Māori Business Perceptions of the Potential Use of Biotechnologies in Pest Wasp Management

<p>The government has set a target of Aotearoa becoming predator-free by 2050. Scientists see biotechnologies as a potential solution for pest management at large scale, with wasps identified as an opportune prototype for consideration as a trial. Wasps are identified to be costing $133 million annually to the New Zealand economy. Primary industries are most affected, spaces that Māori occupy as part of the burgeoning Māori economy. Given the complex relationship Māori have historically had with genetic modification and biotechnologies, and their involvement with industries said to benefit from wasp eradication, the views from Māori businesses are important. In this thesis, a kaupapa Māori, mixed-methodology study is conducted with people from eight businesses who intersect on these issues. Interviews helped gauge the ‘pulse’ of where Māori businesses stand on these issues. Five novel biotechnologies being actively researched for potential use, including gene drive and pheromone lures, are presented to participants. Which, if any, biotechnology might be acceptable for pest control? Views ranged from accepting to disapproving. A diverse economy framework is used to deepen understanding of participant priorities and implications for business values. Economic factors take a backseat and Māori values surface in non-market activity, transactions that deviate from capitalism, which are found to play an important role in decision-making on biotechnologies. A diverse economy framework thus sheds far more light on an issue than simple impact calculations. Communication of biotechnologies to lay audiences needs attention. Furthermore, impartial and credible evidence from multiple sources, not just scientists, is needed to best inform people on these issues.</p>

Māori Business Perceptions of the Potential Use of Biotechnologies in Pest Wasp Management

<p>The government has set a target of Aotearoa becoming predator-free by 2050. Scientists see biotechnologies as a potential solution for pest management at large scale, with wasps identified as an opportune prototype for consideration as a trial. Wasps are identified to be costing $133 million annually to the New Zealand economy. Primary industries are most affected, spaces that Māori occupy as part of the burgeoning Māori economy. Given the complex relationship Māori have historically had with genetic modification and biotechnologies, and their involvement with industries said to benefit from wasp eradication, the views from Māori businesses are important. In this thesis, a kaupapa Māori, mixed-methodology study is conducted with people from eight businesses who intersect on these issues. Interviews helped gauge the ‘pulse’ of where Māori businesses stand on these issues. Five novel biotechnologies being actively researched for potential use, including gene drive and pheromone lures, are presented to participants. Which, if any, biotechnology might be acceptable for pest control? Views ranged from accepting to disapproving. A diverse economy framework is used to deepen understanding of participant priorities and implications for business values. Economic factors take a backseat and Māori values surface in non-market activity, transactions that deviate from capitalism, which are found to play an important role in decision-making on biotechnologies. A diverse economy framework thus sheds far more light on an issue than simple impact calculations. Communication of biotechnologies to lay audiences needs attention. Furthermore, impartial and credible evidence from multiple sources, not just scientists, is needed to best inform people on these issues.</p>

Advances of Carbon Capture and Storage in Coal-Based Power Generating Units in an Indian Context

India is a nation with a diverse economy that requires tremendous resources to completely meet the desires of its compatriots in various sectors. In terms of energy resources and requirements, coal-based power plants can fulfill the bulk of these electricity needs. India is very reliant on coal, which is used in power plants as a primary energy source. However, the usage of coal energy at a higher level continuously pollutes the atmosphere. The Indian power market alone accounts for half of the country’s CO2 emissions, which implies that significant action is needed to contain environmental pollution. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a bridging technique and feasible alternative for the carbon fired plant processing of CO2. However, the application of CCS in coal-fired power stations is still uncommon in the nation. At the UNFCCC Paris Summit, India committed to reduce its carbon emission intensity by approximately 30–33% by 2030. In this work, several CCS systems, possible CO2 origins, and emission levels in India are discussed. Various advanced methods for CO2 capture and separation are also highlighted. Furthermore, the current work discusses CCS situations and the applications of CCS in India along with its manifold challenges.

Social transformation and postcapitalist possibility: Emerging dialogues between practice theory and diverse economies

While practice theories and diverse economy approaches are widely employed by human geographers, the two literatures have developed in parallel, rather than in dialogue. This article argues that this has constrained understandings of postcapitalist social change and traces an emerging theoretical conversation between these traditions. It outlines the potential of scholarly engagement with what we term ‘diverse practices’, especially when discussing the scalar possibilities and constraints of community activism. By grounding diverse economic scholarship in practice-theoretical conceptions of power, politics, and scale, the article proposes a materialisation of postcapitalist possibility and explores the barriers and facilitators of transformative geographies.

Misfit medicine and queer geographies: The diverse economy and politics of cannabis in carceral Los Angeles

Fundamentally shaped by queer and trans activism and labor, Los Angeles’ cannabis markets offer an opportunity to understand how “diverse economies,” as defined by Gibson-Graham, are dynamic, contingent political projects that require contending with power and difference. With data from nearly four years of ethnographic observation and 70-plus interviews, I analyze how numerous Black, Latinx, Native, and Asian and Pacific Islander queer women and transgender economic actors in cannabis have developed labor relations, collective institutional forms, and reciprocal exchange to make cannabis dispensaries a space of care and solidarity. Starting with AIDS crisis-era medical marijuana activism, queer economic actors have built affective relations at the scale of the body with patients, owners, and each other in ways that transcend profit imperatives and bridge across difference. More recently, in the face of economic exclusion and the pervasive gendered division of intimate labor, queer and trans workers of color have turned to the body as a scaffolding for collective action across scales. Drawing from resurgent social movement unionism in the region, they have led intersectional campaigns to protect more-than-capitalist elements of the industry and challenge the carceral state’s drug war. Bridging feminist economic and political geography allows insight to the spatially and temporally contingent nature of diverse, queer economies and their embedding in broader relations of racial, carceral, and homonormative capitalism. At the same time, such an approach centering the active politics of diverse economies surfaces the potentialities for multi-scalar movements to develop and sustain alternatives to capitalism.