[pt] O objetivo desta tese é investigar se a Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos contribui para a democrática inclusão social dos catadores e das catadoras de materiais recicláveis na gestão de resíduos ou se esse ordenamento jurídico que regula essa atividade econômica os inclui subalterna e precariamente, reforçando os processos de vulnerabilidades e de injustiças ambientais sobre estes trabalhadores. A pesquisa qualitativa teve como fio condutor de análise um estudo de caso sobre a implantação da política de resíduos sólidos no município de Arraial do Cabo, no Estado do Rio de Janeiro, no período compreendido entre 2009 e 2018. Adotamos como suporte para a descrição e a interpretação da realidade social investigada a pesquisa bibliográfica sobre os resíduos sólidos e a Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos, a revisão documental com ênfase na Auditoria Governamental na Prefeitura de Arraial do Cabo realizada em 2012 pelo TCE/RJ para verificar as condições de organização e funcionamento dos serviços de limpeza urbana e manejo dos resíduos sólidos e na Ação Civil Pública número 0000412-67.2007.8.19.0005, promovida pelo Ministério Público em face do município do Arraial do Cabo e a análise da legislação ambiental voltada para a gestão e o gerenciamento dos resíduos sólidos. Utilizamos ainda como método de pesquisa as entrevistas semiestruturadas com os principais atores sociais responsáveis pela gestão dos resíduos, a saber: dirigentes e catadores e catadoras da Cooperativa de Coleta e Reciclagem da Costa do Sol; poder público, representado pela Secretaria Municipal de Ambiente e Fundação Municipal de Meio Ambiente, Pesquisa, Ciência e Tecnologia; dirigentes do Movimento Nacional dos Catadores - MNCR e do Movimento Nacional Eu Sou Catador de Materiais Recicláveis – MESC. Ao investigar o planejamento, a avaliação, a fiscalização, a transparência e o monitoramento das ações governamentais no que tange à gestão e ao gerenciamento de resíduos sólidos em Arraial do Cabo, concluímos que a política de resíduos trouxe melhorias socioambientais para o município. Contudo, ela conduziu a uma inclusão precária dos catadores e catadoras de materiais recicláveis, pois não produziu mecanismos que evitassem a distribuição desigual de proteção social, causadora dos processos de vulnerabilidades, assim como ela não foi construída conectando a sustentabilidade ambiental à cidadania e a formas de atuação democráticas e promotoras da justiça ambiental. / [en] The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether the National Solid Waste Policy contributes to the democratic social inclusion of recyclable waste pickers in waste management, or whether such legal system that regulates this economic activity includes them subalternly and precariously, reinforcing their vulnerabilities and environmental injustices. This qualitative research was based on a case study on the implementation of solid waste policy in the city of Arraial do Cabo, in the State of Rio de Janeiro, between 2009 and 2018. We took as a support for the description, and interpretation of the social reality investigated the bibliographic research on solid waste and the National Solid Waste Policy, the documentary review with emphasis on the Government Audit in the Municipality of Arraial do Cabo held in 2012 by TCE/RJ to verify the conditions of organization and operation of the services of urban cleaning and solid waste management and in the Public Civil Action number 000041267.2007.8.19.0005, promoted by the Public Ministry in face of the municipality of Arraial do Cabo and the analysis of the environmental legislation towards the management of solid waste. We also used as a research method semi-structured interviews with the main social actors responsible for waste management, namely: managers and waste pickers of the Cooperative of Collection and Recycling of the Costa do Sol; the public authority, represented by the Municipal Secretariat the Municipal Environment Secretariat and the Municipal Foundation for Environment, Research, Science and Technology, the leaders of the National Collectors Movement and the National Movement I Am Collector of Recyclable Materials. By investigating the planning, evaluation, supervision, transparency and monitoring of governmental actions regarding the solid waste management in Arraial do Cabo, we concluded that the waste policy led to socioenvironmental improvements to the municipality. However it resulted in a precarious inclusion of recyclable waste pickers because it did not produce mechanisms to avoid unequal distribution of social protection, causing vulnerability processes, besides the fact that it was not built connecting environmental sustainability to citizenship and to democratic and environmentally just ways of acting.

