Digital Commons Network^™

Climate Change And The Confluence Of Natural And Human History: A Lawyer’S Perspective, Josh Eagle

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Traditional Ecological Rulemaking, Anthony Moffa

Faculty Publications

This Article examines the implications of an increased role for Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in United States agency decisionmaking. Specifically, it contemplates where TEK might substantively and procedurally fit and, most importantly, whether a final agency action based on TEK would survive judicial scrutiny. In the midst of a growing body of scholarship questioning the wisdom of deference to agency expertise9 and the legitimacy of the administrative state writ large,10 this Article argues that there remains an important space in administrative rulemaking for the consideration of ways of understanding that differ from traditional Western norms. TEK can and should fill …

Presidential Legitimacy Through The Anti-Discrimination Lens, Catherine Y. Kim

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Breach Avoidance Or Treaty Avoidance?: The Problem Of Over-Compliance And U.S. Ratification Of The Basel Convention On Hazardous Wastes, Tseming Yang, C. Scott Fulton

Faculty Publications

Over the past two decades, the failure of the United States to ratify a string of global multilateral environmental agreements has become a significant source of frustration for environmentalists and diplomats. The common perception is that Washington politics is to blame. The problem has even led to scholarly suggestions that any new climate agreement coming out of the Paris negotiations later this year could be entered into by the U.S. as an Executive Agreement rather than a Senate-approved treaty.

Delay has been uniquely serious, however, with respect to the 1989 Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes. Signed under the elder President …

Dissemination Of An Electronic Manual To Build Capacity For Implementing Farmers’ Markets With Community Health Centers, M Aaron Guest, Darcy Freedman, Kassandra A. Alia, Heather M. Brandt, Daniela B. Friedman

Faculty Publications

Community-university partnerships can lend themselves to the development of tools that encourage and promote future community health development. The electronic manual, "Building Farmacies," describes an approach for developing capacity and sustaining a community health center-based farmers' market that emerged through a community-university partnership. Manual development was guided by the Knowledge to Action Framework and experiences developing a multivendor, produce-only farmers' market at a community health center in rural South Carolina. The manual was created to illustrate an innovative solution for community health development. The manual was disseminated electronically through 25 listservs and interested individuals voluntarily completed a Web-based survey to …

Census-Based Socioeconomic Indicators For Monitoring Injury Causes In The Usa: A Review, Nathaniel Bell, Amanda Arrington, Swann Arp Adams

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND:

Unlike the UK or New Zealand, there is no standard set of census variables in the USA for characterising socioeconomic (SES, socioeconomic status) inequalities in health outcomes, including injury. We systematically reviewed existing US studies to identify conceptual and methodological strengths and limitations of current approaches to determine those most suitable for research and surveillance.

METHODS:

We searched seven electronic databases to identify census variables proposed in the peer-reviewed literature to monitor injury risk. Inclusion criteria were that numerator data were derived from hospital, trauma or vital statistics registries and that exposure variables included census SES constructs.

RESULTS:

From …

Environmental Justice Reimagined Through Human Security And Post-Modern Ecological Feminism: A Neglected Perspective On Climate Change, Linda A. Malone

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Architectural Exclusion: Discrimination And Segregation Through Physical Design Of The Built Environment, Sarah B. Schindler

Faculty Publications

The built environment is characterized by man-made physical features that make it difficult for certain individuals — often poor people and people of color — to access certain places. Bridges were designed to be so low that buses could not pass under them in order to prevent people of color from accessing a public beach. Walls, fences, and highways separate historically white neighborhoods from historically black ones. Wealthy communities have declined to be served by public transit so as to make it difficult for individuals from poorer areas to access their neighborhoods. Although the law has addressed the exclusionary impacts …

Beyond Science And Hysteria: Reality And Perceptions Of Environmental Justice Concerns Surrounding Marcellus And Utica Shale Gas Development, Ann M. Eisenberg

Faculty Publications

The debate surrounding the use of hydraulic fracturing (also known as “fracking” or “HF”) to extract natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale deposits is often characterized as a tension between economic development and environmental risks. But frequently missing from this dichotomy is the fact that the concerns of many who oppose HF use extend beyond the purely “environmental,” and also include concerns about issues such as “the natural resource curse” and losing autonomy. These concerns ring of “environmental justice” rather than “environmentalism.” Environmental justice espouses the belief that no group should bear disproportionate environmental consequences resulting from industrial …

Strategies Employed By Inner-City Activists To Reduce Alcohol-Related Problems And Advance Social Justice, Laurie Drabble, Denise Herd

Faculty Publications

This study explored strategies employed by activists engaged in efforts to change policies and laws related to selling and promoting alcoholic beverages based on in-depth interviews with 184 social activists in seven U.S. major cities. Nine strategies aimed at improving local conditions and influencing policy were described by activists across regional contexts. Grassroots mobilization was central to all other strategies, which included the creation or enforcement of laws, meeting with elected officials, media advocacy, working with police/law enforcement, education and training, direct action, changing community norms, and negotiating with store owners.

