Beyond waged work: The everyday politics of alternative socio-economic practices

Within geography and beyond there has been much discussion about how to best respond to the mounting inequalities, pressing environmental concerns and socio-economic precarity that appear to characterise current neoliberal capitalist societies. Kathi Weeks (2011) suggests that contemporary forms of precarity are linked to dominant discourses around waged labour which she terms the ‘work society’. This work society is characterised by three inter-related expectations that frame waged work as morally necessary, as the primary right to citizenship, and as the main way to participate in wider society. Weeks argues that these expectations have increased since the global financial crisis, yet paradoxically there are fewer secure and meaningful waged jobs available. In response to these socio-economic and environmental concerns, feminist autonomous geographers like J-K Gibson-Graham (2006) argue that the best way to respond is to ‘take back the economy’ at local scales. Rather than ‘overthrowing’ global neoliberal capitalism, Gibson-Graham and groups such as the Community Economies Collective have been engaged in ongoing projects which foster and enact alternative practices and subjectivities. In this thesis I draw on the work of J-K Gibson-Graham, the Community Economies Collective and others to explore two examples of collective social action in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. These two examples are the relational arts platform, Letting Space, and the Wellington Timebank. I employ a post-structural approach drawing on ethnographic methods to explore how these collectives foster and enact alternative forms of exchange and community in response to the dominant discourses of the work society. I draw on the ideas of Jacques Rancière (2001; 2004) to show how the practices associated with Letting Space and the Wellington Timebank create political moments which disrupt the work society. I complement these discussions about political moments by drawing on the work of Judith Butler (2006b) and Jean-Luc Nancy (1991; 2000) to show how subjects enact forms of community that are not based on fixed identities. In this thesis I provide an important contribution to geographic literature by illustrating the potential of relational art and Timebanking practices to move beyond the melancholy affects associated with leftist politics over the last 30 years. I argue that the forms of social action explored in this research provide one practical way for subjects to partially negotiate the contradictions of the work society while simultaneously fostering forms of community that are more open and not premised on exclusionary identity categories

Delivering Urban Wellbeing through Transformative Community Enterprise: Final Report

Urban communities around the world are using farming and gardening to promote food security, social inclusion and wellbeing (Turner, Henryks and Pearson, 2011). In the New Zealand city of Christchurch, a recently formed social enterprise known as Cultivate currently operates two such urban farms. The farms, which use vacant urban land and green waste to grow and distribute locally grown food, are based around an innovative community form of economy that provides care and training for urban youth. The farms provide a therapeutic environment that is co-created by youth interns, urban farmers, social workers and community volunteers. Cultivate’s urban farms are a valuable example of a creative urban wellbeing initiative that may be useful for other organisations seeking to promote youth wellbeing, hauora,1 social development and urban food security in Aotearoa New Zealand and further afield. To document and measure the holistic impact of Cultivate, we collaborated with Cultivate staff, youth interns and other stakeholders to extend an already existing assessment tool: the Community Economy Return on Investment (CEROI). The CEROI tool was workshopped with urban designers, planners, and community practitioners to test its potential for documenting the non-monetary return of Cultivate’s work, and then communicating this return to those involved in other urban wellbeing projects. This report summarises the research and explains how we used the CEROI tool to document and measure the transformative social and environmental outcomes of Cultivate’s activities. Cultivate is the site in which effort, relationships, money and materials are brought together. It is a site which produces a significant amount of food, but its benefits also extend to changed lives, changed relationships, and a more positive sense of Christchurch as a post-disaster city. These returns on Cultivate’s activities are not captured by notions of profit, ‘savings from helping young people to avoid the justice system’, or even the production of ‘good workers for the economy’. Instead, they might be described as ‘something more’. This research responds to the need to develop a language and an approach to thinking about value that helps us to represent this ‘something more’. We show how the concept of return on investment from a community economies perspective can enable us to describe and document this return in a more holistic sense (especially in comparison to conventional financial accounting approaches). We also suggest that the Cultivate case study offers an important example of how mental wellbeing and access to therapeutic urban environments can be addressed through the work of a self-sustaining community enterprise. In offering this perspective, we acknowledge that further work is required to refine the CEROI tool, so that it can be used to support the work of other community and social enterprises

