The myth of apathy: psychosocial dimensions of environmental degradation

This thesis presents a psychosocial investigation into environmental subjectivity, through the lens of the myth of apathy. The central argument is for the acknowledgement of unconscious processes, in particular defence mechanisms, and themes of loss, mourning and ambivalence, in how environmental issues are perceived, experienced and responded to. The research draws from qualitative fieldwork in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 2007, involving three in-depth interviews with ten participants selected through the use of an online survey. Surveys were sent out to 1067 residents in Green Bay, 163 responded. The interviews were conducted using a dialogic, relational interview approach, and the analysis based on psychoanalytic qualitative research methods. The analysis centres on several core themes as emerging in the data and in the context of industry in Green Bay: loss, mourning and melancholia; ambivalence and splitting; and concern, care and reparation. The data analysis presents two case studies and four analytic thematic chapters. Based on psychoanalytic clinical work on reparation, the thesis presents a case for the incorporation of creativity and concern in the practice of environmental communications and advocacy, and critiques the concept of apathy as based on assumptions regarding a lack of concern or care. Further the thesis critiques the concepts of the gap between values and practices, or between concern and action, and advocates an appreciation for the complex dilemmas, struggles, and contradictions that may arise from environmental issues and degradation. The thesis aims to contribute to the field and practice of environmental communications and policy, in addressing unconscious dimensions and the need to incorporate affective elements of environmental degradation in addition to attitudes, values and behaviou

Utilization of pediatric after-hours and urgent care clinics in a health maintenance organization

The Pediatrics After-Hours and Urgent-Care Clinics at Kaiser-Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center provides to the members urgent medical services after regular office hours. Parents routinely seek health care for their child in the clinic for non-urgent illnesses. As a result, the physicians who are available to provide urgent care find their time spent providing routine care that is available during regular office hours. As the physicians, many of them per diem, are rotated through the clinics, there is a lack of continuity of care and development of patient/physician relationship. A survey was conducted to identify the factors precipitating the use of urgent care. The sample was drawn from parents who registered their child at the clinics. The results indicated the majority of parents utilize the After-Hours and Urgent-Care Clinics as it is convenient and they do not have to take time off from work. Easy access to the physicians and less waiting time are also factors. The child's illness is of concern to the parents and they seek treatment to relieve their own anxiety. Based on the results of this study, it was recommended that the Pediatric Department examine the possibility of rotating the regular physicians to work evening hours to provide preventative health services. This measure would accommodate the parents who have not obtained a primary physician and would enable the parents who work to bring their child in for routine medical care.Includes bibliographical references (pages 67-68)California State University, Northridge. Department of Health Sciences

TNR and conservation on a university campus: a political ecological perspective

How to manage the impact of free-ranging cats on native wildlife is a polarizing issue. Conservation biologists largely support domestic cat euthanasia to mitigate impacts of free-ranging cat predation on small animal populations. Above all else, animal welfare activists support the humane treatment of free-ranging cats, objecting to euthanasia. Clearly, this issue of how to control free-ranging cat predation on small animals is value laden, and both positions must be considered and comprehended to promote effective conservation. Here, two gaps in the free-ranging cat—small-animal conservation literature are addressed. First, the importance of understanding the processes of domestication and evolution and how each relates to felid behavioral ecology is discussed. The leading hypothesis to explain domestication of wildcats (Felis silvestris) relates to their behavioral ecology as a solitary predator, which made them suited for pest control in early agricultural villages of the Old World. The relationship humans once had with cats, however, has changed because today domesticated cats are usually household pets. As a result, concerns of conservation biologists may relate to cats as predators, but cat welfare proponents come from the position of assuming responsibility for free-ranging household pets (and their feral offspring). Thus, the perceptions of pet owners and other members of the general public provide an important context that frames the relationship between free-ranging cats and small animal conservation. The second part of this paper assesses the effects of an information-based conservation approach on shifting student’s perception of a local Trap–Neuter–Return (TNR) program in introductory core science classes at the University of North Texas (UNT). UNT students are (knowingly or unknowingly) regularly in close proximity to a TNR program on campus that supports cat houses and feeding stations. A survey design implementing a tailored-information approach was used to communicate what TNR programs are, their goals, and the “conservationist” view of TNR programs. We gauged favorability of student responses to the goals of TNR programs prior to and after exposure to tailored information on conservation concerns related to free-ranging cats. Although these results are from a preliminary study, we suggest that an information-based approach may only be marginally effective at shifting perceptions about the conservation implications of free-ranging cats. Our position is that small animal conservation in Western societies occurs in the context of pet ownership, thus broader approaches that promote ecological understanding via environmental education are more likely to be successful than information-based approaches

