Dr Ruth Brennan is a social scientist specialising in marine environmental governance. She is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow (2018-2020) at the Trinity Centre for Environmental Humanities, School of Histories and Humanities, Trinity College Dublin where she works on CO-SUSTAIN - Collaborative Sustainable Innovation: Co-designing governance approaches for a sustainable and innovative small-scale fishing industry in the Irish islands. Ruth uses innovative visual and participatory qualitative methodologies in exploring and articulating the relationships between people and place. Positioned at the interface of science, policy and the arts, Ruth’s work is highly interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary. Her doctoral research examined how the articulation of culturally-embedded relationships between people and place can facilitate engagement with the related policy environment. It exposed the perils of isolating the human dimension of conservation and planning that ensures sustainable livelihoods from the natural ecosystem conservation dimension. It considered how challenging the dominant narrative of conservation through the visual articulation of competing realities can create space for different narratives to emerge. It provided insights into the role played by competing value systems in natural resource management and conservation conflicts. Ruth is an experienced facilitator and communicator both through her research and her former career as a solicitor with a leading international law firm in London and Paris. From 2011-2016, she collaborated with Glasgow-based visual artist Stephen Hurrel. Their art-science work has been widely exhibited in Scotland. Their short film Clyde Reflections (33 mins, 2014) was installed at the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, Scotland from 28 May to 5 July 2015. During 2016, Ruth was a research fellow at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology where she led a pilot project on situating Arab-Israeli artisanal fishermen’s perceptions of marine litter in a socio-cultural and socio-institutional context. Ruth is a member of 3 COST Actions: Oceans Past Platform (Gendered Seas Working Group), MarCons (Marine Protected Area Governance Working Group) and Ocean Governance for Sustainability (Fisheries Governance under a Blue Growth paradigm). She participates in the Humanities for the Environment network, in ISSMER (International network for Social Studies of Marine Energy) and in several Future Earth Knowledge-Action Networks. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) and an Associate of the interdisciplinary Laurence Mee Centre for Society and the Sea at SAMS, where she worked as a Research Associate for 7 years.
This paper contributes to the growing body of literature that engages with ontological scholarshi... more This paper contributes to the growing body of literature that engages with ontological scholarship on fisheries management and governance, and more generally, to debates on environmental governance. It argues that fisheries governance is an ontological challenge that raises questions of culture, equity, legitimacy and inclusion/exclusion, requiring more contextsensitive and politically aware fisheries governance approaches. By engaging with the concept of political ontology, and drawing from empirical research carried out in Ireland's offshore islands, five ontological assumptions are identified that underpin Irish fisheries governance and management policies and practices and categorised as social-historical, ecological, geographical, technocratic and markets-driven. Articulating and examining these assumptions provide insights into why policy objectives aimed at supporting small-scale fisheries and their communities may, in practice, not be effective when they are operationalised within a governance paradigm designed around the realities of large-scale, full-time, highly mobile and more economically productive operators. Despite the efforts of ontologically disobedient islanders, the enactment of these ontological assumptions into the dominant world of fisheries governance inhibits the emergence of possible worlds that would enact Irish island inshore fisheries through island logics. The paper concludes that the squeeze on Ireland's island inshore fishers is not simply spatial, it is ontological. A dominant fisheries ontology has been created by the interplay of ontological assumptions. This dominant ontology undermines the State's critical policy to maintain and manage Irish fisheries as a public resource in order to avoid the concentration of fishing opportunities into the hands of large and powerful fishing interests.
General rights and useage policy Copyright,IP and moral rights for the publications made accessib... more General rights and useage policy Copyright,IP and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the UHI Research Database are retained by the author, users must recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement, or without prior permission from the author.
The development of the Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) industry is part of the EU Blue Growth strat... more The development of the Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) industry is part of the EU Blue Growth strategy. It brings together a range of relationships across people, sea and energy, from developers to local communities and policymakers. This calls for diverse approaches, moving beyond an oppositional mind-set, that can establish an inclusive community around MRE development. Ownership of the marine environment is a legal issue, but MRE devices operate within a cultural and emotional sense of place. Early, sustained community engagement and advocacy is crucial to a developing an industry whose impacts are likely to be felt before its social benefits materialise. Crucially, local communities could be supported by social sciences and humanities (SSH) research in creating new mythologies and imaginaries through which MRE technologies become an integral part of their culture, as well as part of their biophysical environment. A complex physical, political and legal environment provides the context for these new marine energy technologies, and its development provides opportunities for SSH research to address issues around the sea, and integrate into the design of new marine energy seascapes.
We introduce the Humanities for the Environment (HfE) 2018 Report. The HfE 2018 Report consists o... more We introduce the Humanities for the Environment (HfE) 2018 Report. The HfE 2018 Report consists of two publications; of which this Special Issue is one. The other is a special section of the journal Global and Planetary Change 156 (2017); 112–175. While the Humanities special issue may primarily reach our colleagues in the humanities disciplines; the Global and Planetary Change section reaches out to that journal's primary readership of earth scientists. The HfE 2018 Report provides examples of how humanities research reveals and influences human capacity to perceive and cope with environmental change. We hope that the HFE 2018 Report will help change perceptions of what it is we do as humanities scholars. Human preferences, practices and actions are the main drivers of planetary change in the 21st century. The academic disciplines of the humanities are largely concerned with how humans perceive, articulate and behave as a species. Therefore, the Humanities for the Environment is a global initiative of eight regional Observatories that aim to bring out how the humanities may contribute to pro-environmental behaviour. This Special Issue reviews ways in which the humanistic disciplines may help us understand and engage with global environmental problems. The " for " is a carefully chosen word. It originated at talks between founders of the HfE initiative in 2009 (primarily Sally Kitch, Sarah Buie, and Poul Holm). We were united in a concern that the humanities were not playing what we thought could be a vital part in global change scholarship and indeed politics. We believed that there was a need to bring out the best of humanities to identify tools and insights that might contribute to the greater good. We wanted to look not just to self-identified environmental humanists, but to the full range of humanities disciplines to find helpful ways forward.
Interactions between environmental and social change are complex and require deep insights into h... more Interactions between environmental and social change are complex and require deep insights into human perceptions, values, motivations and choices. Humanities disciplines can bring these insights to the study of marine social–ecological systems in the context of global environmental challenges. Such systems can be defined on a range of scales, but the cases most easily studied include those of small islands and their communities. This paper presents findings from three studies in the Western and Northern isles of Scotland, concentrating on some of the processes involved in social sustainability that contribute on the one hand to protecting what a community has, and on the other hand allowing a community to evolve so as to adapt to new conditions. It relates the several sorts of transformations involved, to the role and impact of external institutions such as those of governance of the natural environment, the energy market, and academic research, which together make up the environment of the transformation. By examining the world-views of different groups of actors, this paper illustrates that an understanding of the mental constructs underlying these world-views can help marine governance through integrating different ways of knowing. This paper identifies where it would be useful to employ a transdisciplinary 'translator' or a 'space' for dialogue in order to capture the diverse 'visions' and perceptions that these groups have in relation to management of the marine environment, where there are synergies and where more should to be done to negotiate between competing values and needs. It illustrates the practical contributions to operational policy that can emerge through challenging the dominant management discourses for the marine environment.
Marine litter has been a serious and growing problem for some decades now. Yet, there is still mu... more Marine litter has been a serious and growing problem for some decades now. Yet, there is still much speculation among researchers, policy makers and planners about how to tackle marine litter from land-based sources. This paper provides insights into approaches for managing marine litter by reporting and analyzing survey results of litter dispersal and makeup from three areas along an Arab-Israeli coastal town in view of other recent studies conducted around the Mediterranean Sea. Based on our results and analysis, we posit that bathing beach activities should be a high priority for waste managers as a point of intervention and beach-goers must be encouraged to take a more active role in keeping beaches clean. Further, plastic fragments on the beach should be targeted as a first priority for prevention (and cleanup) of marine litter with plastic bottle caps being a high priority to be targeted among plastics. More survey research is needed on non-plastic litter composition for which amounts and geographic dispersal in the region vary greatly from place to place along Mediterranean shores. In general, findings of this study lead us to recommend exploring persuasive beach trash can design coupled with greater enforcement for short term waste management intervention while considering the local socioeconomic and institutional context further for long-term efforts.
Understanding the mental constructs underlying people's social responses, decisions and behaviors... more Understanding the mental constructs underlying people's social responses, decisions and behaviors is crucial to defining the governance challenges faced in dealing with marine anthropogenic litter. Using interactive gover-nance theory, this study provides qualitative insights into how a small group of Arab-Israeli artisanal fishermen perceive marine litter and its impact (system to be governed) in the context of the socio-institutional structures (governing system) which manage waste and aim to protect the surrounding environment. It demonstrates that, until the relationships between local people and the various governing institutions are transformed, there is little hope for citizen cooperation in reducing marine litter long-term in the case-study site. More generally, underlying narratives and politics playing out at a local level need to be understood in order to identify which interventions are likely to be effective and which are not. An intervention checklist to assess the potential effectiveness of a marine litter intervention is proposed.
Cumulative human impacts have led to the degradation of marine ecosystems and the decline of biod... more Cumulative human impacts have led to the degradation of marine ecosystems and the decline of biodiversity in the European and contiguous seas. Effective conservation measures are urgently needed to reverse these trends. Conservation must entail societal choices, underpinned by human values and worldviews that differ between the countries bordering these seas. Social, economic and political heterogeneity adds to the challenge of balancing conservation with sustainable use of the seas. Comprehensive macro-regional coordination is needed to ensure effective conservation of marine ecosystems and biodiversity of this region. Under the European Union Horizon 2020 framework programme, the MarCons COST action aims to promote collaborative research to support marine management, conservation planning and policy development. This will be achieved by developing novel methods and tools to close knowledge gaps and advance marine conservation science. This action will provide support for the development of macroregional and national policies through six key actions: to develop tools to analyse cumulative human impacts; to identify critical scientific and technical gaps in conservation efforts; to improve the resilience of the marine environment to global change and biological invasions; to develop frameworks for integrated conservation planning across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments; to coordinate marine conservation policy across national boundaries; and to identify effective governance approaches for marine protected area management. Achieving the objectives of these actions will facilitate the integration of marine conservation policy into macro-regional maritime spatial planning agendas for the European and contiguous seas, thereby offsetting the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in this region.
Producing Seascapes is a short documentary (26 minutes) which sets out to explore how visions of ... more Producing Seascapes is a short documentary (26 minutes) which sets out to explore how visions of coastal environments and seascapes differ between European, national, regional and municipal planners, as well as local people and visitors. The case study is in the Northern Bohuslän archipelago and coastal region on the west coast of Sweden.
In this pilot project, we wanted to find out to what extent the Swedish planning approach envisaged for the marine environment of Northern Bohuslän takes into account how people value their marine environment.
Planning and managing the marine environment is ultimately about managing humans. While ecological, social and economic considerations are part of the process, marine planning entails societal choices which reflect specific visions of what the marine environment ought to be. These visions reflect human values and worldviews that are generally accepted as being true. Yet, different values often come into conflict with each other. The existence and influence of values are rarely recognised in marine science or policy at national and European levels of governance. Yet, it is the collective choices made by local people through the resources they use, and the places they visit and live in, that drive many pressures on the marine environment. Understanding local level perspectives will be critical in shaping the unfolding policy process for our seas.
This pilot project was developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Scotland and Sweden, consisting of art-science team Ruth Brennan and Stephen Hurrel from Scotland, working with Prof. Andrea Nightingale from the University of Gothenburg and SLU Uppsala, and Linus Karlsson and Elina Anderson from the University of Gothenburg.
A public participatory approach was devised by Brennan and Hurrel in order to engage with local people and visitors in the Northern Bohuslän region.
