Download or read book The Social and Political Ecology of Trash written by Debbie L. Eiler and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Politics of Garbage written by Lawrence S. Luton and published by University of Pittsburgh Pre. This book was released on 2010-11-23 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increased enviromental awareness, more demands on local governments, a newly invigorated citizen activism, and a decaying and overburdened infrastructure have made taking care of our garbage one of the major policy making challenges facing local communities. Luton uses the case study of Spokane WA to analyze the public administration and socio-political context of solid waste policy making. Luton's thorough exploration of Spokane's experience as opens a window onto contemporary issues of solid waste management as well as the complex social and political environment in which public administrators must operate. His integration of systems theory in the analysis adds to the book's value as a teaching tool for courses on policy making, urban planning, public administration, and the environment. He examines the complex combination of ecological, political, social and relational dynamics that affect such policies, providing insight into inter-governmental public policy making.

Download or read book The Political Ecology of Informal Waste Recyclers in India written by Federico Demaria and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-03-14 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sector of solid waste management in India falls entirely into the informal category, and despite the high number of people involved in it, there is very little statistical data available on the safety or hygiene standards in this sector. Calls for integrating recyclers of solid waste management into the formal sector have largely been ignored, causing hazardous working conditions, unequal and inadequate pay, and, in a broader sense, a less sustainable environment. In a study conducted during 2009-18, Federico Demaria finds the issue of waste management is more of a political one rather than an ecological one; and there are power relations, social and cultural predispositions, and economic drivers at play within it. He focusses on two emblematic case studies - ship-breaking in Alang, Gujarat, and solid waste management in New Delhi - to argue that the environment is a politicized and contested space, rendering its participants victims to exploitation and isolation. His case studies draw on theories in political ecology and environmental economics to create a critical understanding of the technical, social, and political underpinnings in solid waste management in India.

Download or read book A Political Ecology of Solid Waste Management in Niadub Panama written by Marc Fruitema and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As indigenous communities across Latin America embrace modernization and undergo rapid development, safe and effective waste management becomes an important environmental and public health concern. Far too often, these marginalized groups are excluded from decision-making in the development processes and international conservation projects that address a host of population, health and environmental issues in their own communities. Waste Management projects and initiatives led by international organizations have not only excluded local interest groups from planning and administration, they disregard socio-cultural values and community needs in the process. This has led to far too many failed attempts at addressing pollution concerns and waste-management in developing countries and exacerbates the marginalization of these cultures. This case study assessed the potential of ethnography and political ecology as valuable tools in the waste management-planning framework. The application of these research methodologies was evaluated in Niadub, Panama, by using this approach to attempt to understand the social and cultural context of waste management in the small indigenous Guna community. Through in depth life & work histories and semi-structured interviews, an understanding of Guna cosmology, cultural norms and community values was developed. Discussion groups were organized with select interest groups to collect their perspectives on current waste-management strategies, perceived impacts of waste management practices and the potential for an improved waste management plan. What this research showed was a long-standing cultural understanding of garbage, its potential negative impacts and the need for proper management. Even as Niadub has modernized and the waste stream has become inundated with modern plastics, the social organization and cultural values have remained fundamentally the same. Although fragmented by foreign funding and exclusionary conservation projects, community interest groups remain concerned and motivated to improve the village's waste management strategy. Waste management is a complicated affair that transcends the political, economic, social and environmental realms. Understanding the complexity of these issues and the interest groups involved necessitates a deeper level understanding of the socio-cultural context. In using the ethnographic and political ecology approach, this study was able to validate their application towards developing that in-depth appreciation.

Download or read book Actor Networks of Planning written by Yvonne Rydin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-12 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Planning is centrally focused on places which are significant to people, including both the built and natural environments. In making changes to these places, planning outcomes inevitably benefit some and disadvantage others. It is perhaps surprising that Actor Network Theory (ANT) has only recently been considered as an appropriate lens through which to understand planning practice. This book brings together an international range of contributors to explore such potential of ANT in more detail. While it can be thought of as a subset of complexity theory, given its appreciation for non-linear processes and responses, ANT has its roots in the sociology of scientific and technology studies. ANT now comprises a rich set of concepts that can be applied in research, theoretical and empirical. It is a relational approach that posits a radical symmetry between social and material actors (or actants). It suggests the importance of dynamic processes by which networks of relationships become formed, shift and have effect. And while not inherently normative, ANT has the potential to strengthen other more normative domains of planning theory through its unique analytical lens. However, this requires theoretical and empirical work and the papers in this volume undertake such work. This is the first volume to provide a full consideration of how ANT can contribute to planning studies, and suggests a research agenda for conceptual development and empirical application of the theory.

