Intervening in the environment of the everyday     

Alex Loftus 《Geoforum》2009,40(3):326-334

This paper seeks to explore the radical democratic potential in urban artistic interventions. It does so through bringing Gramsci’s concept of nature together with his ‘cultural writings’ and broader debates around avant-garde artistic practice. Empirically, I focus on the work of City Mine(d), a Brussels-based interventionist collective, and Siraj Izhar, a London-based artist-activist. Within Gramsci’s writings, I argue, socio-natural relationships emerge through sensuous activity or work. Making a somewhat more ambitious claim, I suggest that Gramsci’s concept of nature rests on what geographers have come to understand as the production of nature. Whilst attention has only recently turned to this implicit political ecology, much greater attention has been focussed on Gramsci’s cultural insights. For Gramsci, cultural struggles are an integral part of the effort to shape a new reality. Whilst he emphasises the ‘bottom up’ nature of such struggles, the intervention of enlightened outsiders is often a necessary and frustrating complement. However, by turning attention to the manner in which hegemony relates to the production of nature, and through bringing this into dialogue with radical artistic practice, such implicit elitism might be challenged. City Mine(d) and Izhar, I argue, develop a non-vanguardist politics that sees the contestation of hegemony as a struggle integral to the day-to-day nature of cities.  相似文献   

The rise and transformation of the Brazilian landless movement into a counter-hegemonic political actor: A Gramscian analysis     

Abdurazack Karriem 《Geoforum》2009,40(3):316-325

The Brazilian Landless Movement (MST) is widely acknowledged as one of the most organized, dynamic, and influential social movements in Latin America. The MST has increasingly inserted the struggle for land within larger political contestations for broad social change, leading conservatives and leftists alike to describe it as a “first class actor” in Brazilian politics. What explains the move from corporatist struggles for land to broader counter-hegemonic contestations; put differently, how did the MST come to acquire ‘global ambition’? Much of the literature on the MST analyzes its external actions but without explaining what drives these actions. This paper utilizes a Gramscian political ecology approach to comprehend the MST’s political actions and its rise and transformation into a counter-hegemonic political actor. Specifically, I evaluate the development of the MST’s organizational praxis from corporatist struggles for land in the late 1970s to ‘global ambition’ and changing nature-society relations by the early 2000’s. Such an approach brings to light the role of organization building, political education, alliance building, and subaltern agency in propelling the MST’s political mobilizations. In so doing, this paper contributes to the literature on the MST and collective action. This paper also engages with a ‘politics of scale’ since the conquest of geographic scale is critical to understanding the MST’s national growth and political actions. This paper concludes by arguing that the rise and transformation of the MST into a vibrant counter-hegemonic actor in Brazilian politics was a gradual process that matured as it territorialized into a national movement.  相似文献   

From Dispossession to Compensation: a political ecology of the Ord Final Agreement as a partial success story for Indigenous traditional owners     

Jessica McLean 《The Australian geographer》2012,43(4):339-355

The recent digging of a new channel for water delivery to expand irrigation in the Ord provides a good opportunity for unearthing the native title agreement that allows for intensification of agriculture there. Initial irrigation development in this north-eastern Australian catchment did not include recognition of, consultation with, or distribution of benefits to Indigenous people impacted by dam creation and land flooding. Forming agreement between those affected by previous dispossessions, and associated accumulation of wealth via mining and irrigation, with those initiating such activities was an important and challenging process. The Ord Final Agreement (OFA), formalised in 2006, came from negotiations between Miriuwung and Gajerrong traditional owners and government and private interests. Through qualitative research, I dissect the context and content of the OFA to identify the strengths and weaknesses therein. While the agreement does allow for co-management of significant land- and waterscapes, it does not provide for Indigenous water rights, showing one instance of loose ends and missing links within the Ord.  相似文献   

Indirect Tracking of Drop Bears Using GNSS Technology     

Volker Janssen 《The Australian geographer》2012,43(4):445-452

Animal tagging and tracking has been a fundamental tool in the quest to increase our knowledge and understanding of biogeography and ecology for about 50 years. Monitoring animal populations is also necessary for conservation purposes and to limit negative effects on the human population, particularly in an era of human expansion into traditional animal habitats. The use of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technology has been responsible for significant advances in this field by providing the ability to obtain accurate, regular and frequent estimates of the changing distributions of many rare animal species. Employing conventional GNSS-based animal tracking methods to study drop bears is extremely difficult due to their habitat. The dense tree canopy regularly causes extended periods of complete GNSS signal loss, and sensors are often damaged during attacks on prey. This paper proposes an indirect, GNSS-based method for tracking drop bears. This involves tracking the prey rather than the predator in order to map the population of drop bears in a particular area. The method can be used to effectively estimate the number of drop bears in the study area. Analysis of the collected data provides valuable insights into the hunting behaviour of drop bears and has implications for a better understanding of the geographical distribution of other rare species, including hoop snakes and bunyips.  相似文献   

