Global Environmental Change 73 (2022) 102474 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Global Environmental Change journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/gloenvcha The role of working-class communities and the slow violence of toxic pollution in environmental health conflicts: A global perspective Grettel Navas a, *, Giacomo D’Alisa b, Joan Martínez-Alier a a Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain b Centre for Social Studies (CES), University of Coimbra, Portugal A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Keywords: Analysing a sample of 3,033 environmental conflicts around the globe, we compared conflicts reporting no Environmental health conflicts (EHCs) human health impacts to those reporting health impacts linked to toxic pollution. Our study suggests four main Working-class environmentalism findings. First, health impacts are a key concern for working-class communities. Second, the long-term effects of Slow violence toxic pollution undermine communities’ ability to act preventively. Third, industrial activities, waste manage­ Statistical political ecology EJAtlas ment and nuclear energy conflicts are more likely to report health impacts than other economic activities. Last, mobilising groups are reluctant to consider the closure of a polluting project a successful outcome because of the persistence of toxic pollution across time. Our results contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of what we have termed ‘environmental health conflicts’ (EHCs). 1. Introduction perspective and proposes new lines of research in this regard. People engaging in social protest to safeguard their health and Toxic pollution –any form of environmental pollution that causes environment from pollution is not new (Bullard, 1990; Brulle and Pel­ harm to living beings– is a major global health threat which does not low, 2006; Falcone et al., 2020; Pellow, 2002; Sze, 2004). Research on affect all equally (Boudia and Jas, 2019; Landrigan et al., 2018). Envi­ this topic has focused on ethnographic approaches studying one form of ronmental hazards and health risks disproportionately affect the most pollution (i.e., air pollution), a particular health impact (i.e., asthma) or vulnerable, low-income, and racialised communities worldwide (Bul­ a single environmental-health movement (i.e., breast cancer movement) lard, 1990; Brulle and Pellow, 2006; Ferdinand, 2019; Mah and Wang, (Brown et al., 2003; Sze, 2004; Ley, 2009; Brown et al., 2012; Houston 2019). In response, affected communities organise and protest the and Ruming, 2014). More extensive nationwide statistical analyses on establishment of socially and ecologically harmful facilities that the incidence of pollution in low-income and racialised communities has threaten them (Novotny, 2000). As a result, environmental conflicts been conducted in the US (Mohai et al., 2009; Mohai and Saha, 2015). arise (Martínez-Alier and O’Connor, 1996). Fewer research efforts have addressed international perspectives (Pel­ Exposure to toxic pollution is complex and can take many forms (i.e., low, 2007). A global, quantitative, and comparative perspective, as skin contact, inhalation, ingestion, and even prenatal exposure). Toxic presented in this study, has not been done at all. pollution can be imperceptible, its effects surpassing temporal and We present a large-n analysis of 3,033 environmental conflict cases spatial scales (Agard-Jones, 2013; Barbour and Guthman, 2018; Carson, recorded on the Environmental Justice Atlas platform (see www.ejatlas. 1962; Nash, 2004). For instance, some synthetic pesticides used in org). The EJAtlas documents and catalogues environmental conflicts at agriculture move beyond their target location into the soil, water and different stages of the commodity chain: extraction of energy and ma­ air, affecting the health of communities living miles away (Harrison, terials, transport, production, and waste disposal (Martínez-Alier et al., 2011). Likewise, toxins can be inherited (i.e., in utero exposure or 2016; Temper et al., 2015). The EJAtlas frames conflicts as ‘ecological through breastfeeding), increasing intergenerational effects (Smith, distribution conflicts’ (or EDCs) to emphasise the unfair distribution of 1999; Langston, 2010). These complexities mean that environmental environmental costs and economic benefits that economic activities conflicts that report health impacts follow a different pattern than those generate (Martínez-Alier and O’Connor, 1996). We analysed this dataset that do not. This paper describes these differences from a global to understand how and why conflicts reporting health impacts differ * Corresponding author. E-mail address: grettelveronica.navas@uab.cat (G. Navas). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2022.102474 Received 4 February 2021; Received in revised form 23 December 2021; Accepted 14 January 2022 Available online 24 January 2022 0959-3780/© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). G. Navas et al. Global Environmental Change 73 (2022) 102474 from the rest of the conflicts in the database. We also sought to under­ WCE scholars argue that environmentalists, grassroots organisations stand the differences in mobilisation among these conflicts, and how and workers have a common adversary: profit-making and capital delayed health impacts from toxic pollution affect the timeline of accumulation based on the production of toxic environments in tandem mobilisation of local communities. In sum, we explore if environmental with the destruction of nature and societies. In Bell’s words, “‘the jobs conflicts reporting health impacts linked to toxic pollution – or ‘envi­ versus environment’ dilemma deliberately distracts attention from the ronmental health conflicts (EHCs) – differ from those conflicts that do fact that capitalist accumulation destroys both” (Bell, 2020, p. 175). not (non-EHCs hereafter). Barca and Leonardi (2018) analysed a steel plant in Taranto (Italy), We use descriptive statistics, Pearson’s Chi-square test of indepen­ where as soon as the