Download or read book Discard Studies written by Max Liboiron and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-05-24 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An argument that social, political, and economic systems maintain power by discarding certain people, places, and things. Discard studies is an emerging field that looks at waste and wasting broadly construed. Rather than focusing on waste and trash as the primary objects of study, discard studies looks at wider systems of waste and wasting to explore how some materials, practices, regions, and people are valued or devalued, becoming dominant or disposable. In this book, Max Liboiron and Josh Lepawsky argue that social, political, and economic systems maintain power by discarding certain people, places, and things. They show how the theories and methods of discard studies can be applied in a variety of cases, many of which do not involve waste, trash, or pollution. Liboiron and Lepawsky consider the partiality of knowledge and offer a theory of scale, exploring the myth that most waste is municipal solid waste produced by consumers; discuss peripheries, centers, and power, using content moderation as an example of how dominant systems find ways to discard; and use theories of difference to show that universalism, stereotypes, and inclusion all have politics of discard and even purification—as exemplified in “inclusive” efforts to broaden the Black Lives Matter movement. Finally, they develop a theory of change by considering “wasting well,” outlining techniques, methods, and propositions for a justice-oriented discard studies that keeps power in view.

Download or read book The Political Ecology of Informal Waste Recyclers in India written by Federico Demaria and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-06-26 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Waste is increasingly a site of social conflict. The questions related to waste management are not merely technical; what, how, where, and by whom become intrinsically political questions. This book is about the power relations in recycling, from the viewpoint of political ecology and ecological economics. Informal waste recyclers are invisible for citizens and public policy. This book focuses on environmental conflicts involving them, with two emblematic case studies from India. Firstly, ship breaking, where the metabolism of a global infrastructure, namely shipping, shifts social and environmental costs to very localized communities in order to obtain large profits. Secondly, the conflict around municipal solid waste management in Delhi shows how environmental costs are shifted to urban residents, and recyclers are dispossessed of their livelihood source: recyclable waste. The first is an example of capital accumulation by contamination, while the second involves both dispossession and contamination. The struggles of informal recyclers constitute an attempt to re-politicize waste metabolism beyond techno-managerial solutions by fostering counter-hegemonic discourses and praxis. The book presents a range of experiences, mostly in India but with examples from all over the world, to inform theory on how environments are shaped, politicized, and contested.

Download or read book Perspectives on Waste from the Social Sciences and Humanities written by Richard Ek and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2020-03-26 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Waste is something we encounter on an everyday basis. Today, the waste-mountain is increasing despite ambitious measures being taken to decrease it. Consequently, increased scholarly interest is being devoted to waste, but primarily from a technocratic and scientific point of view. This compilation offers different perspectives on waste, its characteristics, and its presence in the world from social scientist and humanist standpoints. Waste is the constant companion to the human, and is thus inherent in modern society. Therefore, waste needs to be further approached and understood from a plethora of scholarly perspectives and disciplines, and further investigated through a multitude of methodologies and data collection techniques. The imagination of a future where waste-preventive actions and circular economies permeate society can only be a reality if technocratic and scientific accounts of what is to be done, when, and how, are complemented by social scientific and humanist concepts of the nature and constitution of waste. Such a perspective offers the possibility to understand how waste is constituted through relationships, language, materials, politics, practices and structures. This book shows that philosophers, historians, cultural theorists and economists have much to offer on the topic of waste as a part of everyday modern life.

