Opioid use in pregnancy is the latest in a long list of social issues in the United States that is being addressed with punitive policies that disproportionately affect women of color and their families and do not focus on environmental factors contributing to increasing drug use in pregnancy. Evidence is emerging demonstrating that these punitive policies are not achieving their intended goals. Additionally, these policies continue a trend of pitting maternal and fetal interests against each other. Historically, bioethics has divided conversations on biomedical and environmental ethics. However, recent merging of these fields may facilitate the biopolitical translation of emerging epigenetics research of substance use in pregnancy. This paper reviews the ineffectiveness of punitive policies in reducing drug use in pregnancy and related negative health outcomes for both mothers and infants. It demonstrates how these policies perpetuate racial injustice through existing systemic oppressive structures. Leveraging epigenetics to draw a link between the environment and the maternal-fetal dyad can help members of the scientific community advocate for policies that promote equitable and justice-based public health interventions as well as relieve the maternal fetal conflict. / Urban Bioethics

This thesis studies the role of community cultural wealth (CCW), an asset-based framework, and environmental education (EE) to better understand how to support Black, Asian, and Latine individuals in their interactions with nature (chapter 1) and civic engagement related to the environment (chapter 2) - two activities that have been impacted by structural racism in the US. In the introduction, we give a brief overview of how historical segregation and structural racism impacts equity in outdoor spaces, how EE may be an avenue for increased equity in these spaces, a brief overview of CCW, and existing research on drivers of participation in nature-based activities and civic engagement related to the environment. In chapter 1, we use interviews and surveys to understand how CCW, EE, and the intersection of gender and race are associated with Black, Asian, and Latine individuals' participation in nature-based activities. We found that social connections, connections with organizations, family, community, and EE can provide the necessary skills, information, and emotional support to persist in nature-based activities. Using the same interviews and surveys, chapter 2 investigates how EE and CCW are associated with Black, Asian, and Latine participation in civic engagement related to the environment. The results of this study show that a knowledge of systems of oppression and the motivation to challenge those oppressive systems are important predictors for the civic engagement related to the environment of Black, Asian, and Latine individuals. Additionally, EE, social connections, community organizations, and family provide opportunities to participate in civic engagement related to the environment and the skills and information necessary to participate. The findings from this thesis contribute valuable insights to initiatives aimed at enhancing equity in nature-based activities and civic engagement related to the environment. Such efforts can provide individuals with the benefits of interactions with nature, equip them with tools to address adverse environmental impacts in their communities, and ultimately foster broader support for the environmental movement. Additionally, this study could help public land managers reach a broader portion of their constituents and stay relevant in a rapidly diversifying US. / Master of Science / In the face of global environmental crises such as climate change and biodiversity loss, scholars are pointing to nature-based recreation and civic engagement related to the environment as potential avenues for addressing these pressing issues. Positive interaction with nature not only provides cognitive, emotional, and physiological benefits to people, but also improves pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. Civic engagement related to the environment benefits people and the planet as well – by creating more equitable and representative societies and by providing an avenue to address environmental issues. However, both nature-based recreation and civic engagement related to the environment have historically been impacted by structural racism and by the framing of the outdoor narrative in the US as a "White space", which still disproportionately impacts people's participation today. To help address these inequities, this thesis investigates the role of community cultural wealth (CCW), an asset-based framework, and environmental education (EE) in supporting Black, Asian, and Latine individual's participation in nature-based activities and civic engagement related to the environment. Results from semi-structured interviews and a nationwide survey showed that social connections, family ties, community organizations, and previous experiences with EE significantly influenced the involvement of Black, Asian, and Latine individuals in nature-based activities. These factors, along with an understanding of structures of oppression, were also important precursors to civic engagement related to the environment in our study. Our findings suggest that creating institutional opportunities (e.g., community organizations or affinity groups) for both nature interaction and civic engagement related to the environment may be a key method of diversifying outdoor spaces. Additionally, our results suggest that increasing equity within EE is necessary to expand its benefits.

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This paper seeks to establish and assess the link between microplastics and human rights. An empirical understanding of the topic is constructed through the collection and presentation of emerging research on the impact of microplastic pollution on the environment, health, well-being, and reproduction. A sociological and environmental justice perspective and understanding of the topic is established through a presentation of previous cases of pollution and issues of global health. These theoretical and empirical perspectives are then explored through the lens of a human rights framework to establish an understanding of the potential threat posed to human rights by the issue of microplastic pollution.

Abstract not available

This research explores differences in environmental worldviews and connections to the land globally and more specifically in a case study of NGOs working in the Ecuadorian Cloud Forest. The aims of this project are to investigate different environmental worldviews expressed between western NGOs and non western local NGOs and to pose these questions 1) what environmental worldviews and ethics are at play in addressing conservation globally and specifically in the Cloud Forest of Ecuador? 2) How do these worldviews influence models for conservation? 3) How do locally-run projects differ from foreign NGOs in addressing the combined needs of the environment and the people in Ecuador? I work to establish a framework for comparing the environmental worldviews of foreign environmental NGOs that of local NGOs, by researching environmental worldviews around the world as influenced by culture, society, history and religion. By using research on case studies done by Jim Igoe, Carolyn Merchant, John Schelhas and Max Pfeffer, I explore the dominant Western worldview of conservation and how its introduction of the National Park model has impacted local communities globally. By comparing this Western worldview of conservation via preservation in National Parks to the nonwestern worldview of integrative models for conservation, I hope to establish a framework for how looking at conservation from the perspective of local communities may prove more beneficial to the future of conservation projects globally. This case study centers around four main community-based conservation projects in the Ecuadorian Cloud Forest and asks how their grassroots operations differ from the Ecuadorian National Park system in their efforts to educate and support local communities. This project proposes to dissect these projects designed by local and foreign NGOs to see how they are shaped by their environmental worldviews and whether that worldview includes just the needs of the environment or takes into account the needs of the people as well. This is done through a combination of participant observation and semi-structured open-ended interviews. All data in this ethnography is qualitative and draws on three bodies of literature that serve as frames or approaches to this topic: environmental worldviews, political ecology, and environmental justice. By using these three approaches I show that the environment and ultimately efforts for conservation do not exist within a vacuum but rather lay within a broader context of beliefs, society, and history. / Graduation date: 2012

Environmental justice, a new but rapidly developing concept in international environmental law, arose in the United States of America during the Environmental Justice Movement of the late 1970s and 1980s. It starkly highlighted injustices faced by people of colour and low-income communities as regards racially skewed environmental legal protection and allocation of environmental risks. The movement radically changed the meaning of ‘environment’ from its conventional green overtones to include issues of social justice at the core of environmental thinking. I critically examine the concept of environmental justice in the Kenyan context by highlighting the injustices, and the formulation and application of laws and policies that significantly impact on environmental regulation and equitable distribution of social services. / Private Law / LL. M.

abstract: This study explores the potential risks associated with the 65 U.S.-based commercial nuclear power plants (NPPs) and the distribution of those risks among the populations of both their respective host communities and of the communities located in outlying areas. First, I examine the relevant environmental justice issues. I start by examining the racial/ethnic composition of the host community populations, as well as the disparities in socio-economic status that exist, if any, between the host communities and communities located in outlying areas. Second, I estimate the statistical associations that exist, if any, between a population's distance from a NPP and several independent variables. I conduct multivariate ordinary least square (OLS) regression analyses and spatial autocorrelation regression (SAR) analyses at the national, regional and individual-NPP levels. Third, I construct a NPP potential risk index (NPP PRI) that defines four discrete risk categories--namely, very high risk, high risk, moderate risk, and low risk. The NPP PRI allows me then to estimate the demographic characteristics of the populations exposed to each so-defined level of risk. Fourth, using the Palo Verde NPP as the subject, I simulate a scenario in which a NPP experiences a core-damage accident. I use the RASCAL 4.3 software to simulate the path of dispersion of the resultant radioactive plume, and to investigate the statistical associations that exist, if any, between the dispersed radioactive plume and the demographic characteristics of the populations located within the plume's footprint. This study utilizes distributive justice theories to understand the distribution of the potential risks associated with NPPs, many of which are unpredictable, irreversible and inescapable. I employ an approach that takes into account multiple stakeholders in order to provide avenues for all parties to express concerns, and to ensure the relevance and actionability of any resulting policy recommendations. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Environmental Social Science 2014

There is great expectation that oil development in Ghana will catapult the nation towards prosperity and lead to drastic improvement in the wellbeing of Ghanaians. However, there is also concern that Ghana could fail to achieve these due to the resource curse notwithstanding the fact that scholars of the curse have yet to agree on the inevitability of the curse. Resource curse scholars adduce different reasons for its occurrence or absence. One thing common among the scholars, however, is that none discusses environmental justice in the context of the curse. In this dissertation, I examine Ghana's attempts at avoiding the resource curse through policymaking and implementation using the Guidelines on Environmental Assessment and Management of Ghana's offshore oil sector as a case study. I argue that a strong environmental justice frame is required to avert the curse in Ghana. Specifically, I assess the policy process in Ghana's oil sector, the institutional framework for managing the sector, and analyze the perception of environmental justice for policymaking. The outcome of these assessments show that although the policy process requires broadening for full and effective participation, Ghana has checks and balances policies to avert the resource curse and to deliver environmental justice in the oil sector. In addition, Ghana has an institutional framework that requires strengthening, in various way, in order for it to complement the checks and balances policies

No description available.