plant started, it started to pollute the town pro­ dence, and a binomial test for our comparison. Our main findings show gressively. While the plant created industrial jobs—risking the workers’ that EHCs differ from non-EHCs in four key aspects. First, EHCs appear health—it also destroyed local traditional economic activities (i.e., more frequently in struggles involving working class actors. Second, the agriculture, fisheries, etc.). In this way, the impacts of toxic pollution are delayed health effects of toxic pollution can affect local communities’ also a form of slow violence, which we describe in the following section. ability to act preventively, making environmental justice harder to achieve. Third, EHCs are predominantly linked to industrial activities, 2.2. The slow violence of toxic pollution waste management and nuclear projects. Lastly, people involved in EHCs are reluctant to consider the closure of a polluting project a success Scholars analysing environmental conflicts often focus on direct and because of the persistence of toxic pollution across temporal and spatial physical violence against mobilising actors for environmental justice scales. (Butt et al., 2019; Le Billon and Lujala, 2020; Scheidel et al., 2020; Tran As follows, section 2 presents the conceptual background. Section 3 et al., 2020). Nonetheless, other forms of violence appear in such con­ explains the methodology for selecting our samples and the statistical flicts and require attention (Navas et al., 2018). There are, for instance, analyses performed. Section 4 presents the main findings and identifies cases of environmental (in)justice in which violence is expressed in ‘fast the variables that form the patterns exhibited by EHCs. Section 5 con­ and direct’ as well as ‘slow’ forms (Davies, 2018; Kojola and Pellow, cludes and offers future research directions to address conflicts over 2021). As witnessed in Bhopal (EJAtlas, 2019a), Chernobyl (EJAtlas, environmental health and toxic pollution. 2019b) or the Samarco tailings disaster in Brazil (EJAtlas, 2019c), environmental injustices can happen as accidents or explosions (visible, 2. Theoretical background direct, and fast). The violence also expands as the toxic contaminants slowly diffuse into the environment and live organisms. After the Bhopal 2.1. The role of working-class communities in the study of environmental explosion in 1984, immediate deaths were estimated by authorities to conflicts number anywhere from 3,800 to 15,000. Twenty years later, the legacy of the explosion in Bhopal continued through high levels of dioxins and While scholars studying environmental conflicts have acknowledged other toxic chemicals at the site, affecting many thousands more people the role of workers in shaping transitions toward sustainability, workers’ with chronic diseases (Zavestoski, 2009). struggles are often seen as separate from environmentalists’ struggles Slow violence refers to “a violence that occurs gradually and out of (Temper et al., 2015; Temper et al., 2018). This separation echoes the sight, a violence of delayed destruction that is dispersed across time and ‘jobs versus environment’ dilemma, founded on the assumption that space” (Nixon, 2011, p. 2). Disasters can also occur gradually, neither enacting environmental regulations will increase costs and, conse­ spectacularly nor instantaneously (Ahmann, 2018). For instance, in­ quently, job losses (Bell, 2020). As White (1996) notes in the essay “Are dustrial towns in which the steady stream and accumulation of toxic You an Environmentalist or Do You Work for a Living’, workers and substances reveal their effects on the local population’s health only environmentalists have sometimes failed to support each other in the years later. In non-industrial landscapes such as the Arctic, these di­ past. sasters can also occur. For decades, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), According to Montrie (2018), environmental justice scholars pre­ carried on water currents, have accumulated in the marine mammals dominantly focus on social, civic, and racial agencies as drivers of and in the bodies of local people, who have traditionally consumed those environmental injustices (see Bullard, 1990; 1993), even though mammals. As a result, Indigenous women in the Arctic have been found working-class communities have historically been active in struggles to have high levels of chemicals in their breast milk, risking their new­ against environmental health hazards (Räthzel et al., 2021). Looking borns’ health (Cone, 2007; Bruce, 2002; Hanaček et al., 2021). In in­ back at the US and the UK origins of environmentalism, Montrie (2018) dustrial towns and in the Arctic, violence is not only slow in its and Bell (2020), respectively, show that workers have engaged in manifestation but confused in its origin, complicating local commu­ environmental struggles “many years before environmental organisa­ nities’ efforts to establish a cause-and-effect link between the source of tions came into existence” (Bell, 2020, p. 139). Industrial and farm pollution and ailments experienced, thereby restricting their ability to workers’ have succeeded in improving occupational health conditions engage in judicial struggles and claim reparations for damages occurred while also advocating for enhancing environmental protection and risk (Brown, 2007). reduction in their working environments and communities (Satheesh, Moreover, the long-term effects of toxic pollution are often used as a 2020; Barca, 2012b; Keil, 1994, London, 2003; Shaw, 2010). strategy of ‘accumulation by contamination’ (Demaria and D’Alisa, Within this context, ‘working-class environmentalism’ (WCE) 2013). By perpetuating pollution and health ailments that affect the emerged as a theoretical lens to connect workers’ and environmental­ most vulnerable, slow violence is consciously used—and even encour­ ists’ struggles, values, and interests (Barca, 2012b; Bell, 2020). WCE is aged—to accumulate wealth (Chertkovskaya and Paulsson, 2021). To led by trade unions and other formal and informal groups and com­ run pollutive projects, enterprises have used the lapse of toxic pollution munities who identify as ‘working-class’. We define the working-class as and its long-term health effects as a successful cost-shifting practice people whose physical waged work is their only source of income and (Arcuri and Hendlin, 2019; Litvintseva, 2019). The report “Late lessons who occupy the bottom of the labour hierarchy (Barca, 2012b; Barca from early warnings” shows how, despite early knowledge of possible and Leonardi, 2018). They are often paid lower wages and placed in harm, many years pass from the toxic pollution’s occurrence to the high-risk conditions. WCE differs from the ‘environmentalism of the passage of regulations and acknowledgement of harms and eventual poor’ (Martínez-Alier, 2002), which refers to the environmentalism of compensation to victims (Lambert, 2001; Gee and Greenberg, 2001; grassroots organisations with predominant participation of Indigenous Bingham and Monforton, 2013). Notably, in the cases mentioned by the and peasant, black and rural communities, that mobilise to protect their report, workers were on the frontline for challenging capital interests livelihoods and ecosystems (Guha and Martínez-Alier, 1997). and advancing environmental (and occupational health) agendas. Their 2 G. Navas et al. Global Environmental Change 73 (2022) 102474 bodies were the first to be exposed to the hazardous substances at their to the overall percentage of EHCs observed in the dataset (38%). Then, workplaces. we test if there is any significant difference between them. In other words, if the percentage of EHCs for each category of mobilising actors is 3. Methodology higher than 38%, the mobilising actor has a higher propensity to engage in environmental conflicts when health impacts are reported. To account 3.1. The environmental justice atlas for the number of hypotheses tested in this exercise, we adjusted the type I error rate (false rejection of null hypothesis) with the Bonferroni The EJAtlas is the most extensive archive of environmental conflicts approximation (αBONFERRONI = αTOT/nc). Tables’ and figures’ captions to date. It is presented in an open-access online platform. The unit of provide the results of the statistical test exercises. analysis is a state or corporate-driven economic project around which different actors mobilise to claim protection or reparations for impacts 4. General comparison of EHCs vs non-EHCs these projects generate (Martinez-Alier, 2021). Each conflict is accompanied by a data sheet containing a general 4.1. Categories and subcategories of conflicts description of the case (500–1000 words) and a list of quantitative and qualitative variables: the individuals and organisations that mobilise As noted in Fig. 1B, mining (20%), fossil fuels (17%), and land use (mobilising actors), when mobilisation occurs (reaction phase), the conflicts (15%) are the most common categories of conflicts recorded in commodities involved (i.e., minerals, land, oil), whether the project is the EJAtlas. However, when comparing EHCs vs non-EHCs within each planned, in operation or stopped (the status of the project), as well as the category, there is a higher proportion of EHCs in industrial (65%), waste environmental, socioeconomic and health impacts the project produces. management (64%), and nuclear conflicts (52%), and a lower propor­ Conflicts are divided into ten mutually exclusive categories (e.g., in­ tion in tourism (6%) and infrastructure (22%) conflicts [Fig. 2 ‘Category dustrial, mining, etc.) and 51 non-mutually exclusive sub-subcategories of conflict’]. (e.g., land acquisition conflict). For example, a conflict arising from an Regarding mining-related conflicts, even though Fig. 2 shows that open-pit iron mining project generating local demands over land or people mobilise for health issues proportionally less in mining conflicts water use is categorised as a ‘mining’ conflict and sub-categorised as a (than in industrial activities, waste management and nuclear conflicts), ‘land acquisition’ and ‘water access and entitlements’ conflict. this does not mean that mining projects are less harmful to human The analysis of a large number of cases from the EJAtlas has been health. Instead, these conflicts are likely triggered by other social claims framed as ‘statistical political ecology’ (see Del Bene et al., 2018; such as access to and distribution of natural resources (i.e., land, water). Martinez-Alier, 2021; Scheidel et al., 2020; Temper et al., 2020). A For instance, some mining conflicts in Guatemala, have been trigged “method for analysing the global and interlinked aspects of localized principally by land rights (EJatlas, 2020d). environmental struggles, that allows going beyond dynamics at local Fig. 3 [Subcategories of conflicts] confirms that EHCs emerge against scales to understand crucial processes and relations generating envi­ industrial waste disposal and material processing activities more often ronmental inequalities at broader regional, national, and global scales” than other activities. E-waste, shipbreaking, agro-toxics, toxic waste, (Temper, 2014: 180). This paper advances knowledge in this regard, metal refineries and chemical industries present higher rates of EHCs analysing patterns of environmental health conflicts globally. than non-EHCs. The production and use of chemical substances such as agro-toxics and intensive food production, more common in rural set­ 3.2. Data collection tings, is also relevant. A lower proportion of EHCs are linked to wind­ mills, solar power plants and tourism facilities. The analysed database consists of a total of 3,033 cases. This is the total number of conflicts recorded on the platform as of January 14th, 4.2. Commodities involved 2020. To select cases of environmental health conflicts (EHCs), we first selected cases where at least one of the following health impacts were Regarding commodities involved in EHCs (Table 1), we note that recorded as actually taking place: ‘exposure to unknown or uncertain asbestos, recycled metals, and pesticides are prevalent. Asbestos