Silent spring
Abstract
"An important, controversial account ... of the way in which man's use of poisons to control insect pests and unwanted vegetation is changing the balance of nature." Booklist.
... You could start with some of the quotations from Will Rogers or Barack Obama through an Internet search, such as "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" 7 and "We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it". 8 Short prose extracts. For example, the opening of Silent Spring (Carson 1962), or short passages from The Road (McCarthy 2009), from Stephen Emmott's 10 Billion (2013), or David Attenborough's A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future (2020). The passages could be distributed for silent reading, or performed by the trainer or a trainee. ...
... In this way, information is shared and ideas can be discussed. It would be advisable to start with fairly short extracts, for example from Silent Spring (Carson 1962), or chapters from The Future We Choose (Figueras and Rivett-Carnac 2020). From short extracts, you can then move to short complete texts such as any of the excellent short titles in the Penguin Green Ideas series. ...
The climate crisis has received a great deal of attention of late, yet its root causes go back to the last century and beyond. Also going back many years have been efforts to address the roots of the climate crisis. These efforts include the work of language teachers to research, create, trial, and share materials and pedagogical strategies for educating and mobilizing teachers, students, and other stakeholders to address the beliefs and practices that have led our species to the precipice of irredeemable disaster. This article seeks to serve as an annotated repository of works and collective wisdom of the author and colleagues, both near and far, as to how language teaching can accomplish its joint tasks of both facilitating student enjoyment of and expertise in their languages, and at the same time engaging students in fulfilling their responsibility as citizens of their home country and the world, a responsibility that has only grown more urgent due to the climate crisis. This repository is the result of 50 years of research, not with blinded control groups and statistical analysis (valuable though those methods can be), but of naturalistic investigation. The repository divides into three sections: Inspiration, Information, and Implementation. Strategies and ways that teachers have found useful for growing their own and their students’ knowledge of the causes of and possible solutions to the climate crisis are considered. The article ends with a poem by the author which addresses the important question of the role of the teacher in the classroom and beyond.
... Ya hace tiempo que Rachel Carson (1962) alertó del efecto de los pesticidas, y estos siguen siendo una de las causas de mayor contaminación del suelo de la Tierra (IPCC 2019). Un pesticida es una sustancia química tóxica, o una mezcla de sustancias o agentes biológicos, que se liberan intencionadamente en el medio ambiente con el fin de evitar, controlar y/o matar y destruir plagas dañinas para cosechas, asociaciones naturales (p.e. ...
... In his words, slow violence can be understood as a process "that occurs gradually and out of sight, a violence of delayed destruction that is dispersed across time and space, an attritional violence that is typically not viewed as violence at all" (Nixon 2011: 2). The topic of slow but steady processes of environmental degradation has gained momentum with the increasing debate around climate change, but the phenomenon of slow violence has been already studied in the past, under different names, with respect to the use of chemical herbicides (Carson 1962;Zierler 2011), air pollution (Narain 2017), soil/water contamination by petro-chemicals (Allen 2003;Davies 2019;Lerner 2004), toxic waste (De Rosa 2018), mining (Holterman 2014) and other forms of ecological destruction (Peluso, Watts 2001). ...
Elaborating on the literature on environmental violence produced by a variety of disciplines (e.g. political ecology, peace and conflict studies, environmental history, sociology of science, urban and territorial planning), this chapter gives an overview of the multiple facets of the concept before focusing on less visible forms of environmental violence, such as slow/infrastructural/narrative violence. Such forms of violence are investigated in their relation to social inequalities, spatial injustice, environmental racism, and legal procrastination. By recognising the importance of territorial specificities in their interplay with conceptual development, the chapter draws on real examples from a variety of contexts around the world, thus showing the complexity of the observed phenomena. As these cases show, environmental violence is contrasted by a vast repertoire of forms of resistance, from grassroots initiatives promoted by local inhabitants turned into activists to legal innovations at the international level. Eventually, the chapter calls for a reflection on the role of social science in contrasting environmental violence and in producing critical theory against new technocratic and exploitative forms of control of nature.
... Integrated Pest Management (IPM) concepts were just emerging. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (12), had appeared 8 years earlier. It would be 2 more years before Jim Hightower's Hard Tomatoes Hard Times (27) would be pub lished, and Norman Borlaug had just re ceived the Nobel Peace Prize. ...
We are now in the foothills of the 21st century. As we ascend to the summit, mountainous issues and challenges confront us as to new directions in horticultural research and education. As we look to the future (3, 40, 68), the issues and challenges are both domestic and international. I shall direct my comments first, to the immediate past and present situation; 2nd, lost opportunities and areas of neglect; 3rd, where to from here: options, opportunities, and challenges; and finally, my conclusions.
... 3 Part of our scholarly, pedagogical and participatory intention is to enact a shift in consciousness and praxis in everyday life by partnering with nature, by engaging youth and communities in re-wilding consciousness and activities, and by developing eco-pedagogical capacity through water and environmental literacy. The concept of re-wilding is drawn originally from Deep Ecology and living wilderness knowledge in nature and in human consciousness (Seed et al., 1988;Bateson, 2000Bateson, /1972Carson, 1962;Leopold, 1949;Plumwood, 1993). We argue for a confluence of these ways of knowing through water examples that also connect with traditional First Nations Indigenous ecological knowledge. ...
It is perilously ‘human-centric’ for us to believe we are the only species capable of pedagogical exchange—of knowing and teaching. In this chapter we employ the methodology of “water literacy” drawn from broader environmental literacy, that decentres the human and invites all actors/agents into inter-species and elemental dialogue through deep listening, being with, affiliation and re-newed connection with more-than-human worlds. We present opportunities to re-write and co-create ‘eco-centric’ habits and practices, and examine the pedagogy of entanglements of natural and cultural everyday life, with a particular focus on youth and community engagement with waterscapes. Re-wilding human consciousness forms part of our approach towards liberating thinking and activities from unsustainable pathways, so that we can recreate space for learning from the ground up. We address anthropocentric challenges and propose new ways to re-vision how and what we think we know, as we build curriculum to re-wild human consciousness, nature and waterscapes.KeywordsRe-wildingEco-pedagogyWater literacyAnthropoceneFirst Nations Indigenous knowledge
... The first literature references addressing sustainability concept can be traced as early as in 1713 regarding the sustainability of forests in terms of logging regrown timber alone to retain soil fertility. The environmental issue was first mentioned in the chemical book Silent Spring authored by Carson (Carson, 1962cited in: Lees, 2012. Nowadays Sustainable Development defined as "meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p. 49) is based on the triple bottom line (TBL) framework authored by Elkington (1997). ...
The issue of project management methodologies has never be undertaken by academics in the context of their contribution to sustainability. There is the lack of understanding which Agile Project Management (APM) results and Agile value crea- tion methods are in line with the assumptions of sustainability. The article fills this gap and presents the linkage between Agile project management and sustainability. The article presents both theoretical considerations as well as the results of empirical research that explains the relationship between APM and sustainability. As a result of multiple surveys, Guttman scales were developed, which showed the degree of Agile aspects' influence on sustainability, taking into account both the results of Agile implementation and the methods of value creation. Research revealed that improving the timeliness of deliveries, increase in productivity and improving the atmosphere in the organization as APM result is significant for sustainability. Value creation methods that most correspond with sustainability are design thinking and Agile rituals. The above provide certain practical and theoretical implications.
