Research and publications

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https://hdl.handle.net/10315/6201

This collection consists of research and scholarship produced by faculty members and graduate students affiliated with the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change (FEUC). It may also contain scholarship from faculty members and graduate students previously affiliated with the Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) during the period of 1968 to 2020.

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 77

Open Access
Urban change detection: assessing biophysical drivers using machine learning and Google Earth Engine
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2025-03-20) Durowoju, Olufemi Sunday; Obateru, Rotimi Oluseyi; Adelabu, Samuel; Olusola, Adeyemi
Urban areas are experiencing rapid transformations, driven by population growth, economic development, and policy changes. Understanding and monitoring these dynamic changes is crucial for sustainable urban planning and management. This study leverages machine learning and Google Earth Engine to investigate urban dynamics and its interactions with biophysical conditions in the Kaduna River Basin (KRB), Nigeria. This study utilized a dataset of 192 points, initially extracted from Google Earth Engine, to analyze urban transitions between 1987 and 2020, incorporating biophysical and environmental variables such as population density, precipitation, and surface temperature. The dataset was processed in R using the CARET package, with missing data imputed via K-nearest neighbors (KNN), categorical variables transformed using One-Hot Encoding, and numerical variables rescaled for consistency. A tenfold cross-validation approach was used to train and validate machine learning models, including random forest, support vector machine, KNN, and multivariate adaptive regression splines, ensuring optimal model performance. Model evaluation metrics such as overall accuracy, kappa, F1 score, and area under the curve confirmed the reliability of the models in identifying the biophysical factors influencing urban changes. The findings revealed overall accuracy of 0.80, 0.73, 0.71, and 0.72 and kappa statistics of 0.60, 0.46, 0.42, and 0.45 for random forest (RF), multivariate adaptive regression splines, support vector machine, and KNN, respectively, with RF emerging as the most accurate model (80%) for predicting urban change patterns in KRB. Land cover changes reveal rapid urban expansion (154.81%), declining water bodies (− 95.79%), and vegetation growth (174%). Machine learning models identify population density and water stress index as key urban change drivers, with climate factors like temperature and precipitation playing crucial roles. The results of this study offer valuable insights into the processes driving urban transformation and present a robust methodology for monitoring and predicting future urban development. This study aids in the creation of strategies for sustainable urban growth and the mitigation of adverse environmental impacts.
Open Access
Designing a deep learning-based framework for the prediction of lake surface closed curves
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2025-02-17) Santos, Celso Augusto Guimarães; Misra, Debasmita; Ghanimeh, Sophia; Olusola, Adeyemi; Patel, Utkarsh; Golmohammadi, Golmar; Abdi, Erfan; Karimi, Vahid; Ghorbani, Mohammad Ali
Predicting the surface area and shape of lakes is critical for ecological, hydrological, and climatic studies. Accurate predictions enhance the understanding of lake dynamics, facilitate water resource management, and support environmental change assessments. Traditional methods, while foundational, often lack the efficiency, accuracy, and scalability required to handle complex lake systems, necessitating modern, technology-driven approaches. This study introduces a novel methodology for predicting changes in lake surface area and shape, including shoreline dynamics. The approach employs advanced remote sensing techniques and mathematical modeling, integrating Mathematica simulations with Net-Encoder and Deconvolution models. The framework achieved a high accuracy rate of 93% in water pixel extraction. Results indicate significant reductions in surface area, with Lake Eucumbene shrinking by 4.3% and the Salton Sea by 14.54%. The most notable shoreline changes occurred in the southwestern and northern regions of Lake Eucumbene and the southwestern region of the Salton Sea. This research highlights the effectiveness of a remote sensing-based approach for monitoring lake surface dynamics, offering a low-cost, high-accuracy tool for environmental monitoring and climate change impact assessment. Compared to existing methods, the proposed approach provides equivalent accuracy while delivering enhanced operational simplicity and flexibility.
