FOCUS ISSUE RESEARCH
BOTH TOPICS
U of Michigan Environmental Injustice Site. They have a program devoted to studying environmental injustices.
Cal EnviroScreen: An incredible California resource that compares social data (like where low-income and minority populations live) with environmental data (like which areas have the most air pollution or waste sites).
Gale in Context Environmental Science database (login instructions if you're at home)
Science Reference Center database (login instructions if you're at home)
ProQuest Central Student (login instructions if you're at home)
NCBI (particularly good for health inquiries)
Effect of environmental regulations on jobs: The authors of this journal article concluded that environmental restrictions do not have a large effect on employment overall, but can result in "job reallocation"--fewer jobs available in one industry and more in another. That could cause negative effects on the individuals involved, particularly if they are not provided the resources to re-train in a new industry.
AIR POLLUTION
Keyword Suggestions: air pollution and health, communities disproportionately impacted by air pollution, minority communities and air pollution, low-income communities and air pollution, air pollution and transportation, city planning and air pollution, public transit and air pollution, public transit impact on air pollution, industrial air pollution, benefits of improving road infrastructure, economic benefits of oil and gas industry, economic benefits of improving road infrastructure, affordable housing California, need for affordable housing construction california, housing shortage california
Cancer Alley, Louisiana (ongoing): This area along the Mississippi River, which is predominantly inhabited by African American communities, is known for its high concentration of industrial plants, leading to elevated levels of air pollution and associated health issues, including high cancer rates.
Human Rights Watch - Cancer Alley: Human Rights Watch - Cancer Alley
ProPublica - Coverage on Cancer Alley: ProPublica - Cancer Alley
Port Arthur, Texas (ongoing): This area is known for its large oil refineries and chemical plants, which disproportionately affect the local, mostly minority, population with high levels of air pollution and related health problems.
EPA Environmental Justice in Port Arthur: This site discusses the comprehensive projects undertaken by the EPA in Port Arthur, addressing multiple environmental impacts in collaboration with the community and other government agencies.
Port Arthur Environmental and Consumer Health: The official Port Arthur government website provides information on local environmental health efforts, focusing on compliance with health-related codes and promoting public health through education and services.
Inside Climate News: This website provides historical insights and ongoing reporting on environmental justice movements in Port Arthur, highlighting the city's challenges with industrial pollution and community responses.
The Bronx, New York (ongoing): Predominantly Latino and African American communities face high asthma rates and other health issues due to poor air quality and industrial pollution.
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: This site offers detailed data and insights into the disparities among children with asthma in New York City, highlighting the high rates in the Bronx. More information can be found here.
City of New York - Reimagining the Cross-Bronx Expressway: This page discusses a landmark study initiated by Mayor Adams to explore the health impacts caused by the Cross-Bronx Expressway and consider redesign options to improve community health and reduce pollution. Learn more about the study here.
NYC Department of Health - Asthma and Air Pollution in the South Bronx
West Oakland, CA (ongoing): This area has the highest level of particulate matter pollution from diesel in the Bay Area. Neighborhoods near the Port of Oakland and Seventh Street have 3x the cancer risk of other Bay Area neighborhoods.
Bay Area Air Quality Management District (gov't agency) : report on West Oakland
Environmental Defense Fund--mapping Oakland's varying levels of pollution (click on the 3 links at the bottom for some really cool interactive maps. For example, did you know that air pollution near the 880 freeway is way worse than near 580? Find out why here.)
Union of Concerned Scientists--inequitable exposure to air pollution in CA
PBS: Why minority communities in San Diego are disproportionately harmed by air pollution (video)
EPA: This page covers the basics of the harms of vehicle pollution as well as some of the federal efforts to reduce it.
American Lung Association: short article on the disproportionate impacts of air pollution on certain communities
URBANIZATION (BIODIVERSITY LOSS & HEAT-RELATED ISSUES)
Keyword Suggestions: urban heat island effect, urban deforestation, urban forest loss, urban tree loss, waste disposal management, impact of cities on biodiversity, biological deserts fallacy, benefits of urban density, problems with urban density, urban sprawl
Environmental Impact Review for new construction, City of Fremont
Opposite view --Bloomberg article on why urban density is actually good
Yale, Urban sprawl -- should we have more dense cities / more construction in the city center to avoid urban sprawl?
CA executive order--communities are required to report if they have surplus land that could be used for housing
New CA legislation making it easier to build affordable housing
Wetland degredation due to urbanization in the SF Bay Area: this site discusses efforts to reverse this trend and protect wetlands
Op-Ed article from the San Francisco Chronicle about habitat loss due to overdevelopment in the Bay Area
Academic journal article on biodiversity loss due to urbanization, present-day to 2050
Improving equitable access to urban green spaces: This article addresses the fact that not all groups usually have equal access to green spaces in their community
"Biological Deserts Fallacy" : the authors of this academic journal article argue that cities actually support a wider range of species than we think
Carnegie Museum of Natural History--biological deserts fallacy (don't ignore the hyperlinks inside this article)
California Invasive Plant Council: This presentation makes a link between the biological deserts fallacy and invasive species removal, arguing that we need to remove invasives and plant natives if we want cities to be biodiverse
Columbia University article on urban growth and biodiversity
Urban Heat Islands: This site from the National Integrated Heat Health Information System, a collaboration between several government agencies studying heat effects and heat resilience, has tons of helpful links.
Portland urban tree canopy in decline, 2022: Portland is a great example of a city that actively monitors the numbers and conditions of its urban trees. Make sure to click on the link in this press release to open the full report.
Heat Islands from a City Planner's Perspective: Meerow, Sara, and Ladd Keith. “Planning for Extreme Heat: A National Survey of U.S. Planners.” Journal of the American Planning Association, vol. 88, no. 3, July 2022, pp. 319–34. EBSCOhost, https://research.ebsco.com/c/ndc4la/viewer/html/gylpcq25fn. This is a cool academic journal article because it focuses on a survey of city planners and their perspective on urban heat islands and how to reduce them.
Another article on city planning and heat islands, this one is from Penn State.
One more article on city planning and heat islands, this one from Stanford.
New York Times: Places most at-risk in U.S. of loss of biodiversity
Defenders of Wildlife: Places most at risk from specific causes of biodiversity loss
Biodiversity Case Study: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2021.734931/full
Urban Heat Island Case Study: Chicago, Illinois: Due to a heat wave in 1995 in which over 700 people died, Chicago became one of the first cities in the U.S. where researchers studied the urban heat island effect.
Indiana University, "Chicago, Illinois Uses Green Infrastructure to Reduce Extreme Heat". Click on the links on this page for more info!
University of Chicago: this page focuses on the health impacts
Urban Heat Island Case Study: New York, NY: New York is one of the top cities in the U.S. to be adversely impacted by the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect.
University of Idaho case study of New York: This report discusses what interventions make the most difference in reducing heat.
Rosenzweig, Cynthia, et al. “Mitigating New York City’s Heat Island.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, vol. 90, no. 9, Sept. 2009, pp. 1297–312. EBSCOhost, https://research.ebsco.com/c/ndc4la/viewer/pdf/jp7n47halz.
Waste Disposal Case Study: Love Canal, New York (late 1970s): In this infamous case, hundreds of families were evacuated after toxic chemicals buried by a company decades earlier were found to be leaking into homes and schools in Niagara Falls.
EPA's Love Canal Tragedy Overview: This website by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gives a historical account of the Love Canal disaster, detailing the events and the environmental repercussions that led to the establishment of the Superfund program to manage hazardous waste sites across the country.
ArcGIS StoryMap on Love Canal: This StoryMap provides a detailed visual and narrative account of the Love Canal disaster, highlighting its impact on the community and its role in inspiring the Superfund legislation.
Waste Disposal Case Study: Warren County PCB Landfill, North Carolina (1982): Warren County, a predominantly Black community, was the site of protests against the dumping of soil contaminated with PCBs. This event is often cited as one of the birthplaces of the environmental justice movement.
The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources provides a detailed account of the protests and their historical significance in the context of environmental justice. Explore more about the watershed moments of the movement on their website: NC DNCR - Warren County PCB Protests.
https://www.facingsouth.org/2022/09/archives-dumping-warren-county