S. Harris Ali is a trained Environmental Sociologist and an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, Toronto. His research interests involve the study of environmental health issues and the sociology of disasters and risk from an interdisciplinary perspective. He has published on toxic contamination events and disease outbreaks in such journals as Social Problems, Social Science and Medicine, The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, and the Journal of Canadian Public Policy.

Roger Keil is the Director of the City Institute, and Professor at the Faculty of Environmental Studies, at York University, Toronto. His publications include Los Angeles: Urbanization, Globalization and Social Struggles; Nature and the City: Making Environmental Policy in Toronto and Los Angeles; and The Global Cities Reader. Keil is the co-editor of the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research and a member of the International Network for Urban Research and Action.