SSSP Section on Environment and Technology
Winter 2022 Newsletter

This issueÕs featured content:
Message from the chair Ð 1
Message from the incoming chair Ð 2
2022 annual meeting Ð 3 
Society announcements and reminders Ð 4
New research Ð 5 

Message from the Chair 
Clare Cannon
University of California-Davis

Dear E&T Community,
We find ourselves yet again in extraordinary circumstances the world over. As COVID-19 continues to threaten the health and well-being of our friends, family, and communities, we are left to continue to persevere after almost two full years of pandemic life. These are difficult times that continue to demand incredible daily responses to live our lives Ð to take care of our children and elders, to further our work advancing knowledge, teaching the next few generations, and upholding our institutions. It is exhausting. Many of us may find the latest crescendo bringing up old feelings of fear, anxiety, anger and resentment. I know at the dawn of this new year, many of us are looking for a little ray of light, a little hope. And for me, this community, continues to provide, foster, and grow that hope.  You all continued to do fascinating, important, world-defining work in the midst of so much loss and uncertainty. It is truly an honor to lead this division.  I want to thank each of you for all you do and for all the support you provide this division and SSSP. We need each other more than ever. I hope to celebrate each of you and your many accomplishments in Los Angeles at our 2022 annual meeting. 

Cheers
Clare Cannon

Message from the Incoming Chair 
Lauren Eastwood
SUNY College at Plattsburgh

In looking for things about which to feel hopeful now at the start of 2022, it is difficult to avoid focusing on the challenges.  Not only is there a great sense of pandemic fatigue, but the continued erosion of voting rights, womenÕs reproductive rights, confidence in evidence-based thinkingÑalong with increasing evidence weÕve pushed our earth systems to the brink--to name just a few issues, all weigh heavily on me.  However, perhaps there are glimmers of hope.  The Ògreat resignationÓ may mean that people are reevaluating their relationship to their work.  Hey!  Even a couple of Starbucks were able to unionize!  In the pessimistic fog within which I seem to find myself these days, I need to remind myself that such things cannot be dismissed as inconsequential.  

On a personal level, I am very much looking forward to our annual meeting in Los Angeles this year.  Since graduate school, SSSP has been an organization to which IÕve felt great affinity.  IÕm always inspired by the members, their work, and their commitment to social justice.  While IÕve been a member of E&T for a long time, IÕve focused my engagement in the Institutional Ethnography Division. As a result, I havenÕt gotten to know as many of the SSSP members with whom I share a substantive research focus.  IÕm excited about this opportunity to change that!

I look forward to seeing the sessions take shape as people submit abstracts, and to have both formal and informal conversations about the work that inspires us.  IÕm hoping that we can deploy the technology weÕve learned to use and perhaps have some periodic opportunities to ÒmeetÓ over the course of the year, in addition to the annual meeting itself.  If this is something that people think would be useful and interesting, please feel free to reach out!

Regardless, while I have experience in chairing a Division, I am excited about working with Clare as I learn more about E&T.  I hope that E&T members feel comfortable reaching out with ideas and with interest in getting involved.  SSSP has really provided such a gratifying space for me over the years, and IÕm thrilled really get to know the people, the research, and the ideas that make E&T tick.

Sincerely,
Lauren Eastwood

2022 Annual Meeting
Environment and Technology Session
August 5-7, 2022
SSSP Annual Meeting
Los Angeles, CA
SESSION TITLE: RACE, ETHNICITY, INDIGENEITY: NEW APPROACHES TO THE ENVIRONMENT
ORGANIZER: MARKO SALVAGGIO, TULANE UNIVERSITY 
SESSION TITLE: REIMAGINING THE RURAL: QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
ORGANIZER: CLARE CANNON, UC DAVIS 
SESSION TITLE: ENVIRONMENTALLY JUST FUTURES: NEW AVENUES OF JUSTICE TO CONSIDER
ORGANIZER: ALEX MCINTURFF, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON 
SESSION TITLE: ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM
ORGANIZER: ANGUS NURSE, NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY 
SESSION TITLE: SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE & RACE IN A CHANGING CLIMATE ORGANIZERS: GREER HAMILTON, BOSTON UNIVERSITY; CLARE CANNON, UC DAVIS 
SESSION TITLE: INSTITUTIONAL COMPLEXITIES AND RESPONSES TO CRISES ORGANIZER: JUNE JEON, CHUNGNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY (CNU), SOUTH KOREA SESSION TITLE: GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM & SOCIAL CHANGE ORGANIZERS: LAUREN EASTWOOD, SUNY COLLEGE AT PLATTSBURGH; KELSEY RYAN-SIMKINS, THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 
SESSION TITLE: TECHNOLOGY AND THE FUTURE OF WORK AND WORKERS ORGANIZERS: ALEXIS ECONIE, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON; TODD VACHON, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY 
SESSION TITLE: REIMAGINING HEALTH CARE: EXPLORATIONS IN TELEHEALTH, TECHNOLOGY, AND INEQUALITY
ORGANIZER: NELS PAULSON, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-STOUT 
SESSION TITLE: DISABILITY, TECHNOLOGY, & ACCESSIBILITY ORGANIZER: LAURA MAULDIN, UNIVERSITY OF CONNETICUT 
SSSP Announcements and Reminders