Submitted by CARLA MARIA GOULART DE MORAES (carlagm) on 2015-05-19T13:43:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ClaudiaMariaHensel.pdf: 20030865 bytes, checksum: d95ec551e648442b67e7bfbd91f1b9f0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-19T13:43:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ClaudiaMariaHensel.pdf: 20030865 bytes, checksum: d95ec551e648442b67e7bfbd91f1b9f0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-30 / Nenhuma / Este trabalho tem por objeto de análise o consumo de água em Caxias do Sul, durante o período de 1988 a 2008, e a forma como o uso desse recurso natural vem sendo tratado pelas políticas públicas e pelos movimentos ambientais. Para apresentar a evolução histórica das políticas ambientais no Brasil e no município de Caxias do Sul, fez-se necessário recuperar como se dá a construção dos direitos relacionados à elaboração das políticas públicas. Para alcançar essa meta, vem à tona a Política Nacional dos Recursos Hídricos e as inovações trazidas pela lei, principalmente, a previsão da participação da sociedade civil, com a criação de instâncias decisórias. O objetivo geral deste estudo pauta-se na alegação de que Caxias do Sul tornou-se um espaço construído em razão da expansão urbana e industrial dos últimos trinta anos, adquirindo as características de uma sociedade de risco. Esse fato tem desencadeado impactos ambientais, sendo alguns imperceptíveis na atualidade, e que poderão comprometer a qualidade e a quantidade da água para consumo humano futuramente, com ameaça de tornar-se um fenômeno irreversível. Para atingir o objetivo desta análise, parte-se das estratégias metodológicas que foram primordiais ao aprofundamento da compreensão sociológica desse problema, por meio de levantamentos de dados e da interpretação. Constatou-se, entretanto, por esse arrolamento, de que há indivíduos que se aperceberam dessas questões e se sensibilizaram, passando por um processo de reflexividade e de mobilização. Então, por meio de organizações ambientais e associações civis a atuação se reverteu em processos de formatação de políticas socioambientais. Diante dessas constatações, este trabalho tenta averiguar a preocupação dos atores sociais que integram os órgãos colegiados de teor ambientalista e se essa articulação tem levado à implementação de políticas ambientais no município. Ao mesmo tempo, determinados segmentos da sociedade, não apresentam a contrapartida dessa inquietação, que pode ser considerada uma conduta de risco em face de dano ambiental futuro. Nesse aspecto, questiona-se tanto o comportamento individualista e do mercado quanto a possibilidade de implementar mecanismos contra danos ambientais por meio de movimentos e da reflexividade ante a degradação, as incertezas e os riscos. Quanto aos atores sociais investiga-se a difusão do conhecimento das questões que envolvem a água no município, a participação do processo de decisão como o Comitê de Bacia e a articulação para implantar políticas ambientais junto ao Conselho Municipal de Meio Ambiente. Nessa medida, há referências neste estudo à Justiça Ambiental, mostrando a articulação e o reconhecimento desse direito junto às políticas públicas. Esse trabalho, portanto, tenta fazer um recorte que abarque a relação entre as instancias institucionais e os movimentos ambientais -- representados pelas organizações não-governamentais e associações civis -- e com as políticas públicas preventivas implementadas até então pelos gestores públicos. Por fim, elegem-se os cidadãos civis como atores sociais importantes no momento da elaboração de políticas ambientais, mesmo detectando-se que mantêm uma relação contraditória com o meio ambiente. / This study has the aim of analyzing water consumption in Caxias do Sul during the period from 1988 to 2008, and how it is being addressed by public policies and the environmental movement. In order to show the historical evolution of environmental policies in Brazil, and in the city of Caxias do Sul, it is necessary to do some research on this period of time, as it is needed for building rights relating to the elaboration of public policies. To achieve this goal, we need to take into consideration the National Policy of Water Resources. This would include the innovations brought in by law, especially now, with the prediction of the participation of civil society and group of decision makers. The aim of this study is guided on the claim that Caxias do Sul was built (and grew) because of the urban and industrial expansion of the last thirty years, giving rise to the characteristics of a risk society. This in turn, has triggered environmental impacts, with some