A Comparison of Awareness,Attitudes, and Usage of Water Quality Conservation Practices Between Amish and Non-Amish Farmers

This study provides a unique examination of Amish farmers’ awareness of water quality issues and their attitudes toward and use of agricultural conservation practices compared with small non-Amish farmers in Northeastern Indiana. There is minimal research about the conservation beliefs and behaviors of this growing and highly diverse ethnoreligious minority, who have faith-based technological restrictions and are often hesitant to work with community outsiders, especially the government. We find that, compared with non-Amish farmers, Amish farmers have limited awareness of the linkages between common agricultural practices and broader water quality problems and lower levels of adoption of conservation practices, with the exception of cover crops. This information is essential for conservation practitioners who need to work with a diverse range of agricultural producers to increase the uptake of conservation practices that address critical water quality concerns.     

Decisive key-factors influencing farm households' soil and water conservation investments

In the inter-Andean valleys of Bolivia decisive key-factors influencing farm households' soil and water conservation investments were determined. The household's progressiveness most influences the decision how much to invest; dynamic and responsible families are among the first. Economic stratum is also important; more income from agriculture leads to higher investments in conservation practices. These practices are preferably executed on fields where the required effort is least and where the impact is highest. Based on these results, four concrete recommendations are given for a SWC strategy that aims at motivating farmers for the adoption of soil and water conservation practices.     

农户保护性耕作技术采纳行为及其影响因素研究综述

保护性耕作对于防止水土流失、改善土壤质量、保障国家粮食安全等具有重要意义。农户作为保护性耕作技术采纳的直接决策者,研究其采纳行为及其影响因素有助于促进保护性耕作技术的推广应用。基于此,论文系统梳理了国内外农户保护性耕作技术采纳行为及其影响因素的相关研究,以期为更有效的技术推广提供参考。结果发现：不同类型农户的保护性耕作技术采纳行为存在较大差异;农户保护性耕作技术采纳的研究区域较为集中;影响农户保护性耕作技术采纳行为的因素主要包括基本因素(个体特征和家庭特征)和差别因素(社会网络、风险偏好与风险感知、政府政策、心理认知及区位特征)2类。基于上述分析,论文提出了未来重点的研究方向：技术推广要考虑农户群体内的异质性;应注重各种研究理论间的融合;未来可进一步加强多学科交叉的系统研究。     

Evaluating the impact of two energy conservation programmes in a midwestern city

This paper presents a general methodology for evaluating energy conservation programmes, and uses the methodology to assess a home audit and an energy tax credit programme. The data base contains utility bill histories, audit forms, and personal surveys for 319 Decatur, Illinois homeowners. These data enable analysis of the extent of adoption of the two programmes; characteristics of adopters and non-adopters; the role of information in the adoption process; the actions prompted by the programmes; and the impact of the programmes on residential energy consumption.Adopters of the programmes are found to be better educated, wealthier, have newer homes, and engage in more conservation practices than non-adopters. Lack of information is one barrier to programme adoption, with adopters receiving more useful information from the local utility company and government sources. The programmes appear to have prompted certain conservation practices, but they have not reduced energy consumption. Policy implications are discussed.     

History and necessity: the evolution of soil conservation technology in a Jamaican farming system

The soil conservation campaigns that have been a prominent feature of Jamaican agricultural policy since the 1950s are frequently presented as having failed to ameliorate the problem of soil erosion in hillside agriculture. A case study of a small farming community in the Blue Mountains explores the development of the soil conservation practices currently employed by farmers. The use of trash barriers in carrot farming is described and the origins of this technology and its subsequent adaptation are considered. The study concludes that extension interventions and government policy have influenced the development of current soil conservation practices; practices which have their roots in indigenous techniques. Other factors such as the adaptation of trash barriers to suit local conditions and their importance in soil fertility management also play a role in their widespread use in the study area. The study demonstrates that to understand the process of technical change in farming communities, it is necessary to consider a range of factors, external and internal, technical and social, that have over time influenced farmers' decision making.     

