Taru Peltola

Learning and the transformative potential of citizen science.

The number of collaborative initiatives between scientists and volunteers (i.e., citizen science) is increasing across many research fields. The promise of societal transformation together with scientific breakthroughs contributes to the current popularity of citizen science (CS) in the policy domain. We examined the transformative capacity of citizen science in particular learning through environmental CS as conservation tool. We reviewed the CS and social-learning literature and examined 14 conservation projects across Europe that involved collaborative CS. We also developed a template that can be used to explore learning arrangements (i.e., learning events and materials) in CS projects and to explain how the desired outcomes can be achieved through CS learning. We found that recent studies aiming to define CS for analytical purposes often fail to improve the conceptual clarity of CS; CS programs may have transformative potential, especially for the development of individual skills, but such transformation is not necessarily occurring at the organizational and institutional levels; empirical evidence on simple learning outcomes, but the assertion of transformative effects of CS learning is often based on assumptions rather than empirical observation; and it is unanimous that learning in CS is considered important, but in practice it often goes unreported or unevaluated. In conclusion, we point to the need for reliable and transparent measurement of transformative effects for democratization of knowledge production.

Developing Socio-ecological Research in Finland: Challenges and Progress Towards a Thriving LTSER Network

At the time of planning the national LTER network (FinLTSER) in Finland, the approach of linking social and ecological issues in solving environmental problems was already well embedded in science and policy institutions and practices. A broad community of environmental, natural and social scientists had been carrying out problem-oriented research related to environmental issues for many years before the concept of LTSER platforms raised wide interest among Finnish research institutes. In this article, we analyse the research culture leading to this high level of interest and enthusiasm regarding socio-ecological research during the development phase of the FinLTSER network. By using interview and other materials from the process of establishment of the FinLTSER, this chapter analyses the initiation of the network, the very first steps taken by the platforms and the challenges faced during this period.

Exploring Landscape in-the-Making: A Case Study on the Constitutive Role of Animals in Society–Nature Interactions

Abstract Landscape research offers fruitful perspectives on interactions between society and nature. We suggest that animals may help us to understand these interactions in their full complexity. We examine the constitutive role of animals in society–nature interactions through a case study of brown bears entering a semi-urban landscape of second homes in south-eastern Finland, and developing a garbage-eating habit. Drawing from relational thinking and poststructuralist geographies, we analyse the landscape as co-produced by humans and bears. Analysis of the material and socio-cultural practices of cohabitation enriches the understanding of society–nature interactions by emphasising the open-endedness of the interactions. Therefore, the identification of the underlying material interactions makes visible alternative ways of living the landscape and provides means to evaluate spatial strategies with which problematic society–nature interactions can be manipulated.

Energy Policy or Forest Policy or Rural Policy? Transition from Fossil to Bioenergy in Finnish Local Heating Systems

This chapter explores change in energy production systems. It focuses on a specific case: the introduction and development of small-scale bioenergy heating business concept in Finland since the early 1990s to the present. I will describe how this new concept for bioenergy was introduced to local-level energy production and enabled the replacement of fossil energy sources with renewable energy. The case is thus a positive example of how possibilities for more sustainable energy production are created within rigid technological systems, loaded with institutional, economic and technological momentum.

Responsible Action as Embedded in Knowledge Practices: An Analysis of Forest Biodiversity Protection

Following the global concern for the loss of biodiversity, biological knowledge has become a central tool in environmental governance. Science studies has addressed the data-driven nature of biodiversity protection and explored various aspects of it, ranging from knowledge infrastructures to engagement of various social groups in knowledge production. This article focuses on how this knowledge is applied in forestry, one of the most threatening socio-economic practices to biodiversity. Drawing from a case study in Finland, carried out as an ethnography of forestry expert practices, I analyse how biodiversity has been institutionalised in forestry operations. Responsible action and pro-environmental behaviour are much debated topics in environmental governance literature. Here the focus is on how they are articulated and enacted as embedded in the expert practices. The practices and techniques of identifying and locating the biological values are thus not viewed as resources for decision making but as performative of the partnerships in environmental governance, shaping the roles of science, corporations, government and civil society. These partnerships and power relations are constituted by the uncertainty of biological knowledge and the instability of biological objects travelling between the realms of science, administration and economy.

Outlaws or Protected? DNA , Hybrids, and Biopolitics in a Finnish Wolf-Poaching Case

By analyzing a 2015 Finnish court case on wolf poaching, we discuss how wild animals are categorized, gain legal status based on their species identification, and affect the categorization of humans either as poachers or hunters concerned about the genetic purity of the species. The court had to evaluate the reliability, accuracy, and relevance of scientific knowledge to distinguish “pure” wolves from hybrids. Dealing with complicated questions of canid species identification, the court decision took a position in the debate on what to conserve in a world which escapes simple categorizations. Hence, we interpret the case as an example of biopolitics , addressing the challenges and tensions of governing life by differentiating between valued and less valued, killable and threatened lifeforms, and human responsibilities towards them.

Emergent publics and affects in environmental governance

ABSTRACT Drawing on the wide social scientific literature on emotions and affects, we highlight the value and potential contribution of the affect theory for understanding public engagement in environmental policy and planning. We suggest that such theorization complements political ontologies that envision concerned publics to arise as citizens are attached to objects and other beings in their everyday life. Focus on emotions and affects enables in-depth exploration of the corporeality of these attachments, increasing understanding about how affected publics get driven for action and how new sensibilities and horizons for action are created. Based on the discussion of affect theory and case examples, we argue that emotions and affects should be treated as crucial carriers of knowledge about transformation of political subjects and their concerns. They also direct analytic gaze beyond public participation procedures and encourage the development of novel, more inclusive settings for public engagement.