Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

The Impact Of ‘‘No Impact Man’’: Alternative Hedonism As Environmental Appeal, Jen Schneider, Glen Miller Dec 2011

The Impact Of ‘‘No Impact Man’’: Alternative Hedonism As Environmental Appeal, Jen Schneider, Glen Miller

Jen Schneider

As ‘‘No Impact Man,’’ writer Colin Beavan conducted a one-year experiment to determine whether he and his family could reduce their environmental impact to zero while living and working in Manhattan. This article examines the No Impact Man (NIM) experiment both as ‘‘alternative hedonism,’’ a reconceptualization of the ‘‘good life’’ that avoids unduly damaging the natural world, and also as a kind of ‘‘eco-stunt,’’ an attempt to garner significant media coverage about positive environmental behaviors. We use DeLuca’s theorization of the ‘‘image event’’ to analyze the No Impact Man franchise—blog, book, and documentary film—though we modify that theory in order …


Making The Human Dimensions Of Sustainable Community Development Visible To Engineers, Juan Lucena, Jen Schneider, Jon A. Leydens Mar 2011

Making The Human Dimensions Of Sustainable Community Development Visible To Engineers, Juan Lucena, Jen Schneider, Jon A. Leydens

Jen Schneider

Recently, engineers – particularly those working on sustainability-related initiatives – have increasingly turned their efforts towards under-served communities. This paper summarises the findings in Engineering and Sustainable Community Development (Juan Lucena et al., 2010) aimed at a diversity of these efforts which are grouped here under the term ‘engineering to help’. These initiatives often exist under names such as community service, humanitarian engineering, and engineers without borders or activities such as the Institution of Civil Engineers' co-sponsored workshop ‘Helping local communities to help themselves’. Although there has been a blossoming of engineering-to-help-related programmes around the world, there is a …


Putting Partnership First: A Dialogue Model For Science And Risk Communication, Jen Schneider, Roel Snieder Jan 2011

Putting Partnership First: A Dialogue Model For Science And Risk Communication, Jen Schneider, Roel Snieder

Jen Schneider

In April 2010, the New York Times reported that Vattenfall AB, an energy company owned by the Swedish government, had built one of the first coal-fired power plants designed to capture ~90% of the CO2 it produced, with plans to sequester that CO2 underground in geologic repositories near its plant in Brandenburg, Germany (Voosen, 2010). By most measures, if the plant's operations were proven to be successful, it could have served as a model for other carbon capture and sequestration plants worldwide.


Making Space For The “Nuances Of Truth”: Communication And Uncertainty At An Environmental Journalists’ Workshop, Jen Schneider Jun 2010

Making Space For The “Nuances Of Truth”: Communication And Uncertainty At An Environmental Journalists’ Workshop, Jen Schneider

Jen Schneider

In 2008, the Society of Environmental Journalists listed nearly 50 science or science immersion workshops for environmental journalists. Yet relatively little is known about the content of these workshops and their impact on participants. This ethnographic study, conducted at a science immersion workshop for environmental journalists, aims to fill this void in our knowledge. Relying on participant observation and depth interviews, the study suggests that such workshops are useful for participating journalists: Reporters feel they leave the workshop better understanding the scientific method and scientific uncertainty. But the findings also reveal that “metacommunication”—communication about communication—is equally as important as science …


Engineers, Development, And Engineering Education: From National To Sustainable Community Development, J. Lucena, J. Schneider Jun 2008

Engineers, Development, And Engineering Education: From National To Sustainable Community Development, J. Lucena, J. Schneider

Jen Schneider

In October 2007, Norman Borlaug wrote in Science magazine that ‘more than 200 science journals throughout the world will simultaneously publish papers on global poverty and human development – a collaborative effort to increase awareness, interest, and research about these important issues of our time’. Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and father of the green revolution, was demonstrating that the scientific community is at last taking questions seriously of sustainability and development. Borlaug's own contentious role in the history of ‘development,’ however, points to the complexity of the term and the contested role scientists and engineers have played in that …