Subjectivity in a context of environmental change: opening new dialogues in mental health research

In a period of unstable experimentation with challenges of globalization of associated risks, and disenchantment with ‘enduring injustice’, we bring forward a consideration of subjectivity to the study of environmental change and mental health. We begin by identifying how mainstream climate change and mental health studies are unable to explain the emergent and co-evolutionary pathways of agency. As a means of freeing these studies of their objective dimensions of linear-causation, we argue in favour of a re-positioning of subjectivity within an appreciation of recognition conflicts and beyond the over-deterministic interpretations of power centres—state, market or religion. We draw on one example of scientific research that was conducted in a region undergoing strong environmental, social and cultural changes, in the state of São Paulo/Brazil, with the aim to open mental health research to new dialogues, to which we contribute with the notion of the ‘pluriversal subject’

The earth is flat (p < 0.05): significance thresholds and the crisis of unreplicable research

The widespread use of ‘statistical significance’ as a license for making a claim of a scientific finding leads to considerable distortion of the scientific process (according to the American Statistical Association). We review why degrading p -values into ‘significant’ and ‘nonsignificant’ contributes to making studies irreproducible, or to making them seem irreproducible. A major problem is that we tend to take small p -values at face value, but mistrust results with larger p -values. In either case, p -values tell little about reliability of research, because they are hardly replicable even if an alternative hypothesis is true. Also significance ( p ≤ 0.05) is hardly replicable: at a good statistical power of 80%, two studies will be ‘conflicting’, meaning that one is significant and the other is not, in one third of the cases if there is a true effect. A replication can therefore not be interpreted as having failed only because it is nonsignificant. Many apparent replication failures may thus reflect faulty judgment based on significance thresholds rather than a crisis of unreplicable research. Reliable conclusions on replicability and practical importance of a finding can only be drawn using cumulative evidence from multiple independent studies. However, applying significance thresholds makes cumulative knowledge unreliable. One reason is that with anything but ideal statistical power, significant effect sizes will be biased upwards. Interpreting inflated significant results while ignoring nonsignificant results will thus lead to wrong conclusions. But current incentives to hunt for significance lead to selective reporting and to publication bias against nonsignificant findings. Data dredging, p -hacking, and publication bias should be addressed by removing fixed significance thresholds. Consistent with the recommendations of the late Ronald Fisher, p -values should be interpreted as graded measures of the strength of evidence against the null hypothesis. Also larger p -values offer some evidence against the null hypothesis, and they cannot be interpreted as supporting the null hypothesis, falsely concluding that ‘there is no effect’. Information on possible true effect sizes that are compatible with the data must be obtained from the point estimate, e.g., from a sample average, and from the interval estimate, such as a confidence interval. We review how confusion about interpretation of larger p -values can be traced back to historical disputes among the founders of modern statistics. We further discuss potential arguments against removing significance thresholds, for example that decision rules should rather be more stringent, that sample sizes could decrease, or that p -values should better be completely abandoned. We conclude that whatever method of statistical inference we use, dichotomous threshold thinking must give way to non-automated informed judgment

Cystic Angiomatosis of the Bone Appearing as Intrathoracic Lung Masses

A rare case of cystic angiomatosis of the bone (CAB) manifesting as bilateral intrathoracic masses is described. In 1996, a 47-year-old woman was referred to the chest clinic at St Boniface Hospital for evaluation of chronic cough, and her chest radiograph showed large, bilateral pleural-based intrathoracic masses. Ten years before, she had been diagnosed with CAB following bone biopsies of her hip and knee. Computed tomography revealed two chest wall masses with internal septations of bone. CAB is a rare, multicentric disease characterized by involvement of the vascular and lymphatic systems, producing diffuse cystic lesions in the skeleton. Although the ribs are frequently involved, the presentation with intrathoracic masses is uncommon.</jats:p