Grassroots social innovation and the mobilisation of values in collaborative consumption: a conceptual model

There is growing interest in the potential of grassroots innovations to play a role in the transition to sustainable production and consumption systems. However, the role of values has been little considered in relation to the development and diffusion of grassroots innovations. We develop a conceptual model of how citizens’ values are mobilised by grassroots innovations, drawing on the value theory of Schwartz et al. (2012) and the theory of collective enactment of values of Chen et al. (2013). Using the results of a large scale survey of free reuse groups (e.g. Freecycle and Freegle), which enable collaborative forms of consumption, we apply the conceptual model to explore how participants’ values are mobilised and expressed. We show that while the majority of free reuse group participants do hold significantly stronger self-transcendence (i.e. pro-social) values than the wider UK population, they also hold other values in common with that population and a minority actually place less emphasis on self-transcendence values. We conclude that diffusion of this particular grassroots innovation is unlikely to be simply value limited and that structural features may be more significant

Collaborating with Extension Master Gardeners to Evaluate Tomato Cultivars

This is a compilation of 30 research trial reports from four land-grant universities in the Midwestern United States. Crops include cantaloupe, pickling cucumber, pepper, potato, pumpkin, summer squash and zucchini, sweet corn, tomato, and watermelon. Somecrops were evaluated in high tunnels or hoophouses. Most trials evaluated different cultivars or varieties. One report addressed plant spacing for sweet corn and one addressed soil block for production of tomato seedlings. A list of vegetable seed sources and a list of other online sources of vegetable trial reports are also included

Hot Pepper Cultivar Evaluation Using Extension Master Gardeners

This is a compilation of 21 research trial reports from four land-grant universities in the Midwestern United States. Crops include cantaloupe, pickling cucumber, pepper, potato, pumpkin, summer squash and zucchini, sweet corn, tomato, and watermelon. Somecrops were evaluated in high tunnels or hoophouses. Most trials evaluated different cultivars or varieties. One report addressed plant spacing for sweet corn and one addressed soil block for production of tomato seedlings. A list of vegetable seed sources and a list of other online sources of vegetable trial reports are also included

UK public perceptions of shale gas hydraulic fracturing:The role of audience, message and contextual factors on risk perceptions and policy support

There is growing recognition of the need to understand public attitudes to energy sources, such as shale gas, and to feed these into decision-making. This study represents the first detailed UK experimental survey of public perceptions of shale gas fracking, including analysis of the effects of different messages and the relative influence of different audience, message and contextual factors on support and risk perceptions in respect of shale gas fracking. Using an online survey (N = 1457) of the UK public, we find considerable ambivalence about shale gas, but also greater awareness of potential risks than benefits. Prior knowledge is associated with more favourable attitudes, although demographics, political affiliation and environmental values are strongest influences on perceptions. When provided with environmental or economic information about shale gas, participants became more positive – irrespective of their prior values or whether information is framed in terms of losses or gains. As expected, prior attitudes predict how information is received, with more attitude change amongst the most ambivalent respondents. We conclude that additional information about shale gas is more likely to be effective changing attitudes if focussed on this ’undecided’ group. Studies of this type are important for policy makers and industry alike

A Global Ecological Signal Of Extinction Risk In Terrestrial Vertebrates

To determine the distribution and causes of extinction threat across functional groups of terrestrial vertebrates, we assembled an ecological trait data set for 18,016 species of terrestrial vertebrates and utilized phylogenetic comparative methods to test which categories of habitat association, mode of locomotion, and feeding mode best predicted extinction risk. We also examined the individual categories of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List extinction drivers (e.g., agriculture and logging) threatening each species and determined the greatest threats for each of the four terrestrial vertebrate groups. We then quantified the sum of extinction drivers threatening each species to provide a multistressor perspective on threat. Cave dwelling amphibians (p \u3c 0.01), arboreal quadrupedal mammals (all of which are primates) (p \u3c 0.01), aerial and scavenging birds (p \u3c 0.01), and pedal (i.e., walking) squamates (p \u3c 0.01) were all disproportionately threatened with extinction in comparison with the other assessed ecological traits. Across all threatened vertebrate species in the study, the most common risk factors were agriculture, threatening 4491 species, followed by logging, threatening 3187 species, and then invasive species and disease, threatening 2053 species. Species at higher risk of extinction were simultaneously at risk from a greater number of threat types. If left unabated, the disproportionate loss of species with certain functional traits and increasing anthropogenic pressures are likely to disrupt ecosystem functions globally. A shift in focus from species- to trait-centric conservation practices will allow for protection of at-risk functional diversity from regional to global scales

Evolution of the largest mammalian genome

The genome of the red vizcacha rat (Rodentia, Octodontidae, Tympanoctomys barrerae) is the largest of all mammals, and about double the size of their close relative, the mountain vizcacha rat Octomys mimax, even though the lineages that gave rise to these species diverged from each other only about five million years ago. The mechanism for this rapid genome expansion is controversial, and hypothesized to be a consequence of whole genome duplication or accumulation of repetitive elements. To test these alternative but nonexclusive hypotheses, we gathered and evaluated evidence from whole transcriptome and whole genome sequences of T. barrerae and O. mimax. We recovered support for genome expansion due to accumulation of a diverse assemblage of repetitive elements, which represent about one half and one fifth of the genomes of T. barrarae and O. mimax, respectively, but we found no strong signal of whole genome duplication. In both species, repetitive sequences were rare in transcribed regions as compared to the rest of the genome, and mostly had no close match to annotated repetitive sequences from other rodents. These findings raise new questions about the genomic dynamics of these repetitive elements, their connection to widespread chromosomal fissions that occurred in the T. barrerae ancestor, and their fitness effects ? including during the evolution of hypersaline dietary tolerance in T. barrerae.Fil: Evans, Ben J.. Mc Master University; CanadáFil: Upham, Nathan S.. Mc Master University; Canadá. Field Museum of Natural History; Estados Unidos. University of Yale; Estados UnidosFil: Golding, G. Brian. Mc Master University; CanadáFil: Ojeda, Ricardo Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; ArgentinaFil: Ojeda, Agustina Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; Argentin