Sustainability and Social Justice
The Sustainability and Social Justice department (formerly International Development, Community, and Environment or IDCE) is home to scholar-practitioners pursuing solutions to pressing challenges in the 21st century. Our mission is to strive for a more just and sustainable world. We embrace the complexity of urgent social, political, and ecological problems and seek to approach these challenges through multidisciplinary teaching and learning, collaborative scholarship, and innovation.
Complex challenges require novel solutions built on a deep, multifaceted understanding of the task at hand. For example, how can we support marginal communities as they adapt to the impacts of climate change? When do market forces succeed in increasing wealth and well-being, and when do they fail? What gives rise to health disparities across communities and countries, and how can we address them? The Sustainability and Social Justice community engages in translational, hands-on research that defies disciplinary categorization, and is uniquely effective.
Faculty Works from 2011
Seeing REDD+ as a Project of Environmental Governance, Mary Thompson, Manali Baruah, and Edward Carr
Faculty Works from 2010
Extraction, Territory, and Inequalities: Gas in the Bolivian Chaco, Denise Bebbington and Anthony J. Bebbington
The Place of Stories in Development: Creating Spaces for Participation Through Narrative Analysis, Edward Carr
Individual Consumption and Systemic Societal Transformation: Introduction to the Special Issue, Maurie J. Cohen, Halina Szejnwald Brown, and Philip J. Vergragt
Vulnerability-Based Spatial Sampling Stratification for the National Children's Study, Worcester County, Massachusetts: Capturing Health-Relevant Environmental and Sociodemographic Variability, Timothy Downs, Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger, Onesky Aupont, Yangyang Wang, Ann Raj, Paula Zimmerman, Robert Goble, Octavia Taylor, Linda Churchill, Celeste Lemay, Thomas Mclaughlin, and Marianne Felice
Participatory Testing and Reporting in an Environmental-Justice community of Worcester, Massachusetts: A pilot project, Timothy Downs, Laurie Ross, Danielle Mucciarone, Maria Camila Calvache, Octavia Taylor, and Robert Goble
Nimo's War, Emma's War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War, Cynthia Enloe
The Risks of Scholarly Militarization: A Feminist Analysis, Cynthia Enloe
Who Should be Interviewed in Surveys of Household Income?, Monica Fisher, Jeffrey Reimer, and Edward Carr
Your Pocket is What Cures You: The Politics of Health in Senegal, Ellen Foley
Are Conundrums with Uncertainty Factors an Obstacle to Developing Probabilistic Interpretations of Noncancer Risks from Chemicals?: Commentary, Robert Goble and Dale Hattis
Anatomy of a Regional Conflict: Tarija and Resource Grievances in Moraless Bolivia, Denise Humphreys Bebbington and Anthony Bebbington
Forum on Political Ecology of the U.S. South Introduction: Why a Political Ecology of the U.S. South?, Patrick Hurley and Edward Carr
Medicinal Plant Use and Health Sovereignty: Findings from the Tajik and Afghan Pamirs, Karim Aly Kassam, Munira Karamkhudoeva, Morgan Ruelle, and Michelle Baumflek
Modeling data envelopment analysis (DEA) efficient location/allocation decisions, Ronald K. Klimberg, Samuel J. Ratick, Vinay Tavva, Sasanka Vuyyuru, and Daniel Mrazik
The Contested Politics of Corporate Governance: The Case of the Global Reporting Initiative, David L. Levy, Halina Brown, and Martin de Jong
Predicting Prehistoric Taro (Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum) Lo'i Distribution in Hawaii, Jocelyn Müller, Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger, Stephen Lloyd, and J. Michael Reed
Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Noise Pollution Near Boston Logan airport: Who Carries the Cost?, Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger and Brian Cooperman
Using Geographic Information Systems to Compare the Density of Stores Selling Tobacco and Alcohol: Youth Making an Argument for Increased Regulation of the Tobacco Permitting Process in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger, Laurie Ross, William Burdick, and Sheryl Ann Simpson
An Interperiod Network Storage Location-Allocation (INSLA) Model for Rail Distribution of Ethanol Biofuels, Jeffrey P. Osleeb and Samuel J. Ratick
Grassroots Coalitions and State Policy Change: Organizing for Immigrant Health Care, Margaret Post
Nuclear Waste: Progress with Public Engagement — Response, Eugene Rosa, Seth Tuler, Baruch Fischhoff, Thomas Webler, Sharon Friedman, Richard Sclove, Kristin Shrader-Frechette, Mary English, Roger Kasperson, Robert Goble, Thomas. Leschine, William Freudenburg, Caron Chess, Charles Perrow, Kai Erikson, and James Short
Nuclear Waste: Knowledge Waste?, Eugene Rosa, Seth Tuler, Baruch Fischhoff, Thomas Webler, Sharon Friedman, Richard Sclove, Kristin Shrader-Frechette, Mary English, Roger. Kasperson, Robert Goble, Thomas Leschine, William Freudenburg, Caron Chess, Charles Perrow, Kai Erikson, and James Short
GMO as a Sustainability Issue: The Role of the Global Reporting Initiative, Philip J. Vergragt and Halina Szejnwald Brown
Vulnerability to Epidemic Malaria in the Highlands of Lake Victoria Basin: The Role of Climate Change/Variability, Hydrology and Socio-Economic Factors, Shem Wandiga, Maggie Opondo, Daniel Olago, Andrew Githeko, Faith Githui, Michael Marshall, Timothy Downs, Alfred Opere, Christopher Oludhe, Gilbert Ouma, Pius Yanda, Richard Kangalawe, Robert Kabumbuli, James Kathuri, Eugene Apindi, Lydia Olaka, Laban Ogallo, Paul Mugambi, Rehema Sigalla, Robinah Nanyunja, Timothy Baguma, and Pius Achola
Measuring the Emotional Climate of an Organization, Gülçimen Yurtsever and Joseph de Rivera
Faculty Works from 2009
The Rise of the Global Reporting Initiative: A Case of Institutional Entrepreneurship, Halina Szejnwald Brown, Martin de Jong, and Teodorina Lessidrenska
Building Institutions Based on Information Disclosure: Lessons from GRI's Sustainability Reporting, Halina Szejnwald Brown, Martin de Jong, and David L. Levy
Commentary: The Challenge of Quantifying Susceptibility to Drought-Related Crisis, Edward Carr and Nathan Kettle
Evaluating Poverty-Environment Dynamics, Edward Carr, Nathan Kettle, and A. Hoskins
The Co-Production of Land Use and Livelihoods Change: Implications for Development Interventions, Edward Carr and Brent McCusker
Complexities of Holistic Community-Based Participatory Research for a Low Income, Multi-Ethnic Population Exposed to Multiple Built-Environment Stressors in Worcester, Massachusetts, Timothy Downs, Laurie Ross, Suzanne Patton, Sarah Rulnick, Deb Sinha, Danielle Mucciarone, Maria Calvache, Sarah Parmenter, Rajendra Subedi, Donna Wysokenski, Erin Anderson, Rebecca Dezan, Kate Lowe, Jennifer Bowen, Amee Tejani, Kelly Piersanti, Octavia Taylor, and Robert Goble
Reflections, Cynthia Enloe
The Anti-Politics of Health Reform: Household Power Relations and Child Health in Rural Senegal, Ellen Foley
A Preliminary Operational Classification System for Nonmutagenic Modes of Action for Carcinogenesis, Dale Hattis, Margaret Chu, Nilufer Rahmioglu, Robert Goble, Priyanka Verma, K. Hartman, and Mary Kozlak
How Can Revenues from Natural Resources Extraction Be More Efficiently Utilized for Local Sustainable Development?, Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt, Keith Slack, Laurenf Baker, Timothy Downs, Jeffrey McNeely, Tulus Tambunan, M. S. Iftekhar, Daniel Franks, Waldemar Souza, Simon Munthali, Oscar Wambuguh, Sylvanus S.P. Doe, Carlos Peiter, and Roberto Villas Boas
