Self-Reported Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Stewardship Organizations and Their Activities in Southeast New England, USA

In many communities, regions, or landscapes, there are numerous environmental groups working across different sectors and creating stewardship networks that shape the environment and the benefits people derive from it. The make-up of these networks can vary, but generally include organizations of different sizes and capacities. As the Covid-19 pandemic (2020 to the present) shuts down businesses and nonprofits, catalyzes new initiatives, and generally alters the day-to-day professional and personal lives, it is logical to assume that these stewardship networks and their environmental work are impacted; exactly how, is unknown. In this study, we analyze the self-reported effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on stewardship groups working in southeast New England, USA. Stewardship organizations were surveyed from November 2020 to April 2021 and asked, among other questions, “How is Covid-19 affecting your organization?” We analyzed responses using several qualitative coding approaches. Our analysis revealed group-level impacts including changes in group capacity, challenges in managing access to public green spaces, and altered forms of volunteer engagement. These results provide insights into the varied effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and government responses such as stay-at-home orders and social distancing policies on stewardship that can inform the development of programs to reduce negative outcomes and enhance emerging capacities and innovations.

Lobsters, Whales, and Traps: The Politics of Endangerment in the Gulf of Maine

In 2019, a debate arose among Maine lobster fishers and environmental groups over the role of lobster traps in killing North Atlantic right whales, the world's most endangered whale species. Maine fishers denied that their gear was killing whales. To do so, they leveraged longstanding representations by regional natural and social scientists of lobster fishing as part of a unique and ecologically sustainable “heritage” economy—one that was itself “endangered” by over-regulation. Setting this debate in the context of a global climate crisis that is irrevocably changing Atlantic coastal environments, this article shows how ecological fragility and white working-class fragility become yoked together. Efforts to understand what lobster traps do, and how they might do it differently, perpetuated a key feature of settler colonialism, namely, the tendency to seek harmony between resource extraction and conservation.

Comparisons of Sustainability Behaviors Pre- and Early Pandemic Among Botanical Garden Members

The COVID-19 outbreak drastically altered the behaviors of millions of Americans in 2020, including behaviors that contribute to carbon emissions. As many Americans stayed home midyear, environmental groups noted the decrease in driving and transportation-related pollution, theorizing that the pandemic could have a positive impact on the environment by decreasing individuals' carbon emissions. However, it is dubious that individuals will behave in a more eco-friendly manner under the uncertain and stressful conditions of a global pandemic simply because they are more likely to be confined to their homes. We examined sustainability behaviors in 2018 and in the early pandemic in 2020 among a sample of members of a U.S., botanical garden. We surveyed members in May–July 2018, asking whether they had or had not done 11 sustainability behaviors (e.g., used alternative transportation, took shorter showers) in the past month. We resurveyed members about their engagement in those behaviors in April 2020 as well as to recall their engagement in those behaviors pre-pandemic in February 2020. We examined differences in self-reported behaviors among respondents who had taken both the May–July 2018 and April 2020 surveys (matched group n = 227), and then among respondents who had taken either the May–July (n = 1057) or the April 2020 survey (n = 881), but not both. Respondents in the matched group were more likely to report recycling, reducing red meat consumption, eating a plant-based diet, and reducing food waste in April 2020 compared to May–July 2018; they were less likely to compost, check the air in their tires, and use a smart thermostat. However, these differences also emerged when examining recalled behavior in February 2020, suggesting that matched group respondents' self-reports may reflect changes in behavior over time rather than due to the pandemic. The unmatched group was more likely to reduce food waste but less likely to use alternative transportation to commute, check the air in their tires for fuel efficiency, and recycle in April 2020 compared to May–July 2018. Thus, few changes in sustainability behaviors can be attributed to the pandemic, but those that do involve personal travel or home confinement.

Governance Strategies for Mitigating Microplastic Pollution in the Marine Environment: A Review

Threats emerging from microplastic pollution in the marine environment have received much global attention. This review assessed sources, fate, and impacts of microplastics in marine ecosystems and identified gaps. Most studies document the ubiquity of microplastics and associated environmental effects. Effects include impacts to marine ecosystems, risks to biodiversity, and threats to human health. Microplastic leakage into marine ecosystems arises from plastic waste mismanagement and a lack of effective mitigative strategies. This review identified a scarcity of microplastics’ mitigation strategies from different stakeholders. Lack of community involvement in microplastic monitoring or ecosystem conservation exists due to limited existence of citizen science and stakeholder co-management initiatives. Although some management strategies exist for controlling effects of microplastics (often implemented by local and global environmental groups), a standardized management strategy to mitigate microplastics in coastal areas is urgently required. There is a need to review policy interventions aimed at plastic reduction in or near coastal ecosystems and evaluate their effectiveness. There is also a need to identify focal causes of microplastic pollution in the marine environment through further environmental research and governance approaches. These would extend to creating more effective policies as well as harmonized and extended efforts of educational campaigns and incentives for plastic waste reduction while mandating stringent penalties to help reduce microplastic leakage into the marine environment.

PR for the Public Interest

Chapter 4, PR for the “Public Interest,” reviews the endeavors which allowed industrial interests to promote their anti-environmental agenda as rational and reasonable. It also allowed them to advocate against the passage of further legislation. By advancing a rhetoric of “compromising for the common good,” PR actors helped diffuse the appearance of adversity in a 1970s and 1980s context of public concern over environmental damage, and cemented public relations as a legitimate profession with specialized skills of negotiation and dispute resolution. Throughout the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, as intensified battles over environmental futures were waged between environmental groups and business associations, PR actors found ways to create and manage influence in political contexts. PR consultants developed single-issue coalitions, public-private partnerships, green business networks, and other multiple-member groups, along with multi-pronged media strategies, to advance the idea of plurality.

Successful Deer Management in Scotland Requires Less Conflict Not More

What would successful deer management look like in Scotland? To some, flourishing populations of native wild deer represent success. But to others, negative impacts such as damage to woodlands and peatlands, agricultural and forestry losses, deer-vehicle collisions, and facilitating Lyme disease spread represent failure. Conflicting interests and incentives among people involved in deer management mean a common definition of success, and therefore clear management targets, remain elusive. While some environmental groups urgently call for an increase in the number of deer culled (shot) each year, other stakeholders aim to maximize deer numbers. Overcoming this governance failure will require clearly articulated, scientifically valid, and socially acceptable socio-ecological objectives to be co-produced by a broad range of stakeholders. Systematic monitoring of deer impacts will also be needed to evaluate the ability of specific management interventions to achieve defined objectives. Reintroducing Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) has been suggested as a means to reduce deer numbers and their negative ecological and socioeconomic impacts. However, evidence of lynx impacts on deer numbers, deer impacts, and social conflicts over deer suggest lynx reintroduction alone would not effectively reduce negative impacts of deer in Scotland, though it could be part of a broader solution. In the short-term, achieving sustainable numbers of deer in Scotland will require a substantial increase in the number of deer culled and effective changes to the way deer management is incentivized, regulated, implemented, and monitored.

Channel Structure Choice for Remanufacturing under Green Consumerism

In recent decades, more and more consumers—referred to as “green consumers”—are willing to incorporate environmentally responsible decisions into their purchasing behaviors. This tendency is particularly notable in the European Union, the USA, and China. From a research perspective, while recent studies on remanufacturing have investigated optimal practices in regard to green consumerism, they have failed to address the flexibility manufacturers are afforded to outsource remanufacturing operations to third parties. In practice, some brand-name manufacturers—such as IBM, Land Rover, and Sun—do indeed outsource their remanufacturing operations. To further our understanding of the implications of differentiated structures for remanufacturing operations under green consumerism, we developed two models: one for a manufacturer undertaking remanufacturing themselves (Model M), and one for a manufacturer outsourcing it to a third-party remanufacturer (Model O). Our results indicate that, for markets with significant green consumerism, Model M tends to result in more remanufactured units and creates higher profitability for the manufacturer. However, under certain conditions, this model may also result in greater harm to the environment due to the comparative excess of manufacturers in the remanufacturing process. This implies that environmental groups and agencies should not only aim to encourage green consumerism, but should also focus their attention on the channel structures for remanufacturing.

Environmental Battlegrounds

This chapter opens by revisiting the Tellico Dam/snail darter controversy that pitted environmental activism against the rising tide of conservative anti-regulatory fervor. Union members joined anti-environmentalists in blaming regulation as the cause of the nation’s economic woes, especially rampant inflation. On one side, you had increasingly radical environmental groups such as Earth First!, and on the other, the Sage Brush/Wise Use rebellion that found a welcome in the Reagan administration. The Spotted Owl controversy epitomized the growing rift. Reagan appointed such arch Sage Brush rebels as James Watt as secretary of the interior and Anne Gorsuch (mother of the Supreme Court nominee) at EPA to dismantle the programs they were charged to enforce. While the Wise Use movement emerged in the Western states, it had strong followings in the East as well, as conservatives fought regulations in the Adirondacks Park, zoning in Vermont, and preservation of clean water in the Delaware River Gap. Nimbys represented a new source of activism. These were often women fighting against local pollution and other threats to their families, homes, and communities. Lois Gibbs from Love Canal and Penny Newman from California were two of the most effective leaders to emerge. Other groups such as the Clamshell and Abalone Alliances opposed new nuclear power plants.

Assessment of inter-level interaction in the management of spatial and infrastructural development of rural areas in the region

The article is devoted to the urgent problem of improving the tools for assessing inter-level interaction in the management of spatial and infrastructural development of rural areas of the regions of the Russian Federation. At present, the tasks of state policy and the obligations of the Russian Federation in the global space predetermine the adherence to the principles of sustainable development, which declare the equality of economic, social and environmental directions. The purpose of this article is to study the theoretical provisions and methodological approaches that make it possible to assess the quality of integration processes in rural areas, as well as to develop a methodology for assessing inter-level interaction in managing the spatial and infrastructural development of agricultural territories in the region. Methods. The methodological basis of the article was formed by an integrated approach to the spatial and infrastructural development of rural areas, methods of theoretical analysis of infrastructural development, analytical interpretation of statistical data. The scientific novelty is the assessment toolkit of inter-level interaction developed by the authors in the management of spatial and infrastructural development of rural areas. Results. As a result of the study, using the example of the subjects of the Ural macroregion and the Perm Territory, the main problems of the development of rural areas in terms of production, social and environmental groups of indicators were established based on the application of an integral assessment. It is proposed to form inter-municipal territorial-economic systems for solving the problems of infrastructure development, consolidating the potentials and resources of possible joint activities for the implementation of the most urgent directions for the development of rural areas.