Rebecca A. Johns

Class, geography, and the consumerist turn: UNITE and the Stop Sweatshops Campaign

The late 20th century has seen unions in the industrial and postindustrial countries retrench and struggle to develop new strategies and tactics in the face of a changing political economy. A challenge to the traditional conceptions of the appropriate place and scope of union activity comes from the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees and its innovative leadership in the US-based Stop Sweatshops Campaign. Based on an analysis of the shifting locus of power in the garment industry, the union shifted its focus from the point of production to the place of consumption to pressure retailers who set prices within the industry. This strategy, which fulfills the prophecy of the consumptive turn earlier this century, applies a new geography and politics to labor struggles, and forces labor geographers to consider anew the relationship between consumption and production in our understanding of the changing economic landscape.

Xeriscape people and the cultural politics of turfgrass transformation

Turfgrass yards dominate the residential landscapes of St Petersburg, Florida, and much of the rest of the urban and suburban United States. Increasingly, alternatives to the resource-intensive turfgrass lawn are the focus of interest among environmentalists, state and county governments, and growing numbers of residents in cities in the water-scarce Southeast and Southwest. Drawing on ethnographic and survey field research on everyday yard practices, resource use, and landscape perceptions, we explore the environmental and cultural dilemmas presented by the choice between conventional turfgrass and the more environmentally benign xeriscaping. We engage with Bourdieus notions of habitus, field, and distinction to explore how local and personal scale yards, as produced and consumed technonatures, mediate the scales of global environmentalism, national and regional cultural identities, classed aesthetics, and personal and collective security. We find that xeriscaping does not increase proportionate to income. We argue that yards are a display of cultural capital and that xeriscapers are invested in an environmentalist field that operates at an imagined global scale as opposed to the neighborhood and national scale values invoked with the traditional turfgrass lawn. Referring to Bourdieus work on taste and distinction, we argue that xeriscaped landscapes may entail a more environmentally benign set of landscaping practices but that the adoption of xeriscaping is no less implicated in the reproduction of privilege and distinction than is the traditional turfgrass lawn.

Climate Variability and Estuarine Water Resources: A Case Study from Tampa Bay, Florida

Natural variability in the myriad of physical processes that impact and control estuaries occurs at time scales that typically may exceed or partly exceed many monitoring programs. With respect to documenting and monitoring impacts of human influences- on estuaries, it is therefore important to frame the results of short-term monitoring programs within the context of longer term natural variability in the environment. In the Tampa Bay, Florida area, climate variability strongly influences seasonal precipitation, stream flow, and salinity. In particular, El Niño-Southern Oscillation impacts during the winter have the potential to influence both the availability of surface water for water supply withdrawal and the evaluation of the impacts of surface water withdrawals on the ecosystem.

Xeriscaping as coastal amelioration: Using ‘Florida Friendly landscaping’ to reduce pollutant runoff and water consumption in Pinellas County, Florida.

The traditional yard dominated by a green lawn poses environmental problems in Floridas sub–tropical climate, including excessive use pesticides and fertilizers and destruction of native habitats. Additionally, more than 80% of domestic water is used for lawn and garden maintenance. This paper examines over 300 survey questionnaires completed by residents of Pinellas County, Florida, and explores landscape practices across socio–economic categories. We assess the extent to which participants have adopted Florida Friendly landscaping practices; estimate the potential impact of these practices on amelioration of coastal environments; and discuss cultural barriers to the wider adoption of more ecologically friendly landscaping methods.

The potential of geographic analysis in solving environmental dilemmas

We live in an era in which once geographically discreet locales, experiences and perceptions are increasingly integrated into a complex global system. Neither traditional science nor policy directives alone can meet the challenges of this integrated world. An interdisciplinary approach to environmental solutions that links political, social, economic and ecological systems across space is required. Geography can provide this perspective. This paper explores the application of a geographic analysis to a local water conservation problem in south Florida. By constructing a unique framework that combines soil and water–flow analysis, mapping of demographic and ethnographic data, and a spatialized political economy approach, comprehensive solutions to local problems may be developed.

Arbitration as a Decision-Making Tool: The Tampa Bay Water Case

Rapid population and economic growth in the Tampa Bay region of Florida has severely affected fresh water resources. Plans to increase water supply have been opposed for their perceived failure to divide limited resources fairly between stakeholders and to protect the Bay ecosystems. A partnership among local governments and public agencies in 1998 attempted to end years of litigation over water rights and ecosystem protection, but failed to prevent arbitration over proposed withdrawals from the surrounding rivers. This paper examines the process of arbitration as a tool to negotiate complex interests in water. Under certain circumstances, arbitration may constitute a quality decision-making process.