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Using interviews and participant observation at Pacific Northwest sustainable farming operations, this article analyzes the complex ways that class privileges and labor practices impact the social sustainability of sustainable agriculture. While the farmers in this study were highly aware of and reflexive about the class politics of sustainable agriculture, they also participated in a classed system that restricts access to sustainable farming as an occupation even as it exploits the labor of the farmer in order to regulate prices. In particular, the farmers in the study benefited from educational privileges and oftenlucrative off-farm income, they expressed a desire to make their goods more accessible and affordable...
Abstract: Applying the ecosystem services concept to conservation initiatives or in managing ecosystem services requires understanding how environmental impacts affect the ecology of key species or functional groups providing the services. We examined effects of river impoundments, one of the leading threats to freshwater biodiversity, on an important ecosystem service provided by large tropical rivers (i.e., artisanal fisheries). The societal and economic importance of this ecosystem service in developing countries may provide leverage to advance conservation agendas where future impoundments are being considered. We assessed impoundment effects on the energetic costs of fisheries production (embodied energy) and...
Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) are often recognized as less competitive than traditional electric energy conversion systems. Obstacles with renewable electric energy conversion systems are often referred to the intermittency of the energy sources [1] and the relatively high maintenance cost. However, due to an intensified discourse on climate change and its effects, it has from a societal point of view, become more desirable to adopt and install CO2 neutral power plants. Even if this has increased the competitiveness of RETs in a political sense, the new goals for RET installations must also be met with economical viability. We propose that the direction of technical development, as well as the chosen technology...
Efforts to develop public programs to control soil erosion should not ignore other economic trends which may affect soil erosion. This programming analysis considers the impact of rising relative energy prices on cropland erosion in conjunction with alternative erosion control policies. Higher relative energy prices are found to reduce soil erosion significantly, complement soil loss restriction policies, and have an ambiguous impact on subsidies for soil erosion abatement.
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