Kate Parizeau

Bio: Kate Parizeau is an academic researcher from University of Guelph. The author has contributed to research in topics: Food waste & Social determinants of health. The author has an hindex of 12, co-authored 29 publications receiving 781 citations. Previous affiliations of Kate Parizeau include McMaster University & West Health.

Waste characterization as an element of waste management planning: Lessons learned from a study in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Abstract: Community-based waste management (CBWM) is an alternative waste management strategy for communities where municipal governments are not providing waste collection services. In order to assess the feasibility of introducing CBWM to an unserviced community in Siem Reap, Cambodia, we undertook a waste characterization study and household survey in the summer of 2004. In the waste characterization study, we found that waste generation per capita was low (0.34 kg per capita per day, on average) compared to communities in other developing countries. We did not find a statistically significant relationship between household waste production and either income or expenditures. We observed that the waste stream in the study area was mostly organic in nature (66% by weight) and contained few recyclable materials (5% by weight). Our results illustrate the importance of a waste characterization study for assessing how many collection vehicles will be needed for a CBWM program, whether composting is a feasible option, whether recovery of recyclables will be a significant income source for the program, and whether social programming is needed to change household awareness and waste behaviours. We found that the household survey results on household attitudes and membership were a valuable complement to the waste characterization study, as they provided us with information about household size (and therefore allowed us to calculate per capita waste generation), the local residents’ willingness to separate waste streams at the source, and residents’ willingness to participate in and pay for CBWM services. We conclude that the waste characterization study and the household survey together are important tools for planning a CBWM program.

Health profiles of Hamilton: Spatial characterisation of neighbourhoods for health investigations

Abstract: This paper is part of a larger research program which employs a mixed-methods approach to study the determinants of health at the local level using specific neighborhoods in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. In this paper, multivariate, spatial statistical techniques and geographic information systems are used to address questions about the characterization of neighbourhoods, based on socioeconomic determinants of health and risk factors such as smoking. While neighbourhood characterization has been a component of public health surveillance for some time, geostatistical techniques can now be used to derive more accurate representation of neighbourhoods for use in subsequent analysis. We utilize principal components analysis to reduce the data and extract the components that represent the underlying local processes. Principal components are also overlayed on comparative mortality figures to visualize where the socio-demographic determinants of health correspond spatially with mortality patterns. Predicted values from the components are then analysed for spatial clustering using local indicators of spatial association. The findings reveal a pattern of distinct neighbourhoods that will be used in subsequent quantitative and qualitative stages in the larger research programme. The results can also be used to inform public health policy and to target public health interventions.

Valuing the Multiple Impacts of Household Food Waste.

Abstract: The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has estimated that Canadian households waste 85 kg of food per person annually. Food waste has become an increasingly common focus for policy, regulation, interventions, and awareness-raising efforts in Canada. However, there is still a relative dearth of data to inform such decision-making processes or to provide narratives to contextualize behavior change efforts. In this paper, we describe the results of an uncommonly detailed observational study of household food waste. A total of 94 families with young children living in Guelph, Ontario chose to participate in this study. Over the course of multiple weeks, we collected data on their food purchases, food consumption, and waste generation. All three streams of waste (garbage, recycling, and organic waste) were audited and the food type, degree of avoidability, and weight of each individual component of the organic waste stream was recorded. Using this highly granular data set, we found that the average household in our study generated approximately 2.98 kg of avoidable food waste per week. This estimate was then contextualized in terms of economic losses (dollar value), nutritional losses (calories, vitamins, and minerals) and environmental impacts (global warming potential, land, and water usage). In short, weekly avoidable food waste per household was calculated to be equivalent to $18.01, 3,366 calories, and 23.3 kg of CO2. These multiple valuation frameworks, which are based in detailed observations of family food behaviors rather than estimations derived from system-wide data, will enable more informed and urgent conversations about policy, programming, and interventions in order to reduce the volume of wasted food at the consumer level.

