Colona, IL
“Look for the silver lining” is a common phrase used to encourage people to be positive. However, there is nothing positive about redlining. Understanding redlining as it pertains to the environment is especially crucial as it impacts the health and well-being of entire communities today.
Redlining originally referred to a practice dating back to the Great Depression, where banks and insurers would draw red lines on maps around neighborhoods, thus declaring them too risky for investment. This discriminatory practice often targeted areas with a high population of racial minorities, leading to economic and social disadvantages for the affected communities. It was used as a covert method to segregate marginalized communities into stuffy urban settings to allow affluent white communities in the more favored suburban areas. This led to meticulous, intentional targeting and the apathetic neglect of certain neighborhoods regarding environmental hazards.
Environmental redlining is an extension of this notion, lingering impacts convert socio-economic inequalities into a perpetuating disparity in an area’s environmental condition. Although approximately eight decades have passed since the height of redlining, redlined communities continue to feel the effects. According to the University of Michigan, previously redlined communities are 74% low-to-moderate income and 64% minority today. They also struggle with environmental burdens such as higher pollution, more noise, less vegetation, and elevated temperatures.
Economic factors surrounding loans and investment opportunities turned the redlined areas into the ideal scapegoat. As lasting infrastructure gradually developed it increased the amount of heat-absorbing surfaces in these areas through the construction of warehouses, highways, and manufacturing facilities, while simultaneously destroying the canopy covering and green space instrumental to cooling these places down. Due to this temperature is 15-35° F hotter in cities that were historically redlined.
These infrastructures also pave the way for other persisting issues. The reduction in canopy meant less vegetation to clean the air and act as carbon capture devices. Due to the manufacturing plants, microplastic pollution proved to be another big issue. The toxicity of groundwater also began to fall into question. Like dominoes, certain environmental situations trigger new ones, and eventually; diesel particulate matter was released at a greater rate, noise and light pollution disrupted species that are essential in preserving the environment, and hazardous waste was disposed of in questionable manners.
This environmental inequality has serious repercussions on the people inhabiting that area. As of January 2024, environmentally redlined neighborhoods have statistically disproportionate cases of health issues including but not limited to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and asthma. One study concluded that people who live in historically redlined cities have a significantly shorter lifespan due to these complications. As previously mentioned, most of the people directly impacted by all these environmental issues are minorities and/or impoverished, meaning they have less access to healthcare than most. A vulnerability to the high temperatures also arises if they are unable to access air conditioning. It can be assumed that their overall environmental conditions are simply uncomfortable compared to the greener and healthier surrounding areas, thus reducing overall quality of life.
Overall, environmental redlining is a real issue with real victims and real consequences. However, the lack of awareness regarding this topic means inaction and apathy towards combatting it. Here’s the silver lining of this article: by doing your part to speak out against environmental redlining, you can be the voice of marginalized victims as you advocate for ending injustice caused by historical racist ideals.
References
Cesar O. Estien, Christine E. Wilkinson, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Christopher J. Schell. (2024, January 19). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.3c00870. ACS Publications. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.3c00870
Redlining and environmental racism. (n.d.). University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. https://seas.umich.edu/news/redlining-and-environmental-racism
Image Citation: Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett. 2024, 11, 2, 54-59
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