Priorities for Californias Water: Thriving with Less

In the last decade, California—along with the rest of the world—has entered a new phase of climate change. The changes that scientists predicted have started to arrive. California's already variable climate is growing increasingly volatile and unpredictable: The dry periods are hotter and drier, and the wet periods—lately too few and far between—are warmer and often more intense.Across the state, water and land managers are being forced to respond in real time to changes that were once hard to imagine. The snowpack—that once-reliable annual source of water—is diminishing as temperatures rise. Water withdrawals during multiyear droughts are depleting the state's reservoirs and groundwater basins. Hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland come out of production during droughts; further reductions will be needed to restore our groundwater basins to balance. And mammoth floods could eventually devastate our currently parched state. Warming is also intensifying water quality problems, such as harmful algal blooms. These changes are posing widespread challenges for our businesses, communities, and ecosystems—and often hitting low-income residents the hardest.This report considers the state of water in California: What changes are we seeing now, and what should we expect in the near future? Then it examines how these climate shifts will impact urban and rural communities, agriculture, and the environment. Finally, it explores wet-year strategies that will help Californians get through the dry years

Knowledge Economy Dimensions

The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the emergent knowledge economy and its dimensions. The knowledge economy is based primarily on the development of intangibles, and knowledge processing. The knowledge revolution is changing the way we think and work, and the knowledge worker reflects the nature of the new economic driving forces. The knowledge economy opens new directions, and offers unprecedented opportunities to produce and sell on a mass scale, reduce costs, and customize to the needs of consumers, all at the same time. The dimensions of this new economy are the following: economic and institutional regime, education and skills, information and communication infrastructure, and the innovation system. Based on these dimensions, the World Bank Institute developed two important indices: the Knowledge Index (KI), and the Knowledge Economy Index (KEI).intangible; knowledge; knowledge economy; knowledge economy index.

Friends or Foes? The Problem of South Florida’s Invasive Mangroves

A recent global review on the impacts of climate change on mangroves concluded that different regions will experience varying degrees of impacts due to the variability of expected changes in climate (shifts in precipitation, frequency and intensity of storms, droughts, sea level rise, change of ocean currents, increases in CO2 concentrations, etc.) and the variety of types and mangrove assemblages growing in these regions, including different species composition of mangrove forests. In North America and the Caribbean, these changes are dependent upon a predicted higher frequency (and intensity) of tropical storms, sea level rise, changes in patterns of precipitation, and higher temperatures. Located at the land-sea interface, mangroves in this region are expected to expand their ranges poleward (towards North Florida), or migrate into other coastal ecosystems (e.g., the Everglades), provided no natural or urban center barriers are present to prevent this expansion. If rains increase, as is anticipated, along the United States-Mexico border, mangroves may likely begin to thrive in places currently occupied by unvegetated salt flats. However, a lack of rain may also be of benefit in areas such as Louisiana where marsh diebacks have been linked to droughts, which directly increases the likelihood of mangrove migrations into these ecosystems. Given the services that mangroves provide and the legal protections that mangroves receive, it is shocking to discover that their future existence may be compromised or threatened. Certainly, the greatest threats to mangroves in Florida are from direct and indirect human impacts of development, including pollution and habitat destruction. Mangroves may also be naturally damaged and destroyed from disturbance events such as tropical storms and hurricanes. However, a new threat to native mangroves has recently emerged: the introduction of invasive mangrove species. These non-native species may threaten the ecosystem dynamics of mangrove forests and may alter the natural coastal landscape of South Florida unless eradicated

Seeding Resilience: An Examination of the Impacts of a Seed Saving Network in Western Montana