Decisions, options, and actions in the face of uncertainty: a systematic bibliometric and thematic review of climate adaptation pathways

Climate change is already having adverse impacts, with place- and problem-based implications due to higher temperatures, prolonged droughts, and more frequent extremes. Despite uncertainty about the full extent of future change, adaptation will be required. Adaptation pathways (APs) planning is increasingly used as a methodological approach to identify, evaluate, and sequence adaptation options over time. Pathways link critical decisions to future conditions, providing a road map to support planning in the face of uncertainty. This systematic review identifies and assesses the rapidly growing APs literature, focusing on its definition, and application in diverse contexts. Using bibliometric and thematic analysis, we highlight scholarly networks driving innovation in this area, characterise theoretical and conceptual differences in framing, and derive insights for best practice. Results show the evolution in interpretation, framing and practice; from an initial focus on managing uncertainty with technological- and engineered-based approaches, through to more participatory, policy- and decision-relevant pathways. Pathways planning has become increasingly collaborative, and is now used to address climate adaptation outcomes, within the broader context of interacting and compounding stressors. Results also highlight challenges in conceptualising and operationalizing APs, including comprehensive accounting for costs, and navigating social dynamics involved in process development. Based on these findings we propose new avenues for research, to develop methodologies to better engage with stakeholders’ social, political, and economic concerns, and enhance learning for climate adapted futures

Liquid ventilation in an infant with pulmonary alveolar proteinosis

Partial liquid ventilation (PLV) has been applied in various pulmonary diseases. We describe the use of partial liquid ventilation as a lavage method following normal saline (NS) lavage in an infant with pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) and severe hypoxemia. A 6 weeks old 3.4 kg former 36 weeks gestation boy on supplemental oxygen was transferred to our NICU with persistent tachypnea, dry cough, and increasing oxygen requirements. A lingular open lung biopsy revealed PAP. He developed progressive respiratory failure requiring ventilatory support, necessitating conventional NS lavage, followed by lung lavage with perflubron (LiquiVent; Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp. and Hoechst Marion Roussel) while on venovenous extracorporeal life support (ECLS). Lung lavage with NS and perflubron yielded minimal cloudy effluent. Gas exchange and pulmonary function deteriorated following NS lavage and attempts to discontinue ECLS were poorly tolerated. In contrast, tidal volume, P a O 2 , and pulmonary compliance increased after PLV, while the (A-a) DO 2 decreased to a point where ECLS was no longer required. Once perflubron was added repeatedly to the ventilator circuit to correct for evaporation over the 4 days of PLV. Cardiovascular status remained stable for several days; however, eventually he required reinitiation of ECLS and more mechanical ventilatory support with each trial off ECLS. He was maintained on high pressures and F i O 2 without any possibility to wean him from mechanical ventilation. Life support was withdrawn 1 month after admission. The survival from PAP in infants remains dismal, even with total lung NS lavage. While both NS and perflubron lavage in this patient were not effective in removing the proteinaceous alveolar debris, PLV following NS lavage was associated with an improvement in gas exchange and lung compliance. Pediatr Pulmonol. 1998; 26:283–286. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/38603/1/8_ftp.pd

Community Development for Adaptation

Council-community engagement for a climate-impacted future – research brief. Many of New Zealand’s urban settlements are likely to be impacted by climate-induced hazards such as coastal erosion, flooding and rising groundwater levels. Affected communities will face physical, social, financial and emotional challenges. To ensure successful adaptation, local authorities will need to adopt new approaches to engagement with communities that are exposed to these hazards. This summary forms part of the research findings of the Climate-Adaptive Communities project of the Deep South National Science Challenge. We have drawn from the stories and insights shared with the research team by community members, iwi members and council staff

