Research

My research addresses conflicts and collaboration in environmental policy, with a particular emphasis on environmental justice in rural communities. My most recent work in California has evaluated California’s Community Air Protection policy (AB 617). I have also conducted research on water justice in California’s Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities, environmental justice planning in California cities and counties (under Senate Bill 1000), as well as earlier work on pesticide policy, land use/ transportation/housing policy, and the development of indices of cumulative environmental burdens. Most of my work involves a community-engaged research approach, with non-profit and policy organizations as full partners in the development, implementation, dissemination, and application of the research. I believe that this contributes to its relevance, rigor, and reach. 

I have worked in Nepal starting 35 years ago, teaching an inter-generational oral history programs with the Gurung ethnic group in affiliation with the Intercultural Oral History Project and the Annapurna Conservation Area Project and for the past 10 years co-teaching a binational learning exchange, Nepal: Community, Technology, and Sustainability with Nancy Erbstein and Hands On Institute. My recent co-edited book (with Jaganath Adhikari and Tom Robertson) is Environmental Justice in Nepal: Origins, Struggles and Prospects (Routledge).

Land of Risk / Land of Opportunity

Aerial farmland graphic with 'LAND OF OPPORTUNITY' text and five portraits of diverse people

The Struggle for Water Justice: Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities in California's San Joaquin Valley

Collage — activists holding 'Poplar West Goshen' signs; inset child brushing teeth; inset bottles

Revealing the Invisible Coachella Valley: Putting Cumulative Environmental Vulnerabilities on the Map

Mountains, text 'Revealing the INVISIBLE Coachella Valley', and two circular portraits

Assessing the Implementation of California’s Clean Air and Environmental Justice Strategies (AB 617)

Title slide graphic about AB 617 with logos and three circular photos: meeting, refinery, port

Healthy Youth Healthy Regions

Photographic collage of diverse faces arranged in a beige tiled grid.

A Region and Its Children Under Stress

Report cover graphic: three photographs of children and a family over muted map with title