The Technology of Religion: Mapping Religious Cyberscapes

This article combines geographical studies of both the Internet and religion in an analysis of where and how a variety of religious practices are represented in geotagged Web content. This method provides needed insight into the geography of virtual expressions of religion and highlights the mutually constitutive, and at times contradictory, relationship between the virtual and material dimensions of religious expression. By using the spatialities of religious practice and contestation as an example, this article argues that mappings of virtual representations of material practices are important tools for understanding how online activities simultaneously represent and reproduce the material world.     

保护性农业的研究现状、进展与展望

保护性农业是相对较新的一个概念,它强调了农业的可持续发展。保护性农业的三个重要要素包括少耕或免耕、永久地面覆盖和轮作。从生态学的角度,保护性农业对土壤生态系统的有益效应包括改善土壤系统的化学、物理及生物特性。然而,目前保护性农业在全世界的推广应用范围还很有限,特别是在发展中国家更是如此。在发展中国家,农民主要把秸秆用于煮饭和取暖的燃料,同时还用作家畜饲草。因此,我们面临的主要问题是研究和解决把秸秆用于土壤保护和提高土壤肥力与其它用途的矛盾。本文较系统地评述了世界保护性农业的研究现状、主要进展及展望。还讨论了实行保护性农业中存在的问题及注意事项。     

Preference for Grassland Heterogeneity: Implications for Biodiversity in the Great Plains

The Great Plains of the United States is a grassland region managed primarily for homogeneity associated with production agriculture. The resulting decline of obligate fauna makes enhancing biodiversity an increasingly important ecological goal. A survey was administered to land managers and the general population in ranching regions of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Texas Panhandle. This research explores the preferred characteristics of privately owned grasslands among ranchers and the general population for vegetation structure and biodiversity. Results indicate a knowledge gap between biodiversity and the vegetation heterogeneity required to support it. Preference for grassland structure is seen as a sociocultural driver of decisions on management practices that constrain adoption of heterogeneity management. Conserving biodiversity and enhancing ecosystem services provided by heterogeneous grasslands can be accomplished by demonstrating that conservation advantages of heterogeneity and production agriculture are compatible.     

Knowledge to Action: Investigating Implicit Knowledge Production Models Held Among Forest Science Researchers

Criticisms of conventional knowledge production systems target their inability to address complex issues involving natural resources. In response, several researchers have adopted participatory research methodologies, incorporating more holistic problem-solving approaches that greatly value the knowledge and abilities of stakeholders. This case study explores forest science researchers' engagement strategies with stakeholders and how researchers can incorporate alternative approaches to knowledge production. We conducted semistructured interviews with forest science researchers, asking direct questions about how they define and work with stakeholders. Analysis revealed a great awareness among researchers for the need to cooperate with stakeholders and to incorporate their knowledge and abilities into the research process, as well as lamentations over structural, institutional, and resource limitations inhibiting the adoption of these practices. Our results reveal both how forest science researchers and institutes work with stakeholders and how they can better incorporate these stakeholder engagement methodologies into their research practices.     

The Variegated Landscape of Local Immigration Policies in the United States

Hundreds of municipalities and counties across the United States have proposed or implemented immigration policies at the local level, ranging from "sanctuary" policies to those designed to exclude undocumented immigrants. Data collected on these policies are presented, and statistically analyzed at the municipal level to interrogate existing hypotheses about factors driving these policy decisions. Municipalities experiencing rapid growth of their foreign-born population and with a high percentage of owner-occupied housing are more likely to introduce exclusionary policies, whereas municipalities with better educated populations are more likely to adopt inclusionary policies. The location of municipalities in the U.S. South and outside central cities is also associated with exclusionary policies. Textual analysis of policy documents for selected municipalities provides insight into why similarly located places adopt contrasting policies. Local ordinances reflect contrasting local imaginaries of race, nation, and place.     