that are noticeable today,that could compromise the quality and quantity of water for human consumption in the future. This threat could become an irreversible problem. To achieve the objective of this analysis, methodological strategies were used that were crucial to the deepening of the sociological understanding of this issue. By use of Surveys and data statistics, it was noted, however, that there are individuals who are unaware of these issues. Now, thanks to a newly raised sense of awareness, they are able to reflect and understand on which direction to act. Between the environmental organizations and civic associations there is a need to reverse and revise the work process necessary in formatting social and environmental policies. Given these findings, this paper attempts to ascertain the concerns of social actors that make up the collegiate level of environmental agencies. This has led to joint implementation of environmental policies in the municipality, yet at the same time, certain segments of society do not have the balancing mechanisms in place, which could be considered a risk in the face of future environmental damage. In this respect, we have to question both individualistic and market behavior. The possibility of implementing mechanisms which would be against environmental damage, through movement and reflexivity in the face of degradation, would decrease uncertainties and risks. As social actors research and share their diverse knowledge on the issues surrounding water in the district, participation and joint decision-making by the Basin Committee and the Municipal Council of Environment, new environmental policies would be able to be coordinated and implemented. To that extent, there are references to environmental justice in this study, showing the articulation and recognition of these laws, alongside public policy. This work, therefore, tries to merge the relationship between the instances of institutional and environmental movements - represented by non-governmental organizations and civic associations - and preventive public policies which are implemented so far by public managers. Finally, civilian citizens would be elected as important social actors at the time of environmental policy-making, and at the same time detecting if it is possible to maintain a contradictory relationship with the environment.

As discussões acerca do esgotamento do modelo de desenvolvimento predatório de recursos naturais tiveram início na década de 1960. Pesquisas alarmistas determinaram que, inalterados os padrões de consumo, em questão de tempo a manutenção da vida humana entraria em colapso. A sensibilização em torno do assunto, até então restrita à academia, foi aos poucos assimilada pela sociedade e incorporada à política. No Brasil, essa transição começou gradualmente a partir dos anos 1970, mas ganhou força com a criação da Política Nacional do Meio Ambiente e com a promulgação da Constituição Federal de 1988. A Constituição tratou de institucionalizar uma série de direitos, inclusive o direito ao meio ambiente saudável. O compromisso assumido pelo Estado brasileiro em zelar pelo meio ambiente, somado à descentralização do poder e à redivisão de responsabilidades entre os entes federativos medidas próprias de um Estado que acabara de sair de um regime político autoritário permitiram que estados e municípios pudessem criar políticas próprias. O presente estudo tratou o perfil de duas políticas públicas em prática no Estado de São Paulo: ICMS Ecológico e Programa Município VerdeAzul. Os mapas temáticos e anamorfoses criados a partir de dados da Secretaria do Meio Ambiente e da Secretaria da Fazenda do Estado de São Paulo revelam que a adoção de um critério estritamente territorial impede a ação do ICMS Ecológico em muitos municípios do noroeste paulista. O Programa Município VerdeAzul, embora mais democrático e com critérios mais abalizados, não possui a mesma receita do ICMS Ecológico e pode, à medida que mais municípios atinjam as metas do Programa, não ter mais condições de ofertar aos municípios algo atrativo. Isto posto, esta dissertação apresenta algumas questões que precisam ser levantadas diante de uma hipotética junção das duas políticas. / The discussions about exhaustion of the natural resources predatory development model began in the 1960s. Alarmist research has determined that, unchanged consumption patterns, in a matter of time the maintenance of human life would collapse. The awareness around the subject, until then restricted to the academy, was gradually assimilated by society and incorporated into the policy. In Brazil this transition started gradually from the 1970s, but