In Common

In this episode Michael spoke with John Parker. John is a sociologist of science and a program director at the National Science Foundation (NSF) within its division of social and economic sciences. John and Michael spoke about John's experience at the NSF and the importance of mentorship and accumulative advantage in science, which challenge the way we think about "who is good" in a field, and how we judge this as a forced decision. John also discussed his work on "coherent groups" such as the Resilience Alliance (https://www.resalliance.org/), which he has studied at length. Finally, John and Michael discussed the too-often invisible work done by many people to support the outcomes that a much smaller number of individuals receive credit for. The implications of this work are far-reaching for all scientists as we struggle with the challenges of self-reinforcing power and privilege, increasing inequalities, and the collective-action problems we face when we try to produce public goods. John's website and google scholar pages: http://john-parker-wg6d.squarespace.com/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=euuurksAAAAJ&hl=en

Phil Loring, an associate professor and Arrell Chair studying food systems and fisheries, discusses his forthcoming book Finding Our Niche and the role of threshold concepts in sustainability. He explores place-based research, restorative human–environment relationships, plural ways of knowing, and a storytelling project called Coastal Routes Radio. Short, thoughtful conversations about change, learning, and coastal communities.

This insight episode is taken from episode 028 of the podcast, Stefan and Michael's interview with Fiona Nunan. Fiona Nunan is a Professor of Environment and Development within the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham in the UK. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/gov/nunan-fiona.aspx#staffdetails https://twitter.com/fionanunan?lang=en Her interests and experience focus on natural resource governance and management in developing country settings, particularly within inland fisheries and coastal locations in East and Southern Africa, and on exploring the links between poverty and the environment. She was appointed to Head of the department in 2014 and was previously the Director of Postgraduate Research. She leads on the new Environment, Sustainability and Politics pathway of the MSc program, and works closely with colleagues in the Political Science and International Studies Department. Fiona’s Google Scholar page https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=gjUJQYcAAAAJ&hl=de&oi=ao Her first book was published in 2015 by Routledge, titled: 'Understanding Poverty and the Environment: Analytical Frameworks and Approaches'. The book makes an innovative contribution to literature on environment and development by bringing together a diverse range of analytical approaches and frameworks that can be used to study human-nature interactions.Her second book, which we discuss in detail in the podcast, was published at the beginning of this year 2020 by Routledge, titled “Governing Renewable Natural Resources: theories and frameworks”. Link to book ‘Governing Renewable Resources’ https://www.routledge.com/Governing-Renewable-Natural-Resources-Theories-and-Frameworks-1st-Edition/Nunan/p/book/9780367146702 Link to book ‘Poverty and the Environment’ https://www.routledge.com/Understanding-Poverty-and-the-Environment-Analytical-frameworks-and-approaches/Nunan/p/book/9780415707596   Finding Sustainability Podcast @find_sust_pod https://twitter.com/find_sust_pod Environmental Social Science Network https://essnetwork.net/ https://twitter.com/ESS_Network @ESS_Network

Michael spoke with Chris Weible, a professor at the school of public affairs, University of Colorado, Denver. Chris is also the director of his school's PhD program, and a co-director with Tanya Heikkila of the Workshop on Policy Process Research (WOPPR). Chris is a leading figure on the field of policy studies, and Michael and Chris discussed the use of a popular policy process tool, the advocacy coalition framework, as well is Chris' developing interdisciplinary work on the role of emotions and interpretivist perspectives in policy process studies. Chris' website: https://publicaffairs.ucdenver.edu/programs/public-affairs-programs/phd-in-public-affairs/christopher-weible-ucd189 WOPPR website: https://publicaffairs.ucdenver.edu/research-and-impact/workshop-on-policy-process-research Paper that Chris mentions towards the end of the interview: Durnová, A. P., and C. M. Weible. 2020. Tempest in a teapot? Toward new collaborations between mainstream policy process studies and interpretive policy studies. Policy sciences.    

In this episode, Stefan Partelow interviews Kenny Wallen. Kenny is an Assistant Professor of Human Dimensions of Fish and Wildlife at the University of Idaho. His professorship is a joint position with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, so Kenny has one foot in academia and one in practice.  He received his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in the Human Dimensions of Natural Resources; his M.S. at Oklahoma State University in Zoology; B.A. at Truman State University in Psychology. https://www.human-element-lab.com/   Kenny’s Google Scholar page https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=XT-t5bgAAAAJ&hl=de&oi=ao   Kenny’s university page https://www.uidaho.edu/cnr/faculty/wallen   Research articles mentioned: Wallen, K. E. & Romulo, C. L. Social norms: More details, please. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 114, E5283–E5284 (2017). https://www.pnas.org/content/114/27/E5283 Wallen, K. E. et al. Integrating team science into interdisciplinary graduate education: an exploration of the SESYNC Graduate Pursuit. J. Environ. Stud. Sci. 9, 218–233 (2019). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13412-019-00543-2 Wallen, K. E. Focusing on structure and process to integrate and mainstream the social sciences in conservation. Conserv. Biol. 31, 724–726 (2017). https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12871

In this episode, Courtney and Michael interview Joe Ament. Joe completed his PhD at the University of Vermont where he researched monetary theory and policy in the context of social and ecological equity. His work currently looks at public banking at the national and local levels as well as central banking policy for combating climate change and income inequality. In this conversation with Joe, we go deep into the concept of money to think about common money misconceptions, the role of money right now during the COVID-19 pandemic and current economic crisis and finally why it's so critical to think about the monetary system to design a just and sustainable future.  If you are interested to learn more about Joe’s work, here are a couple recent publications: Paper on Ecological Monetary Theory: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/3/923 Uneven Earth Article on the monetary system and the Green New Deal: http://unevenearth.org/2020/01/public-money-for-environmental-justice/   Finding Sustainability Podcast @find_sust_pod https://twitter.com/find_sust_pod   Environmental Social Science Network https://essnetwork.net/ https://twitter.com/ESS_Network @ESS_Network

Michael and Courtney interview Cassandra Brooks, an assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. We talked about her path from rural New Hampshire to Maine and later on to California, and most of all her transdisciplinary involvement in the development of marine protection in the seas around Antarctica. Cassandra discussed her initial exposure to this space, what drew her to it, and how she and her colleagues have worked to establish marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean. Cassandra's website: https://www.colorado.edu/envs/cassandra-brooks A recent paper by Cassandra and colleagues on the policy development process in the Antarctic: Brooks, C. M., L. B. Crowder, H. Österblom, and A. L. Strong. 2020. Reaching consensus for conserving the global commons: The case of the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Conservation Letters 13(1):289. Cassandra's famous youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNZu1uxNvlo  

In this episode, Stefan Partelow interviews David Lam. David is a PhD candidate at Leuphana University in Germany. His research focuses on the transferability and scalability of the transformational impact of sustainability initiatives. Before starting his PhD, David Lam studied Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science at Lund University and worked for three years as a corporate responsibility consultant for companies, federal ministries, and NGOs. https://www.leuphana.de/en/institutes/ietsr/staff/david-lam.html In the podcast we talk about a few different papers (links below) comprising David’s PhD research and thesis. This includes how sustainability transformations are fostered by local actors, but also how understandings of sustainability differs between actors. We also discuss a recent paper led by David on applications processes in the sustainability transformations literature. David has also conducted a review of local and indigensous knowledge, which leads us to discussion on plurality and the challenges on integrating different types of knowledge in transdisciplinary research processes. Lam, D.P.M., Martín-López, B., Wiek, A. et al. Scaling the impact of sustainability initiatives: a typology of amplification processes. Urban Transform 2, 3 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s42854-020-00007-9 Lam, D., E. Hinz, D. Lang, M. Tengö, H. von Wehrden, and B. Martín-López. 2020. Indigenous and local knowledge in sustainability transformations research: a literature review. Ecology and Society 25(1):3. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11305-250103   Finding Sustainability Podcast @find_sust_pod https://twitter.com/find_sust_pod Environmental Social Science Network https://essnetwork.net/ https://twitter.com/ESS_Network @ESS_Network

This insight episode is taken from episode 024, Stefan’s conversation with Barry Ness. Barry Ness is an Associate Professor at Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies in Sweden. He is also the Director of the local interaction platform in Skåne for the Mistra Urban Futures project, and the editor-in-chief of Challenges in Sustainability. His current research interests include inter- and transdisciplinary approaches for both comprehending and addressing complex sustainability challenges. https://www.lucsus.lu.se/barry-ness He is also a researcher and work package leader for the Globally and Locally-sustainable Food-Water-Energy Innovation in Urban Living Labs (GLOCULL) project, focusing on creating an urban living lab approach for the food-water-energy nexus. Barry is also a project researcher in LUCID project and the TRANSFORM project. https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/project/glocull/ Much of Barry Ness' current research involves engagement with actors outside of academia. Currently, outreach efforts focus on how to improve the sustainability of craft beer production and consumption systems in southern Sweden, SustBeerLab, endorsed by Future Earth. Barry’s Google Scholar page https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=zRPHAlAAAAAJ&hl=de&oi=ao Article on reflexivity mentioned in the podcast https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol23/iss4/art20/ Link to M.Sc. LUMES program https://www.lumes.lu.se/ https://www.lucsus.lu.se/   Finding Sustainability Podcast @find_sust_pod https://twitter.com/find_sust_pod Environmental Social Science Network https://essnetwork.net/ https://twitter.com/ESS_Network @ESS_Network

Michael and Stefan speak with Raul Pacheco-Vega. Raul is a professor in the Public Administration Division of the Centre for Economic Research and Teaching, CIDE (Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas, CIDE, AC) based out of CIDE Region Centro in Aguascalientes, Mexico. We discussed his work on waste and waste pickers, wastewater, and bottled water as untraditional commons. We also spoke about the importance of making care work and life support systems visible, and his thoughts about fieldwork and ethnography under the spectre of the Covid pandemic. Raul's personal website: http://www.raulpacheco.org/blog/ Paper on doubly engaged ethnography that Raul mentions: Pacheco-Vega, R., and K. Parizeau. 2018. Doubly Engaged Ethnography: Opportunities and Challenges When Working With Vulnerable Communities. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 17(1):1609406918790653.