meet these challenges requires social re-organisation that is neither simple nor easy. Independent Thinking in an Uncertain World explores workable, field-tested strategies from the frontiers of creating a viable future for humans on Earth. Based on research results from hundreds of social learning workshops with communities worldwide, many of them part of Australian National University’s Local Sustainability Project, authors with diverse interests explore the gap between open-minded individual thinking and closed socially defined knowledges. The multiple dimensions of individual, social and biophysical ways of thinking are combined in ways that allow open-minded individuals to learn from one another.
Independent Thinking in an Uncertain World: A Mind of One’s Own
by Valerie A. Brown John A. Harris David Waltner-ToewsAny effective response to an uncertain future will require independently thinking individuals working together. Human ideas and actions have led to unprecedented changes in the relationships among humans, and between humans and the Earth. Changes in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the energy we use are evidence of Nature – which has no special interest in sustaining human life – looking out for itself. Even the evolutionary context for humans has altered. Evolutionary pressures from the digital communication revolution have been added to those from natural systems. For humans to meet these challenges requires social re-organisation that is neither simple nor easy. Independent Thinking in an Uncertain World explores workable, field-tested strategies from the frontiers of creating a viable future for humans on Earth. Based on research results from hundreds of social learning workshops with communities worldwide, many of them part of Australian National University’s Local Sustainability Project, authors with diverse interests explore the gap between open-minded individual thinking and closed socially defined knowledges. The multiple dimensions of individual, social and biophysical ways of thinking are combined in ways that allow open-minded individuals to learn from one another.
Urban Aerial Pesticide Spraying Campaigns: Government Disinformation, Industry Profits, and Public Harm (Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies)
by Manuel ValléeThis book examines social processes that have contributed to growing pesticide use, with a particular focus on the role governments play in urban aerial pesticide spraying operations.Beyond being applied to sparsely populated farmland, pesticides have been increasingly used in densely populated urban environments, and when faced with invasive species, governments have resorted to large-scale aerial pesticide spraying operations in urban areas. This book focuses on New Zealand's 2002–2004 pesticide campaign to eradicate the Painted Apple Moth, which is the largest operation of its kind in world history, whether we consider its duration (29 months), its scope (at its peak the spraying zone was 10,632 hectares/26,272 acres), the number of sprayings that were administered (the pesticide was administered on 60 different days), or the number of people exposed to the spraying (190,000+). This book provides an in-depth understanding of the social processes that contributed to the incursion, why the government sought to eradicate the moth through aerial pesticide spraying, the ideological strategies they used to build and maintain public support, and why those strategies were effective.Urban Aerial Pesticide Spraying Campaigns will be of great interest to students and researchers of pesticides, environmental sociology, environmental history, environmental studies, political ecology, geography, medical sociology, and science and technology studies.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Urban Aerial Pesticide Spraying Campaigns: Government Disinformation, Industry Profits, and Public Harm (Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies)
by Manuel ValléeThis book examines social processes that have contributed to growing pesticide use, with a particular focus on the role governments play in urban aerial pesticide spraying operations.Beyond being applied to sparsely populated farmland, pesticides have been increasingly used in densely populated urban environments, and when faced with invasive species, governments have resorted to large-scale aerial pesticide spraying operations in urban areas. This book focuses on New Zealand's 2002–2004 pesticide campaign to eradicate the Painted Apple Moth, which is the largest operation of its kind in world history, whether we consider its duration (29 months), its scope (at its peak the spraying zone was 10,632 hectares/26,272 acres), the number of sprayings that were administered (the pesticide was administered on 60 different days), or the number of people exposed to the spraying (190,000+). This book provides an in-depth understanding of the social processes that contributed to the incursion, why the government sought to eradicate the moth through aerial pesticide spraying, the ideological strategies they used to build and maintain public support, and why those strategies were effective.Urban Aerial Pesticide Spraying Campaigns will be of great interest to students and researchers of pesticides, environmental sociology, environmental history, environmental studies, political ecology, geography, medical sociology, and science and technology studies.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Marine and Fisheries Policies in Latin America: A Comparison of Selected Countries (Earthscan Oceans)
by Manuel Ruiz Muller Rodrigo Oyanedel Bruno MonteferriThis book reviews the frameworks and implementation of marine, fishery and coastal laws and policies in Chile, Mexico and Peru. Chile, Mexico and Peru share biodiverse coastal and marine environments which are being affected by unregulated and informal developments, and thus share similar challenges. Each country is currently at a different stage of advancement in their institutional response to these complex challenges. By providing a comparison of the frameworks, approaches and overall implementation of policies and laws, this book acts as a tool to influence and inform further efforts in conservation and sustainable use of marine resources, particularly fisheries, in these countries and others in Latin America and the Caribbean. A broad range of issues are covered including food security, tourism, fisheries, oil and mineral extraction from the seabed, wind power, coastal and marine pollution and endangered species conservation. The chapters compare how each country addresses these issues from an institutional, legal and policy perspective. The book concludes by identifying common lessons, reoccurring challenges and develops scalable recommendations applicable to the case study countries and the wider region. The book will be of interest to advanced students, policy makers and researchers in marine and fishery science, law and policy.
