Bethany B Cutts
Biographic Data
| ID | 1049197 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bethany B Cutts |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bethany B |
| FAMILY NAME | Cutts |
| SIGNATURE | CUTTS B B |
| AFFILIATIONS | North Carolina State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7879-526X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 102 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 24 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Social capital as a predictor of collective environmental action in high school students
As youth are increasingly engaged in collective environmental action, more research is needed on how to best support their efforts. Commonly used existing environmental behavior models such as the theory of planned behavior and environmental literacy models are inadequate predictors of collective action. However, emerging research suggests factors such as social capital may be promising additions. This paper compares the utility of three competin…
Water security in North Carolina’s most economically insecure county
Negative health impacts of water insecurity are often felt most in poor and rural communities and communities of color, who are more likely to be underserved by water infrastructure and disproportionately subject to socioeconomic stressors. Despite mandated efforts to allocate significant federal resources to infrastructure funding in ‘disadvantaged communities,’ communities with the most need risk systematic exclusion from access to resources, d…
Infrastructure as Environmental Health Policy
This study evaluates the 2022 rollout of the Clean School Bus Rebate Program (CSBRP) to understand how eligibility rules and data practices shape funding distribution across communities with varying needs. We ask whether more accurate maps can improve environmental funding outcomes or whether challenges stem from how agencies define and apply eligibility criteria. Using logistic regression and dasymetric mapping, we find that prioritization crite…
Pushing toward systemic change in the Capitalocene
Environmental education often advocates for individual pro-environmental behavior—which, while beneficial to a degree, fails to match the large scale of today’s capitalism-fueled socio-ecological challenges. Rather, collective action holds promise as a means for the large-scale changes required in the Capitalocene. These actions can take the shape of encouraging group uptake of behaviors (collective non-activist behaviors) or through fostering sy…
Exploring Project Connections Across the Citizen Science Landscape
Research on citizen science volunteers has historically focused on single projects, but emerging research suggests many volunteers engage in multiple projects. Platforms that host thousands of projects, like SciStarter.org, enable exploration of volunteer activity across multiple projects. To learn more about the phenomenon of multi-project engagement, we carried out a descriptive social network analysis using digital trace data depicting volunte…
Shifting power
Conceptualizing community-level environmental literacy using the Delphi method
Patient capital and no net loss
As urban areas grow, ecosystem extent and condition continue to decline. Some countries have adopted “no net loss” policies that require compensatory actions for unavoidable ecosystem losses. In the US, mitigation banking has emerged as a means of offsetting losses, but the system remains dominated by private commercial banks and mitigation outside of an urban context. With this in mind, we seek to understand the institutional drivers of innovati…
BRIDGE Builders – Leadership and social capital in disaster recovery governance
Family matters
Agricultural and environmental literacy are essential public goods, but associated education efforts struggle to reach broad audiences. Understanding learner backgrounds and lived experiences can help address this challenge. We assessed the relative importance of demographics, parent views of agriculture, interactions with farmers and parents, and learning setting in predicting agricultural literacy among 525 elementary school children in North C…
Paying for nature‐based solutions
Funding and financing challenges remain a persistent barrier to implementing nature‐based solutions that enhance ecosystem services, facilitate adaptation to climate change, and combat environmental stressors in cities. In the absence of adequate public financial resources, private funds are often expected to fill the gap. But market‐driven, nature‐based solutions can contribute to an inequitable distribution of urban ecosystem services by focusi…
Equity in Fema hazard mitigation assistance programs
What is community-level environmental literacy, and how can we measure it? A report of a convening to conceptualize and operationalize CLEL
Environmental education research often emphasizes the importance of community context, but conceptualization and measurement of environmental literacy has mostly occurred at the individual level, often focusing on individual behaviors. The environmental problems facing the world today require collective action—communities coming together to address large-scale problems. Accordingly, understanding and encouraging collective action requires a shift…
