Journals at the University of Arizona
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Framework for Comparing Ecosystem Impacts of Developing Unconventional Energy Resources on Western US Rangelands
No full textMore diverse sources of energy are needed for countries to progress toward energy independence and to meet future food production needs. The US Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuels concluded that to achieve this objective it is essential to develop a domestic unconventional fuels industry. Rangelands, which cover 50% to 70% of the earth’s terrestrial surface and dominate much of the western half of the United States, represent a major source of alternative energy resources. A framework to systematically identify biophysical-socioeconomic links that influence the delivery of ecosystem services affected byalternative uses of rangelands has been lacking. The Integrated Social, Economic, and Ecological Conceptual framework was developed by the Sustainable Rangeland Roundtable to address this deficiency. We apply this framework to demonstrate how the effect on ecosystem services of exploiting rangeland-based biofuel, natural gas, and wind energy resources can be systematically compared. We also demonstrate the use of this framework for selecting suitable indicators to monitor changes in the biophysical-socioeconomic links affected by the development of these unconventional energy sources. This type of approach can potentially enhance coordination between federal, state, and local agencies that are attempting to set polices and regulations for the sustainable development of unconventional energy resources on rangelands
Word-to-meaning connection: a comparison between auditory and visual modalities in the first and second language
No full textThe present study examined the link between words and their semantic representations in two modalities, namely, the visual modality vs. the auditory modality. It compared the reaction times (RTs) of native vs. advanced-level non- native speakers of English on a word-picture matching task. The goal was to examine in which of the two modalities an L2 word can more quickly activate the target semantic representation. The participants were presented with one word at a time, each followed by either a matching or mismatched image. The task consisted in using a key on the keyboard to respond as quickly as possible to indicate whether or not the presented image matched the previously presented image. Word stimuli were presented either in auditory format (using a headset) or visually (a string of letters on the screen). The time taken from the word recognition phase to the matching image represents the time that it takes the perceptual system to activate the sematic representation of a given word. The results show that the link between an L1 word and its semantic representation is not significantly different in these two modalities. However, there is a statistically significant difference between the two modalities when a word is presented in the L2 (RT after the auditory modality was slower). The observed result might be due to the difficulty in matching an auditory-presented L2 word to its L2 phonological representation. This factor would cause a slower activation of the related semantic representation compared to the visually-presented words
Water driven Palestinian agricultural frontiers: the global ramifications of transforming local irrigation
No full textIn agricultural transformations, small scale farmer driven processes interact with globally driven processes. Donor-led or foreign investor-led irrigation development systematically interacts with local, farmer-led irrigation development. This article harnesses Kopytoff's concept of 'interstitial frontier' to study such interactions. It discusses the shape an agricultural frontier may have and its interactions with local forms of water and land tenure. It discusses the manner in which changing access to water may spur the development of agricultural pioneer fronts. It distinguishes surface water driven, groundwater driven and wastewater driven agricultural frontiers. It then explores the manner such frontiers are transforming water tenure in the West Bank. This is an important aspect of the globalization of Palestinian society. The method this article develops is applicable elsewhere. Within interstitial frontiers, investors, whether local farmers or outsiders, enroll a globally maintained scientific discourse of efficient water use to secure donor funding. Meanwhile, they try developing clientelist ties with the authorities to secure their new access to water. The impacts on neighbouring, peasant-run irrigated systems, food security, housing security and many other mechanisms that sustain a society, are important and too often neglected
The tangled politics of conservation and resource extraction in Mozambique's green economy
