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Ways To Help And Ways To Hinder: Climate, Health, And Food Security In Alaska Item Type Thesis Authors Loring, Philip A. Download date 28/09/2021 13:42:56 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/9036 "WAYS TO HELP AND WAYS TO HINDER" CLIMATE, HEALTH, AND FOOD SECURITY IN ALASKA By Philip A Loring RECOMMENDED: .A David V. Fazzino II Director, G^pter ror Cross-Cultural Studies APPROVED: Dean, College of Literal Arts / < t £ Dean of the Graduate School Date WAYS TO HELP AND WAYS TO HINDER: CLIMATE, HEALTH, AND FOOD SECURITY IN ALASKA A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Philip A Loring, M.A. Fairbanks, Alaska May 2010 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License See Appendix B for Information UMI Number: 3421514 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI' Dissertation Publishing UMI 3421514 Copyright 2010 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. uestA ® ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT This dissertation explores various ecological, socioeconomic, sociopolitical, and biophysical dimensions food security in Alaska. The context for this work is dramatic climatic change and ongoing demographic, socioeconomic and cultural transitions in Alaska's rural and urban communities. The unifying focus of the papers included here are human health. I provide multiple perspectives on how human health relates to community and ecosystem health, and of the roles of managers, policy makers, and researchers can play in supporting positive health outcomes. Topics include methylmercury (MeHg) contamination of wild fish, the impacts of changes to Alaskan landscapes and seascapes on subsistence and commercial activities, and on ways to design sustainable natural resource policies and co-management regimes such that they mimic natural systems. The operating premise of this work is that sustainability is ostensibly a matter of human health; the finding is that human health can provide a powerful point of integration for social and ecological sustainability research. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page SIGNATURE PAGE....................................................................................................................... i TITLE PAGE.................................................................................................................................ii ABSTRACT..................................................................................................................................iii TABLE OF CONTENTS..............................................................................................................iv LIST OF FIGURES....................................................................................................................viii LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................................................... x LIST OF APPENDICIES.............................................................................................................xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..........................................................................................................xii INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................1 1.1 FOOD SYSTEMS, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE.....................3 1.1.1 Food Security,............................................................................................6 1.2 FOOD SECURITY IN ALASKA...............................................................................7 1.2.1 Contemporary Challenges,..................................................................... 8 1.3 STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION: TRIANGULATING FOOD SECURITY AND HEALTH.................................................................................. 10 1.3.1 Chapter Outline,..................................................................................... 11 1.4 REFERENCES........................................................................................................14 CHAPTER 1 FOOD, CULTURE, AND HUMAN HEALTH, AN INTEGRATIVE APROACH.. ........................................................................................................................................................... 23 1.1 ABSTRACT......................................... 23 1.2 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................... 23 1.3 RURAL ALASKAN FOODWAYS.......................................................................... 26 1.4 GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND OHER CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES...................................................................................................... 28 1.5 RE-EVALUATING FOOD SECURITY FOR RURAL ALASKA........................... 34 1.5.1 Biophysical and Integrative Models o f Health.................................35 1.5.2 Individual Risk Factors: Food-Gene-Culture Interactions 38 1.5.3 Place, Culture, and Psychosocial Health........................................... 39 1.5.4 Different Needs: Age, Gender, Socioeconomic Status......................40 1.6 DISCUSSION: COMING OUT OF, OR IN TO, THE FOODSHED.................... 41 1.7 CONCLUSION.........................................................................................._........... 43 1.8 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 44 CHAPTER 2 THE SOCIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE 57 2.1 ABSTRACT............................................................................................................57 2.2 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................. 57 2.3 VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS............................................................................. 59 2.4 SOCIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY................................................................................... 62 2.4.1 Psychosocial Theory;............................................................................. 64 2.4.2 Political Economy Theory ................................................................... 66 2.4.3 Ecosocial Theory;................................................................................... 67 2.5 DISCUSSION: MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY FOR VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS............................................................................................................. 70 2.6 CONCLUSION....................................................................................................... 73 2.7 REFERENCES....................................................................................................... 74 CHAPTER 3 A RISK-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF WILD FISH CONSUMPTION FOR VARIOUS SPECIES IN ALASKA REVEALS SHORTCOMINGS IN DATA...........................83 3.1 ABSTRACT........................................................................................................... 83 3.2 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................. 84 3.3 METHODS............................................................................................................. 87 3.4 RESULTS................................................................................................................89 3.4.1 Halibut.................................................................................................... 90 3.4.2 Sablefish.................................................................................................. 90 3.4.3 Pollock 90 3.4.4 Arctic Grayling...................................................................................... 91 3.4.5 Northern Pike.........................................................................................91 3.4.6 Trout....................................................................................................... 91 3.4.7 Salmon....................................................................................................91 3.5 DISCUSSION..........................................................................................................99 3.7 CONCLUSION......................................................... 101 3.7 REFERENCES......................................................................................................102 CHAPTER 4 WAYS TO HELP AND WAYS TO HINDER: POLICY FOR SUCCCESSFUL LIVELIHOODS AND RESOURCE CONSERVATION IN AN UNCERTAIN CLIMATE 110 4.1 ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................... 110 4.2 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................I l l 4.3 STUDY AREAS AND METHODS.....................................................................114 4.3.1 Methods.................................................................................................117 4.4 MOOSE-HUNTING VIABILITY IN THE YUKON CIRCLE............................ 120 4.5 FISHING