Rebecca Romsdahl | University of North Dakota (original) (raw)

Papers by Rebecca Romsdahl

The purpose of this study was to gauge the impact of agriculture and energy policies on conservat... more The purpose of this study was to gauge the impact of agriculture and energy policies on conservation practices through a survey of conservation reserve program (CRP) contract holders in a selected Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota-Burleigh, Kidder, and Stutsman Counties. The survey results showed that 48% of respondents are considering returning CRP acres to annual crop production once the contract expires. The largest influence on post-CRP land use was the market prices for production of annual crops. Respondents also identified lack of knowledge of conservation programs as a large hurdle to participation. This may indicate a need for improved communication from program information sources such as the Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resource Conservation Service, from where most contract holders get their information. These findings also provide interesting insight into the motivation and decision-making process surrounding conservation programs, in particular continued pa...

Part of the reference section on the article was included as Supplementary Material with the arti... more Part of the reference section on the article was included as Supplementary Material with the article online. The full reference section for the article is included here.

Energy and Environment Research, 2021

As nations are transitioning to renewable energy sources, they will need to expand and upgrade th... more As nations are transitioning to renewable energy sources, they will need to expand and upgrade their energy infrastructure, including high-voltage power lines (HVPL). We have conducted the first nation-wide survey in the last thirty years to assess public attitudes toward HVPL in the USA. The study evaluates perceptions, knowledge, and attitudes toward building new transmission lines, as these relate to renewable energy, place attachment, and environmental impacts. Our results show that Americans do not recognize how new HVPL could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions; instead, respondents favor moving from centralized energy (large power stations and HVPL) to decentralized energy (local power supply and small scale solar panels and wind turbines. Our findings are consistent with studies from Europe in that citizens recognize negative human impacts on the natural world and support renewable energy, however, they have a limited understanding of the role of HVPL infrastructure in miti...

Urban Affairs Review, 2015

As the United States struggles with national solutions to climate change, state and local governm... more As the United States struggles with national solutions to climate change, state and local governments have increasingly taken policy action in this area. Although existing research addresses why some places adopt climate change policy while others do not, much of this expresses policies as a function of factors in the present period or recent past, leaving the question of whether current climate change policy can be seen as a lagged response to longer term trends largely unaddressed. Examination of climate change policy as a response to longer term changes expands the existing understanding of why locations choose to be active in this area. Pairing unique climate change policy survey data from more than 200 local Great Plains governments with Census and environmental data from 1990 to 2000, this article examines whether changes in local socioeconomic and environmental factors in the 1990s are associated with climate change mitigation and adaptation policy adoption from the following...

Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning

Great Plains Research

As the U.S. struggles with national solutions to climate change, state and local governments have... more As the U.S. struggles with national solutions to climate change, state and local governments have increasingly taken policy action in this area. While some significant research has developed addressing why some places adopt climate change policy while others do not, much of this expresses policies as a function of local factors in the present period or recent past, leaving the question of whether current climate change policy can be seen as a lagged response to longer-term trends largely unaddressed. Examination of climate change policy as a response to longer-term changes can expand the existing understanding of why locations choose to be active in this area - Is policy a reactive response to local changes and, if so, changes in what? Pairing unique climate change policy survey data from over 200 local Great Plains governments with Census and environmental data from 1990-2000, this paper examines whether changes in local socioeconomic and environmental factors in the 1990s are asso...

As the United States continues to struggle with providing national solutions to address climate c... more As the United States continues to struggle with providing national solutions to address climate change impacts, state and local governments have emerged as leaders in both mitigation and adaptation policy. A significant body of existing research has focused on why some states and localities are more actively engaged in climate protection than others, yet little attention has been paid to the role of policy entrepreneurs. Wilson (1980) argues that since the benefits from these policies are widely dispersed and the costs are highly concentrated, the successful implementation of these policies requires a skilled entrepreneur to mobilize latent public support and associate the policy with widely shared values. This paper uses a unique climate change policy dataset gathered from a survey of over 200 local governments in 11 states of the Great Plains region to test Wilson’s assertions regarding the need for, and impact of, policy entrepreneurs on climate protection policy. We see the find...

The subsystem has been the central organizing concept in policy studies research for some time. Y... more The subsystem has been the central organizing concept in policy studies research for some time. Yet, in our experience, subsystems can be inadequate for explaining the flow of local-level processes where a few individuals (e.g. a city council) are involved in policy decisions across many issue areas. The Policy Regimes Perspective, as developed by May and Jochim (2013), introduces the concept of a policy regime, a theoretical construct that exists above and beyond the subsystem when an issue spans multiple subsystems. May and Jochim argue that policy regimes shape policy outcomes through the transmission of shared ideas, in compatible institutional arrangements, with interests that align to support (or oppose) the policy. Among other things, their work suggests that when a policy regime exists, persuasive ideas emerging in one issue area can have impacts on other, ostensibly unrelated areas. In this paper, we develop and test a model based on this argument to explore local-level cli...

Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 2014

ABSTRACT In contrast to the national-level policies found in most developed nations, in the USA, ... more ABSTRACT In contrast to the national-level policies found in most developed nations, in the USA, sub-national governments have emerged as leaders in formulating climate change policy. Yet participation is uneven, and little is understood about why some act and others do not. This paper examines two sets of factors for their influence on climate change adaptation planning in communities of the Great Plains. Using survey data collected from a range of natural resources managers in 900+ jurisdictions in 12 states, the study examines the impact of perceived barriers to climate change planning and the natural environment on the probability that jurisdictions will engage in adaptation planning. The findings show that most jurisdictions remain sceptical of climate change and see no need to engage in adaptation planning. Among those that have begun to plan or have a plan in place already, the strongest influence comes from changes in the physical environment itself.

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 2009

ABSTRACT This paper reports on a survey of government decision-makers to examine their perspectiv... more ABSTRACT This paper reports on a survey of government decision-makers to examine their perspectives toward climate change and to ask if they are adapting their management of natural resources and public health issues; also, what are the challenges they face? Luhmann's theory of ecological communication suggests that a complex issue like climate change will present barriers to adaptation planning. Survey responses show that barriers to the integration of climate science into decision-making are often associated with economic and education systems. These highlight the importance of adaptive governance and collaborative relationships that address constraints and opportunities associated with socio-economic and institutional circumstances of key adaptive decision-makers.

As the United States struggles with national solutions to address climate change, state and local... more As the United States struggles with national solutions to address climate change, state and local governments have become leaders in both mitigation and adaptation policy. Although a significant and growing body of research targets these policies, most studies have assumed common factors motivating both adaptation and mitigation policy adoption. There remains a need for more research on cities of all sizes, their adoption of specific local policies, the factors motivating those choices, and whether the influences for mitigation differ from those that motivate adaptation. The paper uses data from a new survey of over 200 local governments in eleven states of the Great Plains region, including measures distinguishing between mitigation and adaptation policies. These data are employed to test the relative influence of factors from three areas: the policy environment, the attitudes of governmental actors, and community atmosphere, in explaining observed variation in the adoption of climate change policies.

Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, 2014

Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Jan 2013

While both international and national efforts are being made to assess climate change and mitiga... more While both international and national efforts are
being made to assess climate change and mitigate effects,
primary impacts will likely be regional. The US Great Plains
region is home to a mosaic of unique ecosystems which are
at risk from climate change. An exploratory survey of over
900 Great Plains government officials shows concerns for
specific natural resources but not global climate change.
Local government decision-makers are important sources
of initiation for environmental policy; however, less than
20 % of jurisdictions surveyed have developed plans for
adapting to or mitigating potential climate change impacts.
The continental extremes of seasonal and annual climate
variability of the Great Plains can mask the effects of global
climate change and likely influences its’ residents lack of
concern. The study findings indicate a need to reframe the
discussion away from climate change skepticism, toward a
focus on possible impacts within current resource management
priorities such as drought, so that proactive planning
can be addressed.

In graduate education, there is often a great divide between classroom learning and research ende... more In graduate education, there is often a great divide between classroom learning and research endeavors. Using learning community (LC) values and strategies, our goal is to build stronger and more meaningful ties between these two aspects of graduate education so that students see them as complimentary learning rather than separate components. This article describes a collaborative learning project between two core topics to strengthen links between course concepts and research, raise student interest in regional environmental issues, prepare students for postgraduate success, and help foster LC values. The project requires collaborative learning and integration of individual research to achieve team products, for example, reports and presentations, conference poster, or a manuscript submission to a peer-review journal. Although the LC model is tailored toward undergraduate education, student feedback shows our transfer of its values and strategies into the graduate classroom has been successful in three student cohorts.

Decision making for the environment: social and …, Jan 1, 2005

This appendix describes a body of literature that is relevant to understanding the conditions und... more This appendix describes a body of literature that is relevant to understanding the conditions under which decision makers are likely to use social science information in environmentally significant decisions.

Climatic change, Jan 1, 2009

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture, Jan 1, 2005

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture (ISSN 1481-4374), the peer-reviewed quarterly of schol... more CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture (ISSN 1481-4374), the peer-reviewed quarterly of scholarship in the humanities and social sciences, is published by Purdue University Press ©Purdue University online in full text and in open access. The journal publishes scholarship following tenets of the disciplines of comparative literature and cultural studies designated as "comparative cultural studies" in a global, international, and intercultural context and with a plurality of methods and approaches: papers for publication are invited to Abstract: In her paper, "Political Deliberation and E-Participation in Policy-Making," Rebecca J. Romsdahl proposes that the internet has now become a valuable medium for information dissemination and long distance communication; it is also gaining attention as a potential tool for political deliberation. Public participation has been a long-standing tradition in American democracy but most scholars today believe it needs a revival. Some of these scholars believe that e-participation in policy-making could help revitalize political discussion between citizens and government and promote greater participation by disenfranchised groups. Whether this would lead to greater opportunities for true deliberation on political issues and not just add to the prolific exchange of conversation on the internet, however, is a more difficult question. Romsdahl argues that despite the internet's ability to reduce the transaction costs of participation, true deliberation will be more difficult to develop. The internet poses great challenges for the essential components of deliberation, such as ensuring access for all interested individuals, fair and equal involvement for all participants, development of interpersonal trust, and the ability to produce effective dialogue on complex, value-laden issues.