Sasha Adkins

Sasha Adkins

Senior Lecturer in Environmental Health Sciences

Focus on planetary justice, endocrine disruption, plastics.

Location

Goessmann Building

686 North Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01003
United States

240E Goessmann

In my doctoral research, I tested the adsorption of mercury to plastic marine debris. I learned that styrene-butadiene block copolymer is very good at pulling mercury out of sea water. Frustrated that we aren’t acting on the data we already have, I moved into action research. I organized an environmental justice collective that responded to requests for technical assistance from residents of frontline communities around Chicagoland. We looked at different indicators of air quality in Cicero, Illinois. I also became very interested in pedagogy, particularly in translating popular education methods such as Theater of the Oppressed to the university classroom. (In this context, “popular” refers to “of the people,” as in the wider community outside academia.)

Education

  • PhD, Environmental Studies, Antioch University, Keene, NH
  • MPH, International Health, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
  • Bachelor of International Studies, World Issues Program, School for International Training, Brattleboro, VT

Key Publications

Adkins, S. and Davis, B. “Eco-Fascism and Alienation: Plastics in a Post-COVID World” in Plastics: Culture, Environment, and the Politics of Waste, ed. Tatiana Konrad: Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 325-337

Adkins, S. “Slow Violence: The Erosion of Plastic Marine Debris and of Human Health” in Plastic Legacies, Eds. Trisia Farrelly, Sy Taffel, and Ian Shaw: Athabasca University Press, 2021. 41-57

Friedman, E.J., Adkins, S., Guidotti, T.L. “Foundational health content in environmental studies, sciences, and sustainability education: report of a workshop” Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences (2020)

Adkins, S. “From Disposable Culture to Disposable People: The Unintended Consequences of Plastic,” Wipf and Stock (2018)

Adkins, S. "Plastics: A Spiritual Crisis" in Watershed Discipleship: Reinhabiting Bioregional Faith and Practice. Ed. Ched Myers. Portland, Oregon: Wipf and Stock (2016)