This book chapter covers the history of oil drilling in Los Angeles County and the fight for environmental justice that are associated with it. Located in one of the most concentrated deposits of crude oil in the world, Los Angeles is littered with thousands of active oil wells. However, the effects of minimal regulation at multiple levels of government and corporate control have created a situation where low-income, non-white neighborhoods are disproportionately impacted by unsafe wells close to schools, homes, and parks, negatively impacting the air and water. Their plights are often ignored by local, state, and national governments. This chapter provides a good case study of the fights for environmental justice in Los Angeles County, both in the past and in the modern era. It also highlights the large role oil plays in affecting the air and water quality of communities in Los Angeles County, and how this environmental burden is not shared equally among communities along socioeconomic and racial lines.
This report focuses on the many problems regarding water access for communities in California across several spheres of society. Many low-income, minority residents are more likely to be exposed to water contamination and depend on poorly maintained, outdated water infrastructure to provide that water, particularly those in impoverished rural areas that are also unable to afford to upgrade their water systems. In urban areas, water is often contaminated by industrial waste so that urban residents are only provided polluted tap water and public schools in poorer areas may not have access to affordable clean water for their students. One pressing issue for both areas that especially impacts low-income residents is the double cost of drinking water: when tap water is unsafe, people must both pay for their unusable polluted tap water and separately buy clean bottled water. The report provides information on how water infrastructure as well as industrial waste can impact water quality across all spaces in California, as well as some opinions on what can be done to alleviate lack of water access. Furthermore, it explains how unsafe water specifically impacts underprivileged communities and relates to understanding the relevance of our data project.
This study analyzes data regarding the Clean Water Act’s Construction Grant Program and whether grant money was distributed equitably to counties to revamp their publicly-owned water treatment facilities. Three main groups of variables were investigated: the county’s population size and density; a county’s average household income, and minority composition. Federal funding data from the Census Bureau was the dependent variable, and ordinary least-squares regression and logistic regression were used to determine correlations and their significance. The analysis found that population size became the most important predictor of grant shares at high populations, far outweighing minority composition and household income; however, this trend was nonlinear, with fewer grants given to extremely wealthy communities, potentially due to their ability to utilize outside resources. Increasing minority composition also decreased the probability that the county received a grant. This study shows how federal funding could exacerbate certain inequities from a water treatment lens, and it serves as a potential model to help guide our analysis on LA water quality. For instance, the paper indicates that there is strong correlation between a county’s population and its minority composition; as a result, it is difficult to separate the two effects in their analysis. This problem is likely one that we will encounter in our project, and so this project’s data analysis provides a starting point to guide our data normalization.
This study used both GIS data and an air quality monitoring network to analyze whether socioeconomic class was correlated with air pollution in Hamilton, Ontario, a city that experiences consistent pollution from steel factories. Concentrations of suspended particulates from monitoring stations were interpolated and overlaid onto a census map, and least-squares regression was conducted to find correlations. Property values was the most significant variable, with the variable being negatively correlated with pollution. Income and unemployment were also correlated with pollution, while immigration (a proxy for racial makeup) did not have significant correlation, potentially highlighting differences in racial dynamics between Canada and the United States. This study serves as a model for how spatial statistics can be used to display pollution concentrations; by interpolating measurements, the study was able to create maps that depict how pollutant concentrations changed between stations. As a result, we can use similar methodology in our project when creating map visualizations of air quality in Los Angeles to transform discrete data points into continuous colormaps.
This article explores how urban trees can play a key role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, cleaning air, promoting physical activity, and improving mental health. The article uses open data collection and data mining and explores how these models can lead to a greater understanding of urban forestry. The data collected includes geolocation, species and much more on 652,169 street trees as well as supplementary data on pollen activity, allergen severity, land use, housing conditions, and neighborhood demographic data. The article explores this data by integrating data on asthma hospitalization rates and PM2.5 concentrations. The conclusion from this data is that greater concentration of trees assist with air pollution but certain species have a pollen that can increase local asthma hospitalization rates in vulnerable populations. This article made a big point about data collection and mining which led me to think about ways we can integrate our data sources together. It also helped me understand that something that seems universally good, like planting more trees, can have negative consequences on certain populations. It reminded me that it is important to actively search for the negatives and not just the conclusion we are looking for.
This article argues that there is a positive association between maternal exposures to PM2.5 and O3 air pollutants and preterm birth. The researchers reached this conclusion by building mixed-effects models using daily quality data on PM2.5 and O3, geocoded birth certificate data, and census tract-level socioeconomic data. The models revealed that there is an average increased risk for preterm birth for every one unit increase in PM2.5 over the entire pregnancy and in O3 over the 3-month pre-pregnancy period. This resource is important because it demonstrates the health impacts of poor air quality and how it is related to socioeconomic factors. It also reinforces why it is important to study air quality through an environmental justice lens because it clearly has a very real impact on certain communities. This article demonstrates how important it is that our project should not only include our findings but also include resources for marginalized communities to advocate for policy changes that will mitigate the effects of poor air quality.
