A couple of months ago I requested help to find appropriate case studies for an undergraduate class this spring called environmental solutions that is meant to highlight tools for environmental improvement that are innovative (mainly defined in that they are not top-down traditional regulatory approaches). Please find below the suggestions I received. Many thanks to all who sent suggestions along. The final syllabus will be posted shortly on my website for those of you who are interested ( http://humanecology.rutgers.edu/faculty.asp?fid=38 ).
Sincerely, Rachael Shwom CASE STUDY SOURCES Case Study Sources/Suggestions: Compilations from GEP-Ed and Enviro-SOC list-serves: 1) I find discussions of ecolabels particularly engaging in terms of "solutions". My teaching and research are very marine-oriented, so I focus on the Marine Stewardship Council label for sustainable seafood in these discussions - I would recommend it, there's an interesting debate about how sustainable it really is (and students are generally in the dark about the issues seafood). See some relevant links below and let me know if you would like additional references. Elizabeth M. De Santo, Ph.D. Behind the Eco-Label, a Debate Over Antarctic Toothfish Erik Stokstad Concerns about the certification process for sustainable fisheries have been reignited by a battle over the Antarctic toothfish, which lives in one of the most pristine marine ecosystems. Three fishing companies want to market it as sustainable and were on track to get the stamp of approval from the Marine Stewardship Council. But environmental organizations have objected, arguing that the label isn't warranted, given the paucity of data about the life history of the toothfish and the ecological impacts of fishing in the Ross Sea. An independent examiner is now reviewing the evidence. Whatever the outcome, the saga of the Antarctic toothfish shows that making a watertight case for sustainability can be devilishly difficult. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/329/5999/1596.summary Sustainable fish customers 'duped' by Marine Stewardship Council Certification granted to controversial fisheries has prompted severe criticism of the sustainable fisheries organisation Lewis Smith guardian.co.uk, Thursday 6 January 2011 06.00 GMT http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/06/fish-marine-stewardship-co uncil Also: http://www.npr.org/series/171717418/the-meaning-of-sustainable-labeled-seafo od https://mail.google.com/mail/images/cleardot.gif 2) http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/ 3) Sustainable Jersey http://www.sustainablejersey.com/ 4) LEED http://new.usgbc.org/leed 5) Open Spaces/ Sacred Places - the TKF Foundation 6) You might want to look at the work by political scientists on industry self-management, for example, efforts by ISO, the international standards organization. They have examined what determines whether it actually improves environmental outcomes or not. Among the key people are Matthew Potoski and Aseem Prakash, who come to this out of work on the commons a la Ostrom. They have a book or two and a new review article in press, and because this work is case-based, cover numerous cases in their work, in addition to building a theoretical analysis. You might want to look at a book and then perhaps contact them. 7) http://www.fishermensenergy.com/ Fishermen's Energy is a developer of offshore wind energy projects, founded by New Jersey commercial fishermen to respond to the public's need to develop the ocean for renewable wind energy. Fishermen's goal is to turn Atlantic coastal waters into an unmatched source of clean energy, while maintaining a vibrant commercial fishing industry. Fishermen's Energy has partnered with experienced professionals in the renewable energy and the offshore wind business community to propose, plan, and build responsible projects to serve the public's need for safe renewable energy. Fishermen's Energy intends to harvest the wind and the sea, side by side, in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner. 8) There are lots of examples from all over the world in Frances Moore Lappe, ECO-MIND. Another thing I like about the book is her careful exploration of cultural/ideological myths, and her proposing an alternative paradigm. http://www.amazon.com/EcoMind-Changing-Think-Create-World/dp/1568586833/ref= sr_1_1?ie=UTF8 <http://www.amazon.com/EcoMind-Changing-Think-Create-World/dp/1568586833/ref =sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358279894&sr=8-1&keywords=eco-mind> &qid=1358279894&sr=8-1&keywords=eco-mind 9) Take a look at Gill Seyfang and Adrian Smith's work on community renewable energy programs in the US. David Hess is doing similar work here in the US. There is also lots of interesting stuff taking place around peer-to-peer consumption networks such as personal vehicle sharing, vehicle-to-grid electricity production, and agro-food networks. 