El apagón político-participativo por covid-19 y el turismo para la sustentabilidad en Mazunte, Oaxaca

La pandemia generó una interrupción en las relaciones personales, un apagón en el medio social y en la participación política. El objetivo de este trabajo es establecer algunas consecuencias de este apagón en la toma de decisiones en tres comunidades oaxaqueñas regidas por usos y costumbres, considerando una perspectiva crítica de la sustentabilidad. Con una metodología cualitativa que implicó diálogos con diferentes actores en condiciones de aislamiento, se encontraron situaciones que rompen el equilibrio que buscan en sus procesos de turismo para la sustentabilidad;la reconexión requerirá mucho trabajo comunitario y el acompañamiento de autoridades, academia y organizaciones civiles.Alternate :The pandemic generated an interruption in interpersonal relationships, a blackout in the social environment and in political participation. This work aimed to establish some consequences of this blackout in decision-making in three Oaxacan communities governed by customs and customs, considering a critical perspective of sustainability. Under a qualitative methodology that involved dialogues with different actors in conditions of isolation, situations were found that break the balance they seek in their tourism processes for sustainability;reconnection will require a lot of community work and the accompaniment of authorities, academia, and civil organizations.

Necessary Pains

The mind of a woman in labor is unparalleled in both strength and vulnerability. In this personal essay, I recount how I harnessed my memories about my mother and grief over her recent passing to cope with the isolation and pain of my labor and delivery on June 2, 2020—what became known as Blackout Tuesday—during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a first-time mother, being dropped off at the hospital while in pre-labor and walking through the double doors alone triggered the memories of entering the intensive care unit at the hospital where my mother died—the last time I had been in a hospital. It was a reminder that some spaces have room only for one. With my memory as my companion and labor support until my husband and I were permitted to be reunited hours after both testing negative for the virus, I navigate the meaning and purpose of pain as I push closer to giving life. This essay emerged during my first year of motherhood, out of my grapple with giving life while healing from my mother’s death, to gradually unveil my long-sought proverbial bend in the road.

LABOUR, SELF-CARE AND RESPITE: NEOLIBERAL RATIONALITIES IN SLEEP CRISIS RHETORIC

This article tracks the emergence of sleep discourse in the past ten years in the USA, illustrating a democratisation of this rhetoric insofar as it has begun to interpellate populations beyond midlife women. Despite the sociological and demographic inequities associated with sleep deficits in marginalised populations, the much vaunted 'sleep crisis' is more widely appreciated as a distinct self-care frontier. Such behavioural scripts resonate with exaltations of the self as resilient entrepreneurial problem-solver and are linked to the broader positioning of self-care as salve for the injuries of neoliberalism. Beginning with sleep's ties to women's wellness and consumerist culture writ large, we apprehend sleep as an economy, one with staggering new commercial dimensions. Sleep remedies tend to be focused narrowly on the acquisition of products and technologies (sleep sprays, essential oils and melatonin gummies, blackout curtains, premium bedding, sleep apps, sound machines, adult sleep coaches), all of which come under consideration here. The investigation then turns to the heightened attention paid to the experience of sleep during COVID-19, discusses how sleep discourse articulates to and with a sense of ambivalent dispossession from work regimes and, finally, argues that the sleep crisis has been leveraged to intensify neoliberal brutalities.

INTRODUCTION FROM THE EDITORIAL TEAM

SEDAAG meetings offer a suite of professional development benefits and have excelled in distinguishing exceptional contributions in scholarship, instruction, and service. In the context of risk mitigation strategies associated with potentially increasing flood and landslide events in western North Carolina, Bonevac et al. interviewed key informants (i.e., often residents with subject expertise) in Buncombe and Watauga counties to develop a better understanding of these processes. [...]intersectional factors such as race and gender may also affect the residential selection process in addition to physical symbols (e.g., flags and yard signs), which were used to evaluate neighborhoods.

Trees to towers shift: Power lines emerging as a novel habitat for birds in Gujranwala, Pakistan

Power infrastructure (electricity towers, mobile phone towers, transmission lines and wires) is a unique anthropogenic structure in terms of material composition, design and continuity serving as artificial habitat to avian wildlife for roosting and nesting. This study aimed at finding out the diversity, abundance and behaviour of birds using the power structures as artificial habitat in the Gujranwala city area, Pakistan. Field data was collected in Feb-Mar 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns in the city by recording all birds species and nests on power lines along a circular path (~32 km) by dividing into sampling zones. A total of 24 bird species of 16 families were found to be using these structures as roosting and nesting sites. The occupation rate of mobile phone towers is found to be 61%, transmission lines 32%, and electricity towers 1.8%. House crow was the most common species (~20% population) followed by the Black kite (~ 18% population). The spatial distribution pattern of nests on power structures indicated higher concentration in the southwestern area contrary to the highest abundance and diversity in the northwestern area close the urban forest planation. Total 112 nests of 4 species (Black kite, House crow, Common myna and Eurasian collard dove) were present on power lines. Black kite is the most frequent nesting species (>80% of all nests), preferring high structures i.e. transmission lines (99% of all nests) and mobile phone towers (78% of all nests) for making nests. House crow and Common myna make nests on electricity towers at low height. It is found that the area where cutting of trees during the past time period occurred, birds have shifted their nesting habitat from trees to towers (i.e., power structures). Moreover, if habitat destruction continues these power lines will be the new nesting habitat of the birds in the urban area, hence, posing risks to both birds and utility structures. This study also highlighted the importance of strategic plantation in relation to spatial distribution and protection of urban birds.

Resilience Analysis of Australian Electricity and Gas Transmission Networks

Given they are two critical infrastructure areas, the security of electricity and gas networks is highly important due to potential multifaceted social and economic impacts. Unexpected errors or sabotage can lead to blackouts, causing a significant loss for the public, businesses, and governments. Climate change and an increasing number of consequent natural disasters (e.g., bushfires and floods) are other emerging network resilience challenges. In this paper, we used network science to examine the topological resilience of national energy networks with two case studies of Australian gas and electricity networks. To measure the fragility and resilience of these energy networks, we assessed various topological features and theories of percolation. We found that both networks follow the degree distribution of power-law and the characteristics of a scale-free network. Then, using these models, we conducted node and edge removal experiments. The analysis identified the most critical nodes that can trigger cascading failure within the network upon a fault. The analysis results can be used by the network operators to improve network resilience through various mitigation strategies implemented on the identified critical nodes.