What Would Be the Three Key Preconditions for Jumpstarting or Scaling Up the Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies for Climate Change to Developing Countries?, Justin Mog, Wouter Kersten, Muhammad Mizanur Rahaman, Marko Keskinen, Timothy Downs, S. Wahid, Rafael D.Almeida Martins, Hélène Connor, Laura Williamson, Mithra Moezzi, Ahmad Houri, Bimlesh Kumar, Rahul Hiremath, Bert Scholtens, O. C. Ajayi, F. K. Akinnifesi, G. Sileshi, and Olufunso Somorin
Concrete Evidence & Geographically Weighted Regression: A Regional Analysis of Wealth and the Land Cover in Massachusetts, Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger, Hamil Pearsall, and Rahul Rakshit
Creating an Index of Vulnerability to Severe Coastal Storms Along the North Shore of Boston, Samuel J. Ratick, Holly Morehouse, and Ronald K. Klimberg
Application and Extension of the Moore and ReVelle Hierarchical Maximal Covering Model, Samuel J. Ratick, Jeffrey P. Osleeb, and Dai Hozumi
Monte Carlo Simulation, S. Ratick and G. Schwarz
Future Directions in Campus-Community Partherships: Location of Service-learning Offices and Activities in Higher Education, Elizabeth Carmichael Strong, Patrick Green, Micki Meyer, and Margaret Post
Carbon Offsets and Inequality: Social Costs and Co-Benefits in Guatemala and Sri Lanka, Hannah Wittman and Cynthia Caron
Faculty Works from 2008
Contention and Ambiguity: Mining and the Possibilities of Development, Anthony Bebbington, Leonith Hinojosa, Denise Humphreys Bebbington, Maria Luisa Burneo, and Ximena Warnaars
Mining and Social Movements: Struggles Over Livelihood and Rural Territorial Development in the Andes, Anthony Bebbington, Denise Humphreys Bebbington, Jeffrey Bury, Jeannet Lingan, Juan Pablo Muñoz, and Martin Scurrah
Sustainable Development and Participatory Practices in Community Forestry: The Case of FUNDECOR in Costa Rica, Ramón Borges-Méndez
Bounded Socio-Technical Experiments as Agents of Systemic Change: The Case of a Zero-Energy Residential Building, Halina Szejnwald Brown and Philip J. Vergragt
Between Structure and Agency: Livelihoods and Adaptation in Ghana's Central Region, Edward Carr
Rethinking Poverty Alleviation: A 'Poverties' Approach, Edward Carr
The Millennium Village Project and African Development: Problems and Potentials, Edward Carr
Transforming Impact Assessment for Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication, Timothy Downs
Introduction, H. A. Eiselt and Samuel Ratick
Afterword: Hegemonic Masculinities in International Politics, Cynthia Enloe
Preface: How Jindy Pettman Redrew My Mental Map, Cynthia Enloe
'Brothers' or Others?: Propriety and Gender for Muslim Arab Sudanese in Egypt, Anita Fábos
Neoliberal Reform and Health Dilemmas: Social Hierarchy and Therapeutic Decision Making in Senegal, Ellen Foley
"Theirs Not to Reason Why" - The Practicalities of Providing adequate Summary Reasons for Grants of Planning Permission, Richard Ford and Hugh Richards
Comment: Regulatory/Risk Perspective on Chapter 2: Substantial Advances Nourish Hope for Clarity?, Robert Goble
Modeling Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) Efficient Location/Allocation Decisions, Ronald K. Klimberg and Samuel J. Ratick
In Search of Kilometer Zero: Digital archives, Technological Revisionism, and the Sino-Vietnamese Border, Ken MacLean
The Rehabilitation of an Uncomfortable Past: Everyday Life in Vietnam During the Subsidy Period (1975-1986), Ken MacLean
Promoting a Department of Peace: An Exploration of Affective States and Political Perceptions, Caitlin O. Mahoney and Joseph de Rivera
Diesel Particulate Matter, Lung Cancer, and Asthma Incidences Along Major Traffic Corridors in MA, USA: A GIS Analysis, Jesse McEntee and Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger
Application of Virtual Globes in Education, Rahul Rakshit and Yelena Ogneva-himmelberger
Locating Backup Facilities to Enhance Supply Chain Disaster Resilience, Samuel Ratick, Brian Meacham, and Yuko Aoyama
