Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Guest Editorial: Power In Engaged Scholarship: Dimensions And Dynamics Of Knowledge Co-Creation, Margaret Post, Morgan Ruelle

Sustainability and Social Justice

Collaboratively engaged research is shaped by dynamic power relationships among individuals, institutions and communities. Where some disciplines have explored the theoretical and methodological implications of power relations, the engagement movement writ large has suffered from a lack of explicit conceptual models and in-depth analyses of the role of power in the process of knowledge co-creation. Over the last 30 years, considerable attention has been paid to how resources and expertise within academic institutions can be brought to bear on the intractable social and economic problems of local communities. A necessary, yet under-theorised aspect of these dynamics is the extent to …

Caricom Caribbean’S Hrd 2030 Strategy: Inscribing The Neoliberal Imaginary Through Social Planning?, Nigel O.M. Brissett

Sustainability and Social Justice

The globalisation’s ‘knowledge economy’ has created a new set of human capital requirements. The guiding policy and planning document, The CARICOM Human Resource Development 2030 Strategy: Unlocking Caribbean Human Potential document, ‘serves as a roadmap for the CARICOM Caribbean’s responses to these human capital demands. I conduct a critical analysis of this document’s policy discourses to ascertain their core values and strategies, as well as their implications for the education and development of the CARICOM Caribbean. I find that the emergent discourses and ideas–neoliberal education reform and state-led social planning–provide a cautionary tale of the potential impact of educational change …

Modeling The Spatial Distribution Of The Current And Future Ecosystem Services Of Urban Tree Planting In Chicopee And Fall River, Massachusetts, R. Moody, N. Geron, M. Healy, J. Rogan, Deborah Martin

Geography

Mature urban tree canopy cover disrupts the local effects of urban heat islands and provides important ecosystem services such as energy savings through evaporation and shading, pollution removal, storm runoff control, and carbon sequestration. Sustainable urban tree canopy relies on the planting of juvenile trees. Typically, tree planting programs are only evaluated by the number of trees planted and there is a lack of analysis of juvenile trees post-planting. This study examines the value and distribution of energy savings provided by juvenile trees and how that value changes considering predicted tree growth and mortality by 2050. Using i-Tree Eco software, …

Customary Law, Norms, Practices And Other Factors That Enable And Constrain Women’S Access To Housing, Land And Property (Hlp) In South Sudan: A Desk Review, Cynthia Caron

Sustainability and Social Justice

Published by the International Organization for Migration

This report presents a review of the existing literature on customary law and practices, attitudes and beliefs (social norms) and other factors that create barriers to women’s access to and control over land and property in South Sudan. It also presents existing efforts to improve women’s property rights. The findings emphasize not only access, but also security of that access and its limitations, the ability to use land as desired and the ability to control income derived from land.

Ecosystem Carbon Balance In The Hawaiian Islands Under Different Scenarios Of Future Climate And Land Use Change, Paul C. Selmants, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Jinxun Liu, Tamara S. Wilson, Clay Trauernicht, Abby G. Frazier, Gregory P. Asner

Geography

The State of Hawai'i passed legislation to be carbon neutral by 2045, a goal that will partly depend on carbon sequestration by terrestrial ecosystems. However, there is considerable uncertainty surrounding the future direction and magnitude of the land carbon sink in the Hawaiian Islands. We used the Land Use and Carbon Scenario Simulator (LUCAS), a spatially explicit stochastic simulation model that integrates landscape change and carbon gain-loss, to assess how projected future changes in climate and land use will influence ecosystem carbon balance in the Hawaiian Islands under all combinations of two radiative forcing scenarios (RCPs 4.5 and 8.5) and …

Engaging Transformation: Using Seasonal Rounds To Anticipate Climate Change, Karim Aly Kassam, Morgan Ruelle, Isabell Haag, Umed Bulbulshoev, Daler Kaziev, Leo Louis, Anna Ullmann, Iriel Edwards, Aziz Ali Khan, Antonio Trabucco, Cyrus Samimi

