Science studies

Several members of our group have been invited to present papers at the EASST conference 2010.

While Anup Sam Ninan will present results of his research on the production of carbon credits, Ingmar Lippert prepared a paper on the construction of carbon emissions. See [1] [2].

References

1. Sustainability as a localised performance: The production of carbon credits in a developing country site,
   Anup San Ninan
   , EASST010 conference: Practicing science and technology, performing the social, 02/09/2010, Trento, Italy, (Submitted)
2. Capitalism in Constructing Carbon Emissions,
   Ingmar Lippert
   , EASST010 conference: Practicing science and technology, performing the social, 02/09/2010, (Submitted)

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In northwestern North America, glaciers figure prominently in both indigenous oral traditions and narratives of geophysical sciences. These perspectives intersect in discussions about global warming, predicted to be extreme at Arctic and Subarctic latitudes and an area of concern for both local people and scientists. Indigenous people in northwestern North America have experienced climate variability associated with the latter phases of the Little Ice Age (approximately 1550–1850). This paper draws on oral traditions passed down from that period, some recorded between 1900 and the early 1950s in coastal Alaska Tlingit communities and others recorded more recently with elders from Yukon First Nations. The narratives concern human travel to the Gulf of Alaska foreshore at the end of the Little Ice Age from the Copper River, from the Alaska panhandle, and from the upper Alsek-Tatshenshini drainage, as well as observations about glacier advances, retreats, and surges. The paper addresses two large policy debates. One concerns the incorporation of local knowledge into scientific research. The second addresses the way in which oral tradition contributes another variety of historical understanding in areas of the world where written documents are relatively recent. Academic debates, whether in science or in history, too often evaluate local expertise as data or evidence, rather than as knowledge or theory that might contribute different perspectives to academic questions.

Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) is the oldest and largest scholarly association devoted to understanding science and technology.

At the annual meeting 2009 one of our group members has been invited to present his work: Anup Sam Ninan [1].

References

1. In Carbon they Swear! Materiality and Sustainability in Climate Change,
   Anup San Ninan
   , 4S 2009 Annual Meeting of the The Society Society for Social Studies of Science, 29/10/2009, (Submitted)

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This paper discusses the need for a concept ``environmental and resource management'' (ERM), and what ERM meaningfully could be. This problem is approached first by an analysis of the environmental and developmental issues. Consequently the hegemonic discourse on sustainability is questioned. Second, the paper uses Kuhn's ``Structure of Scientific Revolutions'' as a basis for drafting a scientific field ``ERM''. From the perspective of both approaches, different paradigms of environmental management are studied. Based on this analysis a fundamental problem is obtained, namely, how to make individuals and institutions co-operate and under which societal conditions co-operation can be engendered. Subsequently ERM is defined. ERM-Science is being worked out, as being goal-driven, seeking sustainability. It is pointed out that ERM, ERM-Science and its supporting scientific fields are not identical. The major findings following this method are: ERM is stipulated as an inherent social activity. Therefore the scientific field ERM needs to critically focus on the environmental and resource (ER)-manager's behaviour and her context, that both have indicated and non-indicated environmental influences upon the world. To inquire in that object of interest, the following point of view is developed: ``How to make people and society not only speak about environmental problems but implement solutions?'' This leads to the discussion of consequences in terms of ethical implications and methodology. Basing on these results, the legitimate problems for the scientific field ERM are illustrated. The developed definition and its consequences are applied on the three ERM-programs at Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU) (Germany) and concludes that a radical reform of the BTU-approach to ERM is required.

Kurzfassung in Deutsch
Entwicklung von Eckpfeilern für ERM-Studien

In dieser Arbeit wird die Notwendigkeit eines Konzepts und Begriffes für "Umwelt- und Ressourcenmanagement" untersucht sowie diskutiert, was Umwelt- und Ressourcenmanagement (URM) sein kann. Das Thema der Arbeit wird mit Hilfe einer Analyse der Umwelt- und der Entwicklungsproblematik angegangen. Daraus ergibt sich die Infragestellung des herrschenden Diskurses zu Nachhaltigkeit. Als zweites wird Kuhns Werk "Struktur wissenschaftlicher Revolutionen" benutzt, um ein wissenschaftliches Feld "URM" wissenschaftstheoretisch zu entwickeln. Aus diesen beiden Perspektiven, Wissenschaftstheorie und Kritik an Nachhaltiger Entwicklung, werden unterschiedliche Paradigmen des Umweltmanagements untersucht. Daraus ergibt sich dann die fundamentale Problematik: Wie können Individuen und Institutionen zur Kooperation gebracht werden und unter welchen gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen ist Kooperation möglich? Darauf folgend wird URM (neu) definiert. URM-Wissenschaft wird als zielorientiert, Nachhaltigkeit suchend, entwickelt. Hierbei wird betont, dass URM, URM-Wissenschaft und andere unterstützende wissenschaftliche Felder nicht identisch sind. Die wichtigsten Resultate dieses Ansatzes sind: URM soll als inhärent soziale Aktivität gedacht werden. Deswegen soll das wissenschaftliche Feld URM, also URM-Wissenschaft, einen kritischen Fokus auf das Verhalten und den Kontext der Umwelt- und Ressourcenmanagenden (UR-ManagerInnen) einnehmen und dabei berücksichtigen, dass beide - Kontext und Verhalten - erwünschte und unerwünschte Umwelteinflüsse haben. Um dieses Erkenntnisobjekt - Verhalten und Kontext - zu untersuchen, wird die folgende Perspektive vorgeschlagen: "Wie können Leute und Gesellschaften dazu gebracht werden, Umweltprobleme nicht nur wahrzunehmen, sondern auch Lösungen zu implementieren?" Daran anschließend werden die ethischen und methodologischen Implikationen des vorgeschlagenen Ansatzes diskutiert. Dies erlaubt dann, die legitimen Untersuchungsprobleme von URM-Wissenschaft zu illustrieren. Die vorgeschlagene Definition sowie ihre Konsequenzen werden schließlich auf die drei URM-Studiengänge der Brandenburgischen Technischen Universität (Cottbus, Deutschland) angewandt und das Resultat herausgearbeitet, dass eine radikale Reform des BTU-Ansatzes zu den URM-Studiengängen notwendig ist.

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