J. Anthony Abbott

Counting Beans: Agrobiodiversity, Indigeneity, and Agrarian Reform

Abstract In-field conservation of locally domesticated crop varieties ameliorates agrobiodiversity losses, but the interaction among nationally regulated socioeconomic factors at the local scale tends to discourage this. Analyses of household surveys conducted in Ecuador demonstrate that state and nongovernmental institutions interact to discourage cultivation of locally domesticated varieties of beans (Phaseolus spp.). Land privatization, agricultural extension, and credit programs favor market production of introduced modern bean varieties, and locally domesticated varieties are noted for favorable nutrition, culinary, and agroecological qualities. Resolving disconnections between the market and social values for landrace beans may provide agrobiodiversity conservation opportunities.

The Localized and Scaled Discourse of Conservation for Wind Power in Kittitas County, Washington

Wind power is popularly understood as an environmentally progressive technology, yet such facilities face opposition during environmental review. While the impacts of a wind power facility will vary with its geographic context, conservation discourse refracts localized and capitalized landscape concerns through popular conservation tropes during permitting hearings. In Kittitas County, Washington, conservation discourse related to wildlife, fossil fuel, landscape aesthetic, and agricultural preservation charges commentary for three wind power projects. Local concerns about negative impacts to wildlife and visual aesthetics manifest less when wind turbines are proposed for remote landscapes, illustrating fluidity among locales for conservation discourse. Areas historically oriented to wildlife conservation through multiple-use paradigms have become favored sites for wind farms, because state mandates for conservation-as-energy-policy meet less opposition from local attitudes for conservation-as-land-management in such uninhabited landscapes. New understandings of wind as a resource necessitate careful state regulation of multiple-use landscapes as pressure to industrialize conservation areas increases.

Hot Air: University Climate Action Plans and Disarticulated Federalism

Individual states and academic institutions have taken leadership on climate change policy in the United States. Without unified national policy, a patchwork of state policies fosters geographic variation among climate action plans (CAPs) for American College and Universities Presidents’ Climate Commitment signatories. Correlation among indexes rating state climate policy and signatory CAPs and spatial analysis indicate that states with aggressive climate policy foster aggressive policy within their academies. Reflection on the national scale suggests that although state policies help combat climate change, they could be more significant if articulated within a more comprehensive national policy.

Measuring Thermal Variations In A Valley Environment Using A Team, Field Project Designed By Students

Abstract Students frequently struggle when scientific instruction seems divorced from personal experience, especially in the physical subdisciplines, like climatology, where exercise books often present historical or abstracted case studies. In contrast I present a three-phase project involving student input on experimental design, data collection, and analysis for the measurement of thermal variation in valley environments. Using the topical concepts of thermal variation related to cold air drainage, thermal belts, and the urban heat island proved a useful pedagogical tool for integrating the theory and praxis of research design, data standardization, and data analysis.