Tócame algo de John Berger

Sin resume

The Role of Attitudes, Social Norms, and Perceived Behavioral Control as Factors Influencing Urban and Suburban Residential Adoption of Stormwater Best Management Practices

© 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Nonpoint source pollution conveyed by stormwater in urban areas poses a significant threat to quality of waterbodies in the US. In the absence of systematic regulations on household stormwater management, municipalities rely largely on educational programs to encourage voluntary adoption of lawncare best management practices (BMPs) by residents who slow down and temporarily capture excess stormwater and filter out pollutants entering waterways. The current literature on factors influencing urban dwellers’ adoption of lawncare BMPs mostly focuses on demographics, barriers to adoption, and effectiveness of education and outreach programs. This study applies the reasoned action approach (RAA) behavioral theory to investigate how the combination of individuals’ attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioral control may affect their decision to adopt three lawncare BMPs, including mulching and fertilizer/pesticide avoidance, and support a municipal ban on lawncare chemicals. We use survey data (n = 235) from residents in two neighboring cities in central Maine, USA. We found that perceived behavioral control predicted fertilizer/pesticide avoidance and mulching, and that beliefs and attitudes toward the outcomes of adopting lawncare BMPS were positively associated with mulching and support for a municipal ban on lawncare chemicals. We observed statistically significant but inconsistent associations between several independent variables—including descriptive and injunctive social norms, gender, level of education, age, and home ownership status—and our dependent variables of interest. The findings provide insights into an underexplored set of factors and confirmatory evidence for previously tested factors influencing urban residents’ BMP adoption, and suggest new strategies and communication frames for environmental managers and researchers

Effects of scale and the biophysical environment on sense of place in northeastern Wisconsin\u27s bioregions

Understanding individuals’ and groups’ sense of place can provide insights into how people interact with and treat both natural and built environments, and inform understandings of proenvironmental behavior, place-protective action, management of regional amenities, participatory landscape planning, and environmental education initiatives. Notwithstanding these invaluable contributions, the empirical place scholarship has paid relatively little attention to several key dynamics, including the existence and implications of broad-scale sense of place, whether sense of place occurs in low- or mixed-amenity areas, and the biophysical (and bioregional) dimensions of sense of place. Accordingly, this empirical, phenomenological study investigates the scale at which sense of place develops and operates among a subset of residents engaged in watershed conservation activities in northeastern Wisconsin’s mixed-amenity coastal communities. The following questions guided our 5 research: 1) How do mixed-amenity bioregions contribute to people’s sense of place? 2) What sorts of biophysical characteristics, meanings, and/or experiences affect their sense of place? 3) How does this sense of place impact their reported proenvironmental behaviors? In total, 22 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted individuals whose primary residence was in the Fox River Valley bioregion, and who were vocationally or avocationally involved in water-quality improvement and/or broad-scale conservation activities in northeast Wisconsi

Feasibility of a chemical poison loop system

Chemical poison loop system for reactivity control of tungsten water moderated rocket reacto

Interactive deep maps and spatial narratives for landscape conservation and public engagement

Landscape conservation science and practice has increasingly embraced a “people and nature” paradigm that recognizes the dynamic complexity and bidirectional relationships in social-ecological systems. Conservation research remains heavily biased toward the ecological dimensions of conservation, with socially focused research taking up a relatively small fraction. The digital revolution and accompanying geospatial web inspired platforms and methods that provide a significant opportunity for closing this divide. This article focuses on potential contributions to conservation science and practices from one such integrative platform—interactive deep maps and their resulting spatial narratives— that digitally combine the qualitative and experiential essence(s) of place with the quantitative capabilities of Cartesian space. By critically exploring emerging work, we propose that interactive deep maps and spatial narratives are uniquely positioned for integrating social and ecological dimensions of place-based conservation by linking the lived experiences of people with the spatially represented ecological characteristics of nature

Participatory mobile- and web-based tools for eliciting landscape knowledge and perspectives: introducing and evaluating the Wisconsin geotools project

Despite synergistic goals across a wide breadth of fields and modalities, coastal landscape conservation projects that engage the lay public and integrate narratives of place remain elusive. This paper addresses these needs by introducing and evaluating the Wisconsin Geotools, an integrated pair of mobile-and web-based applications that allow users to generate and share spatially defined multimedia observations — including photos, short textual descriptions (or journals), and audio and video clips — of their surrounding bioregional landscapes. We followed a participatory, user-centered design process to develop a mobile application that uses GPS capabilities to geolocate multimedia observations of landscapes and feed them into a web-based application, which displays content through the structure of an interactive story map. The applications were piloted with coastal community user groups in Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Wisconsin, USA. Over 800 observations were recorded by participants in our study area. Results from a user evaluation survey indicate the geotools effectively engaged participants in learning about and exploring their surrounding coastal landscapes. A spatial analysis revealed participants’ affinity for water-related features in landscapes. We close by suggesting a variety of ways in which these tools can support future projects and existing methodologies that are advancing transdisciplinary approaches to engaging the public in coastal conservation

