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Issue 11.2 Abstracts

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Uneven Processes and Environmental Degradation in the World-Economy

By Andrew K. Jorgenson

Consumption and concomitant environmental degradation are among the most pressing global issues confronting us today. Drawing from recent empirical studies in environmental sociology and international political-economy, I test the extent to which the impacts of urbanization, domestic income inequality, and literacy rates on per capita ecological footprints vary across zones in the contemporary world-system. This involves the construction of “slope-dummies” and their incorporation into contextual effects analyses that test for heterogeneity of slopes among zones in the world-economy while controlling for additional relevant predictors. Using partial data for 208 countries, I find that the effects of predictor variables do vary among world-system tiers. Domestic income inequality in the core has a positive effect on per capita footprints while the impact of the former in all other zones is negative. The effect of urbanization on per capita footprints is most pronounced in the core, followed by the semiperiphery, high periphery, and low periphery, and the overall effect of literacy rates on ecological footprints is positive while between zone differences are inconclusive.

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Towards a Theory of Knowledge Systems for Integrative Socio-Natural Science

By Nick Winder

Knowledge system theory (KST) seeks to close the rift between hard and soft methods by reimposing the von Bertalanffy definition of a system while allowing that systems are epistemological constructs. KST is located within the broad thrust of western philosophy by association with classical rationalism, modernism and with the 20 th century rediscovery of emergence. KST blurs the conventional distinctions of research management from research method and of science from metaphysics.

A research team is an appreciative system whose purpose is to create useful new knowledge within time and budgetary constraints. An undisciplined research team can destabilize the human ecosystems it is contracted to serve. There are ethical and pragmatic reasons for accepting certain disciplines. One way of avoiding these ethical problems is to study academic knowledge creation both as a source of practical insights that can be used to manage the research process more effectively and of theoretical insights that provide a wider understanding of cultural ecodynamics.

In general, the larger the group, the less it can be said to know. This suggests resolution into small workgroups with relatively simple and infrequent information flow between them. A provisional typology of knowledge communities and research problems is presented and practical advice for the organization of integrative research offered. This advice challenges the popular view that communication is best served by removing the boundaries between epistemic communities. Intellectual diversity is an asset that must be conserved.

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Harmony and Tension in Early Human Ecology: From Prosopocentrism to Early Theocentrism

By Manussos Marangudakis

The Stone Age constitutes a substantially and symbolically decisive era of human development. Substantially, since it informs us of the ways our archaic ancestors perceived and treated the natural environment. Symbolically, since primordialism is considered by many to be the stage of human purity and uncorrupted expression of human psyche. An investigation of the Upper Palaeolithic period leads us to question the “ecocentric” thesis, that is, the alleged stage of harmony between primitive homo sapiens sapiens and nature. Instead, by distinguishing between nature-as-resources and nature-as-symbolism, and by stressing the open-ended nature of human bio-psychology, we arrive at the tentative conclusions that palaeolithic egalitarianism facilitated a “prosopocentric” (person-centred) Cosmic Order characterized by the conflation of subject and object. It was not ecologically sensitive and thus it did not prevent economic exploitation and environmental damage. During the Neolithic period the band became socially, economically, and politically caged. Symbolically, it meant the shift from prosopocentrism to theocentrism (god-centred cosmic order). Though the passage to hoe and agriculture shifted attention from fauna to flora appropriation, the economic attitude itself remained opportunistic and exploitative. We conclude that while social structures were at the heart of Stone Age worldviews, opportunistic appropriation of scarce resources depended on both knowledge of the local environment and social competition.

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Culturally Defined Keystone Species

By Sergio Cristancho and Joanne Vining

The concept of “keystone species” has been widely used in biology and ecology to better understand certain biological dynamics at the ecosystem level of analysis. It illustrates the complexity of ecosystem interactions and the dependency of the entire web on certain species that are critical to its stability. While great effort has been put into studying those species that are central to the functioning of the natural ecosystem where they are embedded, not enough is known about the importance of certain plant and animal species for the cultural stability of human communities.

Historically, some animal and plant species have been attributed tremendous spiritual or symbolic value by different cultures. Some of these species are so important that a cultural group may define them as critical elements in their relationship with and adaptation to the environment. In this paper we propose the concept of Culturally Defined Keystone Species (CKS) to designate those plant and animal species whose existence and symbolic value are essential to the stability of a culture over time. We use examples from research conducted among indigenous communities from the Amazon to illustrate the relevance of the CKS concept and propose criteria to define which species may be labeled as such.