gained strength with the creation of the National Policy of Environment and the enactment of the Federal Constitution of 1988. The Constitution institutionalized several rights, including the right to a healthy environment. The commitment of the Brazilian government in protecting the environment, added the decentralized of the power and the re-division of responsibilities between the federal entities - arrangements for a state that had just come out of an authoritarian polity - allowed states and municipalities could create own policies. This study dealt with the profile of two public policies into practice in the state of São Paulo: ICMS Ecológico and Programa Município VerdeAzul. The thematic maps and anamorphoses created with the data from São Paulos Department of Environment and São Paulos Department of Finance reveals that the adoption of a strictly territorial criterion prevents the action of the ICMS Ecológico in many municipalities in the northwest region of São Paulo. The Programa Município VerdeAzul, although more democratic and with more solid criterion dont have the same revenue as the ICMS Ecológico has and, as more municipalities achieve the goals of the Program, may no longer able to offer something attractive to municipalities. That said, this dissertation presents some issues that need to be raised before a hypothetical merger of two policies.

A presente pesquisa tomou por objeto de estudo central a dimensão social (mais conhecida como \'componente antrópico\' ou \'componentes do meio socioeconômico\') consubstanciada na prática e no discurso de avaliação de impacto ambiental. Buscou-se analisar as ausências, lacunas, insuficiências, distorções e omissões ativas no trato dessa dimensão social, procurando compreendê-las como indícios da configuração momentânea das fronteiras do \'social\' na regulação ambiental de projetos no Brasil, enquanto construção histórica atravessada por interesses conflitantes entre os envolvidos nas disputas por hegemonia do campo ambiental, sem perder de vista seu diálogo com outros campos do espaço social, como o político e o econômico. Através dessa chave interpretativa, foi possível retomar as origens e características históricas que conformaram os sentidos dominantes de termos como \'meio ambiente\', \'impacto ambiental\' e \'atingido\' na regulação pública e na atividade de avaliação de impacto, subsumindo da equação os impactos e processos sociais relacionados à implantação de grandes projetos. A pesquisa argumenta, nesse sentido, que ao componente social tem sido atribuído um papel marginal, frágil e bastante delimitado espacial e temporalmente, corroborando com críticas históricas a este instrumento de planejamento. Diagnósticos empobrecidos, avaliações que escamoteiam a complexidade de impactos sociais cumulativos, indiretos e de segunda ordem (cujas marcas são o longo prazo, a fluidez das fronteiras espaciais, a imprevisibilidade, a intangibilidade e a dificuldade de valoração monetária) e medidas mitigadoras e compensatórias insuficientes são ilustrados empiricamente pela pesquisa, tomando o estudo de impacto ambiental de um projeto de anel rodoviário recente, situado no Litoral Norte do estado de São Paulo, como matéria-prima principal de análise. Aliado a uma metodologia investigativa, baseada no levantamento de documentos oficiais do processo licenciatório, a pesquisa procurou identificar os meandros, os mecanismos, as operações e os filtros que recolocam o \'social\' como parte subordinada da avaliação de impacto ambiental, dando pouquíssimo relevo a questões fundamentais, como: fluxos migratórios, crescimento demográfico, demanda adicional sobre infraestrutura e serviços urbanos, transformações da paisagem e novas configurações urbanas, mudança de perfil sociocultural e econômico em nível regional, etc. Em paralelo, após extensa revisão bibliográfica nacional e internacional na área de avaliação de impacto social (que serviu de embasamento teórico-conceitual à pesquisa), procurou-se averiguar em que medida as novas formulações discursivas emergentes, tanto no campo ambiental quanto no subcampo profissional da avaliação de impacto, nos últimos trinta anos, têm encontrado ressonância na prática da avaliação de impacto ambiental de projetos, no país - i.e., como têm sido apropriadas por agentes reguladores e consultores técnicos responsáveis pelos EIAs. Por fim, a pesquisa buscou tecer reflexões sobre as potencialidades e limitações inerentes à avaliação de impacto ambiental como instrumento de planejamento regional, integrado, democrático, fundado em princípios de equidade ambiental e no reconhecimento das demandas de grupos sociais atingidos. / The