Under kategorien Contemporary Criminology presenterer fire ulike fagfolk sine bidrag om grønn kriminologi og forskning innen dette feltet:
- Nigel South (University of Essex, UK): An introduction to developments in the Greening of Criminology
This presentation will briefly introduce the growing field of Green Criminology, situating it within the long-standing criminological investigation of corporate, state and organised crime violations of the environment and then in the development of greater environmental awareness in both public discourse as well as in the natural and social sciences. Following several pioneering contributions, outlining what a green criminology might encompass, the subject area is now represented in quite a substantial literature which has incorporated inter-disciplinary perspectives and also generated new debates. This presentation will highlight some features of this history and lay foundations for other presentations in the session.
- Reece Walters (The Open University, UK): Green crimes and air pollution
The air we breath is contaminated, polluted and in some instances, toxic. The very substance that is essential for our existence is also responsible for widespread death and injury. The World Health Organisation estimates that air pollution causes the annual premature death of two million people worldwide (WHO, 2009). The majority of deaths include respiratory infections, heart disease and lung cancer – all accelerated by, or the direct result of, human-made air pollution. This paper explores the negative effects of air pollutants within a framework of ‘eco-crime’ and Green Criminology. Using original data on air pollution infringements, it critically examines the shortcomings with existing mechanisms of air pollution control, regulation and enforcement. In doing so, it identifies how Criminology must continue to push new boundaries and engage with new horizons with emerging harmful acts of both local and global concern.
- Ragnhild Sollund (NOVA Institute, Norway): Expressions of speciesism – individual harm and systemic exploitation
No human being can go through life unaffected by other animals. The predominant basis for this contact is organised around humans’ consumption of the other animals which surround us, and human beings’ “needs”. Animal consumption in all respects, for example of animals transformed to “meat”, animals as “fur”, animals as tools (“lab animals”), or animals as objects for entertainment, is encouraged and legitimated by religious and cultural heritage, in which speciesism is central. In placing humans in the centre of and above nature, rather than as part of it, humans entitle to themselves the right to use and abuse other species. In this paper I elaborate on and discuss speciesism both as ideology and practice through perspectives which have been applied to understand human violence against other humans, such as Sykes’ and Matzas’ techniques of neutralization. Another side of the relationship between humans and other non- human animals may constitute a paradox and is related to the practice of ‘pet’-keeping. The pet industry has shown an enormous increase over the past few years, something which could imply an increased respect for other animals. However, this practice entails that millions of animals are killed each year if they fail to fill their owners’ expectations. The practice of keeping companion animals also involves trafficking of endangered species, particularly parrots, entailing the death of 75 % of the victims during transport, despite CITES conventions.
- Tanya Wyatt (University of Kent, UK): The illegal charcoal trade in the Cardamom Mountains of southwest Cambodia
The illegal charcoal trade is a green crime that devastates the environment, but as with other crimes against nature also has not been thoroughly examined by the criminological community. The production and use of charcoal takes place around the world as will be described at the beginning of this paper. It is the fuel for cooking and heating that many rural and urban people are dependent upon and which contributes to the deforestation, desertification and habitat loss of endangered species and other wildlife. This, too, is the case in Cambodia where data gathered from an ongoing cooperative effort between the non-governmental organization, Wildlife Alliance, and the Royal Cambodian Forestry Administration to stop the illegal charcoal trade, deforestation and poaching of wildlife in the Southern Cardamom Mountains of Southwestern Cambodia provides firsthand evidence as to the significant consequences to the environment and people if this black market trade is not diminished.