Does Los Angeles have an environmental justice problem? Are there disparities relating to who bears the burden of environmental hazards? Does socio-economic status and/or race affects ones exposure to environmental contaminants? For this assignment you will try to answer those questions.
Consider any of the following issues (or choose your own!)
Access to fresh healthy food for all community members
Access to open space and nature
Access to parks and recreation
Poor Air Quality
Proximity to known sources of environmental contaminants (landfills, freeways, or factories)
Choose your topic and your areas
First, select a topic of concern regarding the environment for residents of Los Angeles County. This could be proximity to landfills, Exide battery lead exposure, food deserts, etc.
Write a hypothesis about whether this issue affects all residents of Los Angeles equally or not. Your hypothesis will look something like this: “I expect there to be no difference in [the topic of concern] between areas with a higher than average income and areas with a lower than average income.” (You might also want to look at issues of race though that may be a little more complicated. Record your hypothesis.
Compare two cities within the county of Los Angeles. Look at the table of median income (also available here) and choose a city above the median income and a city below the median to compare. Please note that the median income is $62,574. Write down the names of the cities and median incomes (the first column).
Use data from at least three of the sources below to support or refute your hypothesis. Since many of the resources below organize things by zip code, you may also find this site will come in handy to match cities with zip codes. *Make sure to note what sites you used for your references section!
We will be using secondary data sources to identify disparities that contribute to the health of the community and the differences in life span from one community to another. Secondary data is data collected by someone other than yourself, such as the AskCHIS data.
Identifying Disparities
1. Explore your chosen areas:
Mapping L.A.- search by zip code to find information on population, ethnicity, income, education, age demographics, housing, families, military, ancestry and immigration, crime, and schools.
Health Atlas for City of LA – profiles communities in the City of Los Angeles. Has data about: demographics, economic conditions, education, health conditions, land use, transportation, food systems, crime and environmental health.
LA Healthy Neighborhood Health Profiles – provides a summary of some data from the atlas.
Google Maps – view the current availability of the proposed solution in the community by first searching for the zip code or name of the city followed by a term of interest, like “landfill” or “park”.
City-Data.com (- search by zip code to view current and past demographic data, as well as resources for the community.
AARP Livability Index
The California Healthy Places Index
Highway to Health: Life Expectancy in Los Angeles County Map – interactive map of life expectancy estimates for communities within Los Angeles County.
AskCHIS – California Health Interview Survey (UCLA) provides estimates for a variety of health conditions, demographic factors and environmental factors. To use, create an account and sign into AskCHIS Neighborhood Edition to see zip code-level estimates.
CalEnviroScreen 3.0 Map – shows pollution burdens by map; breaks down into drinking water quality, air pollution topics, pesticides, and so on.
South Coast Air Quality Management District – air quality
iNaturalist – gives data about natural areas and biodiversity with maps of where species have been observed
US Health Map – gives mortality causes by county for the entire United States.
5. Describe What the data is showing (no interpretation – just a factual explanation of what it says). Then explain HOW the data supports or refutes your hypothesis.
What to submit:
Your hypothesis
The areas you compared and their median incomes
A description of the data you used – what specific sites did you choose, what specific data from these sites did you choose? Describe and HOW you are using it to address the question of your hypothesis. Details here are very important. Make the analysis crystal clear.
HOW the data supported or refuted your hypothesis
A reflection on the question (150 words or more) – Are there inequities in Los Angeles County related to environmental hazards?
Works Cited section