Browsing by Subject "sustainability"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5

Open Access
Evidence-Based Causal Chains for Linking Health, Development, and Conservation Actions.
(Bioscience, 2018-03) Qiu, Jiangxiao; Game, Edward T; Tallis, Heather; Olander, Lydia P; Glew, Louise; Kagan, James S; Kalies, Elizabeth L; Michanowicz, Drew; Phelan, Jennifer; Polasky, Stephen; Reed, James; Sills, Erin O; Urban, Dean; Weaver, Sarah Kate
Sustainability challenges for nature and people are complex and interconnected, such that effective solutions require approaches and a common theory of change that bridge disparate disciplines and sectors. Causal chains offer promising approaches to achieving an integrated understanding of how actions affect ecosystems, the goods and services they provide, and ultimately, human well-being. Although causal chains and their variants are common tools across disciplines, their use remains highly inconsistent, limiting their ability to support and create a shared evidence base for joint actions. In this article, we present the foundational concepts and guidance of causal chains linking disciplines and sectors that do not often intersect to elucidate the effects of actions on ecosystems and society. We further discuss considerations for establishing and implementing causal chains, including nonlinearity, trade-offs and synergies, heterogeneity, scale, and confounding factors. Finally, we highlight the science, practice, and policy implications of causal chains to address real-world linked human-nature challenges.
Open Access
Is Green the New Red?: The Role of Religion in Creating a Sustainable China
(Nature and Culture, 2013-01-01) Miller, James
The Chinese Daoist Association has embarked upon an ambitious agenda to promote Daoism as China's "green religion". This new construction of a "green Daoism" differs, however, from both traditional Chinese and modern Western interpretations of the affinity between Daoism and nature. In promoting Daoism as a green religion, the Chinese Daoist Association is not aiming to restore some mythical utopia of humans living in harmony with nature, but instead to support a nationalist agenda of patriotism and scientific development. At the same time, as I shall argue, this agenda may deliver positive benefits in the form of protecting the local environments around important sacred sites that are located in areas of outstanding natural beauty.
Open Access
Marine resource management and conservation in the Anthropocene
(Environmental Conservation, 2018-06-01) ASWANI, SHANKAR; BASURTO, XAVIER; FERSE, SEBASTIAN; GLASER, MARION; CAMPBELL, LISA; CINNER, JOSHUAE; DALTON, TRACEY; JENKINS, LEKELIAD; MILLER, MARCL; POLLNAC, RICHARD; VACCARO, ISMAEL; CHRISTIE, PATRICK
© 2017 Foundation for Environmental Conservation. Because the Anthropocene by definition is an epoch during which environmental change is largely anthropogenic and driven by social, economic, psychological and political forces, environmental social scientists can effectively analyse human behaviour and knowledge systems in this context. In this subject review, we summarize key ways in which the environmental social sciences can better inform fisheries management policy and practice and marine conservation in the Anthropocene. We argue that environmental social scientists are particularly well positioned to synergize research to fill the gaps between: (1) local behaviours/needs/worldviews and marine resource management and biological conservation concerns; and (2) large-scale drivers of planetary environmental change (globalization, affluence, technological change, etc.) and local cognitive, socioeconomic, cultural and historical processes that shape human behaviour in the marine environment. To illustrate this, we synthesize the roles of various environmental social science disciplines in better understanding the interaction between humans and tropical marine ecosystems in developing nations where issues arising from human-coastal interactions are particularly pronounced. We focus on: (1) the application of the environmental social sciences in marine resource management and conservation; (2) the development of 'new' socially equitable marine conservation; (3) repopulating the seascape; (4) incorporating multi-scale dynamics of marine social-ecological systems; and (5) envisioning the future of marine resource management and conservation for producing policies and projects for comprehensive and successful resource management and conservation in the Anthropocene.
Open Access
Sustainability and Social Justice: Urban Urgencies in Compact Neighborhood Planning
(2017-05-05) Rouse, Chandra
Social justice and sustainability are two concepts that have evolved in the past two decades to create challenging directions for the field of urban planning. While planners describe sustainability as including environmental, economic and social concerns in theory, numerous studies cite that social justice often gets undercut in practice and that sustainability is implemented to address environmental concerns. This research focuses on sustainability and social justice in order to understand how compact land use planning can advance both. The intent of this research is to explore the relationship between sustainability and social justice and how to advance social justice through compact land use planning. This thesis examines whether or not sustainability includes social justice and how sustainability interacts with social justice in addition to identifying obstacles to advancing social justice through compact land use planning. The recommendations presented will contribute to efforts to identify opportunities that planners can use to advance a sustainability strategy that is inclusive of social justice and complements social justice goals.
Open Access
Sustainable Product Indexing: Navigating the Challenge of Ecolabeling
(ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY, 2010) Golden, JS; Dooley, KJ; Anderies, JM; Thompson, BH; Gereffi, G; Pratson, L