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The urgency of climate change necessitates a transition to more sustainable practices and policies. Individuals have a significant role in reducing carbon emissions by modifying their personal beha...

Narratives concerning the working class and their relationship to climate change are important. In particular, how the narrative constructs the relationship and, within this, who communicates a narrative (the narrator) is key. That said, this is a less studied element; the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) has limited research on narrators. Subsequently, this work examines individuals’ support of narratives and narrators using an Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) survey of 435 participants. After pretesting for climate change views, the subjects chose which narrator they expected to agree with: Mechanic Pat or Organic Farmer Chris. Through randomization, subjects joined either a congruent treatment group (Mechanic Pat tells the anti-climate change narrative and Organic Farmer Chris tells the pro-climate change narrative) or an incongruent treatment group (Mechanic Pat tells the pro-climate change narrative and Organic Farmer Pat tells the anti-climate change narrative). Results indicate that before reading the narratives, climate change “devotees” (those who agree that climate change is occurring and is human-caused) thought they would agree with Organic Farmer Chris over Mechanic Pat. Whereas there was division in the climate change “skeptics” (those who disagree that climate change is real and human-caused) on the question of what narrator they thought they would agree with. Devotees significantly supported the pro-climate change working-class narrative when told by Organic Farmer Chris as compared to when Mechanic Pat told the same narrative. Further showing the power of a narrator, devotees supported the anti-working class climate change narrative more when told by Organic Farmer Chris rather than when Mechanic Pat told the same narrative. Our findings demonstrate that narrators matter and suggest that the NPF needs to consider narrators as a narrative element worthy of further study.

There is increasing evidence of environmental change impacts on freshwater ecosystem services especially through land use and climate change. However, little is known about how land conservation could help mitigate adverse water-sustainability impacts. In this paper, we utilized the InVEST tool and the Residual Trends method to assess the joint effects and relative contributions of climate change and land conservation on freshwater ecosystem services in the Portneuf River catchment in Idaho, USA. We developed five hypothesized scenarios regarding gain and loss in the enrollment of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the largest agricultural land-retirement program in the U.S., plus riparian buffer and assessed their interactions with climate change. Results suggest that the realized water yield in the Portneuf River catchment would possibly be 56% less due to climate change and 24% less due to the decline of CRP enrollment. On the contrary, if CRP enrollment is promoted by ~30% and riparian buffer protection is implemented, the water supply reduction in the year 2050 could be changed from 56% to 26%, the total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) export would be reduced by 10% and 11%, and the total suspended sediment (TSS) reduced by 17%. This study suggests that increasing implementation of the CRP would likely preserve key freshwater ecosystem services and assist proactive mitigation, especially for semiarid regions vulnerable to changing climate conditions.

Urbanization has a massive impact on ecological function and impedes the provisioning of environmental services. The interaction between urbanization and the environment has been researched extensively. However, the existing research focused on the urbanization characteristics of large metropolitan areas. In this paper, we investigate the urban fragmentation patterns of small and mid-sized cities in Idaho, USA. To capture the urban morphology for each site within the study we use both concentric ring and transect analysis as well as several spatial/landscape metrics. Our results show that the characteristics of urbanization in small and mid-sized cities (and those in second-tier regions that attract relatively little scholarly attention) are consistent with growth phase theory of urbanization, urbanization along a gradient, and urbanization patterns of metropolises.

This study argues that boundaries represent socially and politically constructed policy realities and that media policy narratives play an important role in this construction. Traditionally borders are described, and their image is created or at least reified, via traditional media sources such as newspapers and television. In today’s world of increasing access to new media, this trend appears to be shifting. Thus, it is timely to ask, What is the image of the US–Canada border as presented through new media outlets such as YouTube? Does YouTube present narratives that discuss topics different from those in the traditional media? And, Do these narratives describe the issues and people of the border in a deserving or undeserving light? This paper uses the Narrative Policy Framework and Schneider and Ingram’s Social Construction of Policy Design to analyze how YouTube videos construct the US–Canada border. A total of 56 YouTube videos, posted between February 2009 and May 2015, were analyzed. Results...

Stakeholders include scientists, interest groups, leaders, professionals, government and NGO employees, and activists; they are individuals or groups that play an increasingly important role in public policy. As such, stakeholders are frequently used as a source to better inform public decision making. Given the growing importance of stakeholders’ understanding and thus communication concerning the issues on which they inform the public, it is timely to ask: How do stakeholders comprehend, or mentally construct an understanding of the policy issues upon which they are asked to weigh in? In an attempt to address this issue, this paper uses a case study of a policy issue, river restoration. Results from a survey of 85 stakeholders and a follow up interview of 20 stakeholders shed light on whether stakeholders predominantly prefer to think of river restoration in terms of science or through policy narratives. The findings indicate that stakeholders prefer explanations that use science and the engaged citizen narrative when they think about the river’s restoration. Additionally, stakeholders who work for government particularly emphasize that the river should be described in scientific terms. We use this data to further analyze what elements of science and narratives are divisive to stakeholders and which are not and conclude with advice on how stakeholders can speak in a non-divisive way to the public and other stakeholders.

In the spirit of the policy sciences, knowledge should be used to improve the practice of democracy. In today’s policy world, communication is a key element of policy making. Too often groups become trapped in promoting their own narrative rather than building bridges to other groups by adopting alternative narratives. In this study, we ask, when involved in a public policy issue, do stakeholders analyze their audience? In other words, do stakeholders consider larger values and beliefs in an attempt to help orient a problem or issues when they move from discussing the issue with like-minded groups to discussing the issue with the general public? Our study uses a survey to examine how stakeholders involved in a river restoration issue switched or did not switch from their own personal message choice to what they believed was the best communication choice for talking about river restoration with the public. Overall, 47% of stakeholders switched their preference when asked how river restoration should be discussed with the public. We examine how attitudinal indicators, background information, and demographics related to which stakeholders switch and which did not switch their choices. The implications of these findings for democracy and policy analysis along with the ethical considerations of the research are discussed.

Narratives, or the telling of stories, are a powerful tool used to gain support for public policies. The advent of new social media, including YouTube, provides opportunities for less-mainstream narratives of cooperation, but are these opportunities being realized? Using the Narrative Policy Framework and Schneider and Ingram's Social Construction of target populations as the theoretical basis, we analyzed 95 English and Spanish YouTube videos focusing on the U.S.–Mexico border and found they demonstrate a maintained focus on mainstream, divisive issues such as security and violence, immigration, and drugs. However, although new media often cover mainstream issues, YouTube videos appear to construct more favorable perspectives of the border region than traditional media: 52 percent of the videos constructed a sympathetic view of the border, including the people associated with it, while 48 percent of the videos constructed an unsympathetic view. Understanding the use of these narratives can have real-world impacts for developing policy along the U.S.–Mexico border; possibly creating greater cooperation vital to solving many of the urgent problems border communities face on a day-to-day basis.

Recycling is an increasingly important tool in global and national efforts for sustainability. Yet, particularly in the United States, there remains disconnect between those who view recycling as a necessity and those who see it as a waste: many conservatives do not support recycling activities, while many liberals do. However, recycling can be framed in language that draws support from both conservatives and liberals. Data from a survey sample of 429 individuals shows that conservative frames of recycling are supported by both conservatives and liberals, whereas liberal frames are supported only by liberals. Similarly ‘duty-based’ citizenship frames are supported by both duty-based and engaged citizens, while ‘engaged’ citizenship frames are supported mainly by engaged citizens. The implications for researchers, educators, administrators, and others involved in recycling are detailed.

The Acknowledgements contained an error: In the original statement “This research was supported by the National Science Foundation award IIA – 1301792 from the National Science Foundation Idaho Environmental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research Program.”

