Environmental Justice最新文献

Background: Ethylene oxide (EtO), a known human carcinogen, is emitted from facilities across the United States. A 2018 assessment by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed that areas around EtO-emitting facilities had cancer risk levels up to 24 times the national average. The EPA notified the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) about the high cancer risk to their residents. Our aim was to analyze actions and implementation equity at the federal, state, and community levels since the EPA notification.

Methods: Using publicly available data, we identified U.S. emitters of EtO and then analyzed community, state, and federal actions since the EPA notification through content analysis of internet data using the lens of the environmental inequality formation (EIF) theory.

Results: Thirty-one of a total 654 EtO-emitting facilities have an estimated cancer risk of over 100 in a million in neighboring census tracts and are located in 13 states and Puerto Rico, representing 7 EPA regions. Content analysis identified themes of community outcry, agency involvement, and legislative action and found no action without community outcry. By January 2021, 2 facilities had closed, 5 facilities had cut emissions, and 24 facilities in 9 states and 5 EPA regions had taken no action.

Discussion: Wealthier white neighborhoods saw facilities close or cut emissions. Differences in state response correlated with differences in community pressure and state priority setting, resulting in over 1 million people having continued significant EtO exposure for years.

Conclusions: The impotence of the federal and state regulatory framework perpetuates environmental injustice in the United States.

Background: Low-income urban communities of color, specifically African American and Hispanic populations living in industrial areas, are disproportionately affected by environmental health hazards, including exposure to air pollution and noise. In Southwest Detroit, a densely populated area with extensive industry and traffic, many residents are chronically exposed to air and noise pollution, contributing to a high prevalence of chronic illnesses such as asthma and cardiovascular disease.

Materials and methods: To better understand environmental health concerns and perceptions of environmental hazards, we conducted phone interviews with 22 residents in Southwest Detroit. During the interviews, participants were asked to reflect on reports of air and noise pollution based on monitoring inside and outside of their home, how their health might be affected, and to identify their main environmental health concerns.

Results: Through qualitative analysis of phone interview notes, we identified truck traffic and inadequate mitigation efforts as concerns for Southwest Detroit residents. Our results suggested that study participants are aware of their disproportionate exposures to air and noise pollution and that while some residents are actively involved in environmental justice efforts, additional structural preventive measures including reduced pollutant emissions, are necessary to preserve public health.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that residents of Southwest Detroit are aware of high levels of both air pollutants and noise and perceive environmental exposures as critical components affecting health, both key aspects of environmental health literacy. This awareness, along with policy change, can facilitate community involvement in evaluating, understanding, and potentially abating air and noise pollution among minority populations.

Children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental health risks associated with industrial contamination, and early childcare and education (ECE) facilities are important sites for potential exposure to environmental contaminants. Emerging research on historic urban industry has additionally demonstrated that urban environmental risk accumulates historically and spatially across urban landscapes. Accordingly, this study pairs cross-sectional data on licensed childcare facilities with longitudinal manufacturing site data in Providence, Rhode Island. We use these data to investigate the proximity of ECE facilities to active and relic manufacturing sites, controlling for a range of organizational- and tract-level characteristics. Results show that type of childcare facility (center-based vs. in-home) and language of instruction (Spanish vs. English) are important predictors of children's proximity to industrial lands, past and present. These findings indicate that Spanish-speaking children in Providence may experience a "double jeopardy" in the form of disproportionate legacy environmental hazards at ECE as well as at home-suggesting that the historical nature of urban industrial land use is an important mechanism of environmental inequality for young children.