Political ecology, ecological economics, and public health: interfaces for the sustainability of development and health promotion
01 Jan 2007-Cadernos De Saude Publica (Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz)-Vol. 23
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus contributions from political ecology and ecological economics to the field of collective health with a view towards integrating the discussions around health promotion, socio-environmental sustainability, and development.
Abstract: This article proposes to focus contributions from political ecology and ecological economics to the field of collective health with a view towards integrating the discussions around health promotion, socio-environmental sustainability, and development. Ecological economics is a recent interdisciplinary field that combines economists and other professionals from the social, human, and life sciences. The field has developed new concepts and methodologies that seek to grasp the relationship between the economy and ecological and social processes such as social metabolism and metabolic profile, thereby interrelating economic, material, and energy flows and producing indicators and indexes for (un)sustainability. Meanwhile, political ecology approaches ecological issues and socio-environmental conflicts based on the economic and power dynamics characterizing modern societies. Collective health and the discussions on health promotion can expand our understanding of territory, communities, and the role of science and institutions based on the contributions of political ecology and ecological economics in analyzing development models and the distributive and socio-environmental conflicts generated by them.
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TL;DR: The notion of an emancipatory promotion of health (EPH) is presented, which seeks to relate the field of public health in theoretical and practical terms with the reinvention of utopias and relevant social struggles of the authors' time principally in the Global South, a metaphor designating the peripheral or semiperipheral regions of the modern world-system.
Abstract: The article, a critical essay, presents the notion of an emancipatory promotion of health (EPH), which seeks to relate the field of public health in theoretical and practical terms with the reinvention of utopias and relevant social struggles of our time principally in the Global South, a metaphor designating the peripheral or semiperipheral regions of the modern world-system. This is a relevant topic in the face of the planetary socio-ecological crisis and the debate on economic development, democracy and sustainability at a moment especially critical for the Brazilian reality and other countries. In particular, the contributions of peoples and social movements from rural, forests and water-dominated regions in Brazil to the emancipatory practices of health are discussed. The article is mainly based on two theoretical and methodological references, the Political Ecology and post-colonial approaches. The first focuses its analysis on the intensification of the social metabolism and environmental conflicts in the global capitalist economy, based on an unfair and unsustainable international trade that generates numerous socio-environmental conflicts, mainly in the Global South, that is, the peripheral countries that export agricultural and mineral commodities to richer ones. The second reference broadens and integrates the critique of capitalism with colonialism and patriarchy, understood as the three axes of oppression resulting from the Eurocentric modernity project. The challenge here is to deconstruct and reconstruct through an intercultural dialogue new conceptions of society, economy, nature, development, work and health. Such references help us to understand the importance of indigenous, peasant and Afro-descendant struggles for an emancipatory health promotion.
7 citations
TL;DR: The authors assesses aluminum production in Brazil and its social, environmental and public health impacts, and argues that the insertion of Brazil in the global aluminum market is part of a new configuration of the International Division of Labor (IDL), the polluting economic and highly energy dependent activities of which have been moving to peripheral nations or emerging countries.
Abstract: This article assesses aluminum production in Brazil and its social, environmental and public health impacts. The effects of the aluminum production chain challenge the idea of sustainable growth affirmed by business groups that operate in the sector. This article upholds the theory that the insertion of Brazil in the global aluminum market is part of a new configuration of the International Division of Labor (IDL), the polluting economic and highly energy dependent activities of which - as is the case of aluminum - have been moving to peripheral nations or emerging countries. The laws in such countries are less stringent, and similarly the environmental movements and the claims of the affected populations in the territories prejudiced in their rights to health, a healthy environment and culture are less influential. The competitiveness of this commodity is guaranteed in the international market, from the production of external factors such as environmental damage, deforestation, emissions of greenhouse gases and scenarios of environmental injustice. This includes undertakings in the construction of hydroelectric dams that expose traditional communities to situations involving the loss of their territories.
7 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an artigo discute a insercao do Brazil no mercado mundial de aluminio, a partir dos referenciais teoricos da ecologia politica, da economia do territorio and da saude coletiva.
