Towards a Political-Industrial Ecology I: Methods

 

Thursday, 3/31/2016, from 8:00 AM - 9:40 AM in Paris North, Marker Hotel, Lobby Level

 

8:00 AM   Author(s): *Jennifer Baka - London School of Economics 

 Abstract Title: Political-Industrial Ecology: Landscapes, Metabolisms and Livelihoods

8:20 AM   Author(s): *Hanna Breetz, PhD - Arizona State University 

 Abstract Title: Politicizing Industrial Ecology: Lessons from Biofuel Regulations

8:40 AM   Author(s): *Ruth Lane - Monash University 

 Abstract Title: Material flow analysis as calculative practice: Can Material Flow Analysis influence the pathways of used electronics towards reuse or recycling?

9:00 AM   Author(s): *Joshua P. Newell - University of Michigan 

 Abstract Title: Methodological Approaches in Political-Industrial Ecology

9:20 AM   Author(s): *Burak Guneralp - Texas A&M University 
Karen C Seto - Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies 
Mahesh Ramachandran - Cape Cod Commission 

 Abstract Title: Four Manifestations of Urban Land Teleconnections

 

Session Description: This session specifically explores the methodological foundations of industrial ecology. It is the first of four sessions seeking to strengthen the foundations and expand the boundaries of 'political-industrial ecology', an emergent subfield of nature-society geography. Political ecology and industrial ecology have emerged as prominent but distinct intellectual and methodological approaches to understand nature-society interactions. Although these two thought traditions approach environmental questions from different perspectives—one broadly focusing on the politics of resource access and control and the other quantifying material and energy flows through industrial systems—both engage with the world as a set of interwoven systems. Industrial ecologies, however, are not apolitical. Rather, they are interwoven with social, political, and economic processes that shape how materials and energy flow.  

There is a growing cohort of scholars who are beginning to blend elements of these two ecologies - industrial and political. Newell and Cousins (2014) have explored the epistemological and methodological bases of both disciplines. Huber (2010) has called on geographers to explore the industrial ecological underpinnings of capitalism. Others have explored the intersections of industrial and political ecology methods to better spatialize and embed carbon footprints(Freidberg, 2013, 2014), infrastructure development (Cousins and Newell, 2015), ecoindustrial parks (Gibbs and Deutz, 2005, McManus and Gibbs, 2008) and expanded urban metabolism approaches (Pincetl, 2012). 

Other work has begun to explore the boundaries between industrial ecology and political ecology through questions that explore the impacts of governance decisions on biofuels (Bailis and Baka, 2011, Baka and Bailis, 2014) resource mobilization and the material economy (Bridge, 2009), the socio-material politics of urban climate governance (Rice, 2014), and the global connections and interrelations between distant carbon emissions, regions, and economies (Bergmann, 2013).

This session will build on this scholarship by bringing together papers to help advance our understanding of epistemological and methodological concerns associated with political-industrial ecology approaches.

 

 

Remaking the global economy VI: GPNs and the environment, part 2

 

Thursday, 3/31/2016, from 8:00 AM - 9:40 AM in Union Square 14, Hilton Hotel, 4th Floor

 

8:00 AM   Author(s): Andrew Warren - University of Wollongong, Australia 
*Chris Gibson - University of Wollongong 
Shaun McKiernan - University of Wollongong, Australia 

 Abstract Title: Global Production Networks, resource scarcity and environmental regulation: the portentous case of acoustic guitar manufacturing

8:20 AM   Author(s): *Rachel Alexander - University of Manchester 

 Abstract Title: Governance for Sustainability in Global Production Networks: Exploring the Case of UK Retailers Sourcing Cotton Garments from India

8:40 AM   Author(s): *Kuan-chi Wang - University of Oregon 

 Abstract Title: Making GM Papaya: The Global Food Network and its Regionalization

9:00 AM   Author(s): *Ross William Jones, Teaching Fellow, Geography - University of Manchester 

 Abstract Title: Rethinking global production networks in a changing climate

9:20 AM   Author(s): *Lasse Folke Henriksen - Copenhagen Business School 
Stefano Ponte - Copenhagen Business School 

 Abstract Title: The Network Origins of the Global Aviation Biofuel Industry

 

