Frame envy in energy policy ideology: a social constructivist framework for wicked energy problems

This article deals with the nexus between energy policymaking and ideology. The article builds and expands upon a theoretical social constructivist analytical strategy, or framework, put forth for the purposes of conducting energy policy analysis. It then addresses criticism that this strategy constitutes “postmodern mush” that has no place in energy analysis before concluding with a review of why social constructivism has a significant role to play in building consensus and enhancing understanding between competing energy policy perspectives. The main contribution made by this paper stems from application of this ontological construct to the analysis of policies targeting wicked energy problems. The study cuts to the core about how energy problems are defined, interpreted, communicated, planned for, and potentially implemented via policy. Put another way, our study offers a timely critique or a call for reconceptualizing the process and practice of energy policy itself

Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities

Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations1,2,3,4,5,6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world’s most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Art under the test of labor. Between representation and process : economics, politics, utopia

Les mutations des rapports de production, apparues à la fin du XIXème siècle, ont engendré de nouvelles pratiques artistiques, ainsi que de nouvelles valeurs esthétiques : productions en série, délégations, créations d'entreprises, prestations de services etc. On ne peut plus envisager la création artistique en dehors de sa relation au capital. À l'instar des autres formes de pratiques productives développées au sein de la société, le travail de l'artiste est de plus en plus soumis à des valeurs liées à des activités hétéronomes. A partir des analyses de Marx et d'Arendt sur le problème du travail et sa place dans la hiérarchie des activités humaines, cette thèse en propose une actualisation afin d'en entrevoir une possible émancipation. En expérimentant l'œuvre dans sa pratique même, en l'éprouvant face à différents milieux et sous différentes formes, la recherche plastique se met« à l'épreuve » du travail ; ceci pour en évaluer les limites, révéler certains mécanismes et interroger ses finalités. L'enjeu paraît d'autant plus essentiel aujourd'hui que, dans la période de tension économique et sociale que nous subissons, se posent les questions de l'utilité, de la nécessité et du rôle de l'art.The evolutions of the production relations, which emerged at the end of the 19th century, have generated new artistic practices as well as new aesthetical values: serial production, delegation, entrepreneurship, service provision, etc. Artistic creation cannot be contemplated outside of its relationship to capital. Like the other forms of productive practices developed within society, the artist's work is more and more subjected to values that relate to heteronomous activities. The following thesis offers an actualization of Marx and Arendt's analyses regarding labor and its place within the hierarchy of human activities in order to apprehend the possibility of an emancipation. While experimenting with the artwork and its very praxis within different environments and under different forms, plastic research will be put under the test of labor so as to evaluate its limits, reveal some of its mechanisms and question its purposes. The issue seems all the more essential today when considering the period of socio-economical tension that we are currently going through, and which raises the questions of the utility, necessity and role of art