Ecological Ideas Research Articles

Possibilities to Apply the Urban Acupuncture Concept in Kaunas: Social Aspect

The concept of urban acupuncture, which has been gaining ground in recent decades, is based on the activation and revitalization of urban environments using small architectural or landscape architectural interventions in precise carefully selected locations of urban fabric. However, the rapid and unexpected design solutions of urban acupuncture, based on ecological design, nature dynamics, street art, material re-use, can cause different social and psychological reactions of urban population and these reactions may vary depending on cultural contexts. Consequently, in order to implement successful urban acupuncture projects in Lithuanian cities, it is very important to find out public opinion and priorities in the fields of public space management, aesthetics, and public art. The aim of the research was to analyze the opinion of Kaunas city residents regarding these issues. For this purpose, a sociological questionnaire survey was used. The questionnaire containing 20 questions was designed, with the aim to find out the trends of use of public spaces in the city, the attitudes of residents towards street art and other small-scale initiatives in public spaces implemented in the recent years, possibilities of creating landscape architecture based on ecological ideas in urban environment, the attitude of inhabitants towards community spaces and community space design in the city, etc. 100 residents of Kaunas participated in this online administered survey. The survey has demonstrated general positive attitude towards contemporary design trends of public spaces and public art; however, the surveyed population expressed preferences towards fully equipped public spaces offering possibilities for a wide range of activities.

At the intersection of medical geography and disease ecology: Mirko Grmek, Jacques May and the concept of pathocenosis.

Environmental historians are not sufficiently aware of the extent to which mid twentieth-century thinkers turned to medical geography-originally a nineteenth-century area of study-in order to think through ideas of ecology, environment, and historical reasoning. This article outlines how the French-Croatian Mirko D. Grmek (Krapina, 1924-Paris, 2000), a major thinker of his generation in the history of medicine, used those ideas in his studies of historical epidemiology. During the 1960s, Grmek attempted to provide, in the context of the Annales School's research program under the leadership of Fernand Braudel, a new theoretical framework for a world history of disease. Its development was inspired by several sources, most notably the French-American Jacques M. May (Paris 1896-Tunisia, 1975), who was then pioneering an opening up of medical geography and movement towards the concept of disease ecology. The cornerstone of Grmek's "synthetic approach" to the field was the notion of "pathocenosis". The diverse uses of this notion in the course of time-from his early agenda focused on a longue durée history of diseases in Western Antiquity to his last, relating to the new epidemiological threat of (re)emerging infectious diseases, specifically HIV/aids-enables us firstly, to note how concepts of ecology sat uneasily alongside those of medical geography; secondly, to assess the reach and limits of his theoretical contribution to historical epidemiology; and thirdly, to understand better the uneven fortunes of his concept of pathocenosis at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first centuries.

Research on Sustainable Development of China’s Environment from the Perspective of Harmony between Man and Nature

The idea of Harmony between Man and Nature and the Marxist thought on ecology both advocate the respecting of nature and the pursuing of harmony between man and nature. The two theories throw light on our sustainable development, i.e.to respect the laws of nature, to build a resource-saving and environment-friendly society, to promote the harmonious coexistence of man and nature, and to take the road of sustainable development. The building of socialism with Chinese characteristics is inseparable from the excellent culture of the Chinese nation. The building of ecological civilization is inseparable from the inheritance and development of the ecological idea of the Chinese civilization. The Chinese traditional thought on Harmony between Man and Nature has rich ecological wisdom and connotation. It is of great significance towards the realizing of sustainable development and the building of ecological civilization that we fully understand and correctly evaluate the ecological ethics of Harmony between Man and Nature under the guidance of the Marxist ecological outlook.

”Let Man Remain Dead:” The Posthuman Ecology of Tale of Tales

Abstract In this essay I analyse Matteo Garrone’s Tale of Tales (2015) within the perspective of embodied cognition. I consider film experience as an affective-conceptual phenomenon based on the viewer’s embodiment of the visual structures. Baruch Spinoza stands at the foundation of my analytical approach since his thought was based on the absolute parallelism between the body and the mind. This paradigm redefines anthropocentrism and rejects dualism; however, the criticism of the rationalist ideal is also one of the main characteristics of the film Tale of Tales: by staging baroque and excessive characters, it allows the viewer to embody a notion of subjectivity that is performative and relational. Therefore, by combining the cognitive analysis of the film with my theoretical framework I will present a radical criticism of abstract rationality and present an ecological idea of the human.

Up with ecology, down with economy? The consolidation of the idea of climate change mitigation in the global public sphere.

Building on theories of valuation and evaluation, we develop an analytical framework that outlines six elements of the process of consolidation of an idea in the public sphere. We then use the framework to analyse the process of consolidation of the idea of climate change mitigation between 1997 and 2013, focusing on the interplay between ecological and economic evaluations. Our content analysis of 1274 articles in leading newspapers in five countries around the globe shows that (1) ecological arguments increase over time, (2) economic arguments decrease over time, (3) the visibility of environmental nongovernmental organizations as carriers of ecological ideas increases over time, (4) the visibility of business actors correspondingly decreases, (5) ecological ideas are increasingly adopted by political and business elites and (6) a compromise emerges between ecological and economic evaluations, in the form of the argument that climate change mitigation boosts, rather than hinders economic growth.

“Smart-technology” influence on the development of “Smart-city” in the information society

The relevance of the study is that the theme of the influence of “Smart-technologies” on the development of “Smart-city” in the media space is one of the most popular in the theoretical array and actual from the practical point of view. The task is the selection of different approaches for understanding the phenomenon of “City” and “Smart”; definition of the specifics of “Smart-technologies”, “Smart-cities”, ecological design of the city. Analysis of recent releases and publications. The problem of the “city” as a sociocultural phenomenon is one of the most complex, acutely debatable and sustainably relevant in the system of humanitarian knowledge for a long time. The city is considered in the works of Aristotle, Plato, Farabi, T. Mora, T. Kampanella. In the works of I.Sabsovich, N.Ohitovich the ecological ideas of town-planning, the concept of “garden city” became popular. The philosophical comprehension of the city's existence was considered by M. Antsiferov, V. Aleksashin, M.Kogan, D.Likhachev, Y. Lotman, M.Uvarov in his works. Among Ukrainian researchers, T. Voznyak, I. Voronin, O. Gladkogo, M.Preptonsky, T.Korienenko and others should be mentioned in the understanding of the existence of the city. Methods of research . Methods of structural-system, structural-functional analysis are widely used in the theory and practice of the “Smart-city” research. It allows to penetrate deeply into the phenomenon of the influence of Smart-technologies on the development of Smart-city in the information society. The result of the study. In order to solve the problems of the influence of Smart-technologies on the development of Smart-city in the information society, a concept for the smart technologies strategy development aimed at cooperation with leading companies of this industry and the production of domestic analogues in accordance with world standards. Conclusions. The rapid development of Smart-technologies gives the opportunity to bring the educational process to a new high level, which will provide a better training of specialists in the field of design. Getting of specialists are necessary for the formation and alignment of the country in the format Smart, as well as to increase Ukraine's competitiveness in the international arena. The practical significance of the research topic is that the designer artifacts that are differentiated in the cultures of the informational society are being researched

A Tale of Two Materialisms

Abstract New materialist approaches to the novel call into question the hermeneutical value of suspicion and critique. Meanwhile, historical materialism tends to neglect aspects of form, focusing instead on social function. Drawing from Las comidas profundas (1997), by Cuban writer Antonio José Ponte, and Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar (1940, trans. 1995), by anthropologist Fernando Ortiz, the essay charts a third approach, transcultural materialism, that reconciles the two tendencies. Works written in this mode deploy narrative and literary language to articulate labor with nonhuman themes, demonstrating the continuity of phenomena across botanical, economic, and cultural realms. Crucially, literature here serves as the primary means for critical elucidation rather than as the mere illustration of political ecological ideas. The limit case considered in the article—stories from the island of Cuba and its staples of tobacco, sugar, and scarce food—allows for a reconsideration of the role of objects in fiction both as stand-ins for social relations and as agents in their own right. In closing, the essay outlines three principles for a world literature infused with transcultural materialism: contemporaneity, multipolarity, and hospitality.

Mahatma Gandhi and the model of fashion education, activism and system(s) in India

Abstract Prominent fashion educators, namely Lidewij Edelkoort and Jose Teunissen, have time and again pointed towards the crisis of a fast-fashion system marked by the rapid and excessive production–consumption patterns that manifest a throwaway society within the vast cultural wastelands. As Edelkoort has pointed out in her manifesto ‘Anti_Fashion’ (2015), it may sound quite ironic but we still educate our young people to become catwalk designers and unique individuals. However, our society demands exchange, new economy and working together in teams as well as groups. Pedagogy, in this precise sense apropos to the fast-fashion system, is indeed based upon a flat ontological ground or singular identity, which resembles a vast agricultural field protected by the scarecrow in order to harvest only a particular type of crop. What is required is a type of wilderness – an ecosystem; an interdependent as well as symbiotic relationship among the heterogeneous groups of individuals to realize life’s capacity to flourish and maximize its true potential. Here, the question is this: in what ways does fashion education play an active role in inculcating the values of cooperative, collaborative, correlative and collective modes of production–consumption within contemporary fashion system(s)? This article argues that the Gandhian model has great potential in articulating possibilities that are quite timely and crucial in relation to the present discourse on fashion system(s). The Gandhian model encompasses Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of ecology, work, crafts, education and fashion. The article suggests that the Gandhian model is subversive in nature and does inculcate the values of cooperative, collaborative, correlative and collective modes of production–consumption whilst facilitating a spirit of activism in order to imagine fashion outside the purview of industrial and post-industrial capitalism. Here, the dialectics of the life (praxis) versus mechanization (techne) appear to be an obvious trap, which the article avoids by developing a kind of dialogical framework – a relationship to the environment quite radically different than that of humanism and anthropocentrism.

Designing landscapes for sustainable outcomes – The case of advanced biofuels

The design of socio-ecological landscapes to provide simultaneously multiple benefits has become a key concept in current sustainable development thinking and an attractive goal for policy makers. However, its application in the practice of landscape management has proved difficult. In this study, we develop an approach for practical application of landscape design to advance multifunctionality and sustainable outcomes. We combine ideas of landscape ecology with methods for collaborative decision-making to deal with the practice of designing landscapes. Our approach consists of six components including (a) definition of boundaries and scales, (b) assessment of local values and concerns, (c) knowledge development, (d) stakeholders participation, (e) collaborative decision-making and (d) monitoring. We test the approach on the case of advanced transport biofuels. These technologies have attracted attention in recent years as a means to achieve climate, energy and development goals avoiding the environmental and socio-economic risks of conventional biofuel technologies. The findings suggest that the landscape design approach has the potential to guide the planning of complex biofuel projects for sustainable outcomes improving local acceptability of potentially controversial projects.

