scholarly journals DATA RESISTANCE: A SOCIAL MOVEMENT ORGANIZATIONAL AUTOETHNOGRAPHY OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA AND GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE*

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lourdes A. Vera ◽  
Lindsey Dillon ◽  
Sara Wylie ◽  
Jennifer Liss Ohayon ◽  
Aaron Lemelin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Government Accountability ◽  
Trump Administration

The dismantlement of evidence-based environmental governance by the Trump administration requires new forms of activism that uphold science and environmental regulatory agencies while critiquing the politics of knowledge production. The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI) emerged after the November 2016 U.S. presidential elections, becoming an organization of over 175 volunteer researchers, technologists, archivists, and activists innovating more just forms of government accountability and environmental regulation. Our successes include: (1) leading a public movement to archive vulnerable federal data evidencing climate change and environmental injustice; (2) conducting multisited interviews of current and former federal agency personnel regarding the transition into the Trump administration; (3) tracking changes to federal websites. In this article, we conduct a “social movement organizational autoethnography” on the field of movements intersecting within EDGI and on our theory, tactics, and practices. We offer ideas for expanding and iterating on methods of public, collaborative scholarship and advocacy.

scholarly journals Public interest in Cannabis during election season: a Google Trends analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Torgerson ◽  
Will Roberts ◽  
Drew Lester ◽  
Jam Khojasteh ◽  
Matt Vassar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Google Trends ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Internet Search ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us

Abstract Introduction Given that 72% of internet users seek out health information using an internet search engine (Google being the most popular); we sought to investigate the public internet search interest in cannabis as a health topic when cannabis legislation appeared on state ballots and during presidential elections. Materials and methods We searched Google Trends for “cannabis” as a health topic. Google Trends data were extracted during the time period of May 1, 2008 to May 1, 2019 for the United States (US) and select states (18) within the US including: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Washington when cannabis was on the ballot. These state elections were referenda, not legislative votes. We then compared the internet search interest for cannabis before and after each election. To evaluate whether any associations with changes in the volume of cannabis internet searches were specific to the cannabis topic, or also occurred with other topics of general interest during an election year, the authors ran additional analyses of previously popular debated policies during Presidential Elections that may act as control topics. These policies included Education, Gun Control, Climate Change, Global Warming, and Abortion. We used the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) algorithm to forecast expected relative internet search interests for the 2012 and 2016 Presidential Elections. Individual variables were compared using a linear regression analysis for the beta coefficients performed in Stata Version 15.1 (StataCorp). Results Public internet search interest for “cannabis” increased during the voting month above the previous mean internet search interest for all 18 bills. For the US, observed internet search interest during each Presidential Election was 26.9% [95% CI, 18.4–35.4%] greater than expected in 2012 and 29.8% [95% CI, 20.8–38.8%] greater than expected in 2016. In 2016, significant state-level findings included an increase in relative internet search rates for cannabis in states with higher usage rates of cannabis in the past month (Coeff (95% CI), 3.4 (2.8–4.0)) and past month illicit drug use except cannabis rates (Coeff (95% CI), 17.4 (9.8–25.0)). Relative internet search rates for cannabis from 2008 to 2019 were also associated with increased cannabis usage in the past month (Coeff (95% CI), 3.1 (2.5–3.7)). States with higher access to legal cannabis were associated with higher relative internet search volumes for cannabis (Coeff (95% CI), 0.31 (0.15–0.46)). Of the five additional policies that were searched as topics, only two showed an increase in internet search interest during each Presidential Election. Climate Change increased by 3.5% [95% CI, − 13-20%] in 2012 and 20.1% [95% CI, 0–40%] in 2016 while Global Warming increased by 1.1% [95% CI, − 19-21%] in 2012 and 4.6% [95% CI, − 6-15%] in 2016. Conclusion Based on these results, we expect public interest in cannabis will spike prior to the Presidential election in 2020. Of the five selected control policies, only two showed an increase in internet search interest during both Presidential Elections and neither exceeded the internet search increase of cannabis. These results may indicate the growing awareness of cannabis in the US and mark a possible target for the timely dissemination of evidence-based information regarding cannabis and its usage/side-effects during future elections. Consequently, the results of this study may be important to physicians since they will likely receive an increased volume of questions relating to cannabis and its therapeutic uses during election season from interested patients. We recommend establishing a cannabis repository of evidence-based information, providing physician education, and a dosing guide be created to enable physicians to provide high quality care around the issue of cannabis.

