When environmental health problems arise in a community, policymakers                  must be able to reconcile the first-hand experience of local residents with                  recommendations by scientists. In this highly original look at environmental health                  policymaking, Jason Corburn shows the ways that local knowledge can be combined with                  professional techniques to achieve better solutions for environmental health                  problems. He traces the efforts of a low-income community in Brooklyn to deal with                  environmental health problems in its midst and offers a framework for understanding                  "street science" -- decision making that draws on community knowledge and                  contributes to environmental justice.Like many other low-income urban communities,                  the Greenpoint/Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn suffers more than its share of                  environmental problems, with a concentration of polluting facilities and elevated                  levels of localized air pollutants. Corburn looks at four instances of street                  science in Greenpoint/Williamsburg, where community members and professionals                  combined forces to address the risks from subsistence fishing from the polluted East                  River, the asthma epidemic in the Latino community, childhood lead poisoning, and                  local sources of air pollution. These episodes highlight both the successes and the                  limits of street science and demonstrate ways residents can establish their own                  credibility when working with scientists. Street science, Corburn argues, does not                  devalue science; it revalues other kinds of information and democratizes the inquiry                  and decision making processes.

Street Science: Community Knowledge and Environmental Health Justice (Urban and Industrial Environments) PDF

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