Student: Evan Howell
Graduation date: May 2020
Type: Area of Interest (minor)
Date approved: November 2017
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Summary
When developing my concentration theme and title, I integrated key factors of my three topics of interest: political ecology, environmental health, and environmental law. These ideas, when woven together, study the importance of power relations when analyzing the environmental health effects of chemical use. That investigation in turn provokes study of the influential relationship between scientific discovery and the policy that dictates chemical use.
The first chosen topic, Political Ecology, is a perspective topic focusing on the distribution of power and its implications for the realities of other topics relating to the biophysical world. When the biophysical landscape is altered by humanity, resources like human-made chemicals and their use are distributed unequally among actors in varying social and economic classes (Robbins 2011; Turner 2016). The share given to marginalized groups helps to expose power structures as well as the degree of fairness considered on axes like community health (Brannstrom 2017). Political ecology has been clearly defined by this more Marxist perspective, focusing on the degree of justice used in the distribution of rights and resources in a capitalist society (Archer and Francis 2007). Political ecology’s focus on power relations and distribution of chemical resources performs a critical role in my next topic, environmental health.
Environmental health is of the hybrid variety and studies the protection of human well-being from biophysical and anthropogenic dangers. When focusing on the anthropogenic spectrum, external environments possess social factors, such as resource allocation, that affect the health of different groups of people (Lema 2017; Gee and Payne-Sturges 2004). Minority groups are often more vulnerable to health issues due to a multitude of factors within their segregated communities. Some main issues include varying amounts of “community stress, exposure to pollutants, and access to community resources” (Gee and Payne-Sturges 2004, 1645). Key pollutants are human-created chemicals, which have long influenced biophysical components such as climate and weather, air quality, and water quality, thus affecting human health (Winston and Emch 2013). Endocrine-disrupting chemicals are a prime example, negatively impacting endogenous hormone signaling pathways due to impaired development of endocrine systems (Lema 2017; Colborn, Saal, and Soto 1993). But what dictates and enforces the disproportionate use of human-created chemicals? This is where my last topic of interest, environmental law, comes into play.
Environmental law is a social relations topic focusing on legislation in varying scales of law in relation to the biophysical world from local to international. As Professor Daniel Rohlf of Lewis and Clark Law School put it, environmental law covers issues from pollution control in natural resources law to local zoning in land use law. When it comes to dictating the use of human-created chemicals, however, environmental law uses scientific discovery as its crutch when creating policy. For instance, scientific research plays a critical role in risk-assessment, a key step when developing environmental legislation. However, this research never consistently provides a decisive answer for every step of risk-assessment. This can sometimes throw chemical regulatory policy into ambiguity and perhaps even termination (Percival et al. 2015). Therefore, there has developed an acknowledgement of an adaptation deficit between new scientific findings and enacted regulatory legislation. The use of adaptation policy presents new challenges for environmental law, but it is necessary for the future well-being of human health in relation to fair chemical use (Ruhl 2010).
When studying the ideas above, the overarching question one arrives at is this: How does the relationship between law and novel discovery in science influence the continued use of human-created chemicals that affect the health of varying groups of power? There are many opportunities for investigation when studying how each of these elements behave independently, and how they influence each other via specific actors and processes producing varying results through the lens of a multitude of situated places. I look forward to investigating these ideas and relationships in my collegiate future to come. The questions below will investigate the crucial details of my area of study. Notice that each question corresponds to the same numbered bullet for all four categories (ie the first bullet point for descriptive corresponds to the first bullet point for explanatory, and so on).
References
Archer, Louise, and Becky Francis. 2007. Understanding Minority Ethnic Achievement: Race, Gender, Class and “Success.” London: Routledge.
Brannstrom, Christian. n.d. “Political Ecology – Geography – Oxford Bibliographies – Obo.” Accessed September 15, 2017.
Colborn, T, F S vom Saal, and A M Soto. 1993. “Developmental Effects of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals in Wildlife and Humans.” Environmental Health Perspectives 101 (5):378–84.
Gee, Gilbert C., and Devon C. Payne-Sturges. 2004. “Environmental Health Disparities: A Framework Integrating Psychosocial and Environmental Concepts.” Environmental Health Perspectives 112 (17):1645–53. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.7074.
Lema, Sean C. n.d. “Environmental Endocrinology – Environmental Science – Oxford Bibliographies – Obo.” Accessed September 19, 2017.
Percival, Robert V., Christopher H. Schroeder, Alan S. Miller, and James P. Leape. 2015. Environmental Regulation: Law, Science, and Policy. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
Robbins, Paul. 2011. Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction. John Wiley & Sons.
Ruhl, J.B. 2010. “CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION AND THE STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW.” Environmental Law 40 (2):363–435.
Turner, Matthew D. 2016. “Political Ecology II.” Progress in Human Geography 40 (3):413–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132515577025.
Winston, Jennifer, and Michael Emch. 2013. “Medical Geography.” Oxford Bibliographies. February 26, 2013.
Questions
- Descriptive: What are key characteristics separating varying groups of power? How does the system of law (policy-making and enforcement) function in a particular place? What roles do human-created chemicals play in environmental health?
- Explanatory: How do characteristics separating groups of power influence the overall well-being of each? What is the relationship between law and novel discovery in science? How will this relationship affect decisions concerning human-created chemicals?
- Evaluative: To what degree are certain groups of power marginalized and/or privileged in terms of health? How efficient/successful is the relationship between law and novel discovery in science? To what degree is chemical legislation beneficial to human health? For whom?
- Instrumental: How should we break the health divides among varying groups of power? How should the relationship between law and science be improved to protect human health within the context of human-created chemicals? Which chemicals should be allowed to use and which should we ban? How should we enforce this legislation?
Concentration courses
- ENVS 499 (Independent Study, 4 credits), fall 2018 and fall 2019. Situated concentration-related research connected to anticipated Australia overseas program spring 2019.
- ENVS 295 (Environmental Engagement, 4 credits), spring 2018, fall 2018, and fall 2019. Connecting environmental scholarship to people in a variety of settings allows me to research the way environmental health issues associated with chemical use situates in potential long-run engagement opportunities.
- ENVS 460 (Topics in Environmental Law and Policy, 4 credits), fall 2018. Introductory course to better understand major areas of Environmental Law and its relationship with scientific discovery.
- ENVS 350 (Environmental Theory, 4 credits), spring 2018. Exploration of major theoretical assumptions underlying environmental studies including environmental knowledge and the roles of sciences and humanities apply directly to the scientific component and humanities-focused power relations component of my concentration.
Arts and humanities courses
- HIST 261 (Global Environmental History, 4 credits). Pre-approved A&H course; no justification required.
- PHIL 215 (Philosophy and the Environment, 4 credits). Pre-approved A&H course; no justification required.