- Broadly, my work analyzes the politics of sustainable energy transitions, focusing on U.S. energy efficiency and cons... moreBroadly, my work analyzes the politics of sustainable energy transitions, focusing on U.S. energy efficiency and conservation efforts. I use perspectives from environmental policy, political ecology, energy geographies, and environmental sociology and have expertise in qualitative methods and interactive teaching techniques.
My research examines the ways global climate change is changing environmental policies, environmentalism, and energy systems by analyzing how people frame technologies as solutions to climate change in the United States. I have focused on energy efficiency technologies within electricity systems, technologies that have captured the imaginations of environmentalists, energy companies, and policymakers as key tools to address climate change. My research advances debates about the ways that environmental issues, technologies, social movements, and policies become part of larger political economic forces and how they resist and reproduce existing inequalities.
My teaching commitment is driven by my interest in connecting theory and practice to understand human-environment interactions. I aim to prepare students for lifelong learning, independent thinking, and service. I emphasize how the theories and tools students learn in school are directly relevant to their own lives and the world around them. I am deeply committed to emphasizing multiple approaches to environmental problem-solving; teaching critical thinking; training students to read, write, and do research; and centering social justice.edit
Research Interests:
In this article, the mechanisms through which social networks impact individuals' environmentally significant actions are examined through a pilot study. A conceptual model was developed and in-depth interviews were performed with... more
In this article, the mechanisms through which social networks impact individuals' environmentally significant actions are examined through a pilot study. A conceptual model was developed and in-depth interviews were performed with individuals in a North ...
Research Interests:
In this research, I have analyzed the production of consuming less electricity through a case study of promotions of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). I focused on the CFL because it has been heavily promoted by environmentalists... more
In this research, I have analyzed the production of consuming less electricity through a case study of promotions of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). I focused on the CFL because it has been heavily promoted by environmentalists and electricity companies as a key tool for solving climate change, yet such promotions appear counter-intuitive. The magnitude of CFL promotions by environmentalists is surprising because CFLs can only impact less than 1% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. CFL promotions by electricity providers are surprising given such companies' normal incentives to sell more of their product. I used political ecological and symbolic interactionist theories, qualitative methods of data collection (including interviews, participant-observation, texts, and images), and a grounded theory analysis to understand this case. My findings suggest that, far from being a self-evident technical entity, energy efficiency is produced as an idea, a part of identities, a resou...
Research Interests:
To advance understandings of how neoliberal ideologies are linked to peoples' everyday environmentalist practices, this article examines processes through which green neoliberal subjects are made. Bringing together critical... more
To advance understandings of how neoliberal ideologies are linked to peoples' everyday environmentalist practices, this article examines processes through which green neoliberal subjects are made. Bringing together critical perspectives on green neoliberalism and symbolic interactionist perspectives on identities, I develop the concept of green neoliberal identity work, a mechanism through which neoliberal environmentalist subjects are produced. I use environmentalists' promotions and uses of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) as a case study, and employ mixed qualitative methods and grounded theory analysis. Data were collected in North Carolina through interviews, participant observation, and texts. The data reveal four generic patterns of green neoliberal identity work: celebrations and renunciations of particular technologies, inclusive-talk, performing moral math, and technological progress-talk. These patterns show that framing green neoliberal subject formation th...
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Subjectivities, Identities, Neoliberalism, Environmental movements, and 14 moreEnvironmentalism, Identity, Identity Work, Ecologia Política, Identidades, Environnementalisme, écologie Politique, Neoliberalismo, Ambientalismo, Subjetividades, Le Néolibéralisme, Des Subjectivités, Des Identités, and Trabajo De Identidad
In this paper, state electricity portfolio standards in the U.S. are analyzed to examine how energy efficiency is being created as a particular kind of resource through this type of climate change governance. Such policies can incentivize... more
In this paper, state electricity portfolio standards in the U.S. are analyzed to examine how energy efficiency is being created as a particular kind of resource through this type of climate change governance. Such policies can incentivize energy efficiency by requiring or encouraging electricity providers to meet a certain percentage of their demand through energy efficiency measures. North Carolina’s portfolio standard is used as an in-depth case study to identify factors that are then compared across all 36 states that include energy efficiency as part of a portfolio requirement or goal. The main finding of this study is that state portfolio standards tend to emphasize demand-side energy efficiency, or energy efficiency on the customer’s side of the electricity meter, and only rarely incentivize a full range of both demand-side and supply-side efficiency changes. As a result, the amount of energy efficiency and climate change mitigation benefits that are likely to result from this type of portfolio standard policy tool are limited. From this analysis, lessons are drawn out for crafting stronger portfolio standards that incentivize a wider range of efficiency changes across electricity networks.
Research Interests:
In his introduction to the 2011 special issue on energy of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Karl Zimmerer argues that “Geography is central to understanding and addressing the current energy dilemmas” (2011, p. 705).... more
In his introduction to the 2011 special issue on energy of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Karl Zimmerer argues that “Geography is central to understanding and addressing the current energy dilemmas” (2011, p. 705). He further states that the ability of geographers to effectively unpack systems of resource production, distribution, and consumption, as well as the ways in which these are intertwined with socioecological systems and relations, makes geographers uniquely qualified to understand the shifting global energy landscape. The special issue of the Annals is but one piece of evidence of the recent increase in energy scholarship by geographers. The number of sponsored sessions by the Energy and Environment Specialty Group at the annual AAG conference has more than doubled since 2011 (Elvin Delgado,1 personal communication). The formation of the Energy Geography Working Group by the RGS-IBG in 2011 crystallized growing energy research by UK geographers, evidenced by recent increases in the number of sponsored sessions at the RGS-IBG annual meetings (Stefan Bouzarovski,2 personal communication). How has this increase in energy research activity translated into university classrooms? The collection of papers that make up this symposium issue represent four ways that energy geographies are being taught, as well as some of the challenges that emerge in their teaching. In what follows, we first briefly touch on the history of teaching energy in geography classes, and place shifts in its pedagogy within larger disciplinary and societal changes. Next, we focus on the importance of bringing geographical perspectives to the teaching of energy, particularly, perspectives from critical geography. Because these perspectives link theory and practice in critical, reflexive ways, energy geographers often find active learning approaches useful in their teaching. Finally, we introduce the collection of papers, a group that aims to share best practices and key challenges for conducting engaged, critical energy pedagogy – a growing area of interest for both researchers and students alike.
