Skip to main content

Search

Main argument

Anonymous (not verified)
Lee argues that EJ practice has long stagnated over an inability to properly define the concept of disproportionate (environmental and public health) impacts, but that national conversations on system racism and the development of EJ mapping tools have improved his outlook on the potential for better application of the concept of disproportionate impact. Lee identifies mapping tools (e.g. CalEnviroScreen) as a pathway for empirically based and analytically rigorous articulation and analysis of disproportionate impacts that are linked to systemic racism. In describing the scope and nature of application of mapping tools, Baker highlights the concept of cumulative impacts (the concentration of multiple environmental, public health, and social stressors), the importance of public participation (e.g. Hoffman’s community science model), the role of redlining in creating disproportionate vulnerabilities, and the importance of integrating research into decision making processes. Baker ultimately argues that mapping tools offer a promising opportunity for integrating research into policy decision making as part of a second generation of EJ practice. Key areas that Lee identifies as important to the continued development of more effective EJ practice include: identifying good models for quantitative studies and analysis, assembling a spectrum of different integrative approaches (to fit different contexts), connecting EJ research to policy implications, and being attentive to historical contexts and processes that produce/reproduce structural inequities.

pece_annotation_1479088920

Andreas_Rebmann

Byron J. Good, the author of this book is currently a professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard, with his research focusing on mental health services development in Asian societies, particularly in Indonesia. He has done collaborative work with the International Organization for Migration on developing mental health services in post-tsunami and post-conflict Aceh, Indonesia. More broadly, he works on the theorization of subjectivity in contemporary societies.

pece_annotation_1473088103

Andreas_Rebmann

Entergy Corporation - Owner of Indian Point Plant, Disaster Accountability Project - Nonprofit disaster response 'auditing' organization, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Steven Peterson - Director of Emergency Management, Ulster County, NY, Dana Smith - Dutchess County comissioner of emergency response

pece_annotation_1480947356

Andreas_Rebmann

'Most organizations have their own definitions and categories for reporting incidents, which makes comparative research difficult'

'Typically, perpetrators have complex and even compound motives for committing violence.'

'Finally, there are ethical challenges to gathering more data and disseminating research. These range from the universal, such as ensuring that research does not inadvertently do harm, addressing concerns over patient confidentiality and appropriately sharing the findings with research participants, to concerns specific to research in complex security environments'