Feeling Food: The Rationality of Perception

Regulatory bodies tend to treat people’s emotional responses towards foods as a nuisance for rational opinion-formation and decision-making. This position is thought to be supported by such evidence as: (1) people showing negative emotional responses to the idea of eating meat products from vaccinated livestock; and (2) people showing positive emotional responses to Magnum’s “7 sins” marketing campaign. Such cases are thought to support the idea that regulatory communication about foods should abstract from people’s emotional perceptions and that corporate marketing of foods should show restraint in capitalizing upon these weaknesses of the heart. This paper, on the contrary, argues that people’s emotional perceptions of foods represent valuable sources of knowledge. This argument is developed by making the dominant reception of people’s emotions intelligible by tracing its roots through the history of the Platonic paradigm. Although this paradigm has dominated the philosophical and psychological debate about emotions, the idea that emotions are sources of knowledge has recently gained force. This paper also traces the historical roots of the alternative Aristotelian paradigm. The cases of meat products from vaccinated livestock and Magnum’s 7 sins serve to illustrate this controversy. The paper concludes by showing that a neo-Platonic emphasis on the irrationality of emotions does not contribute to a fruitful discussion about implications of people’s perceptions for agricultural and food politics, whereas a neo-Aristotelian account of rational emotions could enable regulatory bodies to engage people in a fruitful process of opinion-formation and decision-making about food production and consumption. This paper has been written in the context of a research project “Images of Food” co-funded by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and the Social Sciences Group of Wageningen University and Research Centre. I would like to thank my colleagues Hans Dagevos, Sandra van der Kroon, Siet Sijtsema, Cor van der Weele (Wageningen University), and Cindy Wolff, as well as the members of the advisory board for this project, for the inspiring discussions about previous versions of this paper.     

The evolution of the Canadian mining industry: The role of regulatory punctuation

In this study, we analyze the evolution of Canada's mining industry from 1929 to 2006, focussing on the determinants of the number of firms in the industry and why this number changed over that period. Most empirical studies of industry evolution have focused on manufacturing industries that share similar structural characteristics. Perhaps because of this, extant models of industry evolution tend to ignore industry-specific and national-specific factors that can cause atypical trajectories, that is, heterogeneous industry evolution. Initial inspection of the Canadian mining industry shows that it is atypical in that it exhibits “negative skew” over time in the number of firms rather than the typical “positive skew.” We review two dominant theoretical approaches to industry evolution: the density-dependence theory and variants of industrial organization economics. We also consider possible sources of industry evolution heterogeneity, focussing particularly on “regulatory punctuation”. Using Canadian mining data, we find that the traditional models do not fully explain the changes in population size in Canada's mining industry. As a result, we introduce a number of hybrid models. The results from these hybrid models suggest that Canadian-specific regulatory punctuations, particularly the introduction of significant new taxes, environmental legislation, and incentives have shaped the trajectory of mining firm participation.     

The rise of ingredient disclosure: The California and New York experience

In the recent past, two important states—California and New York—have launched extensive and precedent‐setting ingredient disclosure laws regarding cleaning products with the clear goal of prompting the deselection of certain chemical substances and forcing product reformulation. Industry prefers to refer to this trend as “ingredient communication,” a goal we can all agree is desirable. By whatever name, these state measures will have a significant impact on ingredient disclosure trends across product lines, likely well beyond their stated application to cleaning products. These state laws are summarized below, followed by a discussion of their similarities, key differences, and their implications.     

The Power of Legitimation: The Role of Expert Networks in Global Environmental Governance

As part of the debate on the legitimacy of governance networks in global environmental politics, this article investigates the conditions under which policy solutions can be transferred worldwide as a result of a particular type of interaction within transnational expert networks and technical committees. To this end, the article hypothesises that policy solutions can be legitimised in governance networks meeting four cumulative criteria: participation, flexibility, horizontality and inclusiveness. This hypothesis is then tested by means of two heuristic case studies dedicated to the worldwide transfer of environmental standards via United Nations specialized agencies. The empirical work partly strengthens the validity of the hypothesis but also underscores the limits of legitimation strategies in the face of strong heterogeneity of interests. In such cases, environmental policy networks may adopt fairly “vertical” features and resort to classical bargaining and constraint strategies whereby compromises are exchanged and power asymmetries are mobilised.     

Diversification or specialization : The role of risk

The purpose of this article is to analyse the use of diversification and market specialization as corporate strategies by non-ferrous metal company managements as responses to adverse financial conditions. The analytical framework is provided by the financial theory of risk. Managements must deal with both company specific risk and market risk as they attempt to improve the profitability of their companies. Companies from the US copper industry are used as empirical examples. Deversification is a flexible but risky strategy. Specialization is a more restrictive strategy but it is less risky. The appropriate strategy to use depends on the particular situation of a company.     

The problem of acid rain: An overview

Summary The solution to the problem of acid rain is perhaps one of the main environmental and political issues facing the peoples of the industrialized nations, and their neighbours today. There is no doubt about the damage which acid rain has caused, but what remains unclear are the precise causes of acid rain and the most efficacious means of reducing its environmental, economic and political impacts. We have presented a balanced look at the differing points of view on the current state of knowledge in acid rain research with respect to atmospheric processes, environmental effects, measurement procedures, and the legal and political issues surrounding acid rain. This review indicates that the atmospheric processes creating and transporting acid rain are not well enough understood to enable its reduction with any guarantee of success. This conclusion is based on the confusing or conflicting evidence presented by recent scientific studies. It appears that more research must be undertaken to understand the problem of acid rain before final recommendations may be made for its solution.Mr Eney is a lecturer and Dr. Petzold is Professor of Climatology in the Department of Geography at the University of Maryland. They have recently completed research on the spatial distribution of acid rain over the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area of USA.     

Controlling substance flows: The case of chlorine

The contribution of chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs) to environmental problems in the Netherlands is discussed in an economic context. The economic interactions within the chlorine market, including the link to caustic soda production, are described, and PVC is taken as a case study. Key policy options are evaluated in terms of their potential for environmental improvement. It appears that 95% of CHC emissions causing environmental problems are due to dissipative applications. With respect to the specific problems of ozone depletion and global warming, only a small group of compounds is responsible for most of the impact. Moreover, economic interactions within the group of CHCs can strongly influence the net effect of environmental policy measures. Policies aimed at a reducing volume output of certain specific groups of CHCs will inevitably lead to trade-offs between environmental problems. The environmental impact of a hypothetical ban on CHCs is discussed in relation to the use of PVC as a sink for chlorine. Both these options appear to have drawbacks. Moreover, no absolute conclusion can be drawn until the environmental impact of CHC substitutes is known.     

PROFILE: Indigenous Institutions and Environmental Assessment: The Case of Ghana

/ The search for sustainable development provides the impetus forexamining the role of indigenous institutions and their ecological knowledgein environmental assessment and local sustainability. This paper attempts totrace the evolution of environmental assessment in Ghana. Focusing on theAshanti Region, the paper further discusses the nature and operations ofindigenous institutions, their ecological knowledge, beliefs, practices, andsocial norms that are relevant to environmental assessment process in thecountry. Some of the challenges that emerge from the discussions arehighlighted. There is a need to establish environmental assessment andcooperative management boards that would include representatives ofindigenous institutions. In addition, the introduction of technicaldictionaries and training manuals based on indigenous ecological knowledgeand their humane environmental practices will further improve theenvironmental assessment process in Ghana.KEY WORDS: Environmental assessment; Indigenous institutions; Indigenousecological knowledge; Sustainable development; Environmental assessmentboards     

The values of biological diversity: a travelogue

Biological diversity is an abstract, scientific concept and both evaluating its condition and, to great extent, justifying its conservation requires expert knowledge. Accordingly, regulating and managing biological diversity presupposes standardisation and methods for managing uncertainty. To be acted on, the concept must be promoted, passing, in this process, through various institutions, such as intergovernmental organisations and national administrations. This paper examines how the principle of biological diversity conservation is defined, focusing on the values of biological diversity and how this notion has ‘travelled the world’. The paper includes a study of how the principle of biological diversity was applied in a specific case of insect control in Sweden.