Download or read book Garbage Wars written by David Naguib Pellow and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2004-09-17 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the struggle for environmental justice, focusing on conflicts over solid waste and pollution in Chicago. In Garbage Wars, the sociologist David Pellow describes the politics of garbage in Chicago. He shows how garbage affects residents in vulnerable communities and poses health risks to those who dispose of it. He follows the trash, the pollution, the hazards, and the people who encountered them in the period 1880-2000. What unfolds is a tug of war among social movements, government, and industry over how we manage our waste, who benefits, and who pays the costs. Studies demonstrate that minority and low-income communities bear a disproportionate burden of environmental hazards. Pellow analyzes how and why environmental inequalities are created. He also explains how class and racial politics have influenced the waste industry throughout the history of Chicago and the United States. After examining the roles of social movements and workers in defining, resisting, and shaping garbage disposal in the United States, he concludes that some environmental groups and people of color have actually contributed to environmental inequality. By highlighting conflicts over waste dumping, incineration, landfills, and recycling, Pellow provides a historical view of the garbage industry throughout the life cycle of waste. Although his focus is on Chicago, he places the trends and conflicts in a broader context, describing how communities throughout the United States have resisted the waste industry's efforts to locate hazardous facilities in their backyards. The book closes with suggestions for how communities can work more effectively for environmental justice and safe, sustainable waste management.

Download or read book Global Political Ecology written by Richard Peet and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-12-17 with total page 655 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world is caught in the mesh of a series of environmental crises. So far attempts at resolving the deep basis of these have been superficial and disorganized. Global Political Ecology links the political economy of global capitalism with the political ecology of a series of environmental disasters and failed attempts at environmental policies. This critical volume draws together contributions from twenty-five leading intellectuals in the field. It begins with an introductory chapter that introduces the readers to political ecology and summarizes the books main findings. The following seven sections cover topics on the political ecology of war and the disaster state; fuelling capitalism: energy scarcity and abundance; global governance of health, bodies, and genomics; the contradictions of global food; capital’s marginal product: effluents, waste, and garbage; water as a commodity, a human right, and power; the functions and dysfunctions of the global green economy; political ecology of the global climate, and carbon emissions. This book contains accounts of the main currents of thought in each area that bring the topics completely up-to-date. The individual chapters contain a theoretical introduction linking in with the main themes of political ecology, as well as empirical information and case material. Global Political Ecology serves as a valuable reference for students interested in political ecology, environmental justice, and geography.

Download or read book Economies of Recycling written by Catherine Alexander and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2012-08-09 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For some, recycling is a big business; for others a moralised way of engaging with the world. But, for many, this is a dangerous way of earning a living. With scrap now being the largest export category from the US to China, the sheer scale of this global trade has not yet been clearly identified or analysed. Combining fine-grained ethnographic analysis with overviews of international material flows, Economies of Recycling radically changes the way we understand global and local economies as well as the new social relations and identities created by recycling processes. Following global material chains, this groundbreaking book reveals astonishing connections between persons, households, cities and global regions as objects are reworked, taken to pieces and traded. With case studies from Africa, Latin America, South Asia, China, the former Soviet Union, North America and Europe, this timely collection debunks common linear understandings of production, exchange and consumption and argues for a complete re-evaluation of North-South economic relationships.

Download or read book Feminist Political Ecology written by Dianne Rocheleau and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Feminist Political Ecology explores the gendered relations of ecologies, economies and politics in communities as diverse as the rubbertappers in the rainforests of Brazil to activist groups fighting racism in New York City. Women are often at the centre of these struggles, struggles which concern local knowledge, everyday practice, rights to resources, sustainable development, environmental quality, and social justice. The book bridges the gap between the academic and rural orientation of political ecology and the largely activist and urban focus of environmental justice movements.