Open Access
Imprints of large‐scale climate oscillations on river flow in selected Canadian river catchments
(Wiley, 2024-06-17) Olusola, Adeyemi; Ogunjo, Samuel; Olusegun, Christiana F
We investigated the impacts of six major climate oscillations on river flow at three stations within the Humber catchments (located in Ontario, ON and Newfoundland and Labrador, NL) from 1970 to 2020 using sensitivity and wavelet analyses. Results indicate that the discharge at East Humber River near Pine (ON) exhibits the highest statistically significant sensitivity, with 0.304 and 0.394 monthly units to the Dipole Mode Index (DMI) and Tropical North Atlantic (TNA), respectively. Monthly significance analysis also highlights the diverse influence of large‐scale climate oscillations on river flow across the three locations. Wavelet analysis reveals significant active multidecadal oscillations for the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) at East Humber River near Pine, with high spectral power. We confirmed that stations within ON demonstrate sensitivities in a similar direction to the large‐scale climate oscillations, contrasting with those observed at NL. The observed inconsistency in the relationship between large‐scale climate oscillations and, for instance, NAO at various locations suggests that the impacts of climate oscillations may manifest differently in different regions. Overall, while inland stations exhibit similar sensitivity patterns, the coastal station demonstrates distinct responses, highlighting the importance of geographical context in understanding the impacts of large‐scale climate oscillations on river flow dynamics.
Open Access
The IAHS Science for Solutions decade, with Hydrology Engaging Local People IN a Global world (HELPING)
(Taylor & Francis, 2024-05-20) Arheimer, Berit; Cudennec, Christophe; Castellarin, Attilio; Grimaldi, Salvatore; Heal, Kate V; Lupton, Claire; Sarkar, Archana; Tian, Fuqiang; Kileshye Onema, Jean-Marie; Archfield, Stacey; Blöschl, Günter; Chaffe, Pedro L Borges; Croke, Barry FW; Dembélé, Moctar; Leong, Chris; Mijic, Ana; Mosquera, Giovanny M; Nlend, Bertil; Olusola, Adeyemi O; Polo, María J; Sandells, Melody; Sheffield, Justin; van Hateren, Theresa C; Shafiei, Mojtaba; Adla, Soham; Agarwal, Ankit; Aguilar, Cristina; Andersson, Jafet CM; Andraos, Cynthia; Andreu, Ana; Avanzi, Francesco; Bart, Ryan R; Bartosova, Alena; Batelaan, Okke; Bennett, James C; Bertola, Miriam; Bezak, Nejc; Boekee, Judith; Bogaard, Thom; Booij, Martijn J; Brigode, Pierre; Buytaert, Wouter; Bziava, Konstantine; Castelli, Giulio; Castro, Cyndi V; Ceperley, Natalie C; Chidepudi, Sivarama KR; Chiew, Francis HS; Chun, Kwok P; Dagnew, Addisu G; Dekongmen, BW; del Jesus, Manuel; Dezetter, Alain; do Nascimento Batista, José A; Doble, Rebecca C; Dogulu, Nilay; Eekhout, Joris PC; Elçi, Alper; Elenius, Maria; Finger, David C; Fiori, Aldo; Fischer, Svenja; Förster, Kristian; Ganora, Daniele; Gargouri Ellouze, Emna; Ghoreishi, Mohammad; Harvey, Natasha; Hrachowitz, Markus; Jampani, Mahesh; Jaramillo, Fernando; Jongen, Harro J; Kareem, Kola Y; Khan, Usman T; Khatami, Sina; Kingston, Daniel G; Koren, Gerbrand; Krause, Stefan; Kreibich, Heidi; Lerat, Julien; Liu, Junguo; Madruga de Brito, Mariana; Mahé, Gil; Makurira, Hodson; Mazzoglio, Paola; Merheb, Mohammad; Mishra, Ashish; Mohammad, Hiba; Montanari, Alberto; Mujere, Never; Nabavi, Ehsan; Nkwasa, Albert; Orduna Alegria, Maria E; Orieschnig, Christina; Ovcharuk, Valeriya; Palmate, Santosh S; Pande, Saket; Pandey, Shachi; Papacharalampous, Georgia; Pechlivanidis, Ilias; Penny, Gopal; Pimentel, Rafael; Post, David A; Prieto, Cristina; Razavi, Saman; Salazar-Galán, Sergio; Sankaran Namboothiri, Adarsh; Santos, Pedro P; Savenije, Hubert; Shanono, Nura J; Sharma, Ashutosh; Sivapalan, Murugesu; Smagulov, Zhanibek; Szolgay, Jan; Teng, Jin; Teuling, Adriaan J; Teutschbein, Claudia; Tyralis, Hristos; van Griensven, Ann; van Schalkwyk, Andries J; van Tiel, Marit; Viglione, Alberto; Volpi, Elena; Wagener, Thorsten; Wang-Erlandsson, Lan; Wens, Marthe; Xia, Jun
The new scientific decade (2023-2032) of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) aims at searching for sustainable solutions to undesired water conditions - may it be too little, too much or too polluted. Many of the current issues originate from global change, while solutions to problems must embrace local understanding and context. The decade will explore the current water crises by searching for actionable knowledge within three themes: global and local interactions, sustainable solutions and innovative cross-cutting methods. We capitalise on previous IAHS Scientific Decades shaping a trilogy; from Hydrological Predictions (PUB) to Change and Interdisciplinarity (Panta Rhei) to Solutions (HELPING). The vision is to solve fundamental water-related environmental and societal problems by engaging with other disciplines and local stakeholders. The decade endorses mutual learning and co-creation to progress towards UN sustainable development goals. Hence, HELPING is a vehicle for putting science in action, driven by scientists working on local hydrology in coordination with local, regional, and global processes.
