States

The Political Economy of Retailing Sustainable Food: Green Consumerism and Sustainability

In recent decades, the global impacts of unsustainable consumption and production patterns have become a leading topic of sustainability, and more recently, climate action discourse. At the policy level, green consumerism – an element of green capitalism – has been positioned as the pathway to more sustainable consumption and production (SCP) practices. Within this model, eco-labeling schemes are used to communicate various sustainability attributes, or conditions of production, to the consumer. This study set out to investigate whether SCP is achievable through green consumerism using a two-part case study that centers around the egg industry and specific hen welfare standards. The case study examines the effectiveness of egg eco-labeling schemes and related statements and images placed on egg packaging in informing consumers' purchasing decisions. It also examines the impacts of green consumerism on organic egg production in the presence of strong consumer demand for enhanced hen welfare standards. The results of the case study demonstrate that in the egg industry, green consumerism is not highly effective because consumers' purchasing decisions are often informed by vague and misleading information about conditions of production. Moreover, the presence of strong consumer demand has not resulted in enhanced hen welfare standards in organic production. …
Date: December 2020
Creator: Toofan, Megan H.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Crisis, New Imperialisms, and Accumulation by Dispossession: The Case of the Pakistan Railways (open access)

Crisis, New Imperialisms, and Accumulation by Dispossession: The Case of the Pakistan Railways

My research examines the three interrelated concepts of crisis; new imperialisms, spatial-temporal fix and accumulation by dispossession (ABD) stemming from the work of David Harvey as a way to understand the contested history of the Pakistan Railways. For the first thirty odd years after Pakistan's inception in 1947, the railways, a state-owned institution, was the primary mode of transport for the public, cargo, and workers. Alongside basic infrastructure, the railways had a vast network of hospitals, schools, workers' colonies and an array of physical infrastructure connected to production, operations and other aspects of the economy. The systematic ransack and decline of the Pakistan Railways reached its peak in 2010. Despite several attempts throughout the 1990s by successive democratic and military-led governments backed by the IMF/World Bank in 2015, it was announced that Pakistan railways would be revived under the banner of the 46 billion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as part of the changing geopolitical context of growing regional connectivity and new Chinese imperialism. By examining the processes that underlie ABD, such as spatial-temporal fix, the following research shows that these processes not only reflect a shift of resources away from the public domain, but in Pakistan also entailed …
Date: August 2020
Creator: Khan, Sher Ali
System: The UNT Digital Library

Green Entrepreneurialism and the Making of the Trinity River Corridor: The Intersection of Nature and Capital in Dallas, Texas

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Since the adoption of neoliberalism, many cities have taken to integrating nature with capital accumulation to create a sense of place. This has been closely tied to urban greening, or green "revitalization." As part of curating this desired character, city governments are working to roll out plans to restore and renew neighborhoods using their natural landscapes through methods such as reforestation, the creation of parks, and commercial development. These cities, deemed Entrepreneurial cities, are increasingly incorporating natural or green spaces into their development of character as part of their branding schemes. This research focuses on the role of nature as the site of economic development and community revitalization within Dallas, Texas. This research examines how the City of Dallas uses nature to attract capital, and how the narratives of development relate to residents' visions for development in the historically neglected Joppa neighborhood in the Trinity River Corridor. Development near Joppa could be an example of how the natural landscape is being used to not only attract developers but also to bring a different ‘class' of resident into the area. By exploring this intersection of nature and capital in Dallas, we can better understand the nuanced ways through which the neoliberalization …
Date: May 2019
Creator: Krupala, Katie Ilene
System: The UNT Digital Library