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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

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

2014

The University of Maine

Senator George J. Mitchell Center

Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Incompatibility Of Benefit-Cost Analysis With Sustainability Science, Mark W. Anderson, Mario F. Teisl, Caroline L. Noblet, Sharon Klein Sep 2014

The Incompatibility Of Benefit-Cost Analysis With Sustainability Science, Mark W. Anderson, Mario F. Teisl, Caroline L. Noblet, Sharon Klein

Publications

Participants in sustainability science, as an emerging discipline, have not yet developed fully a coherent ontology, epistemology, ideology, or methodology. There is clearer agreement on the ideology of sustainability science, agreement that can be used to consider the compatibility of that ideology with methodologies brought to bear in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research teams. Benefit–cost analysis, one such methodology from the neoclassical economics tradition, is often used in the context of sustainability science. As currently formulated and practiced, benefit–cost analysis is incompatible with the ideology of sustainability science and should not be used to evaluate proposed solutions to sustainability problems. Other …

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Pushing The Pace Of Tree Species Migration, Eli D. Lazarus, Brian Mcgill Aug 2014

Pushing The Pace Of Tree Species Migration, Eli D. Lazarus, Brian Mcgill

Publications

Plants and animals have responded to past climate changes by migrating with habitable environments, sometimes shifting the boundaries of their geographic ranges by tens of kilometers per year or more. Species migrating in response to present climate conditions, however, must contend with landscapes fragmented by anthropogenic disturbance. We consider this problem in the context of wind-dispersed tree species. Mechanisms of long-distance seed dispersal make these species capable of rapid migration rates. Models of species-front migration suggest that even tree species with the capacity for long-distance dispersal will be unable to keep pace with future spatial changes in temperature gradients, exclusive …

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Interdisciplinarity And Actionable Science: Exploring The Generative Potential In Difference, Bridie Mcgreavy, Linda Silka, Laura Lindenfeld May 2014

Interdisciplinarity And Actionable Science: Exploring The Generative Potential In Difference, Bridie Mcgreavy, Linda Silka, Laura Lindenfeld

Publications

Community practice and actionable science share a commitment to solving complex problems to promote sustainability. Collective abilities to address these types of problems rely on interdisciplinary collaborations that also offer unique challenges. In this case study of a statewide interdisciplinary setting, we focus on key methodological differences related to problem identification, stakeholder involvement, competing research paradigms, and orientations towards communication. We argue the generative potential in interdisciplinarity is enhanced through sustained effort and attention to difference; acceptance of the ethical responsibility to reflect critically on power in shared decision making spaces; and strategic interventions to continually promote and improve learning.

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The Complementary Niches Of Anthropocentric And Biocentric Conservationists, Malcolm L. Hunter Jr., Kent H. Redford, David Lindenmayer Apr 2014

The Complementary Niches Of Anthropocentric And Biocentric Conservationists, Malcolm L. Hunter Jr., Kent H. Redford, David Lindenmayer

Publications

A divergence of values has become apparent in recent debates between conservationists who focus on ecosystem services that can improve human well-being and those who focus on avoiding the extinction of species. These divergent points of view fall along a continuum from anthropocentric to biocentric values, but most conservationists are relatively closer to each other than to the ends of the spectrum. We have some concerns with both positions but emphasize that conservation for both people and all other species will be most effective if conservationists focus on articulating the values they all share, being respectful of divergent values, and …

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The Complexity Of The Practice Of Ecosystem-Based Management., Verna G. Delauer, Andrew A. Rosenberg, Nancy C. Popp, David R. Hiley, Christine Feurt Mar 2014

The Complexity Of The Practice Of Ecosystem-Based Management., Verna G. Delauer, Andrew A. Rosenberg, Nancy C. Popp, David R. Hiley, Christine Feurt

Publications

In the United States, there are more than 20 federal agencies that manage over 140 ocean statutes (Crowder et al., 2006). A history of disjointed, single sector management has resulted in a one-dimensional view of ecosystems, administrative systems, and the socio-economic drivers that affect them. In contrast, an ecosystem-based approach to management is inherently multi-dimensional. Ecosystem-based approaches to management (EBM) are at the forefront of progressive science and policy discussions. Both the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (USCOP, 2004) and the Pew Oceans Commission (POC, 2003) reports called for a better understanding of the impact of human activities on the …

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An Assessment Of Methods And Remote-Sensing Derived Covariates For Regional Predictions Of 1 Km Daily Maximum Air Temperature, Beniot Parmentier, Brian Mcgill, Adam Wilson, James Regetz, Walter Jetz, Robert Guralnick, Mao-Ning Tuanmu, Natalie Robinson, Mark Schildhauer Jan 2014

An Assessment Of Methods And Remote-Sensing Derived Covariates For Regional Predictions Of 1 Km Daily Maximum Air Temperature, Beniot Parmentier, Brian Mcgill, Adam Wilson, James Regetz, Walter Jetz, Robert Guralnick, Mao-Ning Tuanmu, Natalie Robinson, Mark Schildhauer

Publications

The monitoring and prediction of biodiversity and environmental changes is constrained by the availability of accurate and spatially contiguous climatic variables at fine temporal and spatial grains. In this study, we evaluate best practices for generating gridded, one-kilometer resolution, daily maximum air temperature surfaces in a regional context, the state of Oregon, USA. Covariates used in the interpolation include remote sensing derived elevation, aspect, canopy height, percent forest cover and MODIS Land Surface Temperature (LST). Because of missing values, we aggregated daily LST values as long term (2000–2010) monthly climatologies to leverage its spatial detail in the interpolation. We predicted …

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Entertaining Our Way To Engagement? Climate Change Films And Sustainable Development Values, Laura Lindenfeld, Bridie Mcgreavy Jan 2014

Entertaining Our Way To Engagement? Climate Change Films And Sustainable Development Values, Laura Lindenfeld, Bridie Mcgreavy

Publications

How we communicate about climate change shapes our response tothe most complex and challenging issue society currently faces. In this paper,we conduct a discursive analysis and ideological critique of stereotypicalrepresentations in three climate change films: The Day After Tomorrow (2004), Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy (2008) and An Inconvenient Truth (2006).We argue that these films situate their treatment of climate change in anarrative context that reiterates troubling stereotypes about race/ethnicity,gender, and sexuality. These representations do not align with key sustainabledevelopment goals such as equity, freedom, and shared responsibility. Ouressay demonstrates how the stories we consume about climate change as weentertain …

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Interdisciplinary Research And Environmental Law, Caroline L. Noblet, Dave Owen Jan 2014

Interdisciplinary Research And Environmental Law, Caroline L. Noblet, Dave Owen

Publications

This Article considers the involvement of environmental law researchers in interdisciplinary research. Using a survey and a series of unstructured interviews, we explore environmental law professors’ level of interest in such research; the extent of their engagement in it; and the inducements and barriers they perceive to such research. We conclude that levels of engagement in such research are probably lower than they ought to be, and we therefore recommend steps that individuals and institutions could take to facilitate more and better interdisciplinary work. More generally, we conclude that some common critiques of interdisciplinary legal research rest on assumptions that …

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