Wood, Alyssa A.

Coastal ecosystems, such as the salt marsh of the Georgia coast, have long been valued for decision-making purposes based on market-values of goods and services including: fishery landings, hedonic pricing of waterfront homes, and tourism dollars. These values do not show the full picture of services provided by these ecosystems. Using focus group discussions and key informant interviews I investigate socio-cultural values and benefits provided by salt marsh ecosystems in central coastal Georgia. Participants noted that through their experiences in marshes they developed a desire to be stewards. This desire, coupled with the industrial pollution, residential development, and sea-level rise threats in the area result in a need for cooperative conservation and thus better enforcement of existing regulations. This relational value persisted across geographic locations and sample populations. My results show the importance of utilizing diverse members of community to elicit qualitative value statements.

This study explores the perceived elitism within both the environmentalist community and general public in regards to "environmental diets" such as : vegetarianism, veganism, locavore-ism, and ethical omnivory. I explore these diets and potential expressions of elitism within the framework developed by Morrison and Dunlap in their discussion of environmental elitism. Examples come from published sources as well as personal anecdotes. Through this study, I suggest that this perceived elitism is actually not elitism per se, but a very thin line of tension between describing the ideal food systems aside the current state of food inequity and industrial agriculture. Simply, I am trying to grapple with how to be educated in the fields of Food Studies and systems of oppression without perpetuating elitism alongside the system which desperately needs reform.