is a risks’, ‘malnutrition’, ‘occupational disease and accidents’, ‘infectious group of silicate minerals used for industry building materials and as a diseases’, ‘deaths’, ‘other environmental related diseases’, and ‘other heat and electric insulator (Litvintseva, 2019). Asbestos is also known health impacts’. In this process, we excluded cases reporting only health for its lethal impacts on exposed populations (Trimbur, 2020). Unsur­ impacts such as ‘increasing rates of homicides/gender violence’ and prisingly, more than 90% of cases involving asbestos are EHCs. ‘problems related to alcoholism/prostitution’. Even though these are In Catalonia (Spain), the ‘Association of victims affected by asbestos’ global health challenges, they give few details about the link between (AVAAC) is a local organisation demanding reparations for asbestos- toxic pollution and health impacts. Finally, we counted 1,157 EHCs induced illnesses (EJAtlas, 2020b). From 1907 to 1997, three compa­ (38% of 3,033). Next, we compared EHCs with the remaining cases nies—Roviralta, Eternit, and Uralita—produced fibre-cement and (1,876 cases or 62% of 3,033, non-EHCs). asbestos-based materials. For decades, workers and residents inhaled microscopic fibres resulting years later in lung cancer and mesothelioma 3.3. Statistical analysis (a type of cancer affecting the tissues covering internal organs). At least 300 people have died. As the latency period of asbestos-related effects We used Pearson’s Chi-square tests of independence to determine can be up to 40 years from exposure to onset of the disease, many people whether the presence of EHCs is related to the following variables: live in fear of being diagnosed in the future (Muñoz, 2018). ‘category of conflict’, ‘project status’, ‘reaction phase’, and ‘success Notably, toxic pollution and hazards –such as asbestos– have been rate’. These are categorical variables with mutually exclusive values, for relocated from richer to poorer countries (Arcuri and Hendlin, 2019; example a ‘project status’ can be ‘stopped’ or ‘planned’, but not both Pellow, 2007). When asbestos was banned in Spain in 2002, Eternit simultaneously. continued producing asbestos-based building materials in Colombia Because Pearson’s Chi-square test of independence can only be until 2019 (EJAtlas, 2015a, Ossa Giraldo et al., 2014). Today, despite performed with variables having mutually exclusive answers, for knowledge of asbestos’ health-related impacts, many entrepreneurs ‘mobilising actors’—a variable having non-mutually exclusive answers keep producing and using it in countries where it is not yet banned or (i.e., more than one actor can mobilise in each conflict, e.g., industrial where there are less strict regulations (Bahk et al., 2013; Litvintseva, workers and farmers)—we developed a binomial test. We did so by 2019). comparing the percentage of EHCs for each category of mobilising actors A similar pattern occurs with pesticides. As stated by Weir and 3 G. Navas et al. Global Environmental Change 73 (2022) 102474 Fig. 1. Environmental conflicts registered in the EJAtlas (n = 3030). A: Geographical coverage of environmental conflicts (each dot represents one case and each colour a category of conflict). B: Category of conflicts and coverage (pie colours correspond to the colour of the cases shown in the map). C: Percentage of EHC cases and non-EHC cases. This figure follows a similar representation as in Scheidel et al., 2020. 4 G. Navas et al. Global Environmental Change 73 (2022) 102474 Fig. 2. Percentage of EHCs and non-EHCs by category of conflict. The total number of cases reported is n = 3033. Note that one case can be only classified in one category of conflict. Pearson’s Chi-squared test results: Chi^2 = 226.3783; p < 0.001. Shapiro since the early 1980s: “companies can play as they move their or the absence of health impacts in the local population. In Polynesia, for poisons from one country to the next, trying to maximise sales before over 30 years, the French government conducted nuclear tests, and the their pesticides are banned again” (Weir and Schapiro, 1981, p. 22). For high levels of radiation fallout led to radiation-induced diseases instance, DBCP (a synthetic pesticide) was banned in 1979 in the US affecting local dwellers (EJAtlas, 2019e). Although the tests concluded, because of its proven effects of infertility in exposed workers. Yet, it the conflict continues, as the impact of contamination occurred years continued to be exported and used abroad until the 1990s (EJAtlas, after radiation diffused in the environment (Ruff, 2015). For years, 2016a; EJAtlas, 2016e). A systematic process is occurring in which people in Polynesia vacated polluted islands to escape radioactive companies accumulate wealth while costs are shifted to people and exposure by ingesting contaminated seafood. These are not direct nature (Kapp, 1971 [1950]). evictions as often happen in land acquisition conflicts (Dell’Angelo et al., 2020), but rather slow, violent displacements. The damage to 4.3. Project status natural resources because of pollution forces people to leave their ter­ ritories (Li and Pan, 2021). The EJAtlas registers the different stages of the conflictive project: Toxics can accumulate in the environment and people’s bodies, and proposed, planned, under construction, in operation or stopped. As vulnerabilities can be inherited across generations. Examples include noted in Fig. 4 [Project status], EHCs appear in a higher proportion the cases of DDT and DES transmission through breastfeeding (Smith, when the project is ‘in operation’ (54%) and lower proportion when it is 1999; Langston, 2010) or lead exposure in placenta (Rees and Fuller, ‘under construction’ (19%), ‘proposed’ (14%), or ‘planned’ (12%). 