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Browsing by Author "Macdonald, Bradley, advisor"

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    Hydraulic fracturing and the corporate colonization of the subsurface
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Fryer, M. Zoe, author; Macdonald, Bradley, advisor; Mumme, Stephen, committee member; McIvor, David W., committee member; Bubar, Roe, committee member
    The United States presidential election of 2000 played a prominent role in determining the trajectory of the country for the next quarter of a century. The new millennium ushered in a new era with the George W. Bush administration chosen by the courts and the electoral college, the proliferation of hydraulic fracturing, Citizens United which flooded politics with money, restrictions in democracy, and persistent global climate crises. This dissertation will explore the role of the state in facilitating the corporate colonization of the subsurface. Drawing upon the ideas within Ralph Miliband's The State in Capitalist Society, this dissertation will critically analyze American pluralism and the state to reveal the many ways in which American democracy by the people has become democracy by the corporations. Analysis will be conducted using power structure research wherein key governmental positions held by the gas and oil elite will be identified, while using the overall framework of Miliband's state apparatus, including the five areas of the executive, the administrative, the coercive, the judicial, and the sub-state. The primary argument maintained throughout this dissertation is that the gas and oil industry elite have commandeered American democracy and policies to provide for their own benefit, at the expense of the American people and the health of the environment. The conclusion will include the work of Michael Lowy to argue for an eco-socialist leaning future wherein the gas and oil and subsurface are reclaimed as property of the state to be held in preservation.
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    Mind the gap: the value-action gap, nudges, and an ecosocial vision
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Croteau, Jessica, author; Macdonald, Bradley, advisor; Betsill, Michele, committee member; Dickinson, Greg, committee member
    This thesis explores the question: Why do even those with environmental awareness and attitudes often fail to act in an environmental manner? This question begs a second: How can environmental behaviors be engendered? To explore these questions, I first worked to understand the current state of the environment to determine if there is an environmental crisis. The evidence suggests there is an environmental problem, and further, that a majority of humans are aware and opposed to environmental degradation. I then study the environmental value-action gap, or the gap between an individual's environmental attitudes and lack of environmental action. To understand this phenomenon, I studied the individual barriers to action presented in the literature. While compelling, I believe a study of the systemic barriers must also be addressed and discussed the ways in which structural factors work to hinder environmental action. I conclude my thesis with a novel discussion of the use of nudge theory to remove the gap between environmental values and action. However, I note there must be the development of a Critical Nudge Theory, within a new world vision—an Ecosocial vision—to work toward a truly socially and ecologically harmonious future.
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    Sustaining nature, transforming society: rethinking sustainability through radical ecopolitical thought
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013) Means, Morgann K. R., author; Macdonald, Bradley, advisor; Stevis, Dimitris, committee member; Trembath, Paul, committee member
    Sustainability represents a central idea in environmental political thought that provides a conceptual framework for constructing, discussing, and judging the viability of solutions for ecological degradation. Despite the recent predilection for perceiving sustainability as a powerful discursive construct capable of capturing the pursuit of economic prosperity, societal well-being, and ecological vitality within a unified political project, the definition of the notion remains ambiguous and contested throughout the literature. This ambiguity has resulted in concern over the viability of the sustainability concept to induce beneficial transformation and has led to suggestions that the notion is rapidly losing its meaning as a coherent program for environmentally and socially positive change. In response to the ambiguity present in discussions of sustainability and the resulting concern over the diminishing meaning and significance of the term, this thesis constructs a typological analysis of sustainability. It divides the concept into three analytic categories—sustainability as a goal, as a human right, and as a need—in order to critically evaluate the multi-faceted articulations of the term within reformist environmental discourse. Identifying the common objectives of the typological categories, as well as the clear differences between the three reformist discourses regarding the impetus behind sustainability and the agents and processes involved in the transition to a sustainable condition, this thesis critically challenges reformist conceptualizations of sustainability. It then explores three radical ecopolitical discourses—ecocentrism, social ecology, and ecofeminism—in order to examine their potential to re-imagine sustainability and establish coherent conceptual boundaries for its realization. The final chapter of this thesis evaluates the feasibility of the radical ecopolitical paradigms by discussing potential openings for each position to enter into the existing conversation regarding human-nature interactions and to fundamentally restructure the objectives of sustainability, as well as the agents and processes involved in its pursuit.