Why Ecclesiology Cannot live by Doctrine Alone : a reply to John Webster's 'In the Society of God'

Peer reviewedPreprin

Horkheimer, Religion, and the Normative Grounds of Critical Theory

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On the Demonization and Fetishization of Choice in Christian Sexual Ethics

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Homosexuality and the Construction of “Anglican Orthodoxy” : The Symbolic Politics of the Anglican Communion

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Identifying Past Crop Switching in the Contiguous United States: Where Farmers are Adapting to Changing Conditions

Crop switching, which occurs when a novel crop type is introduced to an agricultural plot, is an adaptation strategy that is used in response to a variety of social, economic, and environmental factors. While past studies have investigated the motivations behind crop switching and examined its role in mitigating future agricultural losses due to climate change, understanding of where crop switching has occurred in the United States is more limited. In this paper, I develop a method of identifying the individual plots on which crop switching occurred in the contiguous United States. This method uses the Cropland Data Layer from the National Agricultural Statistics Service to determine where novel crops were introduced in each year from 2018 to 2021, based on the crop types that were grown in the same locations in the decade between 2008 and 2017. I find that crop switching occurred between 4.3% and 7.9% of land that was in continuous crop production between 2008 and 2021. Crop switching occurs most frequently in certain regions of the country, namely California, the southwest, southeast, and northern Great Plains. Rates of crop switching were lowest, however, lowest across counties in the Midwest, including the Corn Belt. Corn, soybeans, sorghum, cotton, alfalfa, and winter wheat were the most common crops that were switched into, though in 2019 and 2020 the most common switch was to new fallow or idle land. Due to the large amount of acreage, however, crop switching accounted for very little of land that was fallowed or used in the production of those crop types. Crop switching accounted for a higher proportion of the land used in certain fruits, vegetables, and double crops. This work creates a foundation for understanding the nature of past crop switching, the factors that influence whether or not farmers use crop switching as an adaptation practice, and predicting where future crop switching may occur

Partnership Not Dialogue : Lent and Ramadan under the Same Roof

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Reshaping Offline Community in the Image of Online Experience : The Impact of Digital Media on Church Conflict in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh

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‘Anti’-Social Media: Narcissism and Self-Control as Predictors of Facebook Self-Disclosure

Internationally forestry and wood products supply chains are being transformed. This traditionally resource intensive low technology sector is moving rapidly towards precision-manufacturing, advanced technology use and innovation in ways that increase the value and sustainability of wood within the emerging bio-economy. This research-in-progress reports on a major Australian Research Council funded applied industry based program integrating different digital tools and techniques along the forestry supply chain to improve product traceability, characterisation and knowledge management to stimulate and support market innovation. The paper provides insight into contemporary forest supply chains and illustrates the breadth of research being undertaken in this program. A specific example involving the innovative use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and digital telemetry to advance the speed and accuracy of forestry resource assessments is described. Preliminary results comparing manual and automated techniques for inventory estimation appear positive. Planned next steps for this project and the program are presented

Regional Water Planning for Climate Resilience

Professional paper for the fulfillment of the Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree.This report on regional water planning for climate resilience considers the specific circumstances of the Midwest Ecoregion of the United States. In our analysis, we explore climate data resources across the state to discover ways in which climate change will severely impact or hinder communities in the Midwest, particularly those in Minnesota. Climate change will cause extreme rain events, increased temperatures, and drought in the ecoregion, which will overwhelm infrastructure and leave communities in disrepair if they are not well prepared. Through research on the One Water approach to water management (too much, too little, too dirty) and several regional entities in the Midwest Ecoregion, we suggest ways in which both regional and local planning strategies can coincide to assist communities and regions as they adapt to a changing climate. The proposed strategies are split between regional and local contexts as they epitomize two types of entities with different implementation policies. The regional strategies are: “Implementing adaptation on a broad scale”, “Adapting regionally with urban green infrastructure”, “Performing broad-scale monitoring”, and “Performing species and community-specific assessments”. The local strategies are: “Adapting at the local level with urban green infrastructure”, “Supporting state climatologists”, “Creating a framework for local government planning”, and “Implementing short term solutions”

The Farm-Community Nexus: Metrics for Social, Economic, and Environmental Sustainability of Agritourism and Direct Farm Sales in Vermont

Viable working landscapes, vibrant communities, and healthy ecosystems are the building blocks of sustainable food systems. Small and medium farms are connective tissue, creating a system that is greater than the sum of its parts by linking consumers to producers and promoting environmental stewardship. Our approach considers sustainability through connections between farms, their communities, and visitors within an agritourism framework, including on-farm experiences, direct sales of agricultural products, and farmer-consumer interactions at markets. The goal is to contribute to the understanding, operationalization, and integration of metrics built on the ideals that viable, sustainable, and resilient food systems must support social, economic and environmental goals. The approach presented in this white paper: 1. Applied a sustainability framework to identify metrics relevant for social, economic, and environmental dimensions across farm, household, community, and statewide scales. 2. Identified existing data sets and current data gaps. 3. Identified linkages and impacts between social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability across scales and different frameworks. 4. Considered sustainability applied to direct sales and agritourism, with particular emphasis on the social floor required to promote individual, farmer, and community well-being, while protecting the environment by respecting our planetary boundaries. We categorized priority metrics under primary sustainability dimensions: Environmental – Open Space, Farm Products, Stewardship, and the Vermont Brand Economic – Economic Impacts, Consumer Spending, Farm Profitability, Farm Labor, and Farmland Social – Cultural Ecosystem Services, Labor Opportunities and Conditions, Social and Informational Infrastructure, Sense of Community, Demographic and Cultural Diversity, Good Governance, and Health, Safety, and Wellbeing Based on our assessment of existing and needed metrics summarized in this white paper, key recommendations to the UVM-ARS Center include: 1. Catalyze and synergize efforts and resources in Vermont to holistically address sustainability. 2. Explore and identify ways the Vermont brand—an important component of the state’s social, ecological and economic identity and culture—supports sustainability. 3. Focus on informational and data needs that are central to understanding and ensuring sustainability in Vermont, including longitudinal producer and consumer surveys. 4. Support a deep convergence of social and natural sciences in addressing sustainability. The goal is to provide an essential foundation for future research that will place the UVM-ARS Center for Food Systems Research at the forefront of this critical transdisciplinary area