The strength of green ties: Massachusetts cranberry grower social networks and effects on climate change attitudes and a
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The strength of green ties: Massachusetts cranberry grower social networks and effects on climate change attitudes and action Brian J. Gareau 1
1
& Xiaorui Huang & Tara Pisani Gareau
2
& Sandra DiDonato
1
Received: 6 January 2020 / Accepted: 27 July 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020, corrected publication 2020
Abstract
The cranberry, a commodity of social, cultural, and economic importance to New England, is under threat due to climatic change in this region of the United States. Yet, previous research reveals that cranberry growers have mixed attitudes about the anthropogenic roots of climate change, with many being skeptical. Building on the researchers’ analysis of the personal and ecological conditions that affect climate change attitudes among cranberry growers, this paper examines the effect that key actors in the growers’ social networks have on those attitudes. Through statistical analysis of survey data and content analysis of two important cranberry newsletters, the paper finds that cranberry growers’ perceived importance of two key cranberry growing institutions, the “sociopolitically focused” Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association and the “technically focused” University of Massachusetts Cranberry Station, as well as connections to other cranberry growers, is associated in nuanced ways with growers’ climate change attitudes. Drawing on the sociological theory of “social capital,” the paper examines how these social ties to key actors/institutions may result in greater threat perception or worry about climate change. It then considers how “green ties,” if harnessed and supported by these important actors in the cranberry grower network, might significantly mitigate climate change in the future. Keywords Agriculture . Cape Cod . Climateaction . Climate change . New England . Social capital . Social networks
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-02002808-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
* Brian J. Gareau [email protected]
1
Department of Sociology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
2
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA
Climatic Change
1 Introduction One of only a few fruits native to North America (Agricultural Marketing Resource Center 2019), the cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) is an iconic symbol of the New England region of the United States, even serving as a symbol of one of the earliest holidays celebrated in the English Colonies—Thanksgiving (also among the very first officially declared U.S. holidays, see Straus 2014). Americans consume nearly 400 million pounds of cranberries per year, 20% of them during the Thanksgiving holiday (Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association 2020). Massachusetts was home to the original cultivators of cranberries and is currently the second largest producer in the United States, at almost 2 million barrels per year in 2018, behind Wisconsin, which harvests over 5 million barrels per year (
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