Nature and Society Relations Commons^™

An Interpretive Plan Guide For Wilderness Park In Lincoln, Nebraska, Rachel J. Ward

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

Wilderness Park, located in Lancaster County, Nebraska, is a public park of unique ecological and historical value to the city of Lincoln and to the surrounding region. The natural and historical features of the park present an opportunity to communicate environmental and historical topics that are relevant on local, national, and global levels, as well as inspire a lively sense of pride in the community. The problem is that many topics relevant to Wilderness Park are not currently being interpreted at the park, and that there are relatively few interpretive resources available to park visitors.

The purpose of this project …

A Multidimensional Analysis Of The Great Green Wall: The Environmental And Social Effects Of Reafforestation In Senegal, Anna Eugenia Alsobrook

Masters Theses

The north-central region of Senegal is home to the Great Green Wall (GGW)—a reafforestation project aimed at restoring decades–old, degraded land conditions by establishing tree belts and community gardens. Its presence on the ground has changed the local landscape and altered the social institutions governing the daily lives of the people it aims to protect.

My study is an in-progress assessment of the GGW towards its two major goals: 1) improving the lives of the people of the Sahel and increasing their capacity to adapt to climate change and drought, and 2) improving the state of the ecosystem and increasing …

Paradoxes Of Democratisation: Environmental Politics In East Asia, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

This chapter examines environmental politics in four polities that run the full spectrum of political regimes: mainland China (authoritarian), South Korea and Taiwan (newly democratic), and Japan (mature democracy). The chapter argues that variation in environmental politics in each place resulted primarily from the timing of their environmental movements, with subsequent movements learning from predecessors and gaining increasing access to global NGO networks. Paradoxically, when environmental movements became linked to democratization movements (in South Korea and Taiwan), they also became linked to political parties, which hindered access to government policymaking when non-allied parties were in power.

Fruitful Communities: Evaluating The History And Impacts Of Treepeople’S Fruit Tree Program, Kayla B. Imhoff

Pitzer Senior Theses

TreePeople is a Los Angeles based non-profit organization that uses environmental education, initiatives, and programs to engage with the greater community to work towards the goal of a sustainable future for Los Angeles. The Fruit Tree Program is one of TreePeople’s longest running programs of 29 years, which distributes free bare-root fruit trees to economically disadvantaged communities as a source of fresh fruit and the other environmental benefits that trees offer. This paper is a comprehensive report detailing the history of the program and the impacts it has had on communities across Los Angeles County. Looking at three communities in …

Visual Interventions And The “Crises In Representation” In Environmental Anthropology: Researching Environmental Justice In A Hungarian Romani Neighborhood, Krista Harper

Anthropology Department Faculty Publication Series

Participatory visual research, or "visual interventions" (Pink 2007) allow environmental anthropologists to respond to three different “crises of representation”: 1) the critique of ethnographic representation presented by postmodern, postcolonial, and feminist anthropologists, 2) the constructivist critique of nature and the environment, and 3) the “environmental justice” critique demanding representation for the environmental concerns of communities of color. Participatory visual research integrates community members in the process of staking out a research agenda, conducting fieldwork and interpreting data, and communicating and applying research findings. Our project used the Photovoice methodology to generate knowledge and documentation related to environment injustices faced by …

Visual Interventions And The “Crises In Representation” In Environmental Anthropology: Researching Environmental Justice In A Hungarian Romani Neighborhood, Krista Harper

Krista M. Harper

Participatory visual research, or "visual interventions" (Pink 2007) allow environmental anthropologists to respond to three different “crises of representation”: 1) the critique of ethnographic representation presented by postmodern, postcolonial, and feminist anthropologists, 2) the constructivist critique of nature and the environment, and 3) the “environmental justice” critique demanding representation for the environmental concerns of communities of color. Participatory visual research integrates community members in the process of staking out a research agenda, conducting fieldwork and interpreting data, and communicating and applying research findings. Our project used the Photovoice methodology to generate knowledge and documentation related to environment injustices faced by …

Gathering In The City: An Annotated Bibliography And Review Of The Literature About Human-Plant Interactions In Urban Ecosystems, Rebecca J. Mclain, L. P. Buttolph, Melissa R. Poe, K. Macfarland, J. Hebert, N. Gabriel, Patrick T. Hurley, Laura Brody, Martina Dzuna, Marla R. Emery, S. Charnley

Environment and Sustainability Faculty Publications

The past decade has seen resurgence in interest in gathering wild plants and fungi in cities. In addition to gathering by individuals, dozens of groups have emerged in U.S., Canadian, and European cities to facilitate access to nontimber forest products (NTFPs), particularly fruits and nuts, in public and private spaces. Recent efforts within cities to encourage public orchards and food forests, and to incorporate more fruit and nut trees into street tree planting programs indicate a growing recognition among planners that gathering is an important urban activity. Yet the academic literature has little to say about urban gathering practices or …

The Management Of Feral Pig Socio-Ecological Systems In Far North Queensland, Australia, Gabriela Shuster

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The development of management programs for socio-ecological systems that include multiple stakeholders is a complex process and requires careful evaluation and planning. This is particularly a challenge in the presence of intractable conflict. The feral pig (Sus scrofa) in Australia is part of one such socio-ecological system. There is a large and heterogeneous group of stakeholders interested in pig management. Pigs have diverse effects on wildlife and plant ecology, economic, health, and social sectors. This study used the feral pig management system as a vehicle to examine intractable conflict in socio-ecological systems. The purpose of the study was …

Fair Trade And Fair Trade Certification Of Food And Agricultural Commodities: Promises, Pitfalls, And Possibilities, Sarasij Majumder

Sarasij Majumder

The global circulation of food and agricultural commodities is increasingly influenced by the ethical choices of Western consumers and activists who want to see a socially and environmentally sustainable trade regime in place. These desires have culminated in the formation of an elaborate system of rules, which govern the physical and social conditions of food production and circulation, reflected in transnational ethical regimes such as fair trade. Fair trade operates through certifying producer communities with sustainable production methods and socially just production relationships. By examining interdisciplinary academic engagements with fair trade, we argue that fair trade certification is a transnational …

Learning Sustainable Development: Chimeneas De La Esperanza, Miriam V. Mollan Gundersen

Social Sciences

Social inequality and environmental degradation are motivating informed young people into action and connecting impoverished regions of the world with students in more developed nations. This Social Sciences senior project is to analyze an alternative development model designed by a group of Californian university students. The project, named Chimeneas de la Esperanza, is designed to help impoverished Nicaraguan women start a ceramics business. The major hurdle of this mission is to establish a market for the ceramics product. Energy efficient ceramic stoves and smoke ventilating chimneys would benefit the community and avoid an impacted crafts market. The project encompasses ideas …

Place For Personhood: Individual And Local Character In Lifestyle Migration, Brian A. Hoey

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

While drawing on literature of narrative interpretations of the construction of self and place-based, embodied identity, this article will explore the impact of invasive market forces on intertwined processes of person, self, and place-making. It considers how resources for these projects have changed in the face of translocal market forces and neoliberal ideals. Despite numerous proclamations of an essential placelessness to contemporary American society, place continues to be a basic part of the construction of the person. In fact, a variety of place-making practices are increasingly pursued as ways of negotiating tension between personal experience with material demands in pursuit …

Across The Bridge: Using Photovoice To Study Environment And Health In A Romani Community., Krista Harper, The Sajó River Association For Environment And Community Development, Hungary

Anthropology Department Faculty Publication Series

This photo essay is the product of a partnership between Prof. Krista Harper, the Sajó River Association for Environment and Community Development, and community organizer Judit Bari. The project took place in a small city in northeastern Hungary hit hard by factory closings since the collapse of state socialism in 1989. The Roma community, about 20% of the town’s population, has been especially vulnerable. A team of six young people participated as photographers and discussion participants, working closely with Harper and Bari. Other community members joined discussions of the images. The team held a photo exhibition in the neighborhood where …

