April Baptiste

BS, University of the West Indies
MS, University of the West Indies
PhD, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

I am engaged in research that looks at the intersection of environmental psychological variables and environmental justice issues within the Caribbean region. My research projects have examined the relationship between environmental attitudes and concerns toward oil and gas drilling in Trinidad, the relationship between environmental justice and the siting of aluminum smelters within the same context and knowledge, perceptions and behaviors to climate change in the Caribbean. My current research project seeks to understand environmental movements in the Caribbean. This project examines what is environmentalism in the Caribbean and how is this worldview operationalized in the region through different environmental NGOs. My US research focuses on access to food for low income residents in Central New York.

Environmental justice both US and Global; Caribbean Ecology; Environmental problems Sustainability

Associate Professor, Colgate University, 2009 - present; Postdoctoral Fellow, Syracuse University, January 2008-December 2008; Trinity College, Moka, Maraval, Trinidad, September 2002-December 2003

Environmental justice, Environmental psychology, Natural resource management, Caribbean Studies, Climate change

Environmental justice, environmental psychology, Caribbean environmental issues, Climate change

Books
Smardon, R., Moran, S., &Baptiste, A.K.  (2018). Revitalizing Urban Waterways: Streams of Environmental Justice. London and New York: Earthscan, Taylor & Francis Group 

Articles (peer reviewed)

Baptiste, A.K. & Devonish, H. (2019). The manifestation of climate injustices. The post-hurricane Irma conflicts surrounding Barbuda’s communal land tenure. Journal of Extreme Events, 6(1), 1 -17. doi:10.1142/S2345737619400025

Devonish, H. & Baptiste, A.K.(2019). Life Masquerading as Art: An activist artist take on the environment-development debate. Anthurium – A Caribbean Studies Journal, 15(1), 1 – 14. Retrieved from https://anthurium.miami.edu/articles/354/

Baptiste, A.K.& Devonish, H. (2018). Freedom and/or development? Scale and intersectionality in an industrial public. Environmental Sociology, 4(1), 93–106.doi: 10.1080/23251042.2018.1429179

Baptiste, A.K. (2018). Climate change knowledge, concerns, and behaviors among Caribbean fishers. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 8 (1), 51 – 62. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-017-0434-9

Baptiste, A.K. & Thomas, A. (2018). Knowledge, perceptions, concerns and behaviors – Moving forward in the Caribbean context. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 8(1), 99 – 103.doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-017-0463-4

Thomas, A.& Baptiste, A.K. (2018).Caribbean Knowledge, Awareness and Perceptions of Climate Change. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 8(1), 39 – 41.doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-017-0462-5

Jennings, V., Baptiste, A.K., Jelks Osboure, N., & Skeete, R. (2017). Urban Green Space and the Pursuit of Health Equity in Parts of the United States. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14,1432 – 1449. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14111432

Baptiste, A.K.(2016). What Do We Know About Climate Change: The Jamaican Pedro Cays Fishers' Case, The Black Scholar, 46(3), 40-51. doi: 10.1080/00064246.2016.1188355

Baptiste, A.K. & Rhiney, K. (2016). Climate justice and the Caribbean: An introduction. Geoforum, 73,17 – 21. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/ j. geoforum. 2016. 04. 008

Kagel, M. & Baptiste, A.K. (2016). A Framework for Collaborative Climate Change Research, Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, doi:10.1007/s13412-016-0380-y

Baptiste, A.K.(2016). Can a research film be considered a stand-alone academic publication? An assessment of the film Climate Change, Voices of the Vulnerable: The Fishers’ Plight. Area, 48(4),463–471.doi: 10.1111/area.12194

Baptiste, A.K. (2015). Richard M. Mizelle Jr.: A review of Backwater Blues: The Mississippi Flood of 1927 in the African American Imagination. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 5(3), 491 – 492. doi:10.1007/s13412-015-0287-z

Baptiste, A.K. & Kinlocke, R. (2015). We are not all the same!: Comparative climate change vulnerabilities among fishers in Old Harbour Bay, Jamaica. Geoforum,73, 47 – 59. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.05.006 

Baptiste, A.K.,Foley, C., & Smardon, R. (2015). Understanding urban neighbourhood differences in willingness to implement green infrastructure measures: A case study of Syracuse, NY. Landscape and Urban Planning, 136, 1 – 12. doi: 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.11.012

Baptiste, A.K. (2014). “Experience is a Great Teacher”:  Citizens’ reception of a proposal for the implementation of green infrastructure as stormwater management technology – Journal of Community Development, 45(4), 337–352. doi: 10.1080/15575330.2014.934255

Baptiste, A.K.(2013). Climate change adaptation among small-scalefishers in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. Caribbean Geography, 18, 39 - 63

Shah, K.U., Dulal, H.B., Johnson, C., & Baptiste, A.K.(2013). Understanding livelihood vulnerability to climate change: Applying the livelihood vulnerability index in Trinidad and Tobago. Geoforum, 47, 125–137. doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2013.04.004

Baptiste, A.K.& Smardon, R.S. (2012). A review of the wetland use andmanagementof the Nariva Swamp, Trinidad, Caribbean Geography,17,(1&2), 73–91.

Baptiste, A.K.& Nordenstam, B.J. (2010). Environmental Perceptions and Action: Villagers Response to Oil and Gas Drilling in the Wetlands of Rural Trinidad, Research in Social Problems and Public Policy, 18,289-321. 

Baptiste, A.K.& Nordenstam, B.J. (2009). The Impact of Oil and Gas Drilling on the Environmental Awareness of Three Rural Wetland Communities, Environmental Conservation, 36,14–21. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0376892909005268

Book Chapters (peer-reviewed)

Baptiste, A.K.& Devonish, H. (2018). Dependency and underdevelopment: Antigua, Barbuda and Hurricane Irma. In Beckford, C. (ed.), The Contemporary Caribbean: Issues, Challenges and Opportunities (pp. 159 – 186). Nova Science Publishers: Hauppauge, NY

Baptiste, A.K. (2016). Comparative vulnerabilities and adaptation strategies of Caribbean fishers: The case of Old Harbour Bay, Jamaica. In McGregor et al (eds.). Global Change and the Caribbean: Adaptation and resilience(pp. 115 – 136). Kingston, Jamaica: UWI Press

Baptiste, A.K. (2016).Of Starving Horses and Growing Grass: Resilience versus Dependency in a Caribbean Fishing Community. In Godfrey, P. & Torres, D. (eds),Emergent possibilities for global sustainability(pp. 70 – 83). New York, NY: Routledge

Baptiste, A.K.(2016). Factors Influencing Perceptions of Climate Change among Caribbean Coastal Artisanal Fishers: Case Study of Old Harbour Bay, Jamaica. In Beckford, C. & Rhiney, K. (eds)., Globalization, Climate Change, Food and Agriculture in the Caribbean: Climate change, gender and geography (pp. 243 – 264). London: Palgrave-Macmillan.

Baptiste, A.K.(2013). Local versus expert perception of climate change: An analysis of fishers in Trinidad and Tobago. In H.E. Muga, & K.D. Thomas, Cases on the Diffusion and Adoption of Sustainable Development Practices (pp. 44–82). Hersey, PA: IGI Global. (Invited) 

Documentary Film
Climate Change: Voices of the Vulnerable – The Fisher’s Plight – A documentary of the impacts of climate change on the fishing industry in Trinidad and Tobago: June 2012
    Available at http://aprilbaptiste.com/creative-work.html

Baptiste, A.K. (2008). Evaluating Environmental Awareness: A Case Study of the Nariva Swamp, Trinidad. State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
 

• Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow: African American Studies Department, Syracuse University
• Refuge Intern: The Wilderness Society, Washington, D.C. 

Fulbright Scholar (2006-2008)
Technology, Entertainment and Design Fellow (2009) and Senior Fellow (2010-2013) 

Personal website: www.aprilbaptiste.com

Founder/Chairwoman: Youth Environmental and Development Coalition (YEDCo), Siparia, Trinidad and Tobago
Director of Environment: The Community HUB, Barataria, Trinidad and Tobago