Abstract: O artigo discute a insercao do Brasil no mercado mundial de aluminio a partir dos referenciais teoricos da ecologia politica, da economia politica do territorio e da saude coletiva. A maior participacao da America Latina nas ultimas duas decadas no comercio global tem sido realizada a partir do aumento da producao e exportacao de commodities agrarias e metalicas, incluindo a bauxita e o aluminio. Tal modelo tem-se reforcado nos ultimos anos em funcao dos resultados economicos combinados a politicas sociais que vem reduzindo o nivel de pobreza, ainda que a custa da degradacao ambiental e da geracao de inumeros conflitos nos territorios. O texto propoe uma analise das consequencias socioambientais da producao de bauxita e aluminio dentro de uma logica economica que privilegia as nacoes centrais e reforca desigualdades, inclusive dentro do pais, afetando as populacoes mais vulneraveis – principalmente as tradicionais – que nao participam nem se beneficiam deste ciclo economico.
5 citations
TL;DR: This text presents a historical retrospective of the early nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century that illustrates the path up to the recent various formulations of the concept of sustainable development.
Abstract: This text presents a historical retrospective of the early nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century that illustrates the path up to the recent various formulations of the concept of sustainable development. Given the enormous breadth of the subject, the content selection was based on two criteria. Initially, it was decided to contemplate the events and projects abroad, to realize the availability of the references about the subject. The other criterion adopted was to select events and relevant publications with primarily economic and/or environmental focus. The bibliographical survey was conducted from the literature available on the Internet and lists the major conferences and multilateral documents in addition to the most relevant books published on the subject in the Western world. It is noteworthy that the text was structured following the natural chronological order of the events and the publications, to facilitate the identification of the periods with approaches in dealing with socio-environmental problems similar to the current ones. From the results, three main periods were identified regarding the approaches adopted to address the environmental and social problems. In this chapter they were named as “A period of attention turned to the impact of human activities” covering the initial period between 1800 and 1900; “The pre- Stockholm environmentalism period”, 1900-1970; and “The post- Stockholm ecologism period”, 1970 to 2010 (the last year of the survey). It’s considered that the historical retrospective is useful because it helps to understand the different definitions of sustainability depending on the historical moment and particular world views, whether from individuals or organizations.
4 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a presente artigo discute a insercao do Brazil no mercado worldial de aluminio, a partir dos referenciais teoricos da ecologia politica, da economia do territorio and da saude coletiva.
Abstract: O presente artigo discute a insercao do Brasil no mercado mundial de aluminio a partir dos referenciais teoricos da ecologia politica, da economia politica do territorio e da saude coletiva. A conjuntura contemporânea da economia mundial tem sido pautada pela desregulamentacao e liberalizacao, caracteristicos do ideario neoliberal propalado pelas nacoes centrais. A maior participacao do Brasil nesse mercado tem sido realizada a partir do aumento da producao e exportacao de commodities agrarias e metalicas, como o aluminio. Nesse sentido, a partir dos paradigmas da ecologia politica, o texto propoe uma analise das consequencias socioambientais, assim como sobre novas territorialidades que se produzem e reproduzem dentro de uma logica economica que privilegia as nacoes centrais. Do mesmo modo, procura-se compreender os dilemas da saude coletiva sob uma perspectiva holistica e integradora na qual se articula aos modelos de desenvolvimento economico. Percebe-se que a producao e exportacao de aluminio primario, apesar de apresentar um valor agregado maior, esconde um conjunto difuso de impactos que afetam o ambiente e a saude coletiva.
4 citations
References
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TL;DR: This paper argues that the central question becomes: who and what is responsible for population patterns of health, disease, and well-being, as manifested in present, past and changing social inequalities in health?
