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Community resilience and critical transformations: the case of St. Gabriel, Louisiana

  • Jennifer K. Irving EMAIL logo und Margaret Reams
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 7. September 2019
Reviews on Environmental Health
Aus der Zeitschrift Reviews on Environmental Health Band 34 Heft 3

Abstract

Introduction

Community resilience, the ability of a community to respond positively to adverse situations, is an increasingly important topic in public health. Many resilience frameworks are grounded in concepts initially developed by ecologists to describe and explain the capacity of complex systems, such as a community, to persist or return to its original state following disturbances. As a result, much of the research on resilience is concerned with maintaining systems in their current form, preventing degradation, or promoting recovery. However, for a system that is stuck in a trap, or an unfavorable state, deliberate efforts to build the components that contribute to resilience, called adaptive capacities, may enable that system to reorganize after a disturbance to reach a more favorable state.

Objective

The purpose of this research was to apply a resilience framework to analyze how the community of St. Gabriel, Louisiana adapted in response to environmental change.

Methods

We used qualitative case-study methodologies to systematically collect newspaper articles, which served as primary data sources to examine how resilience and adaptive capacity evolved in the community of St. Gabriel, Louisiana.

Results

Key events in the recent history of St. Gabriel include industrial development, growing concern about environmental health and pollution, the environmental justice (EJ) movement, and the incorporation of the community as a self-governing municipality. Two events, the community’s organized resistance to a large hazardous waste facility and the change in government structure, represent critical transformations, or fundamental changes in how the community functions.

Conclusion

The incorporation of St. Gabriel gave community members more input in planning and development decisions. As a result, the community has taken steps to improve public health in the form of zoning ordinances to prevent new exposure risks and building community infrastructure, such as a new sewer system and a recreation center.

Keywords: adaptive capacity; environmental justice; public health; resilience; systems thinking; transformation

Funding source: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Award Identifier / Grant number: P42 ES013648

Funding statement: We would like to thank the Louisiana Environmental Action Network for providing information about their involvement with St. Gabriel and hosting the community workshop that inspired this research. This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Research Program, Funder Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000066, grant number: P42 ES013648.

  1. Research funding: None declared.

  2. Conflict of interest: Authors state no conflict of interest.

  3. Informed consent: Not applicable.

  4. Ethical approval: Not applicable.

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Received: 2019-04-10
Accepted: 2019-08-12
Published Online: 2019-09-07
Published in Print: 2019-09-25

© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. International scientists seek solutions for environmental problems
  4. Reviews
  5. A link between environmental pollution and civilization disorders: a mini review
  6. Applying community resilience theory to engagement with residents facing cumulative environmental exposure risks: lessons from Louisiana’s industrial corridor
  7. Mini Reviews
  8. Building science approaches for vapor intrusion studies
  9. Application of metabolomics to characterize environmental pollutant toxicity and disease risks
  10. Advancing science in rapidly changing environments: opportunities for the Central and Eastern European Conference on Health and the Environment to connect to other networks
  11. Original Articles
  12. Monitoring and assessment of formaldehyde levels in residential areas from two cities in Romania
  13. Agreement between parental and student reports on respiratory symptoms and school environment in young Romanian children – evidence from the SINPHONIE project
  14. Impact of plant growth regulators and soil properties on Miscanthus x giganteus biomass parameters and uptake of metals in military soils
  15. Community resilience and critical transformations: the case of St. Gabriel, Louisiana
  16. Short Communication
  17. The ecological risk assessment of soil contamination with Ti and Fe at military sites in Ukraine: avoidance and reproduction tests with Folsomia candida
https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2019-0023
Schlagwörter für diesen Artikel
adaptive capacity; environmental justice; public health; resilience; systems thinking; transformation

Artikel in diesem Heft

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. International scientists seek solutions for environmental problems
  4. Reviews
  5. A link between environmental pollution and civilization disorders: a mini review
  6. Applying community resilience theory to engagement with residents facing cumulative environmental exposure risks: lessons from Louisiana’s industrial corridor
  7. Mini Reviews
  8. Building science approaches for vapor intrusion studies
  9. Application of metabolomics to characterize environmental pollutant toxicity and disease risks
  10. Advancing science in rapidly changing environments: opportunities for the Central and Eastern European Conference on Health and the Environment to connect to other networks
  11. Original Articles
  12. Monitoring and assessment of formaldehyde levels in residential areas from two cities in Romania
  13. Agreement between parental and student reports on respiratory symptoms and school environment in young Romanian children – evidence from the SINPHONIE project
  14. Impact of plant growth regulators and soil properties on Miscanthus x giganteus biomass parameters and uptake of metals in military soils
  15. Community resilience and critical transformations: the case of St. Gabriel, Louisiana
  16. Short Communication
  17. The ecological risk assessment of soil contamination with Ti and Fe at military sites in Ukraine: avoidance and reproduction tests with Folsomia candida
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