SSSP Section on Environment & Technology Summer 2021 MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Dear E&T, It has been nearly one and a half years since the global pandemic emerged and accompanying lockdowns to try to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. As vaccines have become widely available in the U.S. and a reemergence is beginning to accompany re-openings, we keep in mind that the pandemic rages on across much of the world. As we emerge, we may take time to take stock of the close to 18 months it has been, the many losses both small and big, and perhaps, a newfound sense of the profundity of everyday life. And through it all, our community has persevered, lending a hand to each other when needed or an ear to listen to the many and ongoing difficulties this time has presented us with. We have also recently seen the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer, which galvanized many across the world to stand up for racial justice. It remains to be written whether or not the mass-protests this tragedy inspired portend a reckoning with the many injustices perpetrated by structural racism and a society devoted to white supremacy. We are reminded by such protests of our own need to contribute to working for racial justice. As we continue our work through research into the environment and technology, teaching the next generation of organizers and researchers, as we work to advance our home institutions and the profession, we will continue to work together to confront our most pressing social problems including those related to climate change, environmental racism, how technology can help us create a more equitable society not less, among many others. I want to thank you for your continued work on behalf of our community and especially to all those who served on SSSP committees this past year. I am so looking forward to seeing you all virtually at our business meeting July 12th, 9-1030 am PST, and at our annual meeting this summer, August 4-7th. This year we have 7 exciting sessions that I am particularly excited to attend. You will find more information on the upcoming sessions and other division related information in this newsletter. I am especially looking forward to visiting with you all in person next year in Los Angeles! Wishing you a safe, restorative, and joyful summer, Clare Cannon BRETT K. MARSHALL AWARD Congratulations to the Brent K. Marshall Paper Award Winner Erika Kessler, TeacherÕs College and Columbia University, for their paper, ÒClimate Change Concern among Youth: The Unexamined Role of Civics Education and Institutional Trust in Elevating Cross-national Climate Change Risk Perceptions.Ó The awards committee writes, ÒKessler provides a timely analysis that addresses the growing climate emergency, investigating how youth across 22 different countries perceive climate change. Kessler argues that student engagement with climate change can be fostered by increasing organizational trust and civic knowledge. KesslerÕs analysis is novel, compelling, and has the potential to inform policy.Ó We also want to congratulate the Brent K. Marshall Paper Award Honorable Mention winner Angela Zapata, University of Wisconsin-Madison, for their paper, ÒMaterializing Inequality: The Production of Environmental Risks for Small-scale Farmers in the Palm Oil Industry.Ó The awards committee writes, ÒZapata provides a compelling and well-organized analysis of monocrops in Colombia, drawing on secondary data analysis, 12-months of ethnographic observations, and 50 in-depth interviews. Zapata demonstrates that agriculture in Colombia is shaped by colonial legacies. ZapataÕs paper is insightful, engaging, and theoretically sophisticated.Ó Finally, the committee commented on the exceptionally strong submissions this year. We would like to extend a special thanks to the awards committee, Michael Halpin, Dana Greene, and Daina Harvey. We look forward to next yearÕs submissions! JOIN US FOR THE ENVIRONMENT & TECHNOLOGY VIRTUAL DIVISIONAL BUSINESS MEETING TOPIC: SSSP Environment and Technology Division Business Time: Monday, July 12th, 9-10:30 am PST Zoom Link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/2259909983?pwd=RVJXSVFwTVVmTnh1aCtLMHFQZDZJdz09Ê Meeting ID: 225 990 9983 Password: CRD240 REVOLUTIONARY SOCIOLOGY: TRUTH, HEALING, REPARATIONS AND RESTRUCTURING Sessions Sponsored by the section on environment & Technology Date: Wednesday, August 4 Time: 11:30 AM - 1:15 PM Session 014: Theorizing Environment and Society in the Anthropocene Sponsors: Environment and Technology & Social Problems Theory Organizer & Presider: June Jeon, Tufts University Description: Anthropocene is a geological age, during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. The rise of this new epoch demands sociologists to rethink our approaches in the understanding of human society, nature, and the interaction between them. This is an ever more urgent sociological mission, given the ongoing massive social changes by the Covid-19 pandemic, infested at the interface of human society and nature. How various organized human activities are systematically reshaping the global environment? How social forces that constitute an unequal and unjust society contribute to this global project? How global environmental crisis reproduces enduring patterns of social, economic, or health inequality? Moreover, how should we revolutionize our existing social theoretical frameworks to understand the environment and society in contexts of these massive global environmental changes? Papers in this session aim to raise and answer these provocative questions. They cover various geographic, institutional, and national contexts to reveal entanglements of social dynamics and local/global environmental changes. Collectively, the papers suggest new perspectives on the global environmental crisis and related social dynamics. Papers: ÒÔChinese Logged EverythingÕ: Culture, Collective Cognition and Historical Trauma in Russian Deforestation Discourse,Ó Liudmila Listrovaya, University of Oregon ÒÔDirty LooksÕ: A Critical Phenomenology of Motorized Mobility Scooter Use,Ó Alfiya Battalova and Laura Hurd, University of British Columbia, Sandra Hobson, University of Western Ontario, R. Lee Kirby, Dalhousie University, Richelle Emory, Vancouver Coastal Health and W. Ben Mortenson, University of British Columbia ÒIn the Crosshairs: A Nationwide Analysis of Intersecting Natural and Industrial Hazardscapes,Ó Phylicia L. Brown, Rice University ÒShaping Sheep, Sheep Shapers: Geo-zoe-politics of Networked Agencies,Ó Kristen Angela Livera, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven ÒThe Co-production of ÔSustainabilityÕ: Coffee, Eco-tourism, and Environmental Relations on the Galapagos Islands,Ó Matthew J. Zinsli, University of WisconsinÐMadison Date: Wednesday, August 4 Time: 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM Session 023: Theorizing Environment and Society in the Anthropocene II Sponsors: Environment and Technology & Social Problems Theory Organizer & Presider: June Jeon, Tufts University Papers: ÒA Power Structure Approach to Dirty Energy: Theorizing the Political Influence of Industries that Threaten Democracy and the Environment,Ó Michael C. Dreiling and Yvonne A. Braun, University of Oregon ÒGovernance Advances that Efface Environmental Ambition: Combining Institutionalist and Political-economic Approaches to Analyze ChileÕs REDD+ Program,Ó Patrick CoatarPeter and Brian Gareau, Boston College ÒHow Structural Denial in the ÔEnergy FieldÕ Hampers Climate Action: An Analysis of Corporate Earnings Calls, 2008-2019,Ó Annika Rieger, Boston College and Isak Ladegaard, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ÒMaterializing Inequality: The Production of Environmental Risks for Small-scale Farmers in the Palm Oil Industry,Ó Angela Serrano Zapata, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Honorable Mention in the Environment and Technology DivisionÕs Student Paper Competition ÒResponsible and Profitable: The Coexistence of Institutional Logics in Corporations,Ó Dasom D. Lee, University of Twente. Date: Thursday, August 5 Time: 9:30 AM - 11:15 AM Session 032: Environmental Activism: Communication, Mobilization, and Policy Sponsors: Conflict, Social Action, and Change & Environment and Technology Organizer & Presider: Marko Salvaggio, Tulane University Description: This session explores environmental activism through diverse socio-environmental topics such as climate change, mining, fossil fuel use, wildlife management, and animal welfare. Authors critically assess the relationships between environmental activists and the government, state, scientific, corporate, and industry entities that contribute and attempt to govern and manage environmental dilemmas and discourses. Authors describe environmental activism strategies, such as gathering public opinion and engaging in grassroots mobilization, shared learning experiences and the co-production of knowledge, as well as grief circles and storytelling. The need to analyze environmental discourse is also highlighted in this session. Papers: ÒMay the Cows Safely Graze? A Reflexive Approach to Bridging the Expert-Lay Knowledge Divide,Ó Jill Eileen Richardson, University of Wisconsin-Madison ÒYouth Climate Activists, Grief Circles, and Good Stories: Connecting Narrative and Emotional Processing,Ó Ann G. Ward, Brandeis University ÒLocal Success and Global Struggles: The Politics of Environmental Justice in Neoliberal Bangladesh,Ó Nikhil Deb, Murray State University and Ayon Chakrabarty, Bangladesh University of Professionals ÒThe Increasing Criminalization of Anti-fossil Fuel Activism: Dynamics and Implications,Ó Lauren E. Eastwood and Elizabeth Onasch, SUNY College at Plattsburgh ÒBanning Cockfighting in the U.S. Territories: Assessing Implementation and Public Opinion of the Legislation Extension,Ó Cameron Thomas Whitley, Western Washington University and Melanie Marie Bowers, Rutgers University Date: Thursday, August 5 Time: 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM Session 050: Transformative Technology and the Growing Digital Divide: Educational Promise and Peril Sponsors: Disability, Educational Problems, & Environment and Technology Organizer: Andrew Baird, Christopher Newport University Presider: Taylor Devereaux, University of Central Florida Description: This session explores the interplay of technology and dynamic social structures within the context of education and socialization globally. There is particular emphasis on some of the more novel 21st century challenges that technology promises to ameliorate or exacerbate as education moves toward an inevitably more digital future Papers: ÒÔGoing OnlineÕ - Experiences of Online Schooling among Disabled Students in India during Covid-19,Ó Anuj Goyal, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and Sakshi Rai, Jawaharlal Nehru University ÒGirls, Gadgets and Gatekeepers: How Gender and Class Shape Adolescent Access to Mobile Phones in Mumbai, India,Ó Isha Bhallamudi, University of California, Irvine ÒOnline and Correspondence: Cautions and Possibilities for College-level Prison Courses,Ó Colleen Rost-Banik, Windward Community College ÒStatus Competitions in the Digital Era: Degree-seeking, Public Credentialism, and Informal Counseling in Two Taiwanese Social Media Sites,Ó Ruo-Fan Liu, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Honorable Mention in the Educational Problems DivisionÕs Student Paper Competition ÒStudentsÕ Racialized Experiences with an Industry-sponsored Computer