Environmental Studies Commons^™

Resistance To Petro-Hegemony: A Three Terrains Of Power Analysis Of The Line 3 Tar Sands Pipeline In Minnesota, Melissa Burrell, Corrie Grosse, Brigid Mark

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

In northern Minnesota, the Line 3 tar sands pipeline crosses Indigenous treaty territory, the Mississippi River, and wild rice lakes. Despite the severity of climate crisis and widespread public opposition, Canadian pipeline company Enbridge succeeded in securing permits for, constructing, and ultimately running oil in the pipeline in fall 2021. How was this possible and how did the climate justice movement try to resist? Drawing on participant observation and interviews in the Stop Line 3 movement, this article employs LeQuesne's (2019) concepts of petro-hegemony and carbon rebellion to explain why Line 3 was approved and to assess water protectors' resistance. …

Language And Social Justice In Us Climate Movements: Barriers And Ways Forward, Julia Coombs Fine

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Climate movements increasingly conceptualize the climate crisis as an issue of social injustice, both in terms of its root causes and its present and future effects. Climate justice calls for participatory decision-making within climate movements, which, as communication scholars have pointed out, necessitates inclusive and accessible communicative practices. Within sociocultural linguistics, a growing body of research has explored sociolinguistic justice, or marginalized groups' struggle for self-determined language use. This analysis interweaves these two research areas, applying the theory of sociolinguistic justice to climate communication in organizing contexts. Drawing on 67 semi-structured interviews and 112 online surveys with climate activists from …

Stirring Up The Soil: Best Practices To Mitigate Lead Exposure In Contaminated Soils Within Omaha, Nebraska, Mckenzie Blaine

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

Cities across the nation in the United States experience problems associated with lead contamination in their urban soils due to industrial pollution. In many instances, the emission of lead particles occurred – unregulated – for several decades. Though there are federal cleanup efforts to help minimize the negative impacts of lead contamination for the public in the United States, the efforts are designated for specified criteria and thus do not reach all areas which need to be remediated. In order to perform proper lead abatement practices, local organizations must take initiative on projects which meet the needs and demands of …

How To Stuff A Duck: Learning Artisan Foie Gras Production In France, Jean Lavigne

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

I have always hated the taste of liver. Calf’s liver, chicken liver, liverwurst, any kind of pâté that contains even a small amount of liver—for me, the taste is repulsive. I was once served a rabbit’s liver at a family meal in Italy, the prize morsel that is offered to guests; I choked it down with an unconvincing “Grazie.” I never imagined I would come to like a specific kind of liver enough to prepare it myself at home, much less to spend six weeks with an artisan foie gras producer in Southwestern France learning how to produce it from …

Racial & Environmental Justice: A Primer, Corrie Grosse

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Intersections Of Climate Justice, Brigid Mark, Alejandra Gallardo, Jack Pieper, Danielle Voss, Corrie Grosse, Leonardo Cumplido, Elena Lozano

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

This packet covers current information on climate justice issues in Minnesota including: Latinx immigration, public health, Black Lives Matter, native rights, LGBTQIA+ community, Somali livelihoods, and just transition.

We hope to help realize how we are connected to the climate crisis, identify action items for individuals, and build an understanding of how the crisis may affect our neighbors with different experiences. We believe that exchanging knowledge and raising awareness of local issues are essential to build a lasting and welcoming movement to secure healthy and happy livelihoods for all.

A Cross-Cultural Approach To Environmental And Peace Work: Wangari Maathai’S Use Of Mottainai In Kenya, Eddah Mutua, Kikuko Omori

The Journal of Social Encounters

Protecting the environment and nurturing peace are global concerns requiring scholarly attention across and within cultures. This essay proposes that cross-cultural exchange serves as an invaluable approach to the goal of communicating about creating a healthy environment and everyday peace. We examine how Wangari Maathai interpreted the meaning and purpose of Mottainai as a global call to save the environment. Mottainai is an ancient Japanese concept that means “Don’t waste! What a waste!” Of interest to us is establishing Maathai’s motivation to employ the concept of Mottainai as informed by her lived experiences in Kenya. The relevance of Mottainai to …

Olympic Success: Built, Born, Or Bought?, Jacob Ney

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

During the Olympic Games, a ranked medal count often compares performance by country, but this system may be an unfair and inaccurate representation of Olympic success. To fairly balance how this success is measured, factors such as a country’s participation, population, and GDP must be considered. These choropleth, Robinson-projected world maps display normalizations of these factors using medal count and participant information from every summer Olympics since 1896, as well as data on each country’s current population and GDP.

Future Mining In Minnesota: Effects On Communities And Environment, Jayson Valek

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

Future Mining in Minnesota: Effects on Communities and Environment Abstract This study explores and describes the potential risks of the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine near Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. The goals of the research were: 1) identify vulnerable communities and environmental features, 2) determine the mine’s potential damage, and 3) create maps to illustrate the vicinity of the mine to vulnerable areas. The interest of this project is to determine whether the mine’s economic benefit outweighs the environmental risks. This research is an observational study that involves analysis of maps compiled with environmental, population, and vulnerability data as well as non-spatial …

This Will Change Everything: Teaching The Climate Crisis, John Foran, Summer Gray, Corrie Grosse, Theo Lequesne

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

We argue that U.S. sociologists have been woefully remiss in incorporating the climate crisis into our research agendas and even more, into our teaching. After laying out the gravity of the situation we issue a call for sociologists to consider whether they wish to continue this striking denial of responsibility to our students and to knowledge production. We then present four ways that we have infused our understanding of climate change, climate crisis, and climate justice into courses on global issues, social movements, inequality, and much more. We believe that “climate justice” – the key concept that drives our concern …

