Environmental Justice in New Orleans

“Environmental injustice: the disproportionate exposure of communities of color and the poor to pollution, and its concomitant effects on health and environment, as well as the unequal environmental protection and environmental quality provided through laws, regulations, governmental programs, enforcement, and policies” (Maantay 2002)

There are cases of environmental injustices globally with a range of sources. These communities can be affected by the placement of landfills, dams, plantations, mining sites, fracking sites, and so on (EJ Atlas). However, there can also be other cases in relation to water quality and availability and food availability as well. Typically, as defined above, environmental justice cases tend to impact minority and low income communities. In many cases, that is because these communities are seen as the ‘path of least resistance’ due to having fewer resources and less political power than wealthier white communities (Erickson 2016). A specific aspect of environmental justice is environmental racism, the disproportionate effect on people of color (Green Action). 

“Environmental racism is caused by several factors, including intentional neglect, the alleged need for a receptacle for pollutants in urban areas, and a lack of institutional power and low land values of people of color.” (Green Action).

Louisiana, or New Orleans specifically, is a well-known environmental justice site. A main example of why can be seen along the Mississippi river between Orleans and Baton Rouge: Cancer or Death Alley (Reyna 2020). Due to the incredible amount of industrial refineries and plants, the industrial pollution in this strip of predominantly black parishes is causing increased rates of death by cancer (Reyna 2020).  Furthermore, in the US, black and hispanic individuals experience 56% and 63% excess pollution exposure (Tessum et al. 2019). On the other hand, their white counterparts experience 17% less (Tessum et al. 2019), meaning that colored communities bear the brunt of pollution, more than they are responsible for. 

Below is a breakdown of three main areas of focus in New Orleans: food deserts, waste sites, and COVID-19. Each was analyzed with respect to census tract demographics collected from the 2018 US Census (US Census Bureau).

“Food deserts are geographic areas where residents’ access to affordable, healthy food options (especially fresh fruits and vegetables) is restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling distance” (Food Empowerment Project 2020)

Access to healthy and nutritious food affects both rural and urban landscapes (Lynn Weaver et al. 2017). In many cases, food deserts have especially impacted low income and minority communities (Trimarchi 2020). While the term food desert is commonly used, food apartheid is a term that more appropriately addresses this topic (Ridge 2020 & Food Desert vs. Food Apartheid 2020). Food deserts can mislead people into thinking about “deserts” as a naturally defined landscape (Food Desert vs. Food Apartheid 2020). However, a food apartheid addresses the ideas of race, cost of living, poverty, and cultural appropriation, to name a few, pointing out these area are systematically defined (Food Empowerment Project 2020). These food apartheids are areas with higher percentages of BIPOC communities and those living in poverty and they are further oppressed by a lack of proper food, caused by systematic racism and ignorance of the government and food providers.

Within communities, many grocery stores can be expensive and therefore gravitate towards those with higher incomes (Ridge 2020 & Lynn Weaver et al. 2017). If people cannot afford to shop at these grocery stores they have to turn to options like fast food restaurants and convenience stores which don’t offer the same quality and nutrition that grocery stores provide (Trimarchi 2020 & Lynn Weaver et al. 2017). Individuals also face the issue of transportation; most food apartheids are determined by lack of proximity to proper food suppliers (Lynn Weaver et al. 2017). Those who reside within food apartheids can also be more likely to experience food insecurity, a way to measure hunger (Trimarchi 2020 & Lynn Weaver et al. 2017). “[African] Americans are twice as likely to be food insecure than any other demographic and one in six Latinx households suffer from food insecurity” (Food Desert vs. Food Apartheid 2020). Within New Orleans, it was found that there were around 2.4 fast-food restaurants per square mile in African American communities whereas there were only around 1.5 fast-food restaurants per square mile within white communities (Hilmers et al. 2012). This goes to show how minorities are more likely to be impacted by food apartieds than white populations. 

Overall, with fewer options to purchase healthier food, there are also increased health risks like “... higher rates of diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease” (Lynn Weaver et al. 2017). Not only do minorities and low income communities face food insecurity and lower quality food options, but also the negative side effects of increased health risks.

Information on New Orleans food deserts was collected by the USDA. These urban food deserts are either low access with 0.5 miles or 1 mile (no supermarket/grocery store within that radius) (USDA 2020).

In the U.S., around 79% of operating incinerators are located in colored and/or low income communities (Li 2019). And when it comes to landfills and other hazard waste facilities, race is the major predictor for being close to these sites (Covert 2017). Louisiana, specifically New Orleans, is no exception and has many environmental justice cases in relation to waste. The largest is the Agriculture Street Landfill, a superfund site (EPA). This toxic site had neighborhoods built on it, consisting of a majority of black residents (Bullard 2009). When it was declared a superfund site, little was done, and even though it would have been cheaper to buy off the residents, the government spent $6 million dollars more to remove contaminated topsoil (Bullard 2009). 

The main issue with proximity to these waste sites (incinerators and landfills) is the increased risk of exposure to toxic chemicals through air and water pollution. Some of the main pollutants released are sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter (Roberts & Chen 2006). These air pollutants cause an increased risk of respiratory conditions (Roberts & Chen 2006). Additionally, dioxins and metals are released by these incinerators, both of which have severe implications for human health (Tait et al. 2020). Specifically, dioxins (and sometimes metals) cause increased risks of cancer, along with damage to the immune and reproductive systems (Roberts & Chen 2006). Overall, these negative health impacts are seen up to 5.5 km away (Roberts & Chen 2006).

In short, BIPOC and low income communities are further suppressed by their closer proximity to waste sites. These waste sites not only cause environmental pollution, but the pollutants cause an increase in health conditions. For some of these communities, the costs of healthcare are too high and the increase in illness and disease is impossible to manage. 

The waste sites used in this study were collected from a map made by the City of New Orleans (NOLA) and represents landfills, incinerators, and dumps (although each is not differentiated).

Since COVID-19 has hit the United States, many communities have been negatively affected, especially African American and LatinX communities (Hugo Lopez et al. 2020 & Bambino Geno Tai 2020). According to The New York Times, “Latino and African-American residents of the United States have been three times as likely to become infected as their white neighbors” and have seen more cases per 10,000 people than have white populations, even when the total population of these minority communities is small in comparison (Oppel Jr. et al. 2020). These communities are also likely to be found in areas that have higher incidences of pollution. This means that members of these communities experience higher amounts of respiratory and cardiac health conditions which can further increase their risk of contracting COVID and the severity of it (Bagley 2020). Also, households themselves are usually smaller and contain more people which means that the virus could spread more rapidly between residents (Bambino Geno Tai 2020 & Oppel Jr. et al. 2020).    

Not only have these communities seen higher amounts of COVID cases, but they have also been hit the hardest economically (Hugo Lopez et al. 2020). Around 61% of LatinX and 44% of African Americans had reported job losses within their households whereas the percentage for white Americans was around 38% (Hugo Lopez et al. 2020). Some African Americans and LatinX are also essential workers or unable to stay home, therefore further increasing the risk of contracting COVID (Oppel Jr. et al. 2020 & Bambino Geno Tai 2020). 

All in all, the increased chance of pollution exposure, crowded living conditions, and essential occupations have put African American and LatinX communities at an increased risk for COVID-19 in comparison to their white counterparts.

Overall, New Orlean's BIPOC and low income communities seem to be exposed more to food deserts and waste sites. As mentioned above, this means that these minority communities are likely to be further oppressed by society as they will experience higher rates of hunger, illness, and so on that can limit their ability to work and participate in daily activities. Especially for already low income areas, the inability to work due to illness or hunger can worsen their poverty status. On the other hand COVID-19 rates did not particularly correlate with any of the demographics as there was a lot of variation. This result could have been due to the use of the population percentage of nonwhite populations and general COVID-19 case numbers as the COVID cases were not differentiated by race (we do not know who specifically was contracting COVID). In this area, further research should be done to determine the inequities experienced by BIPOC and low income communities in relation to COVID-19. Moving forward, it will be important for the local government to work to unravel the deep inequalities that their minority communities are experiencing.