... Hy was ook besorg oor kubernetiese projeksies van navorsers aan die Massachusetts Instituut vir Tegnologie (MIT) (Revkin 2011) oor versnelde ontwikkeling en die onvolhoubare groei van die wêreldbevolking (Meadows et al. 1972 studies en interdissiplinêre navorsing gedoen (Baratta 2016:301-324). Gerekende omgewingsaktiviste, soos Rachel Carson (1907Carson ( -1964 (Carson 1962), Murray Bookchin (1921-2006 (White 2008:3-6) en Stuart Brand (1938) (Kendall 2012:65-71), het omgewingsbewustheid bevorder. Die tydsgees van die 1960's is gekenmerk deur sterk sosiaal-ideologiese denke, soos vroue-en menseregte asook steun vir nieu-marxisme in oorwegend kapitalistiese Westerse state. ...
"Anthropocene" has been trending in environmental circles since the onset of the new millennium. It first caught public attention when scientists used it to describe the human impact on Earth's biosphere. Soon, also a lively discussion started amongst environmentalists perturbed by the destruction of earth's biosphere, because of human induced climate change. In the field of environmental and earth sciences there followed a strong initiative for a new geological epoch called the "Anthropocene". It implied that the current scientific stratigraphic dating system of the Earth requires revision. Humankind is said to have disrupted the global support system of life on planet Earth to the extent that we are heading for an imminent disaster. Resource scarcity, environmental destruction and climate change are considered as the symptoms of these human activities. In the early phase of the emergent public discourse the pronounced human ecological footprint was said to have started with the onset of the eighteenth century's British Industrial Revolution. By the early 2000s scientists, activists and politicians warned we were heading towards an imminent crisis. The large-scale extermination of many living organisms was said to have pointed directly to human resource over-consumption. Humankind has now left a profound imprint on geological processes that previously were shaped only by nature. Geologists have not yet reached consensus on an "Anthropocene epoch". One group views climate change as a natural process. Working in strictly demarcated parameters of so-called "golden spikes" registering in sophisticated geoscientific classification hierarchies, many are critical of collaboration with non-geological scientists. They insist that traces of the "human footprint" in most parts of the planet, do qualify as indicators of a new geological epoch. Several geoscientists have come out in support of the idea of an Anthropocene epoch. An outstanding feature of their approach to geoscience has been to integrate the field into comprehensive interdisciplinary study groups focusing on the effects of human activities on earth. Geological sciences, they insist, should now focus more on the present. The focus of working on the past - primarily on Earth's history "before humankind" - should shift to the present and the imminent future. In 2018, the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) rejected a proposal for the formalisation of the Anthropocene by a specialised Anthropocene Working Group (AWG). Yet, the debate continues in the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). It may take several years before the Anthropocene epoch is formally accepted. In the discipline of History, the discussion on the Anthropocene implies that the natural and social/human sciences should move forward towards a new historical consciousness of a distant past and explore contemporary history with a view to the future. There have been several calls for a more integrated endeavour and ethical self-consciousness for contemplating Earth's past, present and future. © 2021 South African Academy for Science and the Arts. All rights reserved.
... D'après Larrère (2015) 19 , son célèbre ouvrage « A sand County Almanac », en particulier son chapitre sur l'éthique de l'environnement, a largement influencé le mouvement environnementaliste et écologiste de la seconde moitié du XXème siècle, notamment John Baird Callicott, initiateur de l'éthique environnementale aux États-Unis. En 1962, la biologiste américaine Rachel Carson va elle aussi publier un ouvrage fondateur pour l'écologie moderne : « Silent Spring » (Carson, 1962). Traitant des dangers des pesticides sur la faune, cet essai (publié dans un premier temps au sein du New York Times) eut une large répercussion sur la société civile américaine 20 . ...
Cette thèse a pour intention d’étudier la mise en application de la ville durable dans la conception et la réalisation de projets urbains, dans le contexte professionnel des praticiens en agences d’architecture, d’urbanisme, et de paysage. Cette recherche, relevant des champs disciplinaires de l’urbanisme et de l’aménagement du territoire, s’inscrit dans un contexte à la fois professionnel et universitaire. À travers la collaboration CIFRE (Convention Industrielle de Formation par la Recherche) entre l’agence d’architecture, d’urbanisme et de paysage AKTIS (Grenoble), et l’unité de recherche Architecture Environnement & Cultures Constructives (LabEx AE&CC - ENSA Grenoble), ce travail se définit comme une recherche appliquée sur la thématique de la ville durable. Cette situation sous-entend nécessairement une posture méthodologique particulière de la part du doctorant, dans un besoin d’objectivité des recherches.Au regard de l’orientation thématique adoptée dans cette thèse, il est question d’étudier et de préciser le contexte actuel concernant la fabrique de la ville durable : le cadre normatif, incitatif, et méthodologique existant ; les thématiques transversales abordées dans la conception de projets urbains ; les systèmes d’acteurs à l’œuvre dans ce type de projets ; les pratiques quotidiennes en Agences d’Architecture, d’Urbanisme et de Paysage, etc. Ces orientations de réflexion feront l’objet d’une étude comparative autour des projets urbains « durables » de trois métropoles françaises (Grenoble, Bordeaux, Lyon), dans le but de faire ressortir de ces éléments de différenciation, des pistes d’innovations. L’enjeu central est ainsi d’observer quelles sont les potentialités de mise en œuvre opérationnelle de la ville durable dans les pratiques de la maîtrise d’œuvre urbaine. En ce sens, cette thèse interroge les prolongements à donner dans les pratiques actuelles des AAUP au regard d’un constat critique comparatif entre Grenoble, Bordeaux et Lyon. Loin d’être une énième re-conceptualisation de la ville durable, ce travail de recherche considère le cadre existant dans la maîtrise d’œuvre comme un des éléments centraux à étudier : normes, certifications, évaluations, indicateurs, démarches, procédures sont autant de termes que l’on retrouve fréquemment dans les projets urbains. Entre la réglementation, la normalisation, et l’évaluation, il s’agira d’observer les dynamiques qui régissent aujourd’hui le pré-carré opérationnel et institutionnel de la ville durable. En considérant l’hypothèse d’une approche intégrée de l’urbanisme, et de la fabrique de la ville durable, comme un savant compromis entre qualité environnementale des opérations (eau, air, pollution, déchets, consommation énergétique, biodiversité, etc.), économie de projet, approche sociale par l’usage et réponse aux besoins sociétaux actuels et futurs, cette thèse questionne les lacunes théoriques sur la fabrique de la ville durable. En partant du postulat qu’une approche trop techniciste et sectorielle de la fabrique de la ville durable est en œuvre aujourd’hui, elle sonde les prolongements et améliorations possibles dans les pratiques des AAUP en France.
... Taking a look at the concept's historical emergence, it becomes apparent that the discussion about alternative economic growth models started nearly 60 years ago with the concern about a 'silent spring' [16], referring to the general conditions of the global environment. The book leads to the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm and the Club of Rome report in the same year. ...
In response to the intensifying need to mitigate climate change and reduce the pressures on the earth’s natural resources, alternative economic (post growth) concepts begin to outstrip their role as niche concepts and are now frequently hypothesized to provide inevitable contributions to solving today’s sustainability challenges. Almost half a decade ago, Meadows et al. (The limits to growth. Universe Books, New York, 1972 [51]) instigated the discussion about “the limits to growth”, an idea which was later supported by the Brundtland Commission’s (World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in Our common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, 1987 [94]) call for new growth models. More recently, authors such as Stiglitz et al. (Report by the commission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress. Paris, 2009 [74]; Mismeasuring our lives: why GDP doesn’t add up. New Press, New York, 2010 [73]) or Tim Jackson have demanded a complete redefinition of prosperity with the objective to decouple human welfare from the material impact on the environment (Jackson in Prosperity without growth. Earthscan, London, 2009 [37]). This discussion about new models of prosperity often finds itself under the label of the “green economy” or the “food–energy–water nexus” (FEW nexus) addressing the core sectors of this transformation process. In the developed model, these new ideas are integrated in an intertemporal dynamic multinational general equilibrium model (GE model). The GE model consists of four countries (A, B, C, D) with three economic sectors (FEW, households, industry) each. We discuss the economic effects of our GE model approach in four growth scenarios for the four countries: Country A follows a zero-growth scenario, countries B and C grow by moderate rates of 1.2% and 1.9%, respectively, and country D is on a de-growth pathway (−1.3%). This model approach reveals the possible socio-economic consequences and alterations of various growth models for the FEW nexus sector, as well as the other economic sectors of the four countries.
The ocean with its coastal seas is under increasing anthropogenic
pressure, severely threatening ocean health and marine life. Human dependency
on and management of the ocean are disconnected, which is in part why the
United Nations (UN) is launching the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable
Development, 2021–2030 (“Ocean Decade”). Here we investigate how philosophy
and literature can inspire us to change the relationship between humans and the
ocean. The starting point is natural science and human exploration of the sea. Then
we consider philosophy, starting from Aristotle’s forms of knowledge – episteme,
techne, and phronesis – focusing particularly on phronesis, or practical wisdom.
Referring to Homer’s Odyssey, we investigate the threats that the ocean may face
during the UN’s Ocean Decade. From this, we identify several things that will
make for a successful Ocean Decade: practical wise leadership, clear vision, societal
involvement, information sharing, admitting the vulnerability of both the ocean
and humans, and storytelling.
Typically, the agroecosystem is known as the basic unit of study of the agroecology. However, no consensus exists regarding its definition , which is reflected by the early state of agroecology as a science. This fact was illustrated after an exhaustive analytical review of the different agroecosystem definitions proposed and currently used in the literature. We reviewed 157 articles and other key scientific literature and found seven different concepts. It is necessary to advance in unification of the terminology to bridge the gaps among agroecology, agricultural sciences, and other disciplines that enable progress toward sustainable agriculture. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to propose a discussion about the need to have a semantic and operational concept of agroecosystem. Agroecosystem is a synthesis, product of the culture-nature interaction, it is regarded as a homogeneous natural unit, where an agrotechnological management system (AMS) is introduced according to farmer needs. Therefore, the agroecosystem is a holistic, irreducible, and particular basic unit of agroecology and the agricultural sciences, which integrates production processes and attributes for a sustainable agriculture.
While restoration ecology, as a scientific sub-discipline of ecology, generates and analyses data and facts qualitatively and quantitatively and thus, provides restoration practice with a value-free basis for decision-making, concrete ecosystem restoration requires an assessment and a decision between different options. In addition to the natural scientific facts, social science aspects must therefore be integrated in practical ecosystem restoration. Accordingly, environmental ethics and its implications for ecosystem restoration, the restoration of natural capital implementing strong sustainability, environmental anthropology, traditional ecological knowledge, and ecosystem restoration as active responsibility for creation are critically reflected. Finally, some measures of practical ecosystem restoration, such as the application of synthetic pesticides, are put on the ethical test bench.
Im Rahmen der starken Nachhaltigkeit sind für eine Implementierung im Unterricht die Fächer Biologie oder Naturwissenschaft prädestiniert. Solange es mit der notwendigen Veränderung des Systems Schule aber institutionell nur langsam vorangeht, soll motivierten Lehrkräften an dieser Stelle eine Möglichkeit vorgestellt werden, um diverse Themenbereiche der (ökologisch-)nachhaltigen Entwicklung in den Unterricht einzubinden. Dieser Beitrag reflektiert das Nachhaltigkeits-Leitbild vor dem Hintergrund seines Ursprungs und zeigt die zunehmende, politische Verwässerung, insbesondere der ökologischen Perspektive. Das vorgestellte Projekt ‚HanNa – Handeln für Nachhaltigkeit‘ greift gerade die ökologische Perspektive auf, fußt auf eine Intervention mittels der Lehrmethode ‚Mystery‘ und zielt auf die Handlungsbefähigung der Schüler*innen in Bezug auf Nachhaltigkeit.
Chapter opens with a tight chronicle of 4.5 million years of evolution and humanization of the homo genus. In synchrony, the natural world in which it inhabits (real world or REALity) has also evolved, while a new and equally surprising world, of its creation, has emerged and has not stopped expanding its borders: its cultures or CONCEPTUALity. Since then, REALity and CONCEPTUALity have been intertwined, giving rise to authentic revolutions (agricultural, commercial, industrial, ICT, artificial intelligence, …) that, among other consequences, have enabled the exponential growth of their population, as well as the emergence—and since then, incessant growth—of the urban phenomenon. The rest of the chapter flows to answer the questions: what purposes has urban development served, under an anthropocentric approach? What new purposes should aspire to serve if development assumed a socioecocentric approach, oriented towards the resilience and sustainability of socioecosystems (wild, rural, and urban)? The author invites us to make the local and global crisis the starting point for the construction of a new development approach, one in which the final beneficiary for the development should be the socioecosystems, subject to a long-range planning and management (space, time, actors involved), in a participative orientation with an extended responsibility. To achieve this, the author concludes, it will be necessary to first change our cognitive and intervention approaches, as well as design novel methodologies and instruments to assess resilience and sustainability in socioecosystems.
Nature is dynamic, and although it follows deterministic laws, it is not always predictable with the accuracy we would prefer. Humans are also dynamic, but they follow probabilistic quasi-laws, and their actions are even less predictable. Humans as social beings are vulnerable and can only meet natural forces by either avoiding danger zones or protecting themselves with technical measures. A landslide, a flood or an earthquake are natural processes, but they can turn into major catastrophes when they strike human beings and their infrastructure, with or without warning signs. This chapter starts from the notion of ecological marginality and connects it with Bonneuil’s thesis of ecological debt. It uses recent natural catastrophes in the Swiss Alps and other disasters to illustrate the way nature is hitting back and at what cost. The ‘one-way or throw-away society’ has been externalizing the costs for the benefit of cheap products and is now confronted with expenses it never imagined. We owe a lot to nature but continue to exploit it recklessly and do not intend to pay back this debt. The paper arrives at the conclusion that human thinking is still characterized by inertia and not ready to learn from past experience.