The possibilities and pitfalls presented by a pragmatic approach to ecosystem service valuation in an arid biodiversity hotspot

Arid regions are home to unique fauna, flora, and vulnerable human populations, and present a challenge for sustainable land-use management. We undertook an assessment and valuation of three key services, grazing, tourism and water supply in the arid Succulent Karoo biome in western South Africa - a globally recognised biodiversity hotspot. We were looking for ways and values that could be used to promote conservation in this region through the adoption of sustainable land-use practices which have human welfare benefits. Our study adopted a variety of methods in valuing these services in developing ranges of values for these services. At the biome level, total annual values ranged from $ 19-114 million for grazing, $ 2-$ 20 million for tourism, and $ 300-3120 million for water. These values are generally low compared with values derived for other biomes and regions and do not adequately reflect known dependence and the importance of ecosystem services to the residents of this biome. The ecosystems here provide small but critical benefits enabling communities to sustain themselves and small changes in service levels can have major welfare effects. Highlighting these sensitivities will require finding more appropriate ways to link ecological and social factors.     

Differential Adoption of Internet-based Teaching Practices in College Geography

Abstract

Innovation diffusion research has shown that users of innovations have identifiable characteristics that can be used to differentiate them from nonusers. This research classifies practitioners of Internet-based teaching in college geography and relates adoption patterns to faculty members' research specialty, place of employment, teaching experience, and academic rank. All variables except academic rank were related to faculty members' adoption of and approach to Internet-based teaching. The results of the study provide insight into how the Internet is being used to teach geography in higher education.     

An Augmented Norm Activation Model: The Case of Residential Outdoor Water Use

Understanding the factors that influence voluntary conservation is critical for developing effective residential water conservation policy. Previous work drawing on Schwartz’s Norm Activation Model (NAM) has been useful to understand some of these factors. However, one’s relationship with the broader community impacted by consumptive decisions has often been overlooked. Similarly, scholars have emphasized the importance of contextual factors not captured in the NAM. In this study we hypothesize and test an augmented NAM that incorporates community attachment, along with contextual variables (sociodemographic and household infrastructure), to understand the factors that lead to the development of moral obligations to conserve water and their relationship with residential outdoor water use. Results indicate personal norms, defined as a moral obligation to conserve water, are negatively related to outdoor water use, and that community attachment is a predictor of personal norms. Contextual factors are found to have an influence on outdoor water use.     

A GIS-based exploration of the relationships between human health,social deprivation and ecosystem services: The case of Wales,UK

Being able to analyse the relationships between people and nature has always been of key interest to ecosystems conservation, planning decisions and in a number of disciplines of natural and social sciences. In this framework, it is of paramount importance to evaluate possible correlations between factors such as ecosystem services, human health, and social deprivation. The present study aims at exploring relationships between ecosystem services, human health, and social deprivation for the region of Wales in the United Kingdom. Wales is of special interest because as a region it offers many ‘green’ ecosystems which have already been found to have a positive influence on humans' well-being as well as on socio-economic status. First, a recreational layer showing the size and location of all potential recreational areas in each Welsh local authority was created. Subsequently, correlation/regression analysis and weighted raster analysis were performed which allowed determining quantitatively the degree of correlation between the observed socio-economic factors and recreational areas.The findings of this exploratory study suggested that the relative size of potential recreational area varies widely within the local authorities comprising Wales. Not all the socio-economic factors which were examined herein found to be correlated with recreational areas. Some variables, such as income and employment deprivation showed high correlations with poor recreation options. Very poor correlation was also reported between recreation options and variables such as life expectancy and long-term illness. Our results, in agreement to previous studies conducted elsewhere, suggested that human health is determined by a complex interplay of more than one of the observed determinants, including for example biology and genetics or living and working conditions. As to our knowledge there are no prior research studies on the topic for our study region, this work provides a key contribution concerning the determination of a “social” value of ecosystems in the context of human health and other socio-economic factors. However, as these are only initial results, further work is required to verify those.     