The purpose of this documentary is to provoke thought, in order to highlight the importance of allowing different ‘stories’ to be visible and acknowledged in the planning of the marine environment.
Sgeulachdan na Mara/Sea Stories is a mapping the sea project based around the island of Barra, in... more Sgeulachdan na Mara/Sea Stories is a mapping the sea project based around the island of Barra, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
Sea Stories explores the intimate relationship between people and place and seeks to make visible the rich cultural knowledge that exists in the seas around Barra. It has been developed as an online cultural map by artist Stephen Hurrel and social ecologist Ruth Brennan, in association with Voluntary Action Barra & Vatersay (VABV), and involving school pupils in interviewing local Barra fishermen and the older members of the community.
The project grew out of research undertaken by social ecologists Ruth Brennan and Iain MacKinnon and audio-visual material generated by artist Stephen Hurrel, for the publication Dùthchas na Mara / Belonging to the Sea (Authors: MacKinnon and Brennan. Photographs: Hurrel)
The website was launched on Barra on Saturday 16th November 2013. Sea Stories is now a resource within the Barra community which be added to on a continuing basis.
Sea Stories builds on a cultural project (Connecting Coastal Communities) funded by Colmcille (Ireland and Scotland), which connects the fishing heritage and culture of the Gaelic speaking island communities of Arranmore (off Donegal, Ireland) and Barra. In the Connecting Coastal Communities project, the researchers started the work of gathering local names and stories associated with the sea through conversations with several older fishermen in both Arranmore and Barra. It was clear from these conversations that the relationship of humans with the sea has created a rich heritage which is in danger of being lost. There is increasing reliance by fishermen on technology such as sonars and depth sounders and little or no need for the older ways of navigating and finding fishing grounds, through the use of marks (on land and sea) and related stories. By engaging the Barra community (including school children) in gathering these names and stories, Sea Stories has the potential to revive an interest in these stories by linking the younger and older generations on Barra and enabling the younger generation to make this heritage accessible and visible in the 21st century.
Clyde Reflections is a meditative, cinematic experience based on the marine environment of the Fi... more Clyde Reflections is a meditative, cinematic experience based on the marine environment of the Firth of Clyde on the west coast of Scotland. This 33-minute film opens up space for contemplation by reflecting the unfixed, shifting nature of relationships between people and place.
Clyde Reflections was one of 15 projects awarded funding under the 2013 Imagining Natural Scotland initiative which has been created to 'explore the interplay between the natural world and its representation, and promote deep collaboration and knowledge exchange between the creative and scientific sectors.'
Produced by the collaborative art-science team of artist Stephen Hurrel and social ecologist Ruth Brennan, the film features underwater and microscopic footage, combined with voice recordings of people who have a close relationship with, or specialist understanding of, the Firth of Clyde. These include a retired fisherman, a marine biologist, a diver, a marine conservationist, a spiritual leader and a physical oceanographer.
By engaging with people who connect deeply with their environment, Clyde Reflections presents a multi-perspective representation of a particular marine area in order to challenge a simplistic representation of this environment. The film provides a creative example of how 'landscape' is not a fixed entity, or separate from people, but is dynamic in terms of its socio-ecological properties as well as how it can be perceived.
The Imagining Natural Scotland team have published a landmark book that provides a visible and tangible record of the project. The book includes images and edited extracts from teams' project work and reflections on their collaborations.
Clyde Reflections was premiered at the CCA, Glasgow (Centre for Contemporary Arts) on 11 September 2011 and is now available for viewing online at https://vimeo.com/89793693. It was installed at GoMA, The Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow from 28 May-5 July 2015 as part of their Moving Image Season.
Clyde Reflections is dedicated to the memory of Professor Laurence Mee.
On the Gaelic speaking islands of Arranmore (Donegal, Ireland) and Barra (Outer Hebrides, Scotlan... more On the Gaelic speaking islands of Arranmore (Donegal, Ireland) and Barra (Outer Hebrides, Scotland) the fishermen believe that their livelihood and way of living is being threatened by powerful governmental forces who are not listening to them. In Barra, the dispute centres around two proposed marine Special Area of Conservation designations while in the islands off Donegal (including Arranmore) the dispute is around the Irish moratorium on drift-net fishing for salmon. There appear to be two different sources of authority in these disputes. One is external, legislatively based and has a clearly defined process and aim based on the need to conserve biodiversity. The other is internal, rooted in tradition and custom and comes from a way of knowing different to the prevalent system of ‘book’ learning and formal education processes. It is based on respect for, and ensuring the endurance of, an older and more particular way of knowing.
The Connecting Coastal Communities project engages with the island fishermen’s way of knowing the marine environment with the aim of reflecting this way of knowing in a way which would be visible to government agencies and other outsiders to the islands.
In light of the strong community support on both islands for this project and the innovative aspect of a research collaboration between two social scientists and a visual artist, we envisage that this project has the potential to create a model approach which could help other communities express and engage with their natural and cultural heritage in a way which is unique to each community.
The Connecting Coastal Communities project has led to the publication of a short book - Duthchas na Mara/Duchas na Mara/Belonging to the Sea - which was launched at the Clan MacNeil Gathering on Barra on 15 August 2012.
A Geology of Media (2015), The Anthrobscene (2014) and Insect Media (2010). The Anthropocene has ... more A Geology of Media (2015), The Anthrobscene (2014) and Insect Media (2010). The Anthropocene has been defined as the present geological epoch in which the earth's ecosystems and biodiversity are being slowly disrupted by human intervention. The term has become commonly used since the beginning of the twenty-first century when Paul Crutzen argued its importance in a Nature article, and since then scientists have debated its credibility and possible starting point, suggesting the end of the eighteenth century (with the birth of the industrial revolution) or 1945 (with the commencement of nuclear weapons testing). The notion of the Anthropocene raises important questions that concern the sustainability of the planet. With seas rising and becoming inexorably acidified and contaminated and the destruction of coral reefs (such as the Great Barrier Reef); with fish life and plankton dying because of climate change and pollution from plastic, oil, and other forms of human waste; with the endangerment and extinction of animal species; with huge tracts of land in Africa being leased by China to feed its own population; with African governments encouraging their citizens to go abroad in order to send back foreign income to sustain their national economies; with aggressive mining and fracking operations, fertilization, forest fires, and over-cultivation of land; with the ubiquitous burning of fossil fuels and the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; with deforestation, drought, desertification, poverty and hunger in the global south forcing increasing waves of migration; with melting icebergs, periodic oil disasters, and emissions of radiation from nuclear power plants as well as the continual threat of nuclear war; and with the rapid increase of the world population to 7 billion (estimated to increase to 10 billion by 2050), Elon Musk has offered a wake-up call by proposing that we need to colonize Mars. Posthumanism has offered an alternative to anthropocentrism and emphasised the importance of the non-human in the challenge against the destructive effects of the Anthropocene. Posthumanism privileges animals, plant life, ecological systems and the environment, as well as providing a feminist perspective on human patriarchy. It emphasizes the protection and conservation of the earth and its inhabitants,
This paper contributes to the growing body of literature that engages with ontological scholarshi... more This paper contributes to the growing body of literature that engages with ontological scholarship on fisheries management and governance, and more generally, to debates on environmental governance. It argues that fisheries governance is an ontological challenge that raises questions of culture, equity, legitimacy and inclusion/exclusion, requiring more contextsensitive and politically aware fisheries governance approaches. By engaging with the concept of political ontology, and drawing from empirical research carried out in Ireland's offshore islands, five ontological assumptions are identified that underpin Irish fisheries governance and management policies and practices and categorised as social-historical, ecological, geographical, technocratic and markets-driven. Articulating and examining these assumptions provide insights into why policy objectives aimed at supporting small-scale fisheries and their communities may, in practice, not be effective when they are operationalised within a governance paradigm designed around the realities of large-scale, full-time, highly mobile and more economically productive operators. Despite the efforts of ontologically disobedient islanders, the enactment of these ontological assumptions into the dominant world of fisheries governance inhibits the emergence of possible worlds that would enact Irish island inshore fisheries through island logics. The paper concludes that the squeeze on Ireland's island inshore fishers is not simply spatial, it is ontological. A dominant fisheries ontology has been created by the interplay of ontological assumptions. This dominant ontology undermines the State's critical policy to maintain and manage Irish fisheries as a public resource in order to avoid the concentration of fishing opportunities into the hands of large and powerful fishing interests.
General rights and useage policy Copyright,IP and moral rights for the publications made accessib... more General rights and useage policy Copyright,IP and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the UHI Research Database are retained by the author, users must recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement, or without prior permission from the author.
The development of the Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) industry is part of the EU Blue Growth strat... more The development of the Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) industry is part of the EU Blue Growth strategy. It brings together a range of relationships across people, sea and energy, from developers to local communities and policymakers. This calls for diverse approaches, moving beyond an oppositional mind-set, that can establish an inclusive community around MRE development. Ownership of the marine environment is a legal issue, but MRE devices operate within a cultural and emotional sense of place. Early, sustained community engagement and advocacy is crucial to a developing an industry whose impacts are likely to be felt before its social benefits materialise. Crucially, local communities could be supported by social sciences and humanities (SSH) research in creating new mythologies and imaginaries through which MRE technologies become an integral part of their culture, as well as part of their biophysical environment. A complex physical, political and legal environment provides the context for these new marine energy technologies, and its development provides opportunities for SSH research to address issues around the sea, and integrate into the design of new marine energy seascapes.
We introduce the Humanities for the Environment (HfE) 2018 Report. The HfE 2018 Report consists o... more We introduce the Humanities for the Environment (HfE) 2018 Report. The HfE 2018 Report consists of two publications; of which this Special Issue is one. The other is a special section of the journal Global and Planetary Change 156 (2017); 112–175. While the Humanities special issue may primarily reach our colleagues in the humanities disciplines; the Global and Planetary Change section reaches out to that journal's primary readership of earth scientists. The HfE 2018 Report provides examples of how humanities research reveals and influences human capacity to perceive and cope with environmental change. We hope that the HFE 2018 Report will help change perceptions of what it is we do as humanities scholars. Human preferences, practices and actions are the main drivers of planetary change in the 21st century. The academic disciplines of the humanities are largely concerned with how humans perceive, articulate and behave as a species. Therefore, the Humanities for the Environment is a global initiative of eight regional Observatories that aim to bring out how the humanities may contribute to pro-environmental behaviour. This Special Issue reviews ways in which the humanistic disciplines may help us understand and engage with global environmental problems. The " for " is a carefully chosen word. It originated at talks between founders of the HfE initiative in 2009 (primarily Sally Kitch, Sarah Buie, and Poul Holm). We were united in a concern that the humanities were not playing what we thought could be a vital part in global change scholarship and indeed politics. We believed that there was a need to bring out the best of humanities to identify tools and insights that might contribute to the greater good. We wanted to look not just to self-identified environmental humanists, but to the full range of humanities disciplines to find helpful ways forward.
Interactions between environmental and social change are complex and require deep insights into h... more Interactions between environmental and social change are complex and require deep insights into human perceptions, values, motivations and choices. Humanities disciplines can bring these insights to the study of marine social–ecological systems in the context of global environmental challenges. Such systems can be defined on a range of scales, but the cases most easily studied include those of small islands and their communities. This paper presents findings from three studies in the Western and Northern isles of Scotland, concentrating on some of the processes involved in social sustainability that contribute on the one hand to protecting what a community has, and on the other hand allowing a community to evolve so as to adapt to new conditions. It relates the several sorts of transformations involved, to the role and impact of external institutions such as those of governance of the natural environment, the energy market, and academic research, which together make up the environment of the transformation. By examining the world-views of different groups of actors, this paper illustrates that an understanding of the mental constructs underlying these world-views can help marine governance through integrating different ways of knowing. This paper identifies where it would be useful to employ a transdisciplinary 'translator' or a 'space' for dialogue in order to capture the diverse 'visions' and perceptions that these groups have in relation to management of the marine environment, where there are synergies and where more should to be done to negotiate between competing values and needs. It illustrates the practical contributions to operational policy that can emerge through challenging the dominant management discourses for the marine environment.
