223 episodes

In Common explores the connections between humans, their environment and each other through stories told by scholars and practitioners. In-depth interviews and methods webinars explore interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work on commons governance, conservation and development, social-ecological resilience, and sustainability.

In Common The In Common Team

    • Science

In Common explores the connections between humans, their environment and each other through stories told by scholars and practitioners. In-depth interviews and methods webinars explore interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary work on commons governance, conservation and development, social-ecological resilience, and sustainability.

    FFM #4: Fisheries consulting with Andrew Johnson

    FFM #4: Fisheries consulting with Andrew Johnson

    This is the fourth episode in our Future Fisheries Management series, which we are running in collaboration with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh.
    In this episode, Michael speaks with Andrew Johnson, the CEO of MarFishEco, a consultant-based organization that provides advice and support for the future of sustainable, profitable fisheries. Andrew founded MarFishEco based on his experience with short term environmental consultancies that, in his terms, he felt were delivered "quickly but often without the rigor of academic research".
    During the interview they discuss Andrew’s experience moving into and out of academia and his lessons from founding and running a consulting organization that brings theoretical and applied expertise to conservation challenges. And like each of the other guests in this series, Michael asks Andrew about the World Trade Organization’s role in fisheries policy through it’s recent agreements to limit the role of subsidies in this sector. This conversation is a bit dated now as since the time of recording, as the WTO has had a subsequent meeting on subsidies that is not reflected in our conversation. Check out the WTO's website for up-to-date information.
    References:
    Andrew’s website: https://www.marfisheco.com/
    Website for WTO subsidy agreements: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/rulesneg_e/fish_e/fish_e.htm

    • 46 min
    126: Common Boundaries: The Theory and Practice of Environmental Property with Michael Cox and colleagues

    126: Common Boundaries: The Theory and Practice of Environmental Property with Michael Cox and colleagues

    This episode is a webinar in which Michael and a panel of his colleagues discuss his new book, Common Boundaries: The Theory and Practice of Environmental Property. The panel members are Forrest Fleischman, Associate Professor in the Department of Forest Resources at the University of Minnesota, Maron Greenleaf, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Dartmouth College, and Carey Nadell, Associate Professor of Biology at Dartmouth College. Together the panelists discuss the book and how it relates to their own fields and research programs.

    • 1 hr 3 min
    125: Boundary spanning with Stephen Posner

    125: Boundary spanning with Stephen Posner

    In this episode, Michael speaks with Stephen Posner, the Director of Pathways to Planetary Health at the Garrison Institute. The Garrison Institute is located in Garrison, New York along the Hudson River. Its mission is to apply the skills and wisdom cultivated through contemplative practice, together with the insights emerging from science, to today’s urgent social and environmental challenges, leveraging transformational change and helping build a more compassionate, resilient future.
    Stephen obtained his PhD in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont in 2015, and has maintained an active research program that among things has focused on the role of boundary spanners, or organizations that are able to bridge gaps between groups and perspectives. Stephen’s answer to the question, what makes a good boundary spanner, emphasizes the importance of what he calls “self attention work” and developing a self-awareness of the reasons behind one’s own actions. Stephen also speaks about the importance of contemplative practice which is a major theme of the Garrison institute, and the importance of combining contemplation with action.
     
    References:
    Posner, S., Fenichel E.P., McCauley, D.J., et al. 2020. Boundary spanning among research and policy communities to address the emerging industrial revolution in the ocean. Environmental Science and Policy 104: 73-81.
    Neal, J., Posner, S., Brutzman, B. 2021. Understanding brokers, intermediaries, and boundary spanners: a multi-sectoral review of strategies, skills, and outcomes. Evidence & Policy.
    Stephen’s recent blog entry on combining inner and outer change: https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/blog/integrating-inner-and-outer-systems-change/
    Metamorphosis event page: garrisonmetamorphosis.org

    • 47 min
    124: Social capital and community resilience with Daniel Aldrich

    124: Social capital and community resilience with Daniel Aldrich

    In this episode, Stefan speaks with Daniel Aldrich. Daniel is a Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Northeastern University in Boston. He received his PhD from Harvard University, and has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles and 5 books on topics related to social capital and community resilience in relation to disaster risk reduction, with a focus on public policy. He has been referred to as a ‘social capitalist’ given his wide ranging research and writing showing the value of building social capital with public policy and the essential role social capital plays in avoiding disasters caused by natural hazards.
     
    In the episode we discuss Daniel’s personal experience having to evacuate his family during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, and the role that neighbors and informal networks played in helping his family navigate the loss of their home, and the role that government and markets did not play. We then discuss what the concept of social capital is, how to measure it effectively with inter-disciplinary methods and how public policy interventions can proactively build social capital in at-risk communities.
     
    Daniel’s institutional profile page
    https://cssh.northeastern.edu/faculty/daniel-aldrich/

    • 58 min
    123: Co-production and creativity with Josie Chambers

    123: Co-production and creativity with Josie Chambers

    In this episode, Stefan speaks with Josephine Chambers. Josie is an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, situated within the Urban Futures Studio at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development. Her research develops and examines approaches to questioning so-called ‘inevitable’ unjust futures and fostering collective imagination and agency towards more just and sustainable societies. She weaves together artistic, participatory, imaginative, decolonial concepts to collaboratively explore possibilities for transformative changes with diverse societal groups. 
     
    In the podcast, they speak about two papers Josie and colleagues published analyzing co-production research, one titled ‘Six modes of co-production for sustainability’’ published in Nature Sustainability and the other titled ‘Co-productive agility and four collaborative pathways to
    sustainability transformations’ published in Global Environmental Change. They also discuss the role of creativity in science, and how linking art, creativity and science has potential to extract pluralistic sustainability narratives for just futures. Josie also explains how she brings her knowledge and passion for co-production and creativity into the classroom to reshape learning and student engagement.
     
    Six modes of co-production for sustainability
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-021-00755-x?utm_campaign=related_content&utm_source=HEALTH&utm_medium=communities
     
    Co-productive agility and four collaborative pathways to sustainability transformations
    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378021002016
     
    Josie’s ‘Urban Pulses’ blog
    https://www.uu.nl/en/research/urban-futures-studio/initiatives/blog-utopian-pulses
     
    Josie’s ‘Map of Rural Utopias’
    https://www.uu.nl/en/research/urban-futures-studio/initiatives/techniques-of-futuring-a-mixed-classroom-with-policymakers/rural-utopias
     

    • 58 min
    FFM #3: Mapping coastal fisheries with Paige Roberts

    FFM #3: Mapping coastal fisheries with Paige Roberts

    This is the third episode in our Future Fisheries Management series, which we are running in collaboration with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh.
    In this episode, Michael speaks with Paige Roberts, a fisheries ecologist and geographic information systems, or GIS, expert who is currently an independent consultant after working for nine years for the One Earth Future Foundation, an organization that specializes in finding sustainable solutions in fragile and conflict-affected settings. During her time with One Earth, Paige was closely involved with Project Badweyn in the country of Somalia. Through this project Paige and her colleagues created a free online tool to map out Somali coastal resources and fishing activities to help a range af actors better understand interactions between human activities and the environment. Michael and Paige discuss this project as well as efforts of of the One Earth Future Foundation to promote the sustainability of coastal fisheries through a co-management approach. The conversation concludes with a discussion of Paige’s next steps since leaving the One Earth Foundation.
     
    References:
    A summary of Project Badweyn: https://oneearthfuture.org/en/secure-fisheries/project-badweyn-mapping-somali-coastal-resources-0
    Paige describing Project Badweyn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU2fCo6Y1JU
    GIS resources that Paige shared after the interview:
    Esri makes some of the most popular GIS software. It's a subscription service, but you can get a personal license for around $100 for a year, which gives you access to ArcGIS Pro Software, ArcGIS Online, and the self-paced online training which has a slew of training modules from beginner to advanced. The ArcGIS Pro software is fairly intuitive once you learn the basics of GIS.
    For a free option, QGIS is an open-source GIS software with all the same capabilities as ArcGIS but in a slightly less intuitive interface. It's widely used so there are ample resources online including its own Training Manual. There are many other free resources online and a quick Google search can get you anything you need, from blogs to videos on beginning to advanced techniques and troubleshooting.

    • 49 min

Top Podcasts In Science

Show Me the Science with Luke O'Neill
Newstalk
The Infinite Monkey Cage
BBC Radio 4
Making Sense with Sam Harris
Sam Harris
Hidden Brain
Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam
Radiolab
WNYC Studios
Futureproof with Jonathan McCrea
Newstalk

You Might Also Like

The Ezra Klein Show
New York Times Opinion
The Daily
The New York Times
Planet Money
NPR
Up First
NPR
Freakonomics Radio
Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
Outrage + Optimism
Global Optimism