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Peter Klepeis

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Peter Klepeis

Professor of Geography

Department/Office Information

Geography
305 Ho Science Center

Contact

(315) 228-6797

BA, 冈本视频, 1994; MA (1997), PhD (2000), Clark University

My research and teaching focus on nature-society relationships and themes in sustainability science. Drawing on perspectives from political ecology and environmental history, and bridging traditions in the social and natural sciences, I explore multiple forms of natural resource use and protection.

Case studies come from Mexico, Chile, Australia, the United States, and Ethiopia.  Projects include:

  • the study of tropical deforestation in the Yucatan Peninsula
  • forest and rangeland degradation in southern Patagonia
  • the spread of invasive weeds in eastern New South Wales
  • the human dimensions of invasive earthworms in the Adirondack State Park
  • forest recovery processes in the Town of Eaton, NY
  • church forest protection in northern Ethiopia

 

For an example of recent research, see a of the Landau Peace Lecture - "Walls around trees? How to protect Ethiopia's Church Forests" - which I gave in June 2021.

Courses Taught Regularly

GEOG 211: Geographies of Nature, Economy, and Society


People have always modified nature. But the scale of environmental change over the last 300 years is unprecedented. Many scholars now refer to the industrial age as the anthropocene; akin to a geologic force, society now has the capacity to alter the very structure and function of the biosphere. Drawing on environmental history, multidisciplinary nature-society research, and case studies from around the world, this course investigates a broad range of environmental issues 鈥 including tropical deforestation, natural resource consumption, and the global food system. Students are pressed to question their assumptions about resource use and environmental change dynamics, and consider how society should shape future environments. Is sustainable development possible?

 

GEOG 105: Climate & Society


Human-induced climate change 鈥 global warming 鈥 is the defining issue of our time. This course explores both the biophysical and social aspects of historical climate-society relationships. Particular emphasis is placed on patterns of vulnerability now and in the distant past, sea level rise, potential geoengineering responses, the debate about market-based mitigation strategies, and ways to enhance societal discourse about climate change. Students grapple with the science and scientific uncertainty of climate change, but also the social, political, ethical, and economic implications of society鈥檚 responses. Normally co-taught by a human and physical geographer, the course draws on the multi-disciplinary tradition of geography and exposes students to a range of research methodologies and analytical approaches.

 

GEOG 306: The Geography of Happiness


Achieving some degree of happiness is a primary goal for most people. Certainly, a huge industry has emerged in recent years to feed the public's desire for ways to improve their happiness. There is also a rapidly growing amount of research on the subject. This course starts with an overview of the diverse, multidisciplinary scholarship on factors that may contribute to happiness. But the main goal of the course is to consider themes central to the discipline of geography: how do environmental changes, efforts to achieve sustainable development, and culture affect the geography of happiness? Do people achieve a greater sense of well-being when interacting with wilderness or by exploring nature in their backyards? Does environmental stewardship improve happiness? What roles do attitudes about food and leisure play in how happy people are? Students explore these questions via out-of-class excursions, films, diverse mix of scholarly and popular press readings, guest speakers, and individual research projects.

 

GEOG 326: Environmental Hazards

Environmental hazards are threats to people and the things they value. Hazards are a complex mix of natural processes and human actions; thus, they do not just happen, but are caused. This course emphasizes the role of institutions, technology, and human behavior in hazard creation: case studies center on earthquakes, hurricanes, and wildfire (natural hazards); toxic pollution and high volume hydraulic fracturing of shale gas (technological hazards); and malaria and invasive species (biological hazards). In each case, the goal is to identify policy response options to mitigate the risk of environmental hazards and manage them more effectively.

Taught Periodically

  • GEOG 121: Earth, Society & Sustainability
  • GEOG 322: Ecologies of the City (Manchester study group)
  • GEOG 325: Water & Society
  • GEOG 328: Sustainability and Natural Resources (South Africa study group)
  • GEOG/SOC 251: Media Frame and Content Analysis
  • GEOG 401: Senior Seminar in Geography
  • ENST 309: Australian Environmental Issues (Australia study group)
  • ENST 390: Community-based Study of Environmental Issues

I've directed four semester-long 冈本视频 study groups: Wollongong (Australia) in 2003 and 2008 (current Australia study group information), Manchester (UK) in 2014 (current Manchester study group information), and the second iteration of 冈本视频's new South Africa study group (located in Cape Town) in fall 2019.  In addition, I co-directed the three-week Uganda extended study with  (Biology) in May 2013. In January 2022, in connection with 冈本视频's Sophomore Residential Seminar program, I directed a 10-day trip to Colombia.

