Livestock agriculture provides society with many forms of nutritious, accessible, and delicious foods. On the other hand, livestock agriculture, and cattle in particular, have been shown to be unsustainable in their current form from environmental, social, and economic perspectives. Taking both of these statements as my premise, in this thesis I turn to the field of Future Studies to explore future of dairy farming in Oregon. I use semi-structured stakeholder interviews to understand industry stakeholder perceptions of plausible and desirable futures for the industry. The concepts of plausible and desirable futures are strongly connected to sustainable futures as they look both at what is possible for the future and consider the normative question of what is valued. I used thematic analysis to explore my data, identifying salient ideas and patterns from my interviews with stakeholders. I found three plausible-desirable outcomes for the Oregon dairy industry; human and animal welfare improve, some small and medium sized farm stay afloat, and the industry reduces its environmental impact. These outcomes were not straightforward, however. For example, in some cases, the paths participants identified to reach one plausible-desirable outcome, would make another less likely to occur. The public and farmers themselves were seen as key to reaching plausible-desirable futures, along with scientists, researchers, and interest groups. Identifying stakeholders’ plausible and desirable futures and influential actors to reach these futures is a first step towards developing strategies to reach such futures.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many countries to put forth severe lockdown restrictions in order to stop the spread of the virus. Spain was one the most affected countries in Europe, and its non-essential socio-economic activities faced strict restrictions in the free movement of people. Within the Spanish territories the island of Menorca was more vulnerable to these movement restrictions, since it is mostly dependent on external resources and tourism in order to perform its socio-economic activities. Island territories like Menorca are already vulnerable to climate change threats such as sea-level rise and extreme weather patterns, but other non-climate stressors such as pandemics also threaten to render island territories under partial or total isolation. Learning how Menorca’s socio-economic activities operate resource-wise during these periods of isolation can help the island’s government to make decisions to improve their resource security and sustainability of the island. This work studies how the societal metabolism – i.e., the use of resources through the different levels and structures that conform the social system of the island – was like in Menorca under the lockdown restrictions during 2020 using the Multi-Scale Integrated Analysis of Societal and Ecosystem Metabolism (MuSIASEM) approach for metabolic analysis; and assesses Menorca’s potential for self-sufficiency. The results of the metabolic analysis show that during 2020 Menorca had a lower energy and water demand as consequence of a great loss of activity in the economic sectors, in particular that of tourism. Lesser energy consumption has translated to lower carbon emissions, and the loss of activity of the economic sectors has meant that the total gross value added generated by the island has also been lower than what the island generates under regular circumstances. This metabolic analysis show how Menorca works under conditions of isolation, reorganizing it hours of activity and use of resources mainly from the touristic sector and giving more emphasis on internal agricultural production. Should Menorca in the future become partly or totally isolated due to other circumstances, an organized rearrangement of its metabolism away from a high dependency on tourism and imports and towards internal production would aid the island to be more self-sufficient.

Studies show that leisure activities can contribute significantly to people’s well-being. Still, theycan also impact the environment in several ways as they contribute to greenhouse gas emissionsrelated to different factors. When modifying lifestyles towards more sustainable behaviors, peoplecan sometimes expect reductions in their well-being, but this relationship is not much exploredfor what concerns the activities that people engage in within their free time. By further exploringthis literature gap, this study research leisure activities - namely those activities when theindividuals have the most control over their chances of action - as a potential pathway forimplementing more sustainable behaviors in an individual lifestyle that can also improve one’sown well-being. By employing questionnaires and a life cycle assessment approach – the aim is todescribe i) what leisure activities people in Sweden engage with to promote their well-being, ii)what are the most important ones and the main benefits obtained from them, and iii) what impact,in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, these activities have on the climate. The results show thatsome common leisure activity types are important for Swedes to maintain their well-being. Thesecan have different environmental impacts in terms of greenhouse gas emissions depending onactivity-related factors such as location, frequency, and equipment and material resources utilizedduring the activity. We conclude that leisure activities that people consider more important fortheir well-being are also those that could potentially have the lowest impact in terms of greenhousegas emissions and that more quantitative studies could explore this relation further.