Sustainability and Social Justice

Seasonal rounds are deliberative articulations of a community’s sociocultural relations with their ecological system. The process of visualizing seasonal rounds informs transdisciplinary research. We present a methodological approach for communities of enquiry to engage communities of practice through context-specific sociocultural and ecological relations driven by seasonal change. We first discuss historical précis of the concept of seasonal rounds that we apply to assess the spatial and temporal communal migrations and then describe current international research among Indigenous and rural communities in North America and Central Asia by the creation of a common vocabulary through mutual respect for multiple ways of …

Forum: Militarization 2.0: Communication And The Normalization Of Political Violence In The Digital Age, Susan Jackson, Rhys Crilley, Ilan Manor, Catherine Baker, Modupe Oshikoya, Jutta Joachim, Nick Robinson, Andrea Schneiker, Nicole Sunday Grove, Cynthia Enloe

Sustainability and Social Justice

Scholars of international relations frequently explore how states normalize the use of military force through processes of militarization, yet few have analyzed how new information and communication technologies impact on these processes. The essays in this forum address this gap, and consider the political significance of new technologies, new actors, and new practices that shape "Militarization 2.0" and normalize political violence in the digital age. The authors in this forum rely, to varying degrees, on common militarized tropes and dichotomies (such as authenticity, belonging, and (de)humanizing framings) that are key to militarization, including those devices that rest on gender, race/ethnicity, …

Femininity And The Paradox Of Trust Building In Patriarchies During Covid-19, Cynthia Enloe

Sustainability and Social Justice

Sustainable trust building is a crucial yet underanalyzed process, both in its successes and its more common failures. Because the politics of masculinization and feminization play salient roles in so many sustained and unsustained trust-building efforts, it is valuable during any public health crisis anywhere to pay close attention to women as trust builders and to nurses as feminized actors.

Participatory Community Wealth Ranking In Banana-Producing Regions Of Uganda And Tanzania, Pricilla Marimo, Clare Shelton, Cynthia Caron, Noel Madalla, Innocent Mpiriirwe, Rhiannon Crichton, Lilian Ndagire, Victor Manyong, Daud Batson Mbongo, Asher Wilson Okurut

Sustainability and Social Justice

Published by the Alliance of Bioversity International & the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). The former is a research-for-development organization that provides scientific evidence of the role that on-farm and wild agricultural and forest biodiversity can play in a more nutritious, resilient, productive and adaptable food and agricultural system. The latter works in collaboration with hundreds of partners to help developing countries make farming more competitive, profitable, and resilient through smarter, more sustainable natural resource management.

Organizations Affiliated to the Authors:

Bioversity International; University of East Anglia; Clark University; National Agricultural Research Organization, Uganda; International …

Gender-Disaggregated Seasonal And Daily Calendars Of Farmers In Uganda And Tanzania, Pricilla Marimo, Clare Shelton, Cynthia Caron, Rhiannon Crichton, Noel Madalla, Mpoki Shimwela, Rony Swennen, Inge Van Den Bergh, Charity Kibooga

Sustainability and Social Justice

This report discusses the agricultural activities (seasonal, weekly, and daily) that take place in a typical year to provide insight into men’s and women’s perceptions of the seasons, agricultural activities, crops grown, and sex-disaggregated division of labor related to those crops and activities performed during specific times in a day or week in selected regions of Uganda and Tanzania. Qualitative data were collected from 38 sex-disaggregated focus group discussions (FGDs) conducted with a total of 341 participants. Sixteen FGDs consisted of men only and 22 consisted of women only.

Contested Landscapes, Disputed Realities: An Investigation Of Socio-Environmental Conflict From Mining In Northern Ecuador: An Honors Thesis, Ian F. Hirons

Student Works

For decades, Ecuador has been one of the preeminent petrostates in South America. However, in response to recent drops in global demand and pricing for oil products, the country has made serious commitments to further develop its mineral resources. By opening a new natural resource sector, Ecuador has firmly cemented itself as a primarily extractivist nation. In the process, the national government has frequently come into conflict with activist and community groups who protest the encroachment of extractive industry. This thesis explores the various dimensions of socio-environmental conflict created by large-scale mining projects in northern Ecuador with specific attention to …

Foreword, Cynthia Enloe

Sustainability and Social Justice

Abstract for the full book:

This book explores how gender equality, a central part of the Nordic imaginary, is used in the political communication of Nordic states. The analyses presented move beyond conventional images and discourses of Nordic gender- and women-friendliness by critically investigating how and to what extent gender equality serves nation-branding in the Nordic region.

