Heike Köckler, Department of Community Health, Hochschule für Gesundheit, Bochum, Germany Johannes Flacke, ITC, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands A lot is known about environmental quality in cities and its health effects: noise causes sleep problems and has effects on blood pressure, toxic air emissions may cause lung disease and walkable neighborhoods invite everyday … Continue reading Decisions for a healthy and just city
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
Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies Many documentary photography projects attempt to reveal the structural violence that society has wrought. Monsanto: a photographic investigation by photographer Mathieu Asselin is more specific in its aim: it is a visual call for corporate responsibility. Drawing on the theme of temporality … Continue reading Exposing a Chemical Company
Becky Alexis-Martin explores the materiality of the nuclear industry in a multi-sited photo-essay Dr Becky Alexis-Martin, Senior Research Fellow in Human Geography at The University of Southampton. @MysteriousDrBex A layer of detritus festoons every abandoned filing cabinet and empty shelf. The fierce midday sun pierces the hazy windows, causing suspended motes to shimmer in the … Continue reading The derelict afterlives of para-nuclear waste
Explore the toxic geographies of ‘rare earth’ minerals with this original collaborative project Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies The device that you are staring at contains Rare Earth: minerals that help construct the digital devices of our late-modern lives. Though often unrecognized, rare earth metals are … Continue reading Rare Earthenware: photography, pottery, and pollution
Read an interview and photo essay about Chih Chiu’s thought provoking work Dr Thom Davies, Research Fellow at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick @ThomDavies Some photographers and artists simply document pollution. They bare witness to the many social injustices that toxicity produces. In that witnessing there is the hope, at least, that opinions … Continue reading Voyage on the planet: contemplating pollution with Chih Chiu
An overview of the 3rd annual Toxic Expertise workshop Dr Loretta Lou, Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick On 15-16 May 2018, the Toxic Expertise team held its third annual workshop at the Arden Conference Centre, University of Warwick. Funded by the European Research Council and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 … Continue reading Toxic Expertise Annual Workshop 2018
Dr. Loretta Lou, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick Each year, capital cities around the world welcome the new year with spectacular fireworks displays. Although few of us would associate this annual tradition with environmental pollution, scientists have found that fireworks are responsible for high concentrations of airborne particles that are more toxic than from … Continue reading Editorial – The (In)visibility of Fireworks Pollution
Fangfang Li ,Universiteit van Amsterdam, Department of Anthropology, United Nations University, International Institute for Global Health A Toxic Smog Crisis In 2017, China faced a renewed smog crisis, even worse than similar situations in past years. Most of the country was affected, including southern regions previously considered ‘safe’ from air pollution (e.g., Guangzhou). Smog consists … Continue reading Revisiting the Air Pollution Crisis in China – a lesson on toxicity, sociality and humanity
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
Toxic News 