Undergraduate Research: An Archive - 2021 Program
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Julia Ilhardt ’21<br />
SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL<br />
AFFAIRS<br />
Certificate in Environmental Studies<br />
POLICY, NORMS<br />
AND BEHAVIOR<br />
THESIS TITLE<br />
The Fight for Fresh Air:<br />
Localized Movements<br />
for Environmental<br />
Justice and the<br />
Incremental Process of<br />
Policy Reform<br />
ADVISER<br />
Michael Oppenheimer,<br />
Albert G. Milbank<br />
Professor of<br />
Geosciences and<br />
International Affairs<br />
and the High Meadows<br />
Environmental Institute<br />
The environmental justice (EJ) movement has<br />
a decades-long history in the United States,<br />
driven by community-level activism against<br />
environmental harms that disproportionately<br />
impact communities of color and lowincome<br />
areas. My thesis sought to explain<br />
the transformation of EJ as a policy issue,<br />
to understand the mechanisms underlying<br />
grassroots activism, and to consider the role<br />
of various levels of government in addressing<br />
EJ. Case studies centered around industrial<br />
pollution in Detroit and Houston, as well as<br />
the impact of concentrated animal agriculture<br />
in southeastern North Carolina. I reviewed all<br />
introduced legislation and executive activity<br />
pertaining to these cases, then conducted<br />
interviews with local stakeholders. Based on my<br />
literature review, policy analysis and interview<br />
material, I applied theoretical lenses to explain<br />
the incremental progress of community-based<br />
actors in local EJ movements. Ultimately, this<br />
research suggests a number of policy priorities<br />
for centering communities in environmental<br />
discourse and ameliorating the disparate harms<br />
associated with pollution.<br />
39
Change language