Abstract, Environmental Protection, Work, and Social Inclusion: Formalizing the Recycling of Urban Solid Waste in Buenos Aires

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Environmental Protection, Work, and Social Inclusion: Formalizing the Recycling of Urban Solid Waste in Buenos Aires
by Johanna Maldovan Bonelli


The changes in the paradigms regarding urban solid waste management that have occurred in the past few decades have led to a reformulation of Argentine social, labor, and environmental policies. In the case of the city of Buenos Aires, the presence of thousands of “informal” recyclers dedicated to the recovery of recyclable materials for their subsistence has given a particular imprint to the design of these policies, the focus of which has been the social inclusion of these workers through the creation of cooperatives. An examination of the assumptions underlying the use of the concept of informality in the development of cooperatives for recycling from 2007 to 2013 shows that they are part of a complex process in which measures for increasing rights and protections are associated with various forms of labor instability.

Abstract, Environmental Protection, Work, and Social Inclusion: Formalizing the Recycling of Urban Solid Waste in Buenos Aires

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Environmental Protection, Work, and Social Inclusion: Formalizing the Recycling of Urban Solid Waste in Buenos Aires
by Johanna Maldovan Bonelli


The changes in the paradigms regarding urban solid waste management that have occurred in the past few decades have led to a reformulation of Argentine social, labor, and environmental policies. In the case of the city of Buenos Aires, the presence of thousands of “informal” recyclers dedicated to the recovery of recyclable materials for their subsistence has given a particular imprint to the design of these policies, the focus of which has been the social inclusion of these workers through the creation of cooperatives. An examination of the assumptions underlying the use of the concept of informality in the development of cooperatives for recycling from 2007 to 2013 shows that they are part of a complex process in which measures for increasing rights and protections are associated with various forms of labor instability.

Abstract, Biofuels: Socio-environmental Violence in Rural Mexico by Yolanda Cristina Massieu Trigo and Blanca Olivia Acuña Rodarte

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Abstract:   Biofuels: Socio-environmental Violence in Rural Mexico 

by Yolanda Cristina Massieu Trigo and Blanca Olivia Acuña Rodarte

The production of biofuels in Mexico is a fledging project. Lack of planning, the obstacles presented by PEMEX, and the resistance of small farmers have limited their production. Even at this stage, however, some of its effects are increasingly clear: its socio-environmental violence affects the natural resources of peasants and indigenous communities. In addition, Mexico’s trade relationship with the United States, characterized by strong dependency, has affected its food sovereignty in that corn imports have become more expensive because of the increase in U.S. production of corn-derived ethanol.

Abstract, Social Environmental Mining Conflicts in Mexico by Darcy Tetreault

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Abstract:   Social Environmental Mining Conflicts in Mexico 

by Darcy Tetreault

Examination of social environmental conflicts around mining in Mexico indicates that neoliberal reforms have facilitated “accumulation by dispossession,” first by transferring public resources in the form of mineral rights and state-run mining companies to the private sector and second by dispossessing smallholder farmers and indigenous communities of their land, water, and cultural landscapes in order to allow mining companies to carry out their activities. The resistance movements that have emerged to confront this dispossession are led on the local level by people whose livelihoods, health, and cultures are threatened by large-scale mining projects. They reflect “the environmentalism of the poor” in that they seek to keep natural resources outside of the sphere of the capitalist mode of production.