Consumer Preferences for Pasture-Raised Animal Products: Results from Michigan

The pasture-based model of agriculture potentially offers opportunities for small- and medium-scale livestock producers in local, regional, and national markets. Our data indicate that many consumers value the attributes associated with locally produced pasture-raised products. We used ordered probit and binary probit analyses of these data to identify the demographic segments that showed the greatest interest in these attributes. This interest suggests a broad education and marketing effort to articulate salient attributes and to differentiate and increase the availability of these products in the marketplace.Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries,

Decision Support Framework for Developing Regional Energy Strategies

In an effort to reduce “carbon pollution” as well as prepare the U.S. for the impacts of climate change, President Obama’s 2013 Climate Action Plan calls for changes to be made to the nation’s energy system. In addition to focusing on alternative portfolios of different fuels and power-generation technologies, researchers and advisory panels have urged that changes to the nation’s energy system be based on a decision-making framework that incorporates stakeholders and accounts for real-world resource, supply, and demand constraints. To date, research and development on such a framework have proven elusive. The research reported here describes the development and test of a potential decision support framework that combines elements from structured decision-making (SDM) with portfolio analysis, methods that have been used independently to elicit preferences in complex decision contexts. This hybrid framework aimed to (1) provide necessary background information to users regarding the development of coupled climate-energy strategies; (2) account for users’ values and objectives; (3) allow for the construction of bespoke energy portfolios bounded by real-world supply and demand constraints; and (4) provide a more rigorous basis for addressing trade-offs. Results show that this framework was user-friendly, led to significant increases in users’ knowledge about energy systems and, importantly, led to more internally consistent decisions. For these reasons, this framework may serve as a suitable template for supporting decisions about energy transitions in the United States and abroad

Consumer-perceived risks and choices about pharmaceuticals in the environment: a cross-sectional study

Background There is increasing concern that pollution from pharmaceuticals used in human medicine and agriculture can be a threat to the environment. Little is known, however, if people are aware that pharmaceuticals may have a detrimental influence on the environment. The present study examines people’s risk perception and choices in regard to environmental risks of pharmaceuticals used in human medicine and for agricultural purposes. Methods A representative sample of the U.S. population (N = 640) was surveyed. Respondents completed a hypothetical choice task that involved tradeoffs between human and environmental health. In addition, it was examined how much people would support an environment policy related to drug regulation. Results For agricultural pharmaceuticals, respondents reported a high level of satisfaction for a policy requiring farms to limit their use of antibiotics. In the domain of pharmaceuticals used in human medicine, we found that people were willing to consider environmental consequences when choosing a drug, but only when choices were made about treatment options for a rather harmless disease. In contrast, when decisions were made about treatment options for a severe disease, the drug’s effectiveness was the most important criterion. Conclusions It can be concluded that the environmental impact of a drug will be hardly considered in decisions about pharmaceuticals for severe diseases like cancer, and this may be due to the fact that these decisions are predominantly affective in nature. However, for less severe health risks, people are willing to balance health and environmental considerations.ISSN:1476-069

Consumer Preferences for Pasture-Raised Animal Products: Results from Michigan

The pasture-based model of agriculture potentially offers opportunities for small- and medium-scale livestock producers in local, regional, and national markets. Our data indicate that many consumers value the attributes associated with locally produced pasture-raised products. We used ordered probit and binary probit analyses of these data to identify the demographic segments that showed the greatest interest in these attributes. This interest suggests a broad education and marketing effort to articulate salient attributes and to differentiate and increase the availability of these products in the marketplace

Gamifying Decision Support Systems to Promote Inclusive and Engaged Urban Resilience Planning

Urban residents are often unevenly vulnerable to extreme weather and climate events due to socio-economic factors and insufficient greenspace. This can be amplified if citizens are not meaningfully consulted in the planning and design decisions, with changes to greenspace having detrimental impacts on local communities, e.g., through green gentrification. These deficiencies can be addressed through inclusive landscape-level collaborative planning and design processes, where residents are fully engaged in the co-creation of urban greenspaces. A promising way to support co-creation efforts is gamifying technology-based interactive decision support systems (DSSs). Gamification, the incorporation of video game elements or play into non-game contexts, has previously been used for DSSs in urban planning and to inform the public about the impacts of climate change. However, this has yet to combine informational goals with design-play functionality in the redesign of urban greenspaces. We conducted a review of state-of-the-art video game DSSs used for urban planning engagement and climate education. Here, we propose that gamified DSSs should incorporate educational elements about climate change alongside the interactive and engaging elements of urban planning games, particularly for real-world scenarios. This cross-disciplinary approach can facilitate improved community engagement in greenspace planning, informing design and management strategies to ensure multiple benefits for people and the environment in climate-vulnerable cities