Marine litter has been a serious and growing problem for some decades now. Yet, there is still mu... more Marine litter has been a serious and growing problem for some decades now. Yet, there is still much speculation among researchers, policy makers and planners about how to tackle marine litter from land-based sources. This paper provides insights into approaches for managing marine litter by reporting and analyzing survey results of litter dispersal and makeup from three areas along an Arab-Israeli coastal town in view of other recent studies conducted around the Mediterranean Sea. Based on our results and analysis, we posit that bathing beach activities should be a high priority for waste managers as a point of intervention and beach-goers must be encouraged to take a more active role in keeping beaches clean. Further, plastic fragments on the beach should be targeted as a first priority for prevention (and cleanup) of marine litter with plastic bottle caps being a high priority to be targeted among plastics. More survey research is needed on non-plastic litter composition for which amounts and geographic dispersal in the region vary greatly from place to place along Mediterranean shores. In general, findings of this study lead us to recommend exploring persuasive beach trash can design coupled with greater enforcement for short term waste management intervention while considering the local socioeconomic and institutional context further for long-term efforts.
Understanding the mental constructs underlying people's social responses, decisions and behaviors... more Understanding the mental constructs underlying people's social responses, decisions and behaviors is crucial to defining the governance challenges faced in dealing with marine anthropogenic litter. Using interactive gover-nance theory, this study provides qualitative insights into how a small group of Arab-Israeli artisanal fishermen perceive marine litter and its impact (system to be governed) in the context of the socio-institutional structures (governing system) which manage waste and aim to protect the surrounding environment. It demonstrates that, until the relationships between local people and the various governing institutions are transformed, there is little hope for citizen cooperation in reducing marine litter long-term in the case-study site. More generally, underlying narratives and politics playing out at a local level need to be understood in order to identify which interventions are likely to be effective and which are not. An intervention checklist to assess the potential effectiveness of a marine litter intervention is proposed.
Cumulative human impacts have led to the degradation of marine ecosystems and the decline of biod... more Cumulative human impacts have led to the degradation of marine ecosystems and the decline of biodiversity in the European and contiguous seas. Effective conservation measures are urgently needed to reverse these trends. Conservation must entail societal choices, underpinned by human values and worldviews that differ between the countries bordering these seas. Social, economic and political heterogeneity adds to the challenge of balancing conservation with sustainable use of the seas. Comprehensive macro-regional coordination is needed to ensure effective conservation of marine ecosystems and biodiversity of this region. Under the European Union Horizon 2020 framework programme, the MarCons COST action aims to promote collaborative research to support marine management, conservation planning and policy development. This will be achieved by developing novel methods and tools to close knowledge gaps and advance marine conservation science. This action will provide support for the development of macroregional and national policies through six key actions: to develop tools to analyse cumulative human impacts; to identify critical scientific and technical gaps in conservation efforts; to improve the resilience of the marine environment to global change and biological invasions; to develop frameworks for integrated conservation planning across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments; to coordinate marine conservation policy across national boundaries; and to identify effective governance approaches for marine protected area management. Achieving the objectives of these actions will facilitate the integration of marine conservation policy into macro-regional maritime spatial planning agendas for the European and contiguous seas, thereby offsetting the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in this region.
Producing Seascapes is a short documentary (26 minutes) which sets out to explore how visions of ... more Producing Seascapes is a short documentary (26 minutes) which sets out to explore how visions of coastal environments and seascapes differ between European, national, regional and municipal planners, as well as local people and visitors. The case study is in the Northern Bohuslän archipelago and coastal region on the west coast of Sweden.
In this pilot project, we wanted to find out to what extent the Swedish planning approach envisaged for the marine environment of Northern Bohuslän takes into account how people value their marine environment.
Planning and managing the marine environment is ultimately about managing humans. While ecological, social and economic considerations are part of the process, marine planning entails societal choices which reflect specific visions of what the marine environment ought to be. These visions reflect human values and worldviews that are generally accepted as being true. Yet, different values often come into conflict with each other. The existence and influence of values are rarely recognised in marine science or policy at national and European levels of governance. Yet, it is the collective choices made by local people through the resources they use, and the places they visit and live in, that drive many pressures on the marine environment. Understanding local level perspectives will be critical in shaping the unfolding policy process for our seas.
This pilot project was developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Scotland and Sweden, consisting of art-science team Ruth Brennan and Stephen Hurrel from Scotland, working with Prof. Andrea Nightingale from the University of Gothenburg and SLU Uppsala, and Linus Karlsson and Elina Anderson from the University of Gothenburg.
A public participatory approach was devised by Brennan and Hurrel in order to engage with local people and visitors in the Northern Bohuslän region.
The purpose of this documentary is to provoke thought, in order to highlight the importance of allowing different ‘stories’ to be visible and acknowledged in the planning of the marine environment.
Sgeulachdan na Mara/Sea Stories is a mapping the sea project based around the island of Barra, in... more Sgeulachdan na Mara/Sea Stories is a mapping the sea project based around the island of Barra, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
Sea Stories explores the intimate relationship between people and place and seeks to make visible the rich cultural knowledge that exists in the seas around Barra. It has been developed as an online cultural map by artist Stephen Hurrel and social ecologist Ruth Brennan, in association with Voluntary Action Barra & Vatersay (VABV), and involving school pupils in interviewing local Barra fishermen and the older members of the community.
The project grew out of research undertaken by social ecologists Ruth Brennan and Iain MacKinnon and audio-visual material generated by artist Stephen Hurrel, for the publication Dùthchas na Mara / Belonging to the Sea (Authors: MacKinnon and Brennan. Photographs: Hurrel)
The website was launched on Barra on Saturday 16th November 2013. Sea Stories is now a resource within the Barra community which be added to on a continuing basis.
Sea Stories builds on a cultural project (Connecting Coastal Communities) funded by Colmcille (Ireland and Scotland), which connects the fishing heritage and culture of the Gaelic speaking island communities of Arranmore (off Donegal, Ireland) and Barra. In the Connecting Coastal Communities project, the researchers started the work of gathering local names and stories associated with the sea through conversations with several older fishermen in both Arranmore and Barra. It was clear from these conversations that the relationship of humans with the sea has created a rich heritage which is in danger of being lost. There is increasing reliance by fishermen on technology such as sonars and depth sounders and little or no need for the older ways of navigating and finding fishing grounds, through the use of marks (on land and sea) and related stories. By engaging the Barra community (including school children) in gathering these names and stories, Sea Stories has the potential to revive an interest in these stories by linking the younger and older generations on Barra and enabling the younger generation to make this heritage accessible and visible in the 21st century.
Clyde Reflections is a meditative, cinematic experience based on the marine environment of the Fi... more Clyde Reflections is a meditative, cinematic experience based on the marine environment of the Firth of Clyde on the west coast of Scotland. This 33-minute film opens up space for contemplation by reflecting the unfixed, shifting nature of relationships between people and place.
Clyde Reflections was one of 15 projects awarded funding under the 2013 Imagining Natural Scotland initiative which has been created to 'explore the interplay between the natural world and its representation, and promote deep collaboration and knowledge exchange between the creative and scientific sectors.'
Produced by the collaborative art-science team of artist Stephen Hurrel and social ecologist Ruth Brennan, the film features underwater and microscopic footage, combined with voice recordings of people who have a close relationship with, or specialist understanding of, the Firth of Clyde. These include a retired fisherman, a marine biologist, a diver, a marine conservationist, a spiritual leader and a physical oceanographer.
By engaging with people who connect deeply with their environment, Clyde Reflections presents a multi-perspective representation of a particular marine area in order to challenge a simplistic representation of this environment. The film provides a creative example of how 'landscape' is not a fixed entity, or separate from people, but is dynamic in terms of its socio-ecological properties as well as how it can be perceived.
The Imagining Natural Scotland team have published a landmark book that provides a visible and tangible record of the project. The book includes images and edited extracts from teams' project work and reflections on their collaborations.
Clyde Reflections was premiered at the CCA, Glasgow (Centre for Contemporary Arts) on 11 September 2011 and is now available for viewing online at https://vimeo.com/89793693. It was installed at GoMA, The Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow from 28 May-5 July 2015 as part of their Moving Image Season.
Clyde Reflections is dedicated to the memory of Professor Laurence Mee.
On the Gaelic speaking islands of Arranmore (Donegal, Ireland) and Barra (Outer Hebrides, Scotlan... more On the Gaelic speaking islands of Arranmore (Donegal, Ireland) and Barra (Outer Hebrides, Scotland) the fishermen believe that their livelihood and way of living is being threatened by powerful governmental forces who are not listening to them. In Barra, the dispute centres around two proposed marine Special Area of Conservation designations while in the islands off Donegal (including Arranmore) the dispute is around the Irish moratorium on drift-net fishing for salmon. There appear to be two different sources of authority in these disputes. One is external, legislatively based and has a clearly defined process and aim based on the need to conserve biodiversity. The other is internal, rooted in tradition and custom and comes from a way of knowing different to the prevalent system of ‘book’ learning and formal education processes. It is based on respect for, and ensuring the endurance of, an older and more particular way of knowing.
The Connecting Coastal Communities project engages with the island fishermen’s way of knowing the marine environment with the aim of reflecting this way of knowing in a way which would be visible to government agencies and other outsiders to the islands.
In light of the strong community support on both islands for this project and the innovative aspect of a research collaboration between two social scientists and a visual artist, we envisage that this project has the potential to create a model approach which could help other communities express and engage with their natural and cultural heritage in a way which is unique to each community.
The Connecting Coastal Communities project has led to the publication of a short book - Duthchas na Mara/Duchas na Mara/Belonging to the Sea - which was launched at the Clan MacNeil Gathering on Barra on 15 August 2012.
A Geology of Media (2015), The Anthrobscene (2014) and Insect Media (2010). The Anthropocene has ... more A Geology of Media (2015), The Anthrobscene (2014) and Insect Media (2010). The Anthropocene has been defined as the present geological epoch in which the earth's ecosystems and biodiversity are being slowly disrupted by human intervention. The term has become commonly used since the beginning of the twenty-first century when Paul Crutzen argued its importance in a Nature article, and since then scientists have debated its credibility and possible starting point, suggesting the end of the eighteenth century (with the birth of the industrial revolution) or 1945 (with the commencement of nuclear weapons testing). The notion of the Anthropocene raises important questions that concern the sustainability of the planet. With seas rising and becoming inexorably acidified and contaminated and the destruction of coral reefs (such as the Great Barrier Reef); with fish life and plankton dying because of climate change and pollution from plastic, oil, and other forms of human waste; with the endangerment and extinction of animal species; with huge tracts of land in Africa being leased by China to feed its own population; with African governments encouraging their citizens to go abroad in order to send back foreign income to sustain their national economies; with aggressive mining and fracking operations, fertilization, forest fires, and over-cultivation of land; with the ubiquitous burning of fossil fuels and the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; with deforestation, drought, desertification, poverty and hunger in the global south forcing increasing waves of migration; with melting icebergs, periodic oil disasters, and emissions of radiation from nuclear power plants as well as the continual threat of nuclear war; and with the rapid increase of the world population to 7 billion (estimated to increase to 10 billion by 2050), Elon Musk has offered a wake-up call by proposing that we need to colonize Mars. Posthumanism has offered an alternative to anthropocentrism and emphasised the importance of the non-human in the challenge against the destructive effects of the Anthropocene. Posthumanism privileges animals, plant life, ecological systems and the environment, as well as providing a feminist perspective on human patriarchy. It emphasizes the protection and conservation of the earth and its inhabitants,
Uploads
Papers by Ruth E Brennan
choices, underpinned by human values and worldviews that differ between the countries bordering these seas. Social, economic and political heterogeneity adds to the challenge of balancing conservation with sustainable use of the seas. Comprehensive macro-regional coordination is needed to ensure effective conservation of marine ecosystems and biodiversity of this region. Under the European Union Horizon 2020 framework programme, the MarCons COST action aims to promote collaborative research to support marine management, conservation planning and policy development. This will be achieved by
developing novel methods and tools to close knowledge gaps and advance marine conservation science. This action will provide support for the development of macroregional and national policies through six key actions: to develop tools to analyse cumulative human impacts; to identify critical scientific and technical gaps in conservation efforts; to improve the resilience of the marine environment to global change and biological invasions; to develop frameworks for integrated conservation planning across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments; to coordinate marine conservation policy across national boundaries; and to identify effective governance approaches for marine protected area management. Achieving the objectives of these actions will facilitate the integration of marine conservation policy into macro-regional maritime spatial planning agendas for the European and contiguous seas, thereby offsetting the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in this region.
Books by Ruth E Brennan
In this pilot project, we wanted to find out to what extent the Swedish planning approach envisaged for the marine environment of Northern Bohuslän takes into account how people value their marine environment.
Planning and managing the marine environment is ultimately about managing humans. While ecological, social and economic considerations are part of the process, marine planning entails societal choices which reflect specific visions of what the marine environment ought to be. These visions reflect human values and worldviews that are generally accepted as being true. Yet, different values often come into conflict with each other. The existence and influence of values are rarely recognised in marine science or policy at national and European levels of governance. Yet, it is the collective choices made by local people through the resources they use, and the places they visit and live in, that drive many pressures on the marine environment. Understanding local level perspectives will be critical in shaping the unfolding policy process for our seas.
This pilot project was developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Scotland and Sweden, consisting of art-science team Ruth Brennan and Stephen Hurrel from Scotland, working with Prof. Andrea Nightingale from the University of Gothenburg and SLU Uppsala, and Linus Karlsson and Elina Anderson from the University of Gothenburg.
A public participatory approach was devised by Brennan and Hurrel in order to engage with local people and visitors in the Northern Bohuslän region.
The purpose of this documentary is to provoke thought, in order to highlight the importance of allowing different ‘stories’ to be visible and acknowledged in the planning of the marine environment.
Sea Stories explores the intimate relationship between people and place and seeks to make visible the rich cultural knowledge that exists in the seas around Barra. It has been developed as an online cultural map by artist Stephen Hurrel and social ecologist Ruth Brennan, in association with Voluntary Action Barra & Vatersay (VABV), and involving school pupils in interviewing local Barra fishermen and the older members of the community.
The project grew out of research undertaken by social ecologists Ruth Brennan and Iain MacKinnon and audio-visual material generated by artist Stephen Hurrel, for the publication Dùthchas na Mara / Belonging to the Sea (Authors: MacKinnon and Brennan. Photographs: Hurrel)
The website was launched on Barra on Saturday 16th November 2013. Sea Stories is now a resource within the Barra community which be added to on a continuing basis.
Sea Stories builds on a cultural project (Connecting Coastal Communities) funded by Colmcille (Ireland and Scotland), which connects the fishing heritage and culture of the Gaelic speaking island communities of Arranmore (off Donegal, Ireland) and Barra. In the Connecting Coastal Communities project, the researchers started the work of gathering local names and stories associated with the sea through conversations with several older fishermen in both Arranmore and Barra. It was clear from these conversations that the relationship of humans with the sea has created a rich heritage which is in danger of being lost. There is increasing reliance by fishermen on technology such as sonars and depth sounders and little or no need for the older ways of navigating and finding fishing grounds, through the use of marks (on land and sea) and related stories. By engaging the Barra community (including school children) in gathering these names and stories, Sea Stories has the potential to revive an interest in these stories by linking the younger and older generations on Barra and enabling the younger generation to make this heritage accessible and visible in the 21st century.
Clyde Reflections was one of 15 projects awarded funding under the 2013 Imagining Natural Scotland initiative which has been created to 'explore the interplay between the natural world and its representation, and promote deep collaboration and knowledge exchange between the creative and scientific sectors.'
Produced by the collaborative art-science team of artist Stephen Hurrel and social ecologist Ruth Brennan, the film features underwater and microscopic footage, combined with voice recordings of people who have a close relationship with, or specialist understanding of, the Firth of Clyde. These include a retired fisherman, a marine biologist, a diver, a marine conservationist, a spiritual leader and a physical oceanographer.
By engaging with people who connect deeply with their environment, Clyde Reflections presents a multi-perspective representation of a particular marine area in order to challenge a simplistic representation of this environment. The film provides a creative example of how 'landscape' is not a fixed entity, or separate from people, but is dynamic in terms of its socio-ecological properties as well as how it can be perceived.
The Imagining Natural Scotland team have published a landmark book that provides a visible and tangible record of the project. The book includes images and edited extracts from teams' project work and reflections on their collaborations.
Clyde Reflections was premiered at the CCA, Glasgow (Centre for Contemporary Arts) on 11 September 2011 and is now available for viewing online at https://vimeo.com/89793693. It was installed at GoMA, The Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow from 28 May-5 July 2015 as part of their Moving Image Season.
Clyde Reflections is dedicated to the memory of Professor Laurence Mee.
The Connecting Coastal Communities project engages with the island fishermen’s way of knowing the marine environment with the aim of reflecting this way of knowing in a way which would be visible to government agencies and other outsiders to the islands.
In light of the strong community support on both islands for this project and the innovative aspect of a research collaboration between two social scientists and a visual artist, we envisage that this project has the potential to create a model approach which could help other communities express and engage with their natural and cultural heritage in a way which is unique to each community.
The Connecting Coastal Communities project has led to the publication of a short book - Duthchas na Mara/Duchas na Mara/Belonging to the Sea - which was launched at the Clan MacNeil Gathering on Barra on 15 August 2012.
