Equality is Not Necessarily Just: Toward a Procedural and Relational View of Evironmental Justice

This paper is the latest in a series of articles written to conceptualize an alternative to the distributive paradigm espoused by the environmental justice movement. It is clear that early studies such as the "Toxic Waste and Race in the United States: A National Report on the Racial and Socio-Economic Characteristics of Communities with Hazardous Waste Sites" prepared by the Commission for Racial Justice of the United Church of Christ exposed the potential our present model of environmental regulation has to create distributional inequities and forced policymakers to identify how the burdens as well as the benefits of environmental protection are spread among groups of persons.It is also clear to me that distributive theories of environmental justice are inadequate to justify a more just environmental policy or support the aims of the environmental justice movement. I share with Iris Marion Young a view that the distributive paradigm's implicit assumption that social judgments are about what individual person have, how much they have, and how that amount compares with what other persons have and the belief that this focus on possession is limiting. Distributive theories of justice tend to preclude thinking about what people are doing according to what institutionalized rules, how their doings and havings are structured by institutionalized relations that constitute their positions, and how the combined effects of their doings has recursive effects on their lives. What I attempt to do in this paper is to shift the focus of the discussion away from the distribution and on the decision-making structures and procedures which determine what there is to distribute, how it gets distributed, who distributes and what the distributive outcome is. To paraphrase Ms. Young, environmental injustice occurs not simply because some persons have cleaner air and water than others' environmental injustice derives as much from the corporate and legal structures and procedures that give some persons the power to make decisions that affect millions of other people

Identifying the Burdens and Opportunities for Tribes and Communities in Federal Facility Cleanup Activities: Environmental Remediation Technology Assessment Matrix For Tribal and Community Decision-Makers

The cleanup of this country's federal facilities can affect a wide range of tribal and community interests and concerns. The technologies now in use, or being proposed by the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and other federal agencies can affect tribal treaty protected fishing, hunting and other rights, affect air and water quality thereby requiring the tribe to bear the burden of increased environmental regulation. The International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management developed a tribal and community decision-maker's Environmental Remediation Technology Assessment Matrix that will permit tribes and communities to array technical information about environmental remediation technologies against a backdrop of tribal and community environmental, health and safety, cultural, religious, treaty and other concerns and interests. Ultimately, the matrix will allow tribes and communities to assess the impact of proposed technologies on the wide range of tribal and community interests and will promote more informed participation in federal facility cleanup activities

Systèmes de production et pratiques à risque en agriculture urbaine: Cas du maraîchage dans la ville de Yamoussoukro en Côte d’Ivoire

La question de l’impact de l’agriculture urbaine sur l’environnement revient, fréquemment, au coeur des débats dans la gestion des villes africaines, comme Yamoussoukro. Les inquiétudes liées à la préservation de l’environnement urbain, eu égard à l’usage de pesticides et à la qualité des eaux utilisées, constituent une préoccupation prise en compte dans le cadre de cette étude. Celle-ci porte, aussi bien sur l’évaluation du risque sur l’environnement consécutif à de mauvaises pratiques agricoles que sur l’évaluation du risque sanitaire consécutif à l’usage des eaux usées. Pour atteindre cet objectif, la méthodologie utilisée a été d’une part, la collecte de données, à travers une enquête et d’autre part, des analyses au laboratoire. Il ressort que le maraîchage urbain à Yamoussoukro est une activité informelle. Les cultures pratiquées sont dominées par la laitue, l’oignon vert et la carotte. Le recours aux intrants, notamment les pesticides, est très répandu. Les dispositifs règlementaires sur la distribution des produits agrochimiques ne sont pas appliqués. Ainsi, 74% des pesticides recensés ne sont pas homologués pour les cultures maraîchères, 12% sont très toxiques (classe Ib) et 57% nocifs (classe II). Les risques encourus sont accentués par un traitement chimique qui n’est pas suffisamment maîtrisé. Les analyses physico-chimiques et microbiologiques ont mis en évidence, d’une part, des eaux d’irrigation aux caractéristiques très hétérogènes et d’autre part, une grande diversité microbienne et une contamination de ces eaux, suggérant des risques sanitaires avérés.Mots clés: cultures maraîchères, environnement, risque sanitaire, pesticides, eau