Marine and Fisheries Policies in Latin America: A Comparison of Selected Countries (Earthscan Oceans)
by Manuel Ruiz Muller Rodrigo Oyanedel Bruno MonteferriThis book reviews the frameworks and implementation of marine, fishery and coastal laws and policies in Chile, Mexico and Peru. Chile, Mexico and Peru share biodiverse coastal and marine environments which are being affected by unregulated and informal developments, and thus share similar challenges. Each country is currently at a different stage of advancement in their institutional response to these complex challenges. By providing a comparison of the frameworks, approaches and overall implementation of policies and laws, this book acts as a tool to influence and inform further efforts in conservation and sustainable use of marine resources, particularly fisheries, in these countries and others in Latin America and the Caribbean. A broad range of issues are covered including food security, tourism, fisheries, oil and mineral extraction from the seabed, wind power, coastal and marine pollution and endangered species conservation. The chapters compare how each country addresses these issues from an institutional, legal and policy perspective. The book concludes by identifying common lessons, reoccurring challenges and develops scalable recommendations applicable to the case study countries and the wider region. The book will be of interest to advanced students, policy makers and researchers in marine and fishery science, law and policy.
The Right to Nature: Social Movements, Environmental Justice and Neoliberal Natures (Routledge Studies in Environmental Policy)
by Elia Apostolopoulou Jose A. Cortes-VazquezSince the 2008 financial crash the expansion of neoliberalism has had an enormous impact on nature-society relations around the world. In response, various environmental movements have emerged opposing the neoliberal restructuring of environmental policies using arguments that often bridge traditional divisions between the environmental and labour agendas. The Right to Nature explores the differing experiences of a number of environmental-social movements and struggles from the point of view of both activists and academics. This collection attempts to both document the social-ecological impacts of neoliberal attempts to exploit non-human nature in the post-crisis context and to analyse the opposition of emerging environmental movements and their demands for a radically different production of nature based on social needs and environmental justice. It also provides a necessary space for the exchange of ideas and experiences between academics and activists and aims to motivate further academic-activist collaborations around alternative and counter-hegemonic re-thinking of environmental politics. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars and activists interested in environmental policy, environmental justice, social and environmental movements.
The Right to Nature: Social Movements, Environmental Justice and Neoliberal Natures (Routledge Studies in Environmental Policy)
by Elia Apostolopoulou Jose A. Cortes-VazquezSince the 2008 financial crash the expansion of neoliberalism has had an enormous impact on nature-society relations around the world. In response, various environmental movements have emerged opposing the neoliberal restructuring of environmental policies using arguments that often bridge traditional divisions between the environmental and labour agendas. The Right to Nature explores the differing experiences of a number of environmental-social movements and struggles from the point of view of both activists and academics. This collection attempts to both document the social-ecological impacts of neoliberal attempts to exploit non-human nature in the post-crisis context and to analyse the opposition of emerging environmental movements and their demands for a radically different production of nature based on social needs and environmental justice. It also provides a necessary space for the exchange of ideas and experiences between academics and activists and aims to motivate further academic-activist collaborations around alternative and counter-hegemonic re-thinking of environmental politics. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars and activists interested in environmental policy, environmental justice, social and environmental movements.
