Climate change and minorities

[pixy0stix]

Since it's been brought up (@koko) - I've been reading some interesting things in regard to minorities and climate change. In the larger scheme there's always been talk about the socio-economic impact of climate change. In particular, that it would take substantial impacts to the upper class before any meaningful changes began taking place. As a result, the middle and lower class would suffer.

Obama, in defending his EPA coal sanctions said this:

He argued that African-American children was more than twice as likely to be hospitalized from asthma and a Latino child was 40 percent more likely to die from asthma.

“If you care about low income minority Americans, start protecting the air they breath and stop trying to rob them of health care,” he said as the audience applauded.

Source: www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/03/obama-climate-change-hurts-minorities-the-worst/

And then there's this:

Although Hispanic Americans and African-Americans may not be the most visible advocates for addressing climate change, these communities are among the most concerned in the United States. A Pew Research Center survey last year found that about eight in ten of each of these groups agreed that the earth has been warming. Among whites, only about six in ten felt the same. Majorities of Hispanics and blacks attribute climate change to human activity compared with only 41 percent of whites.

Source (read the whole article, it's interesting): www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/05/08/climate-debate-isnt-so-heated-in-the-us/minorities-understand-the-threat-of-climate-change

Which, as a whole, just infuriates me. Why?! Why are we (whites) like this? Why do we have to wait until WE are personally effected? (This is all rhetorical.)

[jeaniebueller]

He argued that African-American children was more than twice as likely to be hospitalized from asthma and a Latino child was 40 percent more likely to die from asthma.

“If you care about low income minority Americans, start protecting the air they breath and stop trying to rob them of health care,” he said as the audience applauded

Different topic, but I read similar statistics based on air quality in low income housing--asbestos, lead paint, mold,  other issues. These groups are just being marginalized in every way. Sad.

[pixy0stix]

This article talks about the heat index in poor communities vs. communities that can plan to have grass and trees around their lodgings - www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/07/heat-wave-climate-change-poor-minorities_n_3401994.html

Specifically this:

Bill Jesdale, an environmental policy expert at the University of California, Berkeley, led a separate study, also published in May, that underscored the racial disparities. His research team found African Americans were about 50 percent more likely than their white counterparts to live in heat-prone communities, while Hispanics and Asians were at least a third more likely.

Jesdale pointed to one interesting observation: Each racial group was more likely to live in a heat-prone neighborhood if they also lived in a highly segregated city.

"That suggests the effect of segregation is not just about giving whites great neighborhoods and denying other people good heat characteristics," he speculated. "There's something about living in a highly racially stratified setting that makes people less invested in the common good. Trees are one reflection of the common good."

[sfy]

The first link doesn't work, but I guess it was just for source purposes anyway. I've been wondering ever since I was a kid myself why so many children of color has asthma in comparison with their white counterparts. And I challenge someone to ask an old black person about the change in the climate and not get the answer, "We're in the last days." Lol seriously.

[pixy0stix]

Oct 16, 2015 11:31:18 GMT -5 sfy said:

The first link doesn't work, but I guess it was just for source purposes anyway.

Try to copy and paste it. It's working for me.

[pixy0stix]

Give me a bit and I'll scrounge up the disparity that is forecast for food supplies. I just need to figure out where I read it.

[iammalcolmx]

This is fascinating.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Oct 16, 2015 11:31:18 GMT -5 sfy said:

The first link doesn't work, but I guess it was just for source purposes anyway. I've been wondering ever since I was a kid myself why so many children of color has asthma in comparison with their white counterparts. And I challenge someone to ask an old black person about the change in the climate and not get the answer, "We're in the last days." Lol seriously.

This is really interesting to me (and tragic, of course). Its giving me something to think about. I have adult-onset asthma. I grew up in the country. Didn't show any asthma symptoms until I'd moved to the "inner city" and lived there a few years. Now that I live in the suburbs, my symptoms, while not gone, have significantly abated. I'd never considered other environmental factors than just air pollution and what the implications could be for people who grow up in that area.

