Save Water, Drink Beer: The hybridity of Texas craft breweries and impacting water stewardship through participatory action research
Date
2022-04
Authors
Wiley, Delorean
Smith, Lindsay
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Abstract
Every brewery has a different culture and space. However, all are places where people and resources flow for a common purpose – beer. Breweries are large users of water and act as public spaces for community gathering. Therefore, they are simultaneously consumers of resources and curators of culture. In this way, hybridity can help conceptualize breweries as “hydrosocial” spaces. This is important when considering water reduction projects at breweries. There cannot be a one-size fits all solution to water conservation. Stakeholders for water are vast and have competing needs and desires.
Feminist political ecology combined with participatory action research offers a framework to engage breweries, constituents, and water to preserve these unique fermented landscapes. This project includes members from Texas Brewshed Alliance (TBA), researchers at Texas state University, breweries, water conservation groups, and Texas residents. Texas Brewshed Alliance was established in 2019 by the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association (WVWA) to inspire communities across Texas through fun, educational events and to engage them in taking action to steward their local lands and waters, which are vital for brewing exceptional beer (wimberleywatershed.org). This presentation is in preparation of a dissertation with the goal of creating measurable change for the Texas Brewshed Alliance. Specifically, the project will see how Texas craft breweries can act as spaces to educate about water stewardship, increase community watershed knowledge, and change water conservation behavior among project participants.
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Keywords
water reservoirs, water sustainability, craft beer, water supplies, breweries
Citation
Wiley, D., & Smith, L. (2022). Save water, drink beer: The hybridity of Texas craft breweries and impacting water stewardship through participatory action research. Poster presented at the International Research Conference for Graduate Students, San Marcos, Texas.