Nation-branding is an unescapable part of globalisation, which is a market-oriented process dominated by the West and predicated on the creation of winners and losers. Hence, efforts to strengthen the national brand or reputation of specific Nordic countries with the aid of gender …

Ownership Is A Habit Of Mind: How Community Land Trusts Expose Key Consensual Fictions Of Urban Property, Deborah Martin

Geography

Community land trusts (“CLTs”) have garnered attention as a novel,
non-state organizational mechanism for enabling permanently
affordable homeownership. In canonical form, they separate
a home from the land upon which it sits, holding the land in trust
and selling the home for its value without the land. Additionally,
CLTs use ground lease restrictions to constrain the resale process
and enforce long-term reproduction of affordability. Herein, we
argue that given the “actually existing” character of CLT practices,
the legal vocabulary CLTs use is not most directly nor most accu-
rately descriptive. The nature of the present intervention is empha-
tically not …

Understanding Black Experiences And Access Barriers In The Expressive Arts Activities And Therapies, Jadea Harris, Ana K. Marcelo

Psychology

Black individuals in America experience racism, discrimination, and microaggressions that can affect their mental and physical health. (Alvarez, Liang, & Neville, 2016). Unfortunately, Black individuals typically do not seek out mental health treatment because of mistrust, stigma, misdiagnosis, and lack of culturally sensitive approaches to treatment (NAMI, 2002). One way to encourage Black individuals to seek mental health support and to provide more support could be through expressive arts. Expressive outlets may act as a protective barrier against adverse experiences and serve as an opportunity to bring healing amongst uncomfortable feelings of racial trauma and more. Historical and empirical evidence …

The Migration-Sustainability Paradox: Transformations In Mobile Worlds, Maria Franco Gavonel, William Neil Adger, Ricardo Safra De Campos, Emily Boyd, Edward R. Carr, Anita Fábos, Sonja Fransen, Dominique Jolivet, Caroline Zickgraf, Samuel Na Codjoe, Mumuni Abu, Tasneem Siddiqui

Sustainability and Social Justice

Migration represents a major transformation of the lives of those involved and has been transformative of societies and economies globally. Yet models of sustainability transformations do not effectively incorporate the movement of populations. There is an apparent migration-sustainability paradox: migration plays a role as a driver of unsustainability as part of economic globalisation, yet simultaneously represents a transformative phenomenon and potential force for sustainable development. We propose criteria by which migration represents an opportunity for sustainable development: increasing aggregate well-being; reduced inequality leading to diverse social benefits; and reduced aggregate environmental burden. We detail the dimensions of the transformative potential …

'Seeding An Integration And Belonging Hub', Academic Innovation Fund Application, Integration And Belonging Hub

Vision, Mission, & Funding

Contains the application that was submitted for Clark University's Academic Innovation Fund, outlining a proposal for the Integration and Belonging Hub.

Field-Scale Soil Moisture Bridges The Spatial-Scale Gap Between Drought Monitoring And Agricultural Yields, Noemi Vergopolan, Sitian Xiong, Lyndon Estes, Niko Wanders, Nathaniel W. Chaney, Eric F. Wood, Megan Konar, Kelly Caylor, Hylke E. Beck, Nicolas Gatti, Tom Evans, Justin Sheffield

Geography

Soil moisture is highly variable in space and time, and deficits (i.e., droughts) play an important role in modulating crop yields. Limited hydroclimate and yield data, however, hamper drought impact monitoring and assessment at the farm field scale. This study demonstrates the potential of using field-scale soil moisture simulations to support highresolution agricultural yield prediction and drought monitoring at the smallholder farm field scale. We present a multiscale modeling approach that combines HydroBlocks a physically based hyper-resolution land surface model (LSM) with machine learning. We used HydroBlocks to simulate root zone soil moisture and soil temperature in Zambia at 3 …

