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The Water-Energy-Food Nexus

Social and Public Policy Dimensions


Scholarship

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2020
  • Zhang, Youlang, Xinsheng Liu , and Arnold Vedlitz. 2020. “How Social Capital Shapes Citizen Willingness to Co-Invest in Public Service: The Case of Flood Control.” Public Administration. (Early view available online.) DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/padm.12646
  • Hannibal, Bryce, and Kent Portney. 2020. “The Impact of Water Scarcity on Support for Hydraulic Fracturing Regulation: A Water-Energy Nexus Study.” Energy Policy 146. (Early view available online.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111718
  • Waitman, Alixandra. 2020. Comprehensive Report of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus Public Opinion Survey. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /189325.
  • Greer, Robert A., Bryce Hannibal, and Kent Portney. 2020. “The Role of Communication in Managing Complex Water-Energy-Food Governance Systems.” Water 12(4): 1183. DOI: 10.3390/w12041183
2019
  • Aldaco-Manner, Lindsey , Rabi Mohtar, and Kent E. Portney. 2019. “Analysis of Four Governance Factors on Efforts of Water Governing Agencies to Increase Water Reuse in The San Antonio Region.” Science of the Total Environment 647: 1498–1507. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitoenv.2018.07.366
  • Daher, Bassel, Bryce Hannibal, Kent E. Portney, and Rabi H. Mohtar. 2019. “Towards Creating an Environment of Cooperation between Water, Energy, and Food Stakeholders in San Antonio.” Science of the Total Environment 651: 2913–2926. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitoenv.2018.09.395
  • Hannibal, Bryce, and Kent Portney. 2019. “Correlates of Food-Energy-Water Nexus Awareness Among the American Public.” Social Sciences Quarterly 100(3): 762–778. DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.12590
  • Hannibal, Bryce, 2019. “Public Concern and Support for Regulation of Unconventional Oil and Gas Development: Individual and Contextual Influences on Texas Residents.” Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Western Political Science Association, San Diego, CA. April 18. Co-authored with Kent E. Portney.
  • Hannibal, Bryce. 2019. “Toward Understanding the Convergence of Researcher and Stakeholder Perspectives Related to Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Challenges: The Case of San Antonio, Texas.” Paper presented at the annual conference the Universities Council on Water Resources, Snowbird, UT, June 11-13. Co-authored with Bassel Daher, Rabi Mohtar, and Kent Portney.
  • Kurian, Mathew, Christopher Scott, V. Ratna Reddy, Graham Alabaster, Adelaide Nardocci, Kent E. Portney, Rizaldi Boer, and Bryce Hannibal. 2019. “One Swallow Does Not Make a Summer: Siloes, Trade-Offs and Synergies in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus.” Frontiers of Environmental Science 7(32): 1-17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2019.00032
  • Portney, Kent. 2019. “Governing the Water-Energy Nexus in the Metropolitan San Antonio Region.” Paper presented at the Texas A&M Law School’s 10th Annual Energy Symposium, Fort Worth, TX, February 22.
  • Portney, Kent E. 2019. “The Role of Communication in Managing Complex Water-Energy-Food Governance Systems.” Paper presented at the annual conference of the Western Political Science Association, San Diego, CA, April 18-20. Paper coauthored with Robert A. Greer and Bryce Hannibal.
  • Portney, Kent E. 2019. “What’s Theory Got to Do with It? Institutional Collective Action and Governance of the Food-Energy-Water Nexus in the Metropolitan San Antonio Region.” Paper presented at the 3rd Annual Local Governance and Sustainability Conference within Conference at the Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, Austin, TX, January 22. Co-authored with Robert A. Greer and Bryce Hannibal.
2018
  • Daher, Bassel, Rabi H. Mohtar, Efstratios N. Pistikopoulos, Kent E. Portney, Ronald Kaiser, and Walid Saad. 2018. “Developing Socio-Techno-Economic-Political (STEP) Solutions for Addressing Resource Nexus Hotspots.” Sustainability 10(2): 512. DOI: 10.3390/su10020512
  • Daher, Bassel, Kent E. Portney, Bryce Hannibal, and Rabi Mohtar. 2018. “Towards understanding the level of communication between water-energy-food government organizations in the San Antonio region.” International Conference on Sustainable Development, Columbia University, September 26-28.
  • Greer, Robert A., Bryce Hannibal, Bassel Daher, and Kent E. Portney. 2018. “Network-Based Urban Governance of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Evidence from the San Antonio Case Study.” Paper delivered at the annual conference of the Association for Public Policy and Management, Mexico City, Mexico. July 20.