Breaking the silence: A feminist call to action

Abstract: Mental health and wellness are issues of growing concern on campuses across North America. While feminist geographers have done important work over the years to organize, mentor, gather, and publish collectively on issues related to wellness, much more remains to be done. In this article, we—a collection of scholars who identify as feminist geographers—comment on our experiences of mental wellness in the academy, and engage in a collective self-analysis to better understand the silences, invisibilities, and hesitancies surrounding these issues on the campuses where we work. We argue that not only does more attention need to be brought to bear on this topic, but also that it needs to be more broadly understood. We find that there are institutional, cultural, political, and intersectional factors that impede active engagement with mental health and wellness in the academy, and we discuss strategies for deeper engagement with such important issues for our students, colleagues, research participants, and ourselves. Briser le silence : un appel a l'action feministe La sante mentale et le bien-etre mental sont des questions qui suscitent des preoccupations croissantes au sein des campus universitaires nord-americains. Alors que, dans l'ensemble, les geographes feministes ont realise des travaux importants au cours des annees afin de s'organiser, de conseiller, de se reunir et de publier sur des questions relatives au bien-etre, le chemin a parcourir est encore long. Cet article nous amene, en tant que regroupement de chercheures qui se presentent comme des geographes feministes, a formuler des observations sur nos experiences de bien-etre mental dans le monde universitaire, et a mener une autoanalyse collective afin de mieux comprendre les silences, occultations et reticences entourant ces questions sur nos campus. Nous avancons qu'au-dela du fait que ce sujet requiert une attention accrue, qu'il doit egalement s'ouvrir sur une perspective elargie. Nos resultats ont identifie des facteurs institutionnels, culturels, politiques et entrecroises qui freinent la mobilisation autour de la sante mentale et du bien-etre mental dans le monde universitaire. Enfin, nous discutons a propos de strategies propices a une mobilisation accrue sur ces questions importantes pour nos etudiants, collegues, sujets de recherche, et nous-memes.

Spatial analysis of air pollution and mortality in Los Angeles.

Abstract: Background:The assessment of air pollution exposure using only community average concentrations may lead to measurement error that lowers estimates of the health burden attributable to poor air quality. To test this hypothesis, we modeled the association between air pollution and mortality using sma

Urban Political Ecology, Justice and the Politics of Scale (Reprint)

Abstract: This and the subsequent papers in this special issue set out the contours of Marxian urban political ecology and call for greater research attention to a neglected field of critical research that, given its political importance, requires urgent attention. Notwithstanding the important contributions of other critical perspectives on urban ecology, Marxist urban political ecology provides an integrated and relational approach that helps untangle the interconnected economic, political, social and ecological processes that together go to form highly uneven and deeply unjust urban landscapes. Because the power-laden socioecological relations that shape the formation of urban environments constantly shift between groups of actors and scales, historical-geographical insights into these ever-changing urban configurations are necessary for the sake of considering the future of radical political-ecological urban strategies. The social production of urban environments is gaining recognition within radical and historical-materialist geography. The political programme, then, of urban political ecology is to enhance the democratic content of socioenvironmental construction by identifying the strategies through which a more equitable distribution of social power and a more inclusive mode of environmental production can be achieved.

Drivers of food waste and their implications for sustainable policy development

Abstract: There has been growing interest in establishing food waste prevention and recovery programs throughout the world. The drive to target food waste stems from increasing concerns about resource conservation, food security, food waste's environmental and economic costs, and a general trend in the waste management industry to transition to more sustainable practices. Here the drivers of residential, institutional, and commercial food waste generation in developed countries, particularly in the U.S., are explored. The impacts of food system modernization on food waste generation are examined, including impacts related to food system industrialization, urbanization, globalization, and economic growth. Socio-demographic, cultural, political, and economic drivers of food waste are described with emphasis on how food waste perspectives may vary globally. Specific behaviors and attitudes which result from many of these waste drivers are then discussed. The examination of the range of food wastage drivers are used to provide insight into the best policy approaches to sustainably manage food waste. Food waste prevention policies are placed in context of the waste generating behaviors and attitudes that they address. A review of important background information on food waste is also provided, including definitions of key terms, food waste history, quantities of food waste generated, and the importance of food waste prevention for sustainability, as this information is all critical for effective policy development.