UC Merced

As representative of the water-energy-food nexus, fossil fuel development and industrial agriculture are rural industries thatcontinue to expand and increasingly occur in the same areas. Being a top agricultural export county and the fossil fuel capitalof California while ranking among the worst in the US for industrial pollution, Kern County is a poster child of rural nexusdevelopment and, thus, an essential place for initiating sustainability transitions. Such transitions rely on policy support andthe adoption of methods by individuals and communities who may disagree with such changes. While sense of place andimpact perceptions are recognized as playing critical roles in sustainability management, they have yet to be utilized in nexusresearch. A survey (N = 256) of the perceived impacts of nexus industries with place meaning and place attachment aspossible drivers for perceptions was conducted in nexus industry pollution exposure risk zones. Factor analysis and bivariatecorrelations showed that place meaning and place attachment are drivers for perceptions while also being drivers for concernfor changes in nexus industries. While perceptions of impacts indicated contested place meanings, participants stronglyperceive the economy and environment as being in decline. To build support for sustainability policy, directing funds fromKern County’s renewable energy industry to local sectors of society, implementation of regenerative agriculture, cooperativemanagement, and nurturing place meaning as aligned with nature’s restorative quality are important paths forward. Thesenexus management foci could strengthen place attachment, build trust in government, and repair environmental alienation.