Environmental Studies Commons^™

“Ichachu”: Ontological Diversity For Assembling Common Futures, Kaliana Conesa

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

The present work explores the role of discursive analyses of language as potent elements in networks of discourse and practice. A particular focus is with how language functions in multiple, overlapping registers, and how this affects its ability to motivate and coalesce diverse actors into communities of practice. In particular, usages of sovereignty, food sovereignty, and ontology are explored as a means for understanding the process of cross-cultural eco-social action. Fundamental to these analyses is the precept that registers of language represent an epistemic diversity always operating in collaborations for biocultural sustainability. By “eco-social action,” it is meant any practice, …

Desingularizing “Self” And “Nature”: Bruno Latour’S Politics Of Nature And Lorraine Daston’S Against Nature, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

"... looking to embrace “the whole of nature” with the “totality of one’s self” is a gluttonous impossibility that betrays the real non-trope insatiable consumerism ..."

Book Review Jeff Vandermeer (2021), Hummingbird Salamander, Editorial Board

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Editorial Introduction Vol 2 (1) 2021

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Carlos Castaneda (1925-1998): Reading Between His Lines, A Summary Judgment, Jay C. Fikes Phd

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

Don Juan is a fictional character. Yaqui in Sonora and Arizona have no history of peyote rituals. These two facts help explain why, by 1975, Castaneda’s followers were seeking shamans comparable to Don Juan among the Huichol of Mexico. In recent years peyote tourists have invaded the sacred land where Huichol venerate the peyote spirit. The rising tide of tourists in that area is rapidly depleting peyote and has stimulated Mexican authorities to incarcerate Huichol peyote hunters (Fikes, 1993; 2013). In the early 1990s Castaneda created a cult, Tensegrity, which taught disciples stylized movements combining “tai chi, modern dance and …

Nostalgia, The Liminal, And Feral Love In Guillermo Enrique Hudson’S “Green Mansions”, George Conesa

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

No abstract provided.

Plastic Shamans, Intellectual Colonialism And Intellectual Appropriation In New Age Movements, Joseba I. Arregi Phd

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

The reality of colonialism plagues indigenous populations and continues into the present, generating new scenarios of oppression. This new oppression is tied to so-called alternative models of progress, to the success of sustainable development, and to the recognition of the importance of biodiversity in the 21^st Century. This work presents three processes of biological and cultural appropriation which constitute a new chapter in the long history of colonial aggression and indigenous resistance.

Navigating Conversations Of Environmentalism On Social Media: From The Apocalyptic To The Aesthetic, Megan Provenzale

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

This project examines environmental discourse and rhetorical appeals used on Instagram by environmental influencers and addresses the lack of scholarship about social mobile commerce, Instagram, and the popularity of “eco-influencers.” My research applies post-composition studies, circulation, and visual rhetoric to two eco-influencers, Greta Thunberg (@gretathunbeerg) and Jessica Clifton (@impactforgood). I argue that Thunberg and Clifton employ aesthetic and apocalyptic rhetoric to educate and communicate with their following about reducing their carbon footprint and reversing climate change. By collecting three months of Instagram posts employed by each influencer, I identify patterns related to environmentalism, stylistic choices in captions, and presentation of …

Can’T Bear It! Employing Culturally Sensitive Initiatives To Reduce Bear Bile Demand In Northern Vietnam, Alicia Ngo, Shannon Randolph

EnviroLab Asia

Over the past 30 years, the combination of over-hunting, habitat loss, and increased bear bile demand has caused significant declines in Asiatic black bear (aka moon bear; Ursus thibetanus) and sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) populations. In Eastern medicine, bear bile is extracted from the gallbladders of bears and is then used to treat a wide range of inflammatory, liver, and degenerative ailments. However, the use of bear bile has had significant impacts on bear populations. Given that communities in Northern Vietnam have a lengthy history of using bear bile and bear bile is easily accessible, merely advocating …

Do Gender Differences Lead To Unequal Access To Climate Adaptation Strategies In An Agrarian Context?: Perceptions From Coastal Bangladesh, Saleh Ahmed, Elizabeth Kiester

University Author Recognition Bibliography: 2021

While people around the world are increasingly facing various climate-related stresses, women with limited resources in low income developing societies are often at a greater risk largely because of their pre-existing constraints on social, economic, political, and cultural resources and opportunities. In this paper, we investigate how gender differences influence farmers’ access to various resources that are critical for local climate adaptation in coastal Bangladesh. As one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in not only the country but the world, coastal Bangladesh is experiencing a significant increase in sea level rise, tropical cyclones, storm surges, coastal flooding, coastal erosions as …