Important implications for environmental policy and social sciences are discussed and we propose further lines of research on CKS. The CKS concept has special relevance as a parameter of evaluation within the Cultural Impact Assessment framework since the United Nations Environmental Programme has emphasized the strong connection between ecological and cultural preservation in the context of indigenous communities.

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Trying to Understand Behavioral Responses to Terrorism: Personal Civil Liberties, Environmental Hazards, and U.S. Resident Reactions to the September 11, 2001 Attacks

By Michael Greenberg, Peyton Craighill and Alexandra Greenberg

Terrorism is a dreaded environmental hazard. Shortly after the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, a nationwide random sample of 1,200 adults 18 years or older was gathered by the Pew Research Center regarding public perceptions about the attacks and their aftermath. A year later, they repeated the national sample and added special samples of New York City and Washington, D.C. Using these data and theories developed to understand public reactions to environmental hazards, we examined the extent to which U.S. residents were willing to allow government to monitor credit card purchases, telephone calls, and e-mails, and were willing to carry a national identification card, which would be produced upon request by police. In 2001, 36% of respondents supported two or three of these actions, and in 2002, the proportion was 31%. But in New York City, 49% favored two or three. The most interesting findings were the change in the correlates of public support. In 2001, a combination of demographic (education, age), residence of respondent, and feelings (praying more, depressed) were the strongest correlates of the willingness to sacrifice personal civil liberties. A year later, the strongest correlates, especially in New York City, were behaviors and feelings (suspicious, angry, scared, avoided certain cities and events). In other words, as expected from theory, some members of the public have begun to focus on what they can do to reduce their risk, and that behavioral pattern includes a willingness to surrender some civil liberties.

Keywords: civil liberties, environmental hazards, heuristics, mental models, terrorism

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Volunteer Stream Monitoring and Local Participation in Natural Resource Issues

By Chiristine Overdevest, Cailin Huyck Orr and Kristine Stepenuck

This research evaluates whether increased learning, local political participation, and more extensive social networks are related to participation in a volunteer stream monitoring project in Wisconsin. We hypothesize that participation in volunteer monitoring increases factual learning among experienced volunteers compared to inexperienced volunteers, that participation also is associated with increased community political participation in community natural resources management, and increased size of personal action networks. We find that participation does not significantly increase factual learning; rather, new volunteers and experienced volunteers were equally knowledgeable about stream-related topics. However, participation does significantly increase the polit ical participation, personal networks, and feelings of community connectedness among volunteers. We consider our findings in light of the possibility of using volunteer monitoring to enhance local social capital and contribute to the adaptive management o f water resources.

Keywords: adaptive management, stream monitoring, citizen science, learning, civic participation, social capital

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The Other Side of Silence: Rachel Carson's Views of Animals

By Marc Bekoff and Jan Nystrom

The publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring in 1962 is widely regarded as one of the major events that launched the modern environmental movement. Silent Spring is a compelling blend of stories, natural history, human values, and biological facts. In this essay we consider Carson's attitude toward animals in Silent Spring and in other texts. Despite the facts that she was raised to love Nature and animals, little direct attention has been given to Carson's views about our moral responsibilities to, and the moral standing of animals. Carson favored responsible stewardship, was more of an animal welfarist and environmentalist/conservation biologist who privileged ecosystems and species than an animal activist who privileged individuals, and she did not advocate an animal rights agenda. There is clear tension in Carson's text. Often she seemed troubled by attempting to come across as a moderate and practical scientist and some of her words, when considered out of context, could lead one to label Carson as an animal rightist. While some of Carson's text favors human-centered interests, she did not believe that only humans counted. Her warnings about silent springs – silent seasons – must be taken seriously, perhaps even more seriously than when they were penned more than four decades ago. Surely, on the other side of silence, await magic, awe, and Nature's cacophony of sounds – along with a panoply of innumerable other sensory (visual and olfactory) experiences that help us to feel at one with all of Nature. We must be careful never to allow Nature to be silenced. Carson was a passionate and extremely influential activist, and there is no doubt that if there were a world of Rachel Carson's in charge of our global environmental policies, we and our fellow animals would surely be in much better shape than we currently are.

Keywords: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring , And No Birds Sing, Lost Woods , animal welfare, animal rights, environmentalism, conservation biology, pesticides, DDT

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