present study has focused on the social dimension (better known as \'anthropic component\' or \'components of the socioeconomic environment\'), based on the practice and discourse of environmental impact assessment. It sought to analyze the absences, gaps, inadequacies, distortions and omissions that are active in the treatment of this social dimension, seeking to understand them as signs of the momentary configuration of the boundaries of the \'social\' in the environmental regulation of projects in Brazil, as a historical construction crossed by interests Conflict between those involved in environmental hegemony disputes, without losing sight of their dialogue with other fields of social space, such as political and economic. Through this interpretive key, it was possible to return to the origins and historical characteristics that conformed the dominant meanings of terms such as \'environment\', \'environmental impact\' and \'reached\' in public regulation and impact assessment activity, subsuming impacts And social processes related to the implementation of large projects. The research argues, in this sense, that the social component has been assigned a marginal, fragile and quite delimited spatial and temporal role, corroborating historical criticism of this planning instrument. Impoverished diagnostics, assessments that eschew the complexity of cumulative, indirect and second-order social impacts (whose long-term marks, fluidity of spatial boundaries, unpredictability, intangibility and difficulty in monetary valuation) and insufficient mitigating and compensatory measures Are empirically illustrated by the survey, taking the environmental impact study of a recent road ring project, located in the North Coast of the state of São Paulo, as the main raw material for analysis. In addition to an investigative methodology, based on the collection of official documents of the licensing process, the research sought to identify the meanders, mechanisms, operations and filters that replace the \'social\' as a subordinate part of the environmental impact assessment, giving very little emphasis to Such as: migration flows, population growth, additional demand on infrastructure and urban services, landscape transformations and new urban configurations, socio-cultural and economic profile change at the regional level, etc. In parallel, after extensive national and international literature review in the area of social impact assessment (which served as a theoretical-conceptual basis for research), it was sought to determine to what extent new emerging discursive formulations, both in the environmental field and in the professional subfield Of the impact assessment over the last thirty years have found resonance in the practice of assessing the environmental impact of projects in the country - ie as they have been appropriated by regulators and technical consultants responsible for EIAs. Finally, the research sought to reflect on the potentialities and limitations inherent to environmental impact assessment as a regional, integrated, democratic planning tool based on principles of environmental equity and the recognition of the demands of affected social groups.

Situated in one of the wettest climates in America, Houston, TX has had a long history of heavy rains and unprecedented floods. Unfortunately, floods have become more common over the last few decades as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of hurricanes around the globe. To complicate matters further, Houston has quickly sprawled to accommodate over 2.5 billion people. Rapid urbanization has rendered the landscape even more susceptible to floods through excess concretization and watershed disturbance. This thesis traces the history of the Bayou City in relation to the damages caused by Hurricane Harvey. By mapping out the original neighborhoods and the current demographics of the city, I argue that low-income and minority groups have been systematically forced into higher-risk floodplains via prejudice housing practices. Furthermore, I explore the roles of the National Insurance Flood Program (NIFP) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the rebuilding of the city following Harvey, and I detail the sudden spike in unsheltered homeless people across the region. The thesis closes by critiquing projects that have been proposed for the future well-being of Houston (i.e. reservoir remediation, conveyance projects, coastal dykes, etc.). Evidently, local and outside experts across fields and organizations need to cooperate to determine the immediate and specific needs of neighborhoods and people across the city of Houston.