Science Program,Ó Noemi Linares-Ramirez, University of California, Irvine Date: Friday, August 6 Time: 11:30 AM - 1:15 PM Session 071: Confronting Compounding Crises: The Intersection of Social, Economic, and Environmental Inequalities in the 21st Century Sponsors: Environment and Technology & Labor Studies Organizers: Todd Vachon, Rutgers University Alexis Econie, University of Wisconsin Presider: Eli Revelle Yano Wilson, University of New Mexico Discussant: Alexis Econie, University of Wisconsin Description: Working people in the US and around the world have been confronting compounding crises of social, economic, and environmental inequality. These crises often intersect and reinforce one another as is the case with struggles to decarbonize the economy and create green jobs. Legal definitions of employment and other labor market institutions also serve to create barriers to creating desperately needed good jobs. Papers in this panel are drawn from diverse theoretical and methodological vantage points to consider these contemporary compounding crises. Papers: ÒÔI Would Hire You, ButÕ: Finding Employment after Wrongful Incarceration,Ó Michelle L. Estes, Oklahoma State University ÒSkin in the Game: The Struggle over Climate Protection within the U.S. Labor Movement,Ó Todd Vachon, Rutgers University ÒThe Spatial Challenges for Just Transitions and Green Jobs,Ó Erik Kojola, Texas Christian University ÒThe Two-Employer Problem: Strategic Dilemmas at the Heart of the Tipped Wage Debate,Ó Hanna Goldberg, The Graduate Center, CUNY, Winner of the Labor Studies DivisionÕs Student Paper Competition Date: Friday, August 6 Time: 3:30 PM - 5:15 PM SPECIAL Session 087: Food Justice in Practice: Perspectives from Activists and Reckoning with the Role of Scholarship Sponsor: Environment and Technology Organizer & Presider: Kelsey Ryan-Simkins, The Ohio State University Discussant: Joshua Sbicca, Colorado State University Description: Community-based food projects have flourished across the United States in the past two decades. These projects propose radical changes to the food system that increase equitable access to fresh healthy foods, eradicate exploitation of workers in the food system, and reduce environmental harms that primarily affect low-income and people of color. This session features a panel of food justice activists from across the United States. Panelists will discuss how their work approaches food justice and offer insight into the role of research in food movement. A scholar-activist who specializes in food movements will offer a response and closing thoughts before Q&A. Panelists: Julialynne Walker, Bronzeville Growers Market Monica Amador, The GrowHaus Kimberly T. Arnold, Black Church Food Security Network Yasm’n Ruiz, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization Pamela Broom, NewCorp, Inc. Date: Saturday, August 7 Time: 1:30 PM - 3:15 PM Session 114: Gender and Global Climate Change Sponsors: Environment and Technology; Gender; Global Organizer, Presider & Discussant: Clare Cannon, University of California, Davis Description: This session includes diverse papers that look at a range of issues related to the environment and technology, gender, and global conditions. Papers: ÒConveying Gendered Power through Bureaucratic Websites: A Content Analysis of Child Welfare Systems,Ó Christa J. Moore, University of Virginia's College at Wise ÒPost-disaster Masculinity and Mental Health,Ó Rebecca G. Ewert, University of Chicago ÒHow is the Veterinary Community Addressing Opioids?Ó M.E. Betsy Garrison, Josephine Reardon, Heidi Ward and Kelly Way, University of Arkansas ÒUnpacking Sustainability: A Feminist Political Ecological Analysis of Global Overshoot Dynamics,Ó Kristin Dobbin and Clare Cannon, University of California, Davis INTRODUCING EMILY BURKE INCOMING NEWSLETTER EDITOR Meet Emily Burke, the new Graduate Editor! Emily is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and recently graduated from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. She is now a first-year Ph.D. student at University of Wisconsin-Madison in the joint Sociology and Community & Environmental Sociology program. Emily's research interests include environmental sociology, climate change denialism, and social movements. Her prior research has examined the intersection of religion and the environment through content analysis of U.S. Catholic bishopsÕ discussion of climate change and application of ideological denialism. Emily will be the E&T Newsletter from Fall 2021 to Summer 2023. GRADUATE STUDENT SPOTLIGHT & FAREWELL TO Alexis Econie E&T NEWSLETTER EDITOR 2018-2021 has been an honor to serve as E&T Newsletter editor over the past three years. As I prepare to begin my dissertation fieldwork this fall, I leave you in the very capable newsletter-editing hands of Emily Burke. The dissertation research program I am preparing investigates the social reproduction of vulnerability at the intersection of environment and labor, taking the US recycling industry as a case study with multi-method analyses conducted at the level of the community, the firm, and the individual. You can read my recent co-authored article on temporary work in the recycling industry here and follow me on Twitter for updates about my upcoming dissertation research. It would be remiss of me to depart without highlighting my current work on an applied policy project. ProGov21.org is a free, fully-searchable online library of progressive policy resources. ProGov21 offers progressive policy roadmaps and a monthly policy podcast with guests from policy-research institutes around the US. You can listen to The ProGov Podcast on Spotify or our website. For more information, follow ProGov21 on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter here.