Journals at the University of Arizona
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Engaging truthiness and obfuscation in a political ecology analysis of a protest against the Pengzhou Petroleum Refinery
No full textThis article draws from an empirical case study of the use of truthiness and obfuscation during an environmental protest in China, to help highlight the complex issues that political ecology faces in the Post-Truth Era. By drawing on empirical data from social media and local interviews, this article documents rising social tensions associated with air pollution and the recent construction of a petroleum refinery outside of Chengdu. The article notes how historical precedent and the obfuscating of environmental information by government officials provided the conditions that led to residents presenting a selection of facts or even false information to support truth-claims that in turn supported their protest against the refinery. While this tactic of using truthiness to support an environmental protest may have sent the relevant information viral across the internet, the article also documents how the Chinese state in the end was able to de-legitimize the protestors by labeling their behavior as "anti-science." The article draws on this case study to encourage political ecologists to critically evaluate and contextualize the limits of utilizing alternative facts to challenge authoritarian control over the environment.Key words: Post-Truth, environmental protest, social media, China, environmentality, necropolitic
Toilet power: potable water reuse and the situated meaning of sustainability in the southwestern United States
No full textProposals to recycle urban wastewater for potable purposes are at the forefront of water development. In this article I combine political ecology's attention to networked relations with Q methodology to identify the shared positions of select stakeholders in the southwestern United States, an urbanizing region increasingly reliant on potable water reuse. I employ critical Q methodology to provide a contextual understanding of how water and sanitation technology shapes subjects and environments. The analyses reveal two distinct sanitary subjectivities, which I label neosanitarian and ecosanitarian, whose views most sharply diverge regarding the appropriateness of direct potable reuse and composting toilets. The findings highlight the situated meaning of sustainability and also underscore the role that wastewater and water reuse play in shaping ecologies, which in turn, helps to identify the environments of elimination that make specific innovations in the water sector possible. In conclusion, I suggest that in the broader context of potable water reuse, the toilet is in a perniciously powerful position to make city-spaces and shape the future citizenry.Keywords: infrastructure, urban metabolism, Q methodology, water recycling, composting toile
LOWER LIMB DOMINANCE AND VOLUME IN HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS
No full textUpper limb dominance is associated with increased limb volume, however there is a paucity of evidence if this is true for the lower limbs. This study investigated if there is a normative volume difference between the dominant and nondominant leg. Healthy volunteers between the ages of 18-40 years were recruited. Exclusion criteria included previous lower limb surgery, BMI 30, or pregnancy. An experienced lymphedema nurse specialist measured the circumference of each limb at 4 cm intervals from the malleolus to the groin. Measurements were used to calculate volume of each limb in milliliters. 100 (52 male, 48 female) participants met our inclusion criteria. 86% were right leg dominant and 14% left leg dominant. 93% demonstrated an average increased volume of 349 ml (4.5%) in the dominant leg which is statistically significant (p0.001). Age, sports, and gender did not affect lower limb volumes. This is the first study to show a normative variance in leg volume in healthy individuals, with a greater volume in the dominant leg. This should be taken into consideration when managing and measuring outcomes for patients with conditions resulting in enlarged lower limbs
DIRECT TRANS-CERVICAL ENDOLYMPHATIC THORACIC DUCT STENT-GRAFT FOR PLASTIC BRONCHITIS
No full textPlastic bronchitis is a poorly understood and uncommon diagnosis, arising from multiple etiologies. Traditional treatment consists of steroids and vasodilators, with thoracic duct embolization emerging as a new procedural therapy. Herein, abnormal lymphatic vessels were noted on lymphangiography in an adult patient with debilitating plastic bronchitis, but anterograde lymphatic access was not feasible due to the patient’s morbid obesity and non-visualization of retroperitoneal lymphatics. After trans-venous thoracic duct access could not be established, direct trans-cervical thoracic duct access was performed. A thoracic duct stent-graft was placed, excluding the abnormal bronchial lymphatics and maintaining physiologic anterograde flow through the central lymphatics. At three-month follow-up, the patient’s condition had resolved
Water, Housing, and Transportation in Mexico City during the Second Half of the Twentieth Century
No full textThe following paper looks at the urban history of Mexico City in the second half of the twentieth century. By examining water use, land use, and the public transportation network during this period, we can see that the governemnt of Mexico City was extremely unprepared for the massive populaiton growth and subsequent infrastructure strain. This period of Mexico City history has seen an increase in reacitons to a problem instead of proactive prevention, and while Mexico City continues to be seen as a beacon of modernity in Latin America, the unprepardenss of the government might result in the obsolete goal of a developed Mexico
Theater, Memory, and the HIV Crisis of the 1990s: An Analysis of the Musical RENT
No full textThis paper discusses the memorialization of people with HIV/AIDS during the 1990s through analysis of Jonathan Larson’s 1997 Broadway show RENT. The paper underscores the ways in which memory and memorialization occurred in the events surrounding the creation of RENT, and is supplemented by musical and primary source analysis of the script and libretto. Other primary sources consulted include individual performances, anniversaries, tours, and interviews with cast, crew, and friends of the playwright. The role of Larson, the deceased playwright of RENT, is examined through the lens of memory studies. Applying Alison Landsberg’s concept of prosthetic memory to live performance art aided in addressing the role of prosthetic memory internal and external to RENT. The paper also calls attention to historiographical debates in the field of theater history
The Pinaleño Mountains in the Twentieth Century
No full textThe three main groups active in the Pinaleño Mountains in the twentieth century were recreational visitors, ecological scientists, and government managers. Of these three, tourist interests had the greatest role in shaping the development of the mountains: they compromised the majority of people in the mountains and motivated major government funded infrastructure projects. It was not until the last two decades of the twentieth century that the government exercised any major authority not directly aimed at increasing recreational access. Similarly, ecologists were intermittently present on the mountain throughout the century but did little to change how the mountain was managed. In contrast, tourists drove innovations on the mountain such as campsite creation, road building and media attention as well as destruction such as extinctions, pollution, and habitat degradation
Chemical Control of Sand Sagebrush: Implications for Lesser Prairie-Chicken Habitat
No full textTraditional management of sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia) rangelands has emphasized sagebrush control to increase forage for livestock. Since the 1950s shrub removal has been primarily achieved with herbicides. Concerns over declining lesser prairiechicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus; LPC) populations have led to increased scrutiny over the use of herbicides to control shrubs. The objective of our research was to describe changes to LPC habitat qualities following chemical control of sand sagebrush in northwest Oklahoma. Study pastures ranged in size from 10 to 21 ha. Five pastures were sprayed with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) in 2003 (RECENT), five were sprayed with 2,4-D in 1984 (OLD), and four received no treatment (SAGE). We measured habitat structure (sagebrush cover, sagebrush density, visual obstruction [VO], and basal grass cover), and dietary resources (forb density, forb richness, and grasshopper density) in all pastures from 2003 to 2006. OLD and RECENT pastures had less sagebrush (cover and density) and VO than SAGE pastures. OLD pastures produced more annualforbs than either SAGE or RECENT pastures. SAGE pastures had more perennial forbs than RECENT pastures. Herbicide application reduced protective cover while providing no increase in forb abundance in RECENT pastures. Our results indicatedthat it may take several years to realize increases in annual forbs following application of 2,4-D. However, loss of protective cover may persist for multiple years (20þ yr), and removal of sagebrush did not increase forb richness or grasshopper abundance. Thus, 2,4-D may have limited use as a habitat management tool because it takes numerous years to reap the benefit of increased forb abundance while reducing habitat structure in the long term