Category: North America

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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

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Lessons Learned from an Experiment in Infrastructuring

Gwen Ottinger, Drexel University  (This article was originally published in the May 2017 edition and is re-published here alongside the new fully translated version.) Almost two years ago, colleagues and I began an experiment in infrastructuring. Our working group of social scientists, programmers, environmental justice activists, and residents of “frontline” communities set out to create … Continue reading Lessons Learned from an Experiment in Infrastructuring

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Lessons Learned from an Experiment in Infrastructuring

Gwen Ottinger, Drexel University  Almost two years ago, colleagues and I began an experiment in infrastructuring. Our working group of social scientists, programmers, environmental justice activists, and residents of “frontline” communities set out to create web-based tools that would help people make sense of, and make use of, large volumes of publicly available ambient air … Continue reading Lessons Learned from an Experiment in Infrastructuring

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Flatlining: Exploring hidden toxic landscapes and the embodiment of contamination at Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, USA.

Stephanie Malin, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Colorado State University and Becky Alexis-Martin, Senior Research Fellow in Human Geography at The University of Southampton Within the boundaries of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, black bears prowl, elk tussle, prairie dogs burrow and porcupines forage. A diverse array of wildlife, wedged between the cities of Boulder … Continue reading Flatlining: Exploring hidden toxic landscapes and the embodiment of contamination at Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, USA.

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Superfund Sites, the Toxic Release Inventory and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Toxic News Interview with Wilma Subra

Wilma Subra is an award winning[1] chemist who has dedicated her career to environmental justice. She has worked to protect the environment and the health of citizens for over 40 years. With her home and office in Louisiana, where she grew up, she has many high profile cases along the Petrochemical Corridor (Cancer Alley), right … Continue reading Superfund Sites, the Toxic Release Inventory and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Toxic News Interview with Wilma Subra

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U.S. Oil Refineries Required to Monitor Ambient Air Toxics: A victory, with limits, for neighbouring communities

Dr Gwen Ottinger, Assistant Professor, Department of Politics, Drexel University, USA The EPA refinery rule thus marks a major victory in community groups’ decades-long struggle for ambient air monitoring at refinery fence lines… but without a way to translate new air quality information into action, communities risk being overwhelmed by data. On September 29, 2015, … Continue reading U.S. Oil Refineries Required to Monitor Ambient Air Toxics: A victory, with limits, for neighbouring communities

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Toxic Struggle and Corporate Paradox in a High-Tech Industrial Birthplace

Dr Peter C. Little, Assistant Professor, Anthropology Department, Rhode Island College, USA A three hour drive northwest of New York City, in the Empire State’s Southern Tier region, is the small community of Endicott. Nestled along the Susquehanna River, it is known as the “Birthplace of IBM.” International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)—born of a marriage between the … Continue reading Toxic Struggle and Corporate Paradox in a High-Tech Industrial Birthplace