Banning Lawns, Sarah B. Schindler

Faculty Publications

Recognizing their role in sustainability efforts, many local governments are enacting climate change plans, mandatory green building ordinances, and sustainable procurement policies. But thus far, local governments have largely ignored one of the most pervasive threats to sustainability — lawns. This Article examines the trend toward sustainability mandates by considering the implications of a ban on lawns, the single largest irrigated crop in the United States.

Green yards are deeply seated in the American ethos of the sanctity of the single-family home. However, this psychological attachment to lawns results in significant environmental harms: conventional turfgrass is a non-native monocrop that …

An Introduction To California's Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Program, Tseming Yang

Faculty Publications

Even though climate change will require a global solution, the efforts of individual nations and sub-national governmental units have become increasingly important for demonstrating leadership in creating effective regulatory programs and possible solutions. California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, also referred to as A.B. 32, and the associated greenhouse gas emission trading program are one set of such efforts. With A.B. 32, the state of California has created one of the most comprehensive and complex climate change programs in the world – a legally binding set of mandates for the state government to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to …

The Top 10 Trends In International Environmental Law, Tseming Yang

Faculty Publications

This chapter reviews the top trends in international environmental law, including climate change, globalization of environmental law, sustainable development, the rise of the developing world, environmental institutions and governance, human rights and the environment, the environment and international economic law, biodiversity, chemicals and hazardous substances management, and the oceans and fisheries.

The Forgotten Farmworkers Of Apopka, Florida: Prospects For Collaborative Research And Activism To Assist African-American Former Farmworkers, Rachel Newcomb

Faculty Publications

Anthropology’s crisis of representation of the 1980s has given way to a millennial crisis of involvement. As neoliberal policies proliferate and intensify wealth and social inequalities, anthropologists have considered ways to conduct engaged research that can contribute to social justice. One possibility is the prospect of collaboration between anthropologists and activists. In this article we examine our own collaborative research with an anthropologist and activist organization. We highlight benefits of long-term community engagement projects for activist-oriented community partners and students.

A Social Justice Lens Turned On Legal Education: Next Steps In Representing The Vulnerable And Inspiring Law Students, Stephanie M. Wildman, Deborah Moss-West

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Federal Constraints: Possible Constitutional Hurdles To Cross-Border Cap-And-Trade,, Shelley Welton

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Using Mixed-Methods To Measure The Perception Of Community Capacity In An Academic-Community Partnership For A Walking Intervention, Charkarra Anderson-Lewis, Diana Cuy-Castellanos, Arnecca Byrd, Karen Zynda, Alicia Sample, Vickie Blakely Reed, Mary Beard, Latessa Minor, Kathleen Yadrick

Faculty Publications

H.U.B. City Steps is a 5-year community-based participatory research walking intervention designed to help lower blood pressure in a majority African American population in southern Mississippi via community collaboration and capacity building, increased walking, culturally tailored health education sessions, and motivational interviewing. Building community capacity for physical activity is a key component of this intervention. Qualitative and quantitative methods have been used to assess how project stakeholders perceive the community capacity-building efforts of the project. This article illustrates the baseline results of this mixed methods approach from the perspective of three groups of stakeholders: project researchers and staff, community advisory …

Media Attention On African Americans With Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Charles S. Beverley Jr., Edith M. Williams, Saundra H. Glover

Faculty Publications

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a disease that has captured the attention of the media in various ways and to varying degrees. One of the ongoing debates and areas of research in HIV that provide many opportunities for discovery is the disproportionate number of African Americans infected with HIV compared to the amount of attention they receive in the media. This manuscript addresses the question that has preoccupied the minds of many people: Why have African Americans infected with HIV received so little media attention? Analysis of this question suggests that there are many reasons for this lack of media …

The Mental Health Education Integration Consortium (Mhedic): A Community Of Practice Working To Advance School Mental Health, D. Anderson-Butcher, Mark D. Weist

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Wait! That's Not What We Meant By Civil Society!: Questioning The Ngo Orthodoxy In West Africa, Thomas A. Kelley Iii

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Cultural Norms And Race Discrimination Standards: A Case Study In How The Two Diverge, Derek W. Black

Faculty Publications

The legal standard for race discrimination - the intent standard - has been scrutinized and justified for decades, but that conversation has occurred almost entirely within the legal community. Relatively little effort has been made to engage the public. This Article posits that the discussion of discrimination standards must account for and include public understandings of race and discrimination because race is a socially constructed concept and discrimination is culturally contingent. Race discrimination standards based solely upon the legal community’s perceptions are susceptible to significant flaws. This Article begins the incorporation of public understandings of race and discrimination by examining …

Climate Change, Environmental Justice, And Vulnerability: An Exploratory Spatial Analysis, Sacoby M. Wilson, Roland Richard, Lesley Joseph, Edith M. Williams

Faculty Publications

Research has demonstrated that vulnerable populations including disadvantaged populations of color live in areas that may place them at higher risk of exposure to social and environmental hazards. Due to climate change, these populations may experience worse health outcomes and environmental health disparities. The purpose of this project was to explore the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to assess areas that may be vulnerable to climate change across the United States. We employed ArcGIS 9.3 to create vulnerability scores for areas across the country that may be that may be impacted by climate change at the county level in …

Anthropocentric Distance In National Geographic’S Environmental Aesthetic, Anne Marie Todd

Faculty Publications

Tourism is the way we understand the world: tourists travel in an increasingly mediated environment in which ubiquitous promotional material and other popular artifacts employ stunning images and romantic travel narratives to describe local environments. Tourist texts “sell” local landscapes to entice visitors, employing an environmental aesthetic that urges travel. With its mission to “explore the planet,” the National Geographic Society contributes to this tourist aesthetic. This essay examines three special issues on Africa simultaneously published by the National Geographic Society: its official journal, National Geographic, and its sister magazines, National Geographic Traveler, and National Geographic Adventure. The photographic images …

School, Community And Clinical Psychology Training And Working Together In The Interdisciplinary School Mental Health Field, Mark D. Weist, C. Mills, S. Huebner, B. Smith, A. Wandersman

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Many Paths Of Environmental Practice: A Response To Professor Bonine, Kenneth A. Manaster

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Why A Political Ecology Of The U.S. South?, P. T. Hurley, Edward R. Carr

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Prolonged Injustice In Urban America, Jametta Magwood, Edith M. Williams, Saundra H. Glover

Faculty Publications

Environmental inequality is the suggestion that the working class, the poor, persons of color, and ultimately the economically disadvantaged are subjected to living conditions that may prove to be hazardous both personally, professionally, and also to the infrastructure of the urban communities that these people inhabit. These injustices affect not only housing but education, quality healthcare access, and access to employment. This article investigates the distinct relationship of environmental inequalities imposed in urban communities that are promoted by a prominent institution: the government. It has been suggested that the government is primarily controlled by individuals who are incapable of identifying …

The Community-Driven Approach To Environmental Exposures: How A Community-Based Participatory Research Program Analyzing Impacts Of Environmental Exposure On Lupus Led To A Toxic Site Cleanup, Julien A. Terrell, Edith M. Williams, Christine M. Murekeyisoni, Robert Watkins, Laurene Tumiel-Berhalter

Faculty Publications

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a mechanism to improve environmental quality in communities primarily inhabited by minorities or low income families. A collaborative partnership between the University at Buffalo and the Toxic Waste Lupus Coalition was formed to investigate the high prevalence of lupus in the area and whether cases of disease were linked to chemicals found at a nearby New York State Superfund site in East Buffalo. The purpose of the study was to use CBPR practices to educate impacted residents and enable their participation in efforts to get a nearby contaminated waste site remediated. Community members were active …

The Mysteriously Reappearing Cause Of Action: The Court’S Expanded Concept Of Intentional Gender And Race Discrimination In Federally Funded Programs, Derek W. Black

Faculty Publications

This Article addresses whether a cause of action exists under federal statutes to challenge gender and racial inequity in federally funded programs. The question has widespread ramifications because Congress appropriates funds to millions of programs that are subject to these statutes. The Court has held that the only cause of action that exists under these statutes is for intentional discrimination, but in a series of recent cases the Court has developed a framework that broadens the concept of intentional discrimination. Unfortunately, lower courts have focused on older and narrower interpretations of intentional discrimination without accounting for the more complex nuances …

Framework For The Next Civil Rights Act: What Tort Concepts Reveal About Goals, Results, And Standards, Derek W. Black

Faculty Publications

This article anticipates that the next president and the current Congress will likely pursue civil rights legislation for the first time since 1991. Their most significant and difficult task will be determining whether to retain the Supreme Court’s intentional discrimination standard. Because this issue has so often led to polemic debates and court decisions in the past, this article attempts to provide a neutral framework for that discussion. Relying on tort concepts and their longstanding connection to constitutional torts, it demonstrates that the attempt to create a standard to prohibit immoral or “wrongful” conduct is both misguided and will prove …