scholarly journals Anthropocene Islands: Entangled Worlds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Pugh ◽  
David Chandler
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Core ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Modes Of Life ◽  
Ways Of Being

The island has become a key figure of the Anthropocene – an epoch in which human entanglements with nature come increasingly to the fore. For a long time, islands were romanticised or marginalised, seen as lacking modernity’s capacities for progress, vulnerable to the effects of catastrophic climate change and the afterlives of empire and coloniality. Today, however, the island is increasingly important for both policy-oriented and critical imaginaries that seek, more positively, to draw upon the island’s liminal and disruptive capacities, especially the relational entanglements and sensitivities its peoples and modes of life are said to exhibit. Anthropocene Islands: Entangled Worlds explores the significant and widespread shift to working with islands for the generation of new or alternative approaches to knowledge, critique and policy practices. It explains how contemporary Anthropocene thinking takes a particular interest in islands as ‘entangled worlds’, which break down the human/nature divide of modernity and enable the generation of new or alternative approaches to ways of being (ontology) and knowing (epistemology). The book draws out core analytics which have risen to prominence (Resilience, Patchworks, Correlation and Storiation) as contemporary policy makers, scholars, critical theorists, artists, poets and activists work with islands to move beyond the constraints of modern approaches. In doing so, it argues that engaging with islands has become increasingly important for the generation of some of the core frameworks of contemporary thinking and concludes with a new critical agenda for the Anthropocene.

scholarly journals Understanding the Logic of Climate Change Adaptation: Unpacking Barriers to Climate Change Adaptation by Smallholder Farmers in Chimanimani District, Zimbabwe

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3773
Author(s):  
Wisemen Chingombe ◽  
Happwell Musarandega
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
Observation Methods ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Adaptation Barriers ◽  
Study Participants

Smallholder farmers in Chimanimani District, Zimbabwe, have grappled for a long time with the effects of climate change despite the locally and externally driven resilience-building initiatives in place. This paper adopts a qualitative approach to explore the encountered adaptation barriers. Smallholder farmers, Agricultural Technical and Extension Services (AGRITEX) officers, and the traditional leadership fraternity were randomly selected from the district’s 22 rural wards as study participants. Data were solicited using focus group discussions and face-to-face interviews that were corroborated by researcher observation methods. The data were analysed using thematic content analysis of key perspectives drawn from smallholder farmers, traditional leaders, and extension officers who work with farmers. What was unveiled is an assortment of barrier dynamics related to climate, finance, infrastructure, generational change, water resources, inefficient bureaucracy, gender inequality, and health barriers. Vensim PLE 7.3 software was used to illustrate barrier components as they act together to cripple smallholder farmers’ efforts to raise their adaptive capacity. Adaptation barriers are complex and, therefore, cannot be addressed using policies that are fragmented. The paper recommends a multidimensional approach by policy makers to analyse adaptive barriers to build more climate resilience within smallholder farmer communities.

scholarly journals Orphan Works and the Search for Rightholders: Who Participates in a 'Diligent Search' under Present and Proposed Regimes?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Urban
Keyword(s):  
Search Process ◽  
Subsequent Paper ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
Threshold Mechanism ◽  
Other Information ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
Specific Formulation

*Abstract: *Over the past several years, policy makers and private actors have developed an evolving set of approaches for addressing the orphan works problem — a problem that arises when “the owner of a copyrighted work cannot be identified and located by someone who wishes to make use of the work in a manner that requires permission of the copyright owner,” preventing follow-on uses of works. These approaches usually attempt to address the orphan works problem by employing some threshold mechanism to differentiate true orphan works, to which the proposed solutions would apply, from non-orphaned copyrighted works. Satisfying a “reasonably diligent search” is one well-known formulation by which users can designate works as orphaned and therefore subject to a proposed solution, though — as this paper points out — alternative approaches certainly exist. Regardless of the specific formulation, the search for rightsholders (or conversely, the confirmation that no rightsholder can be located) is an integral component of almost every orphan works proposal. This paper examines in detail the core schemes for identifying rightsholders among the leading orphan works regimes and proposals. Although these schemes differ across many variables, three factors predominate: (1) who is expected to participate in the search process, (2) the nature and extent of the required search generally; and (3) specifically what types of resources, tools, registries or other information-sharing mechanisms are required or allowed.This paper compares existing proposals’ approaches with respect to the first factor: who participates in a search? A subsequent paper will focus on the second and third factors.Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2208163

Kant, Chakrabarty, and the Crises of the Anthropocene

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-67
Author(s):  
David Baumeister ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Environmental Philosophy ◽  
Anthropogenic Climate Change ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Environmental Humanities ◽  
The Core ◽  
Critical Insight ◽  
Insight Into

Dipesh Chakrabarty has identified Immanuel Kant’s distinction between the human’s moral and animal dimensions as an underlying source of the failure of the humanities to respond to the ecological crises of the Anthropocene. Although relevant for the environmental humanities generally, Chakrabarty’s critique is especially germane to contemporary environmental philosophy. It shows how the reality of anthropogenic climate change renders central aspects of Kant’s influential conception of human nature untenable. While closer examination of Kant’s writings corroborates the core of Chakrabarty’s reading, there nonetheless remain positive resources in Kant’s philosophy for contemporary environmental thinking, for, although Kant does regard the human’s moral and animal dimensions as conceptually separable, he also understands them to be inextricably bound within the nature of human beings. Attending to the interplay between these Kantian commitments, a new critical insight into one of the basic tensions of the Anthropocene era can be attained.