Assessment Of Empirical And Semi-Analytical Algorithms Using Modis-Aqua For Representing In-Situ Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter (Cdom) In The Bering, Chukchi, And Western Beaufort Seas Of The Pacific Arctic Region, Melishia I. Santiago, Karen E. Frey

Geography

We analyzed a variety of satellite-based ocean color products derived using MODIS-Aqua to investigate the most accurate empirical and semi-analytical algorithms for representing in-situ chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) across a large latitudinal transect in the Bering, Chukchi, and western Beaufort Seas of the Pacific Arctic region. In particular, we compared the performance of empirical (CDOM index) and several semi-analytical algorithms (quasi-analytical algorithm (QAA), Carder, Garver-Siegel-Maritorena (GSM), and GSM-A) with field measurements of CDOM absorption (aCDOM) at 412 nanometers (nm) and 443 nm. These algorithms were compared with in-situ CDOM measurements collected on cruises during July 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, …

Effects Of Bark Beetle Outbreaks On Forest Landscape Pattern In The Southern Rocky Mountains, U.S.A., Kyle C. Rodman, Robert A. Andrus, Cori L. Butkiewicz, Teresa B. Chapman, Nathan S. Gill, Brian J. Harvey, Dominik Kulakowski, Niko J. Tutland, Thomas T. Veblen, Sarah J. Hart

Geography

Since the late 1990s, extensive outbreaks of native bark beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) have affected coniferous forests throughout Europe and North America, driving changes in carbon storage, wildlife habitat, nutrient cycling, and water resource provisioning. Remote sensing is a cru-cial tool for quantifying the effects of these disturbances across broad landscapes. In particular, Landsat time series (LTS) are increasingly used to characterize outbreak dynamics, including the presence and severity of bark beetle-caused tree mortality, though broad-scale LTS-based maps are rarely informed by detailed field validation. Here we used spatial and temporal information from LTS products, in combination with extensive field data …

Encoding A Categorical Independent Variable For Input To Terrset’S Multi-Layer Perceptron, Emily Evenden, Robert Gilmore Pontius

Geography

The profession debates how to encode a categorical variable for input to machine learning algorithms, such as neural networks. A conventional approach is to convert a categorical variable into a collection of binary variables, which causes a burdensome number of correlated variables. TerrSet’s Land Change Modeler proposes encoding a categorical variable onto the continuous closed interval from 0 to 1 based on each category’s Population Evidence Likelihood (PEL) for input to the Multi-Layer Perceptron, which is a type of neural network. We designed examples to test the wisdom of these encodings. The results show that encoding a categorical variable based …

The Atmospheric Carbon And Transport (Act)-America Mission, Kenneth J. Davis, Edward V. Browell, Sha Feng, Thomas Lauvaux, Michael D. Obland, Sandip Pal, Bianca C. Baier, David F. Baker, Ian T. Baker, Zachary R. Barkley, Kevin W. Bowman, Yu Yan Cui, A. Scott Denning, Joshua P. Digangi, Jeremy T. Dobler, Alan Fried, Tobias Gerken, Klaus Keller, Bing Lin, Amin R. Nehrir, Caroline P. Normile, Christopher W. O'Dell, Lesley E. Ott, Anke Roiger, Andrew E. Schuh, Colm Sweeney, Yaxing Wei, Brad Weir, Ming Xue, Christopher A. Williams

Geography

The Atmospheric Carbon and Transport (ACT)-America NASA Earth Venture Suborbital Mission set out to improve regional atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) inversions by exploring the intersection of the strong GHG fluxes and vigorous atmospheric transport that occurs within the midlatitudes. Two research aircraft instrumented with remote and in situ sensors to measure GHG mole fractions, associated trace gases, and atmospheric state variables collected 1,140.7 flight hours of research data, distributed across 305 individual aircraft sorties, coordinated within 121 research flight days, and spanning five 6-week seasonal flight campaigns in the central and eastern United States. Flights sampled 31 synoptic sequences, including …

Joint Co2 Mole Fraction And Flux Analysis Confirms Missing Processes In Casa Terrestrial Carbon Uptake Over North America, Sha Feng, Thomas Lauvaux, Christopher A. Williams, Kenneth J. Davis, Yu Zhou, Ian Baker, Zachary R. Barkley, Daniel Wesloh

