Photovoice and Youth Empowerment in Environmental Justice Research: A Pilot Study Examining Woodsmoke Pollution in a Pacific Northwest Community

Abstract

Woodsmoke pollution is an environmental justice issue for youth living in certain Pacific Northwest cities. Participatory methods such as Citizen Science and Photovoice are effective ways to involve youth in environmental justice research. Little is understood about how youth may be empowered to address woodsmoke issues in their communities. We examined youth empowerment in a citizen science study on woodsmoke, using Photovoice methodology. Ten diverse youth collected and analyzed indoor air samples and photos, then presented their findings to the community and policy makers. Entrance and exit surveys revealed an increased sense of empowerment to take action on woodsmoke pollution. Youth also expressed increased optimism and a resolve to become scientists to combat environmental injustices.

A Scoping Review of Capacity-Building Efforts to Address Environmental Justice Concerns

“…In the context of community capacity theory, community power represents the ability to create or resist and be influential with respect to changing conditions [32]. When the dimension of community power was identified in the studies we identified as satisfying our inclusion criteria, residents/community members most often used the strength of scientific data to mobilize and address their environmental concerns [47,[68][69][70][71][72]74,75,78,[89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96]98,99,[101][102][103][104]108,[111][112][113][115][116][117][118][119][120]. One example is the work of Bell [89]; in her description of a photovoice project which impacted residents of a coal-mining Appalachian community mobilized through photo-storytelling and shared experiences, she exhibited photo stories for community discussion, and used this content to develop a legislative document for educating about coal slurry injections and impoundments.…”

“…The dimension of leadership in community capacity theory represents the ability of a person or group to direct and encourage participation, and the sharing of information and resources among a network of community participants [32]. Several of our identified studies displayed leadership development through advocacy education, training, and assistance with strategic planning and policy development [47,68,69,71,72,74,[76][77][78]80,82,[84][85][86][87][89][90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108]112,114,117,118,[121][122][123]. In the Theater of the Oppressed, described by Sullivan et al [115], both community power and leadership development are illustrated.…”

“…The community capacity theory dimension of social and organizational networks encompasses the supportive interactions between groups of people and organizations, formation of new partnerships, and shared decision making [32]. Partnership and networking activities included the intentional involvement and collaboration with concerned citizens, environmental activists, and/or other health professionals for environmental health promotion activities, as well as research planning and sharing of data with community and dissemination of research findings [47,[68][69][70][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][83][84][85][86][87][91][92][93][94][96][97][98][99][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][111][112][113][114][115][116][117]120,121,123]. Allen et al describes a diverse coalition comprised of the sovereign Lummi Nation, environmental organizat...…”

“…There were numerous studies that identified and incorporated some type of social science theoretical model for informing data collection, sampling methods, and/or framing study findings within an EJ context [70,78,80,86,[91][92][93]96,101,121,122]. Some of the articles frame their work in relation to the advocacy coalition framework [70,124], the collaborative problem-solving model [78,86,125], empowerment theory [91,126], resource mobilization theory [92,96,127], and the environmental justice framework [71,80,91,96,101,121,122,128]. A common theme across these models, as discussed in the studies, was the intentional centering of marginalized populations, a focus on the disproportionate impacts of toxic environmental exposures, and an emphasis on advocacy.…”

Use of photovoice to explore the potential role of youth in contributing to maternal health in rural Wakiso district, Uganda

“…[18][19][20] Health initiatives that have engaged youth in understanding their own health status have empowered them as change agents who have shown great potential in combating public health challenges in their communities. 15,[19][20][21] For example, the involvement of youth in adolescent-friendly clinics at government health facilities in Uganda has been seen to yield a positive impact in utilisation of health services. 9 There has also been an increase in use and acceptability of SRH services such as safe male circumcision, safe sexual practices, and menstrual hygiene management due to the influence of peer educators.…”