Session Description: Research on global production networks (GPNs) and global value chains (GVCs) (hereafter GPNs) has made considerable progress in understanding how firms participate in the global economy and the associated development outcomes. Much of this work has long had a preoccupation with the economic dimensions of integrating into the global economy, including through an interest in how participants can upgrade and capture more value from participating in GPNs. Such work has helped understand the economic governance of inter-firm relations, as well as the societal, network and territorial embeddedness of actors in GPNs. More recently a rapidly growing body of work has explored in greater depth the social dimensions of incorporation in GPNs, which has had a particular emphasis on the implications for labour. Yet research has not yet been adequately able to conceptually and empirically study the interactions between GPNs and the environment (Bolwig et al., 2010) and verify if and how the pursuit of environmental upgrading may be accompanied by economic and social upgrading as well.
Some earlier work has attempted to explore the relationships between economic globalisation and the environment (e.g. Bridge 2002, Leichenko and O'Brien, 2008), while others have begun to investigate environmental upgrading trajectories across various GPNs (De Marchi et al., 2013a, b, Jeppesen and Hansen, 2004). Greater consideration of the environment and the processes of environmental upgrading and its outcomes is of fundamental importance and could challenge our understanding of GPNs. Further research of this kind can shed light on sustainable production and consumption processes (a sustainable development goal) of participants at global, regional and local scales. These sustainability priorities require attention as firms are now prioritising green growth and must adapt to meet private and public environmental standards as well as consumer expectations. Meanwhile environmental movements can also contest the activities of actors in GPNs. GPN approaches can improve our understanding of the impact of climate change and extremes on participants, as well as prospects for resilience.
These sessions seek to provide a platform for the investigation of various approaches to GPNs/ GVCs and the environment.

 

 

Campus carbon reduction: what are our strategies, obstacles, and solutions?

 

Thursday, 3/31/2016, from 8:00 AM - 9:40 AM in Salon II, JW Marriott Hotel, 2nd Floor

 

Mark D. Bjelland - Calvin College 
John Sakulich - Regis University 
Daniel Trudeau - Macalester College 
J Anthony Abbott - Stetson University 
Rebecca L. Powell - Univesity Of Denver 
Tyce Herrman - University of Oregon 
Mary Ann Cunningham - Vassar College 

 

Session Description: Carbon reduction on college and university campuses is a challenge that many of us have wrestled with. Many institutions probably have common obstacles, such as foot-dragging administrators, tight budgets, wariness of innovation, lack of information, shortage of professional expertise, absence of leadership, and so on. Despite obstacles, many of us are working to engage our institutions and push for carbon reductions. This panel session will function as an opportunity to compare observations of obstacles and (perhaps) successful strategies around them. How are we seeking innovation in administrative, accounting, policy, curricular, or other activity on campus? How are we changing our classrooms, our on-campus practices, or our research activities to work on local sustainability?
 
We have two main motivations in organizing this panel: we think geographers have contributions to make in carbon reduction and sustainability, and so we hope to facilitate the exchange of ideas; and we believe the AAG could be providing more organizing leadership on this front than we think it has historically done. At this time, we think the organization should be doing everything it can to promote climate progress. We hope to initiate a conversation about how to deal with institutional inertia and to promote sustainability on campus, where we hope we have leverage to influence institutional process.

 

Towards a Political-Industrial Ecology II: Politicising Industrial Ecology 

 

Thursday, 3/31/2016, from 10:00 AM - 11:40 AM in Paris North, Marker Hotel, Lobby Level

 

10:00 AM   Author(s): *Jia-Ching Chen - Pennsylvania State University 

 Abstract Title: From "all under heaven" to "an abandoned baby": toward a political-industrial ecology of China's solar energy resources

10:20 AM   Author(s): *Susanne E. Freidberg - Dartmouth College 

 Abstract Title: The Politics of Not Knowing: Tensions around Transparency in Industrial Food Supply Chains

10:40 AM   Author(s): *Matt Huber - Syracuse University 

 Abstract Title: "Something you can feel and see": What makes industrial ecologies political?

11:00 AM   Author(s): *Dustin Mulvaney - San Jose State University 

 Abstract Title: Integrating political ecology and life cycle assessment to understand solar energy commodity chains

11:20 AM   Discussant: Luke R. Bergmann - University of Washington

Discussant(s):
Luke R. Bergmann - University of Washington 

Session Description: This session specifically explores the politicisation of industrial ecology. It is the second of four sessions seeking to strengthen the foundations and expand the boundaries of 'political-industrial ecology', an emergent subfield of nature-society geography. Political ecology and industrial ecology have emerged as prominent but distinct intellectual and methodological approaches to understand nature-society interactions. Although these two thought traditions approach environmental questions from different perspectives—one broadly focusing on the politics of resource access and control and the other quantifying material and energy flows through industrial systems—both engage with the world as a set of interwoven systems. Industrial ecologies, however, are not apolitical. Rather, they are interwoven with social, political, and economic processes that shape how materials and energy flow. 

