Suchergebnisse

AbstractThe current natural gas and oil boom in North America requires new pipelines, which pose environmental risks from wellheads to their destinations. The environmental justice literature suggests that ethno‐racial minorities, populations with low socioeconomic status, and rural communities are disproportionally exposed to risks associated with potentially harmful land uses. Using data from the American Community Survey's 2015 five‐year estimates and data on the route of proposed pipelines compiled by The FracTracker Alliance, this study tests whether the above assumptions are true for proposed FERC‐permitted natural gas transmission pipelines in the United States for which planned routes have been made available. The results of logistic regression models provide only limited, and in some cases contradictory, support for these hypotheses. Although an increased share of highly educated residents significantly decreases the likelihood of a pipeline proposal in a census tract, a higher poverty rate also significantly lowers this probability. Likewise, the share of Black and Hispanic residents is significantly and negatively associated with pipeline proposals. However, reliable routing data are needed to test whether this holds true for built pipelines, but these data are considered confidential and thus inaccessible in the United States.

AbstractIn recent years, performance metrics and digital technologies have gained substantial support to advance on‐farm sustainability. The combined use of metrics and digital technologies represents a potentially important shift in agricultural sustainability governance, which has largely been dominated by the use of standards and certification. Focusing on the U.S. context, this paper examines the operationalization of the emerging metrics and data (M&D) approach to sustainability governance in food and agriculture. Specifically, we analyze the factors undergirding the growing usage of an M&D approach to sustainability, the structure, and practices of such an approach as well as the roles and implications for key actors in agrifood systems. Our analysis indicates that although an M&D approach to an agricultural sustainability transition potentially addresses some of the critiques and limitations associated with the use of standards and certification and has the growing support of a range of stakeholders, it also faces numerous challenges. These include a lack of incentives and insufficient value for growers, concerns over data ownership and access, and barriers to the translation of data into changes in grower management and practices.