Search

Author(s): Jakub Krzeski [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.5374.5, 0000 0001 0943 6490, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Nicolaus Copernicus University, , Fosa Staromiejska 1A, 87-100, Torun, Poland At the [...]

How can we imagine the ideal of "civic friendship" in the current contentious atmosphere? This article recasts the original concept of civic friendship through a tangle construct known as "weak ties." It introduces the initial interactions between Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Jane Addams as a useful model for forging weak ties toward civic friendship. Although the two worked on different subdomains of social concerns before their paths crossed, and their early connection was based on weak ties, these grew stronger with time. The Addams and Wells-Barnett case shows the counterintuitive aspect of civic friendship: it can begin with a stretch just a little more than usual, rather than a massive jump to the other side. I indicate the zone of acceptance and "calling-in" strategies as crucial intervention options. Last, I examine practical implications for democratic education, with an emphasis on student-led civics initiatives.

Feminist geographies have long provided geographers with methodologies for dislodging hegemonic structures of knowledge production. Recently, feminist geographers have taken up the challenges posed by the theory of intersectionality to analyze questions of place, power, and difference. In this article, we advance this trajectory by arguing for an "intersectional sensibility" in feminist geography methodologies. To illustrate this approach, we elevate the work of investigative journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862–1931), who used qualitative and quantitative data to analyze the nature and severity of anti-Black violence in the United States. We place her work alongside that of Ellen Churchill Semple (1863–1932), a contemporary of Wells-Barnett, who promoted environmental determinism. We argue that Wells-Barnett's research practices produced geographic knowledge that articulated a standpoint that revealed spatial relationships of power that undergirded oppression; disrupted spatial analyses arising from single-axis thinking; was concerned with ending geographies of violence and injustice; and contributed to unlearning prevailing geographical imaginaries. We offer a methodological intervention grounded in an intersectional sensibility for feminist geography as well as a demonstration of more inclusive disciplinary practices that expand thinking about methods and methodological accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I. INTRODUCTION All throughout 2021, South Dakotans anxiously waited for the South Dakota Supreme Court to render its decision in Thom v. Barnett (1) as it concerned the validity of [...], On November 3, 2020, South Dakota voters took to the polls to cast their votes on Amendment A. If passed, South Dakota would become the nineteenth state to legalize recreational marijuana. The election results revealed that the people of South Dakota had approved Amendment A. However, victory was short-lived for that 54.2% of voters. Less than two weeks after the certification of the election results, the validity of Amendment A was challenged. A lawsuit was initiated, alleging Amendment A violated South Dakota's newly adopted single-subject rule--a result of the passage of Amendment Z in 2018. The South Dakota Supreme Court agreed, jailing to adhere to the widely accepted principle that a constitutional amendment be upheld after its adoption by the people unless it is plainly and palpably invalid. Nevertheless, the majority rejected the notion that each provision of Amendment A related to a single, comprehensive plan of legalization, regulation, use, and production of cannabis. Not only should the court have found that A mendment A did not violate the single-subject and separate vote rules, but it also should have taken the review of Thom v. Barnett as an opportunity to clarify the state's single-subject doctrine, a doctrine that has been widely criticized for its indeterminacy.

Part I A new art for a new world Martin Heidegger and Barnett Newman Stefano Esengrini stefano.esengrini@unicatt.it François Fédier's contribution to the understanding of Martin Heidegger's thought represents the point from which we start to clarify the meaning of the path taken by the philosopher after Being and Time. The phenomenon of Ereignis as Enowning thus constitutes the horizon within which the possibility occurs for man to encounter his world and take root in it as if he were at home. The need to overcome the crisis that threatens the Western world determines the possibility of experiencing the world in a new way and founding new knowledge capable of giving a measure to our existence on earth. From this perspective, America becomes the place that knows how to symbolically embody the possibility that man has of establishing an authentic relationship with his surroundings and of developing a knowledge that is in tune with this opportunity. Part II Based on the rethinking of the metaphysical essence of art, we will be able to interpret the work of Barnett Newman as an attempt to give form in painting to the thought of a new start. More specifically, the prominence assumed by color becomes the index of the need to give shape to the space and time within which the world occurs. Thanks to the secret symmetry that exists between Newman and the work of Henry David Thoreau, we will thus be able to clarify the nature of the contribution provided by American art to the determination of a new world that America, more radically than other places on earth, has been able to articulate in unheard of forms capable of projecting a new hope for Western man today and for the future that is destined for us.

Starting around 2008, there was rapid expansion of oil and natural gas (ONG) production into more heavily populated areas within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in the Barnett Shale region of Texas. This colocation raised concerns regarding the effect of ONG activities on chemical levels in the air. In the current study, we examined the potential impacts of ONG activity on the types and concentrations of chemicals in ambient air in the Barnett Shale. Volatile organic compound (VOC) concentrations from 6–12 years (2008–2019) of hourly ambient air monitoring data from 15 monitors (4 monitors had ≥ 10 years of data) were compared to several metrics of ONG activity (number of active wells, natural gas production, condensate production) within a 2-mile radius of each monitor. Monitoring sites were also classified into urban, suburban, and rural areas as a surrogate for nearby vehicular emission sources. Analyses of this huge dataset showed that both peak and mean chemical concentrations of lighter alkane hydrocarbons (e.g., ethane) were most impacted by the number of gas wells. Levels of heavier alkanes (e.g., pentane) were increased by condensate production and at monitors located in areas with greater urbanicity, and therefore higher vehicular emissions. The levels of unsaturated alkynes (e.g., ethylene) were entirely driven by urbanicity and were unaffected by nearby ONG activity. The same pattern was seen with the ratio of iso:n-pentane, which is contrary to the findings of others and suggests an area for future research. Aromatic hydrocarbons were impacted by multiple emissions sources and did not show the same patterns as non-aromatic VOCs. No VOC concentrations were at levels of concern for human health or odor based on comparison to Texas air monitoring comparison values. Overall, ONG activities impact air quality, but this must be evaluated in the context of other emission sources such as automobiles.

The impacts of hydraulic fracturing (HF) on birth defects have been suggested by previous studies but remain largely inconclusive. In this study, we assessed whether pregnant women who lived in areas with high HF activities had increased risks of giving birth to offspring with overall or specific birth defects, including atrial septal defect (ASD), ventricular septal defect (VSD), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), microcephaly (MIC), and hydrocephaly without spina bifida (HSB). All live births between 1999 and 2014 among the residents in the four core counties of Denton, Johnson, Tarrant, and Wise in the Barnett Shale region, Texas, were analyzed. Standardized Morbidity Ratio (SMR) and Poisson regressions were applied for statistical analysis. Compared to the statewide risk, the risks of ASD, VSD, and PDA in four selected counties with high HF activities were significantly higher. The Annual Natural Gas Production from HF was significantly correlated with risks of ASD, PDA, MIC, and total birth defect after adjusting for counties and years. No significant associations of HF activities were found with VSD and HSB. This ecological study suggested that hydraulic fracturing might be associated with the increased risk of some birth defects in the Barnett Shale Region, TX, which warrants further investigations due to the limitation of an ecological study design.

Copyright of Journal of the American Institute for Conservation is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)