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Science in Carbon Economies: Debating What Counts in US Biofuel Governance

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  • Sean Gillon

    (Department of Food Systems and Society, Marylhurst University, 17600 Pacific Highway, Marylhurst, OR 97036, USA)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the scientific practices that constitute carbon economies by rendering carbon countable, fungible, and governable. Examining US biofuel governance, I draw on field research and document and policy analyses to consider the roles state, private industry, and civil society actors play in negotiating scientific practice in biofuel governance and to explore the geographically uneven consequences of contrasting science–society configurations. This research illustrates the complex and contradictory roles of nature's quantification and state-supported science in carbon economies. Although nature's quantification as carbon was initially used as a technology of opposition and accountability to limit vested interest power and maintain biofuels' greenhouse gas reduction capacity, it ultimately served industry interests by focusing policy deliberation on technical issues industry deftly navigated and away from policy rationale, value conflict, and biofuels' broader social–ecological consequences. Drawing attention to state-supported environmental risk assessment and place-based approaches to integrating science and agriculture, this research describes multiple, conflicting modes of state scientific practice and emphasizes the importance of considering multiple scientific perspectives in climate change research and intervention. I argue that, rather than focusing on mitigating climate change through universal, carbon-focused science alone, future science–society configurations should include efforts to build institutional capacity for transformation and adaptation to confront uneven and changing social–ecological circumstances using site-specific scientific knowledge.

Suggested Citation

  • Sean Gillon, 2014. "Science in Carbon Economies: Debating What Counts in US Biofuel Governance," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(2), pages 318-336, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:46:y:2014:i:2:p:318-336
    DOI: 10.1068/a46162
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Searchinger, Timothy & Heimlich, Ralph & Houghton, R. A. & Dong, Fengxia & Elobeid, Amani & Fabiosa, Jacinto F. & Tokgoz, Simla & Hayes, Dermot J. & Yu, Hun-Hsiang, 2008. "Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12881, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    2. Keith Warner & Kent Daane & Christina Getz & Stephen Maurano & Sandra Calderon & Kathleen Powers, 2011. "The decline of public interest agricultural science and the dubious future of crop biological control in California," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(4), pages 483-496, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kean Birch, 2016. "Emergent Imaginaries and Fragmented Policy Frameworks in the Canadian Bio-Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-16, October.

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