Class of 鈥24 Environmental Geography students, Emily Balog and Tingkuan Hsieh, accompany Peter Klepeis to the p谩ramo of Colombia (Parque Nacional Natural Chingaza), where they hiked at 12,000 feet (January 11, 2022)

Articles and Book Chapters

2021     Klepeis, P. 鈥淧rotecting Ethiopia鈥檚 Church Forests: The disconnect between western science and local knowledge鈥. In Davis, E. and S. Silvern (eds). Religion, Sustainability, and Place: Moral Geographies of the Anthropocene. Palgrave Macmillan, pp 199-224.

2018     Orlowska, I. and P. Klepeis. 鈥淓thiopian church forests: a socio-religious conservation model under change.鈥 Journal of Eastern African Studies 12 (4): 674-695.

2017     Cardel煤s, C., Scull, P., Wassie Eshete, A., Woods, C., Klepeis, P., Kent, E., and I.  Orlowska. "Persistence of Sacred Church Forests in Northern Ethiopia." Biotropica 49(5): 726-733.

Scull, P., Cardel煤s, C., Klepeis, P., Woods, C., Frankl, A. and J. Nyssen. 鈥淭he Resilience of Ethiopian Church Forests: Interpreting Aerial Photographs, 1938-2015鈥. Land Degradation & Development 28(2): 450-58.

Woods, C., Cardel煤s, C., Scull, P., Wassie Eshete, A., Baez, M., and P. Klepeis. 鈥淪tone walls and sacred forest conservation in Ethiopia鈥. Biodiversity and Conservation              26(1): 209-21. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-016-1239-y

2016     Klepeis, P. and N. Gill. 鈥The paradox of engagement: land stewardship and invasive weeds in amenity landscapes.鈥 In L.E. Taylor and P.T. Hurley (eds), A Comparative Political Ecology of Exurbia: Planning, Environmental Management, and Landscape Change, Springer, p. 221-243.

Klepeis, P., Orlowska, I., Kent, E., Cardel煤s, C., Scull, P., Wassie Eshete, A. and C. Woods. 鈥淓thiopian Church Forests: A Hybrid Model of Protection鈥. Human Ecology 44(6): 715-30.

Turner II, B.L., Geoghegan, J., Lawrence, D., Radel, C., Schmook, B., Vance, C., Manson, S., Keys, E., Foster, D., Klepeis, P., Vester, H., Rogan, J., Roy Chowdhury, R., Schneider, L., Dickson, R., and Y. Ogneva-Himmelberger. 鈥淟and System Science and the Social-Environmental System:  The Case of Southern Yucat谩n Peninsular Region Project鈥. Current Opinions in Environmental Sustainability. 19: 18-29

2015     Ikutegbe, V., Gill N., Klepeis, P. 鈥淪ame but Different: Sources of Natural Resource Management Advice for Lifestyle Oriented Rural Landholders鈥 Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 58 (9): 1530-1543. 

2014     Klepeis, Peter (Contributing Editor), 鈥淕eography 鈥 Southern Cone鈥.  In North, Tracy (editor).  Handbook of Latin American Studies: Volume 69 - Social Sciences, United States Library of Congress. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. 170-178.

2013     Klepeis, Peter, Scull, Peter, Lalonde*, Tara, Svajlenka*, Nicole, and Nicholas Gill.  鈥淐hanging Forest Recovery Dynamics in the Northeastern United States鈥 Area 45(2) 239鈥248 (*student co-author)

Wickramasuriya, Rohan, Chisholm, Laurie, Puotinen, Marji, Gill, Nicholas, and Peter Klepeis.  鈥淎 Method to Dynamically Subdivide Parcels in Land Use Change Models.鈥 International Journal of Geographical Information Science 27(8): 1497-1513

2012     Abrams, Jesse, Gosnell, Hannah, Gill, Nicholas, and Peter Klepeis. 鈥淩e-creating the rural, reconstructing nature: A review of the environmental implications of amenity migration.鈥 Conservation and Society 10(3): 270-84.

