000 02150nab a2200181 4500
003 OSt
005 20230920221725.0
007 cr aa aaaaa
008 230920b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100 _aEngel-Di Mauro, Salvatore
_958093
245 _aTroubling and troublesome worlds of urban soil trace element contamination baselines/
260 _bSage,
_c2020.
300 _aVol. 3, Issue 1, 2020 ( 95–113 p.).
520 _aMany urban areas feature soil pollution legacies that are augmented by recurring contaminant emissions. Because trace elements (like arsenic or lead) are not degradable like organic pollutants, trace element contamination is a lasting environmental threat to human health. Conventionally, the problem is assessed by comparisons with soil quality standards based on background soil concentration levels, which constitute a variety of baseline values. However, baselines are fraught with technical challenges and politically problematic assumptions. These are illustrated by soil quality standards (ambient and maximum allowable levels) addressing soil trace element contamination. These baselines used to assess toxicological threats (beyond soils) are not only contingent on ecological complexities and shifts, but also on national and institutional setting, testifying to their social, not just technical basis. As shown through two US examples, the latter social dimensions do not merely reflect differences in levels of risk acceptability. Soil quality standards can be used to pre-empt public debate over, among other matters, land use decisions. There are therefore both technical and political reasons to question such baselines, which end up becoming attempts to conceal uncertainties and partial or incomplete understandings. An ecosocialist Critical Physical Geography approach is explored that takes ecological and social contexts and their dynamism as primary means to assess trace element contamination.
773 0 _012446
_917117
_dLondon: Sage Publication Ltd, 2019.
_tEnvironment and Planning E: Nature and Space/
_x 25148486
856 _uhttps://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619896234
942 _2ddc
_cEJR
999 _c14752
_d14752