[pixy0stix]

Dammit, I can't find it. I'll have to see if I saved the link at home as I don't have the source for this (and really food security is a wee bit outside my realm of stuff that I can accurately give facts on).

The gist of it is that while there is some debate on whether the food staples (wheat, rice, etc.) supply will go down (complicated issue with yield going down, but tech maybe picking up the slack) and if the price of the food will rise. Generally the prediction is that price will go up, just due to the fact that it will become harder to produce crops, use more resources, etc. Which in turn will raise the price of food. Not only that, but the quantity of choices we have for food will go down as things die off/can't adapt. Which leads to loss in diversity of nutrients.

All of which leads to bad news for everyone as we start to compete for resources. Especially in areas that have food deserts to begin with.

[dirtyred]

Oct 16, 2015 11:29:07 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

Different topic, but I read similar statistics based on air quality in low income housing--asbestos, lead paint, mold,  other issues. These groups are just being marginalized in every way. Sad. 

Cockroaches.  

[NitaX]

I'm glad you brought this up because the neighborhood I grew up in was near a chemical plant. There is so much contamination in the area it's ridiculous.


Velsicol Chemical idles North Memphis plant


Velsicol Chemical Corp., with a sometimes-controversial 70-year history in Memphis, has ceased manufacturing indefinitely.

Whether it closes permanently or not, the company will remain responsible for soil and groundwater contamination in nearby North Memphis neighbhorhoods, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation spokeswoman Meg Lockhart said Monday via e-mail.

The North Memphis plant, which most recently made an ingredient for pesticides and flame retardants, stopped operations Dec. 16, Tim Horn, Velsicol's vice president of operations, said from corporate offices in Chicago. Only distribution operations remain.

The company won't comment about the Memphis site's future, Horn said.

TDEC issued a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice on Monday, stating Velsicol laid off 35 people between July 1 and Dec. 15. Horn said the layoffs included both hourly and management workers.

Only two employees remain at the facilities at 1199 Warford, said site manager Dana Woods, referring to herself and a distribution manager.

The plant made an active ingredient -- hexachlorocylopentadiene -- for the production of the pesticide endosulfan.

"We call it hex," Horn said.

But a ban on endosulfan has spread worldwide, and demand for Velsicol's product has withered.

Exposure to endosulfan can cause reproductive and developmental damage in both animals and humans.

However, Horn said, "We think the bad name endosulfan is getting from various corners of the world is unfounded."

Just last year, India, which has companies that were customers of Velsicol, began a ban of endosulfan.

In fact, in Stockholm last spring, 127 nations agreed to put endosulfan on the United Nations' list of banned pollutants. The pesticide is banned in the U.S.

Velsicol, which employed 145 people in Memphis 20 years ago, bought the plant in 1950.

Velsicol occupies 68 acres on the northwest corner of Warford and Jackson. From the street, Velsicol looks like a maze of pipes, metal buildings and rail tracks.

Decades ago, before the revised federal Clean Water Act was enacted, industries in the North Memphis neighborhood dumped wastes into Cypress Creek.

The long-lasting chlorinated chemicals from plants like Velsicol polluted the water, which seeped into some of the soil along the creek.

About five years ago, Velsicol finished cleaning up 18 of the most heavily polluted properties around the creek.

If Velsicol were to close and leave the plant site, the property's condition would be an issue, said Mary Wilder, a board member of the nearby Vollintine Evergreen Community Association.

"To me, that becomes a mega-brownfield," she said. "That's probably the most unusable piece of property."

Velsicol stopped making the flame retardant chlorendic anhydride in September 2009, according to the TDEC.

The Memphis operation previously made endrin, heptachlor, chlordane and benzyl alcohol. It discontinued making endrin in 1985, heptachlor in 1994, chlordane in 1996, and benzyl alcohol in 1999, according to TDEC.

