University of Northern British Columbia: Open Journal Systems
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"Biosthetics" in Robert Francis's Traveling in Concord
Get PDFThis article examines the presence and action of a unique multi-moded, environmentally-tuned participatory art form, or "biosthetics," in Robert Francis's tragically unpublished book, Traveling in Concord. The article seeks to introduce readers to Francis and argues that, given current concerns over economic and environmental devastation, his book (a product of post-WWII industrial "progress") should be published and read in the twenty-first century. A marginal but prophetic twentieth-century American author, Francis lived at or below the poverty line outside Amherst, Massachusetts, from 1901 to 1987
The Role of Climate Change Policy Work in Canada
Get PDFAn ongoing concern with many Canada’s governments
is avoiding climate change related policy failure,
including that associated with climate change. In response,
there has been a spate of government-led climate change
vulnerability and risk assessments, studies, and strategies.
With a growing attention on developing the ‘right’ policies
and program to address climate change needs to be examined
as an important factor in ‘adaptive capacity’. As governments
turn their attention from broad strategizing to
policy-making, we argue that a consideration of the often
overlooked micro-level and seemingly routine government
based capacity—especially the advice needed to formulate
and implement policy changes—is required. A high level of
policy capacity is an important factor in avoiding policy
failures. The questionnaire was delivered through a webbased
survey of 1469 Canadian provincial and territorial
government policy analysts working in nine provinces and
three territorial jurisdictions in the climate change, environmental,
financial, forestry, natural resource, infrastructure,
transportation, and water sectors. A comparison of
mean scores across key indicators of policy work was conducted.
A number of policy implications were raised. First,
those in financial sector do very little climate change policy
work. Second, the fracturing of roles in those departments
responsible for forestry reflects the complexity of the climate
change issue and a developed division of labour. Those who
identified with forestry sector, under performed despite their
concern about climate change, in terms of key policy tasks,
the level of complexity that the issues were addressed and a
low level engagement with stakeholders with those outside
of government. Policy capacity was also undermined with a
view that departments were committed vis a vis their mission
statements but that this commitment was not reflected
in their daily operations
It’s What Happens on the Front Lines of Civic Education Policy that Matters: Reflections on a Natural Experiment on Youth Turnout in Ontario
Get PDFIn the last decade there has developed a new level of coordination among those working in the fields of citizenship education and political participation. The paper puts this link to an empirical test, using a natural experiment of youth turnout in the 2004 and 2006 federal election to investigate what, if any, effect can be found of Ontario’s introduction of a compulsory Grade 10 Civics course in 2000. We find that changing the curriculum in itself does not appear to have the desired results, concluding that, in practice, any lasting effect of civic education upon youth political participation rests on the effectiveness of front-line implementation
Save the Planet on Your Own Time? Ecocriticism and Political Practice
Get PDFIn the paper, I try to consider the function of ecocriticism at the present time using insights taken, or derived, from the work of a loose group of scholars that is sometimes labeled as ‘neopragmatists.’ In particular, I shall be concerned with the points made by Richard Rorty and Stanley Fish to the effect that putting too much hope in the power of one’s academic discipline can be detrimental to the political tasks one wants to realize with its help. As Rorty argues, to effectively address any pressing political problem usually demands directly impacting the powers that be, which, as is safe to assume, is very unlikely to be achieved solely through books and articles in literary criticism. What one needs in such cases, Rorty tirelessly reminds us, is “real politics,” i.e., participating in demonstrations, supporting financially the political organization or party one finds the most hopeful, or writing letters of protest to officials. In order to see how these points apply to ecocriticism, understood as a subdiscipline of literary studies devoted to inquiring into “the relationship between literature and the physical environment,” I will begin by asking how that field can be useful in furthering the ecological cause, and will then turn to an example of an ecoritic’s engagement in “real politics.
Subsystem Structures, Shifting Mandates and Policy Capacity: Assessing Canada’s Ability to Adapt to Climate Change
Get PDFAdapting to climate change requires governments
to design and implement policies capable of dealing with
long-term problems. This poses significant policy design and
implementation challenges since policies must also be multilevel
and multi-sectoral in nature given the cross-sectoral
and international character of climate change issues. Responsive
policy-making on climate change issues thus requires
both sophisticated policy analysis as well as an institutional
structure which allows problems to be dealt with in
a way which corresponds with changing organizational mandates,
resources and network structures. Designing such
policies requires matching policy analytical resources in
relevant government departments and agencies with new
and expanded mandates, a process which is not always necessarily
successful. This introductory article presents the
framework utilized in a collaborative study of climate change
adaptation capacity in four Canadian policy sectors (agriculture,
finance, infrastructure, and transportation) and one US
case (the energy sector in Colorado). The study framework
and subsequent analysis examine policy from a three-level
perspective including (1) the macro nature of the subsystem
involved, (2) the meso level of the organization or leadagency
in charge of the issue and (3) the micro level nature
of policy work being undertaken in each sector
Policy Analytical Capacity Inside and Outside of Government: A Case Study of Colorado Climate and Energy Issues
Get PDFThis paper examines the policy analytical capacity
of government compared to the non-profit and private sectors
and to the research/academic community. Based on
original data from a 2011 questionnaire administered to
policy actors in the context of energy and climate issues in
the state of Colorado, the findings show that government is
not as “hollowed out” as expected. While individuals from
academia and consulting firms may have higher analytical
capacity than government in conducting research, government
is higher across most other measures. Nonetheless,
nearly all respondents agree that government needs higher
levels of policy analytical capacity to address climate and
energy issues
“Keeping Pets and (Not) Eating Animals in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"
Get PDFThis article examines the role of animals, as well as of veganism, in Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, his second novel which deals with the lingering trauma of 9/11. Although Foer took some readers by surprise with his overt interest in animal issues and dietary ethics in his follow up to Extremely Loud – the nonfiction work Eating Animals – this essay demonstrates that some of the issues regarding food and animals that will so preoccupy Foer in Eating Animals are already on display in his earlier fiction. Additionally, this article demonstrates the ways in which Foer is interested in Extremely Loud with how traumatized people use animals both to alleviate feelings of guilt and alienation, and also as chauvinistic reminders of human exceptionalism that only further contribute to their painful feelings of isolation
