This thesis paper explores how various actors gathered around bottled water when a ban was put into place in Concord, Massachusetts. The objective has been to answer the following questions: How does an apolitical commodity become a political one? Specifically, how does bottled water move from being an apolitical commodity to become a highly political one? What does this mean for environmental politics? I situate my theoretical approach within Martha Kaplan’s research with fountains and coolers. I use Bruno Latour to show in which ways this ban became a matter of concern, as well as how the ban and the plastic bottle are actors. I conducted fieldwork in Concord and I interviewed participants. My findings reveal that the ban brought meanings to the surface and challenged them or supported them in various ways. The discussions turned from the impact of bottled water on our environment to the political impact of bottled water companies and large corporations on local Concord issues.

This thesis is concerned with understanding how the distinct “knowledges” articulated by environmental activists address the places that activists relate to. Through an engagement with the theoretical work of Edward Casey and Doreen Massey, it is argued that humans engage with specific places through an embodied encounter that takes place on the basis of particular evolving cultural traditions. These cultural traditions are influenced by the relations that are encountered in specific places through the course of inhabitation, creating local ecological and social knowledges in the process. Based on this understanding, it is argued that framings of environmental politics by environmental activists in relation to culturally specific scientific understandings of nature are often unable to address the particularity of local social and ecological relations that are contested in specific places. The danger is that contesting environmental politics in terms of the language of nature will de-emphasize the importance of local political relations and the knowledges that are generated in relation to these scales of political engagement. This theoretical argument is developed in connection to a case study of the Perry Ridge blockade, an anti-logging demonstration that took place in the Slocan Valley during 1997. It will be argued that there are important aspects of the politics of environmental activists involved in the Perry Ridge blockade that are based on the knowledge generated through inhabitation of the Slocan Valley. The presence of local ecological knowledge in the Perry Ridge blockade indicates that elements of local activist traditions are subjugated when analyses of environmental politics are understood in terms of abstract cultural discourses such as nature. This conclusion indicates that rural environmental activists are not only engaged in a politics of nature but often also in the messier political processes encountered through inhabitation in places. Given that discourses of nature that are scientifically generated are able to jump scales and impact local political processes, the danger is that the use of such discourses will restrict attempts by local activists to engage in a more thorough way with the complex politics of specific rural places. / Graduate

In the afterglow of Japan’s dramatic economic growth during the post-war period, the growth mentality is still apparent in contemporary Japan. The powerful business communities that helped the industrialization of the country are still structurally interconnected with the political elites. As a result, the growth interests of the corporations are reflected in industrial and environmental policies. Public opinion is deliberately shaped to allow the growth ideology while the environment is used as a symbol to be protected. This thesis will analyse how public opinion and responses are manipulated so that the growth goals are achieved under the guise of national benefit. This thesis will examine two cases of growth politics: nuclear policy and the Eco Town project in Japan to analyse the influence of the growth mentality and the linkages. The conclusion is that if Japan continues to overreach for economic growth at the cost of the environment and if public scrutiny is kept to a minimum, Japan will fail to secure either economic or environmental sustainability. / Graduate / 0615 / nao57526@hotmail.com

xiv, 240 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / The use of rhetoric to frame policy issues often influences the amount of attention countries pay to international issues and the level of support for those issues. Often, domestic and international actors present different descriptions of policy issues in order to advance their own views and change the international agenda. Despite frequent attempts to change the international agenda and the importance of agendas for policy formation, our understanding of the factors that contribute to why particular issues get international attention is limited. This project develops a theoretical understanding of the development of the international agenda, how issues on that agenda are framed, and why agendas change over time. The project contributes to international relations theory by understanding the factors responsible for increasing attention to issues, and the factors that influence how states define the problems on the international agenda that may eventually become part of international treaties and organizations. The project redefines agendas through a constructivist approach where individuals interpret real phenomena through frames. Rhetoric's influence on agenda changes described in this project also demonstrates a mechanism through which the soft power of attraction changes international outcomes. The project takes a positivist approach to analyzing constructivist and realist causes of agenda changes. The project tests specific implications of these theories of international agenda development and issue framing by examining the case of international efforts to address whaling. The project demonstrates the importance of polarity in enabling changes in attention from security to non-security issues and the importance of rhetoric in causing changes in issue frames. / Committee in charge: Ronald Mitchell, Chairperson, Political Science; Craig Parsons, Member, Political Science; Lars Skalnes, Member, Political Science; Jean Stockard, Outside Member, Planning Public Policy & Mgmt

O acordo entre a DERSA, a municipalidade e o Estado de São Paulo, criou quatro parques naturais no município de São Paulo, decorrente da política de compensação ambiental do licenciamento do Rodoanel Trecho Sul. Dentre esses destacamos o Parque Natural Municipal Itaim. Diante de seu contexto de implantação, a pesquisa trabalha na perspectiva de que esse novo equipamento, voltado à conservação ecológica, tem potencial para catalisar transformações socioambientais. Tais transformações podem ser alcançadas a partir da sensibilização, da interpretação ambiental e de práticas socioeducativas promovidas pelo parque. A partir do diálogo com seu entorno define-se a sua contribuição como promotor da integração social, em um possível sistema de áreas de conservação e uso público na região. Uma vez que, a par de sua importância ambiental, também analisada por essa pesquisa, o parque está inserido na periferia de São Paulo, no avanço do urbano sobre o rural. Uma região marcada pela extrema espoliação de sua população, carente de espaços de lazer, equipamentos culturais e educativos. A pesquisa parte do entendimento que o parque tem uma função social a cumprir e, para que sua implantação e gestão tenha êxito, a interação entre esse novo equipamento e a comunidade local é vista como essencial. Trabalha com análises cartográficas, dados socioeconômicos, sobreposição de cartas temáticas integrados às percepções obtidas a partir da vivência em campo, da rede e dos atores sociais mapeados, bem como do acompanhamento do processo de implantação do parque. A pesquisa resgata as propostas para o parque incitadas pelas equipes da área social do Plano de Manejo e seus estudos decorrentes, por entender que na situação atual o parque caminha para visões reducionistas ancoradas no discurso da inviabilidade orçamentária, da escassez de recursos humanos e das dificuldades institucionais verificadas. Defende-se o caráter singular e inovador do Parque Natural Municipal Itaim, onde a figura de seu gestor se destaca pela articulação e potencialização das redes de relações existentes, a partir de projetos e ações pilotos. / Four natural parks are being created in the city of Sao Paulo as result from an agrément reached by the Brazilian Road Authority (Dersa), municipal and State authorities. These parks were designed to compensate the environmental impact of the new Rodoanel Trecho Sul highway. This study analyses the impact of the \"Parque Natural Municipal Itaim\", not only from an environmental perspective, but also as a catalyst for social transformation in its neighboring communities. This park is situated in the poor suburbs of Sao Paulo, an area where rural and urban settings co-exist. The communities in the surroundings of the park are extremely poor and marginalized, lacking all sorts of service, leisure, cultural and educative activities. In this context, the park plays a fundamental role, not only from its inherent environmental benefits, but also by offering a place where the local communities can meet, enjoy and where they have access to social and educative initiatives promoted by the park. In this context, the park has also a central social role providing a jump-start in offering access to leisure and incorporating these poor communities in the city. This park should have a key social importance to them, marginalized communities that are usually neglected by local authorities, with limited access to basic public services. The study emphasizes the importance of the park in facilitating the regional environmental connectivity and as a fundamental transformation agent for the surrounding communities by analyzing demographical and socioeconomic data, cartographs and thematic charts combined with the qualitative data and interviews collected in loco. The study also made extensive use of qualitative data gathered in loco in order to understand how the park is viewed from the perspective of the individuals who live in its vicinity - how they perceive and appreciate their landscape and the educational role of the park in sensitizing and stimulating the local populations to the importance and role of the local green areas, either the ones that exist today or that will be created in the future. The singular and innovative aspects of the park are reemphasized in a moment when authorities discuss budgetary cuts, under staffing and face organizational challenges. This could potentially limit the scope of this project that is still being developed. However, there is still time and we (NEP-FAUUSP) hope there is enough commitment to deliver the full scope of the park, that would have a key role in improving the life of adjacent communities.

The field of gender studies has shed a new light on environmental issues and given the possibility to inquire how men and women respectively perceive and address sustainability. Studies have shown that women tend to have a favourable attitude towards the environment whereas men are less driven in environmental questions. Consequently, this study has conducted a hypothesis to further the correlation between gender and sustainability by examining attitudes of young adults. The study seeks to prove the hypothesis, compare the differentiated attitudes of each gender to those of older adults and finally put the results in perspective by reviewing its scientific importance. The study uses a postal survey conducted for the purpose to disclose Swedish attitudes towards the environment. The results prove the hypothesis to be in accordance with reality and show a distinguished divide between young adults based on their gender roles. Young women display attitudes more favourable towards sustainability than young men and the overall differences between young adults based on their gender roles correspond with the differences between older adults. Furthermore, the study is in dialogue with its research field by demonstrating the values of Swedish sustainability and the Swedish welfare society, and advancing the correlation between gender and environment whilst also reminding the scope of research of the significance of young people’s attitudes in social and political contexts.

