political activism

This long-term ethnographic project focuses on documenting, describing, and analyzing the relationships between cultural and environmental change processes in Bradford County, Pennsylvania from pre-European settlement (1500's) to today. Understanding the ways in which past changes redistributed material and social power are critical to interpreting the social, economic, political, and land use changes taking place in the 21st Century as a result of Marcellus shale gas developments, or any other large scale economic development activities.

The scientific study of environmental pollution has undergone two major shifts in the recent decades. On one hand, local volunteer groups are increasingly involved in gathering evidence of pollution in their communities. By participating in knowledge production, these “citizen science” groups can gain legitimacy amongst scientific experts, and open doors to more democratic decision-making with regulators.