Laudato si\u27 - establishing local approaches for global ecological conversion

In 2017 the Aotearoa Community Development Association (ACDA) and the International Association for Community Development (IACD) held a conference, Sustainably yours: Community development and a sustainably just future, in Auckland where I presented a paper titled “Community development – The ‘missing ingredient’ in striving for sustainability”. That paper examined the United Nations Agenda 2030 (2015) and, in particular, the associated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper will explore a further significant document, also released in 2015, the encyclical (letter) by Pope Francis, Laudato si’: On care for our common home. The paper starts with some history of the Pope’s work, moves on to provide an overview of the areas Laudato si’ encompasses, analyses some of the responses it has attained, and then concludes with a review of how and where community development theory and processes fit with the document

Word mastery in oral reading telling versus sounding words in grade one.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

‘Food as Commons’ within an Australian Aboriginal context

Abstract not available for this article

Community Development supporting Ecological Conversion, as identified in Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home

In this extraordinary time of multiple, intersecting crises with compounded costs in social, economic, and environmental degradation, calls for transformative change are emerging from all levels of humanity – global to local. Within that setting, my study concentrated on investigating change at a local level to address the research question ’How can community development theory and practice contribute to ecological conversion, as identified in Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home?’ I commenced by reviewing two international communiques, the United Nations 2030 Agenda and Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ On Care for Our Common Home. While these proposals called for global through to local sustainability transition, I chose to undertake research in my local region, recognising people at the grassroots level do currently contribute towards change. I envisaged local level actions could lead to opportunities to progress the Laudato Si’ agenda within community development frameworks. While community development endeavours pursue social-ecological change within an ideology that questions how our world could be organised and cared for differently, it is recognised that other approaches sit within narrowly framed neo-liberal dogma. The ecological approach of community development involves collaboration, mutuality and reciprocity, and connects social justice and ecological viability for all on this planet. Since its release, Laudato Si’ has provoked considerable academic/theological and scientific/environmental debate that does not necessarily contain local people’s views and everyday lived experiences, given their often-limited access to those broader debates. The main argument in this thesis is that local people and communities have substantial roles to play in contributing to the transformational change called for within Laudato Si’. Exploring this premise, my study focused on ways in which local communities initiated the change they were seeking. I investigated selected historical and current case studies that demonstrated creative and innovative actions undertaken within genuine community development frameworks. These actions generated outcomes that are consistent iv with those described in Laudato Si’, releasing opportunities for ecological conversion. The community and ecological practice research methodology developed for this study values integral ecology, which upholds that everything is interrelated, for example the relationship between people, plants, and animals, and between species and planet within systemic networks. The application of interdisciplinary, multi-focused qualitative research methods through the lens of community development practice addresses the research question. One community research method, ‘world café’, identified the themes incorporated into this study, with local case studies and storytelling playing a strong role in relating the significance of these grassroots activities. Results from this PhD research, positioned within community development frameworks and inspired by the teachings of Laudato Si’, demonstrate theory practices for ways individuals and communities can change relationships with their ecosystem. This includes socio-ecological justice, solidarity, and planetary stewardship which are participatory actions that can lead to ecological conversion. Recommendations resulting from this research include initiating community-based inquiry that expands engagement and planning into developing bottom-up, grassroots driven community action plans that support social, economic, and environmental change at local levels. These are important steps towards global change. Other recommendations call for embracing and expanding the value of Indigenous living cultures in this Laudato Si’ community development agenda, along with increased inclusion of human and other-than-human living systems. These are additional pathways towards ecological conversion that leads to transformational change

\u27Growing\u27 food and community in the remote Kimberley region

Brief history of localized food production in Australia This article commences by contributing historical evidence of localized food production in Australia, starting with Aboriginal people, on country, prior to colonization. It then moves on to food grown by colonists, then addressing the depression and world war years, concluding with activities at the end of the twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries

‘Innovative, Creative Community and Ecological Economics Projects in Broome’

There is a call from many towns across Australia and beyond for community-based projects that respond to declining local social, economic, and environmental lifestyles. This presentation is in the form of storytelling - stories of creative activities in Broome that demonstrates alternative, locally generated approaches to transformative change. It commences with a project ‘from the past’, the Bishop Raible Cooperative, which set the scene for the innovation and collaboration that is still evident in the town today. Case studies discussed include Agunya’s social enterprise; Saltwater Country’s rodeo; Theatre Kimberley’s community art and circus; Incredible Edible Broome; Kimberley Community Scheme’s government and community partnership; the Broome Markets contributions; and Broome LETS, a new community currency project. What these projects have in common is they involve local people contributing to their ecosystem and lifestyles – that is looking after their own people, economy and natural environment within their own ‘backyards’

