Search results

Title: The transition to industrial farming landscapes and methods in western lower Michigan and the resulting community awareness
Creator: Jacques, Michelle Lynne-Larkins
Date: 2011
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Using an Environmental Justice Framework (EJF) and risk perception theory this research investigates the perceptions of residents of one West Michigan agricultural community regarding the density of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in their area. Using a case study approach, semi-structured interviews (n=11) with operational stakeholders and orally administered surveys (n=296) with the community at large were conducted. Hispanic community members and farmworkers were purposively...
Show moreUsing an Environmental Justice Framework (EJF) and risk perception theory this research investigates the perceptions of residents of one West Michigan agricultural community regarding the density of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) in their area. Using a case study approach, semi-structured interviews (n=11) with operational stakeholders and orally administered surveys (n=296) with the community at large were conducted. Hispanic community members and farmworkers were purposively sampled due to their unique status in the community. Results indicate that community perceptions of risk differ significantly among demographic groups. Hispanic community members were more likely to perceive the employment benefits of CAFOS as being more important and the likelihood of environmental pollution or human health effects to be lower in importance than non-Hispanic community members. In contrast, women were more likely to perceive the potential of environmental pollution effects of CAFOs to be more significant and the economic benefits to be less important than men. Our findings support risk perception theory and also suggest directions for future research regarding educational attainment and perception.
Show less

Title: THE TOXIC TRUTH : ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OF MOTHERS AND CHILDREN IN MICHIGAN
Creator: Kreuze, Amanda
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model estimates toxicity-weighted concentrations based on human health risks from modelled exposures to Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) chemicals. Numerous studies have reported on the inequitable distribution of TRI sites and pollutant exposures among minority and low-income populations, which may be leading to poorer health outcomes and contribute to health disparities. Population groups who are most susceptible to the untoward effects of...
Show moreThe Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) model estimates toxicity-weighted concentrations based on human health risks from modelled exposures to Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) chemicals. Numerous studies have reported on the inequitable distribution of TRI sites and pollutant exposures among minority and low-income populations, which may be leading to poorer health outcomes and contribute to health disparities. Population groups who are most susceptible to the untoward effects of pollutants are pregnant women and infants, with minority and poorer women at greatest risk. The goal of this research is to investigate maternal and infant health outcomes associated with TRI chemical exposures in Michigan from 2008-2017 from an environmental justice perspective using an ecosyndemic theoretical approach. The objectives of this research are: 1) To outline the ecosyndemic theoretical approach as a holistic lens by which to conceptualize maternal exposures to multiple toxic chemicals. 2) To investigate the spatial and temporal patterns and clusters of RSEI toxicity-weighted concentrations and the degree to which these human health risks are more elevated in minority and low-income communities. 3) Estimate the impact(s) of maternal exposure to RSEI toxicity-weighted concentrations on adverse birth outcomes, including lethal congenital anomalies, controlling for potential maternal level confounding variables. U.S. Census data was used to measure racial composition and poverty at the census tract level. The annual RSEI toxicity-weighted concentrations across census tracts were sub-divided into exposure quartiles and these were spatially and temporally assigned to each mother’s pregnancy. The analyses were conducted using geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial epidemiological methods including cluster detection techniques. This study found that building upon the ecosyndemic framework the urban areas of Detroit and Grand Rapids were found to contain 80% of the census tracts with the highest RSEI toxicity-weighted concentrations. African Americans, Hispanics and residents living near and below poverty were most likely to live in these census tracts. These inequities persisted over time for African Americans living in Detroit and Grand Rapids and more recently for Hispanics living in Detroit, demonstrating on-going and emerging environmental injustices. Mothers exposed to the highest RSEI quartiles were at higher odds of low birth weight and preterm birth controlling for other known risk factors. The interactions between exposures to highest RSEI quartile and other behavioral and medical risks exacerbated the likelihood of these adverse birth outcomes. Finally, space-time analysis revealed several areas in Michigan with persistent clusters of lethal congenital anomalies. Clusters in Detroit and Muskegon that were in part explained by proximity to RSEI toxicity-weighted concentration values requires further investigation. Based on the study findings, recommendations include increased monitoring of TRI sites, incentivize companies to reduce their use of highly toxic chemicals and add additional environmental justice evaluations when approving new industrial facilities and targeting areas for pollution reduction, particularly census tracts in the highest RSEI quartile where mothers are at greatest risk of adverse birth outcomes. Future research should investigate possible interaction and mediating effects between chemical exposures and maternal behavioral and medical factors, further investigate the clusters of lethal birth defects in Michigan and investigate the upstream forces that contribute to environmental injustices and adverse birth outcomes in Michigan.
Show less

