Alice Mah, Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick I have been researching the petrochemical industry for more than five years now. Day in and out, this behemoth industry, with its toxicity, controversies, and sprawling network of activities around the globe, has been looming in the back of my mind. Whenever I am gripped by an … Continue reading Special Issue: Making the Petrochemical Connection
Dr Calvin Jephcote, University of Warwick Petroleum has been the fuel for dramatic change in the twentieth century, as a source of energy it has revolutionised transport and powered technological advances, but as a chemical it has also enabled humankind to engineer synthetic environments. The petrochemical industry was initially created from the desire to commoditise … Continue reading Petrochemical Landscapes: A European Perspective
Diane M. Sicotte, Ph.D. Drexel University Department of Sociology diane.sicotte@drexel.edu The current worldwide boom in natural gas extraction is due to the new hydrofracturing (fracking) method, even though there is ample scientific evidence that fracking creates extreme risks to human and ecosystem health.[1] The production of plastics and the proliferation of plastic waste poses risks … Continue reading The Toxic Relationship between Fracked Gas Liquids and Plastics
Adam Liebman, Stanford University Plastic China (2016) begins with a cargo ship pulling into Tsingdao Harbor in northern China, where shipping containers are mechanically loaded onto trucks. The documentary picks up the trail of one shipping container headed for rural Shandong Province. As the truck drives into a village, the film’s only scene-setting caption reads: … Continue reading Plastic China: Sorting Plastic, Sorting People
India Holme, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick “When it comes to sustainability, 2016 will be a year of distraction, fear and disruption. Around the world, a host of economic and political threats – including the refugee crisis, terrorism and teetering markets in Europe and China – will continue to crowd headlines… long term environmental destruction is … Continue reading Climate Change, Eco-Labelling, Corporate and Consumer Responsibility
India Foster, Project Administrator, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick, UK “It is universally considered just that each person should obtain that (whether good or evil) which he deserves; and unjust that he should obtain a good, or be made to undergo an evil, which he does not deserve. This is, perhaps, the clearest and most … Continue reading My journey in environmental justice: How – or rather why – I came to work on the Toxic Expertise project…
Toxic News 