Maxwell Keely, Kiessling Brittany, Buckley Jenifer
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States of America.
Oak Ridge Institute for Science & Education Research Participant at EPA, United States of America.
Environ Res Lett. 2018 Aug 16;13(8). doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/aad74b.
Environmental cleanup may involve decontaminating an area affected by a radiological release, containing an oil spill, or remediating a Superfund site or brownfield. It is a key component of how environmental agencies work to protect public health and the environment. There are many publications on technical protocols for cleanup and waste disposal. Additionally, there has been much social science work on the social problems of environmental contamination. However, social science research on cleanup itself has been much more scattered across disciplines and incidents. To date, there has not been a comprehensive review of the social factors that affect cleanup processes and outcomes. Such social factors may include cultural worldviews that shape stakeholder perspectives on 'how clean is clean' and social relationships among stakeholders. This article fills this gap by providing an interdisciplinary literature review of the social science of environmental cleanup. Three principal themes emerged from the 97 articles that met selection criteria: effects on cleanup worker health, public engagement and decision-making, and societal benefits of cleaned-up sites. The review points to areas where further research is needed. For example, there is a lack of mixed methods and interdisciplinary engagement within the literature. Additionally, few articles compare cleanup situations. There is also a need for further investigation into specific social science topics such as labor practices, gender, race, and power relationships. To address these gaps, we argue for the development of a comprehensive framework or model as well as the exploration of broader questions complicating cleanups. Overall, this area of research has significant potential to benefit environmental cleanup policy and practice worldwide, while advancing social theory about people and the environment.
环境清理可能涉及对受放射性物质泄漏影响的区域进行去污、控制石油泄漏，或对超级基金场地或棕地进行修复。它是环境机构致力于保护公众健康和环境的关键组成部分。关于清理和废物处置技术协议的出版物众多。此外，在环境污染的社会问题方面也有许多社会科学研究。然而，关于清理本身的社会科学研究在学科和事件上分布得更为零散。迄今为止，尚未对影响清理过程和结果的社会因素进行全面综述。此类社会因素可能包括塑造利益相关者对“多干净才算干净”观点的文化世界观以及利益相关者之间的社会关系。本文通过提供对环境清理社会科学的跨学科文献综述来填补这一空白。从符合选择标准的97篇文章中出现了三个主要主题：对清理工人健康的影响、公众参与和决策，以及清理后场地的社会效益。该综述指出了需要进一步研究的领域。例如，文献中缺乏混合方法和跨学科参与。此外，很少有文章比较清理情况。还需要对劳动实践、性别、种族和权力关系等特定社会科学主题进行进一步调查。为了弥补这些差距，我们主张开发一个全面的框架或模型，并探索使清理工作复杂化的更广泛问题。总体而言，这一研究领域有巨大潜力使全球环境清理政策和实践受益，同时推进关于人与环境的社会理论。
