Publications

Report Highlights and Community Preferences

•  First set of representative surveys of residents impacted by High-Speed Rail in the San
    Joaquin Valley

•  More local residents would likely use High-Speed Rail if subsidized

•  Preferences for job creation and reduced pollution

•  Preferences for local economic development and cultural amenities

•  Strong support for community participation in the design of the Merced High-Speed Rail station 
    and the budgeting process

•  Community Benefit Agreements should focus on job creation and affordable housing
 

Collective action against extraction tends to occur at the local level at the sites where nearby ecological damage takes place. In Panama in 2023, protests reached a national level against copper mining by a transnational corporation and successfully terminated operations. The protests endured for a month and acted as the largest outpouring of protests in Panamanian history. This study details how a massive campaign against extraction with a successful outcome builds from multi-sectoral alliances attained in previous struggles. The lessons learned from the mobilizations provide strategies for other regions in the search for equitable environmental policies that avoid threatening ecological sustainability.

Research on individual participation in climate action largely focuses on middle class environmental activism around protest events. To better understand the expansion of civic engagement on climate issues, more work needs to be carried out on wider sectors of the population. This study examines the drivers associated with involvement in climate action at the individual level with a survey sample of working-class youth of color. The findings suggest that youth embedded in pro-climate social networks, a history of civic engagement, and an equity belief system increase willingness to participate in several forms of climate action, including climate meetings, demonstrations, and inviting others to participate. For larger climate action initiatives to overcome the barriers of participation, linking to specific pools of sympathy in civil society that value economic equality may provide a mass base of support for policies consistent with just transition perspectives.

Labor has stood as a central actor in the waves of contention against authoritarian forms of pro-market development in the Global South. In this paper, we analyze the local-level conditions that foster the mobilization of labor groups under such contexts. We study how municipal-level repressive and economic threats from authoritarian forms of pro-market development models generate labor protest. We focus on a wave of labor protest in El Salvador. In particular, we examine how subnational counts of labor mobilization events relate to variations in targeted repression and the labor flexibilization associated with transnational production. We use a unique dataset of labor mobilization, forced disappearances, and industrial ownership in El Salvador at the municipal level. More instances of disruptive labor protest emerged in those localities characterized by heightened political persecution and new workplace pressures from manufacturing operations financed by transnational capital. Based on threat models of contention, a more fine-grained approach at the subnational level helps explain how collective resistance builds into a full-blown wave of labor protest in authoritarian capitalist regimes.

Student Survey Highlights

• Nearly Two-Thirds of Students Have Taken Courses that covered Climate Change 
• Students Report Beliefs about Climate Change Consistent with Just Transition Action Strategies
• More Campus Investment in Earth Day-Type Activities May Encourage more Education and Climate Action around Decarbonization
• UCM Students Report Engaging in Several Pro-Environmental Behaviors

Key Findings and Recommendations

• The decarbonization survey reached nearly one in three members of campus
• UC Merced maintains curricular resources to overcome the dense jargon of climate action terminology
• There is widespread support for UCM to engage in equitable climate planning in the region that prioritizes working families and disinvested communities
• There is broad campus backing for UCM to seek greater external investments to fund climate action planning and decarbonization efforts in the San Joaquin Valley
• Nearly one out of every three members of the campus community is willing to participate in climate meetings off campus providing a vast human resource pool for climate action
• A permanent campus climate action commission should be immediately established to continue the implementation of the preferences in this survey