Another political ecology of civil society reflexiveness against urban industrial risks for environmental justice: The case of the Bisasar landfill,Durban, South Africa     

Llewellyn Leonard 《Singapore journal of tropical geography》2012,33(1):77-92

The concerns of political ecology since its beginnings as a field have been predominantly set in rural areas with limited focus on urban industrial risks. Further, debates on the global South (often from Anglo‐American perspectives) have not fully appreciated the divergent and differentiated perceptions of urban risks and, therefore, everyday forms of resistance within civil society. Instead, work has mainly focused on civil society power relations against the state and industry that are driven by coherent populist political agendas. Against this setting, this paper's contribution aims to better contextualize ‘other’ third world localities in political ecology through a case study of urban industrial risks in the upper/middle income (as opposed to rural, low/lower middle income) country, South Africa. In doing so, the paper sheds light on the derelict aspect of civil society contestation, especially along class and ethnic lines, over urban landfill infrastructure as a livelihood resource or a health hazard. The paper draws upon frameworks of self‐reflexivity and reflexive localism as complementary to the mainstream political ecology to illuminate differentiated civil society reflexiveness and therefore, aims to advance the discussion of other political ecologies. The case study of the largest formal landfill site in Africa, the Bisasar landfill situated in Durban, highlights differences underlying power relations and constraints within civil society (in leadership, social networking, resources and mistrust) that have implications for mainstream political ecology notions of civil society coherence.  相似文献   

Spatial distribution patterns of wetland plants in relation to environmental gradient in the Honghe National Nature Reserve, Northeast China     

ZHOU Demin  LUAN Zhaoqing  GUO Xiaoyu  LOU Yanjing 《地理学报》2012,22(1):57-70

Quantifying correlation between the spatial patterns of natural wetland plants and environmental gradient gives better understanding of wetland habitats, which is the fundamental for the strategy making on the protection and restoration of natural wetlands. In this study, the spatial patterns of wetland plants and the environmental gradient of wetland habitats were assessed in the Honghe National Nature Reserve (HNNR) in Northeast China, a wetland of international importance on the Ramsar list. Biophysical parameters' values of wetland plants were obtained by field sampling methods, and wetland mapping at the community scale was completed using remote sensing techniques. Digital delineation of the surface water system, hydrological zoning and wetness index were produced by spatial analysis methods in Geographic Information System. An ecological ordination method and two clustering methods were used to quantify the relationship between the spatial distribution patterns of wetland plants and the corresponding environmental gradients. Such quantitative analyses also present the specific diversity of different types of wetland plants based on the environmental attributes of their habitats. With the support from modern geo-information techniques, the experimental results indicate how four ecotypes of wetland plants spatially transit from forest swamp, shrub wetland and meadow into marsh wetland with increasing wetness index and water table. And they also show how wetland spatial distribution patterns are controlled by an environmental gradient of wetness. Another key finding of this research work is that our results present the exact fundamental differences between marsh and non-marsh plants of 11 wetland plant communities within the core study area. Hence, this case study gives a good sample for better understanding of the complex correlation between the spatial patterns of wetland plants and their environmental attributes using advanced digital analysis methods. It is also useful to show how to integrate geoinformatic techniques with statistical analysis methods based on the field data base.  相似文献   

Producer responsibility in a sustainable development context: ecological modernisation or industrial ecology?     

PAULINE DEUTZ 《The Geographical journal》2009,175(4):274-285

The concept of producer responsibility has become a major tenet of EU waste management policy. It forms part of an effort to set a regulatory context for firms supportive of sustainable development. Two contrasting notions of the theory and implementation of sustainable development are ecological modernisation and industrial ecology. Ecological modernisation emphasises economic development and technological advances, within a suitable policy framework. Industrial ecology, by contrast, emphasises inter-firm cooperation and voluntary compliance inspired by eco-efficiency savings. Recently, however, industrial ecologists have shown greater interest in the potential for policy implementation. With aims such as increasing recovery of value from waste, creating a demand for recycled materials, and decreasing the potential harmful effects of waste, the producer responsibility directives can be seen as attempts to implement industrial ecology principles. This paper examines interrelationships of ecological modernisation and industrial ecology to understand the potential and shortcomings of the producer responsibility regulations as a means to promote waste minimisation through eco-design.  相似文献   

Railroads, roads and lateral disconnection in the river landscapes of the continental United States   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Paul Blanton  W. Andrew Marcus   《Geomorphology》2009,112(3-4):212-227

Railroads and roads are ubiquitous features in the river corridors of the United States. However, their impact on hydrologic, geomorphic, and ecological processes in fluvial and riparian landscapes has not been systematically explored at regional or continental extents. This study documents the geographic distribution of roads and railroads in the alluvial floodplains of the continental United States and the regional variability of their potential impacts on lateral connectivity and resultant channel and floodplain structure and function. We use national scale data sets and GIS analysis to derive data on stream–transportation network interactions in two broad categories: (1) crossing impacts, such as bridges and culverts, and (2) impacts where transportation infrastructure acts as a longitudinal dam along the stream channel, causing lateral floodplain disconnection. Potential stream crossing impacts are greatest in regions with long histories of road and railroad development and relatively low relief, such as the Mid-Atlantic, New England, and the Lower Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. Potential lateral disconnections are more prevalent in rugged regions such as the Western U.S. and Appalachians where transportation routes follow river corridors along valley bottoms. Based on these results, we develop a conceptual model that suggests that the area of lateral disconnection due to transportation infrastructure should be most extensive in mid-sized alluvial valleys in relatively rugged settings. The result of this disconnection is the disruption of the long-term, cut-and-fill alluviation and of the shorter-term flood and flow pulse processes that create and maintain ecosystem function in river landscapes. The tremendous extent of transportation infrastructure in alluvial valleys documented in this study suggests a revision to H.B.N. Hynes' statement that the valley rules the stream. Instead, it appears that in modern landscapes of the U.S. the valley rules the transportation network — and the transportation network rules the stream.  相似文献   

我国南方植物生态学研究述评   总被引：2，自引：0，他引：2  

杨玉盛  郭剑芬  王健  盛浩  李熙波  林成芳  王维奇  谢锦升  陈光水 《地理学报》2009,64(9):1048-1057

我国热带亚热带区域生态系统具有很高的潜在脆弱性,在人类干扰和全球变化的双重影响下,我国南方地区面临着严峻的生态环境问题。本文总结和评述了近年来我国南方植物生态学研究的几个重点领域,包括森林群落生物多样性维持、群落演替机制、养分循环和碳循环,山地丘陵退化生态系统的植被恢复,湿地环境修复、生物多样性保护、生物入侵机制和温室气体排放,城市植物的环境修复、热岛效应缓解及碳源汇功能等,并展望了我国南方植物生态学研究的未来方向,提出修复和重建大面积的退化生态系统,促进生物多样性保护,维护人居环境和人类健康,提高生态系统对全球变化的适应性,增强生态安全保障,是今后我国南方植物生态学研究所肩负的历史使命。  相似文献   

Ecology of stone-encrusting organisms in the Greenland Sea—a review     

Piotr Kuklinski 《Polar research》2009,28(2):222-237

The Arctic is one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth. This area is therefore very suitable for conducting studies focused on the influence of climate change on the biota. Marine communities of coastal waters are particularly sensitive to the current environmental changes (e.g., ice-scour intensity); understanding how community structure changes in response to local perturbations is thus important for providing an insight into how future communities may respond to climate change. This review focuses on the fauna colonizing stones of the Greenland Sea. It summarizes the current state of knowledge about the ecology of organisms inhabiting these substrata across a range of depths, from the intertidal to deeper parts of the continental shelf. In the intertidal zone, no stable or developed assemblage on the rocks is visible. The intertidal zone seems to be fully controlled by physical forces. In contrast, below the intertidal zone a rich and abundant fauna starts to appear on these substrata. Both biotic (e.g., competitive interactions) and abiotic (e.g., ice scour, size of the rock) processes seem to shape stone assemblages in the subtidal zone, yet their influence varies with depth. For example, the abundance of encrusting organisms decreases with depth, as does the intensity of competitive interactions. However, species richness on rocks seems to be in general higher in the deeper parts of the shelf. Possible scenarios of climate change influence on the encrusting biota, gaps in our knowledge about the ecology of stone-dwelling faunal assemblages, as well as possible directions of future research, are discussed.  相似文献