2020). Cases recorded in the EJAtlas show how actors mobilise to pro­ EHCs are generally associated with operative projects, where pol­ test specific impacts on new-borns and children. In China, villagers lutants can disperse into the community, causing negative health im­ protested lead-battery plants because children’s health had been pacts in the local population. There are, however, some exceptions. severely affected. Children in these villages had blood lead levels of 89,7 Conflicts that report health impacts in a project’s early phases (12%) can µg/dL, causing acute lead poisoning and damage in their nervous sys­ include the expansion of an ongoing project. An example would be the tems (EJAtlas, 2019g; EJAtlas, 2020c; EJAtlas, 2018b). Lead levels case of the Indigenous Wayuu communities mobilising to revoke a li­ above 5 µg/dL can affect the nervous system, behaviour, and intellectual cense granted by Colombia’s government to enlarge the Cerrejón mining development (Rees and Fuller, 2020). project (EJAtlas, 2019d). Since 1975, pollution and land dispossession have gradually impoverished these indigenous communities (EJAtlas, 5. Actors mobilising 2017a; Avilés, 2019). In 2011, the mine planned to increase coal extraction and alter the course of one of the remaining water sources Actors and groups participating in environmental conflicts reported (EJAtlas, 2019d). The Wayuu people organised in response to this in the EJAtlas are diverse and exhibit different scales of action (i.e., initiative. Their demands bolstered mining workers’ previous com­ local, regional or global). They range from local collective organisations plaints about poor working conditions and toxic exposure in quantities with a specific goal (e.g., a grassroots movement wanting to stop a far above legal standards (EJAtlas, 2017a). Although workers and mining project in their town) to transnational social movements to indigenous groups have distinct claims, they converge on denouncing transform broader structural power dynamics (e.g., an international the unhealthy and socioeconomic consequences of the coal mining NGO aiming to stop nuclear power plants worldwide). project (Avilés, 2019). Table 2 shows that EHCs appear more frequently in working class However, stopping a project does not guarantee non-toxic landscapes actors’ struggles. As it shows, from the total number of cases in which 5 G. Navas et al. Global Environmental Change 73 (2022) 102474 Fig. 3. Percentage of EHCs and non-EHCs by subcategory of conflict. A: Percentage of EHCs reported up to 100%. B: Percentage of EHCs reported up to 50%. The total number of cases reported is n = 3033. Note that one case can be classified in more than one category of conflict. ‘industrial workers’ mobilise, 71% are EHCs, for ‘waste pickers’ 68%, for participation in environmental conflicts. This result goes in line with ‘informal workers’ 58%, for ‘artisanal miners’ 56% and for ‘trade previous studies highlighting the role that working-class communities unions’ 55%. Moreover, for ‘discriminated groups’, 49% are EHCs and have played in fighting against toxic pollution and an unhealthy envi­ for ‘women collectives’ 46% are EHCs. When the actors previously ronment (Barca and Leonardi, 2018, Montrie, 2018). In Catalonia and mentioned mobilise, there is a statistically significant positive preva­ similar asbestos exposure cases in Italy (EJAtlas, 2015b) or Brazil lence of EHCs compared to the average of the EHCs in the entire sample (EJAtlas, 2017c), the conflict emerged as an occupational health (38%); therefore, negative health consequences determine their concern. Still, it was then extended to local dwellers, creating key cases 6 G. Navas et al. Global Environmental Change 73 (2022) 102474 Table 1 affected by toxic pollution (Bolados and Sánchez, 2017; Martínez- Percentage of EHCs per type of commodity. Column ‘Commodities involved in Sánchez, 2019). Concerned about the healthy future of their commu­ EHCs’ refers to the commodities as reported in the EJAtlas (separated by ‘;’). nities, they often organise in specific collectives such as ‘Women of the Column ‘Percentage of EHCs per type of commodity’ displays, for each com­ Zones of Sacrifice in Resistance’ in Chile (EJAtlas, 2020a) or ‘Mothers of modity, the percentage of cases that are EHCs. Note that more than one com­ Ituizangó’ in Argentina (EJAtlas, 2016f). modity can be involved in one conflict. Surprisingly, for conflicts involving ‘scientists and other professional Commodities involved in EHCs Percentage of EHCs per groups’ (i.e., epidemiologists, doctors, lawyers) 41% are EHCs. There­ type of commodity fore, health impacts do not determine their involvement in environ­ Asbestos 90%− 100% mental conflict. However, they play a key role in supporting local Recycled metals; Pesticides 80%–89% communities’ claims when involved. Medical scientists have been Diamonds; Industrial waste; Chemical products 70%–79% essential in producing evidence linking toxic exposure and health im­ Lead; E-waste; Steel; Manufactured products 60%–69% Domestic waste; Cotton; Sugar; Flowers; Rare 50%–59% pacts in several cases. Often, these scientists rely on data previously metals; Shrimps; Uranium, Zinc recorded by the community through community- based research Rice; Soybeans; Cement; Iron ore; Crude oil; Fish; 40%–49% (Brown, 1992). This is the case of ‘Mothers of Ituizangó’, who used Aluminium/bauxite; Fruits /Vegetables; Titanium cartography to link the number of ill children’s houses and the nearness ores; Coal Eucalyptus; Corn; Pine; Gold; Cellulose; Ethanol; 30%–39% of fumigated plantations with glyphosate (Arancibia and Motta, 2019). Wheat; Palm oil; Rubber; Water; Silver; Live In this case, alliances with health scientists were crucial to back up animals; Timber; Copper; Natural gas; Sand communities’ findings and initiate legal action to claim reparations and gravel; Land secure the banning of glyphosate (EJAtlas, 2016f). Scientists are some­ Ecosystem services; Electricity; Carbon offsets; 20%–29% times preventively involved in many other kinds of conflicts, e.g., as Meat; Biological resources; Tourism services; Charcoal hydrogeologists advising communities confronting open cast mining Lithium; Asphalt below 20% (Conde, 2014). 