The state permitted the facility to store hazardous waste in containers and to treat liquid hazardous waste in an on-site incinerator.

Velsicol also operates a system that treats contaminated groundwater before it goes into the sewer.

The company's corrective-action efforts are geared toward soil or groundwater contamination, Lockhart said.

"The closing of the plant will not impact the cleanup of the facility or work presently being conducted at the (nearby) Springdale Apartments," Lockhart said.

Velsicol demolished Springdale Apartments and submitted a risk assessment late last year.

Both TDEC and the state Health Department required Velsicol to submit a work plan for additional removal of tainted soil, Lockhart said, adding the plan should be submitted within two weeks.

After Velsicol removes the soil at Springdale Apartments, it must deal with contaminated soil in nonresidential areas and at the plant site, Lockhart said.

"They will also have to address the groundwater contamination that is moving offsite," she said.

Horn said, "We'll continue to own and operate and manage the site in a safe and cost-effective way.

"To that point, we're operating today a distribution facility as well as a lab and research-and-development operation to support both our North American and global customer base."

And another article:

Toxic Shock

Sierra Club report names the 10 worst polluters in Shelby County.

by BIANCA PHILLIPS

(This is just the first few paragraphs)


No matter where she goes, environmental activist Diane Ivy can't seem to escape the toxins emitted from local industrial plants.

For nearly 50 years, Ivy lived in the Douglass community, a neighborhood around Hollywood and Chelsea in zip code 38108. Besides hundreds of homes and businesses, Douglass is also home to oleochemicals producer PMC Biogenix (formerly known as Chemtura) on Pope Street and cottonseed oil and meal manufacturer Southern Cotton Oil on Chelsea.

When Ivy lived there, the North Memphis chemical plant Velsicol still manufactured chlordane and heptachlor, two chemicals banned for use in the U.S. in the late 1980s. Velsicol continued to manufacture the chemicals, which have been associated with breast, brain, and prostate cancer, for years after the ban for export to other countries.

"We used to do protests at Velsicol to let people in our community be aware of what they were doing," Ivy said.

In 2001, Ivy moved to an area near Millington. "After I moved there, I realized I was living next to DuPont on Fite Road," Ivy said. "I wasn't even thinking about that when I moved, but it's no more than five to seven minutes from my house."

DuPont is a manufacturer of what the company calls "building block products" such as cyanide for making plastics for car taillights and bus windows and oxyone for use in disinfectants.

Ivy's concerns are well founded. Companies in her current neighborhood and the Douglass community are ranked in the local Sierra Club's recently released "2010 Terrible Ten" report, a list of the worst industrial polluters in the county. Another cluster of industries on Presidents Island and the Riverport Road area near T.O. Fuller State Park are also on the list. The report is based on the 2008 Toxics Release Inventory data, the most recent figures available.

Although the report notes that all 10 industries have proper permits from the Environmental Protection Agency, it points out that the industries are emitting substances classified as toxic by the EPA. Scientific studies have shown these chemicals pose a threat to human health and the environment.

Most of the industries on the list are located in predominantly low-income or African-American neighborhoods, which is why the Sierra Club Chickasaw Group environmental justice coordinator, Rita Harris, has taken on the responsibility of compiling the annual list.

"The most active polluters are located in majority people-of-color and majority low-income neighborhoods," Harris said. "There are a large number on Presidents Island and in the downtown area, as well as on Fite Road. In the Chelsea area, the factories are sitting on top of one another."

[pixy0stix]

I'm down the rabbit hole.

8 YEARS ago, this article came out, and have we done a damn thing? No

www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-hits-poor-hardest/

For instance, the report finds that African Americans living in Los Angeles are almost twice as likely to die as other Los Angelenos during a heat wave. Segregated in the inner city, they're more susceptible to the "heat island" effect, where temperatures are magnified by concrete and asphalt. Yet they're less likely to have access to air conditioning or cars.

