Mutersbaugh
This provides an overview of information that may be
included in the ÔpeoplesÕ portion of your essay on your environmental conflict.
Why this? The aim of this portion is
to get an additional perspective on the lives and livelihoods affected by an
environmental conflict. If we understand livelihoods from various perspectives,
we can better appreciate the myriad ways in which people may be affected by
environmental problems.
NOTE:
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The SOURCES NEED NOT
BE EXTENSIVE, BUT THEY SHOULD BE VARIED.
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Aside from the tables below, you
need at least four sources.
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AT LEAST ONE SOURCE
MUST BE FROM A ÔVETEDÕ SCHOLARLY SOURCE, NOT AN UNVETTED WEB SOURCE (Wikipedia
IS NOT a vetted source).
These sources
will be augmented by reference to the statistical tables found by following the
links in the text below.
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Section 1. Place
A. Map
of area: More detailed is better!!!!
B. Area Description
Using information you have gathered on your place from
maps, various websites and academic journals, describe the following:
I. Physical Geography
1. Topography: (for example: is your place on a mountainside, on a flat plain?)
2. Climate: humid tropics? Alpine? Desert? Savannah? Please be specific
II. Built environment
1.
Infrastructure: Roads, Transport Links (railroads, airports?), Water /
Electricity?
2. Housing: Type, Condition
Section 2. People
In this section you will need to do two things:
First,
identify the group or people involved in the environmental conflict, and find a
scholarly article on some aspect of their lives (HINT: use a UK Library Search
Engine such as Web of Science, Anthropology Plus, or
Rural: They may be either a people such as a tribe
living in a specific village that youÕve identified or a class of folk such as
farmers, peasants, wage earners, etc.
Urban: In the case of a city, they may be inhabitants
of a particular neighborhood that youÕve identified or they may be a sub-group
of interest such as homeless children, poor women, wealthy traders, small
shopkeepers etc. Try to be as specific as possible and use the sources that you
have uncovered to provide an overview of how they live, how they earn an income
or obtain resources (e.g. through farming) and what key issues or problems they
may confront.
Second,
use statistical tables from the 2009 Human Development Report to analyze your
people. The report is available on the GEO 131 course website.
Look at national-level statistics provided (in the Human
Development Report statistical tables) and relate them to the specific place
and people you have chosen. You will need to think about the group that you
identified above to determine how the following tables relate to them.
Human Development Report Tables:
I: Human and Income Poverty (p. 176-179)
M: Economy and Inequality (p. 195-198)
Where do you think the people you
are studying fit in this chart – the lowest 10%, somewhere in the middle?
After making this determination, calculate the average yearly income for your
group.
How to calculate income for your group:
a.
Determine whether your
people are a part of the top 10% (rich) bottom 10% (poor) or somewhere in the
middle.
b.
For the top and bottom 10%,
multiply the percentage of income by the GDP per capita (Gross Domestic
Product) in PPP terms (Purchasing Power Parity, i.e., what the money is worth
in the US), and multiply by 10. For the middle 80% just assume that it is the
GDP.
What does this mean in terms of
their buying power? Do you think that your group participates much in the
national economy?
How might income affect their ability to address environmental injustice
or problems?
J: Gender-related Development Index (p 181-185)
How are
the lives of Men and Women different? How might this affect the environmental
conflict or peopleÕs ability to deal with the environmental problem? How might
the problem differently affect people as a consequence of their gender?
L:
Demographic Trends (p 191-194)
Basic demographic data. Is the total fertility rate high? How might this
affect the environmental conflict?
N:
Health and Education
This table breaks down the infant mortality rates for the poorest and
richest segments of the population, educational levels, and health
expenditures. How might these affect your situation?
Do the people you are studying fall
into the richest or poorest segment of the population or somewhere in between?
How many children per 1000 of the group that you are studying die? How do you
think that this affects their lives?
How much is spent on health care,
will this affect the local ability to address the consequences of environmental
problems?