scholarly journals The risk reduction effect of sediment production rate by understory coverage rate in granite area mountain forest

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiaki Mizuno ◽  
Nagahiro Kojima ◽  
Satoshi Asano
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Risk Reduction ◽  
Production Rate ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Coverage Rate ◽  
Sustainable Land Use ◽  
Mountain Forest ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Sediment Production ◽  
Reduction Effect

AbstractEcosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) is an important concept to the adaption of climate change for a sustainable life. In Japan, it is anticipated that damages caused by sediment production will be increased as the intensity and amount of rainfall are increased by climate change. Thus, we need to know the Eco-DRR effect of the forest for planning sustainable land use by evidence-based data. In this study, we focused on the relationship between sediment production rate and the understory coverage rate of a low mountain forest in the granite area. From the results of the field survey and statistical meta-analysis, the sediment production rate was reduced by 97% in granite area mountain forest when the understory coverage rate was 60% or more compared to when less than 30% by evidence-based data. Accordingly, we found that it will be necessary to keep forests with an understory coverage rate of 60% or more when considering the risk-reducing effect of sediment disaster in granite area mountain forests for the adaption of climate change.

Financial battle against climate change – assessing effectiveness using a scorecard

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Candauda Arachchige Saliya ◽  
Suesh Kumar Pandey
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Financial Risk ◽  
Financial System ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Banking Regulations ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how and to what extent the Fijian sustainable banking regulations or guidelines are designed, communicated, implemented and monitored within the financial system in Fiji. A scorecard is introduced for this purpose to assess the effectiveness of Fiji’s financial battle against climate change (FBACC). Design/methodology/approach This study uses a mixed-method methodology. Data were collected mainly from a survey and supplemented by interviews, observations and documents. The scorecard was developed by building on existing two theoretical frameworks, namely, the Sustainable Banking Assessment and Climate Change Governance Index, to make them more appropriate and practically applicable to less developed financial systems in emerging economies such as Fiji. This FBACC scorecard consists of four perspectives, eight critical factors and 24 criteria. Findings The results show that the overall FBACC score averages 40.75%, and all the perspectives scored below 50%, the benchmark. Only the CF “policy” scored 54.25% because of a high positive response of 82.3% for the “political leadership” criterion. The relative contributions of each perspective in constructing the overall score are distributed as 28%, 25%, 24% and 23% among planning, action, accountability and control, respectively. Research limitations/implications These results were complemented by the information shared during the interviews and confirmed that the existing political initiatives need to be effectively communicated and/or implemented in the financial system by the regulatory agencies. Practical implications This FBACC scorecard can be applied to other underdeveloped systems in emerging countries to assess the effectiveness of the sustainable banking regulations and/or guidelines in those countries in relation to the FBACC. It can also be applied to individual firms to assess their contribution to the FBACC. Originality/value To the authors’ best knowledge, this might be the first study in Fiji that considers the impact of climate-related financial risk on the Fijian financial system.

A review of intervention methods used to reduce flying-fox mortalities in heat stress events

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Matthew Mo ◽  
Mike Roache
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Heat Stress ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Evaporative Heat Loss ◽  
Temperature And Humidity ◽  
Intervention Trials ◽  
Individual Scale ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Flying Fox

Heat stress events in Australian flying-fox camps have resulted in significant numbers of flying-fox deaths. The frequency and intensity of such events have increased in recent decades, attributed to anthropogenic climate change. Evidence-based interventions are required to address this growing threat. Responders currently use different combinations of a range of intervention methods. We undertook a systematic review of heat stress interventions, which we classified as either ‘camp-scale’ or ‘individual-scale’. Camp-scale interventions included manual and automated misting of roost vegetation, whereas individual-scale interventions included spraying individual animals or removing them for intensive cooling and rehydration procedures. Our study showed that to date, evaluation of the efficacy of heat stress interventions has been largely anecdotal rather than empirical. This highlights the need for dedicated rigorous studies to evaluate the effectiveness of all the intervention methods described here. It will be especially important to understand the relationship between camp temperature and humidity levels and their influence on flying-foxes’ ability to regulate their body temperature, because high relative humidity reduces the ability of mammals to cool themselves using evaporative heat loss. The development of biophysiological measures such as temperature and humidity indices for different flying-fox species would enable meaningful interpretations of intervention trials under controlled conditions.