Climate Change and Urban Health: The Case of Hong Kong as a Subtropical City (Routledge Studies in Environment and Health)
by Emily Ying ChanThis book provides a theoretical framework and related technical skills for investigating climate change and its public health consequences and responses with a focus on urban settings, and in particular Hong Kong, a subtropical metropolis in Asia. Specifically, the book examines the impact of climate change on health in terms of mortality, hospital admissions and help-seeking, as well as key response strategies of adaptation and mitigation. Many existing books tend to consider the relationship of climate change and public health as two connected issues divided into various discrete topics. Conversely, this book explicitly applies public health concepts to study the human impact of climate change, for example, by conceptualising climate change impact and its alleviation, mitigation and adaptation in a public health framework. Overall, this volume summarises what is known about climate change and health and ignites further debates in the area, especially for urban subtropical communities from within a wider global perspective. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental health, public health, climate change, urban studies and Asian studies.
Climate Change and Urban Health: The Case of Hong Kong as a Subtropical City (Routledge Studies in Environment and Health)
by Emily Ying ChanThis book provides a theoretical framework and related technical skills for investigating climate change and its public health consequences and responses with a focus on urban settings, and in particular Hong Kong, a subtropical metropolis in Asia. Specifically, the book examines the impact of climate change on health in terms of mortality, hospital admissions and help-seeking, as well as key response strategies of adaptation and mitigation. Many existing books tend to consider the relationship of climate change and public health as two connected issues divided into various discrete topics. Conversely, this book explicitly applies public health concepts to study the human impact of climate change, for example, by conceptualising climate change impact and its alleviation, mitigation and adaptation in a public health framework. Overall, this volume summarises what is known about climate change and health and ignites further debates in the area, especially for urban subtropical communities from within a wider global perspective. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental health, public health, climate change, urban studies and Asian studies.
Gender and Religion in the City: Women, Urban Planning and Spirituality (Routledge Studies in Gender and Environments)
by Clara GreedThis book provides a conceptual, historical and contemporary context to the relationships between gender, religion and cities. It draws together these three components to provide an innovative view of how religion and gender interact and affect urban form and city planning. While there have been many books that deal with religion and cities; gender and cities; and gender and religion, this book is unique in bringing these three subjects together. This trio of inter-relationships is first explored within Western Christianity: in Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Eastern Orthodoxy and in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. A wider perspective is then provided in chapters on the ways in which Islam shapes urban development and influences the position of Muslim women in urban space. While official religions have declined in the West there is still a desire for new forms of spirituality, and this is discussed in chapters on municipal spirituality and on the rise of paganism and the links to both environmentalism and feminism. Finally, ways of taking into account both gender and religion within the statutory urban planning system are presented. This book will be of great interest to those researching environment and gender, urban planning and sustainability, human geography and religion.
Gender and Religion in the City: Women, Urban Planning and Spirituality (Routledge Studies in Gender and Environments)
by Clara GreedThis book provides a conceptual, historical and contemporary context to the relationships between gender, religion and cities. It draws together these three components to provide an innovative view of how religion and gender interact and affect urban form and city planning. While there have been many books that deal with religion and cities; gender and cities; and gender and religion, this book is unique in bringing these three subjects together. This trio of inter-relationships is first explored within Western Christianity: in Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Eastern Orthodoxy and in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. A wider perspective is then provided in chapters on the ways in which Islam shapes urban development and influences the position of Muslim women in urban space. While official religions have declined in the West there is still a desire for new forms of spirituality, and this is discussed in chapters on municipal spirituality and on the rise of paganism and the links to both environmentalism and feminism. Finally, ways of taking into account both gender and religion within the statutory urban planning system are presented. This book will be of great interest to those researching environment and gender, urban planning and sustainability, human geography and religion.
Gender, Agriculture and Agrarian Transformations: Changing Relations in Africa, Latin America and Asia (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by Carolyn E. SachsThis book presents research from across the globe on how gender relationships in agriculture are changing. In many regions of the world, agricultural transformations are occurring through increased commodification, new value-chains, technological innovations introduced by CGIAR and other development interventions, declining viability of small-holder agriculture livelihoods, male out-migration from rural areas, and climate change. This book addresses how these changes involve fluctuations in gendered labour and decision making on farms and in agriculture and, in many places, have resulted in the feminization of agriculture at a time of unprecedented climate change. Chapters uncover both how women successfully innovate and how they remain disadvantaged when compared to men in terms of access to land, labor, capital and markets that would enable them to succeed in agriculture. Building on case studies from Africa, Latin America and Asia, the book interrogates how new agricultural innovations from agricultural research, new technologies and value chains reshape gender relations. Using new methodological approaches and intersectional analyses, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of agriculture, gender, sustainable development and environmental studies more generally.
Gender, Agriculture and Agrarian Transformations: Changing Relations in Africa, Latin America and Asia (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by Carolyn E. SachsThis book presents research from across the globe on how gender relationships in agriculture are changing. In many regions of the world, agricultural transformations are occurring through increased commodification, new value-chains, technological innovations introduced by CGIAR and other development interventions, declining viability of small-holder agriculture livelihoods, male out-migration from rural areas, and climate change. This book addresses how these changes involve fluctuations in gendered labour and decision making on farms and in agriculture and, in many places, have resulted in the feminization of agriculture at a time of unprecedented climate change. Chapters uncover both how women successfully innovate and how they remain disadvantaged when compared to men in terms of access to land, labor, capital and markets that would enable them to succeed in agriculture. Building on case studies from Africa, Latin America and Asia, the book interrogates how new agricultural innovations from agricultural research, new technologies and value chains reshape gender relations. Using new methodological approaches and intersectional analyses, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of agriculture, gender, sustainable development and environmental studies more generally.
Policy and Governance in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: A Relational Equity Approach (Earthscan Studies in Natural Resource Management)
by Anastasia Koulouri Nikolai MouravievThis book discusses the balance of priorities within the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus and its impact on policy development and implementation, highlighting innovative perspectives in adopting a holistic approach to identify, analyse and manage the nexus component interdependencies. Due to increasing demands for natural resources, the WEF nexus has emerged as a response to the numerous global challenges. Addressing WEF challenges often involves balancing multiple and competing priorities and identifying and managing interrelations, synergies and trade-offs between the three components of the nexus. In this volume the authors focus on the dynamics between multiple stakeholders, such as governments, businesses, NGOs and local communities, when addressing WEF challenges by adopting a nexus approach. The book argues that effective engagement of multiple stakeholders can address difficulties arising from the introduction of an integrated approach to WEF policy design and implementation, increasing the potential benefits. The book also looks at the effect of international relations and regional power struggles on resolving cross-border WEF nexus issues. Case studies are drawn from Kenya, Central Asia, USA and Peru, highlighting key themes, such as how collaborative governance, enabled and facilitated by relational equity management, can be viewed as an innovative way to reconcile competing priorities. The combination of theoretical and case study chapters makes the book of interest to a wide audience, including scholars and advanced students of sustainable development, agriculture and food studies, water and energy policy design and governance, as well as to practitioners working in the fields of water, energy and food security.
Policy and Governance in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: A Relational Equity Approach (Earthscan Studies in Natural Resource Management)
by Anastasia Koulouri Nikolai MouravievThis book discusses the balance of priorities within the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus and its impact on policy development and implementation, highlighting innovative perspectives in adopting a holistic approach to identify, analyse and manage the nexus component interdependencies. Due to increasing demands for natural resources, the WEF nexus has emerged as a response to the numerous global challenges. Addressing WEF challenges often involves balancing multiple and competing priorities and identifying and managing interrelations, synergies and trade-offs between the three components of the nexus. In this volume the authors focus on the dynamics between multiple stakeholders, such as governments, businesses, NGOs and local communities, when addressing WEF challenges by adopting a nexus approach. The book argues that effective engagement of multiple stakeholders can address difficulties arising from the introduction of an integrated approach to WEF policy design and implementation, increasing the potential benefits. The book also looks at the effect of international relations and regional power struggles on resolving cross-border WEF nexus issues. Case studies are drawn from Kenya, Central Asia, USA and Peru, highlighting key themes, such as how collaborative governance, enabled and facilitated by relational equity management, can be viewed as an innovative way to reconcile competing priorities. The combination of theoretical and case study chapters makes the book of interest to a wide audience, including scholars and advanced students of sustainable development, agriculture and food studies, water and energy policy design and governance, as well as to practitioners working in the fields of water, energy and food security.
