Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2021
Engaging with climate change involves broadening our empathetic understanding outside our own imm... more Engaging with climate change involves broadening our empathetic understanding outside our own immediate experience to include more-than-human organisms. In addition to direct experience, storytelling through emotive, visual narratives can generate empathy, and is a skill in climate change communication worth developing in our students. We explore a case study of postgraduate students involved in an assignment to creatively articulate the effect of ocean heating on local marine organisms, in order to build empathetic understanding in a viewing audience. The resulting student works are described in terms of their conceptual diversity, their media form, and their effectiveness in building empathy. We share student perspectives on personal impacts of making the work, as well as the effect of the collective works on a viewing audience. Finally, the teaching approaches and learnings from an instructor’s perspective are explored. Collectively, these observations document a pedagogical model for integrating the arts and sciences to build empathic understanding about climate disruption affecting life beyond that of our species.
Abstract The economic impact of spiny dogfish in a New Zealand ling longline fishery was assessed... more Abstract The economic impact of spiny dogfish in a New Zealand ling longline fishery was assessed for the purpose of guiding early-stage bycatch reduction device (BRD) development. Ling fishermen describe being “dogged out”, events where high dogfish catch per unit effort (CPUE) is assumed to cause low ling CPUE. Overall, fisheries observer data showed a significant, weak positive relationship between these species' CPUE, which was expected given their spatio-temporal co-occurrence. On fishing lines in the upper quartile for spiny dogfish CPUE (193 dogfish per thousand hooks, a proxy for large “dogged out” events), there was a significant, moderate, negative relationship between dogfish and ling CPUE, providing support for the view of ling fishermen. An opportunity cost for these events was estimated where the value of ling ‘lost’ was approximated by using the ratio of ling to dogfish per line. These lines caught almost 16,000 dogfish, which equated to just over 6000 lost ling worth 75,000 NZD. This cost was adjusted to all hooks in the dataset, as large dogfish events cannot be discerned in advance, equating to 23 cents per hook, per fishing event. A per-hook BRD that eliminates this opportunity cost must reduce dogfish CPUE to below the “dogged out” threshold and cost
Climate change presents scientists, politicians, and media producers with a challenge of articula... more Climate change presents scientists, politicians, and media producers with a challenge of articulating to diverse stakeholders both the complexity of issues and the urgency of action. Analyses of how climate change is represented and constructed in broadcast media are useful to capture a reflection of contemporary values. We use an analysis of news frames and production values as well as a limited “circuit of culture” approach to explore climate change communication as both a news product and cultural phenomenon. Our focus is New Zealand, a country which ratified the Kyoto agreement but which is currently noncompliant. Using qualitative framing analysis and in-depth interviews with leading media producers, politicians, and scientists, we examine how climate change is produced, represented, and consumed by New Zealanders via their broadcast media.
ABSTRACT Both the public and the scientific perception of an island's value are important... more ABSTRACT Both the public and the scientific perception of an island's value are important in deciding its future, with regard to the levels of access, protection and funding for research. There is a popular belief that the preservation of islands equates to the slightly idiosyncratic conservation of unique remote habitats, where the value of any island is its isolation. However, by understanding how scientists use islands, a different picture emerges; islands may be seen also as integrated, or representative fragments of the world that contribute to biodiversity and scientific theory far beyond their narrow geographical boundaries. Here, we broadly review the full scope of values science places on islands. We resolve four central perspectives by which scientists view islands, based on how islands are incorporated into their research: (i) species-level studies; (ii) island-level studies; (iii) islands as model systems; and (iv) islands as part of a global network. Recognising this diverse value system helps enlarge our understanding of islands and reforges their importance to the public and policy makers.
Current definitions of documentary struggle to parallel the ability of the viewer to easily demar... more Current definitions of documentary struggle to parallel the ability of the viewer to easily demarcate documentary from fiction. This is because these definitions generally attempt to distinguish documentary from fictional films based on the premise that documentaries are factual representations of reality. Here we argue that the two genres can be more clearly defined by focusing on the intent of the communication by the producer, rather than the content of the communication. Specifically, documentary versus fictional films may be best distinguished by the fact that one is produced as a statement of fact while one is focused on the art of storytelling. Notably, a story and a statement differ in the extent to which the intention for how the communication is interpreted is predetermined. Thus, a documentary may be understood as a series of visually and/or audibly expressed statements connected by narrative, and communicated from the author/authors to the viewer with the intention that it be received as fact.
... There is also a single case of a molecular marker match for a female humpback whale first sam... more ... There is also a single case of a molecular marker match for a female humpback whale first sampled in the western part of Area V (January 1995) that was subsequently re-sampled in the eastern part of Area IV (January 2000; Pastene et al., 2002). ...
Citizen science aims to bridge the gap between science and society by engaging people in understa... more Citizen science aims to bridge the gap between science and society by engaging people in understanding the process of science. This is needed to foster informed democratic involvement of critical, environmentally informed citizens. Can these aspirations be facilitated by school-based citizen science that offers opportunity to engage scientifically with environmental issues at a scale with local relevance? This is tested through application of Marine Metre Squared (Mm2), a citizen science initiative for long-term monitoring of the New Zealand intertidal zone. Through direct observation and “hands-on” engagement, participants are involved in place-based learning that connects them with nature. Strong interest from teachers and uptake into school programmes has been key to its success in collecting long term biodiversity data. Through facilitated delivery, the project also has the capacity to meet school curriculum goals and develop the environmental science citizenship capabilities of...
ABSTRACT The strength of the tourism academic field is arguably its capacity to facilitate invest... more ABSTRACT The strength of the tourism academic field is arguably its capacity to facilitate investigations that span business as well as the physical and social sciences. While this does not mean that disciplines are irrelevant in tourism, it has been argued that an inter-disciplinary scholarship could lead to post-disciplinary contributions—perspectives that are more problem-focused, based on more flexible modes of knowledge production, plurality, synthesis and greater synergy (Coles, Hall, & Duval, 2006, p. 293). We situate this note within this fluid, inter-disciplinary context, with the intent to critically review the recent conceptual development of hopeful tourism, and citizen science—a scientific field in which ordinary citizens collect data for scientific purposes and greater public good (Dickinson & Bonney, 2012). We suggest there are conceptual similarities between the social science of hopeful tourism and citizen science and argue that the similarities between the two fields could lead to common research agendas. Hopeful tourism has emerged as a transformative perspective for tourism knowledge production (Pritchard, Morgan, & Ateljevic, 2011). Its advocates claim that hopeful tourism is characterised by humanist, value-led scholarship, ethics and respect for human dignity. It is based on a transactional, subjectivist, value-mediated epistemology where the nature of knowledge is characterised by co-transformative learnings (Pritchard et al., 2011). The hopeful tourism research agenda currently focuses on topics such as: public good, harmony and balance, aesthetics and beauty, mindful development , values and ethics, neglected ways of knowing, under-served emancipatory worlds, and so on. This agenda has recently been criticized by some scholars who suggest that hopeful tourism does not go far enough in making sure that its research really ''interrogates tourism's role in oppression'' (Higgins-Desbiolles & Whyte, 2013, p.22). The critics argue: ''We challenge all critical tourism scholars to engage in research methodologies that go beyond hope. We live under grave threats as people of power and privilege assert the right to usurp remaining finite resources leaving the majority to
Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2021
Engaging with climate change involves broadening our empathetic understanding outside our own imm... more Engaging with climate change involves broadening our empathetic understanding outside our own immediate experience to include more-than-human organisms. In addition to direct experience, storytelling through emotive, visual narratives can generate empathy, and is a skill in climate change communication worth developing in our students. We explore a case study of postgraduate students involved in an assignment to creatively articulate the effect of ocean heating on local marine organisms, in order to build empathetic understanding in a viewing audience. The resulting student works are described in terms of their conceptual diversity, their media form, and their effectiveness in building empathy. We share student perspectives on personal impacts of making the work, as well as the effect of the collective works on a viewing audience. Finally, the teaching approaches and learnings from an instructor’s perspective are explored. Collectively, these observations document a pedagogical model for integrating the arts and sciences to build empathic understanding about climate disruption affecting life beyond that of our species.
Abstract The economic impact of spiny dogfish in a New Zealand ling longline fishery was assessed... more Abstract The economic impact of spiny dogfish in a New Zealand ling longline fishery was assessed for the purpose of guiding early-stage bycatch reduction device (BRD) development. Ling fishermen describe being “dogged out”, events where high dogfish catch per unit effort (CPUE) is assumed to cause low ling CPUE. Overall, fisheries observer data showed a significant, weak positive relationship between these species' CPUE, which was expected given their spatio-temporal co-occurrence. On fishing lines in the upper quartile for spiny dogfish CPUE (193 dogfish per thousand hooks, a proxy for large “dogged out” events), there was a significant, moderate, negative relationship between dogfish and ling CPUE, providing support for the view of ling fishermen. An opportunity cost for these events was estimated where the value of ling ‘lost’ was approximated by using the ratio of ling to dogfish per line. These lines caught almost 16,000 dogfish, which equated to just over 6000 lost ling worth 75,000 NZD. This cost was adjusted to all hooks in the dataset, as large dogfish events cannot be discerned in advance, equating to 23 cents per hook, per fishing event. A per-hook BRD that eliminates this opportunity cost must reduce dogfish CPUE to below the “dogged out” threshold and cost
Climate change presents scientists, politicians, and media producers with a challenge of articula... more Climate change presents scientists, politicians, and media producers with a challenge of articulating to diverse stakeholders both the complexity of issues and the urgency of action. Analyses of how climate change is represented and constructed in broadcast media are useful to capture a reflection of contemporary values. We use an analysis of news frames and production values as well as a limited “circuit of culture” approach to explore climate change communication as both a news product and cultural phenomenon. Our focus is New Zealand, a country which ratified the Kyoto agreement but which is currently noncompliant. Using qualitative framing analysis and in-depth interviews with leading media producers, politicians, and scientists, we examine how climate change is produced, represented, and consumed by New Zealanders via their broadcast media.
ABSTRACT Both the public and the scientific perception of an island's value are important... more ABSTRACT Both the public and the scientific perception of an island's value are important in deciding its future, with regard to the levels of access, protection and funding for research. There is a popular belief that the preservation of islands equates to the slightly idiosyncratic conservation of unique remote habitats, where the value of any island is its isolation. However, by understanding how scientists use islands, a different picture emerges; islands may be seen also as integrated, or representative fragments of the world that contribute to biodiversity and scientific theory far beyond their narrow geographical boundaries. Here, we broadly review the full scope of values science places on islands. We resolve four central perspectives by which scientists view islands, based on how islands are incorporated into their research: (i) species-level studies; (ii) island-level studies; (iii) islands as model systems; and (iv) islands as part of a global network. Recognising this diverse value system helps enlarge our understanding of islands and reforges their importance to the public and policy makers.
Current definitions of documentary struggle to parallel the ability of the viewer to easily demar... more Current definitions of documentary struggle to parallel the ability of the viewer to easily demarcate documentary from fiction. This is because these definitions generally attempt to distinguish documentary from fictional films based on the premise that documentaries are factual representations of reality. Here we argue that the two genres can be more clearly defined by focusing on the intent of the communication by the producer, rather than the content of the communication. Specifically, documentary versus fictional films may be best distinguished by the fact that one is produced as a statement of fact while one is focused on the art of storytelling. Notably, a story and a statement differ in the extent to which the intention for how the communication is interpreted is predetermined. Thus, a documentary may be understood as a series of visually and/or audibly expressed statements connected by narrative, and communicated from the author/authors to the viewer with the intention that it be received as fact.
... There is also a single case of a molecular marker match for a female humpback whale first sam... more ... There is also a single case of a molecular marker match for a female humpback whale first sampled in the western part of Area V (January 1995) that was subsequently re-sampled in the eastern part of Area IV (January 2000; Pastene et al., 2002). ...
Citizen science aims to bridge the gap between science and society by engaging people in understa... more Citizen science aims to bridge the gap between science and society by engaging people in understanding the process of science. This is needed to foster informed democratic involvement of critical, environmentally informed citizens. Can these aspirations be facilitated by school-based citizen science that offers opportunity to engage scientifically with environmental issues at a scale with local relevance? This is tested through application of Marine Metre Squared (Mm2), a citizen science initiative for long-term monitoring of the New Zealand intertidal zone. Through direct observation and “hands-on” engagement, participants are involved in place-based learning that connects them with nature. Strong interest from teachers and uptake into school programmes has been key to its success in collecting long term biodiversity data. Through facilitated delivery, the project also has the capacity to meet school curriculum goals and develop the environmental science citizenship capabilities of...
ABSTRACT The strength of the tourism academic field is arguably its capacity to facilitate invest... more ABSTRACT The strength of the tourism academic field is arguably its capacity to facilitate investigations that span business as well as the physical and social sciences. While this does not mean that disciplines are irrelevant in tourism, it has been argued that an inter-disciplinary scholarship could lead to post-disciplinary contributions—perspectives that are more problem-focused, based on more flexible modes of knowledge production, plurality, synthesis and greater synergy (Coles, Hall, & Duval, 2006, p. 293). We situate this note within this fluid, inter-disciplinary context, with the intent to critically review the recent conceptual development of hopeful tourism, and citizen science—a scientific field in which ordinary citizens collect data for scientific purposes and greater public good (Dickinson & Bonney, 2012). We suggest there are conceptual similarities between the social science of hopeful tourism and citizen science and argue that the similarities between the two fields could lead to common research agendas. Hopeful tourism has emerged as a transformative perspective for tourism knowledge production (Pritchard, Morgan, & Ateljevic, 2011). Its advocates claim that hopeful tourism is characterised by humanist, value-led scholarship, ethics and respect for human dignity. It is based on a transactional, subjectivist, value-mediated epistemology where the nature of knowledge is characterised by co-transformative learnings (Pritchard et al., 2011). The hopeful tourism research agenda currently focuses on topics such as: public good, harmony and balance, aesthetics and beauty, mindful development , values and ethics, neglected ways of knowing, under-served emancipatory worlds, and so on. This agenda has recently been criticized by some scholars who suggest that hopeful tourism does not go far enough in making sure that its research really ''interrogates tourism's role in oppression'' (Higgins-Desbiolles & Whyte, 2013, p.22). The critics argue: ''We challenge all critical tourism scholars to engage in research methodologies that go beyond hope. We live under grave threats as people of power and privilege assert the right to usurp remaining finite resources leaving the majority to
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