Abstract: In social epidemiology, to speak of theory is simultaneously to speak of society and biology. It is, I will argue, to speak of embodiment. At issue is how we literally incorporate, biologically, the world around us, a world in which we simultaneously are but one biological species among many—and one whose labour and ideas literally have transformed the face of this earth. To conceptualize and elucidate the myriad social and biological processes resulting in embodiment and its manifestation in populations' epidemiological profiles, we need theory. This is because theory helps us structure our ideas, so as to explain causal connections between specified phenomena within and across specified domains by using interrelated sets of ideas whose plausibility can be tested by human action and thought.1–3 Grappling with notions of causation, in turn, raises not only complex philosophical issues but also, in the case of social epidemiology, issues of accountability and agency: simply invoking abstract notions of ‘society’ and disembodied ‘genes’ will not suffice. Instead, the central question becomes: who and what is responsible for population patterns of health, disease, and well-being, as manifested in present, past and changing social inequalities in health?
1,719 citations
Book•
16 Oct 1990
TL;DR: The Environmental Justice Movement: Survey Results as mentioned in this paper showed that 80% of the participants believed that environmental justice should be a priority issue in government policy making, and 75% of those believed that government should take environmental justice into account.
Abstract: * List of Tables and Illustrations * Preface * Acknowledgments * List of Acronyms * 1. Environmentalism and Social Justice * Race Versus Class in Spatial Location * The Theoretical Basis of Environmental Conflict * Translating Concern into Action * Environmentalism and Civil Rights * A Note on the Research Approach * 2. Race, Class, and the Politics of Place * Consequences of Uneven Development * Endangered Environs * Growing Black Militancy * Waste-Facility Siting Disparities * 3. Dispute Resolution and Toxics: Case Studies * Defining and Defending Against a Threat * Houston's Northwood Manor Neighborhood * West Dallas (Texas) * Institute (West Virginia) * Alsen (Louisiana) * Emelle-Sumter County (Alabama) * Summary of Disputes and Resolutions * 4. The Environmental Justice Movement: Survey Results * Rating of Environmental Problems * Siting Conflict and the Question of Equity * Economic Versus Environmental Trade-Offs * Environmental Activism * 5. Environmental Racism Revisited * The Role of Racism * Unequal Protection * Environmental Apartheid * Louisiana as "Paradise" Lost * From American Dream to Nightmare * 6. Environmental Justice as a Working Model * Waiting for Government Action * Impetus for Changing the System * Executive Order 12898 * Remedying Past Inequities * A Model Environmental Justice Framework * Winning at the Grass Roots * Relocation from "Mount Dioxin," * Citizens Against Nuclear Trash Chalk Up Major Victory * Corporate Welfare and Environmental Racism: The Case of Shintech * Conclusion * 7. Action Strategies for the Twenty-First Century * Lessons Learned * Mobilizing the Grass Roots * Toward the Politics of Inclusion * Conclusion * Notes * Selected Bibliography * Appendix: Resources and Contacts * Index
1,624 citations
TL;DR: A review of the earlier intellectual background of societal metabolism in terms of material and substance flows can be found in this article, followed by an integrated discussion of some of the major conceptual and methodological properties of MFA, with a particular focus on the field of bulk materials flows on a national level.
Abstract: Summary
“Societal metabolism” provides the appropriate conceptual basis for the rapidly growing development and analylical and policy interest in materials flow analysis (MFA). Following the review of the earlier intellectual background of societal metabolism in the first installment of this two-part article, this paper focuses on the current state of the art by examining more recent research referring t o societal metabolism in terms of material and substance flows. An operational classification of the literature according to frame of reference (socioeconomic system, ecosystem), system level (global, national, regional, functional, temporal), and types of flows under consideration (materials, energy, substances) highlights some of its characteristic features. There follows an integrated discussion of some of the major conceptual and methodological properties of MFA, with a particular focus on the field of bulk materials flows on a national level, comparing the major empirical results. Finally, the theoretical stringency research productivity, and political relevance of the MFA-related studies are assessed.
672 citations
TL;DR: This work portrays these systems as Self-Organizing Holarchic Open (SOHO) systems and interpret their behaviours and structures with reference to non-equilibrium thermodynamics: holons, propensities and canons; and information and attractors.
491 citations