Across The Bridge: Using Photovoice To Study Environment And Health In A Romani Community., Krista Harper

Krista M. Harper

This photo essay is the product of a partnership between Prof. Krista Harper, the Sajó River Association for Environment and Community Development, and community organizer Judit Bari. The project took place in a small city in northeastern Hungary hit hard by factory closings since the collapse of state socialism in 1989. The Roma community, about 20% of the town’s population, has been especially vulnerable. A team of six young people participated as photographers and discussion participants, working closely with Harper and Bari. Other community members joined discussions of the images. The team held a photo exhibition in the neighborhood where …

An International Mission, Matthew Wilburn King

Matthew Wilburn King PhD

University of Tulsa Magazine Publication Issue - Research: Bright Ideas

Sea Grant International: Extending The Model Of Applied Research, Extension/Outreach To Foreign Countries, Matthew Wilburn King, Dosoo Jang, Jill Hepp, Janelle Bruce

Matthew Wilburn King PhD

NOAA Research’s Office of International Activities and the National Sea Grant Office are extending the Sea Grant model to other countries. The National Sea Grant College Program is a proven, effective model to engage universities and government agencies acting in partnership to promote research, education and outreach/extension related to marine issues. Through network contacts at 30 universities and research institutes and the NOAA National Sea Grant Office, individual Sea Grant programs stay connected to issues at a national level while being responsive to local level needs. Because the Sea Grant model is inherently flexible — both culturally and administratively — …

Positive Mood And The Perception Of Variability Within And Between Groups, Venezia Michalsen, Steven J. Stroessner, Diane M. Mackie

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Three experiments investigated the effects of positive mood on perceptions of variability within and between groups. Participants formed impressions of two different and highly variable groups under a neutral or positive mood. When participants expected to learn about both groups, positive mood increased perceived intergroup similarity but did not affect perceived intragroup variability. In contrast, when participants expected to learn about only one group, judgments of intergroup and intragroup similarity were both affected by mood. Mood and the intergroup context influenced the nature and degree of information processing and resultant judgments of variability in social groups.

Cooperative Conservation - Interagency Volunteer Program Quarterly Progress Report: Period Ending December 31, 2004, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

Collaboration with Interagency Team

During the third quarter, the interagency volunteer team and university representatives have held several meetings to continue progress on the Interagency Volunteer Program (IVP). At the beginning of October, candidates for the project manager position were interviewed by the university search committee, followed by interviews with the interagency team on October 6, 2004. After two finalists were identified, reference checks were made and the university and team recommended to the federal managers that Ms. Donna Grady be hired. Ms. Grady’s first day on the job was December 1, 2004. In the interim, Nancy Flagg, Public Lands …

Cooperative Conservation - Interagency Volunteer Program Quarterly Progress Report: Period Ending September 30, 2004, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

Collaboration with Interagency Team

Although the task agreement formally commenced June 30, 2004, the agreement was not fully executed by both parties until July 29, 2004. In the first three months of this agreement, UNLV representatives have met with or communicated via email with the Interagency Volunteer Team on numerous occasions. At the first meeting on July 13, 2004, Government Technical Representative Bobbie Antonich and UNLV Public Lands Initiative Director Nancy Flagg met with the interagency team to discuss the overall goals for the Interagency Volunteer Program (IVP). The team was brought up-to-date on the status of the task agreement, …

“Sea Grant International: Final Report To The Department Of State, Oceans Environmental And International Scientific Affairs Initiative Grant Iaa#S-Oes-03-Iaa-001, Matthew Wilburn King

Matthew Wilburn King PhD

In April 2002, NOAA Research’s Office of International Activities (IA) submitted a proposal to the U.S. Department of State’s (DOS) Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Initiative (OESI) to assess the feasibility of adapting the Sea Grant model of linked applied research, extension and education to Latin America and the Wider Caribbean region. The overall goal was to determine whether or not university-based programs with these three features could serve as an appropriate institutional mechanism to address critical marine and coastal resource issues in a developing country context. The initiative was catalyzed as a result of expressions of interest …