Is deep ecology inapplicable in African context: a conversation with Fainos Mangena

In 2015, Fainos Mangena published an essay entitled “How Applicable is the Idea of Deep Ecology in the African Context?” where he presented a number of arguments to support his thesis that deep ecology as discussed in the West has no place in the African context. Mangena later presented a counter-version of deep ecology that he claims is based on African philosophy. In this paper, I interrogated Mangena’s arguments for rejecting deep ecology and found that they were based on certain erroneous presuppositions. Further, I developed a critique of Mangena’s Shona version of deep ecology which shows it to be impractical, unappealing, and based on a misunderstanding of the true nature of the modern African environment. I employ the method of conversationalism in this work.Keywords: Deep Ecology, African Environmental Ethics, Fainos Mangena

Механизм экологического маркетинга для продвижения экологических идей в регионе

Механизм экологического маркетинга для продвижения экологических идей в регионе

Accessible Articulations: Comics and Disability Rhetorics in Hawkeye #19

In this essay we expand the critical conversation between comics theory and disability studies to consider how theories of embodiment and identity derived from disability studies might combine with a consideration of comics as ecological maps or territories—spaces within which existing social and ecological relations can be instantiated, revisited, and critiqued. We focus on Hawkeye #19 to ask: in what ways can existing theories of the rhetoric of comics also be (re)framed as ecological rhetorics? For instance, how do we revisit comics concepts like page layout, multimodality, and arthrology, concepts that center on the spatial and architectural, against the ecological ideas of social relations and the difference that geography makes? Through this rhetorical mapping, we also ask what can be learned about disability gain with and through a comics ecology.

FROM ECOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE TO BIOMIMICRY

The economical development of industrialized countries is based on consumption of resources and worldwide pollution both unsustainable in the long and in the short term. But this model has entailed global warming, desertification of the planet, etc. Being aware of this situation and the need of a rapid response (after the Second World War, or even before), movements whose ideals were based on environmental protection arose. The question was to keep on growing, living, creating but damaging the environment the least possible. The terms “ecological” and “sustainable” emerged and theories and practices grew up with them. The term ecological, however, does not necessarily mean sustainable. Sustainability doesn’t only mean not damaging the environment but the possibility of maintaining the productive model in the long term. In principle, sustainability includes ecology by increasing its meaning. That is, what is not sustainable is not ecological. Thus, we could say that ideas of ecology and sustainability are complementary if not synonymous. Architecture, indeed, being responsible of much of the consumption of resources and pollutant emissions, cannot be left out of this paradigm. Architecture must also be ecological. This is one of the reasons why buildings are cataloged and certified for their degree of sustainability and energy efficiency. It is no longer ethical to turn away from the environment. At the beginning of the 21st century, a new paradigm emerges: biomimicry. This idea tries to go beyond respect for the environment, imitating the techniques and resources that nature itself offers us as solutions to problems. This paper presents the way from the paradigm of ecology to the one of biomimicry applied to architecture, and proposes an architecture based on the principles of natural systems, according to a greater respect not only for the environment but also to favor a new balance between human beings and nature, and also among human beings themselves. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.20.3.19295

Fire, Smoke, and Expertise in South Africa’s Grasslands

Fire as a management practice in South Africa’s grasslands inflamed heated debate throughout the twentieth century. Imported ecological ideas meshed with homegrown sectoral land management traditions to reinforce a powerful anti-burning narrative among experts. Farmers, however, developed their own theories on burning, and the history of fire research, policy, and management reveals a series of entanglements between ecological theory, management policies and recommendations, and practice that complicate narratives grounded in historiographical traditions focused on critiquing settler and colonial expertise. This article recommends three distinctions to make when thinking about the history of scientific expertise: first, between an individual’s abstract theorizing and his or her “thinking in the field”; second, between the influence of accepted scientific findings and the thinking guiding official policies of land management sectors; and third, between official policies and actual land management practices. This article provides overviews of long-term fire use in the country’s grasslands, the ecology of grasslands and fire in South Africa, of early debates over fire, and scientific fire research and management in the country.

Research and Conservation on an Artificial Island in a Shipping Lane and Elsewhere in the Tropics

Research and Conservation on an Artificial Island in a Shipping Lane and Elsewhere in the Tropics

Immersive performance and somatic practices: Joan Davis and the Maya Lila project

Abstract In this article, I focus on the work of Irish choreographer Joan Davis in order to draw out a debate on the value offered by somatic movement approaches to the field of immersive performance. Such works immerse audiences and performers in sensory, site-based and participatory performance. There has been a recent surge in the popularity of immersive theatre experiences and scholarship on this topic, with the writings for example of Alston, Harvie, Machon and White examining issues such as the agency of audience members and the relationship between individual freedom and group responsibility. What do somatic performances, which often physically immerse participants in outdoor environments, found spaces or designed installations, have to offer this field of theory and practice? Drawing on ideas in environmental theatre and performance ecology, including the work of Reeve, Kershaw and Schechner, I explore the relationship between people, sites, objects and wildlife in somatic performances as part of a whole ecology in shifting negotiation. I propose that although active, individual, experiential participation is part of these performances, body– mind reflective engagement in relationship to context is a vital contribution that somatics can offer to immersive practice more generally. This will be discussed in relation to Joan Davis’ Maya Lila project (2002–15), as she invites participants to become aware of their behaviours within installation environments, as a means to explore being within and separate from a community, and challenging expectations, perceptions and actions.

КОНЦЕПТ «ЭКОЛОГИИ ДУШИ» ЧЕРЕЗ ПРИЗМУ «СКАЗОЧНОГО ТУРИЗМА»: РЕГИОНАЛЬНЫЕ КЕЙСЫ РОССИИ

The article notes that the modern world is on the verge of environmental crisis. This is due to the moral and spiritual crisis of humanity and a consumer attitude to nature. Against this background, the public increasingly began to turn to the idea of soul ecology, or “protection of the soul from pollutions”. Expertly-organized tourism can educate a responsible person. Usually the ecology of the soul associated with eco-tourism. But the authors believe that a fairy-tale tourism can be also engaged in moral and spiritual upbringing with great success. The article analyzes the domestic experience of creating a fairy-tale tourism infrastructure, identifies strengths and weaknesses of this work in different regions of Russia, and presents the information about the possibility of fabulous tourism development in the framework of the project “Fairytale Map of Russia”. The authors study organizational aspect of the problem, and reveal the most effective methods of popularization of the fairy-tale direction of tourism and the proven ways of involving tourists in the fairy-tale environment. The article characterizes the factors negative affecting the fabulous tourism development. The authors found out that not all regions, identified in the project “Fairytale Map of Russia” and oriented to travel in a fairy tale, have managed to organize tourist flows. This happens mainly due to the small number of thematic objects and the inability to create routes, but also because of the lack of interactive programs. Special attention is paid to the state of fabulous infrastructure in Ufa, the capital Bashkiria. Ufa – small motherland of S. T. Aksakov, the author of the famous tale “The Scarlet flower”. This fact became the basis to include our city in the project “Fairytale Map of Russia” as “the house” of the scarlet flower. However, Ufa is one of the cities, having solitary monuments of fabulous characters who are unable to determine the prospects of development of regional fairy-tale tourism. In addition, Ufa has not yet engaged in the creation of interactive programs, providing a high level of interest in the fairy-tale tourism.

Geo-cognitive computing method for identifying “source-sink” landscape patterns of river basin non-point source pollution

The aim of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the influences of landscape composition and spatial structure on the transmission process of non-point source pollutants in different regions. The location-weighted landscape contrast index, using the hydrological response unit (HRULCI) as the minimum research unit, was proposed in this paper. Through the description of the endemic landscape types and various geographical factors in the basin, the index calculation can reflect the impact of the “source-sink” landscape structure on the non-point source pollution in different regions and quantitatively evaluate the contribution of different landscape types and geographical factors to non-point source pollution. This study constructed a method of geo-cognitive computing for identifying “source-sink” landscape patterns of river basin non-point source pollution at two levels. 1) The basin level: the spatial distribution and landscape combination of the entire basin are identified, and the crucial “source” and “sink” landscape types are obtained to measure the differences in the non-point source pollutant transmission processes between the “source” and “sink” landscapes in the different watersheds. 2) The landscape level: HRULCI is calculated based on multiple geographical correction weighting factors. By using the idea of intersecting geographic information system (GIS) and landscape ecology, the landscape spatial pattern and ecological processes are linked. Compared with the traditional method for studying landscape patterns, the calculation of HRULCI makes the proposed method more ecologically significant. Lastly, a case study was evaluated to verify the significance of the proposed research method by taking the Yanshi River basin, a sub-basin belonging to the Jiulong River basin located in Fujian Province, China, as the experimental study zone. The results showed that this method can reflect the spatial distribution characteristics of the “source-sink” types and their relationship with non-point source pollution. By comparing the resulting calculation based on HRULCI, the risk of nutrient loss and the influence of landscape patterns and ecological processes on non-point pollution in different catchments can be obtained. Keywords: non-point source pollution, “source-sink” landscape pattern, remote sensing, hydrological response unit, quantitative calculation DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20171005.3272 Citation: Zhang X, Cui J T, Liu Y Q, Wang L. Geo-cognitive computing method for identifying “source-sink” landscape patterns of river basin non-point source pollution. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2017; 10(5): 55–68.

UN environmental policy: Non-State Actors, trends, and the regulatory role of the state

Abstract This interdisciplinary article draws from the radical ideas of global political ecology (GPE), environmental politics, ecological economics and the sociological analysis of social movements. It seeks to help bridge the research gap regarding non-state actors' (NSAs) influence on the role of the nation-state and the United Nations in global political ecology and environmental policy, including emission reductions, such as antideforestation measures, and environmental justice. We consider NSAs as consisting of two heterogeneous global coalitions: a) civil society organizations (CSOs) and environmental non-governmental organizations, and b) peak corporate organizations with green economy objectives, here denominated green business organizations, representing transnational corporations (TNCs). After a review of prior studies, we present a version of an advocacy coalition framework; identify a timeline of changes in UN architecture and simplified NSA influence categories. We only begin to test very broad hypotheses on relative agency and to compare NSA narratives with UN documents. We show that the architecture of the UN has gradually shifted from favoring civil society to corporations. There is evidence that, in the late 1990s, in comparison with CSOs, TNCs increased their access to nation-states and UN agencies. The TNC narrative changed from a) denying climate change and ignoring the UN to b) recognizing change and guiding negotiations. These shifts in UN architecture, TNC agency and narrative appears to have influenced changes in UN documents towards a corporate global environmental framework, reducing their references to the regulatory and enforcement roles of the state and global binding agreements, shifting global debate towards a voluntary corporate orientation. This may have reduced prospects for reducing emissions and increasing environmental justice. Combining market mechanisms with strong regulatory frameworks is best practice for environmental policy. When nation-states have the will and capacity to command and control, they can reduce environmental degradation. Stronger national government competence and enforcement capacity and binding UN agreements are essential for the effectiveness of market incentives, which may be enhanced by business and civil society initiatives. If CSOs can reunite and regain their strength, maybe they could negotiate with TNCs on a more equal footing. Perhaps UN members could once again become comfortable with the idea of strong states and non-hegemonic global governance. Key words: Global political ecology, Nation-state, earth system governance, UN architecture, UN agency, green economy, non-state actors, UNCED, Rio+20, Climate convention

Er apostrofen et økologisk instrument?

Hans Lind: “The apostrophe – an ecological instrument?”This article investigates the relationship between the lyrical apostrophe and ecological thinking. Drawing on literary theories and ecological thinkers such as Jane Bennett and Timothy Morton, the article concludes that the apostrophe is related to the concept of ecological sensibility and is useful for communicating complex ecological ideas such as coexistence. These conclusions are based on an analysis of several poems containing apostrophes and a discussion of the role of poetry in soci ety and its ability to facilitate ecological thinking and awareness.