Assessing Inequitable Urban Heat Islands and Air Pollution Disparities with Low-Cost Sensors in Richmond, Virginia

Air pollution and the urban heat island effect are consistently linked to numerous respiratory and heat-related illnesses. Additionally, these stressors disproportionately impact low-income and historically marginalized communities due to their proximity to emissions sources, lack of access to green space, and exposure to other adverse environmental conditions. Here, we use relatively low-cost stationary sensors to analyze PM2.5 and temperature data throughout the city of Richmond, Virginia, on the ten hottest days of 2019. For both hourly means within the ten hottest days of 2019 and daily means for the entire record for the year, the temperature was found to exhibit a positive correlation with PM2.5. Analysis of hourly means on the ten hottest days yielded a diurnal pattern in which PM2.5 levels peaked in the early morning and reached their minima in the mid-afternoon. Spatially, sites exhibiting higher temperatures consistently had higher PM2.5 readings, with vulnerable communities in the east end and more intensely developed parts of the city experiencing significantly higher temperatures and PM2.5 concentrations than the suburban neighborhoods in the west end. These findings suggest an uneven distribution of air pollution in Richmond during extreme heat events that are similar in pattern but less pronounced than the temperature differences during these events, although further investigation is required to verify the extent of this relationship. As other studies have found both of these environmental stressors to correlate with the distribution of green space and other land-use factors in cities, innovative and sustainable planning decisions are crucial to the mitigation of these issues of inequity going forward

Midwestern US Farmers Perceive Crop Advisers as Conduits of Information on Agricultural Conservation Practices

Nonpoint source pollution from agricultural land uses continues to pose one of the most significant threats to water quality in the US, with measurable impacts across local, regional, and national scales. The impact and the influence of targeted conservation efforts are directly related to the degree to which farmers are familiar with and trust the entities providing the information and/or outreach. Recent research suggests that farmers consistently rank independent and retail-affiliated crop advisers as among the most trusted and influential sources for agronomic information, but little is understood about whether farmers are willing to receive advice from crop advisers on the use of practices that conserve soil and water, and, if so, whether crop advisers will be perceived as influential. We present survey data from farmers (n = 1461) in Michigan’s Saginaw Bay (Lake Huron) watershed to explore these questions. Results suggest that farmers view crop advisers as trustworthy sources of information about conservation, and influential on management practices that have large conservation implications. We discuss these results, along with perceived barriers and opportunities to crop advisers partnering with traditional conservation agencies to enhance the impact of voluntary conservation programs

Effect of Monetary Incentives on Mail Survey Response Rates for Midwestern Farmers

Response rates to mail-based surveys have declined in recent decades, and survey response rates for farmers tend to be low overall. Maintaining high response rates is necessary to prevent non-response bias. Historically, incentives have been an effective tool to increase response rates with general populations. However, the effect of incentives on farmers has not been well tested. In this study, we experimentally manipulated the use of a $2 incentive in two surveys targeted at farmers. We tested both the use of the incentive and the timing of incentive distribution in the survey process. We found the incentive significantly increased response rates with farmers but there was no significant effect of when the incentive was distributed. Additionally, we evaluated the cost-effectiveness of using the incentive. While the incentive increased response rate, the cost per survey response also increased and the cost of the incentive was not offset by the increased response rate

Understanding Barriers and Opportunities for Adoption of Conservation Practices on Rented Farmland in the US

Agricultural conservation programs often focus on farm operators when promoting conservation practices. However, much of U.S. farmland is owned by landowners not directly involved in farm operations. Rental arrangements on these lands can dis-incentivize the adoption of conservation practices that could improve soil health, water quality, and land values. To date, agricultural conservation policy has largely ignored the role of non-operating landowners (NOLs) and rental arrangements. We help improve the evidence-base for policy by identifying barriers to adoption of conservation practices on rented farmlands. Analysis of forty interviews with NOLs, operators, farm managers and university extension personnel in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana revealed five categories of barriers: cash rent lease terms, rental market dynamics, information deficits/asymmetries, cognitive/interpersonal, and financial motivations. Some barriers, such as risk aversion and farm aesthetics were expressed by both NOLs and operators, while other barriers, such as status quo bias and annual renewal of leases were only expressed by NOLs and operators, respectively. To overcome barriers to conservation, interviewees recommended improving communication between NOLs and operators and modifying cash rent lease terms in order to build in flexibility for equitable sharing of risks and rewards. Agricultural conservation programs could readily apply these results—possibly working with intermediaries (e.g., farm managers, lawyers)—to offer communication and lease tools and assistance to NOLS and operators. Future research should evaluate the efficacy of these conservation interventions and how intermediaries affect the balance of power between NOLs and operators