Simone Pulver
· Associate Professor & Department ChairVerifiedUniversity of California, Santa Barbara · Environmental Studies
Active 2000–2023
About
Dr. Simone Pulver is an Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Environmental Studies Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she arrived as an Assistant Professor in 2009. Her academic background includes a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.A. in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley, and a B.A. in Physics from Princeton University. Her research broadly focuses on the intersection of economic action and environmental harm, integrating theoretical frameworks related to global governance, organizational theory, and economic and environmental sociology. Dr. Pulver has led NSF-funded research projects investigating oil industry responses to climate change, climate politics in Mexico, and low carbon investments by firms in Brazil and India. She is currently directing projects that examine changes over time in pollution production within the US manufacturing sector and responses to uncertainty in climate adaptation. Her work emphasizes understanding socio-environmental systems and the political and organizational responses to environmental challenges.
Research topics
- Economics
- Business
- Political Science
- Public administration
- Economic system
- Environmental science
- Environmental economics
- Natural resource economics
- Public relations
- Microeconomics
- Management
- Political economy
Selected publications
Corporate concessions: Opportunity or liability for climate advocacy groups?
Global Environmental Change · 2023-06-01 · 1 citations
articleOpen access1st authorCorrespondingWhen social movements achieve some success in meeting goals, elite opponents may see compromise and collaboration with movement organizations as a desirable option. The consequences for advocacy organizations of elite concessions are contested. Some highlight the political opportunities created by elite support, such as increased access to financial resources, political processes, and new audiences. Others identify potential liabilities, including demobilization, bureaucratization, and the co-optation of advocacy frames. Herein is presented a framework for analyzing the pathways through which realignments among elite opponents influence social movement struggles, using the first fifteen years of the international climate negotiations as a historical case. After years of pressure from environmental advocacy organizations, some global oil corporations shifted their climate policy stance from obstruction to collaboration. These realignments in turn affected the activities, framing strategies, policy access, and cross-group relations of climate advocacy groups, benefiting some to the detriment of others.
The Roots of Socio-Environmental Research in Geography and Anthropology
Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2022-11-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingEarly research in anthropology and geography focused on the diversity of societies and cultures. Semple considered the land basis of societies, from hunter-gatherers to modern nation states. As against this environmental determinism, Boas argued that geography can modify and constrain culture but not create it. Rappaport showed how ritual can regulate, through feedback, the balance of broader ecosystems. Reflecting on work in the Amazon, Moran argued that socio-environmental debates reflect different levels of analysis. Humans altered human–environment relationships by domesticating plants and animals during the Neolithic revolution, as described by Childe. Mumford explores the evolution of cities and suburbs, including the separation of people from resources and urban pollution. We assume modern life affords leisure, but Sahlins shows the affluence of hunter-gatherers given lower environmental demands. How society adapts to natural hazards is explored by White, while Blaikie and Brookfield pioneer political ecology by showcasing the cycle of poverty and land degradation. Sustainable livelihoods require emphasis on equity and capabilities, argue Chambers and Conway.
Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2022-11-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingA summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2022-11-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingA summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2022-11-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingA summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2022-11-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingA summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
The politics of domestic climate governance: making sense of complex participation patterns
Journal of European Public Policy · 2022 · 16 citations
Senior authorCorresponding- Political Science
- Political Science
- Political economy
This article reviews literature on six actor groups engaged in domestic mitigation governance. It evaluates the usefulness of three climate governance models: market failure, socio-technological transition and public support. For each group, three modes of action are considered: influencing, decision-making and implementing. The public support model is found to best capture the wide range of actors and real-world, complex participation patterns of domestic climate governance. The socio-technological transitions and market failure models in their narrow focus on political and business actors ignore the influencing roles of other groups, such as climate advocacy organizations, anti-climate action groups, Indigenous people’s organizations and labor unions. However, they offer more insight on actor engagement in decision-making and implementation, roles mostly ignored by the public support model. Overall, more systematic comparative research is needed on a wider range of actors, on domestic climate governance in the global South, on differences across countries, sectors and policy domains and on interactions between actors.
Technology, Energy, Materials, and Socio-Environmental Research
Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2022-11-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingA distinct branch of socio-environmental research, grounded in the physical principles of conservation of mass and energy, applies a systems modeling approach to society–environment interactions, emphasizing material and energy flows. Technology and technological advancement, alongside population and resources, feature prominently in determining the metabolisms linking society and nature. This approach mostly focuses on analyzing industrial systems (e.g. Ayers and Kneese, Meadows et al., Beck, Graedel et al.) but also offers insight on agrarian societies (Boserup) and hunter-gatherer communities (Fischer–Kowalski). Across these levels of social organization, technology is variously viewed as overcoming the limits nature places on society, as facilitating the resource exploitation and production of waste that lead to social collapse, or as the basis for internalizing externalities and building a circular economy. Key readings constituting this branch of socio-environmental research draw on tools from economics and engineering, such as input–output models, system models, feedback loops, environmental impact analysis, and material and energy flow accounting.
Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2022-11-18
book-chapter1st authorCorrespondingA summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
2022-11-18
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Recent grants
NSF · $254k · 2009–2014
NSF · $349k · 2016–2022
Frequent coauthors
- 64 shared
Steven M. Alexander
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
- 60 shared
Kathryn J. Fiorella
- 60 shared
Meghan L. Avolio
- 13 shared
Nathan Hultman
- 7 shared
Stacy D. VanDeveer
University of Massachusetts Boston
- 5 shared
Yaakov Garb
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
- 4 shared
Brian C. O’Neill
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- 3 shared
Dustin Hill
Syracuse University
Awards & honors
- Distinguished Mentor for the post-doctoral socio-environment…
- UCSB Faculty Sustainability Champion 2018-2019
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