No full textThis article explores how Mozambique's green economy has been produced through the intersection of global ideas about green development, regional economic development dynamics, and local debates and political pressures around extraction and conservation. Mozambique's green economy aims to compress many of its current challenges into a seemingly attractive and compelling agenda. The green economy discourse has produced a new relationship between the conservation and extractives sector, characterized by 'green' financing and offsetting measures intended to handle (at least on paper) the contradictions between extractives-led growth and sustainable development. However, the green economy vision has also provided specific actors with ways to contest extraction. The article provides a lens onto the production of green economy policies and institutions in Mozambique, the way the policy combines neoliberal and non-neoliberal political ideas, and how green economy ideas are played out in the situated politics of debates over conservation and extraction. I consider how 'the' green economy is reworked through tracing a particular case – the recent debates over whether a large coal port should be built in the Ponta do Ouro Marine Reserve. This foregrounds the multiple and often ambiguous uses of green economy discourses to pursue different, and sometimes contradictory agendas. The article contributes new empirical information on the roll-out of green economies in a developing country context, while also seeking to expand current political ecology literature on neoliberalism and green economies more generally.Key words: Mozambique, green economy, neoliberal nature, extractives, conservation, assemblag
(En)gendering exposure: pregnant farmworkers and the inadequacy of pesticide notification
No full textIn 2015, the EPA (USA) announced its intention to strengthen farmworker protections against pesticide exposure to include information on the hazards of pesticide exposure during pregnancy and how to reduce take-home exposure. While the new Worker Protection Standard is a laudable and long-overdue effort to enhance farmworker safety, we argue that an informational approach is inadequate, particularly for the women farmworkers who are the focus of the expanded training content. It is particularly deficient given new epigenetic knowledge that suggests a greatly expanded temporal and spatial horizon between pesticide exposure and effect. At the same time it puts an additional moral burden on women farmworkers who are made responsible for protecting future populations. The article draws in part on 55 interviews we conducted with farmworkers as part of a larger project on fumigation use in California's strawberry industry. Analysis of these interviews sheds light on the practical fallacies of an information-oriented regulatory program when most farm workers feel that not working is the bigger risk. We found that farmworker men and women already recognized the potential dangers of pesticide exposure without additional notification, yet farmworker women felt even more limited in their ability to protect themselves from exposure at the workplace. Farmworkers who worked during their pregnancies felt particularly at risk. Since these enhanced protections do not address the socio-cultural and eco-biological obstacles farmworker women face in protecting themselves and their future progeny from pesticide exposure, we suggest that they are primarily performative. Keywords: Pesticide exposure, pesticide regulation, political ecology of the body, epigenetics, gender, responsibilizatio
Farming as a performance: a conceptual and methodological contribution to the ecology of practices
No full textIn two widely cited articles, the first of which was published almost 30 years ago, the anthropologist Paul Richards described the situated practices of small-scale farmers as a type of performance, akin to a musical or theatrical performance (1989, 1993). This definition, applied specifically to small-scale and subsistence agriculture, has a powerful appeal for good reasons. This article examines performance as a conceptual framework and tool for studying small-scale farming practice and technological change. Taking the comparison with musical or theatrical endeavour seriously, the article explores the dynamics of performance by individuals and groups; considers alternative ways of conceiving the 'stage' and the 'audience'; and examines the nature of the performers' skills and competence, through an elaboration of key concepts such as practice, rehearsal, repertoire and improvisation. The article also discusses the important implications of a performance being situated in a particular time and place, shaped by its surrounding socio-cultural and ecological context and conditioned by uncertainty. The article proposes that ethnographic or technographic methods are appropriate for studying performance, and considers the ethical responsibilities of the researcher when intervening in a performance from its outside. The argument is framed as a contribution to political ecology, especially an ecology of practices.Key words: Performance, farming, practice, skill, technograph
CONGENITAL PULMONARY LYMPHANGIECTASIA AND CHYLOTHORAX – A CASE SERIES
No full textCongenital pulmonary lymphangiectasia (CPL) and chylothorax (CC) are rare lymphatic developmental disorders. We report six clinical cases of CPL and CC that were admitted to our level III neonatal intensive care unit over the last 20 years. One case of unilateral CC was successfully treated with pleuro-amniotic shunt; three cases of bilateral CC were associated to lung hypoplasia, hydrops fetalis, and generalized lymphangiectasias; one case of CPL was associated with obstructive congenital heart defect; one case of unilateral CC was successfully treated with thoracocentesis and medium-chain triglyceride diet. Mortality was high (66.6%)