Nearly half of all New Yorkers live in areas with a “disproportionate” burden of pollution. report I found it. A citywide assessment released Friday says communities of color are most affected and are also more vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
“We had orange skies last year, and we will continue to see repeated extreme weather events that impact the most vulnerable in our communities,” said executive director of environmental justice organization Uprose. Director Elisabeth Yeampierre said. Brooklyn.
of reportThe study, published by the Mayor’s Office of Environmental Justice, is the city’s first comprehensive study on environmental inequality.
The report notes that black New Yorkers are twice as likely to die from heat stress as white New Yorkers, with black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Harlem and the South Bronx most affected by high-temperature days. The latter recorded the highest temperature on record. He is eight stories (4.5 degrees) higher than the rich, wooded areas of the Upper West Side and Upper East Side. Areas most vulnerable to stormwater inundation include majority black and Hispanic communities in southeast and central Queens and the southeast Bronx.
Researchers attribute much of the disparity to racist real estate practices, or redlining. Approximately two-thirds of people living in historically redlined neighborhoods (disproportionately Black, Hispanic or Latino) live in areas the city identifies as environmental justice (EJ) areas. live. These areas were identified based on state disadvantaged communities (DAC) criteria using race and income data.
“Understanding what has been placed on communities over time and how to redress those inequities is what we are trying to identify with this work.” [report]” said Costa Constantinides, a member of the Environmental Justice Advisory Committee and former Queens City Council member who worked on the report.
The assessment found that highways, industrial power plants, and waste treatment facilities are disproportionately concentrated near communities of color. As of 2021, 13 of the city’s 19 gas-powered “peaker” plant facilities are located in the EJ area, including the South Bronx, Astoria, Queens, and Sunset Park in Brooklyn.
EJ communities, on the other hand, are less likely to access parks; quarter The percentage of New Yorkers living in poverty struggles to pay for public transportation.
“that [the report] We want to ensure that environmental justice is on the city’s agenda,” said Peggy Shepherd, executive director of We Act for Environmental Justice, which worked on the report. “The next step is to develop a comprehensive citywide plan to address the environmental justice issues identified in the report and work with those most affected to develop effective and equitable solutions. It’s what you do.”
