Activity Time! (Part 1: Key Words)
Part 1: In class, you've been discussing broader ecologies of climate change, or issues that may not initially seem related to climate change, but are consequences and results of climate issues. Take a moment to brainstorm some keywords or subject terms that come to mind when you think about climate-related issues or environmental justice.
Part 2: Around the room, you'll notice some books from the library collections. Take a few minutes to look through some of these titles and consider other keywords or subject terms that you might use to describe these resources.
When you've come up with a few terms, enter them here!:
Catalogs: Learn to search library catalogs effectively to locate books and other relevant materials
Tertiary Sources: General References
Tertiary sources might include encyclopedias, indexes, dictionaries, or other broader references sources that can help get you started with research! These can be useful when you need ideas for a new research topic, a place to find additional sources, or general background on a topic of interest.
Routledge Handbook of Environmental JusticePublication Date: Routledge, 2017
Climate Change: an encyclopedia of science and history by
This book provides a holistic consideration of climate change that goes beyond pure science, fleshing out the discussion by considering cultural, historical, and policy-driven aspects of this important issue. * Contributions from more than 100 experts * Excerpts from reports from international organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) * Transcripts of speeches from world leaders on the climate change issue * Sidebars on the "climate-history connection" explore the possible links between climate and key events through history, such as the Classical Maya collapse * Essential, annotated primary sources * Quotes from policy makers, scientists, eyewitnesses to climate change, and social and cultural leaders
ISBN: 1598847627Publication Date: 2013-01-01
Routledge International Handbook of Contemporary RacismsPublication Date: Routledge, 2020
Library Guides & Subject Headings
Useful Library Guides:
Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice in the US
Biocultural Diversity & Conservation
International & U.S. Statistics
Subject Headings:
Environmental Conditions>Social aspects
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources include scholarly articles, periodicals, dissertations and theses, and other sources that interpret and analyze primary source information or synthesize existing studies. Below are some databases where you can begin your search.
Scholarly articles:
News Sources/Media:
Activity Time! (Part 2: Information Bias, Privilege & Authority)
When you write a research paper or begin searching for information, it's important to draw in a wide variety of sources. This shows your credibility as a researcher, demonstrates that you are able to synthesize many perspectives on a topic, and helps you to provide readers with a more comprehensive understanding of certain subject. Particularly when you are writing about a social or political issue, it's important to consider information bias and authority in the sources you use to inform your work.
Step 1: For this activity, you will work in a group to evaluate and analyze several scholarly articles, public news sources, and other materials discussing food security from different perspectives. Take some time to do a close reading of these articles and ask a few evaluation questions:
-What is the main argument of the article? Who is the audience? Whose views are represented? Is the author credible or an authority on the topic? What kind of language is used?
- “Come with us for a week, for a month, and see how much food lasts for you:” A Qualitative Exploration of Food Insecurity in East Harlem, New York City (Nieves et al. 2022)
- S.A. Pinpoints Problems with Petitions, Food Insecurity (Psahos 2021)
- Low-Income Families Brace for End of Extra Food Stamp Benefits Low-Income Families Brace for End of Extra Food Stamp Benefits (Qiu 2023)
- Republicans aim to close food stamps 'loophole' costing taxpayers billions (Elkind 2023)
- When ‘Gentrification’ Isn’t About Housing (Staley 2018)
- We Need to Talk About Food Gentrification (Prasertong 2022)
- Food Insecurity among College Students (Wikipedia)
- 2022-2023 Food Crisis (Wikipedia)
Step 2: Use this Google JamBoard to write some observations, quotes, terms, ideas, etc. that you took away from the articles you read.
Giving Credit & Citation Justice
Just as it's important to draw on information from a variety of sources in your research, it's also important to consider who you're citing in your work. Citation matters because it shows your credibility as a researcher, gives credit to others in your field, and elevates the voices of other researchers contributing to a particular body of work.
To effectively practice citation, it's important to consider citation justice, or the act of citing authors based on identify to uplift marginalized voices with the knowledge that citation is used as a form of power in a patriarchal society based on white supremacy. To practice citation justice, here are a few things to consider:
- Ask yourself: Whose research is this? Whose interests does it serve? Who is framing its scope? How is this research disseminated?
- If there is a gap in information or a particular voice missing from your references, address that gap in your writing!
- Practice "auditing": when you have compiled a list of references, take time to evaluate the range of authors or creators you cite in your research.
Cornell has many citation tools and guides to help you!
ZoteroBib is a basic citation generator to help you create a works cited list.
Our subject guides on citation styles are a great reference depending on the citation style you will use in your work.
For additional help with citation format, in-text citations, and related information, Excelsior Writing Lab is an excellent online resource where you can find more information about citation.
Further Reading
Flint Fights Back by ISBN: 9780262536868Publication Date: 2019-05-07In Flint Fights Back, Benjamin Pauli examines the water crisis and the political activism that it inspired, arguing that Flint's struggle for safe and affordable water was part of a broader struggle for democracy.
Fresh Banana Leaves by ISBN: 9781623176051Publication Date: 2022-01-18An Indigenous environmental scientist breaks down why western conservationism isn't working--and offers Indigenous models informed by case studies, personal stories, and family histories that center the voices of Latin American women and land protectors.
The $16 Taco by ISBN: 9780295749273Publication Date: 2021-09-01Drawing on extensive fieldwork, geographer Pascale Joassart-Marcelli traces the transformation of three urban San Diego neighborhoods whose foodscapes are shifting from serving the needs of longtime minoritized residents who face limited food access to pleasing the tastes of wealthier and whiter newcomers. The $16 Taco illustrates how food can both emplace and displace immigrants, shedding light on the larger process of gentrification and the emotional, cultural, economic, and physical displacement it produces.
Tropic of Chaos by ISBN: 9781568586007Publication Date: 2011-06-28In Tropic of Chaos, investigative journalist Christian Parenti travels along the front lines of this gathering catastrophe--the belt of economically and politically battered postcolonial nations and war zones girding the planet's midlatitudes.
The Media Commons by ISBN: 9780252041037Publication Date: 2017-03-29As the author shows, today's complex, integrated media networks shape, frame, and deliver many of our underlying ideas about the environment. Increasingly--and ominously--individuals and communities experience these ideas not only in the developed world but in the increasingly consumption-oriented Global South.
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Land Acknowledgement
Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' people, past and present, to these lands and waters.
This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' leadership.