Doctoral Dissertation Research: Law, the Environment, and the Social Construction of Public Interest

博士论文研究：法律、环境与公共利益的社会建构

• 批准号: 1459789
• 负责人: Mona Lynch
• 金额: $ 2.19万
• 依托单位: University of California-Irvine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-02-01 至 2017-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1459789&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Law; Environment

Many Americans proclaim a preference for renewable energy over traditional fuel sources, yet actual renewable-energy projects frequently draw opposition from communities in which they may be sited. Complaints of environmental damage and aesthetic blight are common responses to any unwanted development project, pitting the clean energy against the preservation of land and landscape, memory, and identity. This raises important questions for policymakers, scientists, and communities concerned with sustainable development: What does it mean to be in the public interest? Who has authority to define that interest? And through what means might such definitions emerge or be imposed?University of California, Irvine, doctoral student, Alyse Bertenthal, under the supervision of Dr. Mona Lynch, will address these questions through a case study of a recent proposal to develop a million-panel solar farm that has generated significant controversy in a region that has long struggled over the allocation and management of its soil, minerals, and water. The researcher will use a mixed methods approach, including interviews, participant observation, GIS/GPS mapping, and the historical analysis of court documents to shed light on how laws, society, and the environment have interacted over time. Examining these disputes both ethnographically and historically allows the researcher to elucidate how individuals and groups construct themselves as "the public" as they negotiate legal claims to land and resources. By untangling constructions and contestations of public identity through resource management, this project will contribute to efforts to understand the discourses, logic, and practices through which people define themselves; how they situate their pasts and futures in particular places; and how law mediates these processes. Findings from this research will provide insight into the challenges confronted by policymakers legislating a more sustainable America and by the people who must sustain such policies.

许多美国人宣称，与传统燃料相比，他们更喜欢可再生能源，但实际的可再生能源项目经常遭到所在社区的反对。 对环境破坏和美学破坏的抱怨是对任何不受欢迎的开发项目的常见反应，使清洁能源与土地和景观，记忆和身份的保护相对立。这给关注可持续发展的政策制定者、科学家和社区提出了重要问题：符合公共利益意味着什么？ 谁有权界定这种利益？ 这些定义是通过什么方式产生或强加的？加州尔湾大学博士生Alyse Bertenthal在莫纳林奇博士的指导下，将通过最近一项开发百万电池板太阳能发电场的提案的案例研究来解决这些问题，该提案在一个长期以来一直在努力分配和管理其土壤，矿物质和水的地区产生了重大争议。研究人员将使用混合方法，包括访谈，参与者观察，GIS/GPS映射，以及法院文件的历史分析，以揭示法律，社会和环境如何随着时间的推移相互作用。从民族志和历史的角度考察这些争端，可以使研究者阐明个人和群体在谈判土地和资源的法律的权利主张时如何将自己构建为“公众”。 通过资源管理解开公共身份的建设和维护，这个项目将有助于努力理解人们定义自己的话语，逻辑和实践;他们如何在特定的地方表达他们的过去和未来;以及法律如何调解这些过程。 这项研究的结果将为决策者立法建设一个更可持续的美国以及必须维持这些政策的人所面临的挑战提供深入了解。