Conference Presentations by Ruth E Brennan
choices, underpinned by human values and worldviews that differ between the countries bordering these seas. Social, economic and political heterogeneity adds to the challenge of balancing conservation with sustainable use of the seas. Comprehensive macro-regional coordination is needed to ensure effective conservation of marine ecosystems and biodiversity of this region. Under the European Union Horizon 2020 framework programme, the MarCons COST action aims to promote collaborative research to support marine management, conservation planning and policy development. This will be achieved by
developing novel methods and tools to close knowledge gaps and advance marine conservation science. This action will provide support for the development of macroregional and national policies through six key actions: to develop tools to analyse cumulative human impacts; to identify critical scientific and technical gaps in conservation efforts; to improve the resilience of the marine environment to global change and biological invasions; to develop frameworks for integrated conservation planning across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments; to coordinate marine conservation policy across national boundaries; and to identify effective governance approaches for marine protected area management. Achieving the objectives of these actions will facilitate the integration of marine conservation policy into macro-regional maritime spatial planning agendas for the European and contiguous seas, thereby offsetting the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in this region.
In this pilot project, we wanted to find out to what extent the Swedish planning approach envisaged for the marine environment of Northern Bohuslän takes into account how people value their marine environment.
Planning and managing the marine environment is ultimately about managing humans. While ecological, social and economic considerations are part of the process, marine planning entails societal choices which reflect specific visions of what the marine environment ought to be. These visions reflect human values and worldviews that are generally accepted as being true. Yet, different values often come into conflict with each other. The existence and influence of values are rarely recognised in marine science or policy at national and European levels of governance. Yet, it is the collective choices made by local people through the resources they use, and the places they visit and live in, that drive many pressures on the marine environment. Understanding local level perspectives will be critical in shaping the unfolding policy process for our seas.
This pilot project was developed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from Scotland and Sweden, consisting of art-science team Ruth Brennan and Stephen Hurrel from Scotland, working with Prof. Andrea Nightingale from the University of Gothenburg and SLU Uppsala, and Linus Karlsson and Elina Anderson from the University of Gothenburg.
A public participatory approach was devised by Brennan and Hurrel in order to engage with local people and visitors in the Northern Bohuslän region.
The purpose of this documentary is to provoke thought, in order to highlight the importance of allowing different ‘stories’ to be visible and acknowledged in the planning of the marine environment.
Sea Stories explores the intimate relationship between people and place and seeks to make visible the rich cultural knowledge that exists in the seas around Barra. It has been developed as an online cultural map by artist Stephen Hurrel and social ecologist Ruth Brennan, in association with Voluntary Action Barra & Vatersay (VABV), and involving school pupils in interviewing local Barra fishermen and the older members of the community.
The project grew out of research undertaken by social ecologists Ruth Brennan and Iain MacKinnon and audio-visual material generated by artist Stephen Hurrel, for the publication Dùthchas na Mara / Belonging to the Sea (Authors: MacKinnon and Brennan. Photographs: Hurrel)
The website was launched on Barra on Saturday 16th November 2013. Sea Stories is now a resource within the Barra community which be added to on a continuing basis.
Sea Stories builds on a cultural project (Connecting Coastal Communities) funded by Colmcille (Ireland and Scotland), which connects the fishing heritage and culture of the Gaelic speaking island communities of Arranmore (off Donegal, Ireland) and Barra. In the Connecting Coastal Communities project, the researchers started the work of gathering local names and stories associated with the sea through conversations with several older fishermen in both Arranmore and Barra. It was clear from these conversations that the relationship of humans with the sea has created a rich heritage which is in danger of being lost. There is increasing reliance by fishermen on technology such as sonars and depth sounders and little or no need for the older ways of navigating and finding fishing grounds, through the use of marks (on land and sea) and related stories. By engaging the Barra community (including school children) in gathering these names and stories, Sea Stories has the potential to revive an interest in these stories by linking the younger and older generations on Barra and enabling the younger generation to make this heritage accessible and visible in the 21st century.
Clyde Reflections was one of 15 projects awarded funding under the 2013 Imagining Natural Scotland initiative which has been created to 'explore the interplay between the natural world and its representation, and promote deep collaboration and knowledge exchange between the creative and scientific sectors.'
Produced by the collaborative art-science team of artist Stephen Hurrel and social ecologist Ruth Brennan, the film features underwater and microscopic footage, combined with voice recordings of people who have a close relationship with, or specialist understanding of, the Firth of Clyde. These include a retired fisherman, a marine biologist, a diver, a marine conservationist, a spiritual leader and a physical oceanographer.
By engaging with people who connect deeply with their environment, Clyde Reflections presents a multi-perspective representation of a particular marine area in order to challenge a simplistic representation of this environment. The film provides a creative example of how 'landscape' is not a fixed entity, or separate from people, but is dynamic in terms of its socio-ecological properties as well as how it can be perceived.
The Imagining Natural Scotland team have published a landmark book that provides a visible and tangible record of the project. The book includes images and edited extracts from teams' project work and reflections on their collaborations.
Clyde Reflections was premiered at the CCA, Glasgow (Centre for Contemporary Arts) on 11 September 2011 and is now available for viewing online at https://vimeo.com/89793693. It was installed at GoMA, The Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow from 28 May-5 July 2015 as part of their Moving Image Season.
Clyde Reflections is dedicated to the memory of Professor Laurence Mee.
The Connecting Coastal Communities project engages with the island fishermen’s way of knowing the marine environment with the aim of reflecting this way of knowing in a way which would be visible to government agencies and other outsiders to the islands.
In light of the strong community support on both islands for this project and the innovative aspect of a research collaboration between two social scientists and a visual artist, we envisage that this project has the potential to create a model approach which could help other communities express and engage with their natural and cultural heritage in a way which is unique to each community.
The Connecting Coastal Communities project has led to the publication of a short book - Duthchas na Mara/Duchas na Mara/Belonging to the Sea - which was launched at the Clan MacNeil Gathering on Barra on 15 August 2012.