How are environmental policy goals implemented and sustained in the context of political stagnation surrounding national climate policies in the United States? In this paper, we discuss Ecological Modernization Theory as a tool for understanding the complexity of climate governance at the sub-national level. In particular, we explore the emergence of hybrid governance arrangements during the local implementation of federal energy efficiency programs in US cities. We analyze the formation and advancement of programs associated with one effort to establish a sub-national low carbon energy policy: the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program administered by the US Department of Energy. Our findings highlight the diverse range of partnerships between state, private, and civil society actors that emerged through this program and point to some of the challenges associated with collaborative climate governance initiatives at the city level. Although some programs reflected ecologically modern outcomes, other cities were constrained in their ability to move beyond the status quo due to the demands of state bureaucracies and the challenges associated with inconsistent funding. We find that these programs cultivated hybrid arrangements in an effort to sustain the projects following the termination of federal grant funding. Overall, hybrid governance plays an important role in the implementation and long-term sustainability of climate-related policies.
This article explores the case of glitter bombing, a short-lived form of protest in the LGBT rights movement, to understand the mechanisms behind the decline of a novel tactic. To date, little attention has been directed toward tactics that have disappeared from movement repertoires. Using interview data, I find that glitter bombing declined due to many of the same factors that initially provided momentum for its diffusion. First, it was specific to LGBT rights to the degree that the audience of potential adopters was limited. At the same time, the radical nature of glitter bombing meant that adopters were peripheral movement actors who lacked organizational support. Activists dedicated limited resources to gaining media attention and online popularity, often at the cost of other crucial aspects of mobilization. Finally, an increase in repression multiplied these challenges by posing risks to adopters and shifting media coverage away from the tactic's celebratory framing.
Access to adequate, nutritious food is a fundamental human need and right. Problematically, today's global food system provides this access to only certain members of the global population. Food justice has emerged as a local, national, and global movement, working simultaneously from across and within state arenas, local communities, global markets, and geographic boundaries. The movement works to build and support strong and sustainable local food systems and ensure equal access to fresh, healthy, and culturally relevant, ethically produced food. Pertinent concerns of the food justice movement are inequalities and barriers to access, environmental consequences of industrial food production, and the widespread consequences of increasing corporate monopoly over food markets.
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