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Analyze

Bahía de los Ángeles, México.

Misria

Youth's brilliance and their fascination with the wickedness of plastic pollution are forming shoals of abundant possibility and collective futurity amid the rising tides of environmental destruction hitting Bahía de los Ángeles, México. Working in an entangled community with professional scientists, government conservationists, traditional outdoor educators, store owners, school principals, chefs, artists, and family this group of youth (ages 7-17) labor and dream as scientists and cartographers of the future. They voice unpopular questions and concerns, embody lives they mourn leaving behind but understand can't persist, demand more from adults and tourists, labor for imperfect data that they hope will hold community accountability, and (re)map community infrastructure, tracts of refuse, flows of water, chains of fossil fuel transport, food systems, and fishing practices. Despite these undeniable contributions, often adult partners in this work are still slow to take youth thinking and resistance seriously---it is easier to mediate on shortcomings or flaws in youths' epistemologies. Ignoring these sophisticated shoals is a flagrant dismissal of the pluralist thought and perspective required to attend, nonetheless halt, environmental injustices. As adults labor on/for youths' futures there should be a constant disruption of who holds expertise and why and rigorous attention given to youth voice.

Fowler, Kelsie. 2023. "Youth and Community Knowledges Create Thick Shoals of Abundance Amid the Plastiocene." In 4S Paraconference X EiJ: Building a Global Record, curated by Misria Shaik Ali, Kim Fortun, Phillip Baum and Prerna Srigyan. Annual Meeting of the Society of Social Studies of Science. Honolulu, Hawai'i, Nov 8-11.

Historical and Spatial Analytics for widening the "scope" of hazards

danapowell
In response to

The Sampson County landfill can be smelled before seen. This olfactory indicator points toward the sensory scale of these pungent emissions but also toward the geographic scope: this landfill receives waste from as far away as Orange County (the state's most expensive property/tax base), among dozens of other distant counties, making this "hazardous site" a lesson in realizing impact beyond the immediate locale. So when we answer the question, "What is this hazard?" we must think not only about the landfill as a thing in itself but as a set of economic and political relations of capital and the transit of other peoples' trash, into this lower-income, rural, predominantly African-American neighborhood. In this way, 'thinking with a landfill' (like this one in Sampson County) enables us to analyze wider sets of relationships, NIMBY-ist policymaking, consumerism, waste management, and the racialized spatial politics that enable Sampson County to be the recipient of trash from all over the state. At the same time we think spatially and in transit, we can think historically to (a) inquire about the DEQ policies that enable this kind of waste management system; and (b) the emergent "solutions" in the green energy sector that propose to capture the landfill's methane in order to render the stench productive for the future -- that is, to enable more consumption, by turning garbage into gas. As such, the idea of "hazard" can expand beyond the site itself - impactful and affective as that site might be - to examine the uneven relations of exchange and capitalist-driven values of productivity that further entrench infrastructures such as these. [This offers a conceptual corrollary to thinking, as well, about the entrenchment of CAFOs for "green" biogas development, as we address elsewhere in the platform].

Landfill mixed media

GraceKatona

Danielle Koonce in an Opinion piece in the Fayetteville Observer, states...

"And it’s not just household garbage coming in — chemical waste and coal ash has also been disposed of in the Sampson County landfill."

"We listened to community members share how they can no longer garden or enjoy the outdoors due to the thick odor and fumes from the landfill."

"We learned that the landfill receives trash from around the state, from as far away as New York City, and even trash that comes in on ship-barges through Wilmington."

While Bryan Wuester, manager for the Sampson County Landfill states in the Sampson Independent...

"The Sampson landfill accepts waste from North Carolina only, about 5,450 tons from 16 different counties a day."

"The landfill accepts three kinds of waste: construction and demolition materials, solid waste and special waste, which are byproducts of industry. No coal ash comes into the Sampson facility..."

These are two different stories of the landfill coming from two different stakeholders, one in which needs the landfill to be in operation for a job and the other a concerned citizen worried about the disproportional impacts her community faces. While Danielle Koonce listens to the realities of the community members located around the landfill who express concern and worry, the landfill manager denies these realities and insists they are not true. This is not only invaliding to the community members who are fighting to get their voices heard but further embeds environmental injustice into the community.  

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lynn316

Vulnerability the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally. When dealing with the children living in poverty in essex county this is assess by whay disadvantages they are automatically supjected to by living in the area with their current socioeconomic status

Resilience the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. This is a reveiw of what resources they hold and how they are currently dealing with the issues that they are facing

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lynn316

Full annotation

Annotate ONE of the readings assigned for the week. The reading you choose must have an asterisk next to it in the syllabus (hint: the longer readings will almost always have an asterisk). Annotations should be at least 200 words, excluding the quotes and citations. Please use the following format:

1. Citation:  ACNJ (2018, March). Newark Kids Count Report  2018 . Retrieved from Kids Count Data Center:https://acnj.org/kids-count/newark-kids-count/2. What three quotes capture the critical import of the text (include page numbers)?Newark has high rates of both. As indicated in this year’s Newark Kids Count, 37 percent of Newark families with children live under the poverty level. Additionally, Newark’s housing stock is relatively old, with 73 percent of households living in homes built before 1980, two years after lead paint was banned. The most up-to-date science recognizes that even very small amounts of lead in a child’s body can cause lifelong damage. The State of New Jersey has recognized this fact by lowering the blood lead level necessary to trigger state action, from 10 micrograms per deciliter to 5. This reflects federal CDC recommendations (ACNJ 7,2018)Importance: There was a common misconception that the issue with lead in the city of newark came from the water systems when actually it came from lead based paint. Newark is extremely old in it history  along with its housing, Some homes date back to almost three hundred years, which dates back to when leadbased paint was the only option.When a family spends too much money on rent, they have less to spend on other necessities, such as food or transportation. The 30 percent of income standard has been in use since the 1930s. 1 In 2016, 59 percent of Newark families spent a significant portion of their income on rent — far higher than the statewide figure of 49 percent. The 2016 median monthly rent for Newark residents was $1,013, just $231 less than the statewide median rent. With a median income of less than $35,000, Newark families with children face disproportionately high housing costs.(ACNJ 24,2018)Importance: The Price of housing in the city of newark economically handicaps the majority of its inhabits. When a family has to spend more than 30% of the total monthly income not only are they unable to save but also it could possible make them unable to afford other basic nessesities such a healthy non processed food, if any.Students who miss 10 percent of school days (about two days a month) are more likely to fall behind in school and not graduate on time.(ACNJ 43 ,2018)Importance: For children that come from a low income background, education for many is the only way that some are able to change their socio-economical status.3. What is the main argument of the text, AND how does the author support it?The Report starts off by giving the statistics of the demographic background of the children of newark and how the population is growing, birthrates and foreign born children. LAstly it mentions the  number of single parent homes in the area. This directly flows into the economical portion because these single parent homes account for 87% of those that live in poverty.  Then it goes into the economic scope while highlighting "Family Economic Security " and " Economically Disadvantaged Children" along with Unemployment and how it influencese children . Housing Costs and how they directly determines the remaining portions that can be alloted to Food, and the lack of Nutritional Benefits children our left with. The report mentions programs that aid to contributing nutritional  diet that impact health for example, School Breakfast.  More topics such as : education,child neglect, prenatal care4. Responses, reflections, or questions:Does HUD plan on increase the amount of affordable housing in Newark?Does Newark plan one creating a lead removal fund program for current home owners?Should Pre-K be mandartory? Would that be wise to do in Essex County and would it influence the Academic preformance?

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sydne.nance

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are two agencies that many low-income families are enrolled in.  WIC provides nutritious food for pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women, infants and children up to the age of five; it is specifically available for household up to 185 percent of the federal poverty lines.  SNAP provides low-income families with nutritious food.

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sydne.nance

SNAP and WIC are two organizations helping low-income families.  30,000 Newark children are receiving SNAP benefits, and 12% of Newark residents are eligible for WIC.  SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and WIC is the Supplemental Nutrition Program Women, Infants, and Children.  Both organizations provide nutritious food to low-income families to prevent food insecurity.