scholarly journals ECONOMIC GROWTH, URBANISATION AND CARBON EMISSIONS: EVIDENCE FROM SELECTED ASEAN COUNTRIES

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 9-16
Author(s):  
Seng-Huat Tan ◽  
Meenchee Hong
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Economic Growth ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Urban Population ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Pollution Problem ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Asean Countries ◽  
The Government

Climate change is considered as the most severe and urgent environmental issue in this present era. There is a clear consensus that the climate change problem is much related to the rising level of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. The link between economic growth, urbanization and carbon emissions was examined extensively in the literature. Fast-paced economic growth will advance urbanization in a country and result in higher energy consumption to meet various needs in an urban economy. This conditions will trigger more carbon emissions and generate more pollution problem. This paper aims to discuss and compare the growth pattern of economic growth, urbanization and carbon emissions between five selected ASEAN countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam for the period 1990-2018. All these five countries have recorded at least 4% economic growth rate in the year 2018. In the same period, Indonesia has the largest in term of total value added in manufacturing. Similarly, Vietnam has the largest growth of value-added in the same industry. Among all, Indonesia has the largest urban population whilst Malaysia has the highest rate in urbanization and carbon emissions per capita. The upward trend of urban population and carbon emissions per capita in these countries exhibit certain pressures and challenges to the countries’ environmental quality. Therefore, the government in these countries should pay attention to environmental governance to achieve sustainable urbanization while prioritizing economic growth

scholarly journals THE CONSTRUCTION OF ALTERNATIVE FACTS: DARK PARTICIPATION AND KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION IN THE QANON CONSPIRACY

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Clyde Partin ◽  
Alice Emily Marwick
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Social Web ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Symmetry Principle ◽  
The Social ◽  
Alternative Facts ◽  
Current Events ◽  
Tools And Techniques ◽  
Trump Administration

QAnon is a right-wing conspiracy theory based on a series of posts (“Drops”) made to the imageboard 8chan by “Q”, an anonymous poster who claims to be a Trump administration insider and encourages their followers (“Bakers”) to conduct research to interpret and find hidden truths (“Bread”) behind current events. In this paper, we argue that QAnon Bakers adopt a “scientistic self” by producing and maintaining specific facts and theories that enable the conspiracy’s social and political cohesion over time. Rather than dismissing Q researchers’ conclusions out of hand, we adopt science studies’ symmetry principle to consider the tools and techniques of Baking. We argue that the institutional character of Baking distinguishes QAnon from other online conspiracy communities, which primarily rely on anecdotal evidence or sow doubt in scientific consensuses. Q, by contrast, research is intended to produce certainty through the systematic construction of alternative facts. In making this argument, we share and build upon other scholars’ critiques of participatory media. Indeed, we conclude that it is precisely the participatory affordances of the social web that have made QAnon so potent.

scholarly journals Public Distrust and Environmental Citizenship: Primary Impetuses of Radical Protest in Bima District, 2011-2012

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 187
Author(s):  
Rahmad Hidayat
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Social Protest ◽  
The Public ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Environmental Citizenship ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government

This article aims to show how the social movement was conducted in the framework of claiming a number of aspects of citizenship, especially environmental rights and political participation, to the local government. The refusal of FRAT Bima over the extractive policy of the Government of Bima District during 2011-2012 becomes a reflective context of the type of social movement with such a framework. This social protest should be explored further because it used acts of vandalism on some public facilities as the chosen way to fight against the environmental and political injustices. Through a case study, the author aims to explore the sequence of repertoires which were applied sequentially by FRAT Bima’s social protest as well as to examine its linkage with environmental citizenship and public distrust. Despite being closely related to citizens' awareness about environmental citizenship, the occurrence of this anarchist movement was also triggered by the low level of "formal legitimacy" of the local government as a seed of public distrust towards the intentions of environmental governance policy that was about to be applied to make the agricultural land owned by villagers as the site of a certain project of mineral extraction. The lack of the government’s formal legitimacy, which was supported by the growing awareness of environmental citizenship, has led the sequential application of conventional and non-conventional strategies in the demands articulation of FRAT Bima. This sequence of repertoires was held due to the low-level of government's responsiveness in accommodating the public claims about the cancellation of an undemocratic environmental policy.

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