Wealth production within a “risk society” typically depends on production technologies that expose citizens to dangerous substances. Knowledge of such exposure is, more often than not, hidden from the public. Empirical analyses show that citizens' claims of illnesses caused by risky exposures are frequently contested by the institutions that select production technologies and control information: the government, corporations, and physicians. In this article, we use the risk society thesis as a framework for addressing gaps in the environmental illness literature—specifically, the basis for authorities' contestations of illness claims for which the exposure–illness link is scientifically confirmed. Using case methods, including in-depth interviews with 124 citizens, analyses center on the contested illness claims of nuclear weapons workers at the federal Oak Ridge Nuclear Reservation. Results highlight how institutional and organizational resources provided authorities with tactical leverage, and allowed them to manufacture an ambiguous climate for public discourse. This discourse focused on the exposure—illness link for a particular individual and their specific symptoms rather than the established exposure—illness links in general. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for analyses of environmental exposure specifically, but also the seemingly contradictory tension between the risk society's need to restrict information to experts and democracy's need for open discourse.

This piece explores the emergent themes and subthemes represented within the recent contemporary discourse on Native American food security. Analysis revealed traditional foods as the most common theme present within the sampled literature. We offer a review of this theme (and related subthemes such as food access and human and environmental health) to illuminate the primary concerns, opportunities, preferences, and barriers associated with Native American food security. Our assessments also provide a nuanced understanding of existing literature related to food security and sovereignty, as well as key dimensions of environmental and social equality.

The state of Alaska has a complex historical relationship with its wild wolf packs. The authors expand Connell's concept of frontier masculinity to interpret articles from the Anchorage Daily News as an alternative way to understand Alaska's shifting wolf policies. Originally, state policies were shaped by frontier masculinity and characterized by claims of sportsmen's rights to kill wolves. With the reinstitution of an aggressive wolf-eradication project, Alaska policy makers retooled frontier masculinity. This altered form of masculinity, retro frontier masculinity, is constructed at the state level and deploys new strategic emphases: vilifying opponents as feminized sissies, casting wolf hunters as paternalist protectors, reifying the masculine family provider role, and framing the issue as fundamentally about competition.M asculinities shape relationships among people. They also shape people's relationships with nonhuman animals. In the long history of humanity's control of wolves, masculinity has determined the manner in which wolves are targeted, whether and how they are killed, and to what extent governments are involved. Alaska's recent reinstitution of aerial wolf control, in which wolves are shot from a low-flying airplane or helicopter, or from aircraft that land after tracking wolves from the air, dramatically illustrates these gender issues.

Focusing on environmental justice (EJ) activists’ experiences with local‐level coalition building as a purposive organizational form, data sources for this manuscript include focus groups, face‐to‐face, and telephone interviews with a sample of activists across the United States representing community‐based, grassroots EJ organizations. From the perspective of EJ activists, what forms do local‐EJ coalitions take? What are the costs of coalition building and what strategies do EJ organizations use to promote local‐level coalitions as an organizational form? What are the benefits of coalition building and how may coalitions enhance movement success and community social capital? Findings indicate that activists view coalitions positively and that coalitions exist in three primary forms. Costs of coalition building are associated with a labor‐intensive education and outreach framework entailing significant personal communication, networking, and trust building. Benefits of coalition building include an enhanced understanding of local and community experiences, an opportunity to share resources, and a stronger voice to hold power accountable. Local‐EJ coalition efforts maintain attributes useful in building community social capital.

Natural resources governance is key to enhancing resilience toward climate change and strengthening socioecological systems in light of future uncertainties. Overlapping jurisdictions and lack of clarity in the lines of authority reduce the efficiency of environmental policies and governance, jeopardizing the conservation and sustainable use of resources. With the forecast of longer droughts, extreme precipitation patterns, faster runoff, and slower water table recharge over the coming years, water governance becomes an impellent issue. To understand the risks posed by water scarcity and water regulations, a case study was conducted of Oklahoma state-level water policies and governance. A content analysis of water policies and a network analysis of water governance was used to determine how Oklahoma experiences features of fragmented and adaptive governance within its natural resource governance structure. Data analysis reveals that Oklahoma water governance experiences multiple forms of fragmentation while also showing features of an adaptive network. Such adaptive features make Oklahoma's water governance network more resilient than forecasted. Identifying gaps and understanding how a governance system experiences fragmentation can help policy makers develop strategies to enhance the adaptive features of water governance, thus preparing for risk and disasters related to water scarcity and climate variability.