Recent studies have explored the dimensions of duty-based versus engaged citizenship. These studies assert that individuals differ on the question of “what is a good citizen” and somehow suggest that “engaged citizens” are more participatory, global, and committed to social justice than their duty-based counterparts. In this article, we examine, with an innovative survey methodology and merging of citizenship and framing literature, the potential effects of increased engaged citizenship on policy issues. Our questions explore the characteristics of citizenship and explore whether duty-based and engaged citizens are more likely to support a policy, in this case recycling efforts, if the issue is framed in the context of their respective preferred citizenship norm. We find that the engaged recycling frame was strongly supported by individuals with a more engaged view of citizenship who also supported some duty-based frames of recycling. Conversely, respondents with a more duty-based view of citizenship did not support engaged recycling frames. Estudios recientes han explorado las dimensiones de la nocion de “ciudadania basada en deberes”vis-a-vis aquella de “ciudadania involucrada.” Estos estudios afirman que los individuos difieren en sus respuestas a la pregunta de “?que es un buen ciudadano?” Asi mismo, parecen sugerir que los “ciudadanos involucrados” son mas participativos, globales, y entregados a la justicia social que sus homologos basados en deberes. En este articulo examinamos los efectos potenciales del incremento de la ciudadania involucrada en asuntos de politica con una innovadora metodologia de encuestas y combinando la literatura de ciudadania y la teoria del enmarcamiento de asuntos. Nuestras preguntas exploran las caracteristicas de la ciudadania y si acaso los individuos cuyo comportamiento se aproxima al planteado en la nocion de “ciudadania basada en deberes” son mas proclives a apoyar una politica de reciclaje, que aquellos cuyo comportamiento se aproxima al planteado en la nocion de “ciudadania involucrada.” De manera especifica exploramos si acaso los ciudadanos responden de manera mas decidida a propuestas de reciclaje dependiendo de si estan enmarcadas en una nocion de “ciudadania basada en deberes” o en una de “ciudadania involucrada.” Encontramos que una politica de reciclaje enmarcada en una de nocion “ciudadania involucrada” fue fuertemente apoyada por individuos cuyo comportamiento se aproxima al planteado en dicha nocion pero que estos mismos individuos tambien apoyaron algunas propuestas de reciclaje enmarcadas en la nocion de “ciudadania basada en deberes.” En cambio, individuos cuyo comportamiento se aproxima al planteado en la nocion de “ciudadania basada en deberes” no apoyaron ninguna propuesta de reciclaje enmarcada en la nocion de “ciudadania involucrada.”

The article reports the results from a natural resourcenegotiation model, the Legal-Institutional Analysis Model (LIAM), in two Mexican case studies: the Lerma River-Lake Chapala water system and water concerns in the Paso del Norte region. Although the LIAM was designed for use with U.S. based natural resource issues, this paper discusses results of the LIAM in non-U.S. cases. Results reveal limitations surrounding the assumption that economic and ecological values are mutually exclusive, and the need for greater assessment of power sources. Findings show that the general assumptions behind the LIAM were applicable to Mexico, and that the model produced helpful assessments of the two situations. It is recommended that limitations in the model should be addressed to achieve more accurate analyses.

The narrative policy framework (NPF) studies the role that policy narratives play in the public policy process. Much of that work (e.g., Jones and McBeth 2010; Shanahan et al. (2013) focuses on the academic implications of NPF for those who study public policy. Somewhat neglected in NPF research is the practitioner. Practitioners who work with politicians as experts (public administrators, scientists, analysts, and evaluators) often try to use science and data to convince elected officials and the public of the desirability of a certain policy. However, they also have to deal with the political realities of an organized opposition who weave policy narratives that do not always correspond to how the practitioner views the particular policy issue (e.g., Miller and Fox 2006; Miller 2002). Indeed, today’s policy environment encountered by the practitioner more closely resembles the business environment of marketing (McBeth and Shanahan 2004) than the “fact-based” scientific environment favored by scientists and policy analysts.

Though a developing country, Mexico is well placed by many aggregate development measures. It is the second largest economy in Latin America; with a GNP per capita in 1995 dollars of $ 3,320 it is solidly ensconced among the world’s upper-middle income countries, one of only six of thirty-six Latin American countries so ranked (World Bank, 1997: 214–215). Economic progress, however, has come at a high price in environmental degradation, a cost that it has begun to reckon only in the last decade.

The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has been touted as a regional model for strengthening environmental cooperation and sustainable development related to free trade regimes. This study reviews CEC's development since 1994 in the context of its ambitious North American Free Trade Agreement related mandate. Drawing on its own documents, government records and scholarly assessments, the study traces the CEC's steady decline in response to limited support by its member governments. The CEC has nevertheless gained a valuable niche in North American environmental management, spotlighting problems, strengthening public participation and building capacity for environmental cooperation in critical areas of regional environmental importance. Thus we argue the CEC is at least a partial template for building environmental protection into free trade agreements in the hemisphere. Future agreements should be informed by the CEC's shortcomings as well as its successes if they wish to strengthen trade-related environmental protection in the Americas.