Kim Forun and Margaret Tebbe
  • June 5, 2026

  • Kim Fortun, UC Irvine professor of anthropology, and Margaret Tebbe, UC Irvine anthropology Ph.D. candidate, expand in this piece for Voice of OC

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“The GKN chemical disaster in Garden Grove is already falling out of the news, but follow-up is critical. What unfolded in Garden Grove reveals an urgent need for better chemical disaster regulation and education. There are chemical disasters in the United States nearly every day, yet both the public and public officials are often unaware, hindering efforts to reduce risks. This incongruity motivates both our research and teaching as social scientists focused on environmental and disaster governance.

In a large anthropology course at the University of California, Irvine, we teach students how to analyze environmental injustice and governance failures in communities across California. A central task is identifying disaster risks, which we group into three categories: fast (requiring emergency response), slow (routine pollution), and combo, where multiple risks are exacerbated by extreme weather, war or terrorism. Despite their drama, fast disasters are typically the hardest for students to handle. Most communities have risks, but have not had an actual disaster—and disasters that might happen don’t generate news coverage or discussion. When disasters do happen—as in Garden Grove—they cycle out of the news quickly. Even “famous” cases like the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, India, which killed thousands and remains the world’s worst industrial disaster, have largely been forgotten.”

Continue reading, courtesy of Voice of OC.

 

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