6. Reaction phase and success rate of working-class environmentalism. On the contrary, when ‘pastoralists’ and ‘recreational users’ mobi­ Mobilising actors can either claim reparations once impacts are felt lise, the percentage of EHCs is 26% and 22% respectively, meaning that or act preventively before damages occur. As Fig. 5 [Reaction phase] negative health consequences do not determine their participation in shows, EHCs predominate in cases when social responses organise environmental conflicts. Land-use, aesthetic, and entertainment could around reparations (69%) and are less prevalent in preventive phases be a stronger driver of mobilisation. For the rest of the actors listed in (16%). Table 2 there is no statistically significant difference from the whole The fact that EHCs are more often organised ‘for reparations’ can be dataset’s average. explained because of the slow violence of toxic pollution. Industrially Furthermore, from the total of cases in which women collectives induced chronic diseases—including arsenic (EJAtlas, 2016g) and cad­ participate, 46% are EHCs. As some scholars have shown, women do not mium contamination (EJAtlas, 2016h)— can take a long time to be only mobilise because they are exposed in their working environments publicly acknowledged. It takes even more time for mobilisation to but because they are often responsible for caring for men and children Fig. 4. Percentage of EHCs and non-EHCs by project status. Total number of cases reported n = 3033. Pearson’s Chi-squared test results: Chi^2 = 361.1663; p < 0.001. 7 G. Navas et al. Global Environmental Change 73 (2022) 102474 Table 2 Percentage of EHCs across groups of actors mobilising. Column ‘Actor mobilising’ refers to the different groups mobilising as reported in the EJAtlas. Column ‘Total cases’ refers to the total number of cases reporting that the specified group mobilises. Columns ‘EHCs’ refer to the total number of cases in which the specified group mobilises in EHCs. Column ‘Frequency of EHCs’ refers to the percentage of EHCs in which each actor mobilises. Test binomial and p-value columns report the statistic of the binomial test and the p-value of that test, respectively. Significant estimates have a p-value below 0.0025 and are highlighted by asterisks. This number is obtained after using the Bonferroni correction αBONFERRONI = αTOT/nc, where αTOT is equal to 5% (i.e. 0.05) and nc is equal to the number of hypotheses tested (20). Note that one actor mobilising can be involved in more than one conflict, then the sum of the column ‘Total cases’ or ‘EHCs’ is higher than the EJAtlas total number of cases (n = 3033) or EHCs (=1157), respectively. occur. themselves to their toxic reality (Lora-Wainwright, 2017) or might not For instance, in Japan’s Minamata Bay, from 1932 to 1968, dwellers join in protest because they depend economically on the activity that reported muscle weakness, visual problems, and paralysis (EJAtlas, makes them ill (EJAtlas, 2016c). 2016b; Harada, 1995). In response, community-based research was Finally, ‘failure’ and ‘success’, as reported in the EJAtlas, refer to carried out to identify possible explanations. The cause became public positive and negative conflict outcomes from the perspective of mobi­ years later. For 35 years, Chisso Corporation Factory released methyl­ lising actors. For instance, the ‘cancelation of a project’, ‘compensation’, mercury (MeHg) in the bay and, consequently, marine food ingested by the ‘strengthening social networks’, the ‘cleaning up of an existing site’, locals was contaminated (Harada, 1995). Social protests occurred ‘for or the ‘relocation of affected communities’ have been referred to as a reparations’. Through legal action, affected people demanded compen­ ‘success’ (Özkaynak et al., 2021; Hess and Satcher, 2019; Scheidel et al., sation and decontamination of the bay. By 2011, some people had 2020). We see from EHCs that when pollution and health consequences received compensation, but many others had died waiting for it (EJAt­ are widespread among communities and environments, there is a low las, 2016b). chance for reparation and decontamination. What does success in The time lag between the release of harmful substances in the environmental justice mean in EHCs? environment and their manifestation as illness in people’s bodies makes In all of the EJAtlas cases (n = 3033), 1528 cases are deemed as EHCs a complex challenge (Ahmann, 2018). When, to what extent, and ‘failures’, 1017 as ‘not sure’, and 488 as ‘successes’. When comparing to whom must the slow violence of toxic pollution be made visible to EHCs vs non-EHCs, there is a higher proportion of EHCs labelled as create resistance? As Davies (2019) states, toxic pollution is not invisible failures (47%) and a lower proportion labelled a success (24%) [see to all. Those directly experiencing it can see it, smell it, and feel it in Fig. 6, Success rate]. This result is not surprising, possibly due to pol­ their daily lives. However, because of structural inequalities, their risks lution’s long-term (and often irreversible) effects, which require com­ and perceptions do not count (at least, not enough) for political action to plex and long-lasting remediation processes and lengthy legal battles to be taken. achieve compensation (Bohme, 2015; EJAtlas, 2016a). Latent conflicts, (or conflicts where there is no resistance organised) In some cases, EJAtlas contributors have declared success when become particularly relevant in this analysis. ‘Flammable’ is an Argen­ monitoring technologies help in reducing pollution, even when the tine shantytown surrounded by a petrochemical compound (EJAtlas, project is still operating (EJAtlas, 2015c; EJAtlas, 2016d; EJAtlas, 2017b). Despite severe acute and chronic health impacts linked to 2014b) or because plans to address local health and environmental pollution, there is barely any local organising. Confusion and uncer­ problems have been carried out (EJAtlas, 2015d; EJAtlas, 2015c; tainty about pollution sources are a main cause of de-mobilisation EJAtlas, 2016d; EJAtlas, 2014b). In keeping with Hess and Satcher (Auyero and Swistun, 2009). Therefore, when evidence of slow (2019), monetary compensation is also deemed as a success (EJAtlas, violence surfaces, it