Activating Vacant Spaces: An Art And Environmental Justice Project - Assessment In Cleveland, Ohio’S Slavic Village Neighborhood, Patrick Connolly

Community Engagement Student Work

The overdevelopment of cities has caused residents to suffer from environmental and economic harm. Situated near a steel mill and a highway, and with less than 20% tree canopy, the Slavic Village neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio is a community that may be in need of environmental justice. The movement to introduce green elements to urban environments is growing, and there are clear economic benefits to greening urban areas. Using art as a tool for education, this project proposes a series of six sustainable art installations that attempt to teach the community about environmental issues. Using this art project as a …

Place Me In Gettysburg: Relating Sexuality To Environment, Kylie R. Mandeville

Student Publications

This project links sexuality and environmental issues in the context of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It considers how I, a queer student at Gettysburg College, can be in “right relations” with this environment. While queer ecological scholarship defines “right relations” as relationships where all beings—people of all identities, as well as animals, plants, and the land—can flourish through their interactions, I inquire whether such flourishing is possible for me, and others like me, here in this place. To answer this question, the project links queer ecological scholarship with environmental history scholarship specific to the Gettysburg battlefield and civil war. It also involves …

Editorial - Subsistence Marketplaces: Journal, Knowledge-Practice Portal, And Organization, Madhu Viswanathan

Subsistence Marketplaces

Subsistence Marketplaces: Journal, Knowledge-Practice Portal and Organization

Building City Identities: A Consumer Perspective, Delphine Godefroit-Winkel, Marie Schill, Cristina Longo, Martin Chour

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This study complements current knowledge on city identity and city attachment through a phenomenological inquiry among 22 Casablanca consumer residents. Five Casablanca identities emerge: City of Escape, Busy Isolating City, Clustering City, Small City, and Dark City. The findings illuminate (1) how consumers build specific types of city identities; (2) demonstrate city identity as the outcome of interplays between various consumption experiences, perceived characteristics of spaces and places, and ambivalent emotions; and (3) update current knowledge on city attachment. This work further provides valuable recommendations to public authorities who are willing to leverage specific identities.

The Road Ahead, Chloe Tilley

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

The creative project that I chose to make is a visual representation on the website “Creately” where I created a map of categorizations. I call the map that I created “The Road Ahead.” There are three sections, “where we were”, “where we are”, and “where we’re going”, and within these grounds I made a bank of major concepts and key terms that we have studied and explored throughout this semester; the map is essentially a word bank and concept organization of all the ideas from this course that were discussed and were threaded through the readings. The structure that I …

Living In The Plantationocene, Joshua Turner

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

Preceding centuries of exploitation and commodification of all life and the natural world have led us to the crises we face today. To describe the dramatic changes our species has forced upon the planet, in 2000, scientists Eugene Stormer and Paul Crutzen dubbed the geological epoch we inhabit the Anthropocene (Global Change Newsletter). Although the term is useful to distinguish the altered composition of the atmosphere, soil, and oceans that human activity has produced from the ecological baseline of the Holocene, some scholars are critical of the term. Not all humans are equally to blame for the environmental degradation which …

Life As It Is, And Where I Want It To Be, Christopher Black

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

Are you living a purposeful life? Ask yourself this regularly, and you will find yourself embarking on an expedition for passion; Is this not what we should be searching for each and every day? The word “purpose” can be defined as the reason why we do things. Without purpose we are essentially blind in all of our endeavors. At the beginning of every executive summary, at the forefront of every entrepreneurial venture, and within the crux of our hearts, lies purpose. Discovering your purpose is said to harvest empowerment, fluffiness, and happiness.

The Complicated Family Reunion, Cameron Chabot

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

Plastic has a complicated beginning and an even more complicated future. It is made from substances call polymers and while some can be made from plant cellulose, many now are synthetic polymers made up of petroleum and other fossil fuels. Most fossil fuels are formed from the fossilized, buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago, so it is quite disturbing that they are being used for plastics that get thrown away after one use. This story follows a six pack of bottles (The Cola Family) and their different journeys around the world after being discarded.

Bipoc Communities And Environmental Humanities, Liza Gonzalez

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

No abstract provided.

Shannon Soundscape, Satrina-Mae Shannon

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

As a commuter student who does not live on campus, I elected to sit on my back patio for this listening exercise. While I had initially thought that staying relatively close to my house would be somewhat redundant in terms of what I would hear, I was pleasantly shocked to hear just how many sounds, be it human or nonhuman, ring out on my street in a given moment. Looking back, I think I had just never taken the time to actually listen to them.

