DIE ERDE – Journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin
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Book review: Weltbildwechsel. Ideengeschichten geographischen Denkens und Handelns.: Schlottmann, Antje and Jeannine Wintzer. Bern 2019
No full textAn interdisciplinary perspective on environmental justice: integrating subjective beliefs and perceptions
Full text linkIn this paper, environmental justice is considered from an interdisciplinary and integrative perspective that combines theories and studies in geography, environmental policy and planning with a justice psychology approach. This opens up an integrated view, which takes into account both societal and individual aspects of the perception and evaluation of environmental justice. In this sense, notions of environmental justice(s) are seen as the result of discursive processes, historical contexts and a social localization and standardization that is shaped by both cognitive evaluation processes and emotions. Additionally, environmental justice in participation processes is considered in the context of environmental and sustainability policy and its implementation, first summarising the points of criticism of participation processes and then discussing environmental justice as an aspect of participation practice. From this, some key points for a more justice-sensitive design of participation processes in the context of environmental and sustainability policies and programmes (e.g. adaptation to climate change, urban planning, energy system transformation) are derived. This interdisciplinary analysis shows that there is not ‘one’ environmental justice, but a multitude of ideas and evaluations based on different concepts and perceptions
“We have to say no to coal”: Facebook framings of the Egyptians against Coal movement
Full text linkThe study aims to explore and analyze the core collective action frames that were developed by the environmental movement of ‘Egyptians against Coal’ to raise the public awareness about the dangers of coal and mobilize action. The framing theory is used as the main theoretical approach in this study. The study relies on a qualitative content analysis of the Facebook page of ‘Egyptians against Coal’ and interviews conducted with the page creators and activists. The study revealed that by using Facebook, the anti-coal movement managed to make salient new meanings of coal as part of a wider social problem, rather than an ‘economic panacea’ to Egypt’s industry challenges and to phrase frames that resonate with shared political and economic grievances and dominant cultural values in Egypt. In this regard, it was found that the Facebook page constructed four prevalent frames in order to shape public discourse: coal as an environmental disaster, coal and health risks, coal and environmental injustices and socioeconomic costs, and fossil fuel versus renewable energies
Beyond global nodes and economic indicators in the evaluation of the world-system of cities
Full text linkThe paper aims to look at the organisation of the world-urban system. It proposes an integrated explorative approach which, in addition to considering economic-production type indicators, includes others that can reflect a complex approach to functional and geographic specialisation. Methodologically, the comparative analysis of three synthetic indices through a cluster analysis allows for the multifunctional representation of the world-urban system, in which other centralities and cities excluded from other rankings are considered. The first index is taken from the proposal by the GaWC (Global and World Cities Research Network). The second relates to cultural services and some of the knowledgeintensive activities. The third includes variables related to mobility, more specifically air transport. The comparison of functions, as revealed by the indices, can provide information about how cities work in the world context. The analysis allows for the identification of a group of prominent multifunctional cities at the top, and a large group of less prominent and specialised cities underneath
Book review: Immobiliengeographie. Märkte, Akteure, Politik: Robert Musil. Braunschweig 2019
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Grounding claims for environmental justice in the face of natural heterogeneities
Full text linkAbstract: Der Artikel behandelt die ethische Grundlagen von Konzeptionen von Umweltgerechtigkeit sowie das umstrittene Verhältnis von Gerechtigkeit und Gleichheit. Zunächst wird ein Blick in den religiösen Hintergrund des Egalitarismus geworfen und es werden grundlegende Unterscheidungen der Gerechtigkeitstheorie expliziert. Zwei Abschnitte behandeln unterschiedliche Gleichheitshinsichten und die Frage nach einem intrinsischen moralischen Wert von Gleichheit. Im Verlaufe des Artikels werden drei normative Grundsätze von Umweltgerechtigkeit entwickelt und verteidigt: a) rechtliche und politische Gleichheit, b) eine Suffizienz-Schwelle guten Lebens und 3) Verpflichtungen, andere Personen nicht zu schädigen und zu benachteiligen. Diese drei Grundsätze werden auf geographische Umweltbeziehungen angewandt, die sowohl von unterschiedlichen Naturausstattungen als auch von ökonomischen Strukturen geprägt sind, die Ungleichheiten begünstigen.The article wishes to analyze the ethical foundations of claims for environmental justice. By doing so, it addresses the contested relation between equality and justice. The article also wishes to shed some light into the deep religious background of egalitarian justice. Two sections deal with basic distinctions in theories of justice, as the ‘equality of what?’-debate and the problem of intrinsic value of equality. Three normative pillars of environmental justice are proposed: a) legal and political equality, b) sufficiency-thresholds, and c) obligations against victimization. These pillars are to be applied to environmental geographical topics, facing the problem of natural heterogeneities, unequal environmental endowments and economic structures. The article intends to provide the reader with conceptual ethical devices and, by doing so, to enable her making solid claims for environmental justice
Environmental Justice Incommensurabilities Framework: monitoring and evaluating environmental justice concepts, thought styles and human-environment relations
Full text linkEnvironmental justice concepts have undergone significant changes from being solely distributive to include underlying power asymmetries. Consequently, we are now faced with a wide array of different interpretations of what environmental justice is. This calls for a fundamental reflection on what environmental justice stands for, how and most importantly why it is used.
To achieve this goal, this paper elaborates on the genesis of environmental justice. Recurring challenges of environmental justice research and activism will be identified. Addressing those challenges, as well as breaking down environmental justice concepts into smaller patterns and Fleck’sian thought styles, the Environmental Justice Incommensurabilities Framework (EJIF) is introduced. This evaluation and monitoring tool encourages actors (and especially researchers) to reflect upon ideological positionings and axiological interpretations of human-environment relations as well as justice, making research on and with environmental justice more transparent and comparable
Book review: NaturenKulturen. Denkräume und Werkzeuge für neue politische Ökologien.: Gesing, Friederike, Michi Knecht, Michael Flitner and Katrin Amelang (eds.). Bielefeld 2019
No full textBook review: Migration, Materialität und Identität. Verortungen zwischen Hier und Dort. : Anna-Lisa Müller. Stuttgart 2020
No full textThe quality of territorial governance: an assessment of institutional arrangements. The case of the Serrano cheese production in the Campos de Cima da Serra, Southern Brazil
Full text linkTerritorial governance is of growing interest in an endogenous development perspective, in which organizational and institutional arrangements are supplied by the actors themselves to ensure coordination. This study was carried out in the Campos de Cima da Serra in southern Brazil, where the Serrano cheese is produced. It is an informal production. In fact, new consumers’ preferences for young instead of matured cheese, and national hygiene standards that are incompatible with small-scale and artisanal production make the legalization of the sales impossible for the producers. The aim of the study is twofold. First, it brings forward the territorial and value chain governance approaches from French and German-speaking literatures. Second, based on the analysis of institutional arrangements, it assesses the quality of territorial governance processes. For that end, the institutional arrangements implemented in the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, in the Campos de Cima da Serra, were analyzed. Results show that two different strategies are adopted: In Santa Catarina, there is a strong coordination between all municipalities, whereas in Rio Grande do Sul, municipalities are acting independently, leading to less effective governance. However, institutional arrangements in both states are facing a lack of dynamism. They suffer especially from little mobilization of producers and little involvement of local authorities. The extension services are the central actors of the collective action, following a top-down model. Thus, the achievement of collective action would require more participatory governance through the integrationof the different actors in the process, as well as support from the larger institutional environment