Similarly, Latinos make up 77 percent of California's agricultural workforce and will likely see economic hardship as climate change reworks the state's highest-value farm products. The dairy industry brings in $3.8 billion of California's $30 billion agriculture income; grapes account for $3.2 billion. Yet climatic troubles are expected to decrease dairy production between 7 percent and 22 percent by century's end, while grapes will have trouble ripening, substantially reducing their value.

[iammalcolmx]

Oct 16, 2015 12:04:26 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm down the rabbit hole.

8 YEARS ago, this article came out, and have we done a damn thing? No

www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-hits-poor-hardest/

For instance, the report finds that African Americans living in Los Angeles are almost twice as likely to die as other Los Angelenos during a heat wave. Segregated in the inner city, they're more susceptible to the "heat island" effect, where temperatures are magnified by concrete and asphalt. Yet they're less likely to have access to air conditioning or cars.

Similarly, Latinos make up 77 percent of California's agricultural workforce and will likely see economic hardship as climate change reworks the state's highest-value farm products. The dairy industry brings in $3.8 billion of California's $30 billion agriculture income; grapes account for $3.2 billion. Yet climatic troubles are expected to decrease dairy production between 7 percent and 22 percent by century's end, while grapes will have trouble ripening, substantially reducing their value.

I wonder if this is similar to the cases when all those old people die in Europe due to heat waves?

[NitaX]

The communities mention in my articles - North Memphis and Douglass and Chelsea are my hoods. That's where my church was, my grandparents lived off of Chelsea and in Douglass. The smell from the plants was something I could never forget. The air would be extremely pungent - usually on Saturdays - and we'd have to come indoors because it was too stinky to be outside.

I'd love for someone to study long-term residents to find out what cancers they died from. We eventually moved from the area when I was in 8th/9th grade.

[pixy0stix]

Oct 16, 2015 12:09:49 GMT -5 NitaX said:

The communities mention in my articles - North Memphis and Douglass and Chelsea are my hoods. That's where my church was, my grandparents lived off of Chelsea and in Douglass. The smell from the plants was something I could never forget. The air would be extremely pungent - usually on Saturdays - and we'd have to come indoors because it was too stinky to be outside.

I'd love for someone to study long-term residents to find out what cancers they died from. We eventually moved from the area when I was in 8th/9th grade.

I have a question - has the area seen gentrification and that's why this particular plant has been forced to clean up?

[pixy0stix]

Oct 16, 2015 12:08:23 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Oct 16, 2015 12:04:26 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm down the rabbit hole.

8 YEARS ago, this article came out, and have we done a damn thing? No

www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-hits-poor-hardest/

I wonder if this is similar to the cases when all those old people die in Europe due to heat waves?

Maybe? I think some of it is cultural, too, with just not having air conditioners.

[NitaX]

Oct 16, 2015 12:18:15 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Oct 16, 2015 12:09:49 GMT -5 NitaX said:

The communities mention in my articles - North Memphis and Douglass and Chelsea are my hoods. That's where my church was, my grandparents lived off of Chelsea and in Douglass. The smell from the plants was something I could never forget. The air would be extremely pungent - usually on Saturdays - and we'd have to come indoors because it was too stinky to be outside.

I'd love for someone to study long-term residents to find out what cancers they died from. We eventually moved from the area when I was in 8th/9th grade.

I have a question - has the area seen gentrification and that's why this particular plant has been forced to clean up?

No. Those areas are still among the poorest in the city. It's because the folks started yelling and they began cleaning it up. Most of the gentrification in Memphis is happening downtown and some areas in Midtown. 

There is an apartment complex on some old auto salvage yard. I'm still wondering if they did the necessary clean up on that land. Every time I drive by it, I'm like there is no way in hell that land isn't contaminated. 

[iammalcolmx]

Oct 16, 2015 12:20:20 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Oct 16, 2015 12:08:23 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

I wonder if this is similar to the cases when all those old people die in Europe due to heat waves?

Maybe? I think some of it is cultural, too, with just not having air conditioners.

