Is growing your own safer? Uses of vegetable gardens in polluted industrial areas
Est-il plus sur de faire pousser ses propres légumes? Utilisation des potagers dans les sites industriels pollués
Résumé
From September 2016 till November 2016, the Institut Ecocitoyen pour la Connaissance des Pollutions (IECP) performed conducted from september 2016 to november 2016 a biomonitoring study survey in the industrial city town of Fos-sur-Mer (INDEX programm). During this studythe this survey, samples of urine and blood were analyzed for tested for more than 50 pollutants onto in 79 citizens inhabitants of Fos-sur-Mer and 59 citizens of a control area (Saint-Martin-de-Crau) localized 20 km far away from industries. We collected iInformation on occupation, lifestyle habits, food intake and, health were collected by questionnaires. An interdisciplinary project named ECOLEX was created launched to add a sociological dimension to complement INDEX with sociological data too. The aim was to investigate the volunteers' environmental perception of the volunteers from in both areas through a second questionnaire based on population feeling understanding of risk and attitudes towards about the impact of industrial pollution on their their environment and, health. Attention was also paid to , life habits etcdomestic and environmental practices. We wanted to put to trial some hypothesis elaborated from the literature which insist on the corrosive effects of pollution on the social fabric (Erikson 1994; Freudenburg 1997; Gramaglia 2015) and the development of subcultures of distress (Couch, Mercuri 2007). Our first results show that the majority of the inhabitants of the Fos-sur-Mer industrial area consider their town to be as polluted or even more polluted than a big city, when 91 % of people in the population from the controlSaint-Martin de Crau area considers their city as less polluted than a « big city » against 17.5 % only in the industrial areadisagree with this opinion. However, they are more thanabout 60 % ofin the control area population admitted to beto be at least a bit worry worried about the potential effects of industrial atmospheric pollution on their environment and health on their environment. This number is even higher in the exposed area where none stated that he/she didn't feel potentially at risk. Crossing informations given by both questionnaires allow us to explore the relation between pollution perception and some individual behaviour such as gardening. We will focus in tThis presentation will focus on the volunteers foovegetable growing and food habits as we noticed that a similar number of the people we pooled had a piece of land which they gardenedd habits and their relation to gardening. In both area, the percentage of people owning a garden is similar (respectively 86 and 88% in Fos and St Martin, including both owners and tenants). But However, in the exposed area directly exposed to industrial emissions, they are were 10% less to do sothan in control area to cultivate vegetables in the garden. Curiously, in the exposed areaFos-sur-Mer, the volunteers which who declared to be moderately or very worry worried about pollution effects on their environment and health, cultivate were more likely to cultivate more their garden than the fewer who felt one not or fewless concerned about it. They are were yet more sensible informed and sensitive to about the organic culture farming methods as they aremore than 60 34 % of them said they had already consumedto never consumed organic products (whether against 52less than 50% for of the less concerned confessed so). Our communication will give us the opportunity to explore the relation between perception of risk, attitudes, domestic and environmental practices and habits in different contexts where industrial pollution is more or less a worry. Relying on ethnographic material we collected beforehand, we will question specific changes in gardening habits. Why are inhabitants with a higher concern about pollution in Fos-sur-Mer so enclined to home grow their vegetable (when industrial emission can alter the quality of locally produced food)? How is environmental awareness constructed regarding local and broader issues? Does it influence the choice to favour organic farming methods (or buy organic food at their grocer's)? How do the exposed area population and the control area one relate to pesticides and make sense of the risks they convey (in relation to other chemical risks)? Do risk cultures exist and can they be articulated (Peretti-Wattel 2005)? Most of the time, studies about industrial (Gibout, Zwarterook 2013) and agricultural pollution (Barrault 2009) are disconnected. We intend to cross-examine them and see how they might influence individual and collective behaviours in Fos-sur-Mer and Saint-Martin de Crau, and may induce adaptative strategies to resist the alteration of living conditions there (Murphy 2016).
Domaines
Sciences de l'environnementOrigine | Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s) |
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