Environmental Injustice and Deaths of Despair: Lessons from Montana’s Tribal Lands
In the United States, ‘Deaths of Despair’–premature mortality caused by suicide, alchohol, and drug use–are highest amongst Native Americans, who remain excluded from most studies of declining life expectancy. To date, limited attention has been paid to the role of environmental injustice and how it may exacerbate or add to the existing socio-economic challenges contributing to deaths of despair. The proposed project uses the case of Native American Lands in Montana to investigate the dynamic interactions between environmental change and socio-economic conditions, in order to identify potential pathways whereby environmental hardship may contribute to (and result from) forms of socio-economic distress linked to deaths of despair.
Investigator: Julie A. Silva
Duration:
9/1/2022 - 8/31/2023