Abstract  Quantification of empirical relationships between ecosystem health and human well-being is uncommon at broad spatial scales. We used public data for Virginia (USA) counties to examine pairwise correlations among two indicators of stream health, thirteen indicators of human well-being, and four demographic metrics. Our indicators of stream health included the Virginia Stream Condition Index (VSCI) and the percentage of stream kilometers with a fish consumption advisory (%FCA); these measures are inversely related. VSCI and %FCA were correlated with some indicators of human health, safety and security, and living standards, as well as with some demographic metrics. VSCI was most strongly correlated (positively) with the percentage of a county’s population self-identifying as White; %FCA was most strongly correlated (positively) with overall mortality rate (number of deaths per 100,000 people). This exploratory study highlights the need for future multidisciplinary, multiscale studies to characterize toxicological, epidemiological, socioeconomic, and political linkages – including causal mechanisms – between ecosystem health and human well-being.

Abstract  American employers frequently impose dress and grooming restrictions on their employees, and courts routinely uphold their decisions to discipline and even fire workers for violating these dress codes. Workplace dress codes thus serve as a focus for contestation over the visual representation and performance of personal identity. The representation and performance of race and gender—two of the core social identities in contemporary American culture—is achieved in part through elaborate semiotic style codes in dress and grooming. The cases discussed in this chapter demonstrate worker resistance to dress codes that force them to perform core identity attributes in ways that contradict their individual sense of identity. By insisting that the performance on the job of identities such as race and gender by their workers is a matter for the employer to determine, courts are asserting the primacy for the workers of their identity as “employees” over their individualized racial and gender identities. Far from being about trivial matters of personal taste or style, conflict between employers and employees over dress codes serves both as an arena for worker resistance to employer assertions of control over the construction and performance of their “true selves” and as a prime site for cultural contests over the meaning and instantiation of race and gender identities more generally in the modern world.

Abstract  Racism is part of the foundation of U.S. society and institutions, yet few studies in community psychology or organizational studies have examined how racism affects organizations. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of institutional racism, which describes how, in spite of professional standards and ethics, racism functions within organizations to adversely affect the quality of services, the organizational climate, and staff job satisfaction and morale. Grounded in systems theory and organizational empowerment, the framework is based on data that describe how racism was made manifest in a county public health department. The findings highlight the importance of understanding how organizations are influenced by external forces and can negatively affect clients, communities, and their own staff members.

Abstract  A practical guide to shutting down workplace sexual harassment so it doesn't derail your career or your life, from the first on-air personality to sue ESPN for sexual harassment

Abstract  While Black, a podcast on Black Excellence bringing you the real and the sometimes raw on anything happening while black.

Abstract  Pod for the Cause, podcast was created for those of you wanting to effect change, who understand the importance of restoring our democracy and want to engage in deep conversation around the issues.