Unearthing the entangled roots of urban agriculture
This study examines urban agriculture (UA) in Sacramento, California (USA), the nation's self-branded “Farm-to-Fork Capital,” in order to highlight UA’s distinct yet entangled roots. The study is based on 24 interviews with a diverse array of UA leaders, conducted as part of a five-year transdisciplinary study of UA in Sacramento. In it, we unearth three primary “taproots” of UA projects, each with its own historical legacies, normative visions, …
Uncovering climate (in)justice with an adaptive capacity assessment
Hyperlocal sustainabilities
Hyperlocal relationships are internet-enabled interactions in a common locale. They are opening new frontiers for geographically based, community-oriented, and civically engaged action. However, the influences of virtual interactions over procedural aspects of sustainability projects are not fully theorized. To fill this gap, we examine whether anticipating the use of social media re-shapes how the community voice method (CVM) intervenes in delib…
Weaving Community-University Research and Action Partnerships for environmental justice
This article is a case study of one Community-University Research and Action Partnership (CURAP) focused on soil lead, urban gardening, and environmental justice in Sacramento, California. We argue that creating and sustaining CURAPs requires a process of weaving together diverse strands of knowledge, resources, and lines of accountability that connect all parties involved. Like the physical process of weaving fabric, weaving CURAPs involve creat…
Media Frames and Shifting Places of Environmental (In)Justice
Newspapers are underused as a source of spatial data in environmental justice research. Recent advances in qualitative historical geographic information systems (QHGIS) provide an opportunity for deeper investigation into how newspapers reflect changing meanings of place in relation to environmental burden and environmental benefit. This article introduces a protocol to identify and map locations associated with different media frames. We apply Q…
Community Theories of Change
Environmental justice and sustainability are compatible lenses, yet action toward equity is often missing from urban sustainability initiatives. This study aims to assess the cohesion of these frameworks in practice. To do this, we parse individuals' theories of change, or how they identify and propose to resolve environmental injustices in the pursuit of sustainability. We posit that these theories of change are comprised of three main component…
Structural dimensions of knowledge-action networks for sustainability
Public Representation in Water Management—A Network Analysis of Organization and Public Perceptions in Phoenix, Arizona
To better accomplish their mission of an informed public, environmental education organizations often exchange ideas, share financing, and distribute overhead through collaboration. Yet it remains to be seen whether benefits of these collaborations extend to the public. We examine two possible benefits: the ability of the organizations to act as representatives of the public interest, and equitable access to environmental educational materials. W…
Participatory geographic information systems for the co-production of science and policy in an emerging boundary organization
Spanning Boundaries in an Arizona Watershed Partnership
Muñoz-Erickson, T. A., B. B. Cutts, E. K. Larson, K. J. Darby, M. Neff, A. Wutich, and B. Bolin. 2010. Spanning boundaries in an Arizona watershed partnership: information networks as tools for entrenchment or ties for collaboration? Ecology and Society 15(3): 22. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03390-150322
City structure, obesity, and environmental justice
City structure, obesity, and environmental justice
Participatory geographic information systems for the co-production of science and policy in an emerging boundary organization
Weaving Community-University Research and Action Partnerships for environmental justice
This article is a case study of one Community-University Research and Action Partnership (CURAP) focused on soil lead, urban gardening, and environmental justice in Sacramento, California. We argue that creating and sustaining CURAPs requires a process of weaving together diverse strands of knowledge, resources, and lines of accountability that connect all parties involved. Like the physical process of weaving fabric, weaving CURAPs involve creat…
Structural dimensions of knowledge-action networks for sustainability
Spanning Boundaries in an Arizona Watershed Partnership
Muñoz-Erickson, T. A., B. B. Cutts, E. K. Larson, K. J. Darby, M. Neff, A. Wutich, and B. Bolin. 2010. Spanning boundaries in an Arizona watershed partnership: information networks as tools for entrenchment or ties for collaboration? Ecology and Society 15(3): 22. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03390-150322
Uncovering climate (in)justice with an adaptive capacity assessment
What is community-level environmental literacy, and how can we measure it? A report of a convening to conceptualize and operationalize CLEL
Environmental education research often emphasizes the importance of community context, but conceptualization and measurement of environmental literacy has mostly occurred at the individual level, often focusing on individual behaviors. The environmental problems facing the world today require collective action—communities coming together to address large-scale problems. Accordingly, understanding and encouraging collective action requires a shift…
Public Representation in Water Management—A Network Analysis of Organization and Public Perceptions in Phoenix, Arizona
To better accomplish their mission of an informed public, environmental education organizations often exchange ideas, share financing, and distribute overhead through collaboration. Yet it remains to be seen whether benefits of these collaborations extend to the public. We examine two possible benefits: the ability of the organizations to act as representatives of the public interest, and equitable access to environmental educational materials. W…
Unearthing the entangled roots of urban agriculture
This study examines urban agriculture (UA) in Sacramento, California (USA), the nation's self-branded “Farm-to-Fork Capital,” in order to highlight UA’s distinct yet entangled roots. The study is based on 24 interviews with a diverse array of UA leaders, conducted as part of a five-year transdisciplinary study of UA in Sacramento. In it, we unearth three primary “taproots” of UA projects, each with its own historical legacies, normative visions, …
Conceptualizing community-level environmental literacy using the Delphi method
Equity in Fema hazard mitigation assistance programs
City structure, obesity, and environmental justice
Spanning Boundaries in an Arizona Watershed Partnership
Muñoz-Erickson, T. A., B. B. Cutts, E. K. Larson, K. J. Darby, M. Neff, A. Wutich, and B. Bolin. 2010. Spanning boundaries in an Arizona watershed partnership: information networks as tools for entrenchment or ties for collaboration? Ecology and Society 15(3): 22. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-03390-150322
Participatory geographic information systems for the co-production of science and policy in an emerging boundary organization
Structural dimensions of knowledge-action networks for sustainability
Public Representation in Water Management—A Network Analysis of Organization and Public Perceptions in Phoenix, Arizona
To better accomplish their mission of an informed public, environmental education organizations often exchange ideas, share financing, and distribute overhead through collaboration. Yet it remains to be seen whether benefits of these collaborations extend to the public. We examine two possible benefits: the ability of the organizations to act as representatives of the public interest, and equitable access to environmental educational materials. W…
Media Frames and Shifting Places of Environmental (In)Justice
Newspapers are underused as a source of spatial data in environmental justice research. Recent advances in qualitative historical geographic information systems (QHGIS) provide an opportunity for deeper investigation into how newspapers reflect changing meanings of place in relation to environmental burden and environmental benefit. This article introduces a protocol to identify and map locations associated with different media frames. We apply Q…
Community Theories of Change
Environmental justice and sustainability are compatible lenses, yet action toward equity is often missing from urban sustainability initiatives. This study aims to assess the cohesion of these frameworks in practice. To do this, we parse individuals' theories of change, or how they identify and propose to resolve environmental injustices in the pursuit of sustainability. We posit that these theories of change are comprised of three main component…
Weaving Community-University Research and Action Partnerships for environmental justice
This article is a case study of one Community-University Research and Action Partnership (CURAP) focused on soil lead, urban gardening, and environmental justice in Sacramento, California. We argue that creating and sustaining CURAPs requires a process of weaving together diverse strands of knowledge, resources, and lines of accountability that connect all parties involved. Like the physical process of weaving fabric, weaving CURAPs involve creat…
Hyperlocal sustainabilities
Hyperlocal relationships are internet-enabled interactions in a common locale. They are opening new frontiers for geographically based, community-oriented, and civically engaged action. However, the influences of virtual interactions over procedural aspects of sustainability projects are not fully theorized. To fill this gap, we examine whether anticipating the use of social media re-shapes how the community voice method (CVM) intervenes in delib…
Unearthing the entangled roots of urban agriculture
This study examines urban agriculture (UA) in Sacramento, California (USA), the nation's self-branded “Farm-to-Fork Capital,” in order to highlight UA’s distinct yet entangled roots. The study is based on 24 interviews with a diverse array of UA leaders, conducted as part of a five-year transdisciplinary study of UA in Sacramento. In it, we unearth three primary “taproots” of UA projects, each with its own historical legacies, normative visions, …
Uncovering climate (in)justice with an adaptive capacity assessment
Equity in Fema hazard mitigation assistance programs
What is community-level environmental literacy, and how can we measure it? A report of a convening to conceptualize and operationalize CLEL
Environmental education research often emphasizes the importance of community context, but conceptualization and measurement of environmental literacy has mostly occurred at the individual level, often focusing on individual behaviors. The environmental problems facing the world today require collective action—communities coming together to address large-scale problems. Accordingly, understanding and encouraging collective action requires a shift…
BRIDGE Builders – Leadership and social capital in disaster recovery governance
Family matters
Agricultural and environmental literacy are essential public goods, but associated education efforts struggle to reach broad audiences. Understanding learner backgrounds and lived experiences can help address this challenge. We assessed the relative importance of demographics, parent views of agriculture, interactions with farmers and parents, and learning setting in predicting agricultural literacy among 525 elementary school children in North C…
Paying for nature‐based solutions
Funding and financing challenges remain a persistent barrier to implementing nature‐based solutions that enhance ecosystem services, facilitate adaptation to climate change, and combat environmental stressors in cities. In the absence of adequate public financial resources, private funds are often expected to fill the gap. But market‐driven, nature‐based solutions can contribute to an inequitable distribution of urban ecosystem services by focusi…
Pushing toward systemic change in the Capitalocene
Environmental education often advocates for individual pro-environmental behavior—which, while beneficial to a degree, fails to match the large scale of today’s capitalism-fueled socio-ecological challenges. Rather, collective action holds promise as a means for the large-scale changes required in the Capitalocene. These actions can take the shape of encouraging group uptake of behaviors (collective non-activist behaviors) or through fostering sy…
Exploring Project Connections Across the Citizen Science Landscape
Research on citizen science volunteers has historically focused on single projects, but emerging research suggests many volunteers engage in multiple projects. Platforms that host thousands of projects, like SciStarter.org, enable exploration of volunteer activity across multiple projects. To learn more about the phenomenon of multi-project engagement, we carried out a descriptive social network analysis using digital trace data depicting volunte…
Shifting power
Conceptualizing community-level environmental literacy using the Delphi method
Patient capital and no net loss
As urban areas grow, ecosystem extent and condition continue to decline. Some countries have adopted “no net loss” policies that require compensatory actions for unavoidable ecosystem losses. In the US, mitigation banking has emerged as a means of offsetting losses, but the system remains dominated by private commercial banks and mitigation outside of an urban context. With this in mind, we seek to understand the institutional drivers of innovati…
Water security in North Carolina’s most economically insecure county
Negative health impacts of water insecurity are often felt most in poor and rural communities and communities of color, who are more likely to be underserved by water infrastructure and disproportionately subject to socioeconomic stressors. Despite mandated efforts to allocate significant federal resources to infrastructure funding in ‘disadvantaged communities,’ communities with the most need risk systematic exclusion from access to resources, d…
Infrastructure as Environmental Health Policy
This study evaluates the 2022 rollout of the Clean School Bus Rebate Program (CSBRP) to understand how eligibility rules and data practices shape funding distribution across communities with varying needs. We ask whether more accurate maps can improve environmental funding outcomes or whether challenges stem from how agencies define and apply eligibility criteria. Using logistic regression and dasymetric mapping, we find that prioritization crite…
Social capital as a predictor of collective environmental action in high school students
As youth are increasingly engaged in collective environmental action, more research is needed on how to best support their efforts. Commonly used existing environmental behavior models such as the theory of planned behavior and environmental literacy models are inadequate predictors of collective action. However, emerging research suggests factors such as social capital may be promising additions. This paper compares the utility of three competin…
Political science (22 works) · Sociology (17 works) · Public relations (12 works) · Geography (11 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Business (7 works) · Environmental Education and Sustainability (7 works) · Pedagogy (7 works) · Social science (7 works)