The question of peatlands management in Ireland is characterised by tensions between environmental, social and economic concerns, making it of central relevance to the field of sustainable development. This thesis examines the complexities associated with the current peatlands landscape in Ireland through the analytical framework of social-ecological systems including the concepts of environmentalism, heritage and future agency. The landscape and its complexities are demonstrated through an analytical description, the analysis of interviews with Irish people involved in peatlands, and the development of future scenarios. The results show that the Irish peatlands landscape is a highly complex topic displaying clashes between rural communities, government and environmental authorities in numerous ways. They also indicate that the heritage associated with Irish peatlands is diverse and multi-dimensional. Within this context, there is a need for balance between environmental and social concerns. However, the question of sustainability might never be settled in the future and instead will likely require constant evaluation and re-evaluation by the various actors involved in carrying it out.

Since the establishment of Scotland’s Climate Change Act, principles of just transition have been statutory and guiding the implementation of several policies on the area. Such policies have laid the foundation for collaborative governance efforts, that invites state and non-state partners to engage on the political arena. Critiques towards such collective governance approaches argue that it promotes a post-political condition, guided by values of consensus and cohesion, that moves democratic issues to the periphery of political inquiry. By analysing key just transition policies within Scotland, and conducting interviews with non-state actors with different relations to the Scottish policy process, I seek to gain greater understanding of how the discursive positioning of agents of change could be understood through post-politics. Thus, this thesis explores how agents of change, and their agency, is made sense of, and how this sense-making reflects contradictory and challenging dynamics such as power struggles, conflicts of interest, and collective action problems, within just transition. I identify four key agents of change – workers, communities, industries, and the government – and discover that the policy material and my interviewees position these agents differently in relation to the problems of just transition. Further, I also identify challenging dynamics within sense-making of agents of change, such as contradictory transition narratives, tensions regarding how the relationship between labour and nature is made sense of, as well context-bound relationships between the change agents. I conclude that the strive for social consensus within the collaborative sphere neglects these challenging and contradictory dynamics, and fails to reflect the democratic pluralism of how agents of change are made sense of in the Scottish context.

Purpose - The current unsustainable environment demands a sustainability transition. Municipalities are critical players in this transition. By fostering the development of sustainability competencies through improving the learning culture in Swedish eco-municipalities, this research aims to foster the sustainability transition. Design/methodology/approach - This research aims to understand the current learning culture of Swedish eco-municipalities using semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Both methods also provided insights for recommendations to improve the learning culture in eco-municipalities. For validation of these recommendations, quantitative data analysis is used. The sample includes practitioners and experts in the field. Findings - The research provides insights into the high relevance of interpersonal competency for the sustainability transition. Moreover, practitioners in municipalities focus on strategic thinking competency and topical knowledge, whereas experts in the field focus more on systems thinking and intrapreneurial competence. Further, continuous learning opportunities, collaboration, and inquiry play a big role in the learning environment. Finally, the research provides seven validated recommendations to foster the learning culture to support learning for sustainability. Quality/value - This research supports (Swedish) municipalities in their sustainability by providing insights into challenges in the current learning culture and developing practical recommendations. Further, the study emphasizes the importance of integrating learning into the vision, values, and strategy of municipalities, involving leaders and practitioners. Ultimately, the research highlights that building sustainability competencies requires a comprehensive understanding of learning as an ongoing process integrated into the organizational culture.

For more than 45 years an extensive liming measure has taken place in the southwest of Sweden in Västra Götaland county. The goal with the liming is to improve the aquatic ecosystems and counteract the acidification that has occurred in a large part of catchments in this area. The acidification problem was discovered in the late seventies and had a global impact but was distinctive in northern Europe. To mitigate the problem, it was necessary to find what was causing the acidification and, in this case, it was the emissions of acidic substances. A legislation about decreasing the emissions of sulfuric acid was established by several countries in Europe and after that a change occurred. Most of the aquatic ecosystems responded well to the decreased amount of sulfuric deposition and the liming. An unexpected response to the improved health of the aquatic ecosystems was the increased water color (mgPt·l-1) in surface waters. The change in water color, often called brownification, can be a natural process and an indication that the surface waters are approaching a more natural state. In this study a total of 120 surface waters in Västra Götaland county were studied under a 40-year period. An increasing browning of surface waters and significant differences in water color between limed lakes and reference lakes was discovered. The area with the highest yearly precipitation had the largest percentual increase in water color particularly for limed lakes. The results showed significant differences in water color in limed lakes between two time periods, 1981-1985 and 2015-2020, that indicate an increasing trend in the study area. The results could not answer why the surface waters had this increase in browning and there was not possible to determine all the driving factors. Other studies have shown that increasing water color relates to a decrease in sulfuric deposition and increasing concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the surface waters. Climate change can be a part of the explanation due to warmer temperatures, longer vegetation periods and wetter climate. Further, it is necessary to continue investigating this problem to determine the driving factors and detect possible trends.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a crop that dominates the diets of about 35% of the world's human population. But wheat yields can be severely affected by drought. Therefore, in this experiment, root exudation of winter wheat was compared to find out how exudation changes during drought stress. This was done by using control plants that were compared to plants that experienced 8 days of drought and subsequently, 3 days of rewetting. Moreover, it was explored which one of two wheat genotypes, Capo or Aristaro, is better adapted to drought by measuring plant physiology and if beneficial rhizosphere microorganisms could help alleviate drought in wheat. Exudations were analysed using a photometer. It was found that drought and rewetting treatment influenced shoot dry weight, shoot water content, relative chlorophyll, as well as exuded phenols, sugars and amino acids. Aristaro was found to be more drought tolerant, because Aristaro plants had higher and more stable shoot water content, lower non-photochemical quenching (NPQ(T)), and exuded more phenols and amino acids, which could help recruit plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria. However, Capo might be able to avoid drought through early maturity and can therefore be used in regions where drought occurs later in the year. The implications of this experiment are therefore useful for improving wheats resilience to drought and food security with use of microorganisms.

The ECMWF Reanalysis v5 (ERA5), the New European Wind Atlas (NEWA), and the 3 km Norwegian Reanalysis (NORA3) are reference datasets that are available for industry and research. The resolution of 3km in both the NORA3 and NEWA datasets sets them apart, while ERA5, with its 31km resolution, continues to serve as a reliable data source that is widely used in the industry. The study offers a thorough analysis of three datasets from three research stations in Sweden, which are accessible through the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS). It has been discovered that all three reference datasets exhibit a strong alignment with the measured data. However, NORA3 and ERA5 outperform NEWA in wind speed and direction estimation. The computation of Annual Energy Production (AEP) using WindPro is performed. We examine the representativeness of the correlation coefficient between the Weibull scale and shape parameters, the agreement of wind rose distributions, and the estimated AEP.

Currently most public research is funded by project-based grant schemes and applying for these is an essential part of most researchers’ jobs. Researchers are therefore in a rather unique situation that many other professions do not experience, needing to seek out funding by themselves. The need to seek out funding creates certain problems and through the years many complaints have been levied against the system, such as the time consuming nature of the applications and the very low success rate for the schemes. Even though there have been many unofficial complaints, there has been little documentation of what scientists perceive as problematic with the system. This study’s goal was to ascertain more clearly what exactly researchers thought was problematic about the current system, as well as to elucidate potential improvements. Through neutrally positioned semi-structured interviews with researchers from all over Europe data was gathered and put through a social science interview coding process. The results revealed that researchers were very negatively posed towards the funding system in general, with four times as many negative statements as positive ones, even after being prompted for positive ones. Some of the largest issues were seen as the unstable nature of the review process, the low success rates across the board and the time consuming nature of applications. The largest wished improvement was a change in the grant money distribution towards smaller and more accessible grants that were available to a greater number of scientists. Other improvements frequently mentioned included a stronger base salary, more flexible deadlines, greater support in seeking out and applying for grants, simpler application processes and a system change to a lottery model. This study found that there is not one clear solution to the problems that researchers are having with the funding system. The problems are diverse and so must the solutions be in order to ameliorate the situation. Further research should investigate the feasibility of implementing a more comprehensive system fix in order to enable researchers to be innovative.