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EiJ Hazard: PFAS

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FOR ECOGOVLAB/CCEJP CURRICULUM: Use this as a research resource during 11th and 12th Grade Lesson 2 on Hazards.

What do you hope to get out of the lab?

kvalladares

I hope to be involved in projects that aim to gather scientific evidence to inform environmental decision making and advocate for greater equity and justice in environmental governance. Through this work, I hope to learn the skills needed to engage in community based research and leverage community knowledge as expert knowledge. In my department, things are often siloed and issues are only seen through one perspective. I really want to gain more experience in collaborating with a wide array of stakeholders to come up with approaches to mitigate the environmental injustices experienced in under-resourced communities.

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maryclare.crochiere

 Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti - Boston nonprofit - human rights

NPR - National Public Radio - news source

 President Michel Martelly - Haitian president

Nepalese soldiers - from the UN - brought Cholera

United Nations

Secretary­General Ban Ki­moon - UN

Haitian Ministries of Health and Environment

Center for Economic Policy and Research - Washington

U.S. District Court Judge J. Paul Oetken

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Sara.Till

1) early on the article, Dr. Good discuses how individuals would use the word "fainting" to described their tonic-clonic seizure episodes. This was quite divergent from the word "epilepsy" in Turkish, thus allowing the patient to distance themselves from the well-stigmatized diagnosis of epilepsy. It also served as a point of reference for what linguistic nuances could be expected during the course of the interview, as these can play a great deal into the narrative.

2) Dr. Good also discusses the work of Dr. Evelyn Early, who interviewed members of the Turkish female population. His description of Dr. Early's work states these narratives “allow the women she studied to develop an interpretation of the illness in relation to a local explanatory logic and the biographic context of the illness, to negotiate right action in the face of uncertainty, and to justify actions taken, thus embedding the illness and therapeutic efforts within local moral norms".

3) Dr. Good includes the story of Zeki Bey, an individual with generalized seizures for 15 years at the time of interaction. Dr. Good describes his narrative of his illness as being "[told with] immediacy, drama, and poignancy... His illness had a powerful and meaningful beginning, which gave shape and coherence to the larger narrative."

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Sara.Till

The article discusses why, despite overwhelming amounts of foreign aid money and five years, Haiti still mimcs a disaster zone. Thousands of Haitians still live in tents and temporary housing, cholera is still raging, and rebuilding projects have stalled. The article questions why Haiti is just barely staggering back to "normal" after being given such tremendous resources. It goes on to discuss how several factors curb Haitian progress, including political turmoil and economic discord. Generally, the consensus remains (internationally) that the Haitian government cannot be entrusted money to fix these issues and must be led through the process by outside agencies. Additionally, malpractices by UN peackeeping troops have only addded to the list of problems (aka reintroducing cholera) and soured relations between Haiti and the UN.

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Sara.Till

Emergency response itself is not particularly addressed; the article, instead, focuses on the humanitarian efforts that typically spawn from multi-week and month long conflicts. These are not necessarily the first-line individuals, but rather the workers (such as MSF) which come in to provide aid in the middle, late, or final stages of a conflict. The report delves into the responsibilities and hurdles of dealing with sexual violence in humanitarian efforts, which includes both emergent and non-emergent care.