Open Access
Fatty acid profiles of feeding and fasting bears: estimating calibration coefficients, the timeframe of diet estimates, and selective mobilization during hibernation
(Journal of Comparative Physiology B Biochemical, Systems, and Environmental Physiology, 2021-10-23) Thiemann, Gregory; Rode, Karyn; Erlenbach, Joy; Budge, Suzanne; Robbins, Charles
Accurate information on diet composition is central to understanding and conserving carnivore populations. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) has emerged as a powerful tool for estimating the diets of predators, but ambiguities remain about the timeframe of QFASA estimates and the need to account for species-specific patterns of metabolism. We conducted a series of feeding experiments with four juvenile male brown bears (Ursus arctos) to (1) track the timing of changes in adipose tissue composition and QFASA diet estimates in response to a change in diet and (2) quantify the relationship between consumer and diet FA composition (i.e., determine “calibration coefficients”). Bears were fed three compositionally distinct diets for 90–120 days each. Two marine-based diets were intended to approximate the lipid content and composition of the wild diet of polar bears (U. maritimus). Bear adipose tissue composition changed quickly in the direction of the diet and showed evidence of stabilization after 60 days. During hibernation, FA profiles were initially stable but diet estimates after 10 weeks were sensitive to calibration coefficients. Calibration coefficients derived from the marine-based diets were broadly similar to each other and to published values from marine-fed mink (Mustela vison), which have been used as a model for free-ranging polar bears. For growing bears on a high-fat diet, the temporal window for QFASA estimates was 30–90 days. Although our results reinforce the importance of accurate calibration, the similarities across taxa and diets suggest it may be feasible to develop a generalized QFASA approach for mammalian carnivores.
Open Access
Gendering grassrootscapes: The sociospatial relations of lower working-class women dwelling in the socialist Workers’ New Villages in post-reform Shanghai
(Journal of Urban Affairs, 2023-09-15) Ip, Penn Tsz Ting; HUANG, TSUNG-YI; Wang, Jing
Women of the lower working-class in Shanghai are seemingly invisible in Chinese urban scholarship. Drawing on fieldwork conducted between 2017 and 2021 in Shanghai, this article sheds light on the social lives of lower working-class women dwelling in the Workers’ New Villages in the wake of rapid urbanization. Mounting a threefold conceptual exploration of grassroots urbanism, genderscapes, and guanxi (social connectivity), the article develops and coins the term “grassrootscapes” to explicate grassroots women’s sociospatial relations with housing units, the community, and the city. Probing these multi-layered horizons to trace women’s life trajectories and gendered experiences, the article discerns how sociospatial dynamics of “grassrootscapes” are produced under a socialist system, in which women’s day-to-day suffering is a by-product of market reforms. Socialist workers’ housing is employed as a case study to show how the conceptualization of “grassrootscapes” can be a useful tool to examine the social transformation brought about by the drastic changes in urban policies in globalizing cities.