湿地水环境可持续性度量指标体系的构建研究

湿地水环境可持续性度量指标体系分为层次结构和组成结构。构建湿地水环境可持续性度量指标体系应遵循科学性、可操作性、简明性与完备性相统一、针对性与时空性相统一的原则。湿地系统的结构特征制约着湿地水环境可持续性度量指标体系的准则层,不同类型的湿地水环境,选择的度量因子及相同因子在度量中所占的权重不同,同类湿地水环境的可持续性应该有一套可以借鉴的度量指标和方法。在确定湿地水环境可持续性度量主要指标和权重的过程中,灰关联分析法、特尔斐法和层次分析法是可以采用的有效方法。     

Factors influencing adoption and continued use of long-term soil and water conservation measures in five developing countries

Many regions in the world are affected by land degradation. Successive development projects have promoted a variety of soil and water conservation (SWC) measures to prevent further land degradation. However, these measures have seldom been adopted on a large scale. This paper deals with the adoption process of investments in SWC measures, and with the factors influencing adoption and continued use of these measures. After a theoretical introduction, whereby three phases in the adoption process are distinguished, it presents and compares some results of independent empirical research projects on adoption of SWC measures in five developing countries. Some general conclusions are drawn from these diverse research results.     

“We Don’t Equal Even Just One Man”: Gender and Social Control in Conservation Adoption

Women own or co-own approximately half of the farmland in Iowa, United States, yet researchers are only beginning to study these landowners’ social relationships in relation to their land. This study analyzes qualitative data collected in Iowa through a series of meetings hosted by the Women, Food and Agriculture Network (WFAN). I find that social control through exclusion constrains women landowners’ access to information about and implementation of conservation. Specifically, I identify how women landowners experience the social processes of boundary maintenance and othering in land management. These processes create barriers to conservation adoption and maintain gendered agricultural landscapes. The women who participated in WFAN’s conservation programs express their experience of and resistance to dominant narratives as they attempt to create landscape change. These findings highlight the importance of further study of inequality processes and their relation to control of farmland if conservation goals are to be met.     

Locating a Community Recycling Center within a Residential Area: A Belgian Case Study

This article demonstrates the operation of a simple optimal location-allocation technique for solving the problem of locating one or several community recycling center(s) within a residential area. The article attempts to measure both transportation and externality costs in comparable units, and to incorporate them into the model. A sensitivity analysis of the results at the level of the nuisance provides further insight into the operation of the model and the relative importance of the quantification of pollution in applied location-allocation problems.     

Locating a Community Recycling Center within a Residential Area: A Belgian Case Study

This article demonstrates the operation of a simple optimal location‐allocation technique for solving the problem of locating one or several community recycling center(s) within a residential area. The article attempts to measure both transportation and externality costs in comparable units, and to incorporate them into the model. A sensitivity analysis of the results at the level of the nuisance provides further insight into the operation of the model and the relative importance of the quantification of pollution in applied location‐allocation problems.     

Exploring multi-criteria decision strategies in GIS with linguistic quantifiers: an extension of the analytical network process using ordered weighted averaging operators

Many real-world spatial planning and management problems give rise to a geographical information system (GIS)-based multi-criteria decision-making. Analytical network process (ANP) provides a comprehensive methodology for representing complex multi-criteria decision-making problems as a network of criteria and alternatives, where feedback and interdependence relationships may exist within and between all the criteria and alternatives. Experts’ experiences are used to estimate relative magnitudes of tangible and intangible factors through paired comparisons in order to make rational and consistent decisions. However, the GIS-based ANP, an adoption of weighted linear aggregation rule, typically employed a high trade-off decision strategy and neglected other decision strategies. This paper develops a novel GIS-based multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) procedure by extending the ANP using fuzzy quantifiers-guided ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operators. This extension, which generalizes the aggregation process used in the ANP, would provide a generic powerful decision-making tool that allows decision-makers to define a decision strategy on a continuum between pessimistic (risk-averse) and optimistic (risk-taking) strategies. By changing the linguistic quantifiers, the GIS-based ANP–OWA can generate a wide range of decision strategies taking into accounts the level of risk the decision-makers wish to assume in their MCE. A land-use suitability analysis in a region of Saudi Arabia is presented to demonstrate the application of the proposed procedure.