Explore the Project
This ERC funded, 5 year research project offers the first systematic sociological analysis of the global petrochemical industry in relation to corporate social responsibility and environmental justice. Examining different claims about the health impacts of toxic pollution, this is a highly topical, interdisciplinary project.
Key Concepts
Toxic Expertise, Environmental Justice, Petrochemicals.
The Global Level
Mapping the global petrochemical industry and the environmental justice movement.
National, Regional and Local Levels
Case studies in US and China.
The Collaborative, Participatory Level
Developing a scaled-up international public 'resource' of toxic expertise.
The Global Petrochemical Map now live!
One of the key outputs of the Toxic Expertise project, an interactive map of the petrochemical industry is now live. This pilot version of the map has 75 case studies of petrochemical sites, written by members of the Toxic Expertise research team. We are now seeking contributions and feedback on the map. Most importantly, we are inviting the collaboration of community and environmental groups, and the communities they represent, to add their comments, stories and experiences to the map.
Toxic News E-Magazine
Our June 2020 issue of Toxic News (19th edition), edited by Patricio Flores Silva, offers analytical insights into the connections between the current COVID-19 pandemic (and the responses to it) and the multiple environmental crisis enveloping the world. Through the lens of the COVID-19 crisis, the articles in this issue point to the fundamental conflicts between human development and environmental protection, across key issues such as our food production system, climate change, an uneven distribution of risks in society and a just transition. This issue highlights the need to not go through this global health crisis without reflecting on the underlying problems it reveals about our relationship with the environment and our way of dealing with environmental risks.
Sign up to Toxic News here
Credit: Louis Vest, Flickr - Industrial Landscape in Houston, Texas
