Toward a Holistic Approach to Environmental Justice: Key Lessons from the Cuban Urban Agricultural Field

• In Event: 331 - Section on Environment and Technology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 12. Environmental Justice

Abstract

Because the world faces many environmental problems, it is important to study efforts at moving toward environmental sustainability to help people, especially inhabitants of the global North, envision alternatives to current consumeristic lifestyles. For my research, I conducted a qualitative cross-national comparison of two cases: one urban ecovillage located in the Pacific Northwest United States, and an urban farm located on the eastern periphery of Havana, Cuba. I focused on the contributions of two urban projects that were local attempts at socially just environmental sustainability in two cities known for their environmental awareness. I spent two months in both locations conducting participant observations and interviews. I’m investigating the process by which one should go about doing environmental justice research. To grapple with this question, I focus on critical reflections of the case and methods I used in Cuba. I incorporate theoretical and methodological insights from feminist political ecology and post colonial scholars.

Author

• Christina A. Ergas, Brown University