Biomarkers across all exposure categories (phenols, parabens, and per- and poly- fluoroalkyl substances) were cross-sectionally associated with increased odds of previous melanoma diagnoses in women, and increased odds of previous ovarian cancer was associated with several phenols and parabens. Some associations differed by racial group, which is particularly impactful given the established racial disparities in distributions of exposure to these chemicals. This is the first epidemiological study to investigate exposure…
The Lingering Shadow of Redlining: Fossil Fuel Power Plants and Air Pollution
Historically redlined communities in the U.S. today have lower home values, poorer health, and greater exposure to environmental hazards. Our research found that between 2000 and 2019, fossil fuel power plants were 31% more likely to be built near and upwind of neighborhoods that were redlined in the 1930s. Why are some communities more burdened by air pollution than others? People of color including Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans are…
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WATER SHARING AS DISASTER RESPONSE: COPING WITH WATER INSECURITY AFTER HURRICANE MARÍA
In 2017, Hurricane María left more than a third of Puerto Rican households without water services. Cascading failures—including the simultaneous collapse of water, electricity, and transportation sectors—presented serious challenges to the timely restoration of governmental services. In response, families across Puerto Rico adopted self-organized coping strategies to obtain the basic resources they needed, including safe and sufficient water. Drawing on the fast-growing literature on household water sharing, we examine how…
Toward Language Justice in Environmental Health Sciences in the United States: A Case for Spanish as a Language of Science
Increasingly, marginalized communities are disproportionately facing the worsening effects of environmental hazards, including air pollution, water pollution, and climate change. Language isolation and accessibility has been understudied as a determinant of health. Spanish, despite being the second-most common language in the United States with some 41.8 million speakers, has been neglected among environmental health scientists. Building capacity in high-quality Spanish-language science communication, both for scientific and nonscientific audiences, can yield…
New Article: Scaffolding civic infrastructures: Examining the role of civic technoscience in public engagements with oil and gas pipelines
Oil and gas pipelines bring attention to the importance of public participation in the management of large-scale infrastructure projects. Participation transforms how communities understand benefits and risks, and can result in safer and more resilient projects. However, participation can be hindered by procedural injustices in planning processes and lack of industry transparency. Based on a survey of 103 civil society groups conducted in 2021, this paper investigates how groups mobilize…
A Glimpse of Fellows’ Recent Publications, Summer 2023
Following Hurricane María in 2017, which disrupted water services for a substantial portion of Puerto Rican households due to infrastructure failures, families adopted self-organized coping strategies, including water sharing. This study, conducted by Anais Roque et.al. in three Puerto Rican municipalities, shows that an impressive 85% of households engaged in extensive water sharing, even in previously secure areas. These sharing networks were primarily based on kin and neighbors, with women…
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Understanding the Unique Housing Needs of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders: HUD’s Commitment to Data Disaggregation
By JPB Fellow Veronica Helms Garrison, Peter Mateyka, and Katherine Tait HUD is one of 45 federal agency members of the Interagency Working Group (IWG) tasked with supporting and furthering the administration’s efforts to better serve Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI). As part of its commitment to reduce disparities in access to safe and affordable homeownership for AANHPI communities, HUD has prioritized disaggregated data collection and analysis.…
Influence in the right-of-way: Assessing landowners’ risk decision-making in negotiating oil and gas pipeline easements
Pipeline rights-of-way (ROW) are the result of complicated easement negotiations between pipeline operators and landowners, where landowners must frequently weigh the financial benefits of lucrative contracts against the potential risk of living alongside oil and gas infrastructure projects. This study analyzes a survey of landowners both directly and proximally involved in a pipeline construction project to better understand their risk decision-making processes. We examine how landowners in a ROW understand…
Toxic Tides and Environmental Injustice: Social Vulnerability to Sea Level Rise and Flooding of Hazardous Sites in Coastal California.
This research aims to assess the potential for drinking water contamination in Los Angeles County, California, by examining the proximity of supply wells to oil and gas wells. It also seeks to analyze the associated risks in relation to race/ethnicity and structural racism. The study identifies at-risk community water systems (CWSs) based on the proximity of supply wells to oil or gas wells, evaluates the demographics of the populations served…
A Collaborative Approach to Address Racism in a Community–Academic Partnership
The HERCULES Exposome Research Center at Emory University uses an exposome approach to study the environment’s effect on health and community well-being. HERCULES is guided by a Stakeholder Advisory Board (SAB) that includes representatives of neighborhoods, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions in the Atlanta metropolitan region. This region (and the SAB) has a large proportion of Black residents, many of whom live in areas experiencing environmental injustices. Historic…
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