Science Studies

Alicia, Kailey, & Ciara

 What is Science
1 Studies?
Science Studies
❖ Within the political ecology lens two fields: Science
Studies and Feminist Theory
❖ The field of science studies and feminist theory aim
to denaturalize things such as gender, poverty, or race
in order to show them as historical, contingent, and
easy to control.

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Science Studies & Power
❖ Poststructural: is one in which forms of knowledge
can be explained by virtue of their relationship to
establishing or subverting systems of power
(Robbins, 2020, p.71)
❖ Foucault’s influential theses “truth is an effect of
power”(Robbins, 2020, p.71)
❖ Key to understanding the character of society is to
explore how certain notions of the world are formed
through discourse and how certain social systems and
practices make them “true” (Robbins, 2020, p.71)
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 Case Study
2 Deforestation in Canada
What is deforestation?
❖ “The direct human-induced conversion of forested
land to non forested land” (Watson et al. 2000)
❖ Does not include temporary loss of forest cover due
to harvest or natural disturbances (Leckie, Paradine,
Kurze, & Magnussen, 2015, p.1565)

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 Deforestation & The World
One of the largest contributors to global climate change (Wang & Qiu, 2017)
How Much Is Gone?
❖ Est. 70% of earth’s original
temperate rainforests are gone
(Tanner & Johnston, 2017).
❖ Tropical rainforests are next
(Tanner & Johnston, 2017).
❖ In a recent report, it has been
observed that Canada is
underreporting it’s
deforestation (Glynn, 2020).
Greenhouse Gasses
❖ One of the largest contributors
to greenhouse gasses (Tanner
& Johnston, 2017).
❖ Countries like Brazil &
Indonesia are the leading
countries in deforestation
emissions (REDD, 2018).
❖ Est. 7-20% of the total global
gas emissions/year is caused
by illegal logging (Tanner &
Johnston, 2017). 7
 The Effect On Livelihood
Sustainability
❖ Millions of people ❖ Forests are a ❖ Deforestation
rely on forests source of threatens this
around the globe materials for process, and
(Tanner & building and historically is
Johnston, 2017). crafting, as well linked to fortunes
as food (Tanner of civilizations
& Johnston, (Tanner &
2017). Johnston, 2017).

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Deforestation & Power
❖ The founder of contemporary political ecology
emphasized the pressure and constraint created in
relation to local populations (Tanner & Johnston,
2017).
❖ Humans often work to sustainably manage the local
environment, but pressures exerted by power
influence force them to engage in environmental
degradation (Tanner & Johnston, 2017).

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Poor Populations
❖ As Industrialization increases in poorer countries,
deforestation and its effects are increasing (Tanner &
Johnston, 2017).
❖ In regards to elites, there is an inequality as they do
not consider marginalized populations in building
policies (Tanner & Johnston, 2017).
❖ Locals feel “cheated” on by villainous loggers, who
only need support in sustainable management
(Hirons, 2011).

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Logging Scars
❖ Abandoned infrastructure - logging roads and other
work sites that remain treeless (Semeniuk, 2019)
❖ Deforestation from logging scars is widespread and
systematic (Semeniuk, 2019)
❖ Caused underreported environmental damages
(Wildlands League, 2019)

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Under-reporting Deforestation
❖ 2019 Report: Boreal Logging Scars
❖ 21,700 ha of forest, seven times larger than the
reported 2,800 ha deforestation rate
❖ 650,000 ha of forest has been lost due to roads and
other logging infrastructure
❖ (Wildlands League, 2019)

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Carbon Impacts
❖ Canada’s forests are emitting more carbon into the
atmosphere than they are absorbing (Hardie, 2020)
❖ Boreal Forest contains 49% of all forest carbon
(Wildlands League, 2019, p.22)
❖ 16.5 Mt of CO2 in lost climate change mitigation
potential (p.64)
❖ By 2030, estimated to be 41MtCO2, more than
double (p.66)

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A Quick Video For Everyone
To Watch

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The Value Towards
Sustainability
❖ Policy negotiations have begun, but have been halted
(Hirons, 2011).
❖ The conversation of sustainability is flourishing, and
dominates global discussions (Hirons, 2011).
❖ The creation of REDD+ is making a positive
difference.
❖ REDD+ values conservation, sustainability, and
forest carbon stocks (REDD+, 2018).
❖ Wants to stop deforestation altogether (REDD+,
2018).
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Questions
1. How do specific ideas about
nature and society limit and
direct what is taken to be
true and possible? (Robbins,
2012, p.71)

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Based on the Tanner &
Johnston (2017) paper, what
are the two recurrent causal
factors for the occurrence of
deforestation? In what ways?

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 Based on the YouTube video,
how much carbon does the
great Canadian Boreal forest
contain? What about how
much it is in relation to global
emissions?

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When thinking about power
& knowledge in Science
studies, Do you think that
systems and practices of
power influence what we
believe to be true, in relation
to the environment?

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as a forefront of one of the
biggest environmental issues, do
you think that in terms of
sustainable development,
ensuring environmental
protection while meeting needs
for local populations, or
ensuring limited economic
growth, will be the winning side
of the debate?

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Listening
To our
Presentatio
n
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Resources
Glynn, T. (2020). Canada is under-reporting deforestation, carbon debt from clearcutting:
Wildlands League. NB Media Co-op.
https://nbmediacoop.org/2020/01/15/canada-is-under-reporting-deforestation-carbon-deb
t-from-clearcutting-wildlands-league/

Hirons, M. (2011). Managing artisanal and small-scale mining in forest areas: Perspectives from
a poststructural political ecology. The Geographical Journal. 177(4), 347-356.

Leckie, D. G., Paradine, D., Kurz, W. A., & Magnussen, S. (2015). Deforestation mapping
sampling designs for Canadian landscapes. Canadian Journal of Forest Research,
45(11), 1564–1576. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2014-0541

NRDCflix. (2017, November 2). Protect the Boreal Forest. [Video]. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3OU--05AdQ

REDD+. (2018). What is REDD+? | Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. Retrieved October 17,
2021, from https://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/what-redd.
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Resources
Robbins, P. (2020). Political Ecology: A Critical introduction. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Semeniuk, I. (2019). ‘Logging Scars’ show impact of deforestation in Canada is worse than we
know, research finds. The Globe and Mail.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-logging-scars-show-impact-of-deforest
ation-in-canada-is-worse-than/

Tanner, A. M. & Johnston, A. L. (2017). The impact of rural access on deforestation rates. World
Development. 94, 174-185.

Wang, H. & Qiu, F. (2017). Investigating the impact of agricultural land losses on deforestation:
Evidence from a peri-urban area in Canada. Ecological Economics. 139, 9-18.

Wildlands League. (2019). Boreal Logging Scars. Logging Scars. https://loggingscars.ca/

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