Download or read book Garbage Wars written by David Naguib Pellow and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2004-09-17 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the struggle for environmental justice, focusing on conflicts over solid waste and pollution in Chicago. In Garbage Wars, the sociologist David Pellow describes the politics of garbage in Chicago. He shows how garbage affects residents in vulnerable communities and poses health risks to those who dispose of it. He follows the trash, the pollution, the hazards, and the people who encountered them in the period 1880-2000. What unfolds is a tug of war among social movements, government, and industry over how we manage our waste, who benefits, and who pays the costs. Studies demonstrate that minority and low-income communities bear a disproportionate burden of environmental hazards. Pellow analyzes how and why environmental inequalities are created. He also explains how class and racial politics have influenced the waste industry throughout the history of Chicago and the United States. After examining the roles of social movements and workers in defining, resisting, and shaping garbage disposal in the United States, he concludes that some environmental groups and people of color have actually contributed to environmental inequality. By highlighting conflicts over waste dumping, incineration, landfills, and recycling, Pellow provides a historical view of the garbage industry throughout the life cycle of waste. Although his focus is on Chicago, he places the trends and conflicts in a broader context, describing how communities throughout the United States have resisted the waste industry's efforts to locate hazardous facilities in their backyards. The book closes with suggestions for how communities can work more effectively for environmental justice and safe, sustainable waste management.

Download or read book Critical Zones of Technopower and Global Political Ecology written by Peter C. Little and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2023-09-05 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores technology and the global tech industry in relation to social, health, economic, and environmental relations and politics. Peter C. Little argues that the power and influence of electronics and Big Tech—from the proliferation of digital platforms to the expansion of global electronic waste streams—is a political-ecological problem that impacts communities and lives in both the Global North and South. From intense resource extraction, industrial pollution, and surging health and economic inequalities, to data-driven surveillance, platform economy proliferation and intrusion, and Silicon Valley corporate-power, Little argues that the political ecology of tech matters now more than ever. Based on a mixture of engagements with tech criticism, ethnographic case studies, and critical analysis and development of guiding concepts—ranging from technocapital to technoprecarious political ecology—the book exposes and interrogates the underlying toxicity, precarity, and planetary politics of global tech. Critical Zones of Technopower and Global Political Ecology also tracks justice struggles that confront technopower, including “just tech” forms of social action that further reinforce the importance of a global political ecology of technocapitalism in the digital age.

Download or read book Political Ecology written by Paul Robbins and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-12-12 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fully updated new edition introduces the core concepts, central thinkers, and major works of the burgeoning field of political ecology. Explores the key arguments and contemporary explanatory challenges facing the sub-discipline Provides the first full history of the development of political ecology over the last century and its theoretical underpinnings Considers the major challenges facing the field now and for the future Study boxes introduce key figures in the development of the discipline and summarize their most important works Fully updated to include recent events, such as the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, as well as both urban and rural examples, from the developed and underdeveloped world

Download or read book Urban Political Ecology in the Anthropo obscene written by Henrik Ernstson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-12-07 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Urban Political Ecology in the Anthropo-obscene: Interruptions and Possibilities centres on how to organize anew the articulation between emancipatory theory and political activism. Across its theoretical and empirical chapters, written by leading scholars from anthropology, geography, urban studies, and political science, the book explores new political possibilities that are opening up in an age marked by proliferating contestations, sharpening socio-ecological inequalities, and planetary processes of urbanization and environmental change. A deepened conversation between urban environmental studies and political theory is mobilized to chart a radically new direction for the field of urban political ecology and cognate disciplines: What could emancipatory politics be about in our time? What does a return of the political under the aegis of equality and freedom signal today in theory and in practice? How do political movements emerge that could re-invent equality and freedom as actually existing socio-ecological practices? The hope is to contribute discussions that can expand and rearrange critical environmental studies to remain relevant in a time of deepening depoliticization and the rise of post-truth politics. Urban Political Ecology in the Anthropo-obscene will be of interest to postgraduates, established scholars, and upper level undergraduates from any discipline or field with an interest in the interface between the urban, the environment, and the political, including: geography, urban studies, environmental studies, and political science.

Download or read book The Accumulation of Waste written by Ali Kadri and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-08-21 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Phenomenal waste has surfaced as the social form and substance of value. In capital’s totalizing process, which commodifies all that comes in its way, wasting classes consume the wasted classes. This book addresses the metamorphosis of value into waste and it focuses on wars as industries of perfect waste. Whereas wasted man is visibly the prevalent commodity on sale, this central element in the commodity relation is rarely mentioned. In line with this, the book examines how waste, as a surrogate value, eludes the crises of capital and maintains its resilience.