Aydınlanma çağından bu yana mekanist ve determinist yaklaşımın şekillendirdiği modern uygarlığın yarattığı sürdürülemez durum insan dahil gezegende bütün yaşamının geleceğini tehdit etmektedir. BM 2030 Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Hedefleri uyarınca sürdürülebilir geleceğe geçiş için eğitim sistemlerinin gezegenin şartlarıyla uyumlu yeni bir paradigmayla baştan yapılandırılması kaçınılmazdır. Bu doğrultuda, doğa yazını eserleri, yaratabileceği ekolojik kavrayış ve duyuşsal uyanış sayesinde bireylerin doğayla ilişkisiyle yüzleşmesi ve onunla uyumlu yaşam sürebilmesi için anahtar bir rol oynayabilir. Buradan hareketle çalışmada, mekanist ve determinist bakış açısının insanın gerek kendi varlığını gerekse doğal yaşamın karmaşıklığını anlamaktan ve buna göre davranmaktan nasıl alıkoyduğu tartışılmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, insanlığın kendi varlığı dahil bütün canlı yaşamının geleceğini tehdit eden bu bakış açısında ısrar etmek ile bunun yerine ekolojik bakışla yeryüzü ile uyumlu şekilde iktisadi ve beşerî yaşamını dönüştürmek arasında adete yol ayırımında bulunduğuna dikkat çekilmektedir. Arkasından, doğa yazını literatürü tanıtılmakta ve bunun sürdürülebilirlik eğitiminde nasıl bir etki yaratabileceği irdelenmektedir. Çalışmanın sonunda, doğa yazını eserlerinin sürdürülebilirlik eğitiminde değerlendirilmesi yönünde öneriler getirilmektedir.
Landscape Agronomy is expected to contribute to the observation, understanding and support of agriculture at the landscape level. The conceptual model of Landscape Agronomy was developed to integrate assessment and monitoring beyond the farm level and across multiple temporal and spatial scales. In this chapter, we evaluate the relevance of the Landscape Agronomy conceptual model by analysing three issues of integrated governance and public action. The three examples highlight the three parts of the conceptual model: (a) core agricultural landscape dynamics, illustrated by farmers’ collective projects of agroecological transition; (b) the three poles of the conceptual model—practices, resources and patterns—illustrated by Integrated Pest Management as an example of requirements for sustainable agroecosystem management; and (c) temporal and spatial interactions, illustrated by the concept of territorial circularity as a way to integrate landscape-based management into global issues related to nutrient cycles. Although it captures the key issues addressed by such perspectives, the Landscape Agronomy conceptual model still faces some challenges, such as explicit consideration of temporal dimensions and explicit inclusion of new (invisible) patterns emerging from newly available data and digitalisation.KeywordsPolicymakingIntegrated approachNatural resource managementFarm managementAgriculture
In any problem-solving endeavor, identifying the right problem and asking the right questions is at least half the challenge. A well-posed problem can suggest an obvious, effective solution, while a poorly chosen problem can lead to dead-end non-solutions that leave no one better off. In this chapter, we consider important questions that should be asked with respect to potential beneficiaries or collaborators, the larger context of a problem, the type of impact, approaches to scale, and ethical considerations.
In this chapter, we describe a mathematical model to simulate the development of insecticide resistance. First, The relationship between the mutation rate y and the dosage of insecticide use x is expressed as: y=f(x)a+bx. The total mutation rate, z(t), after the ith insecticide use changes with time t: z(t)=z(ti)exp(-r(t-ti))+c, tit<ti+1. Insect mutation rate model is:
y(t1)=(1-c)f(x(t1)),
z(t1)=c+y(t1),i=1;
y(ti)=(1-c-z(ti-1)exp(-r(t-ti-1))) f(x(ti)),
z(ti)=c+z(ti-1)exp(-r(t-ti-1))+y(ti),tit<ti+1, i=2, 3, …
where y(ti): the rate of newly increased mutant individuals after the ith insecticide use, z(ti): the total mutation rate after the ith insecticide use, ti: the time of the ith insecticide use, and y(ti) the theoretical mutation rate of the ith insecticide use. The relationship between the pest population resistance R(ti) and z(ti) is represented as: R(ti)=p+q/(1-z(ti)).
Thus the variables as insecticide use dosage, timing and frequency of insecticide uses, genetic mutagenicity of insect individuals, insecticide-resistant individuals’ fitness, etc., were included in the model. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the lower the fitness (r) of the insecticide-resistant individuals is, the slower the increase of insecticide resistance will be. The greater the insect individuals’ mutagenicity (b) is, the more quickly the insecticide resistance will rise. The greater the insecticide use dosage (x(t)) is, the more quickly the insecticide resistance will increase. The higher the frequency of insecticide uses is, the greater the insecticide resistance will increase. The results showed that the insecticide dosage is more important than usage frequency in determining the development of insecticide resistance, which highlights the importance of joint use of reducing insecticide dosage and adopting IPM technologies. The model can be used to not only the dynamic simuation of development of insecticide resistance but also the assessment of IPM technologies in reducing insecticide resistance. For example, with a set of specific parametrical values, the simulation of the model demonstated that insecticide resistance will reduce 83.74% when the insecticide dosage is reduced from 180 to 20 by jointly using IPM technologies. Full codes of Matlab, R and BASIC programs for the model were given.
The common conception of the economy is a throughput model where inputs are converted into useful goods and services. Emissions and waste are the unfortunate by-products of this conversion process. Inputs and emission and waste by-products seemingly come from nowhere and disappear into nowhere. In other words, the common conception is that the economy has no context. As a result, the unintended side effects of economic activity disappear from the purview of economics. Economists refer to these unaccounted side effects of economic activity as ‘externalities’. The deficiencies of this contextless model have long been recognised by ecological and social economists. This chapter outlines a new economic model developed by the lead author called restorative economics. Like the doughnut model developed by Kate Raworth (2012), it places the economy in its social and environmental context and makes long neglected social and environmental impacts of economic activity visible. The restorative economics model, however, makes a further distinction regarding the context of economic activity that makes the model more operational. It distinguishes between sources and sinks. Sinks are the counterpoints to the resources that feed the front end of the economic process. Sinks deal with the tail end of the process. The restorative economics model therefore places value not only on the resources used to produce goods and services and on these outputs of goods and services themselves, but also on the many social and environmental sink factors that absorb emissions, process waste, reduce stress, and alleviate social tension. Restorative economics pays attention to both the resources and the sinks needed to sustain economic activity in the long run. We illustrate the value of these sinks by reviewing several local and regional initiatives from Washington DC, namely the Urban Food Hubs model, the Five Pillars of Economic Development, the Food Connects vision and the ambitious agenda of the Sustainable DC plan. We conclude the chapter by reviewing policies that support a restorative economy.
This chapter outlines the historical trajectories, the technologies, and the techniques of three types of soil-less cultivation: hydroponics, aquaponics, and mushroom farming. This brief overview is necessary to frame historically, conceptually and policy-wise this sector and the motivations underpinning urban agriculture projects and enterprises that use these technologies. The historical sections provide an account of the factors that led to the development of hydroponics, aquaponics and mushroom farming. This constitutes a useful resource since an indepth historical investigation on soil-less cultivation has not yet been written. Tracing the origins of soil-less growing and the development of aspects such as effective growing media is both informative and necessary to contextualise these technologies within the history of food production. The historical sections are followed by a brief technical overview of the options and system components for each technology, with a particular focus on simplified soil-less systems, which have been largely promoted by organisations such as FAO to improve food security in developing countries. These systems are particularly appropriate for implementing the low-cost, self-build units operating in some of the case studies presented in the book. Finally, productivity, environmental efficiency, relevant policies, and market context complete the picture for each of the three soil-less
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ZWA5PIJDDEJTXMAUDTBD/full?target=10.1080/09644016.2022.2075152
This exploratory study draws on content analysis of the environmental policy documents of voluntary sport organizations in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. We develop a typology of ways in which sport organizations frame environmental problems and find four ideal typical frames: (1) a general non-committal frame; (2) a sport-specific technical frame; (3) a growth-oriented opportunity frame; and (4) a crisis frame viewing environmental issues as an existential crisis
for sport. We then explain the emergence of these frames. To this task, we discuss how materialities, institutional mechanisms and wider environmental discourses matter for environmental framing in voluntary sport organizations.
The structural elements of global environmental governance are notoriously difficult to change and align with the needs of a rapidly deteriorating earth system. This, however, only increases the need to focus on the role of agency in this context. This paper does so by taking stock of what we know about agency in relation to International Environmental Agreements (IEAs) and suggests directions for future research. We contribute a conceptual framework to enable the mapping of research on agency related to IEAs and advance more systematic study of agency in this context. The framework differentiates between the negotiation of IEAs, their implementation and outcomes, and includes agency-related and context-related drivers of agency in these processes. We subsequently review articles published between 2003 and 2020 in the journal International Environmental Agreements (as one of the few journals exclusively focusing on IEAs) dealing with actors’ agency and analyse how these articles address agency in the context of IEAs. We conclude firstly by identifying avenues for how further research can fill important gaps, including a need for increased transparency on the methods and theories used in articles, and more comparative research particularly on agency dynamics in implementation; and secondly by highlighting important pointers for policy-makers including the need to re-evaluate the role of national sovereignty and address the forces that counteract equality and justice. Key lessons include the need to improve global south countries' capacity to influence IEA negotiations (input legitimacy), the central role of public and peer pressure on countries to implement commitments, the impact of multilevel governance dynamics and the importance of ensuring that IEAs benefit local communities (output legitimacy).
This chapter reports on a research project in which the authors interviewed 20 employees from animal or conservation charities and organisations. The aims of the research were to explore first, animal welfare issues that participants believed children should know about and secondly, to discover the pedagogical approaches these organisations employed in schools and local communities. Findings included participants employing concepts such as One Health and One Welfare to introduce young people gradually to the complexities and sensitivities of animal welfare and conservation. Participants spoke of using anthropomorphism to encourage children to understand animal sentience, and of then widening the scope of animal pedagogies to introduce a social and moral dimension into deeper discussion about human responsibilities to the planet, non-human and human life.
Although cinema narrative represents a fundamental communication tool in framing public opinion, whether a negative representation of certain species in the context of animal-horror movies might increase the attitudinal hostilities towards them remains an aspect of wildlife perception that is poorly studied.
Here, we reviewed online sources from the last 70 years to describe the negative representation of animal roles in horror and disaster movies. Specifically, we described species diversity, how the animal was depicted, the cause for its aggressive behaviour and how it came in contact with the human characters. By means of principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), we also highlighted three main typologies of animal-horror movies.
The dataset consisted of 263 titles produced world-wide from 1950 to 2019. The results showed that animal representation is transversal yet uneven, with five species groups out of 18 appearing in more than half of the movies. There were significant associations between species, their representation and the different kinds of movies they appeared in, with some species groups appearing more commonly in certain types of film plots rather than others.
Together, the results suggested that both the themes and topics of animal-horror movies were often the result of a combination of factors, including fashion-driven audience interests, societal and political concerns, and technological availability at the time of production. Whether this repeated and variegated representation can increase attitudinal hostility remains however unclear.
A great deal of the contemporary discourse around circularity revolves around waste—the elimination of waste (and wastelands) through recycling, renewing and reuse (3Rs). In line with industrial ecological thinking, the discourse often focuses on resource efficiency and the shift toward renewables. The reconstitution of numerous previous ecologies is at most a byproduct of the deliberate design of today’s cyclic systems. Individual projects are often heralded for their innovative aspects (both high- and low-tech) and the concept has become popularly embraced in much of the Western world. Nevertheless, contemporary spatial circularity practices appear often to be detached from their particular socio-cultural and landscape ecologies. There is an emphasis on performative aspects and far too often a series of normative tools create cookie-cutter solutions that disregard locational assets—spatial as well as socio-cultural. The re-prefix is evident for developed economies and geographies, but not as obvious in the context of rapidly transforming and newly urbanizing territories. At the same time, the notion of circularity has been deeply embedded in indigenous, pre-modern and non-Western worldviews and strongly mirrored in historic constellations of urban, rural and territorial development. This contribution focuses on two contexts, Flanders in Belgium and the rural highlands, the Mekong Delta and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, which reveal that in spite of the near-universal prevalence of the Western development paradigm, there are fundamentally different notions of circularity in history and regarding present-day urbanization. Historically, in both contexts, the city and its larger territory formed a social, economic and ecological unity. There was a focus is on the interdependent development of notions of circularity in the ever-evolving relations of landscape, infrastructure and urbanization. In the development of contemporary circularity, there are clear insights that can be drawn from the deep understandings of historic interdependencies and the particular mechanisms and typologies utilized. The research questions addressed are in line with territorial ecology’s call to incorporate socio-cultural and spatial dimensions when trying to understand how territorial metabolisms function (Barles, Revue D’économie Régionale and Urbaine:819–836, 2017). They are as follows: how can case studies from two seemingly disparate regions in the world inform the present-day wave of homogenized research on circularity? How can specific socio-cultural contexts, through their historical trajectories, nuance the discourse and even give insights with regard to broadened and contextualized understandings of circularity? The case studies firstly focus on past site-specific cyclic interplays between landscape, infrastructure and urbanization and their gradual dissolution into linearity. Secondly, the case studies explicitly focus on multi-year design research projects by OSA (Research Urbanism and Architecture, KU Leuven), which underscore new relations of landscape, infrastructure and urbanization and emphasize the resourcefulness of the territory itself. The design research has been elaborated in collaboration with relevant stakeholders and experts and at the request of governmental agencies.
In a previous article, I examined the nature of historical consciousness. In this article, I apply it to three social issues: racism, ecological crisis, and higher education. Since the methods of historical consciousness are already in use, the aim here is not to introduce a new approach. My purpose is to make readers conscious of what they might normally do and why they are doing it. If a society fails to highlight and make explicit the methods it uses to solve the challenges it faces, the transfer of relevant skills will decline over several generations. Modern society has already reached the stage at which scientism has displaced a balance between timeless scientific rationality and historical consciousness in our approach to social issues. Without historical perspective to provide a narrative structure to the findings of science, society is likely to act in ways that are counterproductive. Unless citizens have a personal sense of participation in the stream of historical events, the knowledge they gain from science is not likely to be useful in guiding the direction of society.
Neonicotinoids have been in the spotlight in the pollinator community as they persist in the soil, have high water solubility, and have been associated with negative health implications on insect pollinators. The risk of new novel pesticides, including neonicotinoids, to bats are largely unknown. Bats have unique physiology as they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight, and have physiological adaptations including echolocation and torpor which under current protocols for acute and chronic toxicity studies in birds and terrestrial animals are not assessed. Due to these characteristics, some have argued that bats may serve as important bioindicators for ecosystem health and pesticide use. This chapter will focus on pesticides, and discuss the increased risk of exposure, morbidity, and mortality of bats species due to their unique physiology and natural life history. Special emphasis will be on potential increased risk of zoonotic disease transmission in bats exposed to emerging contaminants that suppress their immune system or cause increased biological stress.
The necessity to follow the environmental fate of chemicals and in particular the aquatic toxicity not only of existing compounds, but also of those to be developed, has challenged the application of quantitative structure–activity relationships (QSAR) already at their genesis. The present chapter provides an overview of the historical evolution of environmental QSAR and its development as an autonomous discipline. It highlights the progress in the essential elements of QSAR methodology, such as molecular representation, statistical algorithms, suitable to treat the growing amounts of multiple endpoints, the strengthening in the criteria for model validation and for the definition of the applicability and tries to track the inherent philosophy rather, and then compile the numerous QSAR models published for the variety of toxicity endpoints assessed in different aquatic species at the three trophic levels. The huge diversity in the chemicals space resulted in the formulation of structural alerts for classification purposes in chemical categories, an essential requirement for the construction of a robust model or for choosing the appropriate model among the existing ones for toxicity predictions. Narcotics obey to rather simple rules with hydrophobicity being the single physicochemical parameter in the relevant QSAR models. On the other hand reactive and specifically acting chemicals, which exhibit “excess toxicity” demand the application of more elaborated statistical tools and the exploitation of the big arsenal of molecular descriptors. Hydrophobicity is still a major partner, however other parameters mostly related to electrophilicity and hydrogen bonding, as well structural and topological descriptors may show important contribution. The QSAR paradigm is facilitated by the existing and continuously being updated databases for ecotoxicological endpoints, as well by the development of software or web platforms either, freely or commercially available, which incorporate a variety of statistical tools and models for different endpoints and chemical classes. Commonly used software tools are presented in this chapter. The most important fact is that the QSAR paradigm in aquatic toxicity is proved to be a success story, since it has been adapted by the regulatory organizations, which have developed their own software and in silico platforms or support existing ones. Read-across techniques for filling data gaps are also implemented in many of platforms. In this aspect, the goal for the construction of any new model is not only to be more efficient than existing ones leading to more reliable and accurate predictions but also to meet the requirements of regulatory authorities. More to the point, the last years emphasis has been given to the integration of the results from multiple modeling tools and read across approaches for improved reliability of predictions. Several integration techniques have been suggested for this purpose. Moreover, the development of quantitative activity–activity relationships (QAAR) for interspecies toxicity predictions would reduce the vast toxicity space, as shaped by the multiple endpoints at a variety of aquatic species.
In recent years, images of climate catastrophe have become commonplace. However, Black visions of the confluence of the Anthropocene and the apocalypse have been largely ignored. As we argue in this article, Black social thought offers crucial resources for drawing out the implicit exclusions of dominant representations of climate breakdown and developing an alternative account of the planet's future. By reading a range of critical race theorists, from Frederick Douglass and W. E. B. Du Bois to Octavia Butler and Ta-Nehisi Coates, we propose a rethinking of the climate apocalypse. The African American theoretical and cultural tradition elaborates an image of the end of the world that emphasises the non-revelatory nature of climate catastrophe, warns against associating collapse with rebirth, and articulates a mode of maroon survivalism in which the apocalypse is an event to be endured and escaped rather than fatalistically expected or infinitely delayed.
How to feed, house, clothe and power 11 billion of us without eliminating very many species and wrecking Earth's climate is perhaps this century's greatest challenge. We must obviously strive to curb growth in resource-intensive demand, but we also need to identify production systems that meet people's needs at least overall cost to nature. The land-sharing/sparing concept provides a quantitative framework for doing this, centred around the principle that generating meaningful insights requires comparing alternatives that are matched in terms of overall production. Applications of this framework to >2500 individually assessed species of vertebrates, plants and insects across five continents show that most species decline under farming, and that most would fare least badly under a land-sparing approach – with high-yield production meeting demand in a relatively small, farmed area, freeing-up space for conservation of intact habitats elsewhere in the landscape. However, important questions remain around how to deliver high yields sustainably, and how to ensure high-yield farming does indeed spare natural habitat. The framework is increasingly being applied in other domains too – including urban planning, recreation, forestry and fisheries – where it has the potential to shed light on long-running debates about whether nature would prefer us to concentrate our impact or spread it more lightly but widely. The realization that conservation cannot be delivered without simultaneously considering how humanity meets its needs in these and other sectors is of particular significance as policymakers meet to establish global environmental targets through to 2030 and beyond.
The Jewish-Christian tradition has been partly blamed for creating an attitude towards the environment that sees it as something to be dominated by humans and exploited for their benefit. These traditions also stress the idea that humans are ‘stewards’ of creation, given the task to look after the planet for God. What does it mean to steward creation, and does stewardship offer a solution to the escalating ecological crisis? This article draws on the author’s research and experience to raise challenging questions for our generation.
The first half of the twentieth century was turbulent. There was panic in the early 1900s with a stock market crash, followed by the First World War in 1914, and the revolution in Russia in 1917.
In this paper, I aim to convey the history of ecopsychology's changing conceptualizations of science and technology and their role in facilitating engagement with the ecology movement. To do so, I compare ecopsychology's treatment of science and technology in two important publications: Gatherings, a non‐peer‐reviewed digital journal of the early 2000s that portrayed ecopsychology in humanistic, socially critical, and artistic terms; and Ecopsychology, a scholarly journal founded in 2009 that regarded ecopsychological questions as testable hypotheses, and distinguished itself from prior (“first generation”) ecopsychology on the basis of its embrace of technological progress and the scientific method. As a part of this shift, ecopsychologists of the “second generation” championed the notion that humans are a “Technological Species,” an ontological statement that naturalized the increasing sophistication of high technology as the result of inherent human drives, and established conceptual groundwork for studies that used consumer technology such as computers to mediate experiences of nature. In the final part of the paper, I critique the “Technological Species” proposition for obscuring the historical and material conditions that make the existence of consumer technology possible, such as the ecologically devastating mining of rare‐earth metals on colonized land in Central and South America. I argue that, to be socially and ecologically accountable, ecopsychology should turn toward practices that help us make sense of consumer technology's place in systems of colonialist and ecological violence, process our place within these systems as users of consumer technology, and build community less dependent on technology.
The most widespread and numerous inland fish in the world is likely the mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis and G. holbrooki, Poeciliidae). Much has been written about the basic biology, the current distribution and the negative impacts of non‐native populations of mosquitofish. Here, we instead review the relationship of humanity with mosquitofish. First, we review the early literature on the species and aim to resolve its path towards becoming the globally dominant fish for biological control of mosquitoes. We identify the initial advocates of mosquitofish use, we examine the reasons behind their advocacy, and we document the spread of their viewpoints into and from the globally foundational mosquito control texts. Second, we identify the people and institutions that facilitated early international translocations of mosquitofish, including, among others, David Starr Jordan, the Rockefeller Foundation and the International Red Cross. Third, we discuss the reduction in mosquitofish translocation and use during and after WWII, initially stemming from the discovery and use of other methods, like DDT and later from a recognition of the negative ecological consequences of non‐native mosquitofish populations. Fourth, we propose that the future utility of mosquitofish is largely in its value as a model study organism. We provide an overview of the contributions mosquitofish have made to some major fields in biology. Finally, we suggest that the value of mosquitofish as a model system should increase into the future, behind a momentum of research advances, and as human‐mediated range expansion will permit access to mosquitofish by yet greater numbers of biologists worldwide.
In Brazil, Aedes aegypti mosquito is the most frequent vector of some arboviruses, such as dengue, yellow fever, Zika and chikungunya. The use of synthetic insecticides to combat this vector has been compromised due to the development of resistant populations and the collateral damage caused to nature. Essential oils (EO) have been studied as an alternative to synthetic insecticide. Thus, the objective of this work was to do a review of EOs from Caatinga biome plants, wich are effective against Ae. aegypti at different stage of development (eggs, larvae, pulp and adult); to identify promising plant species with insecticidal activity as well as the most frequent terpenic compounds in oils with the best activity profile. The keywords Aedes aegypti, essential oil, Caatinga and Northeast Brazil were searched on Scielo, Pubmed, ‘Portal dos Periódicos Capes’ and ScienceDirect platforms. Hence, a great insecticidal potential of these essential oils against Ae. aegypti larvae and adults was identified as well as great potential for repellents and oviposition supression. Of all the plants, those of genera Cordia, Croton, Piper, Lippia and several genera of the Lamiaceae family can be highlighted as the most promising against Ae. aegypti. Analyzing the oils that showed larvicidal activity at concetrations <100 ppm, β-Caryophyllene, Caryophyllene oxide, Spathulenol, 1,8-cineole and Thymol are common compounds in the majority and in all acetylcholinesterase inhibitory has been demonstrated. This study can assist the search for plant species with potential insecticide, including pointing out specific compounds that are promising for the development of applied research in the area.
The ban and restriction of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and major brominated flame retardants (BFRs), including hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), due to their confirmed detrimental effects on wildlife and humans have paved the way for the wide application of organophosphate esters (OPEs). OPEs have been extensively used as alternative flame retardants, plasticizer, and antifoaming agents in various industrial and consumer products, which leads to an increase in production, usage, and discharge in the environment. We compile recent information on the production/usage and physicochemical properties of OPEs and discussed and compared the available sample treatment and analysis techniques of OPEs, including extraction, clean-up, and instrumental analysis. The occurrence of OPEs in sediment, aquatic biota, surface, and drinking water is documented. Toxicity, human exposure, and ecological risks of OPEs were summarized; toxicological data of several OPEs shows different adverse health effects on aquatic organisms and humans. Much attention was given to document evidence regarding the bioaccumulation and biomagnification potential of OPEs in aquatic organisms. Finally, identified research gaps and avenues for future studies are forwarded.
Graphical abstract
Twenty years ago, we published an assessment of the threats facing primates and with the passing of two decades, we re‐evaluate identified threats, consider emerging pressures, identify exciting new avenues of research, and tackle how to change the system to rapidly advance primate and primate habitat conservation. Habitat destruction and hunting have increased, the danger of looming climate change is clearer, and there are emerging threats such as the sublethal effects of microplastics and pesticides. Despite these negative developments, protected areas are increasing, exciting new tools are now available, and the number of studies has grown exponentially. Many of the changes that need to occur to make rapid progress in primate conservation are in our purview to modify. We identify several dimensions indicating the time is right to make large advances; however, the question that remains is do we have the will to prevent widespread primate annihilation and extinction?
Many years after sustainable development’s first definitions, the topic still provokes reflections emphasizing the need to understand the implications qualitative an evolution on an environmentally responsible, socially fair and economically viable basis. In this sense, this study aims to present new perspectives on the concept of sustainable development based on reflections of students participating in a Professional Master's Program in Governance and Sustainability. The research is characterized as a qualitative bibliographic research study, using subjective interpretation in the design of the definitions of sustainability and sustainable development found in the literature in view of the perspective of students of the institution's master's classes, seeking to understand what is new and what remains at the very essence of such concepts. Thus, the authors seek to contribute to discussions about society’s perspective on sustainable development, emphasizing the importance of establishing educational policies focused on promoting education for sustainability, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In recent years, the idea of geoengineering, understood as large‐scale interventions in the planet's climate to counteract anthropogenic climate change, has steadily increased its visibility. Presented explicitly as an approach to climate change, geoengineering is positioned as a response, a reactive fix. Geoengineering, however, has a longer and broader history than the current climate crisis. It has long been an umbrella term for large‐scale projects in which various Earth sciences meet dreams about human ecosphere interventions, especially regarding lithosphere and climate and weather modifications. In this paper, we review the history of geoengineering, focusing specifically on climate geoengineering and lithosphere geoengineering. We draw attention to the difference between “proactive” (“high‐modernist”), aimed at mastery over nature, and “reactive” forms of geoengineering, hoping to address anthropogenic environmental degradation technologically. Additionally, we trace historical (dis)continuities between the older, proactive, form of geoengineering and their recent reframing as a technological fix—specifically around the question to what extent nature's complex systems can be known and controlled. Finally, we argue for the need to further research the intersections and shared histories between various forms of geoengineering.
This article is categorized under: Climate, History, Society, Culture > Ideas and Knowledge
We invite systematic consideration of the metaphors of cycles and circulation as a long-term theme in the history of the life and environmental sciences and medicine. Ubiquitous in ancient religious and philosophical traditions, especially in representing the seasons and the motions of celestial bodies, circles once symbolized perfection. Over the centuries cyclic images in western medicine, natural philosophy, natural history and eventually biology gained independence from cosmology and theology and came to depend less on strictly circular forms. As potent ‘canonical icons’, cycles also interacted with representations of linear and irreversible change, including arrows, arcs, scales, series and trees, as in theories of the Earth and of evolution. In modern times life cycles and reproductive cycles have often been held to characterize life, in some cases especially female life, while human efforts selectively to foster and disrupt these cycles have harnessed their productivity in medicine and agriculture. But strong cyclic metaphors have continued to link physiology and climatology, medicine and economics, and biology and manufacturing, notably through the relations between land, food and population. From the grand nineteenth-century transformations of matter to systems ecology, the circulation of molecules through organic and inorganic compartments has posed the problem of maintaining identity in the face of flux and highlights the seductive ability of cyclic schemes to imply closure where no original state was in fact restored. More concerted attention to cycles and circulation will enrich analyses of the power of metaphors to naturalize understandings of life and their shaping by practical interests and political imaginations.