            Klepeis, Peter (Contributing Editor), 鈥淕eography 鈥 Southern Cone鈥.  In North, Tracy (editor).  Handbook of Latin American Studies: Volume 67 - Social Sciences, United States Library of Congress. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. 177-187.

2011     Seidl, Dara and Peter Klepeis. 鈥淗uman Dimensions of Earthworm Invasion in the Adirondack State Park.鈥 Human Ecology 39: 641-655. (student co-author)

2011    Wickramasuriya, Rohan, Chisholm, Laurie, Puotinen, Marji, Gill, Nicholas, and Peter Klepeis. 鈥淎n automated land subdivision tool for urban and regional planning: concepts, implementation and testing.鈥 Environmental Modelling & Software 26: 1675-1684. 

2010     Gill, Nicholas, Klepeis, Peter, and Laurie Chisholm. 鈥淪tewardship among lifestyle-oriented rural landowners鈥 Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 53(3): 1-18.

2009     Klepeis, Peter, Gill, Nicholas, and Laurie Chisholm.  鈥淓merging Amenity Landscapes: Invasive Weeds and Land Subdivision in Rural Australia鈥. Land Use Policy 26(2): 380-392.

2008     Klepeis, Peter and Paul Laris.  鈥淗obby Ranching and Chile鈥檚 Land Reform Legacy鈥.  The Geographical Review 98(3): 372-414.  

2006     Klepeis, Peter and Paul Laris.  鈥淐ontesting Sustainable Development in Tierra del Fuego鈥. Geoforum 37(4): 505-518.

            Klepeis, Peter.  鈥淔rom Farmers to Satellites: A Human Geography Perspective on Tropical Deforestation鈥. In Tropical Deforestation: Exploring Environmental Challenges, A Multi-Disciplinary Approach, eds. Sharon Spray and Matt Moran Lanham.  Roman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 77-101.

            Klepeis, Peter. 鈥淪outhern Cone Region (South America)鈥.  In Helmut Geist (ed), The Earth鈥檚 Changing Land: An Encyclopedia of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change.  Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 566-571.

            Klepeis, Peter and Paul Laris. 鈥淟and Use History鈥. In Helmut Geist (ed), The Earth鈥檚 Changing Land: An Encyclopedia of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change.  Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 370-372.

            Klepeis, Peter, and Paul Laris. 鈥淧ristine Myth鈥. In Helmut Geist (ed), The Earth鈥檚 Changing Land: An Encyclopedia of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change.  Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 481-484. 

            Laris, Paul and Klepeis, Peter. 鈥淒egradation Narratives鈥. In Helmut Geist (ed), The Earth鈥檚 Changing Land: An Encyclopedia of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change.  Greenwood Publishing Group, 161-164.

2005     Bray, David Barton and Peter Klepeis. 鈥淒eforestation, Forest Transitions, and Institutions for Sustainability in Southeastern Mexico, 1900-2000鈥.  Environment and History 11: 195-223.

2004     Klepeis, Peter. 鈥Forest Extraction to Theme Parks: The Modern History of Land Change in the Region鈥. In Integrated Land-Change Science and Tropical Deforestation in the Southern Yucat谩n: Final Frontiers, ed. B.L. Turner II, J. Geoghegan, and D.R. Foster.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 39-59.

            Klepeis, Peter and Rinku RoyChowdhury.  鈥淚nstitutions, Organizations, and Policy Affecting Land Change: Complexity Within and Beyond the Ejido鈥. In Integrated Land-Change Science and Tropical Deforestation in the Southern Yucat谩n: Final Frontiers, ed. B.L. Turner II, J. Geoghegan, and D.R. Foster. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 145-169.

            Klepeis, Peter, Vance, Colin, Keys, Eric, Macario Mendoza, Pedro, and B.L. Turner II.  鈥淪ubsistence Sustained: Swidden or Milpa Cultivation鈥. In Integrated Land-Change Science and Tropical Deforestation in the Southern Yucat谩n: Final Frontiers, ed. B.L. Turner II, J. Geoghegan, and D.R. Foster.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 189-206.

            Vance, Colin, Klepeis, Peter, Schmook, Birgit and Eric Keys. 鈥淭he Ejido Household: The Current Agent of Change鈥. In Integrated Land-Change Science and Tropical Deforestation in the Southern Yucat谩n: Final Frontiers, ed. B.L. Turner II, J. Geoghegan, and D.R. Foster. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 171-187.

2003     Klepeis, Peter. 鈥淒evelopment Policies and Tropical Deforestation in the Southern Yucat谩n Peninsula: Centralized and Decentralized Approaches鈥.  Land Degradation and Development 14: 1-21. 

            Klepeis, Peter and Colin Vance.  鈥淣eoliberal Policy and Deforestation in Southeastern Mexico: An Assessment of the PROCAMPO Program鈥.  Economic Geography 79(3): 221-240.

            Turner II, B.L., Klepeis, Peter, and Laura S. Schneider.  鈥淭hree Millennia in the Southern Yucat谩n Peninsular Region: Implications for Occupancy, Use, and 鈥楥arrying Capacity鈥欌.  In Lowland Maya Area:  Three Millennia at the Human-Wildland Interface, ed. A. G贸mez-Pompa, M. Allen, S. Fedick & J. Jimenez-Osornio. New York: The Haworth Press, 361-387.

2001     Geoghegan, Jacqueline, Sergio Cortina Villar, Peter Klepeis, Pedro Macario Mendoza, Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger, Rinku Roy Chowdhury, B.L. Turner II, Colin Vance. 鈥淢odeling Tropical Deforestation in the Southern Yucat谩n Peninsular Region: Comparing Survey and Satellite Data鈥.  Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 85(1-3): 25-46.

            Klepeis, Peter and B.L. Turner II.  鈥淚ntegrated Land History and Global Change Science: The Example of the Southern Yucat谩n Peninsular Region Project鈥.  Land Use Policy 18(1): 27-39.

            Turner II, B.L., Sergio Cortina Villar, David Foster, Jacqueline Geoghegan, Eric Keys, Peter Klepeis, Deborah Lawrence, Pedro Macario Mendoza, Steven Manson, Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger, Audrey B. Plotkin, Diego P茅rez Salicrup, Rinku Roy Chowdhury, Basil Savitsky, Laura Schneider, Birgit Schmook, Colin Vance.  鈥淒eforestation in the Southern Yucat谩n Peninsular Region: An Integrative Approach鈥.  Forest Ecology and Management 154(3): 353-370.

Public Scholarship

2019    Klepeis, P. 2019.  Interviewed for 20 minutes by Wendy Fachon for her program, Story Walking Radio Hour. 鈥淭hinking Outside the Box on Environmental Issues鈥. July 28   

Klepeis, P. 2019. "Be Happy, for the Planet". 冈本视频 Magazine (Spring). See  

2013    Frey, F., Klepeis, P., Kraly, E., and student participants in the 冈本视频 鈥渆xtended study鈥 to Uganda.  Report on Childhood Malnutrition and Land Use Change in the Bwindi Community Hospital Catchment Region. Prepared for the Bwindi Community Hospital, Buhoma, Uganda. 

2012     Burnett, A. and P. Klepeis. Are we Cool with the Warmth?  冈本视频 Environmental Studies Newsletter, Spring 2012. 

Klepeis, P. and P. Scull. Transportation and Quality of Life in Hamilton, NY: A Survey.  A mail survey developed, implemented and analyzed as part of the course, Community Based Study of Environmental Issues (ENST 390).  Data set and summary shared with the Town of Hamilton.

Member, Energy Working Group, Hamilton, NY.  Focus on High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing and Wind Power.  Reports to the Hamilton Town Council, Madison County, New York.

2011     Gill, N. and P. Klepeis.  Data Summary 鈥 Living, Working, and Playing on the Land Survey: An effort to understand the issues important to rural landowners in the Kiama Local Government Area.  Unpublished report to the Kiama Council, Dec, 86 pp. 

2008     Gill N., Chisholm, L., Klepeis, P., Wickramasuriya Denagamage, R., Marthick, J. 鈥Land Management and Land Cover on Land Owned by Amenity Oriented Rural Landowners in Jamberoo Valley 鈥 Part One: Landowners鈥 Attitudes and Land Use and Land Management Practices; Part Two: Land Cover Changes and Implications for Natural Resource Management.鈥  Unpublished report to the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority, NSW, Australia, June.

2003     Schmook, Birgit, Vance, Colin, Klepeis, Peter, and Eric Keys. 鈥Caracter铆sticas de los Ejidos al Sur de los Estados de Campeche y Quintana Roo: Resultados del Proyecto SYPR (Proyecto de la Regi贸n Sur de la Pen铆nsula de Yucat谩n).鈥 Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico.