Environmental Racism In The Bronx, NY

It is important to research environmental risk factors that influence asthma in low income neighborhoods to find possible ways to prevent asthma. The study “Urban Asthma and the Neighborhood Environment in New York City” proves that there is a positive correlation between neighborhoods and asthma hospitalizations.2 Children in lower income neighborhoods are more likely to be hospitalized due to asthma. Those living in lower income neighborhoods also tend to be minorities, which implies that African Americans and Latinos are more susceptible to asthma.2 Moreover, minorities are more likely to be living in public housing. The study explains that 11% of all housing units in Harlem is broken down and not suitable for living which proves that there is a positive correlation between the population of minorities and living in run-down housing and asthma related hospitalization.2

With the rapid development of the society, a large number of factories are built to meet the demand of the market. However, the problem of factory emission and processing system has been perplexing the residents of Flint. Flint water crisis’s crucial problem is based on environmental racism. Meanwhile, Flint is in uneven development situation and need to rebuild the infrastructure system.

Encouraged by diverse foundations from across the globe, The Environmental Justice movement has become one of the most important topics in the media. Europeans have used Marxist philosophy on class laddering, while non-Western countries required its encouragement in the criticism of colonialism. In the United States, The Civil Rights Movement was its forerunner. The notion of “Environmental Justice”, nevertheless, has its genesis in the resistance of black culture and lower income-communities in opposition to uneven ecological trouble in the United States during the last few years of the 1970s and the early 1980s. In the framework of racial improvement and public activism, the phrase was

Since asthma exacerbations in adolescence can lead to emergency room visits, hospitalizations, missed school and diminished health status, there was an evident need for effective asthma management for this population (Quaranta et al., 2014). Unfortunately, these rural adolescents with asthma, and their families, had difficulty determining when their asthma was poorly controlled; and unless the asthma symptoms were disruptive to family life, there was often little motivation for these individuals to seek medical care, thus increasing the risk of poor outcomes (Quaranta et al., 2014, p. 99). According

This results in Hispanics Americans living in very tightly-knit segregated urban communities, in older housing, and lack access to healthcare that can contribute to asthma exacerbation (Bhan et al., 2015). In the State of Connecticut there is a program called, Putting on AIRS or Asthma Indoor Risk Strategies. This program designed to assess environmental risk in the homes for asthmatic children and families. The hope is to reduce the frequency of asthma-related events by identifying environmental triggers. A public health nurse experienced in asthma management, conducts asthma education in the home. There is also an assessment for environmental asthma triggers in the home such as roach infestation or mold. The program follows participants over a six-month time frame, and has been shown to significantly improve outcomes for asthmatics (Nepaul et al.,

In this paper, I will explore asthma prevalence of children living in New York City. Asthma is an existing serious public health concern in inner cities and urban environments. Especially children with asthma from low SES families or minority groups face difficulties accessing health care, receiving high-quality continuous care, and preventative education. In other words, there is a disparity in the asthma prevalence and care in New York City.

Did you know that 35 out of 57 waste sites in the eastern part of Los Angeles were located in zip codes with at least half the population consisting of Latinos? (Pulido 21) This is a direct and apparent representation of environmental racism in our country. In particular, its existence could be closely observed in the recent dispute of an urban farmland in South Central Los Angeles. Frankly, environmental racism had little effect on the actual dissolution of the South Central farm, as it was an issue of property rights. Instead, environmental racism played a significant role in the confrontation process that led to the closure by excluding minority groups, especially Latinos, from decision processes and obstructing their effort to conserve the farmland.

Many things, called triggers, such as pollen, dust, mold, tobacco smoke etc... can start symptoms. Asthma symptoms can make it hard for some people with asthma to do everyday things like going to work or school. Some symptoms of asthma would be chest tightness or pain, coughing or wheezing, and trouble sleeping from coughing or wheezing. An asthma attack or episode is a time of increased asthma symptoms. The symptoms can be mild or severe. During an asthma attack, the lining of the airways in the lungs swells, and the muscles around the airways tighten which make the airways narrower. All of these changes in the lungs block the flow of air, making it hard to breathe. However, there are warning signs of asthma attacks such as fast heartbeat, fast breathing, blue lips or fingernails, and if quick-relief medication does not work. Staying away from triggers and working with a doctor to take the right medications at the right times can help an individual keep their asthma under control. I decided to choose asthma out of the curiosity of how many individuals are affected by this chronic disease in Michigan and if it could be correlated to the pollution or

Environmental racism is a type of discrimination where people of minority and or low income communities are forced to near a hazardous area; such as a nuclear deposits, mining drainage sites, or chemical plants. This concept has been debated for decades. Big businesses have been able to take advantage of minority communities for many years now. Environmental racism is not a thing of the past; it is still in full effect to the people of Flint, Michigan and the Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. Due to social media awareness, the issue of environmental racism has been brought to a new light, causing protests to take place nationally.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease, the symptoms of asthma are wheezing, coughing, shortness of bread, reversible airflow obstruction as well as bronchospasm in the airways. This disease can manifest from childhood through adulthood if is not well taking care of, also it can become life threatening. According to the article Asthma in US Mexican-Origin Children in Early Childhood: Differences in Risk and Protective Factors by Parental Nativity: Over 900,000 Mexican-origin children in the United States have asthma”. This article explains that there is a 50% chance for the children of Mexican-American origin, of being diagnosed with asthma. On the other hand during this investigation it was noted that: That one of the factors that increases

Organizing protests with Greenpeace, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, Tulane Environmental Law Clinic and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference is the best way to educate others about environmental racism in their community. According to Huebert (n.d), “If an entire community makes it voice heard, then the industry and government cannot help but listen. Whether the motivation is justice or saving face in front of the media, action will be outspoken about environmental concerns, the industry[‘s] path of least resistance will change” (p.1). The St. James Citizens for Jobs and the Environment are engaged in discussions regarding environmental racism because low-communities of color show signs of unhappiness and poor health.

Racism consists of philosophies and ideologies that aim to cause the unequal distribution of privileges, goods or rights amongst different racial groups. Our society’s forebearers planted the seeds of discrimination into our consciousness, as racism stems back into the middle ages. Many of our citizens are classified as second class, being disadvantaged in areas that other citizens are not. There is not a sense of urgency when discussing the continuing issue of racism, as many people believe it has been eradicated. However, racism can exist in many forms- some being less obvious than others. In particular, Los Angeles has had a long history of racial

Environmental Racism is the institutional framework established by white people that was made to influence and destroy Black lives through the segregation of people of color into poor communities pervaded by toxic waste sites. Once environmental racism is recognized as a subgroup of structural racism, the intent of placing people of color into poor, marginalized, and environmentally hazardous communities becomes clear. An example of this is the use and establishment of various toxic waste sites surrounding predominantly black neighborhoods, which lead to various social and physical health issues. More specifically Chicago’s own Altgeld Gardens is a great context to view these paradigms at work, once the various aspects leading up to the creation

Firstly, minority children are highly affected by air pollution which causes them to develop asthma. It seems especially prevalent in Latino and African American populations due to living near high-volume roadways. Early exposure to NO2 is associated in an “increased risk for subsequent asthma in Latino and African American children across five geographic

Experts have yet to understand why the rates of asthma are rising by an average of 50% every decade worldwide. According to the Asthma Society of Canada (2016), asthma is now considered to be a major health concern with approximately 235 million suffering from this illness worldwide. Kuhn et al (2015) states that as at 2012, one out of 12 people in the United States had asthma and the number continues to rise. More people have been diagnosed with this disease and in 2007; over 3000 deaths were linked to Asthma. Furthermore, the costs of treating asthma continue to rise with about 56 billion dollars being spent in 2007 compared to $53 billion in 2002 (CDC, 2011). From data gathered in California, which is our area of study, it was estimated that 2.3 million