In the Pines

This photo was taken about a week and a half ago. The paddies in Otaki have been flooded to allow for rice seedlings to be planted. This is known a ta-ue 田植. The process creates in the landscape a set of parallel worlds stacked vertically upon one another. I wonder, sometimes, if one is truer than the other. Rice seedlings sprouted early this year and so ta-ue was also moved up about a week. Residents continue to tell me how unusual this year is. Global warming tends to be the favored culprit as I probe deeper with questions. How will the Otaki community respond to a changing climate? Will it be as simple as planting a week early? How can human members of the community predict some of the changes ahead? What can they do now to prepare? Contemplations sprouting from rice paddies.

It's been a slow winter. . .not getting a lot done. Aki and I have both been working at Otaki's ski hill, Ontake 2240 --me as a lift operator and Aki at a restaurant. Not the greatest work, but we both only work weekends and get free season passes, which leaves plenty of time for playing on the slopes. I've also been working on a paper idea for this year's American Anthropological Association meetings in Philadelphia. My interest is in exploring the idea of "socio-ecological resilience", which I've mentioned in other posts, in terms of its socio-political implications as a device for inclusive and equitable forest management. Not a lot to say about it now--still too early in my thinking--but will post as things come together. For now, back to the slopes. Lastly, Happy death day to Cactus Ed. March 14th, 1989 DOWN WITH EMPIRE, UP WITH SPRING!

Just a quick note to give a link to a blog post at "Resilience Science" about a Worldwatch Magazine article by Thomas Homer-Dixon discussing the work of C.S. "Buzz" Holling, an ecologist who has worked with complex systems theory to formulate concepts such as the adaptive cycle and panarchy . Holling's work has been influential in the development of resilience thinking, which is an approach I used in my own research and have mentioned in previous posts. Link to the "Resilience Science" post Link to the Resilience Alliance homepage (you can also find this link in the sidebar)

The following is a link to a paper providing a brief overview of my research that I will be presenting during a panel discussion entitled, "Graduate Student Collaborations and Engagements in Environmental Change Research", at the American Anthropological Association (AAA) meetings in San Francisco this month. Take a look if it's of any interest. Socio-natual resilience: Anthropological engagements with environmental change research

An article on the Daily Yonder website suggests that in the U.S. rising energy prices will have a disproportionate impact on rural communities. The article's author, Penn State geographer Amy Glasmeier, states that: . . .for rural residents, high energy prices unleash a cascade of bad news that ripples through everyday life. Compared with urban areas, residents of rural areas are more dependent on oil for everything, from transportation to heating to making a living. Rural residents tend to drive longer distances to access basic goods and services – including health care – and they have fewer transportation alternatives such as public transportation. Though I agree with Glasmeier's argument, I wonder if the intensity of these problems is not unique to the structure of the U.S. socio-natural landscape. Obviously, rural areas in Japan are being impacted in similar ways by the rising cost of energy--some places more than others (particularly fishing communities )--but as I look ...

A recent trip to the Takigoshi 滝 越 section of the village got me to thinking about "resiliency", a concept I employ in my current research. Located about 10 kilometers to the southwest of the central part of the village near Nagano 's border with neighboring Gifu prefecture, Takigoshi is the smallest of Otaki's hamlets. One gets to Takigoshi by using a small, paved road laid out in bends and arcs in order to fit in a narrow canyon between the Otaki River and a steep embankment of vegetation and crumbling rock. When a large earthquake struck the Otaki area in 1984, an enormous section of earth broke free from Ontake-san and slid down the mountain's southeastern face taking with it a section of the road leading to Takigoshi, which it deposited in the riverbed below, forming a new lake in the process. The residents of Takigoshi, one of whom had watched his own house crumble from it's previously envied perch above the hamlet, had to be airlifted by Groun...