10) I think you might find Minteer and Collins' ecological ethics paper series helpful. They aim to specifically create a "toolbox" to help ecological researchers, wildlife managers, policy makers, citizens, etc. make better environmental decisions. Minteer is a Deweyan pragmatist of an environmental ethicist and Collins has a career as a leader in evolutionary biology research. They pull from a great deal of case studies (but I must say that not all are "solutions"). You can get their papers here http://www.benaminteer.com/papers/ 11) One other might be collaborative consumption http://collaborativeconsumption.com/ Another "asset based and community development mapping" http://www.abcdinstitute.org/ Another cityrepair.org http://cityrepair.org/ 12) Go to epa.gov and search "case studies" 13) While not entirely non-regulatory and non-top down, the 2006 European Union chemicals law has some interesting and novel features. It makes chemicals manufacturers and importers responsible for testing chemicals and has market-based and informational elements. Please find attached one of my publications on this law. I would be more than happy to send you more material about this case study, should you be interested. (Contact Katja at [email protected] http://www.uva.nl/profiel/k.biedenkopf) 14) http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/story-of-change/ with positive examples at http://www.storyofstuff.org/category/stuff-we-like/ 15) I've written a simulation on the Yasuni-ITT Initiative of Ecuador (to leave oil underground in the Amazon) for my global environmental politics lass. Grading rubrics are also included. Please find it attached. To supplement, feel free to read my GEP article on it from Nov. 2011 or my book (2011), entitled Oil in the Soil from Rowman and Littlefield. (Contact Pamela Martin at [email protected]) 16) http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/big_picture_solutions/speed-d rawing-video-global-warming-solutions.html Reaching out across diverse social networks 17) Article on the sharing economy http://www.spur.org/publications/library/article/policy-agenda-sharing-econo my 18) Community Based Social Marketing cases http://www.cbsm.com/public/world.lasso 19) Community Based Social Marketing Cases http://www.toolsofchange.com/en/home/ 20) Divestment: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/business/energy-environment/to-fight-clima te-change-college-students-take-aim-at-the-endowment-portfolio.html?pagewant ed=all 21) Information technology - <http://www.padddtracker.org/> www.PADDDtracker.org 22) I'm just completing a book on the global ecovillage movement (Polity, fall 2013). Here's an essay and a short video <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtNjZaXDGqM> . I tend to speak of "experiments" rather than "solutions" as we really don't know how we're going to "solve" this one. (Contact Karen Liftin - [email protected] ) 23) A side-by-side comparisons is available here in Oregon regarding the sustainable management of temperate forests and innovative initiatives and their effectiveness. For one, we have many initiatives to support better management of private forests such as community forest ownership or other public benefit ownership, conservancy easements, FSC certification, and a renewed push at carbon sequestration payments for ecosystem services. Groups such as The Nature Conservancy, Sustainable Northwest, and Ecotrust have been active for many years applying "environmental solutions" by way of many "tools for environmental improvement that are innovative." Secondly, there are Oregon's westside federal forests managed under the Northwest Forest Plan. This second body of forest land is managed under applicable federal law through the "top-down traditional regulatory approaches". Comparing the management and actual forest conditions over the contemporary era (Post-WWII?) between private and federal forests would be an interesting exercise. On the one hand students would find county commissioners and most state politicians viewing the management of federal lands as some sort of failure. If the students could posit some sort of metric for desirable forest management then a comparison of innovative to not innovative approaches to management is possible. Oregon's two forest estates - private and federal - are studies in opposing management and the use of innovation to influence management. One forest estate is managed through state power by way of agencies conforming to law, regulation and court supervision. The other is managed by the dynamics of private ownership through market forces. The top down metaphor you employ would be worth exploring as to what comes from the top in both forest estates and what might be considered coming from the opposite of the top - the bottom. Regarding private forest lands in Oregon: About 80% of all westside, wet, private forest land is managed for industrial timber production. These lands are either owned by saw milling operations or by financial investors who are unknown. The remaining 20% is owned by small woodlot owners who manage for a range of values. I might add, Oregon has seen a fare number of folks from New Jersey take an interest in the state's old growth forests. Best wishes, Chuck Willer 24) GlobaLens, the case writing and publishing partner for the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, invites ONE members to submit teaching case studies to our popular and growing collection in the Sustainability discipline We welcome case submissions from all Sustainability disciplines but are especially interested in the sub-categories of: >Green Operations >Green Strategies & Change Management >Sustainable Finance >Life Cycle Costing & Green Accounting >Human Rights & Social Equity At GlobaLens, we embrace the notion that relevant teaching materials regarding sustainable development are the foundation upon which our future business leaders will successfully meet the challenges of building an enduring society - one that provides more than just hope for future generations. Also - oikos collection of sustainable case studies 25) http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com <http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com/> Assistant Professor, Climate and Society http://humeco.rutgers.edu/facultypages/shwombio.html Rutgers University Department of Human Ecology 848-932-9235 732-932-8887 (F) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
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