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Feminist Erasures: The Development Of A Black Feminist Methodological Theory, Alex J. Moffett-Bateau

Publications and Research

Within the social sciences, and particularly in political science, feminist methods and theory are seen as valuable only within its own disciplinary boundaries, and limited to its own departments or program, often named women’s studies, gender studies, and/or feminist studies. While the move within the academy to formalize the study of women, gender, and feminism is an important one, these disciplinary boundaries unfortunately have the result of rendering the study and practice of feminist intellectual work invisible to the rest of the academy. Too often, feminist theory and methodological practice is only carried out by one or two female academics …

Diy Urbanism As An Environmental Justice Strategy: The Case Study Of Time's Up! 1987-2012, Benjamin C. Shepard

Publications and Research

Time's Up! is a New York environmental group which promotes nonpolluting transportation and sustainable solutions to an urban problems. Over the last twenty-five years, the group has taken a do-it-yourself approach to an environmental activism, bridging neighborhood, global justice, and occupy movements. With roots in the squatter movement in New York, Time's Up! has built its own distinct brand of DIY urbanism to fight for community gardens, support group bike rides, and create sustainable approaches to an urban living. While the group makes use of a wide range of approaches to reclaim public space, direct action is its guiding principle. …

Strategies To Reduce The Harmful Effects Of Extreme Heat Events: A Four-City Study, Jalonne L. White-Newsome, Sabrina Mccormick, Natalie Sampson, Miatta A. Buxton, Marie S. O’Neill, Carina J. Gronlund, Linda Catalano, Kathryn C. Conlon, Edith A. Parker

Publications and Research

Extreme heat events (EHEs) are becoming more intense, more frequent and longer lasting in the 21st century. These events can disproportionately impact the health of low-income, minority, and urban populations. To better understand heat-related intervention strategies used by four U.S. cities, we conducted 73 semi-structured interviews with government and non-governmental organization leaders representing public health, general social services, emergency management, meteorology, and the environmental planning sectors in Detroit, MI; New York City, NY; Philadelphia, PA and Phoenix, AZ—cities selected for their diverse demographics, climates, and climate adaptation strategies. We identified activities these leaders used to reduce the harmful effects of …

Lethal But Legal: Corporations, Consumption, And Protecting Public Health (Preface), Nicholas Freudenberg

Publications and Research

Decisions made by the food, tobacco, alcohol, pharmaceutical, gun, and automobile industries have a greater impact on today's health than the decisions of scientists and policymakers. As the collective influence of corporations has grown, governments around the world have stepped back from their responsibility to protect public health by privatizing key services, weakening regulations, and cutting funding for consumer and environmental protection. Today's corporations are increasingly free to make decisions that benefit their bottom line at the expense of public health.

Lethal but Legal examines how corporations have impacted -- and plagued -- public health over the last century, first …

Storm Surges, Disaster Planning, And Vulnerable Populations At The Urban Periphery: Imagining A Resilient New York After Superstorm Sandy, Andrea L. Mcardle

Publications and Research

In the aftermath of Sandy, the destructive superstorm that had a devastating impact in New York City and other parts of the Northeastern U.S. in 2012, ideas and data proliferate about how coastal cities, such as New York, can pursue strategies of resilience to help withstand the next weather-related onslaught. This article argues that whether the city in fact acts resiliently must take into account the extent to which its proposals respond to the needs of vulnerable people housed along its coastline. Superstorm Sandy put a face to vulnerability, including 6,800 evacuees assigned to shelters, 1,800 of whom were residents …

An African-Centered Approach To Land Education, Salvotore Engel-Dimauro, Karanja Keita Carroll

Publications and Research

Approaches to environmental education which are engaging with place and critical pedagogy have not yet broadly engaged with the African world and insights from Africana Studies and Geography. An African-centered approach facilitates people's reconnection to places and ecosystems in ways that do not reduce places to objects of conquest and things to be exploited for profitability and individual gain. Such an approach offers effective critiques of settler coloniser perspectives on the environment and deeper understandings of the relationship between worldview and ecologically sensitised education. Through examples from Africana Studies and Geography, this article provides an introduction to how an African-centered …

Indicator Analysis For Unpacking Poverty In New York City, Jochen Albrecht, Mimi Abramovitz

Publications and Research

This article presents work that is part of a larger and ongoing research agenda exploring the persistence of health and social problems in some parts of New York City. To this end, the authors have developed a GIS framework that translates a highly diverse set of variables into neighborhood indicators that can help local residents as well as decision makers to understand the relationship between “place” and individual behavior. Using the example of two new indices, Community Loss and Neighborhood Risks, the readers will learn how data can be transformed to emphasize the communal nature of phenomena that is typically …

Le Nature Degli American Studies, Cindi Katz

Publications and Research

Al “Futures of American Studies Institute” di Dartmouth del 2003 lanciai una provocazione sulle “geografie immaginate” dell’americanistica. Volevo mettere in discussione sia le celebrazioni romantiche del “luogo” in quanto elemento in qualche modo autentico e particolare, minacciato da un mondo sempre più globalizzato e controllato dalle multinazionali, sia l’esaltazione della “delocalizzazione” nelle società in rete, negli “spazi di flusso”, nella mobilità senza attrito. Suggerivo che queste, come altre geografie poco studiate, si sposano troppo facilmente con molte correnti dell’eccezionalismo americano.

Environmental Protection Agency Consultations With Indian Tribes: An Intercultural Struggle Over Process Of 'Consent', Denise Scannell Guida

Publications and Research

On November 6, 2000, President Bill Clinton signed his final executive order on

Consultation and Coordination with Tribal Governments. It was his last attempt to establish meaningful consultation processes with American Indians in the development of federal environmental policies. Based on ongoing environmental issues between the two cultures and the rising concern for environmental justice, the United States government wanted to identify the necessary improvements in communication and coordination among tribal and federal environmental programs, specifically regarding issues of information exchange, and creating partnerships among stakeholders. An analysis of the executive order, and a case study of the U.S. …

Rethinking Civil Rights And Gender Violence, Julie Goldscheid

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Use And Availability Of Environmental Activism Collections In Academic Archives, Amy F. Stempler

Publications and Research

This study seeks to reveal the current state of environmental research in academic special collections and archives, with an emphasis on materials associated with environmental activism. The use and availability of archival environmental activism collections were assessed in a two-fold process. The use of such collections was evaluated through a citation analysis of related research articles published in Environmental History, the premier scholarly journal in the field of environmental history. The citation analysis reviewed the prevalence of archival collections sourced, and examined citations by repository type and material type in order to gain insight into the kinds of items used …

International Organizations, Free Trade And Environmental Citizenship: Mexico And Chile In Comparative Perspective, Sherrie Baver

Publications and Research

This paper focuses on the potential of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and specific International Organizations (IOs) to promote democratic and effective environmental governance. FTAs are often cited in the political science literature for their negative impacts; yet, they are central to the present stage of economic globalization. Given that U.S. FTAs have environmental requirements as do accession agreements to developed country IOs (e.g. OECD), they remain under-explored institutions providing space for activists to expand environmental citizenship. The specific research question explored here is how might activists use these institutions to promote procedural environmental rights to information, participation, and justice, collectively …

Conjuring The Close From Afar A Border-Crossing Tale Of Vieques’ Activism And Obama-Empire, Víctor M. Torres-Vélez, Sarah Molinari, Katharine Lawrence

Publications and Research

After more than 60 years of military occupation, 30 of these under violent military practices, a social movement forced the U.S. Navy from the island of Vieques. This victory would not have been possible without the highly effective organization of civil disobedience carried out on the island. But the sum total of the actions that eventually forced out the U.S. Navy, neither happened exclusively within the boundaries of Vieques, nor was carried out by Viequense residents alone. In this article we want to suggest that this amazing victory—a testament of people’s will in the face of globalization—is also a border- …

Navigating The High Seas: Why The U.S. Should Ratify The Law Of The Sea Treaty, Rebecca Bratspies

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Human Rights And Environmental Regulation, Rebecca Bratspies

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

How Milk Does The World Good: Vernacular Sustainability And Alternative Food Systems In Post-Socialist Europe, Diana Mincyte

Publications and Research

Scholarly debates on sustainable consumption have generally overlooked alternative agro-food networks in the economies outside of Western Europe and North America. Building on practice-based theories, this article focuses on informal raw milk markets in post-socialist Lithuania to examine how such alternative systems emerge and operate in the changing political, social, and economic contexts. It makes two contributions to the scholarship on sustainable consumption. In considering semi-subsistence practices and poverty-driven consumption, this article argues for a richer, more critical, and inclusive theory of sustainability that takes into consideration vernacular forms of exchange and approaches poor consumers as subjects of global history. …

Learning In Context: Land Use And Community Lawyering, Andrea Mcardle

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Cultural Competence In Urban Affairs And Planning, Tom Angotti, Marly Pierre-Louis, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Sigmund Shipp, Angela Tovar

Publications and Research

In the Fall of 2009, the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) undertook the Centro Cultural Competence Initiative (CCI) with the support of a one-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). The goal of the CCI is to address the need for culturally appropriate work in a variety of professions by training students to be culturally competent practitioners. In the Fall of 2010, the Urban Affairs and Planning Department at Hunter College joined CENTRO as a partner in this initiative. Full time Professors Sigmund Shipp, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, and Tom Angotti worked …

Nafta, Cafta And The Environment: The Role Of Institutions, Sherrie Baver

Publications and Research

This essay examines the institutionalization of environmental concerns, primarily focusing on NAFTA, and argues that the 1994 agreement should be seen as a positive first attempt to raise the profile of environmental concerns within discussions of expanding global trade. More specifically, NAFTA and subsequent U.S. FTAs have contributed to the growth of procedural environmental rights that have the potential to deepen democracy in the wider political system. Given that free trade agreements represent the U.S. approach to world trade at present, this paper takes the practical position that building on NAFTA’s foundation, opportunities exist to continue promoting environmental sustainability within …

Campaigns To Change Health Damaging Corporate Practices, Nicholas Freudenberg

Publications and Research

When corporations claim the same citizenship rights as human citizens, they exercise an undue influence on health policy and democratic processes. Surprisingly, the same basic repertoire of tactics has been found to be employed by corporations to effect this influence, regardless of the specific industry at work. In this book, authors from around the world reveal the range of tactics used across the corporate world that ultimately favor the bottom line over the greater good.

The Bottom Line or Public Health deconstructs some of the most ubiquitous tactics at play, including public relations, political influence, legal maneuvering, and financial power, …

The Complexities Of Measuring Access To Parks And Physical Activity Sites In New York City: A Quantitative And Qualitative Approach, Andrew R. Maroko, Juliana A. Maantay, Nancy L. Sohler, Kristen L. Grady, Peter S. Arno

Publications and Research

Background Proximity to parks and physical activity sites has been linked to an increase in active behaviors, and positive impacts on health outcomes such as lower rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity. Since populations with a low socio-economic status as well as racial and ethnic minorities tend to experience worse health outcomes in the USA, access to parks and physical activity sites may be an environmental justice issue. Geographic Information systems were used to conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses of park accessibility in New York City, which included kernel density estimation, ordinary least squares (global) regression, geographically weighted (local) …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Widely Available 3-D Visualization Tools In Support Of Public Participation, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Jennifer L. Weeks, Tim Case

Publications and Research

There is a persistent need for improved tools and techniques to facilitate public involvement in transportation decision making. Despite continuous improvements in increasing public involvement at all phases of transportation decision making, transportation agencies are still seeking more affordable, accessible, and effective means of communicating with a wide range of stakeholders. The report documents a survey of a wide variety of transportation agencies on their use of interactive 3-D visualization for public involvement using an electronic survey. Supplemental qualitative data was generated through telephone interviews with selected survey participants. It concludes with three case studies illustrating applications of interactive 3-D …

It's All Happening At The Zoo: Children's Environmental Learning After School, Jason A. Douglas, Cindi Katz

Publications and Research

Pairing dynamic out-of-school-time (OST) programs with zoos can encourage young people's relationships with and sense of responsibility for animals and the environment. The project presented in this article, Animal Rescuers, gave the authors the opportunity to examine how such a pairing can work. OST programs enable learning in settings that are generally unavailable during school time (Honig & McDonald, 2005). They provide space for collaboration among students, teachers, and others such as program visitors or outside educators. Taking advantage of the flexibility, location, and educational playfulness of an OST setting, the authors worked intensively with a small number of 10-12-year-old …

The Greening Of Community Economic Development: Disputes From New York City, Carmen Huertas-Noble, Jessica Rose, Brian Glick

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Synergies And Tensions Between Rural Social Movements And Professional Researchers, Marc Edelman

Publications and Research

This essay outlines approaches to analysing and managing relations between rural activists and academic researchers. It suggests (a) that contemporary social movements engage in knowledge production practices much like those of academic and NGO-affiliated researchers and (b) that the boundaries between activists and researchers are not always as sharp as is sometimes claimed. These blurred boundaries and shared practices can create synergies in activist– academic relations. The essay then examines tensions in the relationship, including activists’ expectation that academic research will be immediately applicable to their struggles and researchers’ expectation that movement participants will accommodate their needs. The final section …

Cities Of Consumption: The Impact Of Corporate Practices On The Health Of Urban Populations, Nicholas Freudenberg, Sandro Galea

Publications and Research

The increasing concentration of the world's population in cities and the growing accumulation of political and economic power by corporations create new threats to health and opportunities for improving global health. By considering the intersection of these two fundamental social determinants of well-being, we elucidate some of the mechanisms by which they influence the health of urban populations. After reviewing the changing historical impact of corporations on cities, we focus on the growth of consumption as a leading cause of mortality and morbidity and describe how the food, tobacco, automobile, and other industries promote unhealthy behaviors and lifestyles in urban …

Law Clinics And Collective Mobilization, Sameer Ashar

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Ferry Parking And Landside Access Study: Implementing Public Outreach And Impact Assessment, Jochen Albrecht, Stephanie Camay, Laxmi Ramasubramanian, Brandon Derman, Eric Bohn, William Milczarski, Maria Boile, Sotiris Theofanis

Publications and Research

Through federal regulations, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are mandated to perform public outreach and impact assessment. Although there are some established parameters, the quality and effectiveness of public outreach efforts vary widely, and in many instances information dissemination becomes the central focus of public outreach efforts. However, information dissemination, although essential, is not as effective as a two-way process of public involvement in which members of the public may provide feedback to shape agency initiatives. Research conducted for the Ferry Parking and Landside Access Study is used to describe best practices in public outreach, focusing on socio-economic and community impact …

Rethinking Decisionmaking In International Environmental Law: A Process - Oriented Inquiry Into Sustainable Development, Rebecca Bratspies

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

“Peace Is More Than The End Of Bombing”: The Second Stage Of The Vieques Struggle, Sherrie Baver

Publications and Research

The nature of colonialism in Puerto Rico has caused most political issues to be viewed within the framework of status politics. In the first stage of the struggle to expel the U.S. Navy from the island (1999–2003), civil society in Puerto Rico united when the issues were reframed with links not to status politics but to human rights and social justice. Viequenses symbolized for Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico, on the mainland, and in the world at large the costs of military colonialism. In the second stage of the struggle, since the military’s departure, Viequenses have struggled to control the …