Research Interests:
Energy efficiency represents a financial threat to energy companies. This paper examines how investor-owned electricity companies in North Carolina have turned the threat of energy efficiency – or “negawatts” – into a new arena of... more
Energy efficiency represents a financial threat to energy companies. This paper examines how investor-owned electricity companies in North Carolina have turned the threat of energy efficiency – or “negawatts” – into a new arena of accumulation. They have done this by exploiting features of the North Carolina Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS), a law passed in 2007 that encourages energy efficiency. I argue that under REPS, electricity companies have positioned themselves, counter-intuitively, as the primary producers of less of their main product. As such, these companies have been awarded high rates of return for creating energy efficiency projects. This paper builds on previous research into how environmental crises like climate change have been turned into new opportunities for accumulation in the neoliberal era. It focuses on neoliberal accumulation in an understudied system (electricity), socio-nature (energy efficiency), and political economic con...
Research Interests:
Energy saved through efficiency and conservation efforts is often framed as a “resource” in climate change mitigation policies because of the ways such “negawatts” can cost-effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This research uses a... more
Energy saved through efficiency and conservation efforts is often framed as a “resource” in climate change mitigation policies because of the ways such “negawatts” can cost-effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This research uses a case study of a US state alternative energy portfolio standard under which negawatts have been turned into new sources of profits for investor-owned electricity companies. Using archival policymaking data and analytical tools commonly used in the study of more traditional subsurface resources like fossil fuels, this paper analyzes how such companies have come to profit from negawatts. I show that, under this portfolio standard, negawatts are largely embedded in electricity customers’ private spaces, presenting a private property problem for capital accumulation similar to the challenge faced by capital seeking to extract more traditional subsurface resources. I argue that electricity companies resolve the negawatt private property problem in two wa...
Research Interests: Cultural Studies and Law
In his introduction to the 2011 special issue on energy of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Karl Zimmerer argues that “Geography is central to understanding and addressing the current energy dilemmas” (2011, p. 705).... more
In his introduction to the 2011 special issue on energy of the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Karl Zimmerer argues that “Geography is central to understanding and addressing the current energy dilemmas” (2011, p. 705). He further states that the ability of geographers to effectively unpack systems of resource production, distribution, and consumption, as well as the ways in which these are intertwined with socioecological systems and relations, makes geographers uniquely qualified to understand the shifting global energy landscape. The special issue of the Annals is but one piece of evidence of the recent increase in energy scholarship by geographers. The number of sponsored sessions by the Energy and Environment Specialty Group at the annual AAG conference has more than doubled since 2011 (Elvin Delgado, personal communication). The formation of the Energy Geography Working Group by the RGS-IBG in 2011 crystallized growing energy research by UK geographers, evidenced by recent increases in the number of sponsored sessions at the RGS-IBG annual meetings (Stefan Bouzarovski, personal communication).
How has this increase in energy research activity translated into university classrooms? The collection of papers that make up this symposium issue represent four ways that energy geographies are being taught, as well as some of the challenges that emerge in their teaching. In what follows, we first briefly touch on the history of teaching energy in geography classes, and place shifts in its pedagogy within larger disciplinary and societal changes. Next, we focus on the importance of bringing geographical perspectives to the teaching of energy, particularly, perspectives from critical geography. Because these perspectives link theory and practice in critical, reflexive ways, energy geographers often find active learning approaches useful in their teaching. Finally, we introduce the collection of papers, a group that aims to share best practices and key challenges for conducting engaged, critical energy pedagogy – a growing area of interest for both researchers and students alike.
How has this increase in energy research activity translated into university classrooms? The collection of papers that make up this symposium issue represent four ways that energy geographies are being taught, as well as some of the challenges that emerge in their teaching. In what follows, we first briefly touch on the history of teaching energy in geography classes, and place shifts in its pedagogy within larger disciplinary and societal changes. Next, we focus on the importance of bringing geographical perspectives to the teaching of energy, particularly, perspectives from critical geography. Because these perspectives link theory and practice in critical, reflexive ways, energy geographers often find active learning approaches useful in their teaching. Finally, we introduce the collection of papers, a group that aims to share best practices and key challenges for conducting engaged, critical energy pedagogy – a growing area of interest for both researchers and students alike.
Research Interests:
In this paper, state electricity portfolio standards in the U.S. are analyzed to examine how energy effi- ciency is being created as a particular kind of resource through this type of climate change governance. Such policies can... more
In this paper, state electricity portfolio standards in the U.S. are analyzed to examine how energy effi- ciency is being created as a particular kind of resource through this type of climate change governance. Such policies can incentivize energy efficiency by requiring or encouraging electricity providers to meet a certain percentage of their demand through energy efficiency measures. North Carolina’s portfolio standard is used as an in-depth case study to identify factors that are then compared across all 36 states that include energy efficiency as part of a portfolio requirement or goal. The main finding of this study is that state portfolio standards tend to emphasize demand-side energy efficiency, or energy efficiency on the customer’s side of the electricity meter, and only rarely incentivize a full range of both demand-side and supply-side efficiency changes. As a result, the amount of energy efficiency and climate change mitigation benefits that are likely to result from this type of portfolio standard policy tool are limited. From this analysis, lessons are drawn out for crafting stronger portfolio standards that incentivize a wider range of efficiency changes across electricity networks.
Research Interests:
To advance understandings of how neoliberal ideologies are linked to peoples' everyday environmentalist practices, this article examines processes through which green neoliberal subjects are made. Bringing together critical perspectives... more
To advance understandings of how neoliberal ideologies are linked to peoples' everyday environmentalist practices, this article examines processes through which green neoliberal subjects are made. Bringing together critical perspectives on green neoliberalism and symbolic interactionist perspectives on identities, I develop the concept of green neoliberal identity work, a mechanism through which neoliberal environmentalist subjects are produced. I use environmentalists' promotions and uses of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) as a case study, and employ mixed qualitative methods and grounded theory analysis. Data were collected in North Carolina through interviews, participant observation, and texts. The data reveal four generic patterns of green neoliberal identity work: celebrations and renunciations of particular technologies, inclusive-talk, performing moral math, and technological progress-talk. These patterns show that framing green neoliberal subject formation through the lens of identity work illuminates how these subjects form themselves through micro-level social processes, and opens up different ways of thinking about resistance.
Pour faire avancer la compréhension de la façon dont les idéologies néolibérales sont liés à des pratiques environnementalistes quotidienne, cet article examine les processus permettant à des sujets néolibérales verts sont faites. Apporter des perspectives critiques sur néolibéralisme vert, et l'interactionnisme symbolique sur les identités, je développe le concept de travail d'identité néolibérale vert, un mécanisme par lequel les sujets écologistes néolibérales sont produites. Je utilise les promotions et les utilisations des ampoules compactes fluorescentes (LFC) par des écologistes comme une étude de cas, avec les méthodes qualitatives mixtes, et «grounded theory». Les données ont été recueillies en North Carolina, États-Unis à travers des entretiens, observation participative et des textes. Les données révèlent quatre modèles génériques du travail identitaire néolibérale vert: célébrations et renoncements de technologies particulières, la parole inclusif, effectuer un mathématique morale, et parler de progrès technologique. Ces tendances montrent que le cadrage de la formation du sujet néolibéral verte, à travers la lentille de identité, éclaire la façon dont ces sujets se forment par des processus sociaux au niveau micro. Il ouvre différentes façons de penser de la résistance.
Este artículo avanza nuestro conocimiento sobre como ideologías neoliberales están vinculados a las prácticas cotidianas ambientalistas, por medio de una examinación de los procesos de formación de subjetividades neoliberales "verdes". Combino perspectivas criticas hacia neoliberalismo verde con el interaccionismo simbólico para elaborar el concepto de "trabajo de identidad neoliberal verde", que es un mecanismo por lo cual los sujetos neoliberales están formados. Utilizo métodos cualitativos mixtos y "teoría anclada" para entender el estudio de caso de la promoción y uso de las "lámparas compactas flourescentes" (CFLs). Los datos fueron recogidos en el estado del Norte de Carolina, Estados Unidos de America, a través de entrevistas, observación participativa, y textos. Los datos muestran cuatro formas genéricas de "trabajo de identidad neoliberal verde": celebraciones y renuncios de tecnologías especificas, discursos incluyentes, matemáticas morales, y discursos de progreso tecnológico. Nuestro acercamiento ilumina la manera en que los sujetos se forman a través de microprocesos sociales, y abre paso a nuevas maneras de entender la resistencia.
Pour faire avancer la compréhension de la façon dont les idéologies néolibérales sont liés à des pratiques environnementalistes quotidienne, cet article examine les processus permettant à des sujets néolibérales verts sont faites. Apporter des perspectives critiques sur néolibéralisme vert, et l'interactionnisme symbolique sur les identités, je développe le concept de travail d'identité néolibérale vert, un mécanisme par lequel les sujets écologistes néolibérales sont produites. Je utilise les promotions et les utilisations des ampoules compactes fluorescentes (LFC) par des écologistes comme une étude de cas, avec les méthodes qualitatives mixtes, et «grounded theory». Les données ont été recueillies en North Carolina, États-Unis à travers des entretiens, observation participative et des textes. Les données révèlent quatre modèles génériques du travail identitaire néolibérale vert: célébrations et renoncements de technologies particulières, la parole inclusif, effectuer un mathématique morale, et parler de progrès technologique. Ces tendances montrent que le cadrage de la formation du sujet néolibéral verte, à travers la lentille de identité, éclaire la façon dont ces sujets se forment par des processus sociaux au niveau micro. Il ouvre différentes façons de penser de la résistance.
Este artículo avanza nuestro conocimiento sobre como ideologías neoliberales están vinculados a las prácticas cotidianas ambientalistas, por medio de una examinación de los procesos de formación de subjetividades neoliberales "verdes". Combino perspectivas criticas hacia neoliberalismo verde con el interaccionismo simbólico para elaborar el concepto de "trabajo de identidad neoliberal verde", que es un mecanismo por lo cual los sujetos neoliberales están formados. Utilizo métodos cualitativos mixtos y "teoría anclada" para entender el estudio de caso de la promoción y uso de las "lámparas compactas flourescentes" (CFLs). Los datos fueron recogidos en el estado del Norte de Carolina, Estados Unidos de America, a través de entrevistas, observación participativa, y textos. Los datos muestran cuatro formas genéricas de "trabajo de identidad neoliberal verde": celebraciones y renuncios de tecnologías especificas, discursos incluyentes, matemáticas morales, y discursos de progreso tecnológico. Nuestro acercamiento ilumina la manera en que los sujetos se forman a través de microprocesos sociales, y abre paso a nuevas maneras de entender la resistencia.
Research Interests: Political Ecology, Subjectivities, Identities, Neoliberalism, Environmentalism, and 13 moreIdentity Work, Ecologia Política, Identidades, Environnementalisme, écologie Politique, Neoliberalismo, Ambientalismo, Subjetividades, Le Néolibéralisme, Le Travail De L'Identité, Des Subjectivités, Des Identités, and Trabajo De Identidad
In this article, the mechanisms through which social networks impact individuals’ environmentally significant actions are examined through a pilot study. A conceptual model was developed and in-depth interviews were performed with... more
In this article, the mechanisms through which social networks impact individuals’ environmentally significant actions are examined through a pilot study. A conceptual model was developed and in-depth interviews were performed with individuals in a North Carolina town in order to understand the mechanisms through which social capital facilitates pro-environmental actions. Individuals with higher social capital were found to act pro-environmentally because they value the collective interest rather than out of self-interest. Social capital was found to play a role in the formation of this valuation mainly through micro-level socialisation processes, particularly by instilling decision-making processes based on values in individuals, which informed individuals then applied to environmentally significant decisions. The results also suggest that the prevalence of the norm of engagement with environmental issues in an individual’s social network can be an especially important promoter of pro-environmental actions. The study suggests that the culture of social networks is particularly important in the formation of ecological citizens.
Research Interests:
Review of:
Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel (eds)
Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy
Karlsruhe: ZKM and MIT Press, 2005.
1072 pp., 550 color illustrations, $55.00
hardback (ISBN-10 0-262-12279-0; ISBN-13 978-0-262-12279-5).
Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel (eds)
Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy
Karlsruhe: ZKM and MIT Press, 2005.
1072 pp., 550 color illustrations, $55.00
hardback (ISBN-10 0-262-12279-0; ISBN-13 978-0-262-12279-5).
Research Interests:
This thesis uses the concept of social capital to explore the potential for individuals and communities to drive environmental sustainability in an American context. Links between the community structure and culture described by social... more
This thesis uses the concept of social capital to explore the potential for individuals and communities to drive
environmental sustainability in an American context. Links between the community structure and culture described
by social capital and environmental sustainability are investigated by looking at social capital’s capacity to foster
environmental agents. My research progressed through several stages. In Part I, I explored social capital at the
collective U.S. state level, finding that it is correlated with both environmental sustainability and proenvironmental
actions. However, based on these findings, I modified the conception of social capital I had adopted
to focus on the individual level. Thus, in Part II, I theorized about how social capital works at the individual level
and proposed conditions under which it works best for environmental sustainability. I then conducted interviews to
test these hypotheses. The interviews suggested first and foremost a further modification of my conception of
social capital to distinguish between micro and macro social capital at the individual level. My interviews also
provided support for: (1) the hypothesis that social capital and pro-environmental action are correlated at the
individual level; (2) the idea that in high amounts, social capital works by instilling pro-environmental values and
decision-making processes in individuals; (3) the idea that in low amounts, social capital works by aligning selfinterest
with the collective interest; and (4) the hypothesis that a norm of engagement is important for an
individual’s social capital to be translated into pro-environmental action. All of these findings suggest the potential
importance of community structure and culture in the fostering of agents who may be critical to a transition to a
more environmentally sustainable world, as well as many new avenues for further research. However, they also
demonstrate some of the inadequacies of the social capital theory for explaining the effect of communities on
individual environmentally-significant action.
KEYWORDS: Sustainability; social capital; pro-environmental behavior; norms; networks
environmental sustainability in an American context. Links between the community structure and culture described
by social capital and environmental sustainability are investigated by looking at social capital’s capacity to foster
environmental agents. My research progressed through several stages. In Part I, I explored social capital at the
collective U.S. state level, finding that it is correlated with both environmental sustainability and proenvironmental
actions. However, based on these findings, I modified the conception of social capital I had adopted
to focus on the individual level. Thus, in Part II, I theorized about how social capital works at the individual level
and proposed conditions under which it works best for environmental sustainability. I then conducted interviews to
test these hypotheses. The interviews suggested first and foremost a further modification of my conception of
social capital to distinguish between micro and macro social capital at the individual level. My interviews also
provided support for: (1) the hypothesis that social capital and pro-environmental action are correlated at the
individual level; (2) the idea that in high amounts, social capital works by instilling pro-environmental values and
decision-making processes in individuals; (3) the idea that in low amounts, social capital works by aligning selfinterest
with the collective interest; and (4) the hypothesis that a norm of engagement is important for an
individual’s social capital to be translated into pro-environmental action. All of these findings suggest the potential
importance of community structure and culture in the fostering of agents who may be critical to a transition to a
more environmentally sustainable world, as well as many new avenues for further research. However, they also
demonstrate some of the inadequacies of the social capital theory for explaining the effect of communities on
individual environmentally-significant action.
KEYWORDS: Sustainability; social capital; pro-environmental behavior; norms; networks
Research Interests:
CHSS Feature Story “Power surge: ‘Solar suitcases’ deliver hands-on experience to an environmental justice course” profiled the service project I organized for my ENVS 460 class, Feb., SFSU.
Research Interests:
The People’s Guide to Energy is an online guide to global sites of energy production and consumption that highlights voices, perspectives and challenges often left out of conventional energy maps, histories and narratives. The PGE project... more
The People’s Guide to Energy is an online guide to global sites of energy production and consumption that highlights voices, perspectives and challenges often left out of conventional energy maps, histories and narratives. The PGE project is inspired by the innovative People’s Guide to Los Angeles, in which Laura Pulido, Laura Barraclough and Wendy Cheng ask, “What would happen if we refocused our attention on those people and places that are systematically left off the map?” (p. 6) As a growing collaboration, the PGE project has been a production of students, faculty, and staff at Colgate University. The project has both public scholarship and pedagogical goals. Project collaborators hope to add to public conversations about energy sustainability and equity. At the same time, each student who researched and created a webpage on a specific PGE site practiced using theories commonly used by geographers and others to understand how sustainability and social justice challenges can arise across diverse energy landscapes.
Research Interests:
This course overviews environmental policies and the legal system at the national and international levels through readings, discussion, research, and writing in the field of environmental law and policy. Understanding how environmental... more
This course overviews environmental policies and the legal system at the national and international levels through readings, discussion, research, and writing in the field of environmental law and policy. Understanding how environmental laws are made and implemented, as well as their environmental and social justice implications, requires understanding larger political and economic systems. In this way, we will consider both policies and politics, which includes, but goes beyond, legislative documents. Highlighting the strengths of interdisciplinary programs like ENVS, we will engage with the material in multiple ways. Reflecting the collaborative nature of real-life political arenas, our class can be thought of as a community of learners. As members of this community, the students and professor have a responsibility to each other to come to class prepared and to participate fully and respectfully in class activities. Course time will be spent in workshops, small groups, larger discussions, and lectures. Even though the papers will be researched and written independently, they will include group components during class time.
Research Interests:
Course Description: As awareness of global environmental problems grows, questions arise as to how social, cultural, and biophysical contexts define how humans use and manage natural resources, on community, national, and international... more
Course Description: As awareness of global environmental problems grows, questions arise as to how social, cultural, and biophysical contexts define how humans use and manage natural resources, on community, national, and international scales of analysis. This course uses geographic and sustainability perspectives on nature-society interactions to consider the decision-making processes of natural resource managers, from local farmers to policy actors at the national and international levels. We will consider both policies and politics, assuming as geographers and many others do that both are about much more than (but inclusive of) legislative documents. This course looks at case studies from the local to global levels, focusing in particular on the question, how can we reduce environmental impacts in the most socially just ways?
Thinking about environmental policy is fundamentally thinking about how to address environmental problems through collective efforts. A large proportion of your work in this course will be directed toward analyzing and proposing a path forward for a specific, unresolved international environmental challenge. Reflecting the collaborative nature of real-life policy and political arenas, you will work in groups on these projects, gaining skills that will be useful if you go on to work in such arenas in the future.
Thinking about environmental policy is fundamentally thinking about how to address environmental problems through collective efforts. A large proportion of your work in this course will be directed toward analyzing and proposing a path forward for a specific, unresolved international environmental challenge. Reflecting the collaborative nature of real-life policy and political arenas, you will work in groups on these projects, gaining skills that will be useful if you go on to work in such arenas in the future.
Research Interests:
This course is an introduction to the multiple disciplines of environmental studies. We begin by examining why people have sought to protect the environment, using approaches such as environmental ethics, environmental justice, and... more
This course is an introduction to the multiple disciplines of environmental studies. We begin by examining why people have sought to protect the environment, using approaches such as environmental ethics, environmental justice, and sustainability. The course is then divided into three topical areas: biodiversity loss, freshwater depletion, and climate change. For each, we will analyze the main biophysical patterns, processes, and threats to people and environments. Then we will view each topic through social scientific perspectives commonly used by environmental social scientists, including the tragedy of the commons, environmental economics and other ecological modernization perspectives, and political economy perspectives. The course emphasizes individual and collective change with an emphasis on social justice. Course time will be spent in small groups, larger discussions, and multimedia lectures. As a member of this course, you are part of a learning community and thus responsible for doing the readings and assignments for each class period and participating fully and respectfully in all class activities.
Research Interests:
Energy poses environmental challenges from extraction to consumption. There are large inequalities in race, class, and gender in terms of who bears the environmental costs of energy systems and who has access to reliable energy. In this... more
Energy poses environmental challenges from extraction to consumption. There are large inequalities in race, class, and gender in terms of who bears the environmental costs of energy systems and who has access to reliable energy. In this class, we will examine past, current, and future energy systems through the lenses of environmental justice, sustainability, and political economy. We aim to understand how energy-related inequalities are created and maintained, as well as how to create socially just, sustainable energy systems. Highlighting the strengths of interdisciplinary programs like ENVS, we will engage with the material in multiple ways, spending time in workshops, groups, discussions, lectures, and labs.
ENVS 460 is a project-based course. Our work will focus on two main projects: 1) We'll participate in public discourses about energy justice by creating new online contributions to the People's Guide to Energy (PGE) Project (http://pgeproject.wordpress.com). 2) We'll participate in a Solar Suitcase Project to distribute solar energy to communities experiencing energy poverty and to mentor the next generation of energy justice advocates. We'll use the first project to understand how energy injustices arise and the second project to analyze how we can create a more energy just and sustainable future.
ENVS 460 is a project-based course. Our work will focus on two main projects: 1) We'll participate in public discourses about energy justice by creating new online contributions to the People's Guide to Energy (PGE) Project (http://pgeproject.wordpress.com). 2) We'll participate in a Solar Suitcase Project to distribute solar energy to communities experiencing energy poverty and to mentor the next generation of energy justice advocates. We'll use the first project to understand how energy injustices arise and the second project to analyze how we can create a more energy just and sustainable future.
Research Interests:
Course Description: This course uses social science perspectives on sustainability and sustainable development to analyze the production and consumption of major natural resources. The course addresses the following questions: What are... more
Course Description: This course uses social science perspectives on sustainability and sustainable development to analyze the production and consumption of major natural resources. The course addresses the following questions: What are natural resources, and how do their geographies combine with those of wealth and poverty, of political power and technological and institutional capacity, to affect the potential for actions towards sustainable development? How is our understanding of sustainable resource development enriched by critical perspectives from the social sciences about the meaning of such contested concepts as sustainability and development, and about issues of equity, power, participation, property rights, and unequal impacts (of both resource depletion and environmental policies)? How can the three dimensions (environmental, social, economic) of sustainability better guide the production and consumption of natural resources, renewable or nonrenewable, in different places and by different actors?
This semester, the course will focus on energy geographies and energy sustainability. Energy is a growing field of inquiry: from mining to consumption and waste, energy resources pose a wide array of environmental, economic, and social justice challenges. Climate change in particular is an urgent global issue with energy landscapes at its heart. But energy is also something we encounter in our everyday lives, in both visible and hidden ways. Geographical approaches to energy sustainability commonly connect environments, people, and social/economic structures. We will focus on key analytics commonly used by geographers and others in the study of energy landscapes, including political economy, energy/environmental justice, and science and technology studies, in thinking through questions of energy sustainability, spatiality, scale, and justice. Topically, we will examine conventional energy resources as well as "green" energy alternatives, focusing on electricity and transportation systems.