True. I know AC is ridiculously expensive in Brasil, I wonder if the same is true in parts of Europe. I would ask summer but he neighborhood looks pretty new. I guess they had to rebuild after the war?

[skwcm80]

Oct 16, 2015 11:31:18 GMT -5 sfy said:

The first link doesn't work, but I guess it was just for source purposes anyway. I've been wondering ever since I was a kid myself why so many children of color has asthma in comparison with their white counterparts. And I challenge someone to ask an old black person about the change in the climate and not get the answer, "We're in the last days." Lol seriously.

I've always wondered this too. Anecdotally, all of my mom's grandchildren are being treated for "asthma like" issues, and both my mom and sister suffer from asthma as well.

[orriskitten]

Oct 16, 2015 12:22:30 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Oct 16, 2015 12:20:20 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Maybe? I think some of it is cultural, too, with just not having air conditioners.

True. I know AC is ridiculously expensive in Brasil, I wonder if the same is true in parts of Europe. I would ask summer but he neighborhood looks pretty new. I guess they had to rebuild after the war?

I've lived in 2 European countries (the Netherlands and Iceland) and have never seen an air conditioner for sale. It's just not the culture. Importing it would likely be super expensive. I'm not sure on the price to run it, though, since it just isn't done.

[orriskitten]

It's ridiculous that there are climate change deniers.

And the cockroaches comment made me laugh and sad at the same time. My great grandma's old apt was infested so so badly, despite constant spraying and bombing. Her breathing got significantly better when she moved out. I grew up with a pretty bad infestation and it was all over the neighborhood, I have seen roaches crawl out of people's bags on the subway. And that is just the least of the environmental factors at play in my neighborhood and the next (which was mainly the projects). Eta: I laugh at blaming the cockroaches because whenever anything bad happened my family would blame "those damn roaches."

It's so sad that deniers can look on and see data like this and hear that they are putting other peoples' lives in danger and not care to do anything.

[iammalcolmx]

Oct 16, 2015 14:13:19 GMT -5 orriskitten said:

Oct 16, 2015 12:22:30 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

True. I know AC is ridiculously expensive in Brasil, I wonder if the same is true in parts of Europe. I would ask summer but he neighborhood looks pretty new. I guess they had to rebuild after the war?

I've lived in 2 European countries (the Netherlands and Iceland) and have never seen an air conditioner for sale. It's just not the culture. Importing it would likely be super expensive. I'm not sure on the price to run it, though, since it just isn't done.

OK. I am trying to think if their is AC at our friends apartment is Paris, there was one in Ville Franche. And every apartment we have rented in Istanbul had one but they had these:



You see customs face if you bring in a Window AC Unit on an airplane, LOL!!!

[aurora]

Wait, so I'm supposed to care about climate change beyond its impact on my skiing?


Seriously, though, we (largely wealthy people who use a disproportionate % of Earth's resources) are f-ing up up the planet in ways that are already having devastating impacts on the less fortunate, both within the U.S. and around the world, and on the natural environment (which will continue to impact us for the foreseeable future). This is absolutely one of the reasons I work in the field I do. Because of all of these social and environmental impacts, I see climate change as THE issue of our generation.

[pixy0stix]

Oct 16, 2015 14:25:27 GMT -5 aurora said:

Because of all of these social and environmental impacts, I see climate change as THE issue of our generation.

I agree. It's why I beat the drum so damn hard. I just wish that I hadn't been stupid and took up the offer to do my masters (and onward) in a related field. I kick myself now because I could be doing something more meaningful.

[aurora]

Oct 16, 2015 14:33:07 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Oct 16, 2015 14:25:27 GMT -5 aurora said:

Because of all of these social and environmental impacts, I see climate change as THE issue of our generation.

I agree. It's why I beat the drum so damn hard. I just wish that I hadn't been stupid and took up the offer to do my masters (and onward) in a related field. I kick myself now because I could be doing something more meaningful.