does not imply that protests will rise. Scholars have 2015f). But others contest this mechanism, alleging that ‘no amount of shown that pollution and suffering are sometimes normalized and even money can compensate for the health ailments suffered’ (EJAtlas, accepted (Neumann, 2016; Verbeek, 2020). People often resign 2015g). Instead, instilling within the community a sense of justice, 8 G. Navas et al. Global Environmental Change 73 (2022) 102474 Fig. 5. Percentage of EHCs vs. non-EHCs by reaction phase. Total number of cases reported n = 3033. Pearson’s Chi-squared test results: Chi^2 = 479.5917; p < 0.001. Fig. 6. Percentage of EHCs vs. non-EHCs by outcome. Pearson’s Chi-squared test results: Chi^2 = 107.1548; p < 0.001. recognising victims, and ensuring that toxic environments will not be a concern for local communities, as witnessed in the Vieques case in created again is the true success (ídem). Puerto Rico, where US Navy practices contaminated the environment Even when the project is stopped, health consequences could remain (EJAtlas, 2014a). Despite efforts to recover environmentally degraded 9 G. Navas et al. Global Environmental Change 73 (2022) 102474 and polluted areas, some persistent pollutants are almost impossible to consequences, asbestos’ production and use are banned in some coun­ clean (EJAtlas, 2019h; EJAtlas, 2015e; EJAtlas, 2021). tries, but not in others. Even in countries where asbestos is banned, neighbours keep fighting to withdraw asbestos from all residential and 7. Discussion and concluding remarks industrial buildings that may still contain it. Hence, an alliance between neighbours and workers, who have suffered asbestos-induced ailments Healthy environments are fundamental to the full enjoyment of life. across countries, would effectively achieve an asbestos-free future When they are threatened, collective actions emerge in response, and around the world. environmental conflicts can arise around the globe (Martinez-Alier, In the same line, future research could explore how environmental 2021). In this paper we analysed a global database of 3,033 environ­ justice narratives and struggles can help to develop a new forms of social mental conflicts to understand how and why environmental conflicts and community unionism. These partnerships will lead to a just transi­ reporting health impacts (or ‘EHCs’) differ from those that do not report tion that considers claims of other mobilising groups (e.g., indigenous health impacts (non-EHCs). people and traditional communities) and future generations as part of We look at environmental conflict patterns in which health is being their struggle for an ecologically sound and socially fair future. If a put at risk by different economic activities and identify what aspects healthy and just world is desirable, environmental movements need (and categories from the EJAtlas) EHCs differ from non-EHCs. Our data working class communities, and workers need environmentalists. An show that industrial activities, waste management and nuclear projects EHC-related research agenda can analyse how worker communities’ are more conducive to EHCs (vs non-EHCs). As we know, industrial leadership can support collective actions and bring disparate mobilising activities use, produce, and release hazardous pollutants in the envi­ actors (i.e., neighbours, farmers, indigenous groups) together and to the ronment and are a major source of toxic pollution worldwide (Guillem- fore of environmental movements. Llobat and Nieto-Galan, 2020; Chastagneret, 2018). Some environ­ Furthermore, there is an urgent need for the global environmental mental movements, such as those in Japan, developed in the 1950s due justice movement to share knowledge about toxic chemicals proven to to industrial pollution (McKean, 1981). be noxious among countries with weaker regulations systems and Empirical cases recorded in the EJAtlas describe how toxic pollution strengthen transnational networks. Why are some toxic substances is lived (and survived) by workers and residents across countries banned in some countries but not in others? How can collective action (EJAtlas, 2019f; EJAtlas, 2018a; EJAtlas, 2020a). For instance, in shape regulation systems for a toxic pollution-free future? Quintero-Puchuncaví (Chile), urban dwellers living near the Industrial Another important result from our analysis is that EHCs manifest Complex Ventanas confront pollution daily in their homes, schools, more frequently through demands for reparations and in reaction to the gardens and workplaces (EJAtlas, 2020a). The Complex holds several unhealthy consequences of economic activities, and less frequently as facilities, including mineral processing plants, thermal power plants, preventive efforts targeting new, potentially harmful, businesses. As and metal refineries, involving 17 different companies. The place is noted from our results, mobilising actors tend to mobilise when known as a ‘sacrifice zone’ - an area where pollution and contamination conflictive projects are already operating or have operated in the past (i. are so high that nature and the people living there have been squeezed e., Minamata Bay in Japan), but infrequently when the projects are out for the sake of economic development (Lerner, 2010; Bolados and planned (i.e., Indigenous Wayuú in Colombia). In hand with Nixon Sánchez, 2017). ‘Sacrifice zones’ are inhabited by ‘sacrificed bodies’ (2011), we could argue that slow violence becomes visible depending on who live and work surrounded by toxic pollution (Bullard, 1993; Barca, the temporal and geographical dispersion of harmful contaminants, thus 2014). In Quintero-Puchuncaví, slowly poisoned workers were deemed influencing how the affected people respond to it. ‘green men’ [hombres verdes] because their skin became green through Scheidel et al. (2020) have concluded that mobilisation in preventive the high levels of lead, arsenic, and copper in their bodies (Tironi et al., phases (before the project starts operation) combined with diversifica­ 2018). Since the early 1990s, environmentalists, workers, and