Issue 18.1 Abstracts

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A Management Perspective on Social Ecological Systems

By Andrew Halliday and Marion Glaser

This paper suggests a framework for operationalizing the concept of a social-ecological system (SES), thorough a generic system model that can be applied to different situations and used as a management tool. Four functional subsystems are identified: natural (N), worldview (W), control/management (C), and technology (T). These encompass four orders of system complexity: physical, biological, social, and semiotic. Emergent systems properties are conceptualized as arising through exchanges of matter and meaning between subsystems, and between the system as a whole and its environment (E). The second half of the paper draws on field work undertaken in the Manu Biosphere Reserve, Peru, to illustrate how the generic model can be applied to the case of family farm systems in the reserve. The aim is to facilitate collaboration among specialists from a range of disciplines, and non-academics, working together to address social and environmental issues from a systems perspective.

Keywords:Social-ecological system, management, Manu Biosphere Reserve, family farm system

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"If we wanted to be environmentally sustainable, we'd take the bus:" Skiing, Mobility, and the Irony of Climate Change

By Mark C. J. Stoddart

Global climate change is among the most visible environmental issues on the public agenda. This paper examines skiing in British Columbia, Canada, as a site where the cultural dynamics of climate change play out. Szerszynski (2007) uses the concept of "irony" to describe the gap between professed environmental values and environmental behavior. The relationship between skiing and global climate change is an exemplar of ecological "irony." The ski industry is often viewed as a "canary in the coalmine" for climate change. Skiers' interview talk also describes climate change as a major environmental concern. At the same time, discussions of climate change and skiing often neglect the intimate connections between skiing, mobility networks and global flows of tourism. These networks produce significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, further contributing to the environmental risks of climate change. This places skiers in an ecologically ironic situation, where pro-environmental discourse conflicts with environmentally-harmful behavior.

Keywords: climate change; sport, recreation and tourism; environmentalism; British Columbia, Canada

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Factors Related to Household Energy Use and Intention to Reduce It: The Role of Psychological and Socio-demographic Variables

By Wojke Abrahamse and Linda Steg

This study explored the relationships between household energy use and householders' intention to reduce their energy use on the one hand, and psychological variables and socio-demographic variables on the other. More specifically, the study examined whether the explanation of household energy use and intentions to reduce it could be informed by variables from the theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1985) and by variables from the value-belief-norm theory (VBN; Stern et al., 1999), alongside sociodemographic variables. Household energy use appeared to be most strongly related to socio-demographic variables (income, household size, age), while attitudinal variables and self-transcendence values (tradition/security and power/achievement) were important too. Intention to reduce household energy use was positively related to perceived behavioral control and attitudes toward energy conservation. Implications of these results for future research in the domain of household energy use and conservation are discussed.

Keywords: energy conservation, households, behavioral antecedents, theory of planned behavior, value-belief-norm theory

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Fanning the Flames? Media Coverage During Wildfire Events and its Relation to Broader Societal Understandings of the Hazard

By Travis Paveglio, Todd Norton, and Matthew S. Carroll

News media are an important source of information that the public uses to collectively define and respond to wildfire. Yet research on this topic rarely examines the mechanisms behind continued messages of fire exclusion, despite prevailing scientific notions of wildfire as an inevitable and vital ecological process that residents should learn to live with. This study analyzes newspaper coverage during wildfire events in two Western U.S. states and compares emergent themes with existing fire social science literature. We use discourse analysis and the concept of framing to demonstrate how newspaper coverage of wildfire events both draws from broader social contexts and continues to perpetuate notions of fire exclusion. This is accomplished by focusing coverage on the threat to private property and in treating public lands as a "non-property." Similarly, resident support or criticism of firefighting efforts is presented as contingent on the protection of private property.

Keywords: wildfire, news media, discourse analysis

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Building Regional Capacity for Land-Use Reforn: Environmental Conservation and Historic Preservation in the Hudson River Valley

By Paul T. Knudson

In exploring new ways of building the capacity for regional land-use reforms, this paper, using a case study approach, compares the role of non-profit environmental and land-use organizations to public, state agencies that operate in the same or similar spheres. The context for the comparative study are two regions in the Hudson River Valley of New York State, a broad geography experiencing intense development pressures as well as corresponding calls for land conservation and historic preservation. Findings suggest that while state agencies can offer strategic incentives and protections to communities and regions that adopt regional-oriented land-use policies, both governmental and non-profit groups play an important role in educating and advising municipal officials and residents as well as fostering cross-jurisdictional communication. In addition, an advantage of non-profit agencies is their independence from the state and state budgetary constraings. Non-profit agencies are also capable of advocating on behalf of their public agency counterparts in the public arena.

Keywords: Regional coalitions, land conservation, historic preservation, urban sprawl

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Recasting Paradigm Shift: "True" Sustainability and Complex Systems

By Chad L. Smith, Vicente L. Lopes, and Frank M. Carrejo

Within environmental sociology there exists a debate between competing theories of societal development and its accompanying ecological repercussions and possible solutions. Environmental reform (ecological modernization) and unsustainable economic system (treadmill of production, ecological unequal exchange, and structural human ecology) theories propose two very different paths for the direction of society in addressing the multiple ecological crises of the 21st century. Both approaches provide theoretical and practical strides in addressing these questions within environmental sociology; however, both also fail to address important foci for the future. For us to continue to thrive as a species we must reconsider our relationship with nature and abandon our anthropocentric views of nature by taking a position that recognizes our role in a complex system. Ultimately, mechanisms for building resilience and adaptation and reducing vulnerability rely upon a paradigm shift, an understanding of "true" and "false" sustainability, and adaptation and resilience strategies that afford us an opportunity to recast social-ecological relationships towards "true" sustainability.

Keywords: sustainability, "true" sustainability, "false" sustainability, paradigm shift, adaptation and resilience

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Multifaceted Perspectives on Water Risks and Policies: A Cultural Domains Approach in a Southwestern City

By Kelli L. Larson, Amber Wutich, Dave White, Tischa A. Munoz-Erickson, and Sharon L. Harlan

Considering an array of perspectives on human-ecological problems and possible solutions is essential for developing strategies that are socially accepted, culturally appropriate, and ultimately supported by residents, whose views and behaviors significantly affect environmental conditions. Following a tripartite model of affective, cognitive, and conative judgments, this paper examines: 1) local concerns about municipal water consumption, 2) the perceived role residents' landscaping choices play in contributing to resource scarcity, and 3) attitudes about regulatory policies aimed at conservation. The analysis assesses how people's multifaceted perspectives are influenced by various cultural domains -- specifically, ecological worldviews, political orientations, and ethnicity, which were more significant that social attributes controlled for in regression models. Advancing a robust conceptual approach to understanding the sociocultural basis of environmental judgments, we found a dominant influence for ecological worldviews across perspectives, with otherwise complext relationships between people's views and distinctive spheres of culture.

Keywords: risk perceptions, tripartite judgments, cultural domains, water scarcity, environmental governance

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