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European Journal of Applied Sciences – Vol. 10, No. 6
Publication Date: December 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/aivp.106.13653. Leslie, C. M., Burns, T. J., & Hekmatpour, P. (2022). Bridging the Divide between Theory and Applied Research: New Ecological
Measures as Pathways to Ecological Balance. European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(6). 563-569.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Bridging the Divide between Theory and Applied Research: New
Ecological Measures as Pathways to Ecological Balance
Carrie M. Leslie
University of Oklahoma
Thomas J. Burns
University of Oklahoma
Peyman Hekmatpour
University of Oklahoma
ABSTRACT
In studying environmental problems, it is beneficial when theoretical and applied
approaches work in synthesis, bridging gaps towards potential solutions. This
paper calls for the utilization of new ecological measures (NEMs) in scientific
research. We offer discussion and examples. Applied research advances with a
shared discourse of measures that adequately bridges theoretical investigation and
applied studies, allowing for transdisciplinary collaboration. A shared discourse of
new ecological measures is crucial to outline how the scope, extent and severity of
ecological problems can be operationalized as new measures, adding clarity and in
some cases pointing toward prudent policy implications and action.
In studying environmental problems, it is important to have both theoretical and applied
approaches that work in synthesis, bridging gaps towards potential solutions. In a general
sense, research on environmental problems, from a human ecology perspective, often has
converged around eight major indicators, which in many frameworks can be characterized as
master variables. One such master variable is Population, and on a general level there is little
disagreement about the fact that population change is a major predictor of ecological outcomes.
The question immediately arises: what about population leads to which particular ecological
outcomes? Population may be operationalized as total population, age cohort distributions
(particularly popular in projections of input and output to retirement systems in a country),
gender distributions (of particular interest in projections of violent outcomes, for example—
see [1]), urban population (used in a variety of greenhouse gas emission projections and
ecological footprint measures), rural population (used in a variety of studies seeking to make
sense of human causes of deforestation).
Beginning with Population, we can organize discussion of these eight master variables under
the acronym POETICAS. In addition to 1) Population, these other collections of POETICAS
master variables include: 2) Organizations & Institutions; 3) Ecological systems; 4) Technology;
5) Illness & health; 6) Culture; 7) Affluence & inequality; 8) Scale, scope & time. For an extensive
review, see [2]; for an in-depth examination of earlier variants, see [3]. Each of these variables
can and has been operationalized in many ways in previous research. Slightly less apparent is
the fact that depending on what measure of the indicator is used, distinctly different
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European Journal of Applied Sciences (EJAS) Vol. 10, Issue 6, December-2022
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conclusions can be reached. This is at least a partial explanation for why findings in any field
and particularly newer fields can be so variable and seemingly contradictory.
Interdisciplinarity is critical to addressing the frequent lack of communication among
disciplines [4], particularly for ecological threats such as climate change. While these variables
are certainly interrelated for example urban population is better at predicting some ecological
outcomes like greenhouse gas emissions, while rural population change is often a better
predictor of deforestation [5, 6]. Focusing on enhancing particular measures and adding new
ones, when necessary, will be crucial to address current devastating environmental problems.
We offer a term for these integral measures - new ecological measures, or NEMs. Developing
more precise and focused measures allows new areas of research to create validity and
reliability for future research to address underlying casual and correlated linkages to clarify
where solutions can be targeted. For example, with the advent of the concept of the half-life of
radiation, it became possible not just to measure radiation, but it also gave researchers, and
citizens, the ability to think about the concept and related ones more accurately.
This paper is a call for the utilization of new ecological measures (NEMs) in all areas of scientific
research. We give a couple of examples here in the paper, but the more salient point is that
research can advance, with appropriate bridges intact between theoretical investigation and
applied studies, which is directly related to a shared discourse of measures allowing for
transdisciplinary collaboration [7]. This shared discourse of new ecological measures is
imperative to outline how the severity of ecological problems can be operationalized as new
measures indicating severity or immediacy of action. More accurate measures of phenomena
such as bioaccumulation would go a long way in moving past the idea that a danger level can be
set once and for all on a given toxin. Questions of scale, scope and time come into this
profoundly. In issues of ‘Illness and health,’ we would look for things that interact with these
environmental toxins as far as other chemical compounds, prior health conditions, or other
contextual factors.
Related to how culture impacts ecological problems, environmental attitudes and framing are
important indicators of sociopolitical or economic restraints that also exacerbate certain
ecological outcomes [8, 9]. John Cobb [10, 11], theologian and philosopher, articulates
Planetism as an approach that differs from the previously dominant paradigm of Economism.
Cobb’s economism also is comparable to prioritizing a “human exemptionalist paradigm,” or a
blatant disregard of humanity’s connection to our physical environments and a prioritization
of humans as a species [12, 13]. Catton and Dunlap [14] first introduced the “New
Environmental Paradigm” as a call for the operationalization of human “causes and
consequences” of ecological degradation, rather than solely measuring the impact on society
from ecological problems or climate changes. Dunlap and Catton [13] stated that researching
human causes of ecological damage needs to be a primary focal point of environmental
sociological research especially related to environmental problems such as the climate crisis.
Human, or anthropogenic causes of environmental and climate degradation were
acknowledged by the president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences as “surpass[ing]
natural processes as agents of change in the planetary environment” [13, p.106]. The “New
Environmental Paradigm” also echoes Cobb’s [10] Planetism, insofar as it suggests re-balancing
ecosystem disturbances and re-focusing on the “natural economy,” where the natural, human
and animal health is constantly assesses and valued.
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Leslie, C. M., Burns, T. J., & Hekmatpour, P. (2022). Bridging the Divide between Theory and Applied Research: New Ecological Measures as Pathways
to Ecological Balance. European Journal of Applied Sciences, 10(6). 563-569.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/aivp.106.13653
Conceptualizing ecological problems also is facilitated by a clear set of commonly used
measures. It is here where the nexus between theory and applied research is most needed in
order to bridge findings in scientific research and common practice. The more well-defined a
concept is and the more operationalized it is in society, the more likely it is to fit into what
sociologists have called plausibility structures [15, 16, 17], frames [18, 19], or networks of
meaning organized around prioritizing summary symbols [20, 21]. These networks of meaning
then can serve as a backdrop for further theorization and applied research. It is also important
to recognize that the effectiveness of ideas stems, from the extent to which those ideas have
been incorporated into subsequent networks of meaning. Consider how influential Adam
Smith's ideas laying the foundation of neo-classical economics have been since first introduced
two and a half centuries ago, accepted in many economic departments and framed as a concept
that is unquestionable and beyond debate [22, 23, 24].
Addressing environmental problems in the Anthropocene and in the future will require new
measures to accurately assess environmental and human precarity [25, 26, 27]. The potency of
scientific concepts, particularly environmental ones can be seen when they are used in business
initiatives and governmental policies. While it is always important to address questions of
validity of a given measure, perhaps the more important question is: What is the efficacy, the
justification, for measuring in the first place? Finding scientific solutions to human-induced
ecological problems requires new ecological measures, or NEMs to provide data for building
new systems and structures that are ecologically-centered [28].
Hekmatpour and Leslie (2022) develop a new measure for ecologically unequal exchange (EUE)
at the international level to explain disparities in the trajectories of mortality rates attributable
to air pollution between nations. This new index combines the two frequently used measures
in the literature (i.e., weighted export flows and merchandise exports to high-income
economies) [29-32]. This new measure takes into account both the share and volume of
merchandise exports to high-income countries. There is evidence that, per every dollar sold,
exports to high-income economies from lower-income countries become more ecologically
intensive and harmful for the local environments [33]. Thus, it is important to consider both
the total size (volume) and the proportion of a nation’s exports that goes to high-income
economies. Therefore, in addition to the direction of trade between countries, this measure
accounts for the significance of the scale of the export-oriented economic activities in
developing countries highlighted in the previous research [34, 35]. Hekmatpour and Leslie’s
2022 [36] measure of ecologically unequal exchange is shown in the equation below. Here, �!"
ecologically unequal exchange for country � at time � is the natural logarithm of �, the percent
share of merchandise sent to high-income multiplied by �, the total value of all merchandise
exports from that country in that year.
�!" = ln (�!" × �!")
EXTENDED EXAMPLE: REPARATION AND REGENERATION FOR THE EARTH
Climate change is an urgent threat and crisis that demands immediate action and applied
science. Klinenberg et al. [37, p. 650] explain their “use of the term climate crisis rather than
climate change to reflect a terminology that more accurately captures the condition of urgency
and danger.” In common speech, many have adjusted discourse to capture the immediacy of
climate threats. Our future as a human species is threatened currently if we do not lessen