This article argues that urban tree canopy cover removes large amounts of air pollution, improves air quality, and in turn, the management of it would help urban areas meet clean air standards. The researchers reached this conclusion by estimating pollution removal by urban trees using pollution concentration data and amount of tree coverage. This resource is important because it demonstrates that there is a positive relationship between the amount of tree canopy cover and air quality in urban areas. In combination with other literature that argues that more affluent neighborhoods tend to have higher levels of tree canopy cover, this article pushes us to consider which neighborhoods do not have access to urban tree canopy coverage and what communities those neighborhoods serve. With that information, we are able to take a closer look at which communities are more impacted by poor air quality.
This paper discusses and explores the relationship between environmental hazards and educational outcomes in Los Angeles. Even when controlling for socioeconomic and demographic factors, diminished performance and lower test scores can be seen to correlate with negative health outcomes related to exposure to environmental hazards caused by low air and water quality. This correlation strongly affects communities of color and those below the poverty line. This paper is relevant to our dataset because it not only provides concurring evidence that non-white communities are the victims of environmental injustice, but it explores the negative impacts environmental injustice has not only on public health, but on education and economics (in the form of human capital). This article also controls for other factors that may explain diminished school performance and is useful for analysis of why our data is relevant and important, especially as the demand for schools increases in the Los Angeles area.
Pearce and Zawar-Reza investigated correlations between ambient and acute air pollution in Christchurch, New Zealand with social demographic data, including ethnicity, age, social deprivation (a combination of multiple social indices), and income. Air pollution was measured via an atmospheric model that incorporated local emissions with meteorology and transport, and regression analysis was conducted with mean PM10 concentrations, number of days that exceed a regulatory value, and social factors. They discovered that areas with high numbers of residents between 15-34 years old experienced the highest levels of particulate matter, and that the social deprivation score correlated significantly with the amount of ambient and acute pollution. However, ethnicity did not correlate strongly with air pollution when the other social factors were accounted for, although this finding may be due to New Zealand’s high ethnic homogeneity. They also discovered that the burden of air pollution was not equal: the areas that emitted the most particulates through domestic heating did not experience the most severe pollution events. This paper was significant in that it was one of the first environmental justice analyses conducted in New Zealand that accounted for pollutant transport and weather, rather than simply analyzing the static location of hazardous waste sites. This paper parallels much of our proposed methodology: we will be using PM10 as well to study the Los Angeles basin, and we plan to use similar demographic factors to find correlations. Although we will not have the resources to run atmospheric models on pollution plumes, the paper indicates that a location’s meteorology may impact air pollution and may thus be a confounding variable in our data visualizations.
This article by reporter Sammy Roth focuses on environmental injustice, in the overall US and particularly in the Los Angeles Area. She cites instances of lead-contaminated soil and water, air pollution from gas wells, and other environmental hazards that are much more likely to be in or near working-class neighborhoods. Per several investigations by the Los Angeles Times, pollutants and waste sites were disproportionately more often found near low-income, Black, and Latino residents. The article mentions redlining and how it has caused generations of people of color to be refused home loans and insurance for certain locations, and how that may contribute to the distribution of polluted land today. Roth gives insight into how environmental injustice as a whole impacts those of less privileged socioeconomic statuses. The article’s findings can be applied to show how our focus, water and air quality, is tied to systems that have historically sidelined communities of color and explain a cause of the disparities found in our data analysis when we look at air and water pollution by race.
This article argues that even after accounting for county-level cropland and livestock production, communities water systems (CWSs) in the top percentile of Hispanic residents exceeded the average nitrate concentration, 5 mg/L, three times as often as CWSs serving the lowest percentile. However, the proportion of residents living in poverty and proportion of African American residents were both inversely related with nitrate levels. The researchers came to these conclusions by conducting mixed-effects multivariate regression analyses using the nitrate data from 39,466 U.S. CWSs over a five-year period and demographic data from the U.S. Census. This resource is important because it somewhat corroborates our theory that minority communities, in this case, Hispanic communities, are often impacted by poor water quality caused by pollutants. It also provides opposing evidence to our hypothesis that all communities with lower socioeconomic backgrounds suffer poorer water quality. However, it is important to note that this article only studies nitrate levels, while our water quality data set has information about 13 different water pollutants. When thinking about our project, this article has encouraged us to consider the possibility that different marginalized communities may be dealing with different water pollutants.
These researchers explored the implications of how urban tree canopy cover is associated with environmental justice, in both a positive and negative light. What was concluded is that income is generally strongly correlated with urban tree canopy cover, whereas race and ethnicity is not as large of a factor. However, this is not the case in Los Angeles - the percentage of black and Hispanic ethnicities in certain areas and greenspace are “strongly and negatively correlated.” To find this, geographical information system mapping in conjunction with social variables like race, ethnicity, income, and education attainment from the Census was utilized. Additional supplemental articles such as how environmental justice relates to parks and tree cover and environmental benefits and burdens of trees with socioeconomic contexts in cities were used to help generate this critical research. In the context of our project, this information can help provide insight when analyzing trends with air and water quality. With an environmental justice lens, cross-referencing urban tree canopy cover with socioeconomic data and our air and water quality can help us create connections and supply more background information as to why certain conditions in different parts of Los Angeles county are the way they are.
This article conducts community-based participatory research in South Los Angeles, analyzing oil development and its effects on the health of the residents within the communities. Additionally, the researchers utilized low-cost air quality monitoring systems to not only determine potential methods for communities to determine air quality, but also measure the different types of pollutants and contaminants within the air. After these studies, the researchers found that many in these communities had no knowledge of an oil production site within 1500 feet of their neighborhood, could not determine potential harmful odors, and did not know how to make reports to air quality agencies. Furthermore, it is known that oil and gas development is correlated with poor air quality and as a result, more likely for adverse health effects. This statement was supported by the researchers’ findings as well. This article helps us to understand methods or proper ways to provide insights and potential areas of improvement and further studies that could be made. In the same way that the researchers give recommendations, we can do so as well after our research is done. Finally, it helps put other factors like oil drilling into consideration as to why some of these communities face these environmental conditions such as poor air quality.
This article conducts an analysis and provides a framework for exploring access to parks throughout various communities in Los Angeles. Through geospatial analysis, the researchers demonstrate that poor, non-white communities often have lower access to parks (and other greenspace) and that these parks are often hampered by other confounding factors. The researchers go on to provide a model for identifying areas for further parkland development and provide an array of possible solutions to alleviate the “park congestion” felt by these communities. This paper is relevant to our research because it provides evidence of environmental injustice in Los Angeles county with regards to access to green space, notes negative aspects of poor access to parks, and provides ideas and solutions to alleviating the issues.
This study provides an insight into how racial-ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities with environmental justice can be objectively rated using Los Angeles as a prime example to apply it to, considering its diverse population and the disparities of environmental pollution. Environmental hazards like air pollutants—specifically PM 2.5—were identified and investigated, and scientific and statistical analysis was conducted for measuring inequality index, environmental impact, and race-ethnicity with socioeconomic position. This combines into what the researchers coin “CEHII,” the cumulative environmental hazard inequality index. Much like the backing for our research questions, their conclusion regarding communities of color with lower socioeconomic status having more “environmental burdens” than non-ethnic and affluent communities supports our environmental justice lens with air and water quality. The CEHII can also provide insight for potential future steps and policies that address how to bridge the gap with all the disparities facing Los Angeles. Some examples they provide, which we can definitely include in our website for steps moving forward, are cleaner production and more green spaces, which relates to the green space disparity that we are also focusing on.
This report examines the growing air quality problems are growing in many developed countries and how this increased pollution leads to premature deaths. The report contained many sources such as 20 years of data on global PM2.5 concentrations and reports on the link between health and air pollution. These sources show that over the last 20 years the concentration of PM2.5 has been decreasing in North America and Europe, while increasing in South America and Asia especially in mega cities. The author goes on to discuss how the data collection methods have improved which has led to greater accuracy but how we are still lacking the methods and tools to gather data on mixtures of gasses and pollutants. The PM2.5 pollutant is also very deadly leading to 2.9 million premature deaths in 2013 and ranked as the 7th most important risk factor contributing to global mortality. The report ends with how better policy and more knowledge on the subject could provide a path forward. This report can apply directly to our research questions about how air pollution can negatively affect health. Specifically the data on PM2.5 as that is what is tracked in our own dataset.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) report investigates data on air pollution and its ramifications regarding child health, with the intention of informing health care professionals on how to act to prevent air pollution-caused damage. The report compiles information from various WHO studies between 2006 and 2016 to examine ambient air pollution -- contamination from fossil fuel usage, industry, agriculture, waste incineration, and natural disasters -- and household pollution -- from unhealthy cooking fuels, hearth fires, and other household sources -- and what percentage of children internationally are exposed to these types of air pollution, with a consideration to whether these children belong to low income areas or certain age groups. The report found that in general, children face severe health consequences from polluted air and are a vulnerable group due to factors like more time spent playing outside in polluted air or inside near cooking fires, greater exposure as fetuses, lack of autonomy to leave their environment, and immature development. Exposure to air pollution was found to correlate with significantly higher child mortality, negative birth outcomes like low birth weight and more stillbirths, slower neurological development, obesity, asthma, childhood cancers, and even health issues later in life like adult cardiovascular disease. Overall, the report emphasizes the myriad health issues stemming from air pollution and the importance of protecting children from them. Though the report doesn’t focus on California, the results are still applicable to our project. Children are vital to a community’s longevity and ability to flourish and improve itself, so it is important to recognize how they are impacted by inadequate air quality and how that disrupts community growth, prevents upward social and economic mobility, and causes long-term health inequality.
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