Framing the Blue Economy: Placelessness, Development and Sustainability

This article aims at unravelling the wide acceptance and endorsement of the blue economy. It places the blue economy at the confluence of three discourses: placelessness of the sea; development; sustainability. These discourses, originating on land, spread to the marine realm spatially, narratively and normatively. To account for this process, the concept of horizontal reciprocity is introduced to characterise the relation that operates between land and sea and the projection of norms. It is part of a larger process of normalisation of the sea via its inclusion into the dominant model of economic development. Highlighting how the blue economy builds on and echoes these discourses enables an understanding of the challenges resulting from its narrative and practice. The blue economy requires and justifies governance of the maritime space; it opens up new economic and political possibilities and results in further knowledge creation and interventions (resulting in territorialisation of the sea). The discussion calls for further research to critically assess the connections between macro-discourses and local realities and address today’s challenges facing oceans

World War ‘V’: Emissions change if Birmingham became vegetarian and contemporary attitudes towards vegetarianism.

This study uses quantitative analysis to assess the current dietary habits of 27 vegetarian and 144 non-vegetarian Birmingham residents. Results suggest that environmental reasons are a more popular motivating factor for becoming vegetarian than in previous studies. Using published nutrition and emissions data, the impact of all residents of Birmingham eating only vegetarian meals, both at-home and when dining in Birmingham restaurants, was assessed. These data show that the average Birmingham resident can save approximately 906 kg of carbon dioxide a year by only eating vegetarian meals totalling 3,924,920,776 KgCO2e (equal to 0.85% of the UK’s emissions output). However, the results indicate that city-wide vegetarianism is not currently feasible for the Birmingham population as some residents do not deem any factors as sufficient motivation

Charting the course for a Blue Economy in Peru: A Research Agenda

Ocean- and coastal-based economic activities are increasingly recognised as key drivers for supporting global economies. This move towards the “blue economy” is becoming globally widespread, with the recognition that if ocean-based activities are to be sustainable, they will need to move beyond solely extractive and exploitative endeavours, aligning more closely with marine conservation and effective marine spatial planning. In this paper we define the “blue economy” as a “platform for strategic, integrated and participatory coastal and ocean development and protection that incorporates a low carbon economy, the ecosystem approach and human well-being through advancing regional industries, services and activities”. In Peru, while the seas contribute greatly to the national economy, the full potential of the blue economy has yet to be realised. This paper presents the findings of an early career scientist workshop in Lima, Peru, in March 2016. The workshop “Advancing Green Growth in Peru” brought together researchers to identify challenges and opportunities for green growth across three Peruvian economic sectors—tourism, transport and the blue economy with this paper exploring in detail the priorities generated from the “blue economy” stream. These priorities include themes such as marine spatial planning, detailed evaluations of existing maritime industries (e.g. guano collection and fisheries), development of an effective MPA network, support for sustainable coastal tourism, and better inclusion of social science disciplines in understanding societal and political support for a Peruvian blue economy. In addition, the paper discusses the research requirements associated with these priorities. While not a comprehensive list, these priorities provide a starting point for future dialogue on a co-ordinated scientific platform supporting the blue growth agenda in Peru, and in other regions working towards a successful “blue economy”

Representation of the sea in the UK press - A CASS briefing

This is a project on public awareness of the sea. Ocean sustainability is contingent to citizens’ awareness of “the benefits they receive from the marine environment” (DEFRA, 2021, p.4). However, ‘sea blindness’ is still dominant in Britain (GermondDuret & Germond, 2022), and the sea is at the bottom of the list when it comes to public perception of global environmental issues (Potts et al., 2016). Enhancing public perception of the sea requires a good understanding of the representation of the sea in the UK written press, which is the third source of information about the marine environment (DEFRA, 2021, p.23). The project aimed to provide a systematic account of the way the sea is represented by applying corpus linguistic methods to the analysis of representations of the sea in the UK press. Data shows that, although the need to protect the marine environment is present, the dominant narrative centres on economic benefits, and there is a lack of emotional vocabulary linked to the sea. We thus recommend to prioritise public policies that contribute to connect people and the sea in an emotional (versus utilitarian) way