Environmental Definitions
This term describes when polluting sites are placed in areas primarily populated by marginalized groups.
What is environmental racism?
Living near industrial sites increases exposure to this "forever chemical" that may cause cancer and thyroid disorders.
What is PFAS (or PFOA)?
This heavy metal causes neurodevelopmental damage in children.
What is lead?
Low-income communities face this deficit at a rate 20% higher than moderate to high-income areas.
What is a nature deficit (or lack of green space)?
Lack of green space reduces opportunities for this, leading to obesity and diabetes.
What is physical activity (or exercise)?
This concept ensures all individuals are considered when making environmental policies so no group faces more pollution than others.
What is environmental justice?
These two air pollutants from industrial sites increase respiratory disease risk.
What are nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides?
This condition, also called methemoglobinemia, is caused by nitrates in water and affects infants.
What is blue baby syndrome?
This percentage of low-income communities face a nature deficit.
What is 70%?
Heat islands worsen these two respiratory conditions.
What are asthma and COPD?
A community's ability to prepare for and recover from natural disasters without harming citizens' health is called this.
What is climate resilience?
PFOA specifically increases risk for these three types of cancer.
What are testicular, thyroid, and kidney cancers?
The Safe Drinking Water Act only covers public wells, leaving this percentage of households with private systems unprotected.
What is 15%?
These urban areas are warmer than nearby rural areas due to roads absorbing and re-emitting heat.
What are heat islands (or urban heat islands)?
These two heat-related emergencies are caused by urban heat islands.
What are heat strokes and heat exhaustion?
This practice, historically used to segregate neighborhoods, often resulted in minority areas being placed near highways and factories.
What is Redlining?
This 1979 environmental disaster poisoned the Navajo Nation with uranium contamination.
What is the Church Rock uranium mill spill?
This traffic-related pollutant (abbreviated NO2) causes lung inflammation.
What is nitrogen dioxide?
Due to redlining and zoning, marginalized communities are closer to these four types of polluting locations.
What are highways, rail yards, ports, and industrial sites?
Lack of green space is linked to worse outcomes in this aspect of health, plus developmental disadvantages for children.
What is mental health?
This is the primary federal agency responsible for enforcing environmental regulations in the U.S.
What is the EPA?
This is another water system crisis similar to Flint, Michigan that also was an example of environmental racism.
What is the water system crisis in Jackson, MI?
This tiny particulate matter from vehicles and power plants increases risk of heart disease and stroke.
What is PM 2.5 (or particulate matter 2.5)?
A largely Black and poor community faced disproportionate harm and was ignored by officials during this event, demonstrating environmental racism?
What is the Flint Water Crisis?
According to the National Weather Service, this is the leading cause of weather-related death in the US.
What is extreme heat?