Title: REIMAGINING DIVERSITY IN STEM : USING AN ASSETS-BASED CAPITAL FRAMEWORK MODEL TO EXPLORE THE CAREER TRAJECTORY OF SCIENTISTS FROM UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS
Creator: Jaimes, Patricia
Date: 2021
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: An emerging approach to diversity and inclusion initiatives within the sciences is to consider the assets and resources (in the form of capitals) held by individuals from underrepresented groups. In Chapter 1 of this dissertation, we performed a systematic literature review to explore the secondary types of capital that exist within the STEM education literature, in relation to the five primary forms of capital: cultural, economic, human, social, and symbolic. We identified 184 scholarly...
Show moreAn emerging approach to diversity and inclusion initiatives within the sciences is to consider the assets and resources (in the form of capitals) held by individuals from underrepresented groups. In Chapter 1 of this dissertation, we performed a systematic literature review to explore the secondary types of capital that exist within the STEM education literature, in relation to the five primary forms of capital: cultural, economic, human, social, and symbolic. We identified 184 scholarly documents using systematic literature review procedures. To qualify, documents needed to pertain to STEM, careers and education, and capital and explicitly define capital. We extracted the capital types that were found in the retained documents and recorded their definitions. Thirty-six forms of capital emerged from these studies, and 27 were retained in our final model. Five of these capitals were primary capital categories (cultural, economic, human, social, and symbolic); twenty-one were secondary capitals. Using a deductive thematic coding approach, we sorted the secondary capitals into the five primary capital categories based on their definitions. Three secondary capitals that did not align with any of the primary capitals were sorted into a “other” category. These three capitals were then analyzed inductively and were sorted into a newly developed intrinsic capital primary category. The final Capital Framework Model CFM) was developed. To test the CFM, we performed an exploratory study in Chapter 2 looking at how the CFM could be used to explain the educational and career persistence of scientists from underrepresented groups and determine which capitals were most useful to scientists from underrepresented groups for their educational and career persistence. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with scientists who identified as a racial/ethnic minority or disabled or queer. Interview transcripts were coded through a deductive thematic analysis, using the CFM model as a codebook. Findings illustrate that participants from underrepresented groups accessed social capital, cultural capital, economic capital, and intrinsic capital to persist in STEM careers. Scientists of color engaged with capitals differently than white scientists. A new intrinsic capital type- critical consciousness capital- was added to the CFM model. The third chapter of this dissertation builds off the work of Yosso (2005) and Chapters 1 and 2, to explore how the CFM, with the inclusion of critical consciousness capital, explains the career trajectories of Latinx scientists. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 Latinx scientists and were coded deductively using the updated CFM as a codebook. Findings reveal that while traditional initiatives that provide social and cultural capital in order to broaden the participation of underrepresented students in STEM are effective, it is the strengths and resources - in the form of capital- derived from their communities, that empower and enable Latinx scientists to persist in scientific careers. Most importantly, we found that Latinx scientists are drawn to the social justice implications of a scientific career and strive towards helping their communities combat the oppressive systems that hold them back. Efforts to broaden participation in STEM could be improved by embedding the cultural and intrinsic strengths found among Latinx communities into their programming with a focus on applying scientific principles into social justice work.
Show less