There is a growing cohort of scholars who are beginning to blend elements of these two ecologies - industrial and political. Newell and Cousins (2014) have explored the epistemological and methodological bases of both disciplines. Huber (2010) has called on geographers to explore the industrial ecological underpinnings of capitalism. Others have explored the intersections of industrial and political ecology methods to better spatialize and embed carbon footprints(Freidberg, 2013, 2014), infrastructure development (Cousins and Newell, 2015), ecoindustrial parks (Gibbs and Deutz, 2005, McManus and Gibbs, 2008) and expanded urban metabolism approaches (Pincetl, 2012). 

Other work has begun to explore the boundaries between industrial ecology and political ecology through questions that explore the impacts of governance decisions on biofuels (Bailis and Baka, 2011, Baka and Bailis, 2014) resource mobilization and the material economy (Bridge, 2009), the socio-material politics of urban climate governance (Rice, 2014), and the global connections and interrelations between distant carbon emissions, regions, and economies (Bergmann, 2013).

This session will build on this scholarship by bringing together papers to help advance our understanding of epistemological and methodological concerns associated with political-industrial ecology approaches.

 

 

Energy and Environment Specialty Group Business Meeting

 

Thursday, 3/31/2016, from 11:50 AM - 1:10 PM in Franciscan D, Hilton Hotel, Ballroom Level

 

 

Towards a Political-Industrial Ecology III: Energy

 

Thursday, 3/31/2016, from 1:20 PM - 3:00 PM in Paris North, Marker Hotel, Lobby Level

 

1:20 PM   Author(s): *Ingrid Behrsin - University of California, Davis 

 Abstract Title: "Correcting for the Climate" and Other Artifacts of EU Waste-to-Energy Regulation

1:40 PM   Author(s): *Louise Guibrunet - Institute for Sustainable Resources, University College London 
Martin Sanzana Calvet - Development Planning Unit, University College London 
Vanesa Castán Broto - Development Planning Unit, University College London 

 Abstract Title: The politics of waste flows in Mexico City and Santiago de Chile: a comparative analysis

2:00 PM   Author(s): *Zélia Hampikian - LATTS 

 Abstract Title: From industrial companies to energy utilities: how waste heat recovery is reshaping urban metabolism. Insights from the case of Dunkirk (France).

2:20 PM   Author(s): *Susan M. Christopherson, Professor - Cornell University 

 Abstract Title: Risks Beyond the Well Pad: The Economic Footprint of Shale Gas Development in the US

 

Session Description: This session presents case studies of political-industrial ecology in the context of energy policy. It is the third of four sessions seeking to strengthen the foundations and expand the boundaries of 'political-industrial ecology', an emergent subfield of nature-society geography. Political ecology and industrial ecology have emerged as prominent but distinct intellectual and methodological approaches to understand nature-society interactions. Although these two thought traditions approach environmental questions from different perspectives—one broadly focusing on the politics of resource access and control and the other quantifying material and energy flows through industrial systems—both engage with the world as a set of interwoven systems. Industrial ecologies, however, are not apolitical. Rather, they are interwoven with social, political, and economic processes that shape how materials and energy flow.  

There is a growing cohort of scholars who are beginning to blend elements of these two ecologies - industrial and political. Newell and Cousins (2014) have explored the epistemological and methodological bases of both disciplines. Huber (2010) has called on geographers to explore the industrial ecological underpinnings of capitalism. Others have explored the intersections of industrial and political ecology methods to better spatialize and embed carbon footprints(Freidberg, 2013, 2014), infrastructure development (Cousins and Newell, 2015), ecoindustrial parks (Gibbs and Deutz, 2005, McManus and Gibbs, 2008) and expanded urban metabolism approaches (Pincetl, 2012). 

Other work has begun to explore the boundaries between industrial ecology and political ecology through questions that explore the impacts of governance decisions on biofuels (Bailis and Baka, 2011, Baka and Bailis, 2014) resource mobilization and the material economy (Bridge, 2009), the socio-material politics of urban climate governance (Rice, 2014), and the global connections and interrelations between distant carbon emissions, regions, and economies (Bergmann, 2013).

