Call for Proposals

Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly  
<https://journals.sagepub.com/home/nvs>
Symposium on

Climate Change and the Voluntary Sector

Guest editors:
Beth 
Gazley<https://oneill.indiana.edu/faculty-research/directory/profiles/faculty/full-time/gazley-beth.html>,
 School of Public & Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Bloomington
Aseem Prakash<http://aseemprakash.net/>, Department of Political Science, 
University of Washington, Seattle

Climate change is a defining issue of our times. The threat of its effects to 
humanity’s welfare is widely understood on a scientific level, even if not yet 
accepted by all members of the general public Some of these affected humans 
will turn to help from nonprofit and non-governmental organizations. Injuries 
or other immediate human needs create demands for short-term help, such as the 
role played by hundreds of nonprofit and faith-based “voluntary organizations 
active in disaster”. As extreme weather increases in frequency, demands on 
these organizations are already increasing.

Long-term assistance normally provided by nonprofits and NGOs will be in 
greater demand, such as in climate refugee relocation, job training, 
immigration assistance, education, and food assistance. Taking just healthcare 
as an example, a major employer of the U.S. nonprofit workforce, climate change 
will impact public health capacity over the long term through predicted 
increases in extreme heat, water and insect-borne infectious disease, 
wildfires, air pollution, injuries, and mental health needs.

In light of the shrinking of the public sphere and a vigorous discussion about 
governmental policy and market solutions to climate change, we do not hear much 
about civil society solutions, from the community-based to the cross-national, 
and how they might aid or impede other solutions. Given the structural and 
state-centered focus of most Climate discussions, it is not surprising that 
neither the Green New Deal nor President-Elect Biden’s Climate Plans clearly 
outline the role of the nonprofit sector to address the climate crisis.

There is an extensive but disparate literature on the role of the voluntary 
sector on environmental issues, addressing advocacy and social movement 
organizations, conservation organizations, nonprofits providing public and club 
goods such as parks foundations and mountaineering clubs, the social and racial 
justice elements of climate impact, and nonprofits addressing the effects of 
climate change through disaster response. This Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector 
Quarterly symposium seeks to address these topics collectively, in terms of how 
climate change impacts civil society organizations or how civil society 
organizations respond to climate change. Climate change in the “voluntaristics” 
literature is almost entirely used as a general framing device, without focused 
attention to its nature and impact on nonprofits.

  This symposium will be organized around questions such as:


1.       Among nonprofits dedicated to sustainability, conservation, and 
climate change mitigation,

     *   what are these organizations achieving, and what knowledge can be 
generated about their strategies and capacity needs?
     *   what are nonprofits providing in the nature of climate public goods 
through activities such as planting trees or advocating no-till farming?
     *   how is climate advocacy organized in different jurisdictions?
     *   to what extent have environmental organizations repurposed themselves 
as climate organizations?
     *   what strategies seem to work for climate advocacy?
     *   to what extent have climate movement mimicked the civil rights 
movement or the broader environmental movement in terms of its strategies, 
venue choices, and resource mobilization?
     *   under what conditions do climate organizations work across sectors, 
such as with business groups, on climate issues?
     *   What is the role of social media in promoting or impeding voluntary 
action on the climate front?
     *   What is the role of climate counter-movements in the policy process? 
To what extent populist movements have coopted climate issues on their agendas?
     *   The Sunrise Movement, Greta Thunberg, and the Juliana case reveal the 
vital contributions of youth-led initiatives. Does this type of youth activism 
have parallels in other nonprofit issue areas?


2.      Religious and faith-based nonprofits have played an important role in 
many social movements.

     *   To what extent are religious organizations contributing to climate 
movements?
     *   Progressive religious and faith-based organizations have publicly 
recognized their moral responsibility to call for action on global warming. 
Other religious organizations have vigorously denied the fact of climate 
change. How have any of these advocacy efforts fared?


3.      How have philanthropic foundations structured the climate field?

     *   What is the nature and scope of their philanthropy (planning, 
mitigation, preparedness, response)?
     *   What unmet needs should be recognized?
     *   What lessons about philanthropic capacity have been learned in the 
wake of several unprecedented hurricane/typhoon seasons?


4.      In the face of climate change, are nonprofit service providers planning 
differently?

     *   What communication methods might encourage nonprofit organizations to 
embrace mitigation?
     *   What is the relationship between the geographic location of a 
community’s social safety net charitable organizations vis-à-vis natural 
hazards risks?
     *   The vast network of nonprofit organizations serving vulnerable people, 
such as the elderly or those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, 
is well known for its careful approach to emergency planning. Is it planning 
for the greater impacts and unpredictability of natural disasters that climate 
change brings?
     *   Has the unpredictability of climate change caused international 
development NGOs to rethink the scope of their missions, infrastructure, and 
services in the face of new disasters for which they are unprepared?
     *   Cities and urban areas may be at the forefront of climate change 
adaptation planning, but do their planning efforts include local nonprofits?
     *   Has climate change caused nonprofits to think differently about 
collective impact, collaboration, and networked behavior?


5.      How do dominant civil society theories, such as three-failures theory, 
apply to climate change response? What new theories must be considered?



6.      We also invite proposals for comprehensive “review articles” using 
appropriate methodologies. The symposium will include one such article.

TimeLine


1.       March 1, 2021

Extended Abstracts (500-700 words) outlining research questions, data, 
empirical strategy, theoretical and empirical contributions


2.      April 1, 2021

Abstracts Reviewed by Guest Editors, online conference papers invited



3.      April 2- August 1, 2021

Invited authors produce full conference papers


4.      August 1, 2021

Online Conference


5.      September 30, 2021

Revised papers submitted for NVSQ review


6.      January 30, 2022

First External Review completed by NVSQ


7.      March 15, 2022

Revisions turned in


8.     June 1, 2022

Second review completed by NVSQ


9.      June 30, 2022

Guest editor recommendations submitted to journal editors





________________________________________________


Aseem Prakash<https://faculty.washington.edu/aseem/>
Professor, Department of Political Science
Walker Family Professor for the College of Arts and Sciences
Founding Director, UW Center for Environmental 
Politics<http://depts.washington.edu/envirpol/>
University of Washington, Seattle
aseemprakash.net<http://aseemprakash.net>


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