Soil publics

Regenerating relations with urban soils through citizen science

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21690718
AutoresHannah Louise Price (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro (0000-0001-5125-1967, SUNY New Paltz), Kathy High (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Mónica D Ramírez‐Andreotta (0000-0001-6220-5763, University of Arizona), Sebastián Ureta (0000-0003-3169-4992, Alberto Hurtado University), Dan Walls (0000-0002-2744-0722, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), Chie Xu (0009-0007-4169-7640, Humanities, Yale University, New Haven, CT USA), Abby Kinchy (0000-0001-5296-482X, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, autor de correspondencia)
Año2024
Volumen29
Número4
Páginas480-494
Fecha de publicación2024-04-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLocal Environment (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1354-9839 • E-ISSN: 1469-6711
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13549839.2023.2300977
OpenAlexW4391098713
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas38

In contexts of regulatory neglect, it often falls to concerned individuals and community groups to identify and reduce people’s exposure to health-threatening pollutants in urban soils. The Our Soil project, based in Troy, New York (U.S.A.) proposed that engaging people in a “do-it-together” process of scientific inquiry could cultivate both appreciation of soil’s value and urgency to protect people from toxic soil pollution. In this paper, we develop the concept of “soil publics” and use it to critically reflect on how Our Soil used participatory research methods to measure urban soil pollution, exchange and value local knowledge, and cultivate a sense of concern for soil as a public issue. Soil publics come together through collective participatory practices, such as community gardening or, in this case, citizen science. This paper argues that when citizen science is pursued with a focus on producing soil publics, it is not just a means of collecting data about soil; it is part of the process of recognising past harms and transforming human-soil relations.Key Policy Highlights Efforts to increase public awareness and appreciation of the vitality of soil to ecosystem health should also address soil pollution as a matter of environmental justice.“Do-it-together” soil testing can be an effective means of both raising the issue of soil pollution and forming a public that wants to address it.Citizen science can be more than a means of collecting data about soil; it can be part of the process of recognising past harms and transforming human-soil relations

Biology · Citizen journalism · Citizen science · Environmental planning · Geography · Political science · Politics · Publics · Sociology · Land Use and Ecosystem Services · Species Distribution and Climate Change · Zoonotic diseases and public health