Restricted
Assessing the impacts of urban beehives on wild bees using individual, community, and population-level metrics
(Urban Ecosystems, 2023-05-22) MacKell, Sarah; Elsayed, Hadil; Colla, Sheila R
Several species of wild bees are in decline globally and the presence of managed honey bees is one of many proposed stressors on wild bee populations. However, there is limited knowledge of the impacts of honey bee hives on wild bees, especially in urban landscapes. We performed a field study to assess the associations between honey bees and wild bees within the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. We measured relative abundance of honey bees, wild bee metrics (abundance, community composition, functional diversity, and body size), and floral resources (floral density and richness); we also calculated impervious surface at 500 m and 1 km for each of our sites. Our main findings were that increasing honey bee abundance was correlated with decreases in wild bee species richness and functional diversity, as well as two wild bee species’ abundances and one wild bee species body size, out of many assessed. This research adds to the growing body of literature aiming to evaluate whether honey bees are a stressor on wild bees in urban landscapes, which will be valuable for informing conservation management practices and future research.
Open Access
Extending morphological pattern segmentation to 3D voxels
(Springer, 2022-01) Remmel, Tarmo K
This short communication introduces the logic, demonstrates its use, and identifies the availability of a new tool that extends the traditional 2D morphological segmentation of binary raster data into the 3-dimensional realm of voxels. A combination of 3-dimensional array data and network graph theory are implemented to facilitate the logical parsing of identified 3-dimensional features into their mutually exclusive constituent morphological classes. All processing is performed in the R environment, providing the ability for anyone to perform the demonstrated analyses on their own data. The only input requirement is a binary (1 = feature of interest, 0 otherwise) 3-dimensional array, where each voxel of interest is then classified into classes called outside, mass, skin, crumb, antenna, circuit, bond, and void that correspond their 2-dimensional equivalents of background, core, edge, islet, branch, loop, bridge, and perforation. An additional class called the void-volume identifies voxels belonging to the empty space within the object of interest. The work helps to bring pattern metrics into the 3-dimensional world, particularly given the reliance on adjacency and connectivity assessments
Open Access
Common Areas, Common Causes: Public Space in High‐Rise Buildings During Covid‐19
(Urban Planning, 2022-11-22) March, Loren; Lehrer, Ute
This article explores forms of public space that have been rendered palpable during the Covid‐19 pandemic: public spaces in high‐rise buildings. We consider both physical and social public space in this context, thinking about the safety of both common areas and amenities in buildings and the emergence of new publics around the conditions of tower living during the pandemic (particularly focusing on tenant struggles). We determine that the planning, use, maintenance, and social production of public space in high‐rise buildings are topics of increasing concern and urgency and that the presence of public space in the vertical built forms and lifestyles proliferating in urban regions complicates common understandings of public space. We argue that the questions raised by the pandemic call upon us to reconsider the meanings of public space.
Open Access
Everyday Urbanisms in the Pandemic City: A Feminist Comparative Study of the Gendered Experiences of Covid-19 in Southern Cities
(Social & Cultural Geography, 2022-07-31) Razavi, Nasya; Adeniyi-Ogunyankin, Grace; Basu, Swagata; Datta, Anindita; de Souza, Karen; Ip, Penn Tsz Ting; Koleth, Elsa; Marcus, Joy; Miraftab, Faranak; Mullings, Beverley; Nmormah , Sylvester; Odunola, Bukola; Burgoa, Sonia Pardo; Peake, Linda
Drawing on GenUrb’s comparative research undertaken in mid-2020 with communities in five cities—Cochabamba, Bolivia, Delhi, India, Georgetown, Guyana, Ibadan, Nigeria, and Shanghai, China—we engage in an intersectional analysis of the gendered impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in women’s everyday lives. Our research employs a variety of context-specific methods, including virtual methods, phone interviews, and socially-distanced interviews to engage women living in neighbourhoods characterized by underdevelopment and economic insecurity. While existing conditions of precarity trouble the before-and-after terminology of Covid-19, across the five cities the narratives of women’s everyday lives reveal shifts in spatial-temporal orders that have deepened gendered and racial exclusions. We find that limited mobilities and the different and changing dimensions of production and social reproduction have led to increased care work, violence, and strained mental health. Finally, we also find that social reproduction solidarities, constituting old and new circuits of care, have been reinforced during the pandemic.