I live near many trees, so the sound of birds chirping, or squirrels climbing is …

Morrison Soundscape, Ellie Morrison

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

I am staying in an apartment in the Museum District of Philadelphia, so I went to the courtyard in the middle of the property. I took some snacks with me, took the elevator to the ground floor, then walked outside and chose a white Adirondack chair in the middle of the grass. Being in a big city, I heard much more man-made, urban sounds than I did clean, natural sounds.

The first thing I noticed was the low, almost throaty, rumble of motorcycles on the freeway not even 200 yards away. It came in non-metrical bursts for the first minute …

Leszczynski Soundscape, Joseph Leszczynski

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

Sitting outside of the Fisher Student Center, on black lacquered chairs, was the location of my soundscape experience. Being outside and an epicenter of activity, the amount of noise there was abundant. I was still outdoors, thus explaining the neutral noise of the environment. Some of the natural, non-human sounds I heard were from insects. A distinct, crescendo buzz came from above in the trees. The timbre was brash, like a trumpet that hit a high pitch note with vibrato. In addition, there were occasions where dried leaves would hit the ground from falling off a branch. This noise was …

Donlan Soundscape, Christopher Donlan

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

To capture the soundscape, I spent some time on the patio behind my apartment building and was able to identify a number of sounds, both natural and manmade. The location I was at sits right along the Blackstone River however, so the sound of the running water generates lots of white noise. While not changing in rhythm or pitch, the water produced a smooth and subtle tone that slightly masks the other sounds.

The most prominent sound I heard was the chirping from crickets. Their sound has a very fast paced rhythm that occurs in a steady pattern, however the …

A Typical Afternoon In The Hustling Streets Of Mumbai, Ishan Mehta

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

This soundscape activity is going to give you an experience of a typical afternoon in the hustling streets of Mumbai. I live on the 18^th floor of an apartment building in a suburb called Versova. One may think that staying at a higher floor would mean that there would be less sound, but in reality sound travels up through the building and you can hear everything. Since I could not go out of the house I walked around in my balcony which faces the ocean and right under is the main street, this is what I could hear. As …

Quarantine Adventures, Sarah Ragnauth

Bryant University Undergraduate Journal

“Quarantine Adventures'' is a museum made entirely out of objects brought back from travels abroad…. before Corona hit. The pieces are from the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Jordan, and Istanbul. The museum is broken up into two main parts. The first part contains pieces that were brought back from the Caribbean, while the second part features work from the Middle East. Each piece has a different story to tell.

The mission of this museum is to provide a little sunshine during this dark time. Being quarantined …

The Lodge In The Wilderness: Ecologies Of Contemplation In British Romantic Poetry, Sean M. Nolan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation argues that contemplation is often overlooked in studies of British Romantic poetry. By the late 1700s, changing commercial and agricultural practices, industrialism, secularization, and utilitarianism emphasizing industriousness coalesced to uproot established discourses of selfhood and leisure, and effected crises of individuation in Romantic poetry and poetics. Closely reading poems and writing about poetry composed between the 1780s and 1830s by William Cowper, George Crabbe, Robert Bloomfield, Charlotte Smith, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and John Stuart Mill, I probe the relationship between aesthetic, ethical, and emotional responses to depictions of toil, idleness, and leisure. I argue that ecologies …

Eggs, Hair, Seeds, Milk, Patrick West

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

Short story

After Rain, Louise Boscacci

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

Amidst climate chaos, words gather as a tipping point in after-affect. On January 4, 2020, the massive Currowan bushfire in New South Wales crossed the Shoalhaven River and raced into the Wingecarribee district of the Illawarra region south of Sydney. After two weeks of emergency warnings, a new preternatural “catastrophic” danger rating, watch and act alerts, and heatwave temperatures, the fire front arrived on a blunt southerly gale in the evening. Climate breakdown had delivered locally and personally. The next day, light rain, more drizzle than shower, visited the home fireground.

Looking For Marianne North, John Charles Ryan

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

This poem reflects on the life of peripatetic botanical illustrator Marianne North (1830-1890) who travelled to Southwest Australia in 1880.

Critically Imagining A Decolonised Vision In Australian Poetry, Cassandra Julie O'Loughlin

Landscapes: the Journal of the International Centre for Landscape and Language

Postmodern ecocriticism, given its broad range of perspectives, offers an agreeable platform for articulating a new, advanced and inclusive framework for a decolonising theorisation of literature and the environment. This article seeks to identify Australian Western decolonising poetry that sits in harmony with Indigenous aural and literary versions of communicative engagement with Country. The concept of human embeddedness in ecological relationships and biological processes as part of a complex matrix of interdependent things is embraced. In particular this article focuses on inclusivity and interconnectedness of all life forms to illustrate aesthetic and conceptual interfaces between Aboriginal Australia and Western poetics. …