Climate Realism: The Aesthetics of Weather and Atmosphere in the Anthropocene (Routledge Research in the Anthropocene)
by Edited by Lynn Badia, Marija Cetinic,́ and Jeff DiamantiThis book sets forth a new research agenda for climate theory and aesthetics for the age of the Anthropocene. It explores the challenge of representing and conceptualizing climate in the era of climate change. In the Anthropocene when geologic conditions and processes are primarily shaped by human activity, climate indicates not only atmospheric forces but the gamut of human activity that shape these forces. It includes the fuels we use, the lifestyles we cultivate, the industrial infrastructures and supply chains we build, and together these point to the possible futures we may encounter. This book demonstrates how every weather event constitutes the climatic forces that are as much social, cultural, and economic as they are environmental, natural, and physical. By foregrounding this fundamental insight, it intervenes in the well-established political and scientific discourses of climate change by identifying and exploring emergent aesthetic practices and the conceptual project of mediating the various forces embedded in climate. This book is the first to sustain a theoretical and analytical engagement with the category of realism in the context of anthropogenic climate change, to capture climate’s capacity to express embedded histories, and to map the formal strategies of representation that have turned climate into cultural content.
Climate Realism: The Aesthetics of Weather and Atmosphere in the Anthropocene (Routledge Research in the Anthropocene)
by Lynn Badia Marija Cetini 263 Jeff DiamantiThis book sets forth a new research agenda for climate theory and aesthetics for the age of the Anthropocene. It explores the challenge of representing and conceptualizing climate in the era of climate change. In the Anthropocene when geologic conditions and processes are primarily shaped by human activity, climate indicates not only atmospheric forces but the gamut of human activity that shape these forces. It includes the fuels we use, the lifestyles we cultivate, the industrial infrastructures and supply chains we build, and together these point to the possible futures we may encounter. This book demonstrates how every weather event constitutes the climatic forces that are as much social, cultural, and economic as they are environmental, natural, and physical. By foregrounding this fundamental insight, it intervenes in the well-established political and scientific discourses of climate change by identifying and exploring emergent aesthetic practices and the conceptual project of mediating the various forces embedded in climate. This book is the first to sustain a theoretical and analytical engagement with the category of realism in the context of anthropogenic climate change, to capture climate’s capacity to express embedded histories, and to map the formal strategies of representation that have turned climate into cultural content.
UNESCO Biosphere Reserves: Supporting Biocultural Diversity, Sustainability and Society (Earthscan Studies in Natural Resource Management)
by Maureen G. Reed Martin F. PriceUNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BRs) are designated areas in geographical regions of global socio-ecological significance. This definitive book shows their global relevance and contribution to environmental protection, biocultural diversity and education. Initiated in the 1970s as part of UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme, BRs share a set of common objectives, to support and demonstrate a balance between biodiversity conservation, sustainable development and research. The world’s 701 BRs form an international, intergovernmental network to support the aims of sustainability science, but this purpose has not always been widely understood. In three distinct sections, the book starts by outlining the origins of BRs and the MAB Programme, showing how they contribute to advancing sustainable development. The second section documents the evolution of BRs around the world, including case studies from each of the five UNESCO world regions. Each case study demonstrates how conservation, sustainable development and the role of scientific research have been interpreted locally. The book concludes by discussing thematic lessons to help understand the challenges and opportunities associated with sustainability science, providing a unique platform from which lessons can be learned. This includes how concepts become actions on the ground and how ideas can be taken up across sites at differing scales. This book will be of great interest to professionals engaged in conservation and sustainable development, NGOs, policy-makers and advanced students in environmental management, ecology, sustainability science, environmental anthropology and geography.
