Health risk perception and shale development in the UK and US
Harthorn, Barbara (University of California. Department of Anthropology)
Halcomb, Laura (University of California. Department of Sociology)
Partridge, Tristan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Thomas, Merryn (Cardiff University. School of Psychology)
Enders, Catherine (University of California)
Pidgeon, Nick (Cardiff University. School of Psychology)

Data:	2019
Resum:	In this paper, we examine discourse in public deliberations in pre-development locales in the UK and US about advantages and disadvantages of future shale development ('fracking'). We aimed to understand how people anticipate potential health effects, broadly construed, of environmental toxicity and disturbance in the context of planned, but not yet implemented, energy development. In day-long deliberations with small, diverse groups in two cities in each country (London, Cardiff in the UK; Los Angeles, Santa Barbara in the US), participants discussed impacts on health and well-being using three main rubrics: 'It's money or health', 'Why take chances?' and 'Beyond the tipping point'. Throughout, participants framed health as an intrinsically moral issue, with collective responsibility as a dominant normative frame. We identify the concept of compound risk to underscore effects of multiple risks and hazards on people's sensibilities about anticipated future health and environmental harm. The findings demonstrate how and why diverse publics in pre-impact sites in both countries saw shale extraction as high stakes development that poses significant, often unacceptable, risks to human and environmental health and well-being. Risks extended beyond toxicity to broad threats to health, including, for some, the end of life as we know it on the planet. Overall, participants' discussions of health were more connected to social categories and their underlying moral principles than to technological details. This work contributes evidence of blurred boundaries between environment and health as well as the importance people place on social risks in the context of proposed energy system change.
Ajuts:	European Commission 640715 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MDM-2015-0552
Nota:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552
Drets:	Tots els drets reservats.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Matèria:	Health risk perception ; Shale development ; Fracking ; Deliberation ; Environmental and bodily health ; Social risk
Publicat a:	Health, risk & society, Vol. 21, Issue 1-2 (April 2019) , p. 35-56, ISSN 1469-8331

DOI: 10.1080/13698575.2019.1601685

Postprint 45 p, 2.2 MB

El registre apareix a les col·leccions:
Documents de recerca > Documents dels grups de recerca de la UAB > Centres i grups de recerca (producció científica) > Ciències > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Articles de recerca
Articles > Articles publicats