community interventions:
The importance of self-efficacy and resources
National Environmental Justice Conference and Training 2015
Washington D.C., USA
March 11th, 2015
Susanne Brner
Postgraduate Researcher/ PhD Student
Department of Political Sciences
Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
Research group Sustainable Development
boerner@em.uni-frankfurt.de
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Overview
1. Vulnerability
2. Approaching environmental injustice: distribution, participation, and agency
3. Research questions
4. Coping with environmental injustice
5. Methodological considerations
6. Presentation of the study area
7. Case study: coping narratives from the harbor district, Dortmund, Germany
8. Lessons learned for empowerment and capacity-building in environmentally
burdened communities
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Vulnerability
Vulnerable communities are often disproportionately
affected by environmental burdens.
(exposure to polluting facilities, noise, air pollution and
hazardous living conditions)
Vulnerability = ability or inability of individuals or social
groupings to respond to, in the sense of cope with,
[] any external stress placed on their livelihoods
and well-being.
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Distributive justice
Agency of people
to cope with
environmental risks
and to play an
active role in
shaping their
environment.
(Sen/Nussbaum:
well-being, realized
freedoms, and
flourishing)
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Procedural justice
equals
Capabilities
We should focus
on promoting
empowerment
and enabling
people to
participate in the
first place.
determine
Perceptions
of individual resources
and social opportunities
Research Questions
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Coping narratives
Model On households Vulnerability towards their local Environment
attitude towards
Perceptions
of social
opportunities
/ external
structures
Biographical
experiences
the behavior
copingintention
subjective norm
(social pressure)
coping
-behaviour
everyday
coping
institutional
coping
perceived
behavioural
control
TPB
(ease / difficulty of
performing a behavior)
Coping Capacity
object resources
condition resources
personal resources
COR
energy resources
Coping narratives: coping as a life-long process
Biographical
perspective
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Current selfperceptions
Individual
experiences
Narrative
approach
Adapted from Kckler (2011; 2014). The model draws on Ajzens Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and HobfollsConservation of Resources Theory (COR)
Methodological considerations
There is a need for research that better deals with the procedural
and recognition dimensions of environmental justice using
research methods that are more likely to be qualitative,
experimental and participatory
Residents who are
engaged in a
community-based
protest group
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Walker (2012:218/219)
Narrative Interviews
Open narratives
Giving a voice to those affected
Participatory research process
Understanding individual experiences
Avoiding generalizations
Allowing room for complexity
Understanding environmental justice
as a process
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Perception of
stigmatization
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Expert interviews with a neighborhood manager, an urban planner, and a parish priest in Northern Dortmund
Contamination of nearby
allotment gardens, schools,
kindergardens and local holiday
spots (parks, green space, canal)
EPA (2013); Brgerinitiative gegen den PCB Skandal in Dortmund (2015); sources of photographs: former Enviro website (no longer in use)
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Looking
towards
the future
Business
as usual
Coping through
participation (community
protest group)
Protest actions
Distributing flyers
Collecting signatures
Attending public
hearings
Engaging with other
stakeholders
(roundtables): put the
issue on the agenda
Researching facts
Engaging with
politicians and the
media
such as planting
herbs or swimming in
the canal
avoid the park now. We already were affected by the pollutants earlier, when we went to the park a lot
to go for a walk in the past. (resident and activist)
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Preliminary results
Active residents
Non-active residents
Biographical
experiences
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PERSONAL
RESOURCES
personal characteristics, skills,
communal mastery (social support)
age, health, language
ENERGY
RESOURCES
RESOURCES
OBJECT
RESOURCES
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CONDITION
RESOURCES
Preliminary results
No children / grown-up children
Urban planners
Retirement
Time
Housewife
Part-time job
Self-employment
(flexibility)
Political
processes
Community organizing
Expertise
Party affiliation
Energy
resources
(they aid the
acquisition of
other resources)
Medical expertise
Low/medium
Income
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Preliminary results
Courage
Being a troublemaker
Ability to grasp
complexity and technical
issues
Being a
talker
Ability to confront
others
Characteristics
and abilities
Optimism
Organizational
skills
Networking skills
Research skills
Non active residents: lack
of personal resources
Indifference
Pessimism
Afraid of personal
consequences
Perceived lack of necessary
skills
Personal
resources
Communal
mastery
(supportive
social networks)
Support from
family
New contacts
but loss of old
friendships
Pro-social
orientation
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" As as a single person you feel that this makes you angry. But
what can you do? Nothing, apart from getting angry.
And then I read this announcement in the newspaper saying that
people wanted to form a pressure group.
And then I thought, Great, apparently I am not the only one who is
angry and feels that something should be done about it. I really
found that great. And then I immediately went to the first
meeting.
Active resident
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Preliminary results
Condition
resources
Ability to
communicate
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Anger and
frustration
(lack of action
&
information)
Running
against a
rubber wall,
participation
trap,
repression
Our hands
are tied
lack of
support
We are not
enough to
make a real
change
Difficult to
reach people
in the
neighborhood
Group still
remains
active
We cannot
give up
(restoration,
avoid future
scandals,
seek justice)
Success
occurs in
small, small
steps
Information
has improved,
we have
annoyed
them
Uncover ing
deficiencies,
keeping the
issue on the
agenda
People from
different
backgrounds
were brought
together
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References
Brgerinitiative gegen den PCB Skandal in Dortmund (2015). Brgerinitiative. [cited 28 February 2015]
Retrieved from: http://www.pcb-skandal.de.
EPA, Environmental Protection Agency (2013). Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) Basic Information. [cited
28 February 2015] Retrieved from: http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/hazard/tsd/pcbs/about.htm.
Esri, i-cubed, USDA FSA, USGS, AEX, GeoEye, AeroGRID, Getmapping, IGP (2012). World imagery.
[cited 28 February 2015] Retrieved from: http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?
id=a5fef63517cd4a099b437e55713d3d54.
GeoBasis-DE / BKG( 2011). Verwaltungsgebiete 1:250,000. Staat, Bundeslnder, Regierungsbezirke,
Kreise, Verwaltungsgemeinschaften, Gemeinden. Bundesamtes fr Kartographie und Geodsie.
Hobfoll, S.E. (1989). Conservation of Resources. A New Attempt at Conceptualizing Stress. American
Psychologist; 1989:13-24.
Hobfoll, S.E. and Buchwald, P. (2004). Die Theorie der Ressourcenerhaltung und das multiaxiale
Copingmodell eine innovative Stresstheorie. In P. Buchwald, C. Schwarzer and S.E. Hobfoll (Eds.).
Stress gemeinsam bewltigen. Ressourcenmanagement und multiaxiales Coping. Hogrefe.
Kelly, M. and Adger, N. (2000). Theory and Practice in Assessing Vulnerability to Climate Change and
Facilitating Adaptation. Climatic Change; 47: 325-352.
Kckler, H. (2011). MOVE: Ein Modell zur Analyse umweltbezogener Verfahrensgerechtigkeit.
Umweltpsychologie; 15(2):93-113.
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References
Schlosberg D. (2007). Defining Environmental Justice: Theories, Movements, and Nature. Oxford
University Press.
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