For decades Sweden has been at the forefront of issues regarding environmental politics, and Swedish municipalities have a key role in sustainable development, but differ greatly in their commitment for environmental politics. But what are the underlying reasons for this disparity? Previous research has identified societal factors that may hinder or push municipalities to drive more ambitious environmental politics. However, there is a need for more empirical evidence on what factors that may better explain the differences between municipalities’ environmental commitment. This thesis aims to identify possible causes for the difference between Swedish municipalities in the extent to which they implement local environmental politics. Four variables are selected, based on theories about what may explain municipal commitment to environmental politics: Presence of the Green party within the municipal executive board; quantity of municipal officers who work with environmental issues; whether the municipality is dependent on industry that is harmful to the environment; and local support for The Swedish environmental protection association (Naturskyddsföreningen) among the municipal population. Four hypotheses are tested and three of them find support in the empirical data. Only the hypothesis about the effect from the environmental organization is found to lack support. The results indicate that the number of municipal officers who work with environmental issues is the variable that best explains the variation between municipalities in environmental commitment. At the same time, the effect of the Green party on municipal commitment for environmental politics is less than anticipated. The results suggest that other variables need to be examined to better understand what may cause the difference between Swedish municipalities in commitment for environmental politics.

This thesis examines Hannah Arendt’s phenomenological theory of action (vita activa) to assess its capacity to accommodate environmental politics within its conception of the public sphere. Critics have argued that vita activa’s triadic structure excludes social questions—in which Arendt includes environmental concerns—from political action. In fact, her writings explicitly seek to shield politics from social incursions—a phenomenon she terms “the rise of the social.” However, this criticism overlooks the distinction Arendt draws between politics and governance, politics being a manifestation of freedom and governance the management of necessity. By arguing for vita activa’s ability to accommodate contemporary environmental concerns, this reading seeks to promote Arendt’s conception of freedom within the emerging green political tradition, for her understanding of politics recognizes its existential function in creating identities for both communities and individuals. To pose an environmental challenge to Arendt’s thought, this thesis employs some of the key themes and conceptions from four prominent green theorists: John Dryzek, Robyn Eckersley, Andrew Dobson, and John Meyer. In relation to these theorists, it will be argued that vita activa’s form of politics carries the possibility of allowing environmentalism to appear within the public sphere’s political contents without contradicting its triadic boundaries. To develop an environmentally sustainable society, political communities must create new narratives for bridging the divide between their built and natural environments, a process that requires the existential power of Arendtian politics. / Graduate

This thesis paper explores how various actors gathered around bottled water when a ban was put into place in Concord, Massachusetts. The objective has been to answer the following questions: How does an apolitical commodity become a political one? Specifically, how does bottled water move from being an apolitical commodity to become a highly political one? What does this mean for environmental politics? I situate my theoretical approach within Martha Kaplan’s research with fountains and coolers. I use Bruno Latour to show in which ways this ban became a matter of concern, as well as how the ban and the plastic bottle are actors. I conducted fieldwork in Concord and I interviewed participants. My findings reveal that the ban brought meanings to the surface and challenged them or supported them in various ways. The discussions turned from the impact of bottled water on our environment to the political impact of bottled water companies and large corporations on local Concord issues.

This thesis examines the EU´s framing of its climate policies before and during the Covid-19 crisis. Based on previous research concerning economic crises and climate policy in the EU, it is expected that environmental policy will be downgraded in importance or set aside during a severe crisis. The research question is analyzed through a frame analysis of official EU documents concerning climate and economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis. The thesis finds that the European Union mostly frames its climate policies in terms of a ‘green transition’, by means of a ‘just transition’ and by principles of a ‘circular economy’, before and during the Covid-19 crisis. The results suggests that the Covid-19 crisis has not weakened, or substantially changed the framing of climate policies in the EU, at the time of writing. In contrast, the crisis is often framed as an opportunity to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable society. The comprehensive set of policies; the European Green Deal, the role of the Commission as a policy entrepreneur, and the increased public support for climate action are discussed as explanatory factors to why the Covid-19 crisis has not caused climate policy to be downgraded or side-lined on the political agenda.