women tion of protest actions—and the use of litigation strategies—can increase collectives, among other actors, have organised to demand a right to a the probability of halting a project and thus the probability for a success healthy environment and the reduction of toxic pollution (EJAtlas, of environmental justice. Our data suggest that the time lag between the 2020a). The struggle continues nowadays. One key aspect of EHCs start of a particular economic activity and the emergence of its effects on regarding toxic pollution is its persistence affecting present and future people’s health can affect the timing of social responses. However, it is generations. The intergenerational environmental justice aspect be­ important to note that beyond stopping a project, ‘success’ in environ­ comes key in EHCs. mental justice is difficult to define (Özkaynak et al., 2021). The low rate Another finding of this research is that health issues are key concerns of success in EHCs could be explained because of the irreversibility and in working class communities (both informal and industrial). In EHCs persistence of damages, even when the source of pollution stops (or the —such as in asbestos-related conflicts—workers are sometimes the first conflictive project halts). to perceive and suffer the effects of toxic pollution in working envi­ Impacts of toxic pollution at the most local scale (the body) are ronments and their own and their families’ bodies. This result supports a embedded in a global economic system that is still requiring continuous ‘working-class environmentalism’ pattern in which worker communities resource extraction, materials processing, and waste disposal, constantly and environmentalists struggle for occupational health and environ­ exposing people to dangerous health conditions, and producing ‘zones mental issues (Foster, 1993; Barca, 2012a; Barca, 2012b; Montrie, 2018; and bodies of sacrifice’ (Tironi et al., 2018). The inattention to slow and Liu, 2021). toxic violence leads to thousands of people slowly dying every year, As noted by previous scholars, environmentalists’ struggles cannot often the poorest and most vulnerable (Landrigan et al., 2018). Local be separate from workers’ struggles (Bell, 2020). For this reason, we see struggles occurring globally, such as those reported in this paper, should the need for a political re-composition of environmentalists and workers be considered, and understood as an urgent call for a healthier and more regarding global environmental health justice matters. Workers have just world. Past and present exposures are conditioning the future. pioneered struggles against toxic substances. Their achievements and support could be used to empower neighbours and local communities Author contribution statement struggling against similar forms of toxic pollution or noxious substance (Barca and Leonardi, 2018) . Asbestos-related conflicts are a good Grettel Navas led the design and writing of the study. Giacomo example here. Asbestos’s effects have a long latency period, epitomising D’Alisa has supported in the data curation and validation. Joan Martínez the slow unfolding violence of toxic pollution. Alier co-developed the EJAtlas platform and secured funding for this However, working-class communities have been actively rendering research. All authors contributed to interpretation of results, writing, its slow violence visible (Trimbur, 2020). Despite its lethal review and editing of the manuscript. 10 G. Navas et al. Global Environmental Change 73 (2022) 102474 Declaration of Competing Interest Butt, N., Lambrick, F., Menton, M., Renwick, A., 2019. The supply chain of violence. Nat. Sustain. 2 (8), 742–747. Carson, R., 1962. Silent Spring. Penguin, New Jersey. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial Chastagneret, G., 2018. Humos y sangre. Protestas en la cuenca de las Piritas y masacre interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence en Riotinto. Hispania Nova 1877–1890. https://doi.org/10.20318/hn.2019.4534. the work reported in this paper. Chertkovskaya, E., Paulsson, A., 2021. Countering corporate violence: Degrowth, ecosocialism and organising beyond the destructive forces of capitalism. Organization 28 (3), 405–425. Acknowledgements Cone, M., 2007. Silent Snow: The Slow Poisoning of the Arctic. Grove Atlantic, New York. Davies, T., 2018. Toxic Space and Time: Slow Violence, Necropolitics, and Petrochemical Authors are grateful to Isabelle Anguelovski, Stefania Barca and Pollution. Ann. Am. Assoc. Geogr. 108, 1537–1553. anonymous reviewers for feedback provided on earlier versions of this Davies, T., 2019. Slow violence and toxic geographies: ‘Out of sight’ to whom? Environ. paper. Grettel Navas and Joan Martínez-Alier acknowledge support from Plan. C Polit. Sp. 1–19. Del Bene, D., Scheidel, A., Temper, L., 2018. More dams, more violence? A global the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant ENVJustice (No. analysis on resistances and repression around conflictive dams through co-produced 695446) and to the International Balzan Prize Foundation. Giacomo knowledge. Sustain. Sci. 13 (3), 617–633. D’Alisa’s research benefited from the financial support from the Portu­ Dell’Angelo, J., Navas, G., Witteman, M., D’Alisa, G., Scheidel, A., Temper, L., 2020. Commons grabbing and agribusiness : Violence, resistance and social mobilization. guese Foundation for the Science and Technology (FCT) through the Ecol. Econ. 2021;184:107004 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107004. Strategic Project (UID/SOC/50012/2019). We thank Nicolás Navarrete Demaria, F., D’Alisa, G., 2013. Dispossession and contamination strategies for capital and Michele Staiano for statistical support, and Arielle Landau for accumulation in the waste market. Lo Squaderno: Explorations in Space and Society 29, 37–39. copyediting. Falcone, P.M., D’Alisa, G., Germani, A.R., Morone, P., 2020. When all seemed lost. A social network analysis of the waste-related environmental movement in Campania, References Italy. Polit. 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