This semester, the course will focus on energy geographies and energy sustainability. Energy is a growing field of inquiry: from mining to consumption and waste, energy resources pose a wide array of environmental, economic, and social justice challenges. Climate change in particular is an urgent global issue with energy landscapes at its heart. But energy is also something we encounter in our everyday lives, in both visible and hidden ways. Geographical approaches to energy sustainability commonly connect environments, people, and social/economic structures. We will focus on key analytics commonly used by geographers and others in the study of energy landscapes, including political economy, energy/environmental justice, and science and technology studies, in thinking through questions of energy sustainability, spatiality, scale, and justice. Topically, we will examine conventional energy resources as well as "green" energy alternatives, focusing on electricity and transportation systems.
Research Interests:
This course introduces students to the nature of qualitative social science research using media frame and content analysis. Mass media is a key set of institutions in modernity that shape our perceptions of the world, with important... more
This course introduces students to the nature of qualitative social science research using media frame and content analysis. Mass media is a key set of institutions in modernity that shape our perceptions of the world, with important impacts on what we take to be reality. The media "frames" that structure how media is produced, conveyed, and consumed form the discourses that we use to understand mass politics and culture in our daily lives. This course provides students with the methodological tools to empirically study media frames through content analysis. Content analysis takes the stuff of media, such as music lyrics, news stories, or advertisements, and systematically analyzes the content for the explicit and implicit frames that represent the issues and perspectives conveyed through media, analyzing words, concepts, and relationships in texts such as newspaper articles. A key goal of the course is to prepare students for upper-level undergraduate research.
Training in qualitative research methods is largely a matter of learning to think differently. To this end, class participation is crucial, including freewriting (a common social scientific analysis/writing technique), workshopping peers' projects, and discussions. This course is an interdisciplinary seminar that draws on many of the strengths of a small liberal arts setting: building community within the classroom, relying on one another to engage deeply with the material, and using multiple perspectives to understand the material. As a member of this course, each student is part of a community of learners and has a responsibility to come to class prepared and to participate fully and respectfully in class activities. Over the course of the semester, students will be engaged with this material in multiple ways, some of which may seem unfamiliar, particularly because this course is cross-listed in both geography and sociology.
Part of learning research methods is becoming proficient in particular skills and techniques. For this reason, compared to a typical seminar, work completed for this course will emphasize doing the elements of qualitative research such as collecting data, coding, memoing, and freewriting. This is a project-based course; projects will include both individual and group elements. Class time will frequently be spent in workshops, particularly later in the semester as students collect more data. Short assignments throughout the semester will be used to advance these research projects.
Training in qualitative research methods is largely a matter of learning to think differently. To this end, class participation is crucial, including freewriting (a common social scientific analysis/writing technique), workshopping peers' projects, and discussions. This course is an interdisciplinary seminar that draws on many of the strengths of a small liberal arts setting: building community within the classroom, relying on one another to engage deeply with the material, and using multiple perspectives to understand the material. As a member of this course, each student is part of a community of learners and has a responsibility to come to class prepared and to participate fully and respectfully in class activities. Over the course of the semester, students will be engaged with this material in multiple ways, some of which may seem unfamiliar, particularly because this course is cross-listed in both geography and sociology.
Part of learning research methods is becoming proficient in particular skills and techniques. For this reason, compared to a typical seminar, work completed for this course will emphasize doing the elements of qualitative research such as collecting data, coding, memoing, and freewriting. This is a project-based course; projects will include both individual and group elements. Class time will frequently be spent in workshops, particularly later in the semester as students collect more data. Short assignments throughout the semester will be used to advance these research projects.
Research Interests:
Course Description: This course introduces students to the nature of qualitative social science research using interviews. Interviews are a flexible method of in-person data collection that includes a range of structures (from structured... more
Course Description: This course introduces students to the nature of qualitative social science research using interviews. Interviews are a flexible method of in-person data collection that includes a range of structures (from structured surveys to open-ended questions), with varying group sizes (from one person to a large focus group), and using multiple methods of eliciting responses (verbal questions, oral history, photo-elicitation, etc.). Students develop a critical perspective on different epistemological approaches to research and analysis within the contemporary social sciences. Students actively reflect on the use of interviews as a method of data collection and exercise the skills of interview protocol design, sampling for interview projects, interview facilitation, and data management and analysis.
This is a project-based course; course projects will include both individual and group elements and will be centered on conducting interviews and analysis around issues of identity, space, place, or social movements among students at Colgate. The best way to learn interviewing as a research method is to conduct and analyze interviews. For this reason, compared to a typical seminar, work completed outside of class for this course will emphasize doing the elements of qualitative fieldwork such as writing, interviewing, transcribing, coding, memoing, and freewriting. Class time will frequently be spent in workshops, particularly as the semester goes on and students have collected more data.
This is a project-based course; course projects will include both individual and group elements and will be centered on conducting interviews and analysis around issues of identity, space, place, or social movements among students at Colgate. The best way to learn interviewing as a research method is to conduct and analyze interviews. For this reason, compared to a typical seminar, work completed outside of class for this course will emphasize doing the elements of qualitative fieldwork such as writing, interviewing, transcribing, coding, memoing, and freewriting. Class time will frequently be spent in workshops, particularly as the semester goes on and students have collected more data.
Research Interests:
Course Description: No substance better illustrates the challenges of sustainability—ecological, economic, and social—than freshwater. It is as vital to the functioning of earth’s ecosystems as it is to the health and wealth of the... more
Course Description: No substance better illustrates the challenges of sustainability—ecological, economic, and social—than freshwater. It is as vital to the functioning of earth’s ecosystems as it is to the health and wealth of the world’s human inhabitants. As well as being a resource in many ways, it is also a major hazard in such forms as floods and disease transmission. Some observers see the stresses imposed by rising demands and conflicting priorities for so versatile a substance leading to global conflict and disaster, others to relatively painless technological and institutional fixes. This course considers the natural and social processes (with primary focus on the latter) that shape water use both within and outside of the United States, including physical factors, technology, economics, culture, law, political systems, and ideologies. From this course, students will acquire a clearer understanding of the major human uses of water, their ecological and social consequences, and the key alternatives for managing those uses to make them more efficient, socially just, and environmentally-friendly.
