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From Risk to Vulnerability: Living through Long Covid

All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.

Marx and Engel, the Communist Manifesto

When my world evaporated into exhaustion with Long Covid, I found myself pondering Marshall Berman’s (1988) insight from his eponymous book, “To be modern is to find ourselves in an environment that promises us adventure, power, joy, growth, transformation of ourselves and the world—and at the same time, that threatens to destroy everything we have, everything we know, everything we are” (15).  While modernity brought exhilarating emancipation of education, movement, and identity, it also eroded collective safety nets. Albeit “freed” from the constraints of custom, individuals became vulnerable in new ways to accidents, crashes, hazards, or disasters—be they natural, technological, economic. . . or viral.  As public health authorities unfurled confusing, if not erratic, directives about mask mandates and vaccination priorities over the last two years, we learned once again how utterly dependent our lives are to opaque bureaucratic institutions and a standardized “utopia of rules” (Graeber 2015).  In these contexts, things tend to fall apart (Achebe 1959).  

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Adaptation—Genuine and Spurious

The latest Environment and Society featured article is now available! This month’s article—”Adaptation—Genuine and Spurious: Demystifying Adaptation Processes in Relation to Climate Change”—comes from Volume 1 (2010). In their article, Thomas F. Thornton and Nadia Manasfi critically examine the concept of human adaptation by dividing it into eight fundamental processes and viewing each in a broad cultural, ecological, and evolutionary context. They focus their assessment especially on northern indigenous peoples, who exist at the edges of present-day climate governance frameworks but at the center of increasingly acute climate stress.

Visit the featured article page to download your copy of the article today before it’s gone! A new article is featured every month.

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Systematic Review of Recent Social Indicator Efforts in US Coastal and Ocean Ecosystems (2000–2016)

The latest Environment and Society featured article is now available! This month’s article—”Systematic Review of Recent Social Indicator Efforts in US Coastal and Ocean Ecosystems (2000–2016)”—comes from Volume 8 (2017). In their article, Victoria C. Ramenzoni and David Yoskowitz discuss the major rationale underpinning governmental efforts, after Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina, to quantify social impacts, resilience, and community adaptation , as well as the limitations and conflicts encountered in transitioning research to policy and application

Visit the featured article page to download your copy of the article today before it’s gone! A new article is featured every month.

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New Featured Article!: “Climate Changing Small Islands”

The latest Environment and Society featured article is now available! This month’s article, “Climate Changing Small Islands: Considering Social Science and the Production of Island Vulnerability and Opportunity,” comes from Volume 1 (2010). In her article, Amelia Moore argues that climate change has influenced the way in which small island nations are viewed and understood by the international climate community.

Visit the featured article page to download your copy of the article today before it’s gone! A new article is featured every month.