This session will build on this scholarship by bringing together papers to help advance our understanding of epistemological and methodological concerns associated with political-industrial ecology approaches.

 

 

Towards a Political-Industrial Ecology IV: Water

 

Thursday, 3/31/2016, from 3:20 PM - 5:00 PM in Paris North, Marker Hotel, Lobby Level

 

3:20 PM   Author(s): *Marion Amalric - Université de Tours - CNRS CITERES 
Claudia Cirelli - CNRS CITERES 

 Abstract Title: Social representations of constructed wetlands: landscape and biodiversity issues facing phytoremediation

3:40 PM   Author(s): *Maria Christina Fragkou - Universidad de Chile 

 Abstract Title: Quantifying water related inequalities; use of the urban metabolism framework for the study of desalination's socio-environmental impacts

4:00 PM   Author(s): *Caitlin A Mcelroy, DPhil - Oxford University 

 Abstract Title: Capitalism, democracy, water, and mining corporations: understanding the tensions of managing the ecological and industrial transitions in Mongolia

4:20 PM   Author(s): *Saravanan V. Subramanian - Centre for Development Research, University of Bonn, Germany 

 Abstract Title: Socio-politics of everyday mobility and its health implication: A multi-scale spatial-temporal analysis of water-related diseases in Ahmedabad, India

4:40 PM   Discussant: Stephanie Pincetl - UCLA

Discussant(s):
Stephanie Pincetl - UCLA

 

Session Description: This session presents case studies of political-industrial ecology in the context of water policy. It is the fourth of four sessions seeking to strengthen the foundations and expand the boundaries of 'political-industrial ecology', an emergent subfield of nature-society geography. Political ecology and industrial ecology have emerged as prominent but distinct intellectual and methodological approaches to understand nature-society interactions. Although these two thought traditions approach environmental questions from different perspectives—one broadly focusing on the politics of resource access and control and the other quantifying material and energy flows through industrial systems—both engage with the world as a set of interwoven systems. Industrial ecologies, however, are not apolitical. Rather, they are interwoven with social, political, and economic processes that shape how materials and energy flow.  

There is a growing cohort of scholars who are beginning to blend elements of these two ecologies - industrial and political. Newell and Cousins (2014) have explored the epistemological and methodological bases of both disciplines. Huber (2010) has called on geographers to explore the industrial ecological underpinnings of capitalism. Others have explored the intersections of industrial and political ecology methods to better spatialize and embed carbon footprints(Freidberg, 2013, 2014), infrastructure development (Cousins and Newell, 2015), ecoindustrial parks (Gibbs and Deutz, 2005, McManus and Gibbs, 2008) and expanded urban metabolism approaches (Pincetl, 2012). 

Other work has begun to explore the boundaries between industrial ecology and political ecology through questions that explore the impacts of governance decisions on biofuels (Bailis and Baka, 2011, Baka and Bailis, 2014) resource mobilization and the material economy (Bridge, 2009), the socio-material politics of urban climate governance (Rice, 2014), and the global connections and interrelations between distant carbon emissions, regions, and economies (Bergmann, 2013).

This session will build on this scholarship by bringing together papers to help advance our understanding of epistemological and methodological concerns associated with political-industrial ecology approaches.

 

 

Land Use and Livelihoods in the United States

Thursday, 3/31/2016, from 5:20 PM - 7:00 PM in Peninsula Room, Hotel Nikko, 25th Floor

 

5:20 PM   Author(s): *John A. Cross, Ph.D. - University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh 

 Abstract Title: Occupation Patterns of Amish Settlements in Wisconsin

5:40 PM   Author(s): *Christopher R. Laingen - Eastern Illinois University 

 Abstract Title: The Geography of Sorghum in the United States

6:00 PM   Author(s): *John C. Hudson - Northwestern University 

 Abstract Title: Geography of Organic Agriculture in the United States

6:20 PM   Author(s): *Roger F. Auch - United States Geological Survey 

 Abstract Title: The Gradient of Land-Use Intensity across the Greater Ozarks

6:40 PM   Author(s): *Ryan E. Baxter - Penn State University 
Kirby Calvert, PhD - University of Guelph 

 Abstract Title: Estimates and Explorations of Abandoned Cropland in the United States

 

Session Description: This session will cover a broad array of topics related to rural and agricultural land uses and livelihoods in the United States.  Topics will include the Wisconsin Amish, sorghum production, organic agriculture, land use change in the Ozarks, and abandoned cropland and energy crops.