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Chicanx Cannabis Relationships: Cultural and Political Histories of Cannabis Resistance
Full text linkThis article focuses on interdisciplinary feminist cannabis research that prioritises the cannabis relationships and spaces in Chicanx/Latinx communities. The interdisciplinary approach I take builds from the fields of ethnic studies, Chicanx feminisms, environmental humanities and critical cannabis studies. I offer a history of cannabis ethnobotany to understand the cultural and medicinal approaches to cannabis from a queer trans Chicanx feminist positionality. Signaling to a Chicanx cannabis history that exposes racial cannabis politics dating back to the early twentieth century in the US, I build from this history to share cannabis futures grounded in Chicanx environmental perspectives. There is a need for cannabis research because human-plant relationships are currently tethered to extraction and profit, as is visible in current cannabis industries
The Case for Folk Valuation of Plant Genetic Resources: Redeeming Nikolay Vavilov’s Multiculturalist Plant Conservation Principles
Full text linkThis work brings together evidence from the historical, ethical and cross-cultural dimensions of Plant Genetic Resource (PGR) conservation to argue for an accounting of diverse folk value – i.e. value central to the cohesion and survival of particular peoples or nations – in the collection and safeguarding of the precise plants that humankind needs to survive well. I argue that, without the original commitment to the simultaneous defence of biological and cultural survival that gave rise to PGR conservation in the menacing Soviet Union, today’s stringently utilitarian valuation of PGR risks further eroding the traditional and Indigenous motivations and traditions that have stewarded PGR into the present and that continue to power plant conservation around the world. By accounting for the breathtaking variation in folk value for plants within collections, PGR maintenance and conservation can construct and safeguard more desirable and more important plant collections than those that currently exist, while bolstering the world’s persistent and diverse cultures of plant conservation. Such an approach is congruent with the deeper scientific truth for which Russian agronomist and botanist Nikolay Vavilov stood and for which he was martyred: that we shall not survive biologically without the cultural diversity that is the fountain head of humanity’s global plant endowment
A Birch Memory Web
Full text linkThis narrative non-fiction essay explores the profound and intricate connections between personal memories and birch trees throughout the author’s life. Set against the backdrop of various significant locations, from the Soviet Union and Ukraine to Finnish Lapland, the narrative intertwines the author’s childhood experiences, family history and adult reflections. Birch trees serve as poignant symbols of continuity and resilience amidst the backdrop of political and personal upheavals. The essay delves into how these trees evoke strong emotions and memories, highlighting their unique role as carriers of individual and collective histories. By examining the interplay between nature and memory, the author offers a deeply personal perspective on the importance of preserving natural environments not just for their ecological value but also for their capacity to hold and evoke human experiences
SI Dams: From 'Socialist Symbol of Friendship' to Failure: The Troubled Trajectory of the Romanian-Bulgarian Joint Hydropower Endeavour (1957–1989): An Envirotechnical Approach
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SI Dams: Interpreting rivers for dams: Rivers, Knowledge Creation, Economisation, and Indian Hydro-Engineers, 1860-1940
No full textThis paper argues that two analogous processes of engineering education in British India as well as the conceptual articulation and propagation of rivers as economic units set up the path to the construction of the large multipurpose dam. This paper focuses on the Multi-Purpose River Valley Development (MPRVD) whose embrace by the colonial engineering vocabulary has been seen as a 'seismic shift' away from a previously established register of ‘perennial irrigation schemes’. Advancing a networked analysis, this paper will unveil the conceptual and incremental build-up that led to the implementation of this as well as other large dam projects. The story of the construction of these dams is deeply intertwined with engineering education, technological exchange, and the rise of macroeconomics. Much of the evolution of this engineering vocabulary hinged on expertise which was very much performative i.e. ‘the production and practice of expertise was a conversation with the materialities’ of the waterbody at hand, ‘which framed’ what engineers ‘knew in the present and how they would imagine environmental futures
The Role of Medicine for the Alleviation of Resource Scarcity: Towards a ‘Consumption and Production Medicine’ Framework
Full text linkDespite technological progress, humanity suffers from (at least) two ills: it operates beyond planetary biophysical limits and continues to face unmet needs. This paper explores the intersection of medicine, economic wellbeing and ecological sustainability in the context of global resource scarcity. A conceptual classification of resource use – reasonable, wasteful, and negative externality-induced – is introduced to better understand the consumption and production forces shaping resource scarcity. Then I explore how medicine focused on prevention and reversal can reduce resource scarcity: by shifting consumption patterns toward healthier and more sustainable lifestyles, it both augments the human and non-human resource base of the economy and reduces demand for resource-intensive and environmentally damaging uses. Thus, it is concluded that Preventive and Reversive Medicine is a powerful (albeit unacknowledged) extant technology that simultaneously reduces resource scarcity and increases well-being and, critically, contributes to the disassociation of human well-being from environmental impact. The (wanted) side-effect of this process is more leeway for the global economy to provide a good life to all within planetary limits. This, I suggest, is essentially the ‘Consumption and Production Medicine’ that humanity needs