Title: HOUSEHOLD WATER ACCESS AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ISSUE : HOW RACE AND INCOME ARE ASSOCIATED WITH WATER ACCESS ACROSS SPACE
Creator: Medwid, Laura Jane
Date: 2022
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Equitable access to clean and affordable household water services has received increasing academic attention in the past decades. This dissertation addresses the effects of water costs and quality through an environmental justice lens in three chapters. The first two chapters use a novel survey titled the Survey of Water Innovation and Socioeconomic Status of Households (SWISSH), which includes questions related to a range of water issues for respondents in nine regions across the United...
Show moreEquitable access to clean and affordable household water services has received increasing academic attention in the past decades. This dissertation addresses the effects of water costs and quality through an environmental justice lens in three chapters. The first two chapters use a novel survey titled the Survey of Water Innovation and Socioeconomic Status of Households (SWISSH), which includes questions related to a range of water issues for respondents in nine regions across the United States (US). Chapter one identifies demographic characteristics of those most impacted by rising water bills, the industries that could subsequently be affected by systematic changes in household budgets, and at what bill increase levels these trends are most pronounced. A randomized water price-increase scenario was presented to each respondent, who was asked about the effect these price changes would have on household purchases. Systematic differences among social and demographic changes were found, with major budget changes occurring with a water bill increase of just $12 monthly. Chapter two also uses SWISSH, in this instance to better understand household perceptions of whether water bills are too high according to social, demographic, geographic, and water billing characteristics. Results suggest low-income, minority, and otherwise underrepresented groups were more likely to perceive their water bills as too high. In terms of policy implications, model results indicate utilities can favorably affect perceptions of water bills via the frequency of water billing and provision of payment assistance programs. Chapter three uses spatial cluster analysis to understand neighborhood characteristics surrounding highly polluted ‘Superfund’ sites known to be contaminated with PFAS. Several indicators of vulnerability including poverty, ethnic and racial minorities, linguistic barriers, and single parent households were found to be elevated in communities within a six-mile distance from these PFAS-polluted sites.
Show less

Title: SUBJUGATION BY NOISE : COLONIAL RETUNING OF KNOWLEDGE, LANGUAGE, AND LAND
Creator: Edusei, Kwabena
Date: 2022
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This dissertation explores how sound was used as a part of a strategy of domination by colonial powers. Using the theory of the soundscape advanced, I argue that colonization used sound as means to retune the cultures and geographies of colonized and formerly colonized peoples. I use “retune” as an analytic to describe the epistemological, ethical, and environmental processes by which a colonial power alters the function and meaning-in-sound to serve its purposes. The dissertation examines...
Show moreThis dissertation explores how sound was used as a part of a strategy of domination by colonial powers. Using the theory of the soundscape advanced, I argue that colonization used sound as means to retune the cultures and geographies of colonized and formerly colonized peoples. I use “retune” as an analytic to describe the epistemological, ethical, and environmental processes by which a colonial power alters the function and meaning-in-sound to serve its purposes. The dissertation examines retuning within two contexts: linguistic and environmental. The dissertation's first half unpacks how colonization transfers hermeneutic power through the creation and imposition of syllabic writing systems. Syllabic writing systems cannot express the range of meaning in sound used in the languages of colonized peoples. Thus, meaning is contorted to fit into the syllabic structure imposed by colonizers. The second half of the dissertation explores how soundscapes can be tools for environmental injustices. In particular, I examine how unwanted sounds (i.e., noise pollution) are dumped on Black, Indigenous, Brown, and other marginalized people. Environmental solutions to noise pollution often do not provide justice to marginalized peoples for the harms of environmental noise pollution. In order to address justice concerns for all entities, I argue we should adopt non-anthropocentric forms of Indigenous environmentalism.
Show less

