When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast four years ago it was the first time for many people that the connections between race, poverty and the environment were made so clear. But these points of intersection are all too familiar for low-income communities located near landfills or power plants and for the activists who have made it their mission to speak up when already vulnerable communities bear the brunt of environmental negligence and ignorance.
This month IssueLab is
proud to share a special collection of work on an often misunderstood or underrepresented topic - environmental justice. Environmental justice is the study of how environmental policies and practices inequitably affect specific groups and communities, most commonly low-income communities, people of color, immigrants, and indigenous populations. This special collection includes research on both local and statewide cases of environmental injustice as well as on ways to strengthen and better understand the impact of the Environmental Justice movement in general.
Too often when we discuss issues related to the environment we forget about the effects that air and water pollution, climate change, and chemical spills have on the people and communities who are already at a disadvantage for services and self-advocacy. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was just one of the more visible examples. We hope that this special collection of research from nonprofits across the U.S. helps to spotlight this important issue and the critical work that many of these small nonprofits are doing.
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Contributing Organization(s): Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago
Publication date: 2009-01-27
| Complete listing and access info | Download
Chicago is known for many things, our great food and architecture. Unfortunately, we are also known for being an epi-center for asthma. We lead the Nation in asthma deaths, emergency room visits and hospitalizations. More than half (58%) of all children with asthma in Chicago had a severe asthma attack in the past year and nearly one-third (31%) had an asthma attack so bad they thought their life was in danger. Additionally, Latinos suffer from disproportionately high rates of asthma. Asthma is a life long chronic illness that effects the airways and lungs. With proper education and management asthma can be controlled and people with asthma should be able to live life the same as others. Complete listing and access info » |
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2002 Annual Update of "and Justice for All": DVRPC's Strategy for Fair Treatment and Meaningful Involvement of All People
Contributing Organization(s): Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
Publication date: 2002-09-01
| Complete listing and access info | Download
This report is an annual update of DVRPC's September 2001 report on Environmental Justice entitled "and Justice for All": DVRPC's Strategy for Fair Treatment and Meaningful Involvement of All People. It is part of DVRPC's ongoing and continuing work program and also fulfills a federal certification requirement for Metropolitan Planning Organizations that use federal funds to undertake a planning process to develop regional plans and programs. The supplement updates and refines the quantitative methodology developed in the first report. New demographic and quality of life factors are added, including limited English proficiency populations, female head of household with child populations, and the locations of day care centers. A new eight-factor degrees of disadvantage analysis and a poverty as a constant analysis are compared with the newly adopted FY 2003 Transportation Improvement Program. A sample neighborhood analysis of TIP funding focuses on Southwest Philadelphia. Complete listing and access info » |
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2003 Annual Update to "...and Justice for All": DVRPC's Strategy for Fair Treatment and Meaningful Involvement of All People
Contributing Organization(s): Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
Publication date: 2003-08-01
| Complete listing and access info | Download
This update is based on previous work performed at DVRPC on the topic of Environmental Justice, namely, "...and Justice for All": DVRPC's Strategy for Fair Treatment and Meaningful Involvement of All People (September 2001) and Annual Update to "...and Justice for All" (September 2002). This report further updates and refines the quantitative methodology, using Year 2000 U.S. Census data. Complete listing and access info » |
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2004 Annual Update to "...and Justice for All": DVRPC's Strategy for Fair Treatment and Meaningful Involvement of All People
Contributing Organization(s): Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
Publication date: 2004-09-01
| Complete listing and access info | Download
In 2001, DVRPC published the . . and Justice for All report to identify impacts of disparate funding and services on defined low-income and minority groups. A methodology was created, refined in subsequent years, to identify populations that may be adversely affected by transportation planning decisions. This report is an annual update of that initial report and catalogues DVRPC's fiscal year 2008 programs and plans that contain Environmental Justice (EJ) elements. Descriptions for each project or program that utilize DVRPC's EJ methodology are discussed, including a TIP analysis and corridor studies. Additional Title VI and Public Outreach efforts are incorporated into this report, as are forthcoming procedures for EJ and Title VI. Complete listing and access info » |
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Addressing Community Concerns: How Environmental Justice Relates to Land Use Planning and Zoning
Contributing Organization(s): National Academy of Public Administration
Publication date: 2003-07-16