Leaf Eh and pH: A Novel Indicator of Plant Stress. Spatial, Temporal and Genotypic Variability in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

A wealth of knowledge has been published in the last decade on redox regulations in plants. However, these works remained largely at cellular and organelle levels. Simple indicators of oxidative stress at the plant level are still missing. We developed a method for direct measurement of leaf Eh and pH, which revealed spatial, temporal, and genotypic variations in rice. Eh (redox potential) and Eh@pH7 (redox potential corrected to pH 7) of the last fully expanded leaf decreased after sunrise. Leaf Eh was high in the youngest leaf and in the oldest leaves, and minimum for the last fully expanded leaf. Leaf pH decreased from youngest to oldest leaves. The same gradients in Eh-pH were measured for various varieties, hydric conditions, and cropping seasons. Rice varieties differed in Eh, pH, and/or Eh@pH7. Leaf Eh increases and leaf pH decreases with plant age. These patterns and dynamics in leaf Eh-pH are in accordance with the pattern and dynamics of disease infections. Leaf Eh-pH can bring new insight on redox processes at plant level and is proposed as a novel indicator of plant stress/health. It could be used by agronomists, breeders, and pathologists to accelerate the development of crop cultivation methods leading to agroecological crop protection

Mitigating information frictions in trade:Evidence from export credit guarantees

Information frictions make foreign trade risky. In particular, the risk of buyer default deters firms from selling abroad. To address this issue, many countries offer export credit guarantees to provide insurance to exporters. In this paper, we investigate the causal effects of guarantees by exploiting a quasi-natural experiment in Sweden and rich register data on guarantees, firms and trade. Estimates from a fuzzy regression discontinuity design show large positive effects on the probability of exporting and the value of exports to the destination for which the guarantees are issued. These results are robust to an alternative approach using a difference-in-differences matching estimator. Further findings suggest that guarantees impact firms heterogeneously and play an important role in resolving buyer default risk and easing liquidity constraints. Larger impacts are observed in non-OECD countries, on smaller, liquidity constrained exporters and for firms selling products that face a relatively high cost of buyer default.</p

Identifying the Burdens and Opportunities for Tribes and Communities in Federal Facility Cleanup Activities: Environmental Remediation Technology Assessment Matrix For Tribal and Community Decision-Makers

The cleanup of this country’s federal facilities can affect a wide range of tribal and community interests and concerns. The technologies now in use, or being proposed by the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and other federal agencies can affect tribal treaty protected fishing, hunting and other rights, affect air and water quality thereby requiring the tribe to bear the burden of increased environmental regulation. The International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management developed a tribal and community decision-maker’s Environmental Remediation Technology Assessment Matrix that will permit tribes and communities to array technical information about environmental remediation technologies against a backdrop of tribal and community environmental, health and safety, cultural, religious, treaty and other concerns and interests. Ultimately, the matrix will allow tribes and communities to assess the impact of proposed technologies on the wide range of tribal and community interests and will promote more informed participation in federal facility cleanup activities. This research was completed money allocated during Round 1 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at [email protected]://commons.clarku.edu/iiirm/1000/thumbnail.jp

Evaluation de la Qualite de Vie des Enfants et Adolescents Inclus dans un Programme de Prise en Charge Tridimensionnelle de l’Exces Ponderal a Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)

Contexte et objectif : L’obésité affecte la qualité de vie des sujets concernés, et de façon particulière les plus jeunes qui font l’objet de moquerie. Ainsi, un programme de coaching tripartite : un aspect nutritionnel, un volet promotion de la pratique d’activité physique, et un volet accompagnement psychologique. La présente étude a donc été initiée avec pour objectif de mesurer l’impact de ce programme de coaching mis en place sur la qualité de vie des enfants et adolescents obèses qui en étaient les bénéficiaires. Matériel et méthodes : Il s’est agi d’une étude de cohorte à deux mesures avant et après la mise en place du coaching. Celle-ci s’est déroulée avec un échantillon de 136 enfants et adolescents de 6 à 17 ans, soit sur une période de 18 mois, au Service de Nutrition de l’Institut National de Santé Publique d’Abidjan. La qualité de vie a été évaluée à l’aide du questionnaire PedsQL (the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory) dans sa version 4 adapté pour les besoins de l’étude. Il était composé de la dimension physique et la santé psychosociale. Résultats : Les enquêtés étaient des deux sexes avec une prédominance féminine (58,8%) et étaient tous scolarisés. A la fin du programme de coaching en santé on note une amélioration de la dimension physique qui devient acceptable chez 71,8% des enfants et adolescents et une meilleure évolution de la dimension psychosociale et la qualité de vie d’acceptable à bonne. Un lien significatif (p &lt; 0,05) a été plus observé entre la santé psychosociale, le poids moyen et l’indice de masse corporelle des adolescents de 12 à 19 ans à l’issu de ce programme que chez les enfants. Conclusion : Cette étude situe sur l’intérêt du programme de coaching en santé dans l’amélioration de la qualité de vie des personnes lors de la prise en charge de l’obésité infantile. En effet, elle confirme que la prise en charge psychologique est un élément important dans la prise en charge de la malnutrition. Context and objective: Obesity affects the quality of life of the subjects concerned, and in particular the youngest who are made fun of. Thus, a tripartite coaching program: a nutritional aspect, a component promoting the practice of physical activity, and a psychological support component. The present study was therefore initiated with the aim of measuring the impact of this coaching program set up on the quality of life of obese children and adolescents who were the beneficiaries. Material and methods: This were a two-measure cohort study before and after the implementation of coaching. This took place with a sample of 136 children and adolescents aged 6 to 17, over a period of 18 months, at the Nutrition Service of the National Institute of Public Health in Abidjan. Quality of life was assessed using the PedsQL questionnaire (the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory) in its version 4 adapted for the needs of the study. It was composed of the physical dimension and the psychosocial health. Results: The respondents were of both sexes with a female predominance (58.8%) and were all educated. At the end of the health coaching program, there is an improvement in the physical dimension which becomes acceptable in 71.8% of children and adolescents and a better evolution of the psychosocial dimension and the quality of life from acceptable to good. A significant link (p &lt; 0.05) was observed between psychosocial health, average weight and body mass index in adolescents aged 12 to 19 at the end of this program than in children. Conclusion: This study situates the interest of the health coaching program in improving the quality of life of people during the management of childhood obesity. Indeed, it confirms that psychological care is an important element in the management of malnutrition

Evaluation de la Qualite de Vie des Enfants et Adolescents Inclus dans un Programme de Prise en Charge Tridimensionnelle de l’Exces Ponderal a Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)

Contexte et objectif : L’obésité affecte la qualité de vie des sujets concernés, et de façon particulière les plus jeunes qui font l’objet de moquerie. Ainsi, un programme de coaching tripartite : un aspect nutritionnel, un volet promotion de la pratique d’activité physique, et un volet accompagnement psychologique. La présente étude a donc été initiée avec pour objectif de mesurer l’impact de ce programme de coaching mis en place sur la qualité de vie des enfants et adolescents obèses qui en étaient les bénéficiaires. Matériel et méthodes : Il s’est agi d’une étude de cohorte à deux mesures avant et après la mise en place du coaching. Celle-ci s’est déroulée avec un échantillon de 136 enfants et adolescents de 6 à 17 ans, soit sur une période de 18 mois, au Service de Nutrition de l’Institut National de Santé Publique d’Abidjan. La qualité de vie a été évaluée à l’aide du questionnaire PedsQL (the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory) dans sa version 4 adapté pour les besoins de l’étude. Il était composé de la dimension physique et la santé psychosociale. Résultats : Les enquêtés étaient des deux sexes avec une prédominance féminine (58,8%) et étaient tous scolarisés. A la fin du programme de coaching en santé on note une amélioration de la dimension physique qui devient acceptable chez 71,8% des enfants et adolescents et une meilleure évolution de la dimension psychosociale et la qualité de vie d’acceptable à bonne. Un lien significatif (p &lt; 0,05) a été plus observé entre la santé psychosociale, le poids moyen et l’indice de masse corporelle des adolescents de 12 à 19 ans à l’issu de ce programme que chez les enfants. Conclusion : Cette étude situe sur l’intérêt du programme de coaching en santé dans l’amélioration de la qualité de vie des personnes lors de la prise en charge de l’obésité infantile. En effet, elle confirme que la prise en charge psychologique est un élément important dans la prise en charge de la malnutrition. Context and objective: Obesity affects the quality of life of the subjects concerned, and in particular the youngest who are made fun of. Thus, a tripartite coaching program: a nutritional aspect, a component promoting the practice of physical activity, and a psychological support component. The present study was therefore initiated with the aim of measuring the impact of this coaching program set up on the quality of life of obese children and adolescents who were the beneficiaries. Material and methods: This were a two-measure cohort study before and after the implementation of coaching. This took place with a sample of 136 children and adolescents aged 6 to 17, over a period of 18 months, at the Nutrition Service of the National Institute of Public Health in Abidjan. Quality of life was assessed using the PedsQL questionnaire (the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory) in its version 4 adapted for the needs of the study. It was composed of the physical dimension and the psychosocial health. Results: The respondents were of both sexes with a female predominance (58.8%) and were all educated. At the end of the health coaching program, there is an improvement in the physical dimension which becomes acceptable in 71.8% of children and adolescents and a better evolution of the psychosocial dimension and the quality of life from acceptable to good. A significant link (p &lt; 0.05) was observed between psychosocial health, average weight and body mass index in adolescents aged 12 to 19 at the end of this program than in children. Conclusion: This study situates the interest of the health coaching program in improving the quality of life of people during the management of childhood obesity. Indeed, it confirms that psychological care is an important element in the management of malnutrition

BLITZ-HF: a nationwide initiative to evaluate and improve adherence to acute and chronic heart failure guidelines

Aims: To assess adherence to guideline recommendations among a large network of Italian cardiology sites in the management of acute and chronic heart failure (HF) and to evaluate if an ad-hoc educational intervention can improve their performance on several pharmacological and non-pharmacological indicators. Methods and results: BLITZ-HF was a cross-sectional study based on a web-based recording system with pop-up reminders on guideline recommendations used during two 3-month enrolment periods carried out 3 months apart (Phase 1 and 3), interspersed by face-to-face macro-regional benchmark analyses and educational meetings (Phase 2). Overall, 7218 patients with acute and chronic HF were enrolled at 106 cardiology sites. During the enrolment phases, 3920 and 3298 patients were included, respectively, 84% with chronic HF and 16% with acute HF in Phase 1, and 74% with chronic HF and 26% with acute HF in Phase 3. At baseline, adherence to guideline recommendations was already overall high for most indicators. Among acute HF patients, an improvement was obtained in three out of eight indicators, with a significant rise in echocardiographic evaluation. Among chronic HF patients with HF and preserved or mid-range ejection fraction, performance increased in two out of three indicators: creatinine and echocardiographic evaluations. An overall performance improvement was observed in six out of nine indicators in ambulatory HF with reduced ejection fraction patients with a significant increase in angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor prescription rates. Conclusions: Within a context of an already elevated level of adherence to HF guideline recommendations, a structured multifaceted educational intervention could be useful to improve performance on specific indicators. Extending this approach to other non-cardiology healthcare professionals, who usually manage patients with HF, should be considered