The Quaternary History of Cumberland Sound, Southeastern Baffin Island: The Marine Evidence

Acoustic and core data from Cumberland Sound show that glacial ice derived from the Foxe Sector (Amadjuak Dome) of the Laurentide Ice Sheet advanced to the continental shelf at the mouth of the sound during a late phase of the Foxe Glaciation. The basal lithofacies/acoustic unit (Ai/BUD) in the sound is a massive, black diamicton. On the basis of strati-graphic, acoustic, lithologie and faunal evidence, this unit is interpreted as till. The till is overlain by an ice proximal to ice distal glacial-marine sediment sequence termed the Davis Strait Silt (DSS). The influence of ice retreat is reflected in the foraminiferal assemblages of the DSS. Rapid sedimentation rates in the sound prevailed during deposition of the DSS as shown by the conformable geometry of the DSS. Accelerator Mass Spectrometry dates on molluscs and foraminifera and a single conventional 14C date on disseminated organic material from ice proximal sediment of the DSS (lithofacies B and lower lithofacies C) indicate that the ice retreated rapidly from its probable maximum position on the shelf no earlier than ca. 13,400 BP and into the fiords along the coast of the sound by ca. 8900 BP. Deposition of ice-distal glacial marine sediments (lower lithofacies D) continued in the sound until ca. 7600 BP as the ice margin rapidly retreated into the fiords. Between ca. 8900 BP and ca. 8000 BP, the foraminiferal fauna show that the influence of glacial ice is remote and that "Atlantic Water" impinges on the seafloor. Postglacial sedimentation began in the sound at ca. 7600 BP. Retreat of the ice margin onto land made the fiord basins available as sediment catchments. The reduced sedimentation rates in the sound during this interval are indicated by the change to onlapping basin fill geometry of the Tiniktartuq Silt and Clay (TS&C). Calcareous foraminifera disappear from the sediments by ca. 6300 BP and are replaced by agglutinated foraminifera reflecting "Arctic Water" conditions at the seafloor. The TS&C is presently being deposited in the sound.Les données acoustiques ou issues des forages en provenance de la baie de Cumberland démontrent que la glace du secteur de Foxe (dôme d'Amadjuak) de l'Inlandsis laurentidien est parvenue sur le plateau continental, à l'embouchure de la baie, au cours d'une phase tardive de la Glaciation de Foxe. L'unité de base est un diamicton massif noir identifiée comme étant un till. Le till est recouvert par une séquence de sédiments glacio-marins proximaux et distaux appelée SiIt de Davis Strait. Le retrait glaciaire a eu des conséquences sur la nature des assemblages de foraminifères dans le SiIt de Davis Strait. Des taux rapides de sédimentation ont caractérisé le dépôt de ce silt comme le montre sa géométrie concordante. Les datations obtenues par accélérateur de particules sur les mollusques et les foraminifères et une datation au 14C conventionnelle sur du matériel organique disséminé dans le sédiment de contact glaciaire du SiIt montre que la glace s'est retirée rapidement à partir de sa position maximale probable sur le plateau continental, à partir d'environ 13 400 BP, pour s'écouler dans les fjords le long de la côte vers 8900 BP. Le dépôt des sédiments glacio-marins distaux s'est poursuivi dans la baie jusque vers 7600 BP, alors que la marge glaciaire se retirait rapidement vers les fjords. Entre 8900 BP et environ 8000 BP, l'influence des glaciers s'est peu fait sentir sur les foraminifères, et l'eau de l'Atlantique a envahi les fonds marins. La sédimentation postglaciaire a commencé dans la baie vers 7600 BP. Le changement de géométrie des Silts et argiles de Tiniktartuk devenus chevauchants reflète la diminution des taux de sédimentation dans le détroit au cours de cette période. Les foraminifères à test calcitique n'apparaissaient plus dans les sédiments vers 6300 BP et ont été remplacés par les foraminifères à test agglutiné, témoignant ainsi de la présence des eaux arctiques.Akustische und durch Bohrungen gewonnene Daten von der Cumberland-Bucht zeigen, daB glaziales Eis vom Foxe-Sektor (Amadjuak Dom) der laurentischen Eisdecke zur kontinentalen Plattform am Mund der Bucht wàhrend einer spàten Phase der Foxe-Vereisung vordrang. Die an der Basis befindliche Lithofazies/akustische Einheit (Ai/BUD) in der Bucht ist ein massives schwarzes Diamikton. Auf der Grundlage von stratigraphischen, akustischen, lithologischen und Fauna-Belegen wird dièse Einheit als Till interpretiert. Das Till wird von einer Sequenz glaziomariner Eis-proximal bis Eisdistal-Sedimente ûberlagert, welche Davis Strait Silt (DSS) genannt wird. Der EinfluB des Eisrùckzugs spiegelt sich in den Foraminiferen-Einhèiten des DSS. Schnelle Sedimentierungsraten herrschten in der Bucht wàhrend der Ablagerung des DSS vor, wie aus der gleich gelagerten Géométrie des DSS ersichtlich. Durch Teilchenbeschleuniger gewonnene Daten auf Mollusken und Foraminiferen und eine einzelne konventionelle 14C-Datierung auf verstreutem organischem Material von dem proximalen Eissediment des DSS (Lithofazies B und niedrigere Lithofazies C) zeigen, daB das Eis sich rasch von seiner wahrscheinlichen maximalen Position auf der Plattform nicht vor etwa 13,400 v.u.Z. zurùckzog und in die Fjorde entlang der Kûste der Bucht um efwa 8900 v.u.Z. ein-drang. Die Ablagerung der glazio-marinen distalen Sedimente (untere Lithofazies D) setzte sich in der Bucht weiter bis efwa 7600 v.u.Z. fort, als der Eisrand sich rasch in die Fjorde zurùckzog. Zwischen efwa 8900 v.u.Z. und efwa 8000 v.u.Z. zeigt die Fauna der Foraminiferen, dafî der EinfluB des glazialen Eises gering war, und daB "atlantisches Wasser" auf den Meeresgrund ùbergreift. Die postglaziale Sedimentierung begann in der Bucht um efwa 7600 v.u.Z. Die geringen Sedimentierungsraten in der Bucht wàhrend dieses Intervalls sind am Wechsel zu ùberlappender Géométrie der Beckenfùllung mit Tiniktartuq Schlamm und Lehm (TS&C) erkennbar

