By James Lima
December 10, 2020

Policies of environmental injustice, which have disadvantaged low-income communities and communities of color for decades, have longstanding effects on individuals’ lives today.

A recent study published in the journal Climate found that temperatures in formerly redlined neighborhoods are about 13 degrees Fahrenheit (7.2 degrees C) hotter than those in nonredlined neighborhoods. This indicates that communities of color are more exposed to the urban heat island effect—a phenomenon in which built surfaces absorb and reemit the sun’s heat—and its pernicious impacts on health and quality of life. Research has also consistently shown that communities of color are exposed to substantially more polluted air and are more likely to be located near noxious power plants and other toxic sites. Moreover, lower-income and nonwhite individuals are less likely to have access to open space in their neighborhoods, according to “Spatial Disparities in the Distribution of Parks and Green Space,” a paper published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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