“...the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of
all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or
income with respect to the development,
implementation, and enforcement of environmental
laws, regulations, and policies.”
“The term has two distinct uses.
The first and more common usage describes a social movement
in the United States whose focus is on the fair distribution of
environmental benefits and burdens.
Second, it is an interdisciplinary body of social science literature
that includes (but is not limited to) theories of the environment,
theories of justice, environmental law and governance,
environmental policy and planning, development, sustainability,
and political ecology.”
FIGURE 8.1 Ecosocial Framework of Disproportionate Exposure to Environmental Hazards and Stressors
Source : Morello - Frosch and Lopez, 2006 . Reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
Sources Emissions/Contamination Exposure Internal
DoseHealthEffect
Industrial Facility/Transportation
Corridor
ChemicalsEmitted
Indoor/OutdoorPollution Levels
ChemicalBody Burden
Birth Outcome
Community-level Measures Individual-level Measures
Community-levelBuilt EnvironmentLand Use/Zoning
Traffic DensityHousing Quality
Social EnvironmentCivic Engagement
Poverty ConcentrationAccess to Services
Food SecurityRegulatory Enforcement Activities
Neighborhood Quality
Individual-levelSocial Support
IncomePoverty
Working ConditionsEducational Status
Marital StatusDiet/Nutritional Status
Psycho-social StressHealth Behaviors
Response &Resilience
DetoxificationCapacity
Structural Mechanisms of DiscriminationPolitical DisenfranchisementEconomic/Financial System
Legal SystemSocial Inequality
Government & Industrial Investment Patterns
Ability toRecover
Co-Morbidity/Mortality
Residential Segregation &Uneven Regional Development
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8/30/12 8:46 PMSick From Fracking? Doctors, Patients Seek Answers : NPR
Page 1 of 5http://www.npr.org/2012/05/15/152268475/sick-from-fracking-doctors-patients-seek-answers
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Sick From Fracking? Doctors, Patients SeekAnswersby ROB STEIN
May 15, 2012
Kay Allen had just started work, and everything seemed quiet at the Cornerstone Carecommunity health clinic in Burgettstown, Pa. But things didn't stay quiet for long.
"All the girls, they were yelling at me in the back, 'You gotta come out here quick. You gottacome out here quick,' " said Allen, 59, a nurse from Weirton, W.Va.
Allen rushed out front and knew right away what all the yelling was about. The whole placereeked — like someone had spilled a giant bottle of nail polish remover.
"I told everybody to get outside and get fresh air. So we went outside. And Aggie said, 'Kay,I'm going to be sick.' But before I get in, to get something for her to throw up in, she had to go
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Maggie Starbard/NPR Maggie Starbard/NPR
9/4/12 10:05 PMAs Temps Rise, Cities Combat 'Heat Island' Effect : NPR
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As Temps Rise, Cities Combat 'Heat Island' Effectby RICHARD HARRIS
Correction Sept. 4, 2012A previous Web version of this story, as does the audio, incorrectly said that Ebenezer Baptist Church leases outspace for a community garden. While the land is adjacent to Ebenezer, it is actually leased out by Wheat StreetBaptist Church.
September 4, 2012
More than 20,000 high-temperature records have been broken so far this year in the United States.And the heat is especially bad in cities, which are heating up about twice as fast as the rest of theplanet.
High temperatures increase the risk of everything from asthma to allergies, and can even be deadly.But a researcher in Atlanta also sees this urban heat wave as an opportunity to do something aboutour warming planet.
The story starts at Ebenezer Baptist Church, arguably the most famous place in Atlanta; it wasMartin Luther King Jr.'s church and the heart of the civil rights movement.
It's now playing an unexpected role in a new movement: the struggle against rapidly rising urbantemperatures. Cities are literally global hot spots.
Richard Harris/NPRBrian Stone Jr., director of the Urban Climate Lab at Georgia Tech, says that pavement stores heat during the day and makescities hotter at night. Cities, he says, tend to be heating up at double the rate of the rest of the planet.