Research Interests:
Course Description: This course is structured around answering the question, How can and why should we protect the environment? We will focus on the physical and human drivers of environmental changes like biodiversity loss, freshwater... more
Course Description: This course is structured around answering the question, How can and why should we protect the environment? We will focus on the physical and human drivers of environmental changes like biodiversity loss, freshwater depletion, and climate change. We will examine the causes of, solutions to, and major challenges surrounding those environmental issues. We will also work through these issues using different problem-solving approaches, particularly Population & Environment; Commons; and Sustainability paradigms. Environmental justice, technology, and consumption aspects of these problems will also be examined. The course provides significant background in physical geography in the context of today’s most pressing environmental concerns. International and local cases will be used to understand the issues more deeply. Core course for the Geography major; no prerequisite; no lab. The course fulfills a Global Issues and a Physical/Life Science requirement.
Course Description: Thinking geographically can mean (1) examining how differences between people and places get constructed and how some places end up “meaning” a whole lot more to us than other places, (2) examining the spatial... more
Course Description: Thinking geographically can mean (1) examining how differences between people and places get constructed and how some places end up “meaning” a whole lot more to us than other places, (2) examining the spatial variability in biophysical forms and processes across space, and (3) examining how features and processes fundamentally vary across hierarchical scales of space and time. The objective of this class is to illustrate the ways in which Geography brings together different perspectives in order to analyze a given situation, relationship or process. The course will begin with approximately six lectures looking at the history of the American university, of Geography in the United States, of our department, and of paradigm development in the field. The remainder of the lectures will be based classroom discussions of weekly case studies.
Within each of these case studies we are seeking to identify the following processes as they play out:
- Cross-disciplinary: how do human/social/cultural processes affect physical/environmental forms and processes, and vice versa.
- Cross-scale: within each topic, how are global forces, regional forces, and local forces revealed or coming to bear? How do these forces vary between human/physical dimensions?
Within each of these case studies we are seeking to identify the following processes as they play out:
- Cross-disciplinary: how do human/social/cultural processes affect physical/environmental forms and processes, and vice versa.
- Cross-scale: within each topic, how are global forces, regional forces, and local forces revealed or coming to bear? How do these forces vary between human/physical dimensions?
Course Description: This interdisciplinary seminar will explore the phenomenon of human reproduction at multiple levels, ranging from the individual to community, national, and ultimately global levels. We will seek to understand who is... more
Course Description: This interdisciplinary seminar will explore the phenomenon of human reproduction at multiple levels, ranging from the individual to community, national, and ultimately global levels. We will seek to understand who is reproducing, what is being reproduced, and the various factors that facilitate or constrain different reproductive acts. Themes to be investigated include gender, historical assumptions about reproduction, the ethics of reproduction, assisted reproduction technologies, adoption and surrogacy, birth control and reproductive rights, demography and population-level trends, over-population, and climate change. Drawing on the instructors’ diverse disciplines, such as religious studies, geography, sociology, and public health, in-class activities and homework assignments will encourage students to hone their critical thinking skills by engaging with the topic of reproduction.
One strategy businesses use to expand sales is to convince customers that an older version of a product has become obsolete because it is unfashionable or lacks the latest upgrade. Such discourses can normalize repetitive buying and have... more
One strategy businesses use to expand sales is to convince customers that an older version of a product has become obsolete because it is unfashionable or lacks the latest upgrade. Such discourses can normalize repetitive buying and have been resisted by some environmentalists seeking to reduce their resource consumption. In this context, my research has shown that energy efficient technologies like compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) can pose dilemmas for environmentalists, because using them often requires the consumption of more (light bulbs) in order to consume less (energy), particularly when people are encouraged to switch to CFLs before their current bulbs have burned out. Using the case of light bulbs and drawing on a discourse analysis of interviews, participant observation, and regulations in North Carolina, U.S.A., I examined how environmentalists, electricity companies, and energy policies frame the relationship between green technological change and consumption. I argue that energy efficiency changes in light bulbs tend to be framed in terms of what I call "green obsolescence," whereby energy efficiency is coded as politically neutral, progressive, and natural in ways that encourage repetitive buying. While a ratcheting up of energy efficiency often does have net environmental benefits, green obsolescent discourses, practices, and policies can also be spatial-temporal fixes for light bulb manufacturers and electricity companies in a green neoliberal era of competitive markets and climate change concerns.
Research Interests:
A negawatt (c.f. Amory Lovins) is a unit of saved energy equivalent to a megawatt of energy efficiency or energy conservation. Before 2007, North Carolina households who produced their own negawatts through actions such as installing... more
A negawatt (c.f. Amory Lovins) is a unit of saved energy equivalent to a megawatt of energy efficiency or energy conservation. Before 2007, North Carolina households who produced their own negawatts through actions such as installing compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) created value for themselves in the form of lower electricity bills; they also temporarily lowered electricity companies' revenues. In 2007, NC passed a Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard (REPS) mandating that electric utilities generate some of their electricity through alternative energy and incentivizing investments in energy efficiency. In the wake of the law, electricity companies like Duke Energy, the largest electric utility in NC and the U.S., gave away millions of CFLs to customers. The REPS allowed them to raise rates for all customers to pay for both the expenses of the CFL programs and the "net lost revenues" resulting from people buying less of the company's primary product – electricity. At the same time, Duke Energy began to market itself as a company in the business of producing negawatts. In this paper, I show how electricity companies have used environmental governance like the REPS to appropriate the value of negawatts, a new accumulation strategy they accomplish in part by redefining negawatts as found within homes but produced by electricity companies. I argue that this strategy can exacerbate existing income inequalities and is a way for electricity companies to turn the threat of climate change mitigation into a new realm of profits in an era of green neoliberalism.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Energy efficiency is the use of a technology or other infrastructural change to obtain a desired energy service (light, heat, etc.) with less energy. It is often viewed as a way to mitigate climate change, making it a potential threat to... more
Energy efficiency is the use of a technology or other infrastructural change to obtain a desired energy service (light, heat, etc.) with less energy. It is often viewed as a way to mitigate climate change, making it a potential threat to electricity companies' profits. More and more, however, policymakers, electricity companies, environmentalists, and others are framing energy efficiency as a resource, even as a fuel. To analyze the creation of energy efficiency as a resource, my case study is the ongoing implementation of North Carolina's landmark Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standard, which passed in 2007. This law requires investor-owned electricity companies to get a percentage of their electricity from renewable resources, including from energy efficiency. I analyzed this law's rulemaking proceedings, through which regulators, electricity companies, environmental organizations, and others struggled over the meaning and value of energy efficiency. Using this data in conversation with scholarship on resource geographies and neoliberal natures, I show how environmental governance has been used to create energy efficiency as a new resource. Further, by framing energy efficiency as a particular kind of resource - found within homes yet produced by electricity companies - investor-owned electricity companies have appropriated the value of energy efficiency, turning the threat of climate change into an opportunity for profits.