1. If you have not already done so, please renew your membership for the 2022 calendar year.

2. Submit a paper for our 72nd Annual Meeting to be held August 5-7 at the Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza in Los Angeles, CA. The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2022. We look forward to seeing everyone after not having an in-person meeting for two years. We will follow CDC recommendations at the time of the meeting and respect all laws or regulations in Los Angeles and at the conference hotel governing meetings/mass gatherings.

3. The Divisions are pleased to announce the Student Paper Competitions and Outstanding Scholarship Awards. The deadline for all Student Paper Competitions is January 15, 2022. Deadlines vary for the Outstanding Scholarship Awards. In order to be considered for any of the Student Paper Competitions, applicants are required to submit their papers through the Annual Meeting Call for Papers.

4. Applications for the 2022 Racial/Ethnic Minority Graduate Fellowship are being accepted. Two students will be awarded a $15,000 fellowship. Applications must be received in their entirety no later than February 1, 2022.

5. Preview the 2022 General Election ballot. Biographical data for each candidate is provided to acquaint you with their backgrounds. Voting will begin on February 15 and the poll will close on March 15, 2022.

6. Nominations and applications are open for the Arlene Kaplan Daniels Paper Award, the Beth B. Hess Memorial Scholarship, the Doris Wilkinson Faculty Leadership Award, the Joseph B. Gittler Award, the Kathleen S. Lowney Mentoring Award, the Lee Founders Award, the Thomas C. Hood Social Action Award, and the Travel Fund Awards.

7. Social Problems invites submissions for a special issue, The Racism of Omission, aimed at inverting the logic of studying racism as solely an intentional (or explicit) act of exclusion and instead examining racism as an act of omission or choosing not to act or acting in a racially habituated fashion without thought or explicit intent. The deadline for submitting papers is May 20, 2022. Please submit papers through the online submission portal and choose ÒRacism of OmissionÓ at Òstep 6Ó of the submission process. Click here for more information.

8. Nominations are open for candidates to run in the 2023 General Election. Consider nominating a colleague or yourself for an elected office by completing anomination form. All nominees must be a current member in order to be considered. Nominations must be received by June 15, 2022.

9. The Mentoring Program is designed to facilitate interaction between members of SSSP who wish to be paired with a mentor or mentee. The primary objective of this program is to facilitate connections between mentors and mentees for at least 1-year (summer 2022-summer 2023). To become a mentor or mentee, complete the appropriate application form. The deadline to apply is June 30, 2022.

New Research of Interest
Revaluing Work(ers): Toward a Democratic and Sustainable Future
Edited by Tobias Schultze-Cleven and Todd E. Vachon
Abstract
How can we build a future of work that meets pressing challenges and delivers for workers? Contemporary societies are beset by interrelated ecological, political, and economic crises, from climate change to democratic erosion and economic instability. Uncertainty abounds about the sustainability of democratic capitalism. Yet mainstream debates on the evolution of work tend to remain narrowly circumscribed, exhibiting both technological and market determinism.

This volume presents a labor studies perspective on the future of work, arguing that revaluing workÑthe efforts and contributions of workersÑis crucial to realizing the promises of democracy and improving sustainability. It emphasizes that collective political action, and the collective agency of workers in particular, is central to driving this agenda forward. Moreover, it maintains that reproductive workÑlabor efforts from care to education that sustain the reproduction of societyÑcan function as a crucible of innovation for the valuation and governance of work more broadly.

Other Publications
Cha, J. Mijin, Dimitris Stevis, Todd E. Vachon, Vivian Price, and Maria Brescia-Weiler. 2021. "A Green New Deal for All: The Centrality of a Worker and Community-Led Just Transition in the US." Political Geography (forthcoming).

Preston, Halpin, and Maguire. 2021. The Black Pill: New Technology and the Male Supremacy of Involuntarily Celibate Men. Men and Masculinities, 24(5), 823Ð841. 

Vachon, Todd E. 2021. ÒJust Transition Frames in the Context of the American Labor Movement.Ó In Handbook of Environmental-Labour Studies by Nora RŠthzel, Dimitris Stevis, and David Uzzell (Editors). New York: Palgrave Macmillan Publishing.   

Vachon, Todd E., Mijin Cha, Dimitris Stevis, and Vivian Price. 2021. ÒWorkers and Communities in Transition: Report of the Just Transition Listening Project.Ó Prepared for the Labor Network for Sustainability and Congressional Briefing. https://www.labor4sustainability.org/jtlp-2021/jtlp-report/