UNESCO Biosphere Reserves: Supporting Biocultural Diversity, Sustainability and Society (Earthscan Studies in Natural Resource Management)
by Maureen G. Reed Martin F. PriceUNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BRs) are designated areas in geographical regions of global socio-ecological significance. This definitive book shows their global relevance and contribution to environmental protection, biocultural diversity and education. Initiated in the 1970s as part of UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere (MAB) Programme, BRs share a set of common objectives, to support and demonstrate a balance between biodiversity conservation, sustainable development and research. The world’s 701 BRs form an international, intergovernmental network to support the aims of sustainability science, but this purpose has not always been widely understood. In three distinct sections, the book starts by outlining the origins of BRs and the MAB Programme, showing how they contribute to advancing sustainable development. The second section documents the evolution of BRs around the world, including case studies from each of the five UNESCO world regions. Each case study demonstrates how conservation, sustainable development and the role of scientific research have been interpreted locally. The book concludes by discussing thematic lessons to help understand the challenges and opportunities associated with sustainability science, providing a unique platform from which lessons can be learned. This includes how concepts become actions on the ground and how ideas can be taken up across sites at differing scales. This book will be of great interest to professionals engaged in conservation and sustainable development, NGOs, policy-makers and advanced students in environmental management, ecology, sustainability science, environmental anthropology and geography.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Water Diplomacy: A Principled and Pragmatic Approach (Earthscan Studies in Water Resource Management)
by Shafiqul Islam Kevin M. SmithThis book introduces the concept of Water Diplomacy as a principled and pragmatic approach to problem-driven interdisciplinary collaboration, which has been developed as a response to pressing contemporary water challenges arising from the coupling of natural and human systems. The findings of the book are the result of a decade-long interdisciplinary experiment in conceiving, developing, and implementing an interdisciplinary graduate program on Water Diplomacy at Tufts University, USA. This has led to the development of the Water Diplomacy Framework, a shared framework for understanding, diagnosing, and communicating about complex water issues across disciplinary boundaries. This framework clarifies important distinctions between water systems - simple, complicated, or complex - and the attributes that these distinctions imply for how these problems can be addressed. In this book, the focus is on complex water issues and how they require a problem-driven rather than a theory-driven approach to interdisciplinary collaboration. Moreover, it is argued that conception of interdisciplinarity needs to go beyond collaboration among experts, because complex water problems demand inclusive stakeholder engagement, such as in fact-value deliberation, joint fact finding, collective decision making, and adaptive management. Water professionals working in such environments need to operate with both principles and pragmatism in order to achieve actionable, sustainable, and equitable outcomes. This book explores these ideas in more detail and demonstrates their efficacy through a diverse range of case studies. Reflections on the program are also included, from conceptualization through implementation and evaluation. This book offers critical lessons and case studies for researchers and practitioners working on complex water issues as well as important lessons for those looking to initiate, implement, or evaluate interdisciplinary programs to address other complex problems in any setting.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Water Diplomacy: A Principled and Pragmatic Approach (Earthscan Studies in Water Resource Management)
by Shafiqul Islam Kevin M. SmithThis book introduces the concept of Water Diplomacy as a principled and pragmatic approach to problem-driven interdisciplinary collaboration, which has been developed as a response to pressing contemporary water challenges arising from the coupling of natural and human systems. The findings of the book are the result of a decade-long interdisciplinary experiment in conceiving, developing, and implementing an interdisciplinary graduate program on Water Diplomacy at Tufts University, USA. This has led to the development of the Water Diplomacy Framework, a shared framework for understanding, diagnosing, and communicating about complex water issues across disciplinary boundaries. This framework clarifies important distinctions between water systems - simple, complicated, or complex - and the attributes that these distinctions imply for how these problems can be addressed. In this book, the focus is on complex water issues and how they require a problem-driven rather than a theory-driven approach to interdisciplinary collaboration. Moreover, it is argued that conception of interdisciplinarity needs to go beyond collaboration among experts, because complex water problems demand inclusive stakeholder engagement, such as in fact-value deliberation, joint fact finding, collective decision making, and adaptive management. Water professionals working in such environments need to operate with both principles and pragmatism in order to achieve actionable, sustainable, and equitable outcomes. This book explores these ideas in more detail and demonstrates their efficacy through a diverse range of case studies. Reflections on the program are also included, from conceptualization through implementation and evaluation. This book offers critical lessons and case studies for researchers and practitioners working on complex water issues as well as important lessons for those looking to initiate, implement, or evaluate interdisciplinary programs to address other complex problems in any setting.