It's never too late! Even if you don't want to go back to school you are obviously passionate enough about it that I'm sure you could make a real contribution. (And I say this without knowing exactly what is your current job but knowing that you are smart enough to transition into something else if you want to.)

[kirra]

Oct 16, 2015 14:17:40 GMT -5 orriskitten said:

It's ridiculous that there are climate change deniers.

And the cockroaches comment made me laugh and sad at the same time. My great grandma's old apt was infested so so badly, despite constant spraying and bombing. Her breathing got significantly better when she moved out. I grew up with a pretty bad infestation and it was all over the neighborhood, I have seen roaches crawl out of people's bags on the subway. And that is just the least of the environmental factors at play in my neighborhood and the next (which was mainly the projects). Eta: I laugh at blaming the cockroaches because whenever anything bad happened my family would blame "those damn roaches."

It's so sad that deniers can look on and see data like this and hear that they are putting other peoples' lives in danger and not care to do anything.

The science about cockroaches and asthma is solid and has been available for a long time

Links for those who didn't know:
www.cdc.gov/asthma/triggers.html
acaai.org/allergies/types/cockroach-allergies



This study is from 2001, so it's probably outdated, but it shows that even then we knew about the link between cockroaches, increased asthma morbidity,, and lower socioeconomic status
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11240940/

This one is from 1996 and shows being African American and lower socioeconomic status as independent risk factors
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/8648037/?i=4&from=/11240940/related

Basically, the US has known about the risks forever and hasn't done anything.

[bimbi284]

Oct 16, 2015 12:08:23 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

Oct 16, 2015 12:04:26 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'm down the rabbit hole.

8 YEARS ago, this article came out, and have we done a damn thing? No

www.scientificamerican.com/article/climate-change-hits-poor-hardest/

I wonder if this is similar to the cases when all those old people die in Europe due to heat waves?

That happens in the US as well.

[WanderingWinoZ]

This is very interesting (enlightening, enraging, and tragic too). I've known about this before & I think TNC touched on it in his articles about all the other impacts of segregation in housing.

I don't think it's been touched upon, but I bet water supply/contamination are also issues.

I'd love to see/hear from @mx about this globally since we're mostly speaking about the US here. I know climate change & especially rising sea levels are predicted and have already started impacting some of the poorest nations. The richest/biggest do most of the polluting & damage, while many others suffer. I wonder if the racial/economic disparities between a good environment/community are just as stark in other european nations. I think about places like Mexico City or Buenos Aires, and I assume that the poorest also suffer greatly due to horrible environmental conditions there too, not just based on race.

[FloFTW]

This is insane.

I have a friend that works for the City of Cleveland to help reduce our high infant mortality rate. They just did a big education campaign and these factors impact the POC rate is such a huge way. I didn't realize before that.

It's shocking to see all these studies together and infuriating that it is swept under the rug.

[aurora]

Oct 17, 2015 7:06:26 GMT -5 WanderingWinoZ said:

This is very interesting (enlightening, enraging, and tragic too). I've known about this before & I think TNC touched on it in his articles about all the other impacts of segregation in housing.

I don't think it's been touched upon, but I bet water supply/contamination are also issues.

I'd love to see/hear from @mx about this globally since we're mostly speaking about the US here. I know climate change & especially rising sea levels are predicted and have already started impacting some of the poorest nations. The richest/biggest do most of the polluting & damage, while many others suffer. I wonder if the racial/economic disparities between a good environment/community are just as stark in other european nations. I think about places like Mexico City or Buenos Aires, and I assume that the poorest also suffer greatly due to horrible environmental conditions there too, not just based on race.

I haveto leave soon for a volunteer commitment so can't find articles to cite, but it's extremely likely that climate change is the reason for a number of global problems lready. A really hard thing about climate science is that it's almost impossible to directly prove climate change is the cause of a particular event, just that it makes that type of event more likely.

Even things like wars (Syria) could be linked to climate stressors.