Geography

Terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) play a key role in the detection and attribution of carbon cycle processes at local to global scales and in projections of the coupled carbon-climate system. TBM evaluation commonly involves direct comparison to eddy-covariance flux measurements. We use atmospheric CO2 mole fraction ([CO2]) measured in situ from aircraft and tower, in addition to flux-measurements from summer 2016 to evaluate the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford-Approach (CASA) TBM. WRF-Chem is used to simulate [CO2] using biogenic CO2 fluxes from a CASA parameter-based ensemble and CarbonTracker version 2017 (CT2017) in addition to transport and CO2 boundary condition ensembles. The resulting “super ensemble” …

Atmospheric Carbon And Transport – America (Act-America) Data Sets: Description, Management, And Delivery, Y. Wei, R. Shrestha, S. Pal, T. Gerken, S. Feng, J. Mcnelis, D. Singh, M. M. Thornton, A. G. Boyer, M. A. Shook, G. Chen, B. C. Baier, Z. R. Barkley, J. D. Barrick, J. R. Bennett, E. V. Browell, J. F. Campbell, L. J. Campbell, Y. Choi, J. Collins, J. Dobler, M. Eckl, A. Fiehn, A. Fried, J. P. Digangi, R. Barton-Grimley, H. Halliday, T. Klausner, S. Kooi, J. Kostinek, T. Lauvaux, B. Lin, Christopher A. Williams

Geography

The ACT-America project is a NASA Earth Venture Suborbital-2 mission designed to study the transport and fluxes of greenhouse gases. The open and freely available ACT-America data sets provide airborne in situ measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, methane, trace gases, aerosols, clouds, and meteorological properties, airborne remote sensing measurements of aerosol backscatter, atmospheric boundary layer height and columnar content of atmospheric carbon dioxide, tower-based measurements, and modeled atmospheric mole fractions and regional carbon fluxes of greenhouse gases over the Central and Eastern United States. We conducted 121 research flights during five campaigns in four seasons during 2016–2019 over three regions …

Natural Climate Solutions For Canada, C. Ronnie Drever, Susan C. Cook-Patton, Fardausi Akhter, Pascal H. Badiou, Gail L. Chmura, Scott J. Davidson, Raymond L. Desjardins, Andrew Dyk, Joseph E. Fargione, Max Fellows, Ben Filewod, Margot Hessing-Lewis, Susantha Jayasundara, William S. Keeton, Timm Kroeger, Tyler J. Lark, Edward Le, Sara M. Leavitt, Marie Eve Leclerc, Tony C. Lemprière, Juha Metsaranta, Brian Mcconkey, Eric Neilson, Guillaume Peterson St-Laurent, Danijela Puric-Mladenovic, Sebastien Rodrigue, Raju Y. Soolanayakanahally, Seth A. Spawn, Maria Strack, Carolyn Smyth, Naresh Thevathasan, Mihai Voicu, Christopher A. Williams

Geography

Alongside the steep reductions needed in fossil fuel emissions, natural climate solutions (NCS) represent readily deployable options that can contribute to Canada's goals for emission reductions. We estimate the mitigation potential of 24 NCS related to the protection, management, and restoration of natural systems that can also deliver numerous co-benefits, such as enhanced soil productivity, clean air and water, and biodiversity conservation. NCS can provide up to 78.2 (41.0 to 115.1) Tg CO2e/year (95% CI) of mitigation annually in 2030 and 394.4 (173.2 to 612.4) Tg CO2e cumulatively between 2021 and 2030, with 34% available at ≤CAD 50/Mg CO2e. Avoided …

Toward The Development Of Deep Learning Analyses For Snow Avalanche Releases In Mountain Regions, Yunzhi Chen, Wei Chen, Omid Rahmati, Fatemeh Falah, Dominik Kulakowski, Saro Lee, Fatemeh Rezaie, Mahdi Panahi, Aref Bahmani, Hamid Darabi, Ali Torabi Haghighi, Huiyuan Bian