Title: Where the waters divide : environmental justice, neoliberalism, and aboriginal voices, an ethnography of the changing Canadian water sector
Creator: Mascarenhas, Michael
Date: 2005
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: Integrating key ecological health and social dimensions in sustainable water resources management
Creator: Daneshvar, Fariborz
Date: 2017
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: The dynamics of coupled natural and human systems are complex and vary across time, location, and organizational unit. So different social groups may be unequally affected by degraded environments, which in many cases do not randomly occur over space. Therefore, the concept of environmental justice was introduced to address this issue. One environmental resource that has been a focus point for environmental justice is freshwater, and stream health based environmental justice studies are the...
Show moreThe dynamics of coupled natural and human systems are complex and vary across time, location, and organizational unit. So different social groups may be unequally affected by degraded environments, which in many cases do not randomly occur over space. Therefore, the concept of environmental justice was introduced to address this issue. One environmental resource that has been a focus point for environmental justice is freshwater, and stream health based environmental justice studies are the most recent approach used by researchers to describe these phenomena. However, many of the previous studies were only performed at the census tract level and no proper spatial level was defined for environmental justice studies with respect to stream health. On the other hand, due to computational limitations for stream health indices estimation, only a few water quantity and quality parameters were used to develop stream health predictive models. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to address the following knowledge gaps in the area of stream health based environmental justice by: 1) determining the role of spatial level of socioeconomic factors on stream health based environmental justice studies and 2) assessing the relative importance of parameter estimation in stream health based environmental justice modeling.To address the first knowledge gap, three Bayesian Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) models (ordinary regression, weighted regression and spatial) were developed for four common stream health measures based on 17 socioeconomic and physiographical variables at three census levels of county, census tract, and block group in the Saginaw River Basin in Michigan. This watershed was an ideal place to perform this study since it was identified as an area of concern in the Great Lakes region while having one of the most diverse populations in the state. For all stream health measures, spatial models had better performance compared to the two non-spatial models at the census tract and block group levels. In addition, multilevel Bayesian CAR models were also developed to understand the spatial dependency across three levels. Results showed that considering level interactions improved the predictive power of the environmental justice models. Residual plots also showed that models developed at the block group and census tract (in contrary to county level models) were able to capture spatial variations, which is an important aspect of environmental justice studies.To address the second knowledge gap, first ecologically relevant streamflow and water quality indices were used to improve the performance of the stream health predictive models. The outputs (fish and macroinvertebrate indices) from newly developed stream predictive models were then used to develop similar CAR models. Results showed that incorporating the more accurate stream health indices improved the spatial dependencies at the census tract and block group levels compared to county level. In addition, the multilevel models had better performance than single level models. Finally, the modified stream health indices improved stream health based environmental justice models’ performance by reducing redundancies in independent variables. This research finding provides a valuable tool to target vulnerable communities with respect to access to clean water, which enables water resources policymakers to allocate resources in a way that reduces environmental inequality.
Show less

Title: Recipe for disaster : chemical wastes, community activists, and public health at Love Canal, 1945-2000
Creator: Hay, Amy Marie
Date: 2005
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: Regaining control over the environment : a Pan-Africanist agenda
Creator: Daley, Patricia (Patricia O.)
Date: 1996-06
Collection: African Journal of Political Science