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Addressing Community Concerns: How Environmental Justice Relates to Land Use Planning and Zoning is the Panel's third report on environmental justice. It focuses on low-income and people-of-color communities because it is generally recognized that their residents are exposed to significantly greater environmental and public health hazards. The study examines the relationship of planning and zoning decisions in five localities across the nation where residents have raised environmental justice concerns: Huntington Park, California; Austin, Texas; Chester, Pennsylvania; Altgeld Gardens in Chicago, Illinois; and St. James Parish, Louisiana The report will help local, state and federal officials to improve their understanding of how they can use local and state land use planning and zoning laws for solving current environmental justice problems and preventing them in the future. Complete listing and access info » |
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African American Asthma Statistics
Contributing Organization(s): Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago
Publication date: 2009-01-27
| Complete listing and access info | Download
Chicago is known for many things, our great food and architecture. Unfortunately, we are also known for being an epi-center for asthma. We lead the Nation in asthma deaths, emergency room visits and hospitalizations. More than half (58%) of all children with asthma in Chicago had a severe asthma attack in the past year and nearly one-third (31%) had an asthma attack so bad they thought their life was in danger. Additionally, African Americans are affected by disproportionately high rates of asthma. Asthma is a life long chronic illness that affects the airways and lungs. With proper education and management asthma can be controlled and people with asthma should be able to live life the same as others. Complete listing and access info » |
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APEN Voices: Celebrating Our Victories
Contributing Organization(s): Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Publication date: 2001-11-18
| Complete listing and access info | Download
Even with the growing API population in the San Francisco Bay Area, more numbers does not necessarily equate to more power. Indeed as Stacy Kono of Asian Immigrant Women's Advocates says in our article on the census; "In some ways the increase in API numbers is irrelevant. The issues of racism and sexism we deal with are still prevalent." At APEN we believe that if these new populations can be organized, they represent a major force in fighting for change. Suzanne Bourguignon, a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley is working with APEN's new Organizing Director, Vivian Chang to research the impact of this population surge and examining the capacity and potential strategies for new environmental justice organizing in an API community in the Bay Area. And our existing campaign at LOP is currently getting involved in creating alternatives. We are working with Richmond Vision 2000, a collaborative between labor, faith, and community groups, to develop a package of policy recommendations including rent control and re-development policies to present to the city of Richmond to address the displacement many low-income residents are facing. Today the need for such alternatives is unfortunately more pressing than ever before in the last few decades. The escalating call for a "campaign against terrorism" and a war in Afghanistan has resulted in the clock being rolled back decades in areas ranging from civil rights to environmental protection, under the guise of a patriotic response to the events of September 11, 2001. President Bush has changed the direction of this country to a war machine in ways that will have dramatic impacts on social service programs and environmental justice. Complete listing and access info » |
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Appalachian Coalfield Delegation Position Paper on Sustainable Energy
Contributing Organization(s): DataCenter
Publication date: 2007-04-11
| Complete listing and access info | Download
Appalachian grassroots groups(with support provided by the DataCenter) release a scathing report on the impact of coal mining to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. The Delegation created an historic moment with its powerful stories and diverse outreach. Alliances were forged and the civil society discourse on energy, particularly what is sustainable energy and who gets to define it, has been challenged. Their answer---"it comes from the people!" As most government officials continue to ignore the atrocities of mountain top removal, coal sludge impoundments, and underground injections of sludge, it is up to the people of the Appalachian coal fields to let the world know the harsh realities of an economy built on seemingly cheap electricity. Complete listing and access info » |
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Asthma In Chinatown
Contributing Organization(s): Chinese Progressive Association
Publication date: 2002-08-01
| Complete listing and access info | Download
New York City's Chinatown has been heavily impacted by air pollution. The Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) designed this survey to get a more complete picture of the asthma problem in the Chinatown area. CPA volunteers and staff surveyed residents from a total of 580 households, representing 2040 individuals. This report outlines the results of the survey. The report also contains recommendations that will improve air quality and protect the health of the community.
Complete listing and access info » |
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Building a Regional Voice for Environmental Justice
Contributing Organization(s): Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)
Publication date: 2004-01-01
| Complete listing and access info | Download
Building a Regional Voice for Environmental Justice talks about the partnerships exposing the arc of the work in the Environmental Justice Movement. As you will see, the project is an innovative combination of research and organizing that has both firmly documented the case for action to reduce disparities and provided the research basis for organizing for improvements in air quality and siting practices. Complete listing and access info » |
IssueLab's Collections Assistant, Stacy Kessler, chatted with Jim Boyce, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and director of the environment program at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) which aims to do policy-relevant research on a variety of issues relating to economic and human well-being.