Sea Grant Internacional Informe Final Al Departamento Del Estado, Matthew Wilburn King

Matthew Wilburn King PhD

En Abril del año 2002, la oficina de Actividades Internacionales de NOAA Research (IA) sometió una propuesta a la iniciativa de Océanos y Asuntos Internacionales del Medioambiente y las Ciencias (Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Initiative), mejor conocido como “OESI”, para explorar la posibilidad de adaptar el modelo Sea Grant de investigación aplicada, extensión, y educación en América Latina y el Caribe. El propósito de la investigación era de determinar si programas basados en Universidades con estos tres componentes puedan servir como el mecanismo institucional apropiado para resolver los problemas de manejo de recursos marinos y costeros en …

Establishing Long Term Coastal And Marine Programs In Latin America And The Caribbean Pilot Studies Of Ecuador And The Gulf Of Fonseca Integrating Education, Applied Research And Extension Background Paper No. 2, Matthew Wilburn King

Matthew Wilburn King PhD

This document is the second of two background papers that have been prepared to explore the feasibility of adapting the Sea Grant model of University-based education, research and extension to countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. It is part of an initiative directed by the NOAA/OAR Office of International Activities and the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center and Sea Grant Program. Financial support comes from the U.S. State Department’s Ocean, Environment and Science Initiative, and the NOAA National Sea Grant Office. The initiative was catalyzed by expressions of interest from government and university officials in Honduras, Nicaragua, …

The Sea Grant Approach To Coastal And Marine Research, Extension, And Education A Review Of International Experience And Opportunities: Background Paper No. 1, Matthew Wilburn King

Matthew Wilburn King PhD

This paper describes the defining features of the U.S. Sea Grant College Program, summarizes the experience of Sea Grant with international partnerships, reviews applications of Sea Grant type programs in other countries, and explores other similar program experience with linked education, research and extension. This paper is part of a NOAA initiative to identify strategies for adapting the Sea Grant model to selected developing nations and to create a global network of institutions dedicated to discovering and applying the knowledge, values and technologies needed for more sustainable forms of coastal development and conservation.

A Network Of Centers Of Applied Research, Extension And Education For Coastal Ecosystems In Latin America And The Caribbean: A Concept Paper, Matthew Wilburn King

Matthew Wilburn King PhD

This phase of the Sea Grant International program has provided an extensive foundation of research and analysis by which to assess the feasibility of adapting the Sea Grant model to an international context. From this experience we propose to establish a university-based network in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) that integrates activities in extension, public education and applied research to address the issues posed by the accelerating decline of the region’s coastal and marine ecosystems. This decline of coastal ecosystems has major implications for the health, livelihoods and quality of life in the LAC region. At stake are some …

Incorporating Local Knowledge Into Population And Habitat Viability Assessments: Landowners And Tree Kangaroos In Papua New Guinea, Philip J. Nyhus, J Williams, J Borovansky, O Byers, P Miller

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Evolution Of Credit Union Philosophy, Matthew Wilburn King

Matthew Wilburn King PhD

This paper explores the history and evolution of credit union philosophy. The evolution of credit union philosophy spans nearly 150 years. It’s a story that begins in the middle of 19th century Europe as it was emerging from a long history of feudal relations and tyrannical rule that created “the miserable economic conditions of the period and the realization that people would have to take action themselves if their lives were to improve.”1 The democratic ideals that were so eloquently articulated by classical liberal philosophers such as John Locke and Thomas Hobbes began to be increasingly institutionalized during this time.

Incorporating Local Knowledge Into Population And Habitat Viability Assessments: Landowners And Tree Kangaroos In Papua New Guinea, Philip J. Nyhus, J Williams, J Borovansky, O Byers, P Miller

Philip J. Nyhus

No abstract provided.

City Parks Are For People: Viewpoint, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It has been claimed that urban parks are "the lungs of the city," supplying, as they do, breathing space in a harsh concrete and asphalt enviornment. Parks also provide a sense of nature with trees, grass and flowers in a serene and peaceful setting."