ESS Business Meeting Minutes, Feb. 16, 2009

Elections:

• Nominees for ESS offices were introduced (distressingly few were present)
• Nominations from the floor were invited. None were made.
• Ballots were distributed. Much hubbub ensued, eventually brought to order by Beth.

ESS Reports:

• There are currently 310 section members. They contribute $5 each to the ESS budget.
• ESS costs – the annual reception, and the two prizes.
• The section needs to recharter by 2011.

Updates from the ISA Governing Council meeting:

• There was some discussion of the proliferation of ISA journals. A moratorium with significant holes in it was declared.
• There is an ISA representative to the UN. Section members should feel free to make use of her to get into UN meetings.
• ISA will enforce participation limits for next year’s meeting, at a maximum of 2 papers and 4 total appearances per person.
• There was a brief discussion of the pilot Working Group program, and the participants were introduced.

Other general business:

• The two ESS awards were awarded
  • Sprout:
    • Winner: Steven Vanderheiden, Atmospheric Justice: A Political Theory of Climate Change (Oxford University Press)
    • Runners up: Charlotte Epstein, The Power of Words in International Relations: Birth of an Anti-Whaling Discourse (MT Press); and Matthew Paterson, Automobile Politics: Ecology and Cultural Political Economy (Cambridge University Press).
  • Graduate Student Paper Prize
    • Winner: Corina McKendry, “Competing for Green: Neoliberalism, Environmental Justice, and the Limits of Ecological Modernization”
    • Runner-up: Elizabeth Havice and Liam Campling, “Shifting Tides: Balancing Access to Foreign and Domsetic Interest in the Western Central Pacific Ocaean’s Tuna Industry.”
• The Compendium project is still looking for reviewers. Please contact MJ Peterson if you are willing and able. (mjp@polsci.umass.edu)
• The “Greening the Conference” committee (a joint ESS/FTGS undertaking) presented 5 proposals:
  • The proposal that there be an option to not receive a paper program for the conference passed with modifications TBD.
  • The proposal for ISA to sell plastic bottles was voted down by the anti-plastics crowd, but a proposal to use glass instead of paper/plastic cups garnered unanimous support.
  • The proposal to require better and more visible onsite recycling passed unanimously.
  • The proposal to make the purchase of offsets a default option generated a mixed response, but there was a general mood in favor of it.
  • The proposal to generate better information passed unanimously.

Election results:

• Chair: Miranda Schreurs
• Executive Committee: Sherrie Baver, Radoslav Dimitrov, and Rodger Payne.
• Nominations Committee: Hans Bruyninckx and David Downie.
• Sprout Award Committee: Steinar Andresen, Matthias Finger, and Matthew Hoffman.
• GEP Board representative: Gabriela Kütting.

Proposed amendments to the ESS constitution:

• The proposal that the constitution be amended to specify that Sprout Award committee members not be allowed to serve consecutive terms passed, with 2 votes against.
• The proposal that elections for section chair and vice-chair be held a year in advance to allow those elected to attend meetings at the conference that precede the section meeting failed to generate much interest one way or the other.

Preview of next year’s conference:

• This year there were 143 paper submissions and some large but unclear to the note-taker full panel submissions.
• We were allotted 35 panels, and had 45 total, including co-sponsored panels but not including ‘innovative’ or theme panels.
• For next year, proposers should include key words in their proposals; and should always include two sections (or one plus theme) in proposals.
• There was a general round of applause for Pam Chasek for her work in putting together the ESS program for the conference.
• And there was a general round of applause for Beth for her services as ESS Chair.

Panel suggestions for next year:

• Simon Nicholson is looking for general themes in ESS for a workshop – send him ideas.
• Dale Rothman: Poverty and the environment. Suggested an on-the-groun workshop in New Orleans.
• Miranda Schreurs: Environmental catastrophes.
• Stephan Bauer: Policy versus theory.
• Jennifer Clapp: Environmental fallout from the economic crisis.
• Lana didn’t catch last name: Environmental convergence.
• Urs Thomas: The role of the state in the economy in generating green-ness.
• Beth Tuleky – The Obama administration and the environment.
• Catherine Grover: Professional education in environmental studies.
• Stacy Vandeveer: Connecting conference to place.
• Mat Paterson: The theory is out there (of course, his theory is often more out there than most…)
• Mike Maneates: The intersection of academia and activists.