Seed saving, a worldwide practice as old as agriculture, continues even in the context of an increasingly industrialized and globalized agricultural system. While some scholarship has focused on informal seed saving practices that continue to thrive in the global South, few studies have examined the dynamics of these practices in the global North, particularly in the American West. Informal seed saving systems have implications for the resilience of agroecosystems. The concept of resilience has become an important framework for conceptualizing agroecosystems as social-ecological systems, both in scholarship and in policy. However, operationalizing the concept of resilience, particularly in agroecology research, has been limited. This thesis utilizes a resilience framework to assess a seed saving network and its impacts in western Montana, specifically the Bitterroot and Missoula Valleys. Two questions guide the inquiry: 1) How do significant actors connect within the seed saving network of the Missoula and Bitterroot Valleys, and 2) How does the seed saving network contribute to the social-ecological resilience of the local agroecosystem? The thesis begins with an introduction to the conceptual framework, which considers different ways of evaluating resilience. To overcome some analytical shortcomings of resilience thinking, other theories such as actor network theory, political ecology, and non-human agency are integrated into the conceptual approach. The primary methods used to collect data were semi-structured interviews and participant observation, resulting in qualitative data that were coded to develop themes. The results of the data analysis are presented in two parts. Chapter 4 addresses the first question by describing the rich and varied actor connections and their local effects. The primary actors identified are seed, people, and the environment, which all connect and interact to develop a complex rooted network. Chapter 5 addresses the second question, first by exploring “resilience effects,” or the effects of actor interactions that may result in added resilience to the agroecosystem. Then, a pre-established indicator framework of resilience in an agroecosystem is applied to determine how the seed saving network contributes resilience. While the first strategy is useful in understanding situated resilience effects, the second strategy proves to be more practical for evaluating this particular agroecosystem in an efficient way. The discussion explores the impacts this research may have on studying resilience and agroecosystems in the global North, highlighting the role of resilience as a process, the importance of situated knowledge, and the agency of seed. The thesis concludes by suggesting that seed and seed saving

In Their Own Words: Fishermen\u27s Perspectives of Community Resilience

Maine’s fishing communities are experiencing the cumulative effects of fish stock depletion, state and federal regulations, coastal development and demographic changes, and rising fuel and energy costs. Legally, federal fisheries managers must minimize adverse economic impacts of fishery regulations on fishing communities, yet too often data with which to do this are insufficient (Ingles and Sepez 2007). For example, National Standard 8 of the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the federal legislation governing the management of marine resources in the U.S., requires that managers “take into account the importance of fishery resources to fishing communities” and “provide sustained participation of” and “minimize adverse economic impacts on” such communities (Clay and Olson 2008). The National Environmental Policy Act also requires social impact assessments of federal actions, including the cumulative effects of action on the “human environment.” In response to these legal mandates and data gaps, social scientists have begun to develop and refine methodological approaches for defining fishing communities and conducting social impact assessments. An important component of social impact assessment is understanding the vulnerability and resilience of fishing communities (Clay and Olson 2008). In 2010-2012, with funding from Maine Sea Grant, we explored how those living within fishing communities understand their resilience. We were especially interested in understanding the particular threats fishermen are facing and how they are responding to them. This report summarizes our findings, with additional background information on resilience and recommendations for Maine communities

Adaptation to climate change in coastal communities: findings from seven sites on four continents

Climate change is causing wide-ranging effects on ecosystem services critical to coastal communities and livelihoods, creating an urgent need to adapt. Most studies of climate change adaptation consist of narrative descriptions of individual cases or global synthesis, making it difficult to formulate and test locally rooted but generalizable hypotheses about adaptation processes. In contrast, researchers in this study analyzed key points in climate change adaptation derived from coordinated fieldwork in seven coastal communities around the world, including Arctic, temperate, and tropical areas on four continents. Study communities faced multiple challenges from sea level rise and warmer ocean temperatures, including coastal erosion, increasing salinity, and ecological changes. We analyzed how the communities adapted to climate effects and other co-occurring forces for change, focusing on most important changes to local livelihoods and societies, and barriers to and enablers of adaptation. Although many factors contributed to adaptation, communities with strong self-organized local institutions appeared better able to adapt without substantial loss of well-being than communities where these institutions were weak or absent. Key features of these institutions included setting and enforcing rules locally and communication across scales. Self-governing local institutions have been associated with sustainable management of natural resources. In our study communities, analogous institutions played a similar role to moderate adverse effects from climate-driven environmental change. The findings suggest that policies to strengthen, recognize, and accommodate local institutions could improve adaptation outcomes.Ye

Kosher Seductions: Jewish Women as Employees and Consumers in German Department Stores

Department stores have long been associated with the trope of seducing female consumers, at least since the publication of Emile Zola’s novel Au bonheur des dames in 1883. This fictionalized portrayal of the Parisian department store Bon Marche, which has exerted considerable influence among early chroniclers of department store culture, identifies store owners as men who build ‘temples’ for prospective customers, and who use inebriating tactics to encourage them to enter and spend money. The consumer is gendered female in this and in many other literary works on the department store of the time; she is depicted as reluctant, yet sometimes eager to be tempted by male-driven consumer worlds

Digital Natives in a Knowledge Economy: will a new kind of Leadership Emerge?

The aim of this paper is to understand whether digital natives will need a different approach to leadership development. The authors discuss that in knowledge economies extrinsic and explicit knowledge (knowing that) learning approaches are more important than traditional learning methods based on the idea that knowledge has a value per se and it is transferred tacitally (knowing how). In conclusion, authors do acknowledge the importance of extrinsic and explicit knowledge in digital natives learning; but, if they wish to become leaders, digital natives still have not only to turn their explicit knowledge into an implicit one (internalization) in order to intuitively use what they are learning but also natives need to learn more about social skills. Keywords: digital natives, digital immigrants, leadership, knowledge economy, internalization.The aim of this paper is to understand whether digital natives will need a different approach to leadership development. The authors discuss that in knowledge economies extrinsic and explicit knowledge (knowing that) learning approaches are more important than traditional learning methods based on the idea that knowledge has a value per se and it is transferred tacitally (knowing how). In conclusion, authors do acknowledge the importance of extrinsic and explicit knowledge in digital natives learning; but, if they wish to become leaders, digital natives still have not only to turn their explicit knowledge into an implicit one (internalization) in order to intuitively use what they are learning but also natives need to learn more about social skills. Keywords: digital natives, digital immigrants, leadership, knowledge economy, internalization.Uninvited Submission

Tracing the metabolic rift in Colombia's greengrocer: an environmental history of the Anaime Valley

This paper stems from research to reconstruct an environmental history of agriculture in the Anaime Canyon Valley and better understand the environmental consequences of having transformed the area into “Colombia's greengrocer”. We trace the origins and development of agro-food production and explore how commercial agriculture and dairy operations have transformed the landscape and local ecosystems in the Anaime valley, in light of Marx's concept of metabolic rift. Research is based on archival sources and a participatory reconstruction of the Anaime landscape from the historical memory of the campesinos, or rural inhabitants. The data shows how internal migration, rapid urban growth and improved transportation infrastructure in the valley during the mid-twentieth century hastened the turn toward intensive commercial agriculture. Increasing links to Colombia's urban markets have led to agricultural intensification and specialization in arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza) production in the Anaime Canyon. As a result, soils and ecosystems have been depleted and agriculture depends increasingly on chemical inputs including fertilizers, indicating a growing metabolic rift.Este artículo nace de una investigación que busca reconstruir la historia ambiental de la agricultura en el cañón de Anaime, para entender las consecuencias ambientales de su conversión en la despensa agrícola de Colombia. Rastrea la producción agroalimentaria en el cañón hasta sus inicios y explora cómo la agricultura comercial y la producción de lácteos han transformado el paisaje y los ecosistemas locales. Las transformaciones en el paisaje de Anaime se analizan a la luz del concepto de brecha metabólica de Marx. La investigación se nutre de datos procedentes de fuentes de archivo y de una reconstrucción participativa del paisaje anaimuno, a partir de la memoria histórica de sus habitantes campesinos. Los datos muestran que la migración interna, la rápida urbanización y las mejoras en la infraestructura de transporte a mediados del siglo xx aceleraron la intensificación de la agricultura en el cañón. La creciente integración de Anaime a los mercados urbanos de Colombia condujo a la intensificación agrícola y a la especialización en la producción de arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza). Como resultado, los suelos y los ecosistemas se han deteriorado, y la agricultura depende cada vez más de insumos químicos, incluidos fertilizantes, lo que evidencia una creciente brecha metabólica

Small-Scale Maine Farmers’ Perceptions and Adaptations to Climate Change

Climate change is affecting agricultural practices in Maine and all over the world, and this research aims to highlight the effects of climate change on small-scale Maine farmers. Maine has a highly variable climate as well as a strong tradition in agriculture and thus it is important to understand how the different changes may affect farmers statewide. Ten interviews were conducted with small-scale farmers in western Maine. We ask what farmers are perceiving in terms of climatic changes and how they may be adapting to those ongoing changes. Several adaptations resulted from both shifting temperature and precipitation patterns. This research may be used by other small-scale farmers in Maine as a way to understand what climatic changes fellow farmers are experiencing and what practices they are utilizing as adaptation, to enhance their own farming practices to be more resilient to climate change. Stakeholders who support the farming community in Maine also benefit from such research as it allows them to understand exactly what farmers are experiencing and how they are adapting, ultimately allowing them to provide more effective targeted support strategies