Doctoral Dissertation Research: Urban Commitments to Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction

十多年来，环保主义者的一个流行口号是“全球思考，本地行动”。这一建议的潜在可行性最近在地理研究中通过对地方行动的特征和影响的经济和政治分析进行了评估，因为它们在一系列其他地理尺度上显现出来。这个博士论文研究项目将评估当地社区通过参与“气候变化预防运动”来减少全球环境变化的努力。“气候变化预防运动”是地方政府推动减少温室气体排放的地方倡议。该项目将包括西雅图、明尼阿波利斯和图森的一系列平行案例研究。除了对每个社区的当地政治、经济和环境状况进行分析外，还将对当地环境、商业和政府领导人进行深入访谈。这个项目的理论价值在于，它有助于更深入地理解以地方为导向、以城市为基础的政治运动如何解决全球规模的问题。它还将探讨城市降低温室气体排放的承诺是否代表了通过环保主义者、商业利益集团和市政府官员组成的新联盟来解决经济发展和环境保护的需求，从而实现减排的政治经济学突破。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

For more than a decade, a popular slogan among environmentalists has been "Think Globally, Act Locally." The potential viability of this advice has been assessed in geographic research recently through economic and political analyses of the character and impact of local actions as they become manifest at a range of other geographic scales. This doctoral dissertation research project will assess local community efforts to reduce global environmental change through participation in the Climate Change Prevention campaign, an program through which local governments promote local initiative to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. This project will consist of a set of parallel case studies in Seattle, Minneapolis, and Tucson. In addition to analyses of local political, economic, and environmental conditions within each community, in-depth interviews will be conducted with local environmental, commercial, and government leaders. The theoretical value of this project will be evident in its contributions toward a deeper understanding of how locally oriented, urban-based political movements can address global-scale problems. It also will explore whether commitments by cities to lower greenhouse-gas emissions represent a breakthrough in the political economy of emissions abatement through new coalitions of environmentalists, commercial interests, and city government officials that have formed to address the demands of economic development and environmental protection. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.