Cleaning up after the Celtic Tiger: scalar 'fixes' in the political ecology of Tiger economies

This paper explores intersections between political economy and nature in the so-called Tiger economies that have risen to prominence since the 1960s. Whilst Tiger states are in many ways emblematic of the extremes of late capitalism, they are nevertheless characterized by socio-natural environments that are distinctive, both in terms of the political and economic interests that have underpinned them and their rates of production. Whilst produced under a distinctive set of capitalist social relations, the dialectical reading offered herein chooses to foreground the agency that socio-nature itself possesses in relation to prevalent class interests. This agency is conceptualized in terms of a series of cultural wars over transformed nature. Using a theoretically provocative case study that examines the politics of waste management in Ireland, the paper argues that in reflecting upon the role of such culture wars in the constitution of dominant social relations in Tiger states, the concepts of scalar strategies and struggles over scale may prove useful. Whilst social contests over the scaling of governance have tended thus far to focus upon the dialectical relations between scale and political economy, the paper argues that ecological projects too are fundamentally produced by and implicated in the structuration of scale. In calling for dialogue between political ecological studies and recent work in geography that has sought to theorize scale as a social process, the paper hopes to contribute towards the development of a political ecology of Tiger states.     

Time,Waste, and the City: The Rise of the Environmental Industry

In many US cities, especially those in the Rust Belt, the environmental goods and services (EGS) industry has played a significant role in restructuring local economies to promote new, flexible, and “creative” forms of service‐based labour. And yet much of the environmental work conducted in these cities has been directed at an industrial past, cleaning up the waste left over from long‐departed manufacturing sectors. Returning to David Harvey's earlier work on the urban process, this paper develops a theory of waste switching that situates EGS within a larger renegotiation of space and time across city landscapes. This theory is fleshed out in case studies of the EGS industry in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee, where new cycles of accumulation have been built on refuse, toxins, and dead labour. These “toxi‐cities” and their cleanup challenge traditional conceptions of urbanisation as spatially—but also temporally—bounded.     

The Waste Commons in an Emerging Resource Recovery Waste Regime: Contesting Property and Value in Melbourne's Hard Rubbish Collections

Practices of scavenging of Melbourne's hard rubbish collections are examined in the context of an emerging resource recovery waste regime linked with policy shifts that promote resource recovery over disposal through landfill. Waste regimes have many parallels with regimes in natural resource management and contestations over property are an important but neglected aspect. Based on research conducted primarily in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne, I argue that hard rubbish on the kerb‐side forms an informal ‘waste commons’ that facilitates various forms of revaluing of municipal household waste. Results of a survey conducted by householders scavenging of their own hard rubbish piles suggest that informal scavenging activities were more effective for diverting waste from landfill by recycling than the formal processes of council hard rubbish contractors. Interviews conducted with residents, waste management contractors and self identified ‘professional’ scavengers revealed different perspectives on the waste commons and highlighted the contested nature of property in hard rubbish. Together with the survey findings, they allow tentative conclusions to be drawn about the role of the waste commons in the transition from a regime of disposal through landfill to one focused on resource recovery.     

Doing Independent Overseas Fieldwork 2: Getting Funding

The development and testing of a Web‐based GIS e‐learning resource is described. This focuses on the application of GIS for siting a nuclear waste disposal facility and the associated principles of spatial decision‐making using Boolean and weighted overlay methods. Initial student experiences in using the system are analysed as part of a research project on teaching GIS concepts to large numbers of students with little or no prior GIS experience. Some general thoughts on the utility of Web‐based GIS for learning and teaching are presented. Results from the first cohort of 167 undergraduate/postgraduate geography students using the system indicate that students find it easy to use, a useful aid to learning about the issues involved, and a thought‐provoking exercise in Internet‐based democracy.     

旅游食物浪费研究评述及展望

旅游食物浪费是我国食物浪费问题的重灾区,其根源在于旅游活动特有的非日常和反结构特征。但目前我国旅游食物研究大多仍关注资源开发和消费促进,浪费研究则处于描述性的起步阶段。本文对国内外旅游食物浪费相关文献进行评述,分析了旅游食物浪费研究的总体特征、概念基础与内容,指出国内研究主要集中在消费端的测量和行为分析;从旅游食物体验的独特性质出发,基于消费文化与旅游体验视角对旅游食物浪费进行溯源;梳理了有助于解决旅游食物浪费问题的理论,包括消费文化视角下从资源消耗型食物消费到环境综合消费、综合价值提升以减少资源成本、基于全价值链参与提升认知和情感以减少浪费;也包括旅游体验视角下针对不同食物体验性质探索节约路径、创造多维度体验以减少资源消耗、以食物共享和慢食为代表的可持续理念的运用等;最终,文章对解决旅游食物浪费问题的未来研究提出了参考框架,从关注点、理念、对象和领域出发,提出议题和对应方法,为兼顾目的地食物价值增值和减少粮食资源消耗提供理论参照。     

Managing the maritime heritage: the National Maritime Archaeological Museum and National Centre for Underwater Research, Cartagena, Spain

The rapid developmental work of the Museum-Centre and its policies within a limited budget are set in the context of world-wide problems of management and preservation of the underwater heritage in the face of accelerating threats to its survival. The impact of engineering projects and lack of official control or supervision of developer-funded maritime archaeological interventions is something of which governments are insufficiently aware. The construction of a marina at Mazarron has resulted in progressive denudation of the bay, exposure of two Phoenician wrecks and thousands of Phoenician potsherds, necessitating the annual resurvey of 70,000 m² of seabed. Among protective measures an iron 'strongbox' has been designed and successfully used on small wreck-sites. © 2000 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Establishing political priority for regulatory interventions in waste management in Australia

ABSTRACT

This paper establishes a multi theory framework to help explain factors and conditions promoting a political priority for policy change. The framework’s analytical utility is illustrated through its application to a case study of waste management in Australia. A lack of political momentum to prioritise regulatory interventions has contributed to uncoordinated responses by the Australian federal and state governments resulting in unsustainable approaches to waste management. Lessons are derived from the analysis that provide insights into the potential for establishing political priority for policy change from uncoordinated voluntary schemes to more coordinated regulatory approaches.