Category: Environmental Justice

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Post-Industrial structures of Environmental Injustice within Western Europe

Dr Calvin Jephcote | Toxic Expertise Research Fellow | University of Warwick, UK Approximately 33% of European citizens are exposed to air pollutant levels that exceed EU air quality standards, and 90% of urban residents experience levels of air pollution which the World Health Organisation consider as damaging to health. Particles below 10μm in aerodynamic … Continue reading Post-Industrial structures of Environmental Injustice within Western Europe

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Emerging environmental health data sources

Jon Fairburn, Professor of Sustainable Development, Staffordshire University, UK Jon.fairburn@staffs.ac.uk Here are some of the biggest ongoing projects which have a wealth of data and reports covering environment, health and equity issues. EuroHealthy is a recently completed Horizon 2020 project, which sought to develop policies that promote health equity across European metropolitan areas. Briefing notes … Continue reading Emerging environmental health data sources

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Editorial: Toxic Visions – Photography and Pollution

In this Special Issue of Toxic News we explore different ways of making pollution visible: Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies The Hungarian photographer Robert Capa once said: ‘if your photographs are not good enough, you aren’t close enough’. He was a war photographer and famously captured … Continue reading Editorial: Toxic Visions – Photography and Pollution

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Disposable Citizens: viewing Chernobyl through the lens of those live there

Chernobyl inhabitants were given cameras to document their everyday lives Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies The Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 was by many measures the worst environmental disaster in human history. Roughly ten times larger than the Fukushima accident that would lay waste to swathes of … Continue reading Disposable Citizens: viewing Chernobyl through the lens of those live there

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Graveyard of Giants: the Toxic Afterlives of Ships

Explore the hazardous world of ship-breaking with photographer Jan Møller Hansen Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies As maritime geographer Kimberley Peters writes, ‘ships and the sea occupy the edges of our consciousness; they are largely invisible and seemingly irrelevant in our everyday lives.’ And yet, as she continues, … Continue reading Graveyard of Giants: the Toxic Afterlives of Ships

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Editorial: Pollution and Translation

Alice Mah, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick I have been thinking about the importance of translation during the Environmental Justice: Looking Back, Looking Forward conference in Sydney, Australia, 6-8 November 2017. This exciting interdisciplinary conference marks the 20th anniversary of the first environmental justice conference in Australia, held at the University of Melbourne in … Continue reading Editorial: Pollution and Translation

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Toxic Geographies: chemical plants, plantations, and plants that will not grow

Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies In September 2017, I returned to Louisiana to continue ethnographic research about lived experiences in a region infamously nicknamed ‘Cancer Alley’ – home to the highest concentration of refineries and chemical plants in the United States. I landed in New Orleans airport and … Continue reading Toxic Geographies: chemical plants, plantations, and plants that will not grow

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For Love of the Place: Emotions and Identities in Conflicts over Environmental Risks from Mining in Minnesota

Erik Kojola, PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota Near the Iron Range of rural Northeastern Minnesota—historically one of the largest iron-ore producing regions in the U.S.—mining companies, investors, state politicians, and some residents envision a new resource boom based on untapped “world-class” copper and nickel reserves.  Multiple mining companies backed by multinational investors … Continue reading For Love of the Place: Emotions and Identities in Conflicts over Environmental Risks from Mining in Minnesota

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從基礎設施實驗中學到的課題 Lessons Learned from an Experiment in Infrastructuring

作者: 莞．歐亭格 (Gwen Ottinger) 翻譯: 施佳良 (Chia-Liang Shih) 校閱: 杜文苓 (Wen-Ling Tu) (This article was originally published in the May 2017 edition in English. This is a new fully translated version and the article is also re-published again in English in this edition.) 大約兩年前，我和同事開始進行基礎建設( infrastructuring)的實驗。我們的工作小組成員有社會科學學者、程式工程師、環境正義運動者以及周界(frontline)社區居民。這個工作小組開始創建網路基礎工具(web-based tools)，以幫助社會大眾了解及運用已經大量公開的環境空氣品質數據。在與工作小組的共事中，我學習到第一手有關資訊科技及其日常生活運用的四個課題，確認了社會科學研究者的發現，不僅為創造新的資訊技術而努力，並確保這樣的技術能確實將資訊事實帶入環境正義運動中運作。 [有意義的監測] 計畫(Meaning from Monitoring project) 是受到來自於居住在舊金山灣區煉油廠周界社區的運動者的啟發。在1995年，加州克羅克特（Crockett）和羅迪歐（Rodeo）的居民對他們的煉油廠鄰居(過去是Unocal, 現在是 Phillips 66)施壓，要求煉油廠針對有毒氣體的監測，安裝最先進(state-of-the-art)的環境空氣監測系統。這是第一個採納社區成員重要技術意見而發展的系統，並且成為鄰近的貝尼西亞(Benicia，靠近瓦萊羅煉油廠)、里奇蒙(Richmond，雪佛龍煉油廠所在地)等地的模範。隨後這兩個城鎮都贏得自己的周界監測計畫。貝尼西亞在2008年到2012年之間發展出來；里奇蒙在2013年對雪佛龍也建立起類似於Phillips 66的監測系統，運作至今。這些社區的共同努力，促使北加州的灣區空氣品質管理區（BAAQMD）在2016年通過一項規定，要求其轄區內的所有 5家煉油廠都需要設立周界監控計劃。 “我們的基礎建設計畫回應了我們從監測資料生產中所看到未開發的潛力。這些資料是公開存在的，卻很少被使用。“ … Continue reading 從基礎設施實驗中學到的課題 Lessons Learned from an Experiment in Infrastructuring