UM atUM [S02-ep21]: Living with Industrial Pollution
This week on *AUM science*, Christelle Gramaglia, a sociologist at the G-Eau laboratory, presents her book *Living with Industrial Pollution: Citizen Experiences and Measurements of Contamination*. A program broadcast on Divergence FM 93.9 every Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Today, we look back on a memory. It was in Rouen on the night of September 25–26, 2019, when a major fire broke out at the Lubrizol plant, which is classified as a Seves facility (France Info), immediately reigniting the painful trauma of the AZF disaster. That night, 5,000 metric tons of chemicals went up in smoke as residents living near the plant looked on in disbelief and horror. This was a stark reminder of the threat posed by the chemical industry. But what about the sites where no disaster has drawn attention? How do people go about their daily lives when they live near polluting industries? How do they coexist with these potentially toxic chemical residues? What strategies—if any—do people develop to protect themselves? And why, for that matter, do people stay in these dangerous areas? These are some of the questions our guest has explored through a series of original investigations in France, Spain, and Portugal. Christelle Gramaglia is a sociologist at INRAE’s G-eau laboratory; she has studied the social and ecological consequences of this chronic contamination and presents her findings in an original and fascinating book titled *Living with Industrial Pollution: Citizen Experiences and Measurements of Contamination*, published by Presse des Mines in January 2023.
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Co-production: Divergence FM / University of Montpellier
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Director: Naomi Charmetan
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