The nature and scale of environmental impacts due to the introduction of livestock into New World contexts has been the subject of much debate within disciplines concerned with changes of land use and land cover. The introduction of Old World species of herbivores into New World landscapes is often regarded as a catalyst to rapid environmental changes and a prevailing notion associates the presence of cattle with environmental degradation. My research aims to explore the environmental effects of cattle in Puerto Rico following European colonization. In this report, I employ a Political Ecology framework to contextualize the development of cattle management practices in Puerto Rico from the 16th to the 19th centuries. I discuss the potential of using a Political Ecology approach to understand the relationship between Spanish colonialism, cattle management practices, and environmental transformations. Finally, I propose the implementation of a geoarchaeological methodology to answer remaining questions on the impacts of cattle management during the colonial period in Puerto Rico.
A global assessment of potential and anticipated impacts of efforts to achieve the SDGs on forests and related socio-economic systems. This title is available as Open Access via Cambridge Core.
The political, social, racial, and epistemological effects of the long-term ideologies encompassing empire, colonialism, and post-coloniality still generate conflicted discourses today. However, to understand the root of this impact, it is necessary to revisit the origins of resistance and identity within diverse cultural and environmental regions in the late colonies of the Spanish empire. This dissertation establishes these sources of interest and their effects on the cultural evolution of the imperial archipelagos. The relevance of the present work lies in the validity of these resistance mechanisms and their applications to events currently ongoing in the postcolonial context. The dissertation subscribes to the central proposition of colonial and transatlantic studies regarding the perpetuation of colonial structures after the independence and how what would become postcolonial mechanisms of domination were established and tested in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. The research ́s approach is also informed by an interdisciplinary focus and a comparative methodology. Ecocritical theory, regional studies, discourse analysis, and historiography shape the theoretical framework. The research addresses the mechanisms for resisting the Spanish empire in the 19th century, in the Caribbean and Philippines. While working with Caribbean and Filipino writers such as Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros, Felipe Poey, Francisco Javier Angulo Guridi, Manuel Alonso, José Felipe del Pan and José Rizal, a commonality amongst resistance mechanisms emerged. The dissertation proposes a new concept to frame these mechanisms, "regions of resistance", and elucidates how such definition may explain literary and social phenomena that transcend geographical or identity boundaries. In the first chapter, the dissertation explores how a second cultural "nature" was established atop nature, and how the environmental concern to found common laws towards all regarding natural resources was also an effective strategy to combat the predatory ethos of land domination, in the work of Betancourt Cisneros. The writers studied in this research started redefining the relationship with the land to resist plantation culture and redefine the national identity; thus, the natural regions became new forms of Motherland. The second chapter focuses on the regions of resistance found in literary work: it explores the constructs associated with colonial discourse and how it is deconstructed and restructured by the colonial subject to displace meanings in the discursive signs associated with coloniality and oppression. In Caribbean and Filipino literature, the images of the slave, the indigenous, and the peasants are transformed and manipulated as international political disturbances and economic needs in their evolution induce a change in the perception of slavery and productive forces. Another changing sign is that of "progress". Writers reconceptualize the sign to differentiate their proposals for the sociopolitical and cultural transformation and emancipation, from the lack of such viable proposals coming from the political centers in Spain and the overseas elites. Furthermore, in the third chapter, a new region of resistance is defined: how the informal network of communication and social actions established around fraternal associations allowed the colonial subject to challenge domination. The chapter presents examples of the informal networks in the works of Heredia, Betancourt Cisneros, the Guridi brothers (Francisco y Alejandro), and José Rizal. The social relations established through secrecy-based forms of association resulted in collaboration with freemasons and members of other secret political societies in several regions, beyond borders, and these regions of resistance had a prominent role in the process of shaping a civil society committed to the independence, which involved fomenting culture, rights on educational and civic projects.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the premier public resource on scientific and technological developments that impact global security. Founded by Manhattan Project Scientists, the Bulletin's iconic "Doomsday Clock" stimulates solutions for a safer world.
This comprehensive overview of local food systems explores alternative definitions of local food, estimates market size and reach, describes the characteristics of local consumers and producers, and examines early indications of the economic and health impacts of local food systems. Defining ¿local¿ based on marketing arrangements, such as farmers selling directly to consumers at regional farmers¿ markets or to schools, is well recognized. Statistics suggest that local food markets account for a small, but growing, share of U.S. agricultural production. For smaller farms, direct marketing to consumers accounts for a higher percentage of their sales than for larger farms. Charts and tables.