Open Access
Trends in historical mercury deposition inferred from lake sediment cores across a climate gradient in the Canadian High Arctic
(ScienceDirect, 2018-10) Korosi, Jennifer; Griffiths, Katherine; Smol, John; Blais, Jules
Recent climate change may be enhancing mercury fluxes to Arctic lake sediments, confounding the use of sediment cores to reconstruct histories of atmospheric deposition. Assessing the independent effects of climate warming on mercury sequestration is challenging due to temporal overlap between warming temperatures and increased long-range transport of atmospheric mercury following the Industrial Revolution. We address this challenge by examining mercury trends in short cores (the last several hundred years) from eight lakes centered on Cape Herschel (Canadian High Arctic) that span a gradient in microclimates, including two lakes that have not yet been significantly altered by climate warming due to continued ice cover. Previous research on subfossil diatoms and inferred primary production indicated the timing of limnological responses to climate warming, which, due to prevailing ice cover conditions, varied from ∼1850 to ∼1990 for lakes that have undergone changes. We show that climate warming may have enhanced mercury deposition to lake sediments in one lake (Moraine Pond), while another (West Lake) showed a strong signal of post-industrial mercury enrichment without any corresponding limnological changes associated with warming. Our results provide insights into the role of climate warming and organic carbon cycling as drivers of mercury deposition to Arctic lake sediments.
Open Access
Opportunity costs: Underemployment and mental health inequities between immigrant and Canadian-born labour force participants, a cross-sectional study
(Springer, 2021-09-25) Mawani, Farah N.; O'Campo, Patricia; Smith, Peter
Objectives To examine the association of underemployment (operationalized as unemployment or overqualification) to fair/poor self-rated mental health (SRMH) in: 1. labour force participants, 2. between a. immigrant vs. Canadian-born and b. recent (< 10 years in Canada; arrived 1993-2003) vs. long-term immigrant (³ 10 years in Canada) labour force participants. Methods Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) 2.1 (2003) was used to explore associations within the context of a 1993 national immigration policy shift prioritizing admission of skilled immigrants. Logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate odds ratios associating underemployment with fair/poor SRMH for the full study sample, then stratified by a. immigrant status, and b. length of time in Canada. Data was weighted to reflect the CCHS 2.1 sample design, adjustments for nonresponse, and post-stratification. The study sample included 57 308 labour force participants aged 18–64. Following a listwise deletion of participants with missing values for independent variables, dependent variable, and/or covariates, the resulting sample was 54 064 (94% of the eligible sample). Results Underemployment was positively associated to fair/poor SRMH for labour force participants. Overqualification was positively associated to fair/poor SRMH for immigrant (AOR 1.63; 95% CI 1.16 to 2.27), but not for Canadian-born labour force participants (AOR 1.03; 95% CI 0.90 to 1.20). Unemployment (AOR 3.41; 95% CI 1.79 to 6.48) and overqualification (AOR 1.52; 95% CI 1.04 to 2.21) only had significant positive associations with fair/poor SRMH for long-term immigrants. The magnitude of association of overqualification was greater for recent (AOR 2.04) than long-term immigrants and this may have practical importance. Conclusions The findings suggest the need for tailored interventions to prevent underemployment and fair/poor SRMH for immigrant vs. Canadian-born labour force participants. A whole of government approach is needed to reduce underemployment of immigrants and its mental health impact.
Open Access
Drivers and consequences of apex predator diet composition in the Canadian Beaufort Sea
(Springer, 2020-09-08) Florko, Katie; Thiemann, Gregory W.; Bromaghin, J. F.
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) rely on annual sea ice as their primary habitat for hunting marine mammal prey. Given their long lifespan, wide geographic distribution, and position at the top of the Arctic marine food web, the diet composition of polar bears can provide insights into temporal and spatial ecosystem dynamics related to climate-mediated sea ice loss. Polar bears with the greatest ecological constraints on diet composition may be most vulnerable to climate-related changes in ice conditions and prey availability. We used quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) to estimate the diets of polar bears (n = 419) in two western Canadian Arctic subpopulations (Northern Beaufort Sea and Southern Beaufort Sea) from 1999 to 2015. Polar bear diets were dominated by ringed seal (Pusa hispida), with interannual, seasonal, age- and sex-specific variation. Foraging area and sea ice conditions also affected polar bear diet composition. Most variation in bear diet was explained by longitude, reflecting spatial variation in prey availability. Sea ice conditions (extent, thickness, and seasonal duration) declined throughout the study period, and date of sea ice break-up in the preceding spring was positively correlated with female body condition and consumption of beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas), suggesting that bears foraged on beluga whales during entrapment events. Female body condition was positively correlated with ringed seal consumption, and negatively correlated with bearded seal consumption. This study provides insights into the complex relationships between declining sea ice habitat and the diet composition and foraging success of a wide-ranging apex predator.
Open Access
Explaining the Deprofessionalized Filipino: Why Filipino Immigrants Get Low-Paying Jobs in Toronto
(CERIS - The Ontario Metropolis Centre, 2009-10)
Processes of labour market subordination among Filipino immigrants to Canada have been widely observed in recent years, but the reasons for them have usually been assumed to be typical of all immigrant groups. While some processes behind deprofessionalization and mismatched skills in the labour market are indeed generic and experienced by all immigrants arriving with non-Canadian credentials and experience, particular groups experience the labour market in specific ways. In this paper, we seek to provide a nuanced assessment of the factors behind the deprofessionalization of Filipino immigrants in particular, by drawing attention to a mixture of cultural, economic, social and institutional circumstances that shape the experience of this group. We argue that the distinctive labour market integration processes affecting Filipino immigrants requires attention by policy makers, and by implication we also suggest the importance of considering the distinctive labour market experiences of other specific groups. The generic immigrant experience that so often forms the basis of quantitative or institutional assessments of labour market integration should not be assumed to be universally applicable.
Open Access
Power of the People: A Review of Citizen Science Programs for Conservation
(Biological Conservation, 2020-09) MacPhail, Victoria; Colla, Sheila R.
Citizen science is a rapidly growing field whereby volunteers can collect and/or analyze data to contribute to research and gain an appreciation for the environment. There are countless programs currently underway around the world: some have clear scientific hypotheses being tested and others are simple data gathering; some are designed and led at the grass-roots level while others are done by academics. This review focusses on best practices for the development and running of citizen science projects to make them successful. It includes discussion around different methods of experimental design, data collection, and analyses; how participants are recruited, engaged, and rewarded (including who participates and why); the effect of participation on the volunteer’s knowledge and actions; and the impact programs have on policy and other conservation actions. While there are several challenges that projects face, and more research is needed in various areas, the many benefits support the continued expansion of citizen science projects.
Open Access
Gender and Climate Justice in Canada: Stories from the Grassroots
(Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2017-07) Perkins, Patricia E. (Ellie)
Climate change has gendered effects across Canada. Extreme weather events, warming cities, melting sea ice and permafrost, ice storms, floods, droughts, and fires related to climate change are directly and indirectly causing widespread economic and social impacts. Fossil fuel extraction, transport, and processing affect many people in Canada. Women and men have different experiences and views regarding climate change, and are affected differently as a function of their gendered social and economic positions. They also have different access to redress and to policy processes shaping public responses. Indigenous women, in particular, are on the front lines of climate injustice and are leading inspiring resistance movements. This paper examines climate justice issues across Canada through a gender lens, using a literature review and interviews with researchers and activists to identify the major themes and knowledge gaps. The paper also summarizes preliminary results of grassroots research into how individuals, community-based organizations, women’s groups and indigenous activists across Canada experience and articulate the gendered impacts of climate change, what their priorities are for action, and how they are organizing -- for example, by incorporating climate change education, outreach, networking, activism, and policy development into their work.
Open Access
SCALE, ECOLOGY AND COMPLEX SYSTEMS
(2020-02) Perkins, Patricia E. (Ellie)
The relationship between political jurisdictions and ecologically-sensible geographic areas is a central concern of political ecologists; few are the cities, provinces, states or countries which map closely onto watersheds, airsheds, aquifers, ranges of migratory birds or top predators, or any other terrestrial space which makes (more-than-human) ecological sense. As the need becomes more pressing to devise policies which help to reduce human impact on ecological systems, the inefficiencies and dysfunctionalities which result from this disjuncture between political spaces and ecological spaces are becoming more readily apparent. It is extremely difficult to devise and implement policies to protect Monarch butterflies, the ozone layer, North Atlantic groundfish stocks, or even the Oglalla aquifer, due in large part to the many political jurisdictions which must commit to policies and their enforcement. Ecological issues which are of central concern for some jurisdictions matter only peripherally or are swamped by other economic or foreign-policy considerations for other jurisdictions, leading to the familiar gridlock in environmental policy -- which of course exists not just at the international level, but also at regional and local scales (Press, 1994:84-107; Bhaskar and Glyn, 1995; Borgese, 1995:151-166; Schreurs and Economy, 1997; Adam, 1998:104-125; Altvater, 1998:34-39; O’Connor, 1994; Eckersley, 1998; Harvey, 1996:203-204; Rifkin, 1991:288-289). Even in the unlikely event that political (and other) ecologists were to reach a consensus on how to create a global, nested series of political jurisdictions and boundaries which respected the earth’s most important ecological features and systems, it would not be at all easy to redraw political boundaries in this way, especially if democratic principles were to be employed (Low, 1997). Moreover, much of the literature on globalization stresses the declining importance of political jurisdictions and policy-making anyway, in the face of increasing global corporate power (Korten, 1995; Sachs, 1993). So what is the point of discussing the relationship between political scales and ecological scales? In this paper, I will try to argue that the importance of political scale (both as a concept and in its grounded, appropriate ecological application) extends far beyond policy-making and supersedes corporate erosion. Political scale provides a primary means for humans to “make sense of” the world and come to terms with our place in it, as individuals and as a species.Its value is educational, epistemological, ontological, and cultural; in fact, political scale can be seen as both a motivator and agenda for action.Complex systems theory offers a number of insights about scale questions. After discussing some of these theoretical issues, I will return at the end of the paper to the role of political scale in a practical sense for activists.
Open Access
EQUITY, ECONOMIC SCALE, AND THE ROLE OF EXCHANGE IN A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY
(1999-05) Perkins, Patricia E. (Ellie)
This paper explores these theoretical and practical issues, considering the question of the environmental and ecological impacts of economic activity from the viewpoint of the scale at which this activity takes place and the exchanges across time and space which affect its sustainability. Following a consideration of the dynamics of economic change in the next section, the paper discusses the meaning of trade/exchange, economic scale, and political/ecological/economic boundaries before returning in the final section to the two equity-related issues outlined above.
Open Access
The Ecological Economics of Sustainability: Making Local and Short-Term Goals Consistent with Global and Long-Term Goals
(The World Bank, 1990-06) Perkins, Patricia E. (Ellie); Haskell, B.; Cornwell, L.; Daly, H.; Johnson, T.
There is increasing awareness that our global ecological We support system is endangered Decisions made on the basis of local, short-term criteria can produce disastrous results globally and in the long run. There is also increasing awareness that traditional economic and ecological models and concepts fall short in their ability to deal with these problems. The International Society for Ecological Economics is concerned with extending and integrating the study and management of "nature's household" (ecology) and "humankind's household" (economics). Ecological Economics studies the ecology of humans and the economy of nature, the web of interconnections uniting the economic subsystem to the global ecosystem of which it is a part. It is this larger system that must be the object of study if we are to adequately address the critical issues that now face humanity.
Open Access
Women Scholar-Activists Trace Connections Between Colonialism, Capitalism, Injustice and Environmental Decline
(Women and Environmental International, 2019-09) Ruttonsha, P.; Perkins, Patricia E. (Ellie)
This issue has been inspired by a path-breaking conference held by the Canadian Society for Ecologi-cal Economics (CANSEE), which took place this past May 2019 in Waterloo, Ontario. Entitled Engaging Economies of Change, the conference aimed to ex-pand existing research networks in the economy-environment nexus by building connections beyond the academy in order to meaningfully engage with the practicalities of building and implementing change. This issue captures the rich content shared during the event, as well as descriptions of the pro-cesses and efforts made to create a welcoming and respectful space where academics and community activists could build alliances and discuss common challenges. The conference organizers – all graduate students and activists themselves -- called this ‘building a brave space’.