Fuel additive technology - NOx reduction, combustion efficiency and fly ash improvement for coal fired power stations

Fuel additive technology is based on the use of a solid, fuel additive (iron, aluminium, calcium and silicon based oxides), to reduce NOx emission, improve the quality of fly ash and result in 1-3% coal savings for pulverised coal combustion. The findings in this study have been mainly based on extensive experimentation on 100 kWth down fired-combustion test facility (CTF) and partially on a commercial 260 tons/h steam producing water tube pf boiler. International Innovative Technologies (IIT) developed this additive based technology for the combined effect of reducing NOx from the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels (mainly coal) and more specifically to improve the combustion process of fossil fuels resulting in an ash by product with improved loss on ignition and lower carbon content. The improvement in the combustion thermal efficiency of the commercial 260 tons/h steam producing boiler has been calculated as per the direct calculation method of EN BS12952-15:2003 standard. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Localisation d'évènements sismiques en proche surface sur la faille de San Jacinto à l'aide d'un réseau dense de capteurs

The focus of this thesis is the detection and localization of weak sources on the San Jacinto Fault Zone. The primary targets of interest are sources in the shallow crust, with depth down to a few kilometers. For sources at these depths high frequency content and low energy are expected. Surface sources present on and around the array site are also studied in order to discriminate them from weak seismic sources at depth.We rely on a methodology based on array processing to detect and localize shallow and weak seismic events in the fault zone complex environment. We use Match field Processing on data recorded from a dense array of 1108 vertical component geophones in a 600m x 600m area on the Clark branch of the San Jacinto Fault. We first test the method on a set of chosen events at depth and at the surface. Source epicentral positions and associated apparent velocities are then inverted for surface and seismic sources for 26 days, with the intention of determining if shallow sources are present. Inverting only for these three parameters is less expensive in terms of computational cost and is suitable for a first approach. However, this first inversion leaves us unable to conclude on the presence of shallow sources. As the resolution at depth is insufficient when all three source coordinates are inverted with a classical homogeneous velocity model, we finally investigate strategies to improve resolution at depth without increasing computational cost.Cette thèse traite de la détection et de la localisation de sources autour de la faille de San Jacinto. Son but était de détecter des sources dans la croute superficielle, sur des profondeurs de l'ordre de quelques kilomètres. Ces sources ont une faible énergie et émettent principalement dans les hautes fréquences. Les sources à la surface autour et sur le réseau possèdent les mêmes caractéristiques et sont aussi étudiées afin de pouvoir les séparer des évènements en profondeur.Une méthode basée sur le traitement d'antenne, le Match Field Processing (MFP), est utilisée pour détecter et localiser de faibles évènements à faible profondeur et à la surface. Le MFP est appliqué a des données mesurées grâce a un réseau dense de capteurs une composante déployés sur une zone de 600mx600m sur la faille de San Jacinto. La méthode a d'abord été testée sur un ensemble d'évènements à la surface et en profondeur. Nous appliquons ensuite la technique sur 26 jours de données, afin de déterminer si des évènements sont présents en proche surface. Pour cela, seules la position en surface de la source et la vitesse apparente des ondes émises sont utilisés comme paramètres d'inversion. L'utilisation de ces trois paramètres permet de réaliser une première étude à moindre coût de calcul. Cependant cette première inversion ne permet pas de conclure sur la présence de sources en proche surface. L'information sur la position de la source en profondeur est nécessaire. Les résultats de localisations qui incluent la profondeur comme paramètre étant peu concluants lorsque le modèle classique de vitesse homogène est utilisé, nous étudions ensuite différentes stratégies pour améliorer la résolution en profondeur sans augmenter le coût de calcul