Geography

Snow avalanches impose a considerable threat to infrastructure and human safety in snow bound mountain areas. Nevertheless, the spatial prediction of snow avalanches has received little research attention in many vulnerable parts of the world, particularly in developing countries. The present study investigates the applicability of a stand alone convolutional neural network (CNN) model, as a deep learning approach, along with two metaheuristic algorithms including grey wolf optimization (CNN-GWO) and imperialist competitive algorithm (CNN-ICA) in snow avalanche modelling in the Darvan watershed, Iran. The analysis was based on thirteen potential drivers of avalanche occurrence and an inventory map of previously …

A Near-Real-Time Approach For Monitoring Forest Disturbance Using Landsat Time Series: Stochastic Continuous Change Detection, Su Ye, John Rogan, Zhe Zhu, J. Ronald Eastman

Geography

Forest disturbances greatly affect the ecological functioning of natural forests. Timely information regarding extent, timing and magnitude of forest disturbance events is crucial for effective disturbance management strategies. Yet, we still lack accurate, near-real-time and high-performance remote sensing tools for monitoring abrupt and subtle forest disturbances. This study presents a new approach called ‘Stochastic Continuous Change Detection (S-CCD)’ using a dense Landsat data time series. S-CCD improves upon the ‘COntinuous monitoring of Land Disturbance (COLD)’ approach by incorporating a mathematical tool called the ‘state space model’, which treats trends and seasonality as stochastic processes, allowing for modeling temporal dynamics of …

The Total Operating Characteristic From Stratified Random Sampling With An Application To Flood Mapping, Zhen Liu, Robert Gilmore Pontius

Geography

The Total Operating Characteristic (TOC) measures how the ranks of an index variable distinguish between presence and absence in a binary reference variable. Previous methods to generate the TOC required the reference data to derive from a census or a simple random sample. However, many researchers apply stratified random sampling to collect reference data because stratified random sampling is more efficient than simple random sampling for many applications. Our manuscript derives a new methodology that uses stratified random sampling to generate the TOC. An application to flood mapping illustrates how the TOC compares the abilities of three indices to diagnose …

Beyond Biomass To Carbon Fluxes: Application And Evaluation Of A Comprehensive Forest Carbon Monitoring System, Yu Zhou, Christopher A. Williams, Natalia Hasler, Huan Gu, Robert Kennedy

Geography

Accurate quantification of forest carbon stocks and fluxes over regions is needed to monitor forest resources as they respond to changes in climate, disturbance and management, and also to evaluate contributions of forest sector to the regional and global carbon balances. In previous work we introduced a national forest carbon monitoring system (NFCMS) that combines forest inventory data, satellite remote sensing of stand biomass and forest disturbances, and an ecosystem carbon cycle model to assess contemporary forest carbon dynamics at a 30 m resolution. In this study, we evaluate the NFCMS estimates of biomass and carbon fluxes with available data …

Climate Impacts Of U.S. Forest Loss Span Net Warming To Net Cooling, Christopher A. Williams, Huan Gu, Tong Jiao

Geography

Storing carbon in forests is a leading land-based strategy to curb anthropogenic climate change, but its planetary cooling effect is opposed by warming from low albedo. Using detailed geospatial data from Earth-observing satellites and the national forest inventory, we quantify the net climate effect of losing forest across the conterminous United States. We find that forest loss in the intermountain and Rocky Mountain West causes net planetary cooling but losses east of the Mississippi River and in Pacific Coast states tend toward net warming. Actual U.S. forest conversions from 1986 to 2000 cause net cooling for a decade but then …

From Digital Divide To Digital Literacies And Mother-Child Pedagogies: The Case Of Latina Mothers, Jie Y. Park, Laurie Ross, Deisy Rodriguez Ledezma

Sustainability and Social Justice

This article reports on a qualitative study of 22 Latina mothers and their experiences supporting their children’s remote education during COVID-19. Drawing on digital literacies and mujerista theory, the authors analyzed focus group data to find the following: Latina mothers’ struggles involved not just understanding online learning platforms but an educational system that was not responsive to the economic constraints and stressors faced by families; Latina mothers perceived the school district’s response to COVID-19 as performative and inadequate; Latina mothers developed mother-child pedagogies or pedagogies in which the mother and child are involved in teaching to and learning from each …