Political Agroecology: Advancing the Transition to Sustainable Food Systems (Advances in Agroecology)
by Manuel González de Molina Paulo Frederico Petersen Francisco Garrido Peña Francisco Roberto CaporalPolitical Agroecology is the first book to offer a systematic and articulated reflection on Political Agroecology from the Agroecological perspective. It defines the disciplinary field responsible for designing and producing actions, institutions and regulations aimed at achieving agrarian sustainability. In short, it aims to build a political theory that makes the scaling-up of agroecological experiences possible, turning them into the foundation of a new and alternative food regime. The book proposes theoretical, practical and epistemological foundations of a new theoretical and practical field of work for agroecologists: Political Agroecology. It establishes a framework for a common agroecological strategy, covering the different levels of collective action and the different instruments with which it can be developed. This will be essential reading for agroecologists, environmentalists, farming and food communities, and an ideal textbook for advanced agroecology courses in universities. Key features: Offers a unique state of the art on this fundamental new topic: Political Agroecology Presents a complete introduction to the political and institutional aspects of Agroecology, covering the whole food system Offers an important tool for searching agrarian sustainability Provides a broad epistemological, theoretical and methodological focus, exploring the connection between the different levels and scales involved in agroecological theory and practice
Political Agroecology: Advancing the Transition to Sustainable Food Systems (Advances in Agroecology)
by Manuel González de Molina Paulo Frederico Petersen Francisco Garrido Peña Francisco Roberto CaporalPolitical Agroecology is the first book to offer a systematic and articulated reflection on Political Agroecology from the Agroecological perspective. It defines the disciplinary field responsible for designing and producing actions, institutions and regulations aimed at achieving agrarian sustainability. In short, it aims to build a political theory that makes the scaling-up of agroecological experiences possible, turning them into the foundation of a new and alternative food regime. The book proposes theoretical, practical and epistemological foundations of a new theoretical and practical field of work for agroecologists: Political Agroecology. It establishes a framework for a common agroecological strategy, covering the different levels of collective action and the different instruments with which it can be developed. This will be essential reading for agroecologists, environmentalists, farming and food communities, and an ideal textbook for advanced agroecology courses in universities. Key features: Offers a unique state of the art on this fundamental new topic: Political Agroecology Presents a complete introduction to the political and institutional aspects of Agroecology, covering the whole food system Offers an important tool for searching agrarian sustainability Provides a broad epistemological, theoretical and methodological focus, exploring the connection between the different levels and scales involved in agroecological theory and practice
Victorians and Their Animals: Beast on a Leash
by Brenda AyresThis book, Victorians and Their Animals: Beast on a Leash, investigates the notion that British Victorians did see themselves as naturally dominant species over other humans and over animals. They conscientiously, hegemonically were determined to rule those beneath them and the animal within themselves albeit with varying degrees of success and failure. The articles in this collection apply posthuman and other theories, including queer, postcolonialism, deconstruction, and Marxism, in their exploration of Victorian attitudes toward animals. They study the biopolitical relationships between human and nonhuman animals in several key Victorian literary works. Some of this book’s chapters deal with animal ethics and moral aesthetics. Also being studied is the representation of animals in several Victorian novels as narrative devices to signify class status and gender dynamics, either to iterate socially acceptable mores or to satirize hypocrisy or breach of behavior or to voice social protest. All of the chapters analyse the interdependence of people and animals during the nineteenth century.