Heat inequity has had social and environmental impacts on the U.S. for years, affecting public health and energy security and stressing the food supply during prolonged droughts. From this perspective, heat inequity is an issue of environmental injustice, amplified by social-political issues such as the recent to plant more trees in communities lacking tree equity. Joe Biden has faced backlash for proposing planting trees in neighborhoods, attracting critics who theorize that it is a move by the government to attract developers and thus increase property prices (Jordan & South, 2021). This criticism aimed at a move to plant trees is a mockery of the significance of tree equity in preventing social, mental, physical, and environmental impacts. Leadership should acknowledge that trees are disproportionately distributed, which is why some neighborhoods, such as people of color and low-income areas, experienced reduced green spaces as compared to neighborhoods that are known as predominantly white. This paper discusses why heat inequity is an issue of environmental injustice, its historical roots, and the legacy of heat inequity in redlined communities. It also discusses the role of scientists’ projects in promoting the recognition of heat inequity as an environmental injustice and enhancing tree equity.
In America, heat waves end more lives than tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods, especially in cities with lower tree equity scores (Oot, 2022). Din and Krisko ( 2022) define tree equity scores as the number of trees against preset socioeconomic factors such as the number of houses. Suburbs are cooler than cities. Mott Haven, New York, is one of the regions with the lowest tree canopy score, making residents susceptible to heat (Leland, 2021). The proliferation of impervious surfaces such as brick buildings, asphalt roadways, and concrete sidewalks absorbing and re-emitting heat increases the heat island effect (Oot, 2022). In addition, neighborhoods in the city experience different summer temperatures depending on green space distribution and variations in urban areas’ layout. Alejandra Borunda, an environmental writer with National Geographic, asserts that the disproportionate distribution of heat waves results from public policy decisions over many years (The Recount, 2021). Some cities, including Richmond, Virginia, confront a disproportionate distribution of heat wave impacts, reflecting many decades of disparities, such as housing discrimination (Wilson, 2020). By 1933, Richmond had racist zoning, making it unlawful for Blacks to reside in white neighborhoods that had increased green spaces(Wilson, 2020). The segregationist zones became a foundation for housing policies even in the twentieth century before the growth of the residential mortgage market under the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the Federal Housing Administration (Oot, 2022). These federal programs denied funding to minority neighborhoods, a practice dubbed redlining, where HOLC was offered the mandate to assess the risk of banks offering loans to residential areas. They marked areas where blacks were labeling them as spots unsuitable for investment, affecting tree inequity to this day.
According to Oot (2022), a study on 108 US urban areas found that 94% of redlined communities by the HOLC in the thirties still have higher surface temperatures than regions that did not undergo redlining. The issue is tree inequity. The study found that areas prioritized for federal funding had 43% canopy cover, while redlined neighborhoods had 23% (OOT, 2022). The Recount (2021) holds that wealthier neighborhoods have 65% more tree cover. In addition, colored neighborhoods have 33% less tree cover than white communities (The Recount, 2021). This tree inequity translates to disparities in human health and the economic and ecological benefits of green spaces.
Nature has benefits beyond its aesthetics in beautifying and decorative roles. It influences the human body’s chemistry, enhancing the ability to cope with stress, reducing violent crimes, and reducing the toxicity of human activities (Jordan et al., 2021). Past studies have also established that green spaces reduce heart disease and prenatal anxiety. Trees also filter pollutants, improving air quality. The benefits of tree cover also extend to temperature regulation during hotter summer months. A study sampling 108 American cities estimated the temperature difference between the coolest and hottest neighborhoods to be 13 degrees Fahrenheit due to the disproportionate distribution of tree canopy (Jordan et al., 2021). Tree benefits prove that the government should invest in increasing tree cover in neighborhoods experiencing increased heat. The proposed 3 billion dollar tree equity in 2021 was reasonable because it would help improve public safety and health (Jordan et al., 2021). Joe Biden’s administration must acknowledge that heat inequity is an issue of environmental injustice whose impacts extend to Americans’ economic and social perspectives.
The legacy of redlined communities lies in the differences in temperatures between them and regions that were not redlined. The spread of awareness of the impact of historical public policies extending social, environmental, and economic disparities among the minority groups in the U.S., including older people, people with low incomes, and blacks, also marks this legacy. The legacy also lies in the growth of public attention regarding the need for scientific activism against tree inequity. Richmond began studying the disparities of heat inequity in 2017 through a thermal mapping survey (Oot, 2022). The initiative partnered with Portland State University and the Science Museum of Virginia (Oot, 2022). Richmond’s formerly redlined areas are concentrated in its Northside, Southside, and East End (Oot, 2022). The disparity is that temperature differences between the hottest and coolest areas, just a few miles apart in Richmond, can be 16 degrees Fahