Institutional management of greenhouse gas emissions: How much does 'green' reputation matter?

Climate Change, green reputation, conjoint analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q29, Q40, Q51,

Storytelling Morality: Ecofeminism, Agrarianism, and Pigs in the Field

Understanding our relationships with and obligations to the natural world through the labor and practice of food production is central to our development as moral beings and environmental citizens. Both ecofeminism and agrarianism—in their overlap and distance—can offer ideas about how best to express our environmental and citizenship ethics through the everyday act of growing, eating, and engaging with food. Raymond Anthony (2009) reminds us that a narrative ethics approach—embraced by both ecofeminism and agrarianism as a meaningful source of ethical wisdom—when applied to animal agriculture helps to build a more inclusive moral community. But Anthony cautions that the predominant agricultural storyline is made up of incompatible camps. He proposes a new story for agriculture, one that offers reconciliation or revitalization. In the spirit of this revitalization, we offer two stories of our material practice of raising pigs on an educational organic farm to illuminate what we see as important ethical, social, and environmental context for our new agricultural narrative. Through these stories we aim to give context to the theoretical ecofeminist and agrarian dialogue about ethics rooted in the land, so we might better understand what appropriate relationships with nonhuman others and natural systems might look like in practice

A comparative study of self-perceived leadership skills based on gender

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references: p. 63-67.Issued also on microfiche from Lange Micrographics.The purpose of this study was to: 1) examine the differences of self-perceived leadership skills between men and women who elected to take a collegiate leadership development course; 2) determine if a relationship existed between women's previous leadership experience and their self-perceived leadership skills; and 3) examine the differences of self-perceived leadership skills between women in an all female educational setting and women in a coeducational setting. A correlational design was used for this study. The procedure followed the pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group design. The sample consisted of students who enrolled in a collegiate leadership development course at Texas A&M University during the Fall semester of 1996. The instrument used, the Leadership Skills Inventory (LSI), measured student's self-perceived leadership skills. The LSI consisted of 21 statements describing various leadership and life skills. Responses were based on a five point Likert-type scale. This study found that men and women who elected to take a collegiate leadership course had the same self-perceived leadership skills prior to and following the course. Unlike previous studies that found women possessed a distinctly different set of leadership skills from men, this study found no differences between the sexes. It was also discovered that the more previous participation a woman had in leadership courses and activities, the stronger she perceived her ability to lead. However, a woman's previous participation in leadership courses and activities had no relationship to her perceived ability to work with groups, make decisions, communicate or understand her self. Following 13 weeks of training, women in the all female section had a stronger perception of their ability to lead, work with groups, make decisions, communicate and understand themselves than the women in the coeducational section. These findings indicated that an all female classroom was superior to a coeducational setting for collegiate women in leadership development. Based on the findings of this study it was recommended that more research be conducted to determine the benefits of gender-specific settings in other types of leadership training programs. Further it was recommended that an all female laboratory section be made available to women enrolled in collegiate leadership development courses

28 th Annual National Agricultural Education Research Conference

Abstract The purpose of this study was a phenomenological understanding of the imp act of an agricultural education garden-based curriculum on the students and teachers of an elementary school in the Midwest. Specifically this study was an exploration of our children's relationship to land and food and what it might offer teachers struggling to engage students in the learning process. A philosophy supporting emergent, participatory inquiry was developed and sustained for this project. Research participants were encouraged to fully engage in the identification of important issues, questions, planning and vision for the garden. Sensitivity to local knowledge and appropriate methods became guiding principles of this project. Data were collected utilizing multiple qualitative methods including: participant observation, dialogue, interviews, photo elicitation, and student work. Data were content analyzed following Lincoln and Guba's (1985) adapted constant comparative method for use in naturalistic inquiry. Data analysis was highly recursive, informing and increasing the sophistication of the inquiry. Appropriate criterion for validity and authenticity of this study were developed which included: catalytic validity, triangulation of data, reflexivity, and grounded understanding. The write up of this study took the form of an ethnographic case study. Findings and conclusions from this ethnography included: 1) an agricultural education garden is a potent force in re-shaping school culture; 2) an agricultural education garden is a leverage point for reversing the loss of time, control and place in teachers' and students' lives; 3) the agricultural education garden connected students to the organizing principle of experience; 4) the agricultural education garden became an important place for teachers' and students' self-expression, creativity and innovation, 5) agricultural education gardening activities changed the status of food as a commodity for consumption to a portal for communal good