Biography
Dr. Praveena K. Fernes studies the social relations of health, particularly in relation to housing and drug use, chronic illness, and environmental pollution. As a Marshall Scholar, her doctoral research examined how “access” to care is practiced in and around services for homeless people who use drugs in London. Her work seeks to disrupt the technologies that govern and constrain care.
Project Description
The establishment of the Drax Amite Bioenergy Facility, a biomass wood pellets production operation in Gloster, Mississippi, has exacerbated environmental justice challenges impacting low-income Black residents. Wood pellet production emits harmful pollutants such as volatile organic compounds, methanol, aldehydes, and particulate matter, which are linked to respiratory illness, endocrine disorders, and cancer. Drax Global Group is the UK’s largest carbon emitter and the world’s largest tree burner, yet it benefits from substantial tax subsidies and credits under the guise of sustainable, ‘green’ energy practices.
In 2023, I was awarded seed funding to conduct resident interviews the impacts of wood pellet biomass production in Gloster. Partnering with Dr. Christopher Oliver at Tulane University, we conducted 16 interviews that underscored the health and economic challenges for people living in chemically altered worlds, as well as the need for intervention in transnational ‘chemical violence’. We are now building on this pilot data via further interviews, focus groups, and walking ethnography.