Debates about vaccines and climate change on social media networks: a study in contrasts

Vaccines and climate change have much in common. In both cases, a scientific consensus contrasts with a divided public opinion. They also exemplify coupled human–environment systems involving common pool resources. Here we used machine learning algorithms to analyze the sentiment of 87 million tweets on climate change and vaccines in order to characterize Twitter user sentiment and the structure of user and community networks. We found that the vaccine conversation was characterized by much less interaction between individuals with differing sentiment toward vaccines. Community-level interactions followed this pattern, showing less interaction between communities of opposite sentiment toward vaccines. Additionally, vaccine community networks were more fragmented and exhibited numerous isolated communities of neutral sentiment. Finally, pro-vaccine individuals overwhelmingly believed in anthropogenic climate change, but the converse was not true. We propose mechanisms that might explain these results, pertaining to how the spatial scale of an environment system can structure human populations.

Rural Uncommoning

Shared use of small-scale natural commons is vital to the livelihoods of billions of rural inhabitants, particularly women, and advocates propose that local telecommunications systems that are oriented by the commons can close rural connectivity gaps. This article extends insights about women's exclusion from such Community Networks (CNs) by considering ‘commoning’, or practices that produce, reproduce and use the commons and create communality. I generated data in interviews and observations of rural CNs in seven countries in the Global South and in multi-sited ethnography of international advocacy for CNs. Male biases in technoculture and rural governance limit women's participation in CNs, and women adopt different approaches to performing their communal identity while using technology. This situation contributes to detaching CNs from relations that are produced in women's commoning. It also illustrates processes that co-opt the commons in rural technology endeavours and the diverse ways commoners express their subjectivities in response.

The 7-strategy method to initiate the formation of community networks for sustainable plastic marine pollution management in remote islands; case study of Baolang Village, Alor Regency – Indonesia

Plastic marine pollution has become a global concern. It brings negative impacts not only on coastal areas but also on remote islands where the production of plastic waste is measly, including in Baolang Village located in Pantar Island, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. An essential effort to address the problem is initiating the formation of community networks for sustainable plastic marine pollution management in remote islands. In the case of Baolang Village, the community networks were initiated by implementing the 7-strategy method, developed by the research team. The study aimed to determine the effectiveness of the 7-strategy method to initiate the establishment of community networks for sustainable plastic marine pollution management in Baolang Village. The 7-strategy method had been exercised against 8 effectiveness parameters. All parameters have reached the expected targets; even some parameters have exceeded the targets. In conclusion, the 7-strategy method can effectively initiate the establishment of community networks for sustainable marine plastic pollution management in the case of Baolang Village. Moreover, an additional essential benefit of the 7-strategy method is that it can strengthen cooperation among various stakeholders in terms of sustainable marine pollution management.