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 […]

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

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

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。“

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

windfarm skyview

Editorial: Challenges and Opportunities to Combat Climate Change

Dr Cynthia Wang, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick Today, our world faces unprecedented and mounting challenges: terrorism, climate change, conflicts and war-torn places, refugee crisis and migration, globalization and protectionism,exclusion and xenophobia, and blatant human rights violations in authoritarian states. New issues have also occurred regarding climate change and global warming. After the removal

An Uphill Battle to Hold High-tech Corporations Accountable: Lessons Learned from the Siaoli River Disputes in Taiwan

Wen-Ling Tu,  Professor, Department of Public Administration, National Chengchi University, Taiwan On December 30, 2015, the AU Optronics (AUO) and Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT), two major flat panel TFT-LCD Taiwanese manufacturers held a pipe sealing ceremony, which marked the closing of the sewage discharge pipes and brought them into compliance with the zero-liquid-discharge requirement set

The Elusive Search for Environmental Justice: What We Can Learn from the Efforts of Indigenous Plaintiffs to Hold Chevron Accountable for Its Destructive Legacy in Ecuador

David McRobert[1], Jordan Shay[2] and Julian Tennent-Riddell [3] The Chevron case, which has been called the world’s largest environmental justice case, involves a decades-long dispute between members of Ecuadorian communities and the Chevron Corporation. In 2011 the Supreme Court in Ecuador confirmed the following wastes, all attributed to the United States-based company Chevron-Texaco, had been

Whose Carbon Footprint Matters?

Matthew T. Huber, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Syracuse University Are you worried about your carbon footprint? Perhaps you have a long commute to work via car. You had a recent year of heavy air travel. You guiltily enjoy meat. It is hard wired into the politics of climate change that when we get into

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