In all of this messy mush, Liz suggested that I try and apply everything that I have been talking about and do a case study of sorts. Conveniently, I am completing a praxis project for Environmental Theory, which gives me the perfect space to give it a try.
My theory project is a praxis project, which means it is all about showing how theory can count and what it can mean and why it is important in a world so much in need of action. I am focusing on the Hinkle Creek Paired Watershed Study, a research endeavor undertaken by Roseburg Forest Products of Douglas County, Oregon. There’s something a bit fishy about this study, and not just because it’s meant to look at the impacts of current day forest practices on aquatic ecosystems. Modern day forest practices have the potential to lead to huge landslide events because of the way trees are clear-cut with little regard to the erosion that may ensue. I have a little nagging idea that Roseburg Forest Products may have paid for this very expensive ten-year study not exclusively to study the impacts on fish but to cover their butts if a landslide event occurs.
I have adapted my thesis questions to more directly relate to ontology, epistemology, ethics, and politics for this project:
What is the history of erosion in PNW? How much land does Roseburg Forest Products hold? (Ontology) What are the facts for that group and who reports the information?
Why those facts? What frames are being used by the group/institution/individual? (Epistemology, truth claims)
Who is sponsoring these studies and what affect do they have on the outcomes? What makes the actions in response to HCPWS findings justifiable? (Ethics, normative (what we ought to do) and why)
How do the institutions of science (who found/manufactured these facts) and outside parties respond to challenges and multiple interpretations of that fact? (Politics)
I have more concrete data for this project than I do for the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement so it should be a bit easier to try my methodology out on this project. Over the summer, maybe I’ll get the chance to do something similar at the USGS.
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