Visualizing the limits to growth and pollution exposure risk in the neoliberal nexus

Keywords: Critical Geography, Political Ecology, Green Criminology, GIS, Water-Energy-Food Nexus
Abstract Type: Poster Abstract

Abstract

While the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has become a key approach for creating sustainability management plans for complex socio-ecological systems, major inefficiencies persist thus retarding management goals. Key gaps include a need for linkages between macro to micro-scale processes, critical theoretical approaches, and investigation of the local outcomes of industry. As a primary step in a broader case study to fill these gaps, this research employs environmental justice GIS methods to delineate risk zones for exposure to water pollution resulting from nexus metabolism in a region of long-term industrialization – Kern County, CA. Here, the nexus is conceptualized as the intersections of industrial agriculture, fossil fuel development, and water with ecological Marxism and related limits to economic growth providing the basis for theoretical assumptions. Risk buffer zones were created around fossil fuel development wells and agricultural lands that receive the highest amounts of pesticides according to crop type. Socio-demographic information within census tracts in the risk zones provide visualization of areas representing environmental injustice risk. To test the validity of the risk zones and the theoretical assumptions, Environmental Working Group’s tap water quality database was used to examine levels of chemicals related to nexus industries within and outside of the vicinity of the risk zones. Results show that, while several chemicals (arsenic, Chromium-6, HAA9, Total Trihalomethanes, 1,2,3-TCP, nitrate) related to nexus industries throughout the valley portion of the county far exceed safety thresholds, levels for most of these chemicals are significantly higher within the risk zones and vary according to industry.