Research Interests:
I use an empirical case of home climate change activism and build on the work of feminist political ecology and technology studies to argue that the gender implications of climate mitigation is an important part of climate justice. I... more
I use an empirical case of home climate change activism and build on the work of feminist political ecology and technology studies to argue that the gender implications of climate mitigation is an important part of climate justice. I argue that home climate change activism, which includes actions to reduce one’s home energy use (from buying energy-efficient appliances to turning down the AC in the summer), should be understood as gendered labor that often reproduces gender inequalities. I examine this labor through the case of U.S. climate activists who use energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs); the CFL is an ideal case for such analysis because environmentalists frequently frame them as one of the easiest of climate mitigation actions. However, my grounded theory analysis of interviews, participant-observation, and texts shows that even this supposedly “easy” action of using light bulbs includes five phases and 11 sub-phases of labor, the majority of which are performed by women and coded as ‘women’s work.’ This CFL labor disproportionately burdens women by expanding their ‘second shift’ and it shifts responsibility for environmental problems from industries and governments onto women and households, reproducing existing gender inequalities. This type of gendered labor should be taken into account when weighing the impacts of various climate change solutions as well as when framing climate justice more broadly.
Keywords: climate change; gender; energy efficiency; technologies; labor; environmentalism; climate justice
Keywords: climate change; gender; energy efficiency; technologies; labor; environmentalism; climate justice
In this paper, I examine how green neoliberal subjects are formed through everyday identity work: environmentalist practices of claiming, defining, maintaining, contesting, and policing identities. Using critical perspectives on green... more
In this paper, I examine how green neoliberal subjects are formed through everyday identity work: environmentalist practices of claiming, defining, maintaining, contesting, and policing identities. Using critical perspectives on green neoliberalism and symbolic interactionist perspectives on identities, I develop the concept of green neoliberal identity work, a mechanism through which neoliberal ideologies are translated into everyday environmentalist practices. I use environmentalists’ promotions and uses of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) as a case study, mixed qualitative methods, and grounded theory analysis. Data were collected in North Carolina through interviews, participant observation, and texts. The data reveal five generic patterns of green neoliberal identity work: 1) celebrations and 2) renunciations of particular technologies, 3) inclusive-talk, 4) performing moral math, and 5) technological progress-talk. These patterns show that framing green neoliberal subject formation through the lens of identity work illuminates how these subjects form themselves through talk and opens up different ways of thinking about resistance.
Keywords: subjectivities, identity work, environmentalism, neoliberalism, energy
Keywords: subjectivities, identity work, environmentalism, neoliberalism, energy
In this panel, participants will present teaching interventions - units, concepts, readings, or other classroom activities - that they have found effective in teaching energy geography concepts or theories in their classes. After each... more
In this panel, participants will present teaching interventions - units, concepts, readings, or other classroom activities - that they have found effective in teaching energy geography concepts or theories in their classes. After each panelist presents their intervention, we will have a discussion among panelists that will include, but is not limited to, the following questions:
1. Developing innovative energy syllabi
- How do we teach energy related issues and for what purposes?
- How can we use active and collaborative teaching methods in teaching about energy?
2. The Demand for Learning Energy Issues
- What is the demand for energy related courses?
- What level student are these courses most appropriate for?
1. Developing innovative energy syllabi
- How do we teach energy related issues and for what purposes?
- How can we use active and collaborative teaching methods in teaching about energy?
2. The Demand for Learning Energy Issues
- What is the demand for energy related courses?
- What level student are these courses most appropriate for?
Political ecology has provided valuable insights into the social justice dimensions of environmental issues, but these dimensions are often difficult to translate into our teaching. By "social justice," we mean critical analyses that... more
Political ecology has provided valuable insights into the social justice dimensions of environmental issues, but these dimensions are often difficult to translate into our teaching. By "social justice," we mean critical analyses that incorporate understandings of power, privilege, and oppression; these might include, but are not limited to, antiracist, Marxist, queer, and feminist approaches. In the classroom, we see such approaches as aimed at transformative learning, helping students to engage with environmental concerns in more just ways. We conceive environmental classes broadly, to include both natural science- and social science-oriented classes, from a range of theoretical and disciplinary perspectives. We aim to assemble, share, and discuss skills, toolkits, and other strategies for helping students connect social justice approaches with environmental concerns.
Panel participants will present a lesson plan, activity, assignment, case study, concept, or other teaching unit for 10 minutes. They will share concrete interventions, activities, and assignments that engage undergraduates in active learning and help them connect with and broaden beyond their own experiences. Participants may share any handouts, visual media, or other materials that they use in framing their interventions. Following the short presentations will be a discussion with Q&A for drawing out commonalities, strategies, challenges, and further insights.
Panel participants will present a lesson plan, activity, assignment, case study, concept, or other teaching unit for 10 minutes. They will share concrete interventions, activities, and assignments that engage undergraduates in active learning and help them connect with and broaden beyond their own experiences. Participants may share any handouts, visual media, or other materials that they use in framing their interventions. Following the short presentations will be a discussion with Q&A for drawing out commonalities, strategies, challenges, and further insights.