The Nature of Degrowth: Theorising the Core of Nature for the Degrowth Movement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pasi Heikkurinen
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Culturally Sensitive ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Radical Reduction ◽  
Nature Experience ◽  
Matter Energy

This article investigates human–nature relations in the light of the recent call for degrowth, a radical reduction of matter–energy throughput in over-producing and over-consuming cultures. It outlines a culturally sensitive response to a (conceived) paradox where humans embedded in nature experience alienation and estrangement from it. The article finds that if nature has a core, then the experienced distance makes sense. To describe the core of nature, three temporal lenses are employed: the core of nature as ‘the past’, ‘the future’, and ‘the present’. It is proposed that while the degrowth movement should be inclusive of temporal perspectives, the lens of the present should be emphasised to balance out the prevailing romanticism and futurism in the theory and practice of degrowth.

Evaluation of Road Utilisation as Space For Holding Social Ceremonies in Indigenous Residential Area of Ogbomoso, Nigeria

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (March 2018) ◽  
Author(s):  
S.A Okanlawon ◽  
O.O Odunjo ◽  
S.A Olaniyan
Keyword(s):  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Noisy Environment ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The Core ◽  
Local Roads ◽  
Strict Enforcement ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The One ◽  
The City ◽  
The Town

This study examined Residents’ evaluation of turning transport infrastructure (road) to spaces for holding social ceremonies in the indigenous residential zone of Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria. Upon stratifying the city into the three identifiable zones, the core, otherwise known as the indigenous residential zone was isolated for study. Of the twenty (20) political wards in the two local government areas of the town, fifteen (15) wards that were located in the indigenous zone constituted the study area. Respondents were selected along one out of every three (33.3%) of the Trunk — C (local) roads being the one mostly used for the purpose in the study area. The respondents were the residents, commercial motorists, commercial motorcyclists, and celebrants. Six hundred and forty-two (642) copies of questionnaire were administered and harvested on the spot. The Mean Analysis generated from the respondents’ rating of twelve perceived hazards listed in the questionnaire were then used to determine respondents’ most highly rated perceived consequences of the practice. These were noisy environment, Blockage of drainage by waste, and Endangering the life of the sick on the way to hospital; the most highly rated reasons why the practice came into being; and level of acceptability of the practice which was found to be very unacceptable in the study area. Policy makers should therefore focus their attention on strict enforcement of the law prohibiting the practice in order to ensure more cordial relationship among the citizenry, seeing citizens’ unacceptability of the practice in the study area.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Tallberg ◽  
Karin Bäckstrand ◽  
Jan Aart Scholte
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Comprehensive Treatment ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
The Core ◽  
Governance Institutions

Legitimacy is central for the capacity of global governance institutions to address problems such as climate change, trade protectionism, and human rights abuses. However, despite legitimacy’s importance for global governance, its workings remain poorly understood. That is the core concern of this volume, which engages with the overarching question: whether, why, how, and with what consequences global governance institutions gain, sustain, and lose legitimacy. This introductory chapter explains the rationale of the book, introduces its conceptual framework, reviews existing literature, and presents the key themes of the volume. It emphasizes in particular the volume’s sociological approach to legitimacy in global governance, its comparative scope, and its comprehensive treatment of the topic. Moreover, a specific effort is made to explain how each chapter moves beyond existing research in exploring the book’s three themes: (1) sources of legitimacy, (2) processes of legitimation and delegitimation, and (3) consequences of legitimacy.

scholarly journals Effects of Climate Change on Grassland Biodiversity and Productivity

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1047
Author(s):  
Gianni Bellocchi ◽  
Catherine Picon-Cochard
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Low Input ◽  
The Core ◽  
Fodder Production ◽  
Grassland Biodiversity ◽  
High Diversity

Associated with livestock farming, grasslands with a high diversity of plant species are at the core of low-input fodder production worldwide [...]

scholarly journals Promoting Renewable Energy to Cope with Climate Change—Policy Discourse in Israel

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3170
Author(s):  
Avri Eitan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Climate Change Mitigation ◽  
Renewable Energies ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Policy Discourse ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Change Mitigation

Evidence shows that global climate change is increasing over time, and requires the adoption of a variety of coping methods. As an alternative for conventional electricity systems, renewable energies are considered to be an important policy tool for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore, they play an important role in climate change mitigation strategies. Renewable energies, however, may also play a crucial role in climate change adaptation strategies because they can reduce the vulnerability of energy systems to extreme events. The paper examines whether policy-makers in Israel tend to focus on mitigation strategies or on adaptation strategies in renewable energy policy discourse. The results indicate that despite Israel’s minor impact on global greenhouse gas emissions, policy-makers focus more on promoting renewable energies as a climate change mitigation strategy rather than an adaptation strategy. These findings shed light on the important role of international influence—which tends to emphasize mitigation over adaptation—in motivating the domestic policy discourse on renewable energy as a coping method with climate change.

Leaving Agent-Relative Value Behind

Utilitas ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Christa M. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Left Behind ◽  
The Core ◽  
Relative Value ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Commonsense Morality

Abstract Commonsense morality seems to feature both agent-neutral and agent-relative elements. For a long time, the core debate between consequentialists and deontologists was which of these features should take centerstage. With the introduction of the consequentializing project and agent-relative value, however, agent-neutrality has been left behind. While I likewise favor an agent-relative view, agent-neutral views capture important features of commonsense morality. This article investigates whether an agent-relative view can maintain what is attractive about typical agent-neutral views. In particular, I argue that the agent-relative reasons-wielding deontologist is ultimately able to capture those features ordinarily associated with agent-neutral views, while the agent-relative value wielding consequentialist is left with a dilemma. The consequentializer either succumbs to the concerns of her agent-neutral opponents or else abandons the distinctive and attractive features of her view. Either way, I conclude that agent-relative value is best left behind.

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