IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v41y2023i3p583-599.html

What level of resistance to air pollution is justified? On violence and self-defense

Author

Listed:
  • J. MohorÄ ich

Abstract

This article evaluates responses to air pollution that lie beyond the domain of state policy and nonviolent civil disobedience. I begin by presenting evidence that fine particulate matter pollution is more serious than commonly recognized. As a result, attempts to address it deserve more attention from those who are concerned about achieving a just and livable world. I argue that, in part because of its physical characteristics, air pollution pushes the limits of civil disobedience as moral communication. I evaluate one nonviolent and one unarmed violent strategy for collective self-defense against air pollution and make at least two concrete recommendations for engaging in collective self-defense against air pollution.

Suggested Citation

  • J. MohorÄ ich, 2023. "What level of resistance to air pollution is justified? On violence and self-defense," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 41(3), pages 583-599, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:41:y:2023:i:3:p:583-599
    DOI: 10.1177/23996544221143904
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23996544221143904
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/23996544221143904?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kaldellis, J.K. & Kokala, A., 2010. "Quantifying the decrease of the photovoltaic panels’ energy yield due to phenomena of natural air pollution disposal," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 4862-4869.
    2. Adam Isen & Maya Rossin-Slater & W. Reed Walker, 2017. "Every Breath You Take—Every Dollar You’ll Make: The Long-Term Consequences of the Clean Air Act of 1970," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(3), pages 848-902.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rehman, Shafiqur & El-Amin, Ibrahim, 2012. "Performance evaluation of an off-grid photovoltaic system in Saudi Arabia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 451-458.
    2. Cropper, Maureen & Muller, Nicholas & Park, Yongjoon & Perez-Zetune, Victoria, 2023. "The impact of the clean air act on particulate matter in the 1970s," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    3. Petra Persson & Maya Rossin-Slater, 2018. "Family Ruptures, Stress, and the Mental Health of the Next Generation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(4-5), pages 1214-1252, April.
    4. Li, Zhengtao & Hu, Bin, 2018. "Perceived health risk, environmental knowledge, and contingent valuation for improving air quality: New evidence from the Jinchuan mining area in China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 54-68.
    5. Saidan, Motasem & Albaali, Abdul Ghani & Alasis, Emil & Kaldellis, John K., 2016. "Experimental study on the effect of dust deposition on solar photovoltaic panels in desert environment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 499-505.
    6. Huang, Pengluan & Hu, Guoqiang & Zhao, Xiaodong & Lu, Luyi & Ding, Honggang & Li, Jianlan, 2022. "Effect of organics on the adhesion of dust to PV panel surfaces under condensation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(PB).
    7. Garrett Anstreicher & Jason Fletcher & Owen Thompson, 2022. "The Long Run Impacts of Court-Ordered Desegregation," NBER Working Papers 29926, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Sulin Sardoschau, 2019. "Children of War: In-Utero Stress and Child Health in Iraq," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-02383137, HAL.
    9. Campbell, Jason & Levkoff, Steven, 2025. "Assessing the productivity and abatement effects of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(1).
    10. Hill, Elaine L. & Ma, Lala, 2022. "Drinking water, fracking, and infant health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    11. Divya Sadana, 2020. "Effects of Early Childhood Exposure to Pollution on Crime: Evidence from 1970 Clean Air Act," 2020 Papers psa1864, Job Market Papers.
    12. Tom Schmitz & Italo Colantone & Gianmarco Ottaviano, 2024. "Regional and Aggregate Economic Consequences of Environmental Policy," Working Papers 2024.10, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    13. Chen, Pan, 2025. "Industrialization and pollution: The long-term Impact of early-life exposure on human capital formation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    14. Götz, Martin, 2018. "Financial constraints and corporate environmental responsibility," SAFE Working Paper Series 241, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE.
    15. Curtis, E. Mark, 2020. "Reevaluating the ozone nonattainment standards: Evidence from the 2004 expansion," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    16. Tom Schmitz & Italo Colantone & Gianmarco Ottaviano, 2024. "Regional and Aggregate Economic Consequences of Environmental Policy Abstract: This paper shows how to combine microeconometric evidence on the effects of environmental policy with a macroeconomic model, accounting for general equilibrium spillovers ," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 24225, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    17. Bao, Qiwei & Qian, Weixing & Ma, Gang & Qiu, Xiao & Zhang, Haocheng & Zhou, Houchen & Chen, Mingjia, 2025. "Influence of the change direction of total solar irradiance at the inclined surface on power generation performance of photovoltaic power station: A focus on output power and photoelectric conversion efficiency," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    18. Tanesab, Julius & Parlevliet, David & Whale, Jonathan & Urmee, Tania, 2018. "Energy and economic losses caused by dust on residential photovoltaic (PV) systems deployed in different climate areas," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 401-412.
    19. von Hinke, Stephanie & Sørensen, Emil N., 2023. "The long-term effects of early-life pollution exposure: Evidence from the London smog," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    20. Divya Sadana, 2023. "Effects of Early Childhood Exposure to Pollution on Crime: Evidence from 1970 Clean Air Act," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 84(1), pages 279-312, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:41:y:2023:i:3:p:583-599. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.