FEJ Almanac Project

Introduction

Welcome to the Florida Environmental Justice (FEJ) Almanac Project. This project aims to map various environmental hazards and spatially join them to demographic data to highlight disparities in exposure to environmental pollutants across different communities in Florida.

The first segment of this project includes geocoding Superfund sites and spatially joining them with demographic data in the state of Florida. The goal is to analyze the data to determine if the public health risks associated with proximity to superfund sites affects disadvantaged individuals and groups disproportionately.

What is Environmental Justice?

Environmental justice became incredibly popularized in the 1980s, though many believe its roots are tied to the Civil Rights and Environmental Movements of the ‘60s and ‘70s (Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, n.d.). One group, the United Church of Christ (UCC), is famously accredited as some being one of the earliest pioneers of environmental justice in creating a pivotal unprecedented mapping of environmental hazards and racial injustices, and even coining the term “environmental racism” (UCC, n.d. & Maantay, 2002).

Since then, many have set out to define, identify, and address environmental justice (Maantay, 2002, EPA, 2020, Mohai, 2006, & Grattet et al., 2021). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the regulating body of environmental protection in the US, currently defines environmental justice as “the just treatment and meaningful involvement of all people […] in agency decision-making and other Federal activities that affect human health and the environment” (EPA, 2024).

Researchers

• Moulay Anwar Sounny-Slitine, PhD
• Simone Gionfriddo
• Annalise Schnur
• Memrie King
• Olivia Zhang

Partners

• Data Science for Sustainable Development Gainesville

Datasets

• Datasets (Coming Soon)

Tools

• Environmental Hazard Mapping Tool (Coming Soon)

Findings

• Mapping Environmental Injustices in Florida: An Initial Analysis of Superfund Sites & Demographic Data Presented at Florida Society of Geographers Annual Meeting - Dr. M. Anwar Sounny-Slitine & Simone Gionfriddo

Bibliography

Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. (n.d.). History. https://avoice.cbcfinc.org/exhibits/environmental-justice/history/#:~:text=The%20Environmental%20Justice%20Movement%20emerged,negatively%20affected%20communities%20of%20color. Accessed June 8, 2024.

Grattet, R., Mascarenhas, M., & Mege, K. (2021). Toxic waste and race in twenty-first century America: Neighborhood poverty and racial composition in the siting of hazardous waste facilities. Environment and Society, 12(1), 108-126. https://doi.org/10.3167/ares.2021.120107

Maantay, J. (2002, April). Mapping environmental injustices: Pitfalls and potential of geographic information systems in assessing environmental health and equity. Environmental Health Perspectives, 110(2), 161-171. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.02110161.

Mohai, P & Saha, R. (2006). Reassessing Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Environmental Justice Research. Demography, 43(2), 383-399. https://doi.org/10.1353/dem.2006.0017

United Church of Christ. (n.d.). Toxic Wastes and Race and Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty. https://www.ucc.org/what-we-do/justice-local-church-ministries/efam/environmental-justice/environmental-ministries_toxic-waste-20/. Accessed June 8, 2024.

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2020, September). Population surrounding 1857 superfund remedial sites. https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-09/documents/webpopulationrsuperfundsites9.28.15.pdf.

United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2024, May 9). Environmental Justice. https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice