Geog 2412 Fall 2011 TH Aug 25 Different Approaches to Knowing the Environment The News Earthquake shuts down Virginia nuclear plant CNN online In Yellowstone Killing One Kind of Trout to Save Another NYT Aug 24 Nature Society Geography The nature society divide Different ways of seeing knowing and understanding the environment nature Examples lions carbon Political Ecology Keywords nature society geography political ecology reconciliation ecology nature carbon dioxide green house gases Where does knowledge of nature come from MEDIA Academia Government Business NGOs community members Indigenous peoples So what about Geography Different kinds of knowledges produced Physical environmental human Material processes AND social cultural processes Material nature AND knowledge of nature Geography Physical Biogeography geomorphology climatology hydrology Human Cultural economic political urban development feminist Nature and society Environmental geography Political ecology natural resource management politics of conservation sustainable development hazards research Introduction to global environmental issues From Nature Society Geography Perspective Physical Geography Environmenta l Human Geography Geography NATURE SOCIETY GEOGRAPHY An Environment Society Geography perspective Knowing nature in different contexts from different perspectives The politics of knowledge regarding the environment Science Ethics Politics Culture Power dynamics Social and environmental as connected Forest or wasteland The Indian Forester Return of forest Imported trees improved productivity increased forest cover The Indian Herder Wasteland Increased bush of useless trees loss of grazing land formation of a wasteland Robbins P 2006 Fires in the Amazon and in Florida U S A force of nature drought from El Nino Or a destructive human force clearing land for farms in the amazon Destroying human property victims in FL Destroying pristine rainforest nature in the Amazon culprits Slater C Fire in El Dorado or Images of Tropical Nature and their Practical Effects in In Search of the Rain Forest Different Perspectives Population and Scarcity too many people not enough resources Economics and Markets Institutions and the commons Ethics Risks and Hazards Political Economy Social Construction of Nature Unpacking these perspectives What are the underlying Assumptions Do they stand up to scrutiny What are the implications of this approach theory for action Are they possible Equitable Respect for different knowledge but interrogation of the science knowledge and potential behind theories Lions 1 Population to many people taking too much land threatening lion populations 2 Ethics lions should be protected for moral reasons 3 Risks Hazards risk perception lions are a threat to humans humans a risk to lions 3 Markets Lion hunting or ecotourism is good because it makes lions valuable so they will be protected 4 Political economy Why do some people benefit from hunting lions and seeing lions on safari and others suffer from livestock predation 5 Institutional are there social norms that mediate hunting practices 6 Social Construction Lions are only beautiful to some harmful to others and always closely connected to people Different Objects Carbon Dioxide Naturally occurring Unearthed from below ground and emitted into the atmosphere Cars more than its own weight in C02 yr industry Warming the planet by increasing the greenhouse layer in the atmosphere Some Facts about Carbon Carbon in a state of continuous motion Carbon stored in the earth s crust Photosynthesis captures Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere One of the green house gasses Carbon Cycle dramatically altered by human activity Geographic Political Ecology Combines ecology and political economy To uncover the political forces at work in environmental access management and transformation Understanding Ecological change and environmental processes as a combination of biophysical processes and micro and macro politics Acknowledging the production of nature does not discard nature Recognizing the politics within scientific knowledge does not discard science Reconciliation Ecology Seeing humans as a part of nature Hope in being able to reconcile conflicts and create healthy environments in humanized spaces A science of inventing establishing and maintaining new habitats to conserve species diversity in places where people live work or play So Multiple ways of knowing the environment Nature and society are mutually constituted There are multiple perspectives on any environmental problem Assumptions and outcomes associated with different theories Political ecology and reconciliation ecology as strategies to combine ecology and social science to envision and work towards equitable and sustainable futures