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Volume 2 Environment Pollution and Climate Change
ISSN: 2573-458X Climate Change 2018 &
Global ENVITOX 2018
October 04-06, 2018
October 04-06, 2018
London, UK
16th Annual Meeting on
Environmental Toxicology and Biological Systems
&
5th World Conference on Climate Change
JOINT EVENT
The political ecology of ‘climate change’inTexas:Asteep learning curve forWest Texas wheat farmers
Sara E Alexander
Baylor University, USA
We live in a world of climate uncertainty where farmers pursue a variety of means to diminish vulnerability, utilizing
strategies to respond to and mitigate against the effects of climate change. Specific responses include seeking new
knowledge and training, using particular agricultural technologies, relying on institutional resources, and turning to both
personal and professional social networks. The traditional model of agriculture as “performance”, ultimately affirms that risks,
such as challenges associated with climate change, are entrenched within a structure of social, economic and biophysical
mechanisms that are continuously being managed by farmers. Agricultural systems are correspondingly found in a setting of
commonly-shared worldviews, social complexities, values, and cultural norms. In this landscape, the decisions farmers reach,
entail meaning and direction that may be far more complex than an analysis focused solely on the more pragmatic economic
principles and agricultural productivity standards. Rather, they comprise the farmer’s intuitive reasoning and socialization in
addition to his/her technical and resource management skills. The author will present findings from an ethnographic pilot
study aimed to illuminate farmers’ perspectives on changing weather patterns, climate change forecasts and their implications
for viability of farming enterprises, all within the context of Texas wheat production. With focus on livelihoods and cultural
values, risk management, and weather and climate change in terms of decision-making and wheat farming in west Texas,
the study emphasizes what motivates farmers and how they themselves value those factors that contribute to their goals and
aspirations, how farmers see themselves addressing climate risk in the context of a wide array of pressures, and how farmers
respond to the communication of predictive information in light of their sense of place and self.
Recent Publications
1. Yohannes H (2016) A review on the relationship between climate change and agriculture. Journal of Earth Science and
Climatic Change 7(2):335–342.
2. Brugger Julie and Michael Crimmins (2013) The art of adaptation: living with climate change in the rural American
Southwest. Global Environmental Change 23:1830–1840.
3. Gosling Simon N and Nigel WArnell (2013) A global assessment of the impact of climate change on water scarcity.
Climatic Change 134(3):371–385.
4. Buys Laurie, E Miller and K van Megen (2012) Conceptualizing climate change in rural Australia: community perceptions,
attitudes and (in) actions. Regional Environmental Change 12:237–248.
5. Scherr Sara J, Seth Shames and Rachel Friedman (2012) From climate-smart agriculture to climate-smart landscapes.
Agriculture and Food Security 1:12–26.
Biography
Sara EAlexander, as an Applied Environmental Anthropologist, the majority of her research projects focus on the dynamics of human populations and environmental
change, specifically climate change in most cases. A project she recently completed in several coastal communities in Belize, addresses the ways in which
households respond to climate-related shocks. The research involved determining levels of vulnerability and devising a Resilience Index to examine specific
responses and coping strategies to climate-related disturbances. In 2014, she conducted research in the western interior region of Belize to determine awareness
and level of understanding of climate change on the part of those working in the tourism industry.
Sara E Alexander, Environ Pollut Climate Change 2018, Volume 2
DOI: 10.4172/2573-458X-C1-002