Saltar al contenido principal
logo

2017 Conference

del 21 al 24 de June del 2017

Tuscon, AZ

AESS 2017 Draft Conference Session Schedule

Engaging Complexity on Complexity's Terms

sábado, el 24 de junio de 2017 a las 11:00–12:30 MDT
ENR2 S 495
Abstract

Proposed by Paul Hirsch, Environmental Studies, SUNY-Environmental Science and Forestry

and

Jeff Ramsey, Department of Philosophy and Program in Environmental Science and Policy, Smith College

 

The proposers of this panel, Paul Hirsch and Jeff Ramsey, attended the "See the Future for the Trees: Why Complexity is Critical to Sustainability Science, Communication, and Action" discussion symposium in Washington, D.C.  We both felt that, rather than acknowledging the complexity of environmental problems, complexity was being addressed largely by proposing analytical and communication strategies that made the problems appear simple.  More broadly than just the discussion panel, the often ill-structured and even unstructured nature of environmental problems is often recognized in the literature.  See, for instance, Steve Rayner's "Wicked Problems: Clumsy Solutions" and Donald Ludwig's "The Era of Management is Over."  If environmental scientists, environmental studies scholars and environmental activitists do not recognize and conceptualize complexity adequately, problem solving is frustrated.  To more fully engage the issue of complexity in environmental studies we propose that complexity be used as a frame for environmental problem definition and solution.  This panel addresses this in the following way:

To adequately engage and be engaged by communities that are affected by complex and multi-faceted environmental problems, those addressing the problems must embrace complexity as an aspect of problem definition and solution seeking. Seeing the problems as amenable to a single mode of analysis invites approaches in which one group or discipline poses questions, establishes research agendas, provides and synthesizes information and generates solutions. Inevitably, key problem dimensions are missed by this approach, and they are likely to be missed in ways that privilege some groups or perspectives and marginalize others. To overcome these limitations, this symposium uses complexity as a frame for problem definition and solution. The goals are 1) to uncover and critically analyze frameworks that read out or ignore complexity; 2) examine the consequences those frameworks have for the participation of others; and 3) propose and investigate alternative analytical frameworks that engage the complexity of the issues.

Primary Contact

[photo]
Jeff Ramsey and Paul Hirsch, Smith College; SUNY-Enviornmental Science and Forestry

Presenters

[photo]
Melinda Harm Benson, University of New Mexico
Title of paper

Environmental Governance in the Anthropocene

[photo]
Dr. Ashwani Vasishth, PhD, Ramapo College of New Jersey
Title of paper

Getting at Community Decision Making Under Complexity from Within a Process-Function Ecosystem Approach

[photo]
Patricia M DeMarco, Ph.D., Rachel Carson Institute
Title of paper

A Confluence of Complexities: The Challenge of Shifting Public Policy Direction for Effective Action on Climate Change and Global Chemical Pollution

[photo]
Jeff Ramsey, Smith College
Title of paper

Not by Evidence Alone: Engaging All Components of Science in Complex and Multi-faceted Environmental Problems

Co-Authors

Chair, Facilitator, Or Moderators

Discussants

[photo]
Paul Hirsch, SUNY- ESF

Workshop Leaders

Cargando…