At CPEHN, we recognize that environmental conditions have a tremendous impact on our health. In our report, The Landscape of Opportunity: Cultivating Health Equity in California, we discussed how those living in areas with worse air quality are more likely to suffer from asthma and other chronic health conditions. We also showed that in California, the majority of people living in areas with adverse environmental conditions are from communities of color.

Recently, more research has been done to examine these environmental health inequities. A report published in September by UC Berkeley and the California Environmental Protection Agency found that Latinos and African Americans were much more likely to be exposed to air and water pollution than Whites.

However, according to an article published this week by California Healthline, the study used an older version of a state environmental health tool (CalEnviroScreen). As a result, the inequities could actually be even starker than the report indicated. In the article, CPEHN Executive Director Sarah de Guia discussed the differences between CalEnviroScreen 1.1 and the 2.0 version and how the new version should yield more detailed results:

Ten years ago this weekend, the world watched as Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast and laid bare the inequities that are deeply ingrained in American society. Perhaps no single event has ever highlighted the intersection between race, poverty, climate, and health as clearly as the devastation in New Orleans.

Katrina put a spotlight on an uncomfortable truth: that millions of people in this country live in abject poverty and that communities of color are far more likely to experience the consequences of the country’s entrenched inequality. In 2005, nearly 40 million Americans (roughly 1 in every 7) lived in poverty. A decade later, there has been hardly any change in the nation’s poverty rate. In Louisiana, 34% of Blacks live in poverty compared to 10% of Whites. High poverty rates have made housing less affordable, and as a result, low-income populations and communities of color often live in areas of concentrated poverty in substandard housing with the constant threat of eviction. Even though Katrina took place nearly 2,000 miles away from California, the underlying social factors that exacerbated the destruction experienced by low-income communities of color – particularly African Americans – are evident here and throughout the country. 

This post was originally published by Kidsdata.org. 

Ground-level ozone, which is formed from car and power plant emissions and is a primary component of smog, poses considerable health risks for all, but especially for children. At the start of the new century, in 2001, the six California counties with the most high-ozone days were all located in the Central Valley and in Southern California. More than a decade later, while the total number of such days is down by 64% across California, the same six counties continue to suffer from the worst air quality (by that measure) in the Golden State, according to the most recent data available on kidsdata.org (see map at right).

In 2013, Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Tulare counties experienced more than 40 days with ozone levels above the U.S. regulatory standard. San Bernardino County, however, had 93 high ozone days, nearly eight times the statewide average of 12 days per year.

From the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, trucks clog the already congested freeways and trains load tons of goods as they haul 40% of the country's incoming cargo containers each year. The weather doesn't help, either. From the coast, sea breezes blow emissions eastward, where they are blocked by the San Bernardino Mountains, adding to the high concentration of ozone in the hot and dry Inland Empire area.

Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown ensured that California would remain at the forefront of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in response to the growing threat of climate change. In an executive order, Brown stated that the state must cut greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. This interim target will help meet the goal of cutting emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, as established by Brown’s predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In a press conference, Brown expressed his determination for California to be leaders in regards to climate change:

“In North America, California is now setting the pace, and we're very serious about it,” Brown told a crowd of hundreds at a climate change conference in Los Angeles. “We're going to take whatever steps are needed to get the job done, because our future depends on it.”

In CPEHN’s report, The Landscape of Opportunity: Cultivating Health Equity in California, we discussed air quality and climate change as a health justice issue:

“Studies have shown that communities of color and low-income communities are more likely to live in areas with high exposure to pollutants, which can lead to higher levels of asthma and other respiratory conditions as well as cardiovascular events, low birth weight, and premature deaths.”

In the same report we discussed improving air quality as a vital strategy to address some of the key environmental determinants of health. We stressed that California should remain a leader in developing standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.