Author: toxicexpertise

David Brown, University of Warwick. If we are to limit the most profound impacts of the climate crisis, it is well-recognised that we need globally-coordinated, bold and unprecedented action on climate change and an energy transition away from fossil fuels. In order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, as set out in the 2015 … Continue reading Locating the ‘where’ of just energy transitions: places, homes, communities

J. Mijin Cha, Assistant Professor, Urban and Environmental Policy, Occidental College. To stave off the worst impacts of the climate crisis, an energy transition away from fossil fuel extraction and use is necessary. While an energy transition is beneficial for society, as a whole, fossil fuel regions face an uncertain, economically insecure future, particularly given … Continue reading A just transition for whom? Contested Just Transitions and the Powder River Basin

Jessica Crowe – Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Ruopu Li – Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Proponents describe the American Jobs Plan as an investment in America that will create millions of good quality jobs through rebuilding and enhancing the country’s infrastructure. The plan encompasses several diverse aspects of infrastructure, from traditional forms such as repairing roads … Continue reading Achieving energy justice: When historic environmental contamination intertwines with renewable energy development

David Rudolph, Technical University of Denmark. In February 2019, Dansk Energi, a business and lobby organisation for energy companies in Denmark, launched their latest Renewable Energy Outlook Report and invited for a debate among representatives from public authorities and the wind industry to discuss ‘Not-in-my-backyard’ obstacles to wind farms developments.   This was deemed necessary, … Continue reading Insurgent countryside: Social justice and territorial stigma in creating advanced wind energy landscapes

Susana Batel, Center for Social Research and Intervention (Cis-IUL), University Institute of Lisbon (ISCTE-IUL), Lisboa, Portugal Research presented in an article recently published in the journal Nature, highlights that global human-made mass – including plastics, metals, concrete, bricks, asphalt and aggregates – has already exceeded living natural biomass. The human-induced geological epoch of the Anthropocene … Continue reading Think global, act local: Towards environmentally and socially just and inclusive low carbon energy transitions

Alice Mah, University of Warwick Public consciousness of toxic pollution and environmental injustice has changed a great deal since Toxic News was first published in November 2015. The Oxford English Dictionary’s Words of the Year reflect the sweeping societal transformations of this period: the tears-of-joy emoji in 2015; “post truth” in 2016; “youthquake” in 2017; … Continue reading Petrochemical futures and the question of hope

Gwen Ottinger – Drexel University Shannon Dosemagen – Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow and Open Environmental Data Project Back in 1995, buckets were a game-changer. The low-cost, easy-to-use air samplers were first developed for a community in Northern California, where the adjacent oil refinery had had a series of toxic air releases. For the first time ever, … Continue reading Ensuring the Bucket’s Continued Place in the Frontline Community Toolbox

Débora Swistun – Universidad Nacional de Avellaneda, Universidad Nacional de General San Martín Autoethnography of environmental suffering More than a decade ago, Javier Auyero and I wrote Flammable: Environmental Suffering in an Argentine Shantytown, published first in Spanish (2008) and then in English (2009). The book has since taken on a life of its own, … Continue reading In search of environmental justice and possible futures for the Flammable neighborhood, Argentina

Lorenzo Feltrin – University of Warwick On 25 September 2020, the news was confirmed that petrochemical magnate Sir Jim Ratcliffe – one of the richest men in the UK with an estimated wealth of £17.5 billions, whose fortunes have only grown during the pandemic crisis – had moved his tax residence to the Principality of … Continue reading Reflecting on noxious deindustrialisation: From paradox to paradigm?