Building Local Resilience to Climate Change Through Citizen Science, Environmental Education and Decision-Making

2018 ◽  
pp. 50-64
Author(s):  
Erin E. Posthumus ◽  
LoriAnne Barnett ◽  
Theresa M. Crimmins ◽  
Jody Einerson ◽  
Esperanza Stancioff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Local Resilience

scholarly journals CITIZEN SCIENCE AS ATOOL FOR INFORMATION SUPPORT OF DECISION-MAKING IN THE RUSSIAN ARCTIC UNDER CONDITIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (3/2020) ◽  
pp. 40-55
Author(s):  
L. A. Riabova ◽  
◽  
E. M. Klyuchnikova ◽  
E. A. Borovichev ◽  
V. A. Masloboev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Information Support ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Russian Arctic ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Murmansk Region

Rapid climate change in the Arctic requires management solutions that are based on timely and reliable factual data. In this context, the urgency ofthe problem of finding effective ways for obtaining such information is increasing. This article aims to substantiate the possibility of using citizen science as a new tool for information support of decision-making with respect to the socio-economic development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation, and as a tool especially necessary when developing strategies for adaptation to climate change. Citizen science is a concept that implies increasing openness of science to society and the conduct of scientific research with the involvement of volunteers. The article provides an overview of the content of the concept of citizen science andthe principles and methods on which it is based.The article describes the results of an interdisciplinary study to identify the perceptions of inhabitants of the Murmansk region on climate change and the presumably associated with it changes in biodiversity in this region of the Russian Arctic. For the first time, based on the methods of citizen science, the data on theperceptions of inhabitants of the Murmansk region on climate and biodiversity changes in the region over a thirty-year period hasbeen obtained, and the comparisons of this information with the data from scientific observations were made. It was identified that inhabitants distinguish several trends in climate change in the region, consistent with the data of meteorological observations: climate warming, especially in the winter months; increased weather variability; increased duration of the off-season periods. Matching the observations of the respondents with biological scientific data made it possible to conclude that as a result of the combined influence of natural and anthropogenic factors (including climatic ones) new species of pests and fungi appeared in the region, and the number and proportion of valuable fish species within the basin of Lake Imandra have declined. It is shown that the subjective perceptionsof climate change should be taken into account in the management process, since this is oneof the key characteristics of the comfort of people living in the territory and a motive for actions, including adaptation.The article offers proposals on the inclusion of citizen scientists and citizen science data in the governing process through inter-sectoral commissions for the development of strategies for adaptation to climate change and other institutions of public participation.

Sustainable Cities

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha C. Monroe ◽  
Arjen E. J. Wals ◽  
Hiromi Kobori ◽  
Johanna Ekne
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Government Agency ◽  
Sustainable Cities ◽  
Participatory Decision Making

This chapter presents three cases that demonstrate a variety of interactions between residents and expert leaders in fostering sustainability innovations in cities. It looks at sustainable cities in Sweden, Japan, and the Netherlands, focusing on common principles that may help explain their success as well as the role of environmental education and learning in these efforts. All three examples engage municipal nonprofit and government agency leaders with residents in many different ways. Leaders and residents learn about sustainability as they build skills for participatory decision making. They offer ideas and realize that their contributions matter. The cases have outlived their inception phase and continue to grow and improve their outcomes despite setbacks, changing circumstances, and even opposition. The chapter explains how monitoring the outcomes of such innovations, including through citizen science and social learning, can contribute to their effectiveness.

Megadrought and Collapse

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Agricultural Landscapes ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Societal Collapse ◽  
The Face ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Paleoclimate Proxy ◽  
Habitat Tracking

This is the first book to treat the major examples of megadrought and societal collapse, from the late Pleistocene end of hunter–gatherer culture and origins of cultivation to the 15th century AD fall of the Khmer Empire capital at Angkor, and ranging from the Near East to South America. Previous enquiries have stressed the possible multiple and internal causes of collapse, such overpopulation, overexploitation of resources, warfare, and poor leadership and decision-making. In contrast, Megadrought and Collapse presents case studies of nine major episodes of societal collapse in which megadrought was the major and independent cause of societal collapse. In each case the most recent paleoclimatic evidence for megadroughts, multiple decades to multiple centuries in duration, is presented alongside the archaeological records for synchronous societal collapse. The megadrought data are derived from paleoclimate proxy sources (lake, marine, and glacial cores; speleothems, or cave stalagmites; and tree-rings) and are explained by researchers directly engaged in their analysis. Researchers directly responsible for them discuss the relevant current archaeological records. Two arguments are developed through these case studies. The first is that societal collapse in different time periods and regions and at levels of social complexity ranging from simple foragers to complex empires would not have occurred without megadrought. The second is that similar responses to megadrought extend across these historical episodes: societal collapse in the face of insurmountable climate change, abandonment of settlements and regions, and habitat tracking to sustainable agricultural landscapes. As we confront megadrought today, and in the likely future, Megadrought and Collapse brings together the latest contributions to our understanding of past societal responses to the crisis on an equally global and diverse scale.

Wise Ancestors, Good Ancestors: Why Mindfulness Matters in the Promotion of Planetary Health

Challenges ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Alan C. Logan ◽  
Susan H. Berman ◽  
Richard B. Scott ◽  
Brian M. Berman ◽  
Susan L. Prescott
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Practical Wisdom ◽  
Resource Depletion ◽  
Global Burden ◽  
Non Communicable Diseases ◽  
Planetary Health ◽  
Cultural Aspects

The concept of planetary health blurs the artificial lines between health at scales of person, place, and planet. It emphasizes the interconnected grand challenges of our time, and underscores the need for integration of biological, psychological, social, and cultural aspects of health in the modern environment. Here, in our Viewpoint article, we revisit vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk’s contention that wisdom is central to the concept of planetary health. Our perspective is centered on the idea that practical wisdom is associated with decision-making that leads to flourishing—the vitality and fullest potential of individuals, communities, and life on the planet as a whole. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has illustrated the acute consequences of unwise and mindless leadership; yet, wisdom and mindfulness, or lack thereof, is no less consequential to grotesque biodiversity losses, climate change, environmental degradation, resource depletion, the global burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), health inequalities, and social injustices. Since mindfulness is a teachable asset linked to both wisdom and flourishing, we argue that mindfulness deserves much greater attention in the context of planetary health.

Contentious Capitol Climates

2020 ◽  
pp. 58-90
Author(s):  
Michael Méndez
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Climate Governance ◽  
Disadvantaged Communities ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Contemporary Climate

Describes the tension between global environmental protection and a local focus on the most disadvantaged communities. The chapter analyzes the development of California’s landmark climate change legislation: Assembly Bill (AB) 32. It illustrates the contentious nature of defining climate change and how the entanglements of diverse knowledges and worldviews shape contemporary climate governance and decision-making processes.

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