Genetic Engineering in Agriculture: New Approaches for Risk Management Through Sustainability reporting, Philip J. Vergragt and Halina Szejnwald Brown
Faculty Works from 2007
Inter-firm Relations in the Age of Instant Access: Case of the U.S. Logistics Industry, Yuko Aoyama and Samuel J. Ratick
Trust, Transactions, and Information Technologies in the U.S. Logistics Industry, Yuko Aoyama and Samuel J. Ratick
Transformation of the Environmental Regulatory System in Poland During the 1990s, Halina Szejnwald Brown
The Allure of Technology: How France and California Promoted Electric and Hybrid Vehicles to Reduce Urban Air Pollution, David Calef and Robert Goble
There's a Devil on Wayamba Beach: Social Dramas of Development and Citizenship in Northwest Sri Lanka, Cynthia Caron and Dia Da Costa
Applying DPSIR to Sustainable Development, Edward Carr, Philip Wingard, Sara Yorty, Mary Thompson, Natalie Jensen, and Justin Roberson
A Systematic Integrated Approach for Crafting Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development Projects, Timothy Downs
Achieving Millennium Development Goals for Health: Building Understanding, Trust and Capacity to Respond, Timothy Downs and Heidi Jane Larson
Feminism, Cynthia Enloe
Feminist Readings on Abu Ghraib: Introduction, Cynthia Enloe
Forward, Cynthia Enloe
Urban refugees: Introduction, Anita Fábos and Gaim Kibreab
How Do You Solve a Problem Like ... LDFs?, Richard Ford
Climatic, Socio-Economic, and Health Factors Affecting Human Vulnerability to Cholera in the Lake Victoria Basin, East Africa, Daniel Olago, Michael Marshall, Shem Wandiga, Maggie Opondo, Pius Yanda, Richard Kanalawe, Andrew Githeko, Timothy Downs, Alfred Opere, Robert Kavumvuli, Edward Kirumira, Laban Ogallo, Paul Mugambi, Eugene Apindi, Faith Githui, James Kathuri, Lydia Olaka, Rehema Sigalla, Robinah Nanyunja, Timothy Baguma, and Pius Achola
Sustainable Mobility: From Technological Innovation to Societal Learning, Philip J. Vergragt and Halina Szejnwald Brown
Faculty Works from 2006
Organizational Dynamics of the U.S. Logistics Industry: An Economic Geography Perspective, Yuko Aoyama, Samuel Ratick, and Guido Schwarz
Rescaling Governance and the Impacts of Political and Environmental Decentralization: An Introduction, Simon Batterbury and Jude Fernando
Growth in IT and Organizational Experience in BATEC, Ramón Borges-Méndez and Deborah Boisvert
Social Learning Through Technological Inventions in Low-Impact Individual Mobility: The Cases of Sparrow and Gizmo, Halina Szejnwald Brown and Catherine Carbone
Postmodern Conceptualizations, Modernist Applications: Rethinking the Role of Society in Food Security, Edward Carr
Conceptual Encounter. The Experience of Anger, Joseph De Rivera
The Co-Production of Livelihoods and Land Use Change: Case Studies from South Africa and Ghana, Brent McCusker and Edward Carr
Where Do We Belong? Urban Adolescents' Struggle for Place and Voice, Laurie Ross
Faculty Works from 2005
Modeling the Impact of Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce on the Organization of the Logistics Industry, Yuko Aoyama, Samuel J. Ratick, and Guido Schwarz
Rebuilding Social Capital in Post-Conflict Regions: Women's Village Banking in Ayacucho, Peru and in Highland Guatemala, Denise Humphreys Bebbington and Arelis Gómez
Can Poland's Success in Environmental Policy Reforms Translate Into Technological Innovation for Environment?, Halina Szejnwald Brown
Commentary: Riddim Me This, Riddim Me That, Edward Carr
Development and the Household: Missing the Point?, Edward Carr
Placing the Environment in Migration: Environment, Economy, and Power in Ghana's Central Region, Edward Carr
Contrasting Some Japanese and English Positive Emotions: The Nature of Feeling, Joseph De Rivera and Kaya Ono
Data Envelopment Analysis with Stochastic Variations in Data, Anand Desai, Samuel J. Ratick, and Arie P. Schinnar