Various Gaits of African Elephant Calves

It is commonly believed that elephants exhibit only one gait, a lateral sequence walk. However, recently there have been several interesting studies on the footfall patterns of adult African elephants (Loxodonta africana). Scientists have recognized that elephants actually exhibit two patterns of locomotion: a lateral sequence walk and an amble. The amble is a slight modification of the lateral sequence gait. The present study extends this work by examining the relationship between gait and speed in African elephant calves at the Indianapolis Zoo. I collected frame-by-frame observational video data from a newborn calf born at the Indianapolis Zoo across a six-month period (from the calf\u27s birth, July 20, 2011, to February 3, 2012). I also analyzed samples of archived videotaped gaits of four other elephant calves born at the Indianapolis Zoo between 2000- 2006 and five adult elephants residing at the Indianapolis Zoo sometime during the period 1989-2012. Gait diagrams showed the existence of various gaits for African elephant calves moving on level ground: a lateral sequence walk, an amble, and a walking trot, the latter occurring only at the slowest speeds. This suggests that the trot occurs selectively to maintain static stability when an elephant calf is moving very slowly, especially when the calf is unsteady on its feet. However, the adult elephants only exhibited two gaits on level ground, a lateral sequence walk and an amble. When comparing all the elephants across a large age span (birth to 40 years), the duty factor increased with age for the lateral sequence gait, but decreased with age for the trot

Trade, Energy, and Carbon Dioxide: An Analysis for the Two Economies of Ireland. ESRI WP420. January 2012

In this paper we use a subsystem input-output decomposition analysis to examine the drivers of greenhouse gas emissions in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland. We use a bi-regional input-output analysis to look at how greenhouse gases in one region can be emitted as a result of demand in an exporting region. Looking at emissions generated throughout the island of Ireland, we find that emissions driven by demand in Northern Ireland are larger than those it generates, and vice-versa for the Republic of Ireland. We then use the input-output tables to simulate the effect of imposing a €15/tonne carbon tax in the Republic of Ireland. We find that this causes a decrease in final demand in the Republic of Ireland, and a decrease in output in both the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland; the decrease is greater in the Republic as the domestically produced share of inputs is much larger than the imported share in all sectors