Climate change and environmental injustice in a bi-national context

Few studies have taken a conventional quantitative environmental justice approach to assessing the inequitable implications of climate change at a fine scale, such as across neighborhoods within an urban area. In this paper, we test the “environmental justice hypothesis” for climate change-related variables in the bi-national context of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua using a matched set of social indicators from the 2000 US and Mexican censuses and biophysical data related to heat, ozone and flooding. T-test results demonstrated that social marginality and climate change-related hazard exposure were generally higher in Juárez as compared to El Paso. Using spatial regression models, we found patterns of environmental injustice in the sister cities related to these climate change-related hazards. Lower social class neighborhoods generally faced increased risks from extreme heat in both cities, and from floods and peak ozone in El Paso. In El Paso, children also faced significant and disproportionate exposure to peak ozone, while female-headed households were significantly more burdened by flooding and peak ozone in Juárez. Despite the limitations of this cross-sectional study, we can expect injustices to heighten as neighborhoods at-risk now become increasingly exposed under climate change scenarios. In sum, this analysis provides a model for investigating inequities associated with future small area impacts of climate change

Distributional Environmental Injustices for a Minority Group without Minority Status: Arab Americans and Residential Exposure to Carcinogenic Air Pollution in the US

Distributional environmental injustices in residential exposure to air pollution in Arab American enclaves have not been examined. We conducted our investigation at the census tract-level across the continental United States using a set of socio-demographic variables to predict cancer risk from hazardous air pollutant (HAP) exposure. Arab enclaves had a mean cancer risk score of 44.08, as compared to 40.02 in non-enclave tracts. In terms of the specific origin groups, Moroccan enclaves had the highest cancer risk score (46.93), followed by Egyptian (45.33), Iraqi (43.13), Jordanian (41.67), and Lebanese (40.65). In generalized estimating equations controlling for geographic clustering and other covariates, Arab enclaves had significantly higher cancer risks due to HAPs (p < 0.001) than non-enclaves. When looking at specific ethnic origins, Iraqi, Palestinian, and Lebanese enclaves had significantly higher cancer risks due to HAPs (all p < 0.01) than non-enclaves. Results reveal significant environmental injustices for Arab American enclaves that should be examined in future studies. Results suggest that environmental injustice may be another way in which Arab Americans are disadvantaged as a racialized minority group without minority status

Disrupted by violence: children's well-being and families' economic, social, and cultural capital in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Perturbación del bienestar de los niños y del capital económico, social y cultural de las familias debido a la violencia en Ciudad Juárez, México

Since 2008, Ciudad Juarez (Chihuahua, Mexico) has been undergoing a wave of violence due to a drug war, making the city a difficult environment in which to raise a family. This study uses qualitative methodology that incorporates 16 in-depth interviews with parents of children ages 0-5 years and 9 sets of photos from a subset of interviewed parents. The study explores how families' economic, social, and cultural capital has been disrupted by the violence and how it affects children's well-being. Social and economic capital declined significantly because of the violence as families experienced crime, had increased difficulty finding and maintaining employment, and decreased their interactions outside the home. Interviews also suggested that opportunities to gain cultural capital decreased because of this isolation. Understanding the detrimental effects of violence on families' capital can contribute to understanding children's well-being in violence-stricken communities.<br>Desde el 2008, Ciudad Juárez (Chihuahua, México) ha experimentado una ola de violencia debida a una guerra entre narcotraficantes, que convirtió a la ciudad en un entorno difícil para criar una familia. En este estudio se usó una metodología cualitativa que comprendió 16 entrevistas exhaustivas con padres de niños de 0 a 5 años y 9 grupos de fotos de un subconjunto de padres entrevistados. El estudio explora cómo el capital económico, social y cultural de las familias ha sido perturbado por la violencia y cómo se ve afectado el bienestar de los niños. El capital social y económico ha disminuido significativamente a causa de la violencia debido a que las familias experimentaron la criminalidad, tuvieron dificultades crecientes para encontrar y conservar el empleo y redujeron sus interacciones fuera del hogar. Las entrevistas también indicaron que las oportunidades de mejorar el capital cultural disminuyeron debido a este aislamiento. La comprensión de los efectos perjudiciales de la violencia sobre el capital familiar puede contribuir a comprender el bienestar de los niños en las comunidades golpeadas por la violencia

Environmental injustices in transnational context: urbanization and industrial hazards in El Paso/Ciudad Ju�rez

The sister cities of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua form one of the largest manufacturing complexes in the world, and provide a unique context in which to examine transnational patterns of environmental injustice. In this paper, we explore residential patterns of environmental injustice related to the location of industrial facilities (ie maquiladoras and facilities regulated by the Toxics Release Inventory) in the El Paso – Juárez metropolis, taking a comparative approach. Our results indicate a striking injustice in the raw level of industrial hazard confronted by residents on the Mexican side of the border compared with those on the US side—a direct result of location within the global economy. In terms of multivariate spatial regression results, patterns of exposure to residential hazards diverged between the two cities. In Mexico, generally marginal neighborhoods (based on low social class and higher proportions of migrants to the city) were located farther away from industry, whereas they were located closer in the US. We explain these findings on the basis of sociospatial differences in urbanization, social marginality, and industrial development between El Paso and Juárez, which reflect the two cities’ juxtaposition vis-à-vis global political – economic dynamics. Future research is needed to test relationships between social marginality and industrial hazards in transnational and Southern contexts to determine if similar or divergent patterns exist.

Exposure to Flood Hazards in Miami and Houston: Are Hispanic Immigrants at Greater Risk than Other Social Groups?

Although numerous studies have been conducted on the vulnerability of marginalized groups in the environmental justice (EJ) and hazards fields, analysts have tended to lump people together in broad racial/ethnic categories without regard for substantial within-group heterogeneity. This paper addresses that limitation by examining whether Hispanic immigrants are disproportionately exposed to risks from flood hazards relative to other racial/ethnic groups (including US-born Hispanics), adjusting for relevant covariates. Survey data were collected for 1283 adult householders in the Houston and Miami Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and flood risk was estimated using their residential presence/absence within federally-designated 100-year flood zones. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) with binary logistic specifications that adjust for county-level clustering were used to analyze (separately) and compare the Houston (N = 546) and Miami (N = 560) MSAs in order to clarify determinants of household exposure to flood risk. GEE results in Houston indicate that Hispanic immigrants have the greatest likelihood, and non-Hispanic Whites the least likelihood, of residing in a 100-year flood zone. Miami GEE results contrastingly reveal that non-Hispanic Whites have a significantly greater likelihood of residing in a flood zone when compared to Hispanic immigrants. These divergent results suggest that human-flood hazard relationships have been structured differently between the two MSAs, possibly due to the contrasting role that water-based amenities have played in urbanization within the two study areas. Future EJ research and practice should differentiate between Hispanic subgroups based on nativity status and attend to contextual factors influencing environmental risk disparities

Environmental Justice Research: Contemporary Issues and Emerging Topics

Environmental justice (EJ) research seeks to document and redress the disproportionate environmental burdens and benefits associated with social inequalities. Although its initial focus was on disparities in exposure to anthropogenic pollution, the scope of EJ research has expanded. In the context of intensifying social inequalities and environmental problems, there is a need to further strengthen the EJ research framework and diversify its application. This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) incorporates 19 articles that broaden EJ research by considering emerging topics such as energy, food, drinking water, flooding, sustainability, and gender dynamics, including issues in Canada, the UK, and Eastern Europe. Additionally, the articles contribute to three research themes: (1) documenting connections between unjust environmental exposures and health impacts by examining unsafe infrastructure, substance use, and children’s obesity and academic performance; (2) promoting and achieving EJ by implementing interventions to improve environmental knowledge and health, identifying avenues for sustainable community change, and incorporating EJ metrics in government programs; and (3) clarifying stakeholder perceptions of EJ issues to extend research beyond the documentation of unjust conditions and processes. Collectively, the articles highlight potentially compounding injustices and an array of approaches being employed to achieve EJ

Environmental Health Injustice: Exposure to Air Toxics and Children’s Respiratory Hospital Admissions

Although much environmental justice research tacitly assumes that unequal environmental exposures produce geographic disparities in adverse health outcomes, very few empirical environmental justice studies have tested that assumption. This article does so by using estimates of exposure to air toxics disaggregated by emission source (point and mobile) to predict children\u27s hospitalization rates for both asthma and respiratory infections in El Paso, Texas. Air toxics emissions from most source categories were found to be significant predictors of children\u27s respiratory infection hospitalization rates, but not asthma hospitalization rates, at the census tract level. Findings suggest that sociospatial disparities in respiratory infection rates might be linked to environmental inequalities

Hazardous Air Pollutants & Flooding: A comparative interurban study of environmental injustice

The environmental justice literature, which finds that lower status groups tend to experience disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards, has underemphasized natural hazards, the benefits that accompany exposure to environmental risks, and comparative analytical frameworks. This study addresses these limitations by assessing patterns of environmental injustice with respect to economic deprivation (insecurity and instability), race, and ethnicity at the census tract level in the Miami and Houston Metropolitan Statistical Areas for 100-year flood risk and cancer risk from exposure to air toxics. When predicting air toxic exposure using spatial error regression models, instability was positive and significant in both cities; proportion Hispanic was significantly positive in Houston and significantly negative in Miami; neighborhood economic insecurity was positive and significant in Miami; and proportion black was not significant in either city. For flooding, spatial error regression models showed that proportion black was negative and significant in both cities; proportion Hispanic was significantly negative in Houston and nearly significantly positive in Miami; insecurity was negative and significant in Miami; and instability was not significant in either city. Results demonstrate that environments present benefits as well as risks and that this shapes patterns of environmental injustice in urban areas. The divergent findings for Hispanic suggest that analyzing Hispanic as a monolithic category of social disadvantage in the US context may not be useful in diverse cities with large Hispanic populations. More comparative studies are needed to disentangle the roles of hazard characteristics (frequency/magnitude, suddenness of onset, and divisibility) in shaping patterns of environmental injustice