Dado que el problema que quiero tratar involucra una exhaustiva reflexión sobre la utilización (o la relación con) del entorno o la naturaleza, sigo un camino que parte de revisar la ecología como disciplina científica, y su articulación (o no) con los movimientos ambientalistas para, desde estos sitios de acción, investigar y movilizar, avanzando sobre los temas que en ambos casos subyacen como problema, y que no terminan de explorarse desde las perspectivas habitualmente aceptadas. Indago, así, la tradición occidental de pensamiento en cuanto a los supuestos jerarquizantes se refiere, a fin de mostrar los modos en que históricamente se han edificado, tanto las prácticas en relación al uso del medioambiente (criticadas por los ambientalismos), como la producción del conocimiento científico, entendido como base legítima del saber reconocido en nuestras sociedades. Aún cuando haga mención a formas de vida no-humanas o a culturas ajenas a la tradición moderna, dirijo el foco de mi reflexión a las promesas incumplidas de la modernidad occidental, desde una perspectiva a-moderna (tal como la denomina Bruno Latour), quien revisa las expectativas de progreso a la luz de tales proyectos inconclusos. A partir de estos desarrollos inacabados reviso, entonces, las experiencias de los «perdedores» del desarrollo moderno; es decir, de los sujetos que plantean resistencias y alternativas. Indago esas resistencias, no tanto a la luz de las desigualdades económicas sino, sobre todo, desde las falencias de reconocimiento. A fin de echar luz sobre los aspectos que permitan repensar las prácticas, avanzo con el interés de entender cómo la desigualdad social y la reproducción de esa desigualdad en las prácticas cotidianas, no son independientes de los problemas ambientales. Pongo en evidencia que el modo en que se ha edificado el saber occidental, sustentado en jerarquías que implican diversos ejercicios de dominio, ha llevado a pensar a la sociedad y a la naturaleza como ámbitos aislados o independientes, pero siempre igualmente jerárquicos. Dado este modo de considerar el mundo –presente también en el contexto de globalización actual– la reducción del medioambiente al concepto de recurso es cada vez más profunda. Por eso, tomo como guía el análisis de la problemática dualidad sociedad-naturaleza sobre la que se construyó el pensamiento y la praxis moderna. La escisión antagónica y excluyente de ambos conceptos se asocia a la idea del hombre como el ser de máximo desarrollo, cuya portación de razón permitiría justificar su dominio sobre todo lo no-humano, fundamento último de evaluación de lo nonatural como «diferente» en términos peyorativos o inferiorizantes. Como muestro en este libro, no solo de eso se trata. Por tanto, exploro especialmente el modo en que históricamente se consideró «lo natural» como dependiente y concebido con potencialidades que solo lograría desarrollar en caso de que un ser racional lo dominara. En este orden de cosas, aún en el ámbito humano, los pueblos no-occidentales, los sectores económicos menos privilegiados y la población femenina, fueron algunos de los grupos que quedaron asociados necesariamente a la idea de naturaleza. Dentro de ese marco, examino con especial interés la situación femenina y el peso fundante de la metáfora que liga a la mujer a la naturaleza, no solo para dar cuenta de un problema sectorizado, sino para profundizar en el análisis de la constitución de las formas de dominio y la búsqueda de alternativas. Las mujeres –como oportunamente lo señala la australiana Val Plumwood–, parecemos estar mejor colocadas para examinar y resolver ese antiguo dualismo: podemos hablar y razonar desde la posición de –y en solidaridad con– los que han sido considerados como «la naturaleza». Ese es, en definitiva, el objetivo central de este libro.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) provides an illustration of how crop protection has (or has not) evolved over the past six decades. Throughout this period, IPM has endeavored to promote sustainable forms of agriculture, pursued sharp reductions in synthetic pesticide use, and thereby resolved myriad socio-economic, environmental, and human health challenges. Global pesticide use has, however, largely continued unabated, with negative implications for farmer livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and the human right to food. In this review, we examine how IPM has developed over time and assess whether this concept remains suited to present-day challenges. We believe that despite many good intentions, hard realities need to be faced. 1) We identify the following major weaknesses: i) a multitude of IPM definitions that generate unnecessary confusion; ii) inconsistencies between IPM concepts, practice, and policies; iii) insufficient engagement of farmers in IPM technology development and frequent lack of basic understanding of its underlying ecological concepts. 2) By diverting from the fundamental IPM principles, integration of practices has proceeded along serendipitous routes, proven ineffective, and yielded unacceptable outcomes. 3) We show that in the majority of cases, chemical control still remains the basis of plant health programs. 4) Furthermore, IPM research is often lagging, tends to be misguided, and pays insufficient attention to ecology and to the ecological functioning of agroecosystems. 5) Since the 1960s, IPM rules have been twisted, its foundational concepts have degraded and its serious (farm-level) implementation has not advanced. To remedy this, we are proposing Agroecological Crop Protection as a concept that captures how agroecology can be optimally put to the service of crop protection. Agroecological Crop Protection constitutes an interdisciplinary scientific field that comprises an orderly strategy (and clear prioritization) of practices at the field, farm, and agricultural landscape level and a dimension of social and organizational ecology.
Humans are changing and challenging nature in many ways. Conservation Biology seeks to limit human impacts on nature and preserve biological diversity. Traditionally, Developmental Biology and Conservation Biology have had nonoverlapping objectives, operating in distinct spheres of biological science. However, this chasm can and should be filled to help combat the emerging challenges of the 21st century. The means by which to accomplish this goal were already established within the conceptual framework of evo‐ and eco‐devo and can be further expanded to address the ways that anthropogenic disturbance affect embryonic development. Herein, I describe ways that these approaches can be used to advance the study of reptilian embryos. More specifically, I explore the ways that a developmental perspective can advance ongoing studies of embryonic physiology in the context of global warming and chemical pollution, both of which are known stressors of reptilian embryos. I emphasize ways that these developmental perspectives can inform conservation biologists trying to develop management practices that will address the complexity of challenges facing reptilian embryos.
Research Highlights
• Reptiles and their embryos are under threat of emerging anthropogenic change such as pollution and thermal stress. Herein, I outline areas of future research where greater information about reptilian development in the context of real‐world challenges may inform conservation efforts.
Nature and time have long been key concepts of educational thought. Educational thinkers from both the East and the West have tried to imitate and follow nature (conceived as tien or physis). They have also considered time in relation to human formation and growth. This article attempts to connect these two key concepts of education through the medium of the seasons. The seasons bridge both time and nature. Our experience of nature is temporal and manifests itself in the transition of the seasons. On the other hand, our experience of time is conditioned by the seasons. Seasons are a concrete manifestation of time and nature. It seems that philosophy has not paid enough attention to this. In this article, Japanese arts (such as the Katsura Imperial Villa and waka poetry) are used as the examples of how the arts can help to form our sensibility toward the seasons, which has ethical and educational implications. The article also asks questions about contemporary environmental discussions that, in the aspiration to be global and universal, often overlook concrete experience of the seasons conditioned by local climate.
Amphibian populations are declining globally. Major drivers of these global declines are known. However, the contribution of these major drivers to population declines varies by presence/absence and interactive effect of drivers, thus creating local challenges for conservation of populations. Studies have determined that environmental contaminants contribute to amphibian population declines. However, there is a disagreement over the use of amphibians as sentinel species in ecotoxicological testing rather than the traditional taxa used, fish and invertebrates. Reviews of ecotoxicological studies have demonstrated that amphibians are generally less sensitive than fish and invertebrates to different groups of contaminants. Nonetheless, due to the distinct nature and mechanism of toxicity of various contaminants, it is necessary to study contaminants individually to be able to come to any conclusion on the relative sensitivity of amphibians. Copper (Cu) is one of the most studied environmental contaminants. In this study, we conducted a literature review of Cu toxicity to amphibians and the relative sensitivity of amphibians to other aquatic animals. The available data suggest that although amphibians may be tolerant of acute Cu exposure, they are relatively sensitive to chronic exposure (i.e., 100‐fold greater sensitivity to chronic compared to acute exposure). Additionally, ecologically relevant endpoints specific to amphibians (e.g., duration of metamorphosis and behaviour) are shown to provide a better understanding of their sensitivity compared to traditional endpoints (e.g., survival and growth). Our current knowledge on amphibian sensitivity is far from complete. Considering the current status of this globally threatened class of animals, it is necessary to fill the knowledge gaps regarding their sensitivity to individual contaminants, beginning with Cu. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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