Problem Formulation and Option Assessment (PFOA): International project on GMO environmental risk assessment. The PFOA Handbook is designed to be downloaded and printed double-sided, in color or black and white. We ask that you email the authors at kcn@umn.edu if you plan to print the handbook or make CDs for distribution so we are aware of who is considering the PFOA issues in the context of environmental risk assessment.
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Understanding the importance of weak-tie networks in complex human-environment systems:
Ecosocial feedback in multifunctional agriculture (with N. Jordan and
S. Manson). In
agriculture, "multifunctionality" refers to production of
a range of goods (agricultural commodities) and ecological services
(e.g., conservation of biodiversity and water quality). Multifunctional
agriculture is attracting considerable interest because it meets a
range of social and ecological challenges to sustainability. This
project will test a new model in which multifunctional agriculture
is understood as a coupled human-environment system driven by ecosocial
feedback, weak-tie social networks and multiple biophysical benefits.
In this model, critical ecosocial feedback is mediated by "weak
ties" social networks, or those that bridge between groups. Weak
tie networks allow the shared perception of biophysical signals as
well as communication, resource exchange, and collective action by
individuals and groups. Through weak-ties social networks, multifunctional
agroecosystems that generate ecological benefits receive resources
that increase their spatial extent, better signal these benefits,
and increase the size and resource base of social networks. The project
will test the hypothesis that this ecosocial feedback is strong enough
to overcome systemic barriers to extensive adoption of an important
emerging form of multifunctional agriculture, rotational grazing (RG).
Work will occur in three states (NY, WI, MN) that differ markedly
in development of RG. The project will examine individual and group
behavior and social-network development, assess its biophysical effects,
and use these findings to create an agent-based model of RG dynamics.
Methods include digital mapping and remote sensing of social and ecological
phenomena; biophysical research on terrestrial and aquatic systems
at farm and landscape scales; social science interviews and structural
equation modeling for farmer and network actors; and integrated modeling.
Education and outreach for a variety of audiences include use of the
model as a post-secondary educational game on ecosocial feedback,
and working with grazing organizations to share the empirical results
in a wide range of settings including conferences and strategic planning
sessions.
Better
understanding of dynamics of multifunctionality is important to society
in several ways. In terms of theoretical advances, this research proposes
a new model of feedback among social and ecological systems that could
be applied not just to agriculture but also to many different kinds
of productive systems that involve humans and the environment. In
terms of practical outcomes, this project will help lower barriers
to the expansion of grazing, which offers considerable potential for
rural economic revitalization in many US regions, while also helping
make the increasingly important US "bioeconomy" more sustainable.
The proposed research will help identify both opportunities and barriers
affecting development of a sustainable bioeconomy based on multifunctional
agriculture. Finally, the project helps a variety of different people
learn about multifunctional agriculture in particular and human-environment
interactions more broadly.
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Intergration of human choice into models of biogeochemical cycling in urban ecosystems
(with L. Baker, S. Hobbie, J. King, J. McFadden). The
overall goal of the proposed research is to couple human behavior
with flows of macroelements (C, N and P) through households. Specifically,
we seek to quantify total fluxes of C, N, and P through households
in the Twin Cities and to understand factors that influence household
choices regarding consumption and thus the macroelement fluxes through
households in urban ecosystems. We hypothesize that element fluxes
are highly variable and skewed, with relatively few households contributing
disproportionately to overall fluxes. We plan to examine the relative
influence of homeowner attitudes, norms, perceived control, and demographic
factors on behaviors contributing to elemental fluxes through households.
Four
hundred owner-occupied, single unit households in Ramsey County will
be randomly selected to cover a range of household characteristics.
These will be studied using an intensive mail survey, a landscape
inventory, and homeowner energy bills. Data will be entered into a
previously developed Household Flux Calculator (HFC) model to generate
fluxes of C, N and P. Survey data will be used to link factors related
to human choices (attitudes, norms, perceived control, demographic
factors) to element fluxes. Project outcomes can be directly applied
to developing a new paradigm for pollution control, one based on source
reduction and information feedback loops to guide adaptive management.
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Community
Wildfire Protection Plans: Enhancing
Collaboration and Building Social Capacity. Across
the country, Federal agencies, States, Tribes, local governments,
NGOs, community groups, and citizens are coming together in an attempt
to manage their forests and grasslands to reduce the risk of wildland
fire. Some management efforts have been ongoing for a number of years;
others have been spurred by the passage of the Healthy Forest Restoration
Act of 2003 (HFRA). HFRA
encourages the development of Community Wildfire Protection Plans
(CWPPs) that identify and set priorities for fuels reduction projects
on federal and nonfederal lands, including where and how the project
be implemented. Scientists
from USDA Forest Service Research and the National Forest System and
from universities across the country are studying communities that
are developing CWPPs to develop tools or strategies that will (1)
improve the ability of agencies, organizations, communities, and citizens
to work together collaboratively to reduce the risks of wildland fire,
and (2) enhance the long-term social capacity of communities to address
wildfire risk by understanding how CWPP activities overcome barriers
and/or expand opportunities for planning and implementing fuel reduction
projects.
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International
Project on GMO Environmental Risk Assessment. The
GMO ERA Project is a pioneering initiative driven by public sector
scientists to develop tools to support environmental risk assessment
(ERA) of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Our goal is to give
decision makers around the globe tools and training to help them decide
what information and data are most important and appropriate for an
ERA that is tailored to the GM crop and agricultural system in their
country. Our methods enable local scientists and decision makers to
reach their own decisions, based on transparent and scientific processes. Problem Formulation and Options Assessment (PFOA) is a methodology
for a multistakeholder dialogue of the risks and benefits of a new
GMO technology intended to frame the scientific risk assessment. The
project will produce a guided design and decision making resource
(PFOA handbook) that will allow any country to develop their own PFOA.
ETT members will carry out activities to embed PFOA in a policy context
in one of the project regions.
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Neighborhood
Associations: The Influence of Social Contracts on Homeowner Preparedness
for Wildfire. Across
the
US,
homeowners who live in forested areas are trying to find the best
way to prepare for wildfires. The purpose of this research is to understand the role neighborhood
associations play in homeowner perceptions of defensible space, homeowner
behaviors related to wildfire, homeowner perception of fuel treatments
on undeveloped land, and community/agency ability to mobilize homeowners
for wildfire preparedness. By addressing communities in two regions
of the nation, we will help reduce the cultural variables of private
property norms, the cowboy mentality, and the new immigrant syndrome. Results from the survey will be used to assist fire departments
and forestry agencies throughout the country to develop creative ways
of working with homeowners in areas vulnerable to wildfire.
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Intergration of human choice into models of biogeochemical cycling in urban ecosystems (with L. Baker, S. Hobbie, J. King, J. McFadden). The overall goal of the proposed research is to couple human behavior with flows of macroelements (C, N and P) through households. Specifically, we seek to quantify total fluxes of C, N, and P through households in the Twin Cities and to understand factors that influence household choices regarding consumption and thus the macroelement fluxes through households in urban ecosystems. We hypothesize that element fluxes are highly variable and skewed, with relatively few households contributing disproportionately to overall fluxes. We plan to examine the relative influence of homeowner attitudes, norms, perceived control, and demographic factors on behaviors contributing to elemental fluxes through households.
Four hundred owner-occupied, single unit households in Ramsey County will be randomly selected to cover a range of household characteristics. These will be studied using an intensive mail survey, a landscape inventory, and homeowner energy bills. Data will be entered into a previously developed Household Flux Calculator (HFC) model to generate fluxes of C, N and P. Survey data will be used to link factors related to human choices (attitudes, norms, perceived control, demographic factors) to element fluxes. Project outcomes can be directly applied to developing a new paradigm for pollution control, one based on source reduction and information feedback loops to guide adaptive management.
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