Title: “THE DAM DOMINATED THE WATER” : SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS AND ENERGY INJUSTICES ASSOCIATED WITH DAM DEVELOPMENT IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH.
Creator: Castro Diaz, Laura del Pilar
Date: 2022
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: Countries in the Global South favor hydropower because it is a low-carbon and sustainable energy source that can satisfy their energy needs and allow them to meet anticipated increases in energy demand. However, the construction of hydroelectric dams increases social and environmental inequities across multiple scales. In this dissertation, I explore the social-ecological impacts and energy injustices generated by large-scale hydroelectric dams in the Global South, focusing on dams in the...
Show moreCountries in the Global South favor hydropower because it is a low-carbon and sustainable energy source that can satisfy their energy needs and allow them to meet anticipated increases in energy demand. However, the construction of hydroelectric dams increases social and environmental inequities across multiple scales. In this dissertation, I explore the social-ecological impacts and energy injustices generated by large-scale hydroelectric dams in the Global South, focusing on dams in the Brazilian Amazon. In chapter one, I conduct a meta-analysis and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to understand the changes in local livelihoods in 33 hydroelectric dam projects built in the Global South. I found that natural, social, human, and financial capital are negatively impacted, whereas physical capital is positively impacted. The findings showed a relationship between lack of participation in decision-making and negative impacts on people’s capital. I also found that mega-dams negatively impact people’s capital regardless of the energy security status of a nation. In chapter two, I examine how the construction of the Madeira hydroelectric complex in Brazil (the Jirau and San Antônio dams) has impacted the adaptive capacity of local communities in terms of food and energy security. I find that the adaptive capacity of local communities has been significantly reduced, which limits the opportunities of these communities to adapt to future climatic and anthropogenic shocks. Food security has been significantly affected and that the energy supply in the communities is unreliable. Despite living near two large hydroelectric dams, many still lack electricity access and depend on diesel generators. In chapters three and four, I conduct a longitudinal qualitative case study of data collected in a community downstream from the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. Data were collected at three points: during the late stage of construction (2016) and early operation (2017, 2019). Chapter three explores the multidimensional and multitemporal energy injustices experienced by this community. In this chapter, I use the distributional, procedural, recognition, restorative, and capabilities energy justice tenets to understand how local actors experience different injustices and how these interact over time. I found that these injustices are intertwined, causing and perpetuating the new and established structural injustices these communities have faced. In chapter four, I study, from a social-ecological resilience approach, the responses of individuals and households towards the effects of the construction of the Belo Monte dam. I show how individual and household responses to hydropower development occur along the spectrum from absorptive/coping to adaptation to transformation. These responses differ by gender and household characteristics. The dissertation shows how an energy source portrayed as a solution for achieving energy transition generates immense social-ecological impacts and multidimensional and multitemporal energy injustices perpetuating structural inequities. As energy demand and the need for a clean energy transition are increasing, we must find energy systems that look beyond just low carbon emissions to those that also address energy injustices, and provide fair and equitable processes that consider gender, ethnicity, race, and class.
Show less

Title: West Riverfront case study : a model environmental justice frame work
Creator: Holland, Tonya P.
Date: 1995
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Title: Community epistemic capacities for epistemic self-determination in environmental justice and food sovereignty
Creator: Werkheiser, Ian Russell Wolohan
Date: 2015
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This dissertation seeks to address an important but underexamined part of communities' survival and flourishing in the face of marginalization and oppression: community epistemic capacities and community epistemic self-determination. I distinguish community epistemic capacities as a subset of community capacities, to mean the abilities of a community to gain, maintain, adapt, and continue the knowledge needed to solve problems and flourish. I have argued previously that community epistemic...
Show moreThis dissertation seeks to address an important but underexamined part of communities' survival and flourishing in the face of marginalization and oppression: community epistemic capacities and community epistemic self-determination. I distinguish community epistemic capacities as a subset of community capacities, to mean the abilities of a community to gain, maintain, adapt, and continue the knowledge needed to solve problems and flourish. I have argued previously that community epistemic capacities are necessary for a community to meaningfully participate within the larger society in just, deliberative processes. This dissertation argues in part that community epistemic capacities are also necessary for a community to effectively engage in their own, independent projects (often in cooperation with other communities) which are important to the communities' members, particularly ones which promote the survival and flourishing of the community. I take this other application of community epistemic capacities to be a form of self-determination for communities. I focus in this dissertation on epistemic self-determination as an important sub-set of self-determination. By epistemic self-determination I mean the ability of community members to jointly engage in epistemic projects and determine the epistemic practices of their community, which can include methodologies for knowledge production and evaluative assumptions. To understand community epistemic capacities and self-determination, I contrast them with the Capabilities Approach, including the growing literature on collective capabilities. I also look at the environmental justice and food sovereignty paradigms – two activist discourses which take seriously the importance of both justice within larger institutions, as well as justice claims for communities to be able to build their own alternative projects outside of those institutions. The latter justice claim, which I call self-determination justice, has been insufficiently examined in political philosophy, but as I argue it is vital for community survival and flourishing. The justice conversations in these discourses help explicate the community epistemic capacities and self-determination framework, and these concepts likewise help deepen our understanding of these social justice movements. With this understanding in place, I apply the concepts of community epistemic capacities and community epistemic self-determination to a number of topics to show how they can inform our understanding of policy, activism, and transdisciplinary research. I explore the concept of trust as an epistemic capacity, and look at ways in which external experts can ameliorate a lack of community epistemic capacities through structured decision-making. I also look at how policies in food systems and the environment can be evaluated based on the degree to which they promote epistemic self-determination or undermine it. In the final chapter, I discuss a transdisciplinary project I have been conducting with partners in La Via Campesina and KRRS to look at women's barriers to participation in the food sovereignty movement in India. This work not only provides illustrations of the concepts discussed in this dissertation in its findings, but the study itself stands as a useful model of how incorporating a concern for community epistemic capacities and self-determination can inform external experts' work with communities.
Show less

Title: Walking the walk : active environmentalism and views of the world
Creator: Suffron, Heather K.
Date: 2011
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: ABSTRACT WALKING THE WALK: Active Environmentalism and Views of the World By Heather K. Suffron The health of the natural environment is critical to life on earth. Over the years, we have grown increasingly aware of the damaging consequences of human actions on the environment. As a result, many scientists, educators, and activists have proposed the need for a shift in the way we view the natural environment and our...
Show moreABSTRACT WALKING THE WALK: Active Environmentalism and Views of the World By Heather K. Suffron The health of the natural environment is critical to life on earth. Over the years, we have grown increasingly aware of the damaging consequences of human actions on the environment. As a result, many scientists, educators, and activists have proposed the need for a shift in the way we view the natural environment and our relationship to it in order to initiate changes in the way we treat the environment. To determine the general public's perspective, research has involved the assessment of people's ecological knowledge, attitude, and behavior. Findings indicate that much of the American public express pro-environmental values. However, in most cases, people do not exhibit pro-environmental behavior, raising questions about the discrepancy between attitudes and behavior. Yet, there are those who not only engage in pro-environmental behaviors but lead a lifestyle consistent with their environmental ethic. Little is known about their perceptions regarding the environment and what has led them to such dedication. This study explores the beliefs and influences that guide the behavior of active environmentalists. Findings indicate that a variety of factors work together to fuel a passion for the environment. Chief among these are the internal factors of morality, self-knowledge, and self-confidence, which appear not only to influence one's actions and dedication to the environment but also active participation in community life, as well.
Show less

Title: Climate justice for the dead and the dying : weaving ethics of palliation and remembrance from story and practice
Creator: Gibson, Julia D. (Graduate of Michigan State University)
Date: 2019
Collection: Electronic Theses & Dissertations
Description: This dissertation investigates how past-oriented environmentalism is ill-equipped to attend to the irreversible harms of global climate change. Having long placed heavy emphasis on strategies---e.g., preservation, restoration, and conservation---that seek to ensure the environment of today and the future roughly mirror that of the past, environmentalism's practical and conceptual tools for grappling with what is owed to the dead and dying victims of environmental injustice have been woefully...
Show moreThis dissertation investigates how past-oriented environmentalism is ill-equipped to attend to the irreversible harms of global climate change. Having long placed heavy emphasis on strategies---e.g., preservation, restoration, and conservation---that seek to ensure the environment of today and the future roughly mirror that of the past, environmentalism's practical and conceptual tools for grappling with what is owed to the dead and dying victims of environmental injustice have been woefully underdeveloped. Relying heavily upon the ethical/political contributions of Indigenous, Afrofuturist, and/or feminist science fiction fantasy, I explore the various dimensions of environmental palliation (for the dying of climate change) and remembrance (for the dead of climate change) and situate these---hypothetical and ongoing---practices in relation to the overlapping project of transformative environmental justice. Overall, the dissertation aims to aid in reorienting and expanding the scope of environmentalism in the hope that the unavoidable moral failures of climate injustice can be ameliorated as much as possible without enacting further violence upon either the living or dead.
Show less

MSU Libraries

Digital Repository

Enabled Filters

MSU Libraries

Digital Repository

You are here

Search results