How does progressive change happen in so-called sustainable cities? In this dissertation, I present findings from a three year-long ethnographic investigation of grassroots organizing in Portland, Oregon, a city at the leading edge of the green urbanism movement. This research centered on an extended case study of the Portland Harbor Community Coalition (PHCC). PHCC is an alliance of grassroots groups working to ensure that cleanup of the Portland Harbor Superfund Site benefits those who have been most impacted by pollution. In this dissertation, I develop three main empirical findings. First, despite depoliticized (sustainability) discourse permeating the harbor cleanup planning process, which excluded impacted communities from and minimized disparate impacts resulting from contamination and cleanup, there has not necessarily been a green growth machine operating in the way that we would expect. Instead, a classic status quo growth machine has indirectly pushed depoliticized sustainability discourse, and benefited from it at the expense of vulnerable residents -- even in a paradigmatic sustainable city. Second, in contrast to the "just green enough" strategies put forth in previous research, there are, in fact, grassroots groups who are demanding robust environmental improvements as part of broader social and environmental justice outcomes. PHCC takes an "oppositional community development" approach in attempting to transcend the green development-displacement dialectic. This approach has entailed being strategically confrontational some of the time, and engaging through more established participation channels at other times. Third, individual and collective historicized learning has played a key role in PHCC's efforts to re-politicize the cleanup planning process in three ways: it helped coalition members connect their personal experiences to the harbor; it helped coalition members build a political analysis of the cumulative and inter-generational ways that harbor pollution has impacted different groups; and a collectively produced historical narrative ultimately contributed to the coalition's moderate success in pushing public agencies to be more responsive to impacted communities. More broadly, this research draws attention to the historical contingencies, organizing approaches, challenges, and transformations experienced by ordinary people coming together to fight for a more just sustainability. It suggests that in order to develop a fuller understanding of urban socio-ecological change processes--and to make meaningful contributions to change in an era of environmental crisis, extreme housing instability, racial violence, and other forms of oppression--scholars must pay attention to those working on the front lines of change, themselves, in broader historical context.

This Senior Thesis in Environmental Analysis seeks to explore the ways in which certain food-oriented programs for incarcerated women and women on parole critically resist the Prison Industrial Complex and the Industrial Food System by securing social and ecological equity through the acquisition of food justice. It focuses on three case studies: the Crossroads’ Meatless Mondays program, Fallen Fruit from Rising Women: A Crossroads Social Enterprise, and Cultivating Dreams Prison Garden Project: An Organic Garden for Women in Prison. Each project utilizes food as a tool to build community, provide valuable skill sets of cooking and gardening, and educate women about the social, environmental and political implications of the Industrial Food System. Overall, the goal of this thesis is to prove the necessity of food justice programs in the criminal justice system in counteracting the disenfranchisement of certain populations that are continuously discriminated against in the industrialized systems of prison and food.

This dissertation analogically applies a framework of minor literary analysis to uniquely political units of the built environment. As urbanism is conventionally understood to be executed per the greatest utility of established communal objectives, an underlying politicization is inherent as such forms must adhere to dominant norms of development which potentially marginalize those who practice cultural methods outside normative standards. Employing a uniquely architectural method of environmental justice advocacy, select communities facing disenfranchisement react by self-producing urban-architectural forms ("UAFs") to protect threatened cultural values from marginalization. Installed to subvert the existing power dynamic, such UAFs are potential exhibitions of minor architecture. Adopting the analytical standards established by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari for evaluating Franz Kafka's literature, this paper tests six UAFs to discover if a minor architecture is possible under contemporary globalization. Employing an enumerated framework of minor production characteristics, an interpretive-historical analysis is the primary method of judgment regarding each unit's execution of minor architecture. Two secondary tests are undertaken to validate the primary findings, the first of which is a physio-logical evaluation that characterizes and measures urban resource utility as per collective minority aims. Second, a newspaper correlation test is undertaken so as to judge the enunciative effectiveness of each community per issues of minority politics. Of the six cases examined, two have their source in cinema including "Bartertown" of MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME (1985) and the "House on Paper Street" of FIGHT CLUB (1999). The four remaining cases include the Tibetan Government-in-Exile of Dharamsala, India; Student Bonfire of Robertson County, Texas; Isla Vista Recreation & Park District of Santa Barbara County, California; and the Emergent Cannabis Community of Arcata, California. Of all the cases studied, only the Tibetan Government-in-Exile met both the conditions of minor architecture and was validated in terms of practiced urban resource use as well as effective representation in mainstream newsprint. Both cinematic cases failed as minor productions of the built environment. Although they did not find full validation, the three remaining real-world UAFs each were found on a course of minor architectural expression at varying stages of execution.

Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 323 pages. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: This dissertation reports the activities, methods, and key findings of a doctoral research project in applied anthropology and an environmental anthropology fellowship. The research project was conducted through the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, while the fellowship was sponsored jointly by the Society for Applied Anthropology and the United States Environmental Protection Agency and was conducted through the Great Lakes Fellowship Program of the Great Lakes Commission, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Together, these projects demonstrated the utility of an ethnographic approach called Risk Perception Mapping (RPM) to the public consultation and social research interests of the Commission and its associated network of environmental management agencies and organizations. / Through consultation with these organizations I identified an environmental management problem to which anthropological perspectives and methods would be particularly well-suited: Can the undesirable social phenomenon of environmental discrimination be minimized by assuring greater equality in access to public participation in environmental management? To address this problem, I conducted an RPM demonstration project in a five county area surrounding the Fermi II nuclear power plant in southeastern Michigan. My research focused on cultural, geographical, and social-contextual factors that influence the nature and distribution of perceived risk among populations that are potentially affected by environmental management projects. Key findings pertain to perceptually-specific communities of environmental risk and have implications for what I call "participatory equity" in environmental management. / Potential applications to Great Lakes environmental management center on developing equitable population-specific exchanges of information through which more culturally sensitive indicators of Great Lakes ecosystem integrity may emerge. Anthropological contributions to public participation in environmental management are discussed with particular attention to anthropological perspectives on the multiple publics that comprise locally affected communities of environmental risk. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the driving factors of population exposure to sources of environmental pollution and to determine if poor neighborhoods are disproportionately exposed to negative environmental externalities. This research also examines whether the concentration of polluting industries within neighborhoods of different socio-economic levels varies over time. To determine the causes of the spatial coincidence between population and industrial polluters, this study employs a mixed-methods approach. Quantitatively, this study uses an exploratory approach to capture the effects of poverty and segregation on the density of hazardous industries. This methodological approach models the spatial variation of the relationship between poverty and pollution. Qualitatively, a cross-case comparative analysis is conducted on two different socio-economic neighborhoods to trace the causes of continuity or change in industrial density. The study finds that polluting industries tend to be distributed homogenously across neighborhoods of different socio-economic backgrounds and that poverty and segregation are not mayor drivers of that distribution. On the contrary, the relationship between poor and segregated and industries presents spatial variation and it is localized in some specific areas. The case-studies comparison, moreover, indicates that the spatial concentration of hazardous industries varies over time, decreasing slightly in a middle-class neighborhood and increasing in a poor neighborhood. This is explained by: i) economic constraints and opportunities to the local economy determine the permanence of polluting activities; ii) middle-class collective actions to live in a better environment contribute to expel polluting activities from the neighborhood in the long run; and iii), local political practices and the lack of alternatives and resources to access the formal land market means that the poor face tremendous environmental burdens which traps them in a noxious environment. Several policy implications arise from this research; first, access to information, transparency, and environmental law enforcement must be strengthened in order to underpin equity and common standards across the city. Second, local governments should weigh and balance the need for housing and development, and the environmental consequences when establishing zoning ordinances. Third, policies and resources should be targeted towards residents, especially those poorer residents that are most at risk. / text