  • Hannibal, Bryce and Arnold Vedlitz. 2018. “Social Capital, Knowledge, and the Environment: The Effect of Interpersonal Communication on Climate Change Knowledge and Policy Preferences.” Sociological Spectrum. DOI: 10.1080/027321173.2018.1502108
  • Hannibal, Bryce, and Arnold Vedlitz. 2018. “Throwing it Out: Introducing a Nexus Perspective in Examining Citizen Perceptions of Organizational Food Waste in the U.S.” Environmental Science and Policy. 88: 63–71. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2018.06.012
  • Kurian, Mathew, Kent E. Portney, Gerhard Rappold, Bryce Hannibal and Solomon H. Gebrechorkos. 2018. “Governance of Water-Energy-Food Nexus: A Social Network Analysis Approach to Understanding Agency Behaviour,” Chapter 6 in Stephan Hülsmann and Reza Ardakanian, eds. Managing Water, Soil and Waste Resources to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals: Monitoring and Implementation of Integrated Resources Management. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
  • Portney, Kent E. 2018. “Urban Governance and Sustainability through Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Evidence from the San Antonio Area Case Study.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, New Orleans, LA, January 4–6. Co-authored with Bryce Hannibal.
  • Portney, Kent E., Robert A. Greer, and Bryce Hannibal. 2018. “Environmental Governance in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Implications for Collaboration and Sustainability in the Drought-Prone Metropolitan San Antonio Region.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, MA, August 30.
  • Portney, Kent E., Robert A. Greer, and Bryce Hannibal. 2018. “Fragmentation of Food-Energy-Water Nexus San Antonio Region.” Paper presented at the Association for Public Policy and Management International Conference, Mexico City, July 20.
2017
  • Bullock, Justin B., and Ann O’M. Bowman. 2017. “FEW: Exploring Citizens’ Support for Policy Tools at the Food, Energy, Water Nexus.” Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ep.12727.
  • Bullock, Justin. 2017. “Mental Models of the Water, Energy, Food Nexus.” Paper presented at the 75th annual conference of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 6-9. Co-authored with Bryce Hannibal and Kent E. Portney.
  • Hannibal, Bryce. 2017. “Throwing It Out: Introducing a Nexus Perspective in Examining Citizen Perceptions of Organization Food Waste in the U.S.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Social Science Association, Austin, Texas, April 12–15. Access a PDF of the presentation.
  • Hannibal, Bryce. 2017. “Public Concern and Support for Regulation of UOGD: Individual and Contextual Influences on Texas Residents.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Conference, Montréal, Canada, August 12–15.
  • Hannibal, Bryce. 2017. “Mental Models of the Water, Energy, Food Nexus.” Paper presented at the 75th annual conference of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, IL, April 6 –9 . Co -authored with Justin Bullock and Kent E. Portney.
  • Hannibal, Bryce. 2017. “The Effect of Environmental Hazards on Attitudes and Behaviors about Water Management: A Multilevel Analysis.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Social Science Association, Austin, TX, April 12–15.
  • Kurian, Mathew, Kent E. Portney, Gerhard Rappold, Bryce Hannibal, and Solomon H. Gebrechorkos. 2017. “Governance of Water-Energy-Food Nexus: A Social Network Analysis Approach. Paper presented at the Water, Soil and Waste Dresden Nexus Conference: SDGS & Nexus Approach: Monitoring and Implementation, Dresden Germany. May 17–19.
  • Portney, Kent E., Bryce Hannibal, Carol Goldsmith, Peyton McGee, Xinsheng Liu, and Arnold Vedlitz. 2017. “Awareness of the Food-Energy-Water Nexus and Public Policy Support in the United States: Public Attitudes Among the American People.” Environment and Behavior. DOI: 10.1177/0013916517706531.
  • Kent E. Portney, Arnold Vedlitz, Garett Sansom, Philip Berke, and Bassel T. Daher. 2017. “Governance of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: the Conceptual and Methodological Foundations for the San Antonio Region Case Study.” Current Sustainable/Renewable Energy Reports 4(3):160-167. doi: 10.1007/s40518-017-0077-1
  • Portney, Kent E. 2017. “Soil-Water-Food Nexus: A Public Opinion and Policy Perspective.” In Global Soil Security, edited by Damien J. Field, Cristine L.S. Morgan, and Alex B. McBratney, 371-381. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature.
  • Portney, Kent E., 2017. “Governing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Solving a Common-Pool Resource Challenge?” Paper presented at the Ostrom Workshop Colloquium Series, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, November 13.
  • Teodoro, Manny. 2017. “Trusted Brands: A Model and Experimental Evaluation of Citizen-Based Brand Equity .” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 1–4.
  • Teodoro, Manuel P., and Seung-Ho An. 2017. “Citizen-Based Brand Equity: A Model and Experimental Evaluation.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory. DOI: 10.1093/jopart/mux044
2016
  • Hannibal, Bryce. 2016. “Cognitive Awareness of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus in the US: Public Attitudes among the American People.” Paper presented at the 111th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Seattle, Washington, August 20–23. Co-authored with Kent Portney, Carol Goldsmith, Peyton McGee, Xinsheng Liu, and Arnold Vedlitz. 
    • Abstract: The majority of research into the connections between water and energy, water and food, and food and energy has been scientific and technical, with little research examining the publics’ understandings of these connections. This paper delves into these understandings using a 2015 national public opinion survey on the water‐energy‐food nexus. This survey asked a representative national sample of adults an array of questions to ascertain levels of awareness of nexus issues among the general public. Responses to these questions are used to create a “cognitive awareness index” for each node of the nexus – water and energy, water and food, and energy and food, with an eye toward making inferences about relative levels of understanding of the connections. These indexes are then used as independent variables to investigate the extent to which awareness is associated with willingness to support public policies designed to intervene in the nexus. The results suggest that levels of awareness vary considerably across individuals and across the nexus nodes. All three indexes are highly related to a number of policy options for mitigating problems or strengthening synergies associated with the connections. We discuss implications of these findings for public policies, with recommendations for improved awareness and policy interventions that are most likely to be supported. The results strongly suggest that awareness of the water‐energy‐food nexus may represent conditions necessary for supporting policy responses and that building awareness of nexus issues could represent an important pathway for increasing support for policy interventions
  • Hannibal, Bryce. 2016. “Political Ideology and the Invisible Environment: A Multi-Level Analysis of Biophysical Impacts on Individual Behaviors and Attitudes about Water.” Paper presented at the 111th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Seattle, Washington, August 20–23. Co-authored with Arnold Vedlitz. 
    • Abstract: Water-related environmental challenges have increased in importance and prevalence in recent years, and will likely continue to be addressed as important environmental issues. Research addressing how biophysical water issues influences individual attitudes and behaviors regarding water is underspecified. To address this gap, this manuscript examines the extent to which local environmental incidents and hazards influence an individuals’ attitudes and behaviors about water. We use public nationally-representative opinion data as well as data from SHELDUS, the USDM, and FEMA to examine county-level contextual factors. Our results show that very few biophysical indicators influence individual attitudes and behaviors about water, which are instead influenced by sociodemographic and political characteristics, of which political ideology is a prominent influencing factor. Our results suggest that it is unlikely that growing negative environmental experiences surrounding water will lead Americans to shift behaviors and attitudes more generally towards investments in new water policy proposals
  • Portney, Kent. 2016. “Cognitive Awareness of the Food-Energy-Water Nexus: Ideological and Policy Perspectives.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 1–4. Co-authored with Bryce Hannibal, Carol Goldsmith, Peyton McGee, Xinsheng Liu, and Arnold Vedlitz. Access the powerpoint presentation.
  • Bowman, Ann O’M. 2016. “Exploring Citizens’ Support for Policy Tools at the Food, Energy, Water Nexus.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 1–4. Co-authored with Justin Bullock. Access the powerpoint presentation.
  • McGee, Peyton. 2016. Public Opinion on Agriculture and Food Policies, Programs, and Management: An Analysis of Results from the National Water-Energy-Food Nexus Survey. College Station, TX: Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy, The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University. Access the report PDF. 
    • Abstract: This report presents some of the results from the 2015 National Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus Survey, conducted under the auspices of the Bush School’s Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy (ISTPP). This report analyzes the responses to questions that measure a variety of attitudes about agriculture and food asked of a large nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. The questionnaire spanned a number of related topics, including peoples’ concern about food availability, trust in different government agencies and levels of government, trust in other types of organizations, concerns about agricultural production, and public policy preferences
  • Hannibal, Bryce. 2016. “Social Determinants and Political Implications of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus Cognition.” Paper presented at the 16th National Conference and Global Forum on Science and the Environment, Washington D.C., January 19–21.
  • Bullock, Justin. 2016. “Policy Preferences at the Nexus of Water, Energy, and Food.” Paper presented at the 16th National Conference and Global Forum on Science and the Environment, Washington D.C., January 19–21. Co-authored with Ann O’M. Bowman.
  • Teodoro, Manny. 2016., “Brand Value: Who Do People Trust to Manage the Nexus?” Paper presented at the 16th National Conference and Global Forum on Science and the Environment, Washington D.C., January 19–21. Co-authored with Seung-Ho An.