Blog
June 2023 - Pathways for decarbonization: syncing up supply and demand
June 2023 - Jake Hawes
Decarbonization is going to take an all-in approach. It's going to take massive investment. The more efficient we can make that investment, the more palatable it is going to be. Kennedy et al. assess the different infrastructure pathways to decarbonization, how they mesh with demand-side policy, and what scenarios offer the most efficient and environmentally friendly path to slowing climate change.
June 2023 - To debate or not to debate: That is Twitter's question
June 2023 - Jake Hawes
Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, and thousands of others in the Twitter-verse spent the weekend harassing renowned disease scientists Dr. Peter Hotez. Why? Because he declined to debate conspiracy theorist and presidential candidate RFK Jr. on Rogan's show. Leaving aside the problems with mass-harassment of private individuals (they showed up at his house!), why would Hotez decline such a debate? Why should scientists writ large decline these debates with conspiracy promoters? Let's see what decades of climate denial has taught the environmental movement about this very subject.
May 2023 -- Is the Michigan housing crisis only getting worse?
May 2023 - Jake Hawes
What do tourism, tele-work, and climate migration mean for housing along Michigan's coasts?
April 2023 -- What does industrial ecology need to focus on?
April 2023 - Jake Hawes
Why do we need digital twins for more just and sustainable cities? Dr. Joe Bozeman and colleagues tell us.
March 2023 - Jake Hawes
Co-production of knowledge is expected to be central to more sustainable, just outcomes in future social-ecological-technological systems. But it's really hard to train people to do it well. We explored how peer-led and problem-based learning can couple with online tools to enhance co-production training for sustainability professionals.
February 2023 -- Food production and resource use in urban ag
February 2023 - Jake Hawes
How does food production and resource use vary across different types of urban ag? What are the different types of urban ag? That answer might not be as simple as you'd imagine.
November 2022 -- What does carbon-friendly SDG6 look like?
November 2022 - Jake Hawes
What kinds of technology may prove key to environmental sustainability as we plan for a future where everyone has access to safe water?
September 2022 - Roadmap for resource-efficient urban agriculture
September 2022 - Jake Hawes
One of the final project deliverables for FEW-meter was released this month. Here's what we figured out about promoting urban ag that is good for the planet as well as for people.
August 2022 -- Episode V: The Malthusians Strike Back
August 2022 - Jake Hawes
Environmentalism cannot shake the specter of Maltuhsian thinking. What does that mean for how we confront environmental challenges? Two recent papers tackle this 220 year old debate.
July 21, 2022 -- What good is urban agriculture?
July 21, 2022- Jake Hawes
Is urban ag environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable? Rao et al. set out to answer this. In their global review of urban ag case studies, they identify six predominant sustainability themes. In the end, they conclude that the relationship between urban ag and sustainability is anything but black and white, and their insights highlight the importance of continued study of this growing urban land use.
June 23, 2022 -- Welcome to Industrial Ecology!
June 23, 2022- Jake Hawes
Last week I attended the 2022 Industrial Ecology Gordon Research Conference - and it was a whirlwind introduction to the industrial ecology community. Since the GRC is a closed-doors conference, I can't share much of the exciting work that was presented, but I can offer my reactions to a very busy, very exciting week in Maine.
June 13, 2022 -- FEW-meter final report published
June 13, 2022- Jake Hawes
For the last three years, I've been the research assistant managing the University's of Michigan's participation in the international FEW-meter project. Last month, the final report from that project went live. In addition to sharing that report, I want to take this opportunity to revisit that project and discuss how it has influenced me as a scholar. Let's dive in.
June 6, 2022 -- Detroit gardens paper featured at WDET
June 6, 2022- Jake Hawes
Really excited to share that our recent analysis of the distribution of urban gardens in Detroit was featured by WDET last week. This was my first radio interview for a publication, and Pat was great to chat with. I'm really pleased with how this turned out and hopeful that the attention this paper is garnering will influence decision makers to more equitable gardening in Detroit.
https://wdet.org/2022/06/02/urban-gardens-dont-lead-to-gentrification-in-detroit-study-says/
May 29, 2022 -- Where are Detroit's gardens? Who has access to them?
May 29, 2022- Jake Hawes
Detroit is, in many ways, synonymous with the modern urban agriculture movement. Since Pingree's potato patches, Detroit has had a vibrant local food culture, and in the second half of the twentieth century, that gardening culture became an important part of Black resilience in the city. As Detroit has reemerged on the national scene, though, the narrative around urban agriculture has also changed. Instead of a local, community-driven force by neighbors, for neighbors, Detroit has become the "next great frontier" - a moniker that has led modern "settlers" to look to co-opt urban lands for new gardens. In the wake of this new age of urban gardening in the city, what does the distribution of Detroit's gardens look like? Who has access to them? And is gardening driving another great change in Detroit - gentrification? (blog cont.)
May 22, 2022 -- What is gentrification? Can we measure it?
May 22, 2022- Jake Hawes
Ahead of our forthcoming research in Detroit studying green gentrification and urban gardening, here's my first blog post summarizing an important topic in the fields of sustainability and urban geography. What is this thing called gentrification that cities and newspapers are always talking about? How do geographers study it? And what does it have to do with gardens? (blog cont.)
April 18, 2022 -- Rackham Newsletter Feature
Apr. 18, 2022- Jake Hawes
My interview with Voters Not Politicians made it to the desks of Rackham's communication team last week, and they decided to run their own version cataloging our work to evaluate VNP's efforts.
April 5, 2022 -- VNP Newsletter Feature
Apr. 05, 2022- Jake Hawes
This semester I'm working with Voters Not Politicians to evaluate their work with Communities of Interest during Michigan's redistricting process. We're planning to publish several reports on lessons learned and best practices for engagement around redistricting - both for work with Communities of Interest and public education more generally. The organization decided to highlight this in their newsletter this month - check it out!
Feb. 03, 2022 -- Resilience engineering - what can we learn from social-ecological resilience?
Feb. 03, 2022- Jake Hawes
What can we learn about designing for resilience from principles developed in the study of social-ecological resilience? - https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13494 (blog cont.)
Jan. 13, 2022- Jake Hawes
How do you design international service-learning projects to foster the best outcomes in partner communities? That's the question we tackle in our new open-access paper in the International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement - https://doi.org/10.37333/001c.31383 (blog cont.)
Jan. 6, 2022 -- Farmer Vulnerability to Irrigation Water Loss in the American West
Jan. 06, 2022- Jake Hawes
New semester, new paper! Our article studying farmer vulnerability to irrigation water loss is in print. An exciting output from my MS work with Dr. Zhao Ma and co-authors Dr. Morey Burnham, Dr. Meg du Bray, Dr. Vicken Hillis, and Dr. Trina Running. Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01586-4 (blog cont.)