Grassroots Vs. Big Oil: Measure P And The Fight To Ban Fracking In Santa Barbara County, California, Corrie Grosse

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

In 2014, volunteers in Santa Barbara County, California, collected over 20,000 signatures in three weeks to qualify an anti-fracking initiative for the November election. The initiative, Measure P, met over six million dollars in opposition from oil corporations. Despite mobilizing 1,000 volunteers, the proponents of the measure failed to garner enough votes for success. Drawing on 43 in-depth interviews and participant observation with environmental groups before, during, and after the campaign, this article examines the strengths and weaknesses of grassroots organizing behind Measure P. Organizers, especially during the signature drive, successfully garnered broad-based support in the southern part of the …

Megaloads And Mobilization: The Rural People Of Idaho Stand Against Big Oil, Corrie Grosse

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

From 2011 to 2014 fossil fuel corporations trucked tar sands processing machinery along rural Idaho highways. The machinery was bound for the world's largest deposits of tar or oil sands, a heavy crude oil substance called bitumen, located in the western Canadian province of Alberta. These loads of machinery, what became known as megaloads, encountered much resistance. Throughout Idaho and the surrounding region, a network organized opposition. Neighbors, grassroots organizations, nonprofits, and the Nez Perce and other tribes all collaborated. They held information sessions, protested, waged legal battles, monitored the loads, and blockaded highways. What oil companies hoped would be …

"Not Yet The End Of The World": Political Cultures Of Opposition And Creation In The Global Youth Climate Justice Movement, John Foran, Summer Gray, Corrie Grosse

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Based on participant observation and in-depth interviews with two dozen young climate justice activists at the U.N. climate summit COP19 in Warsaw, Poland, in November 2013, this research uses the concepts of “political cultures of opposition and of creation” to analyze the political orientations, discourse, and actions of global climate justice activists attempting to impact the negotiation of a universal climate treaty. Capturing relationships among experience, emotions, ideology, idioms, and organization, the concepts of political cultures of opposition and of creation shed light on the ability of these actors to fashion social movements of their own making. Through an analysis …

Book Review: Peak Oil: Apocalyptic Environmentalism And Libertarian Political Culture, Matthew Schneider-Mayerson, The University Of Chicago Press, Chicago And London (2015), Corrie Grosse

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fair Care? How Ecuadorian Women Negotiate Childcare In Fair Trade Flower Production, Corrie Grosse

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Highlights

• Ecuadorian mothers working in fair trade flowers have concerns about childcare.

• To manage, they developed “gendered economic strategies” (Casanova, 2011).

• Their strategies involved diverse childcare arrangements and visions for the future.

• These strategies maintain gendered and privatized provision of care.

• Fair trade floriculture does not sufficiently support care.

Agricultural Policy Reform: An Argument For A Soil Erosion Tax, Alex M. Ingulsrud

All College Thesis Program, 2016-2019

The purpose of this research is to examine the history of soil erosion and US agricultural policy in order to show why a soil erosion tax would be a good policy. Part A of this essay focuses on the dust bowl as an archetype for modern agriculture and ecological limits. Historical lessons are drawn from the dust bowl that illustrate why a soil erosion tax would be more practical than past policies for agricultural policy to coerce farmers into implement soil conversation practices. Part B of this essay examines the current dilemma of soil erosion and agricultural policy, why a …

Identifying Environmentally Burdened Neighborhoods In Minneapolis Through A Cumulative Approach, Chendan Yan

Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day (2011-2017)

Environmental problems are not confined to political boundaries and tend to impact population beyond their sources, yet some communities are more impacted than others. This GIS project calculates a Cumulative Impact (CI) Score of environmental hazards for each neighborhood in Minneapolis based on the following four measures: environmental effects, public health effects, sensitive populations, socioeconomic factors. The higher the CI score, the more environmentally burdened a neighborhood is. The scope of this GIS project is limited and it is the hope of many environmental organizations in Minnesota that Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will take the lead and develop a more …

College Of Saint Benedict Marie And Robert Jackson Fellow (2014)-Center For Earth Energy And Democracy, Chendan Yan

Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day (2011-2017)

Center for Earth Energy and Democracy was founded by a group of researchers, educators and community activists who saw the need to affirm and revitalize principles of democracy and social justice. CEED’s mission is to work at the intersection of energy, environment and community development to develop solutions that are democratic, sustainable and socially just. As a mapping tool student researcher at CEED, 2014 Jackson Fellow Chendan Yan, an Environmental Studies and Philosophy double major from Shanghai, China, contacted agencies, collected, and analyzed data for Environmental Justice (EJ) Mapping tool. She developed Infographics demonstrating disparities among neighborhoods and created visual …

Women Working On A Fair Flower Farm In Ecuador: An Ethnographic Study, Corrie Grosse

Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

Despite a history of worker exploitation and environmental degradation, today, the cut-flower industry is striving for ethical production practices. Ecuador is leading the way in this regard, and one farm, Fairtrade-certified Nevado Roses, appears to be a shining example. In 2012, I set out to conduct ethnographic research centering workers' perspectives about labor conditions and life as Fairtrade rose cultivators at Nevado Roses. I wanted to understand how women, who comprise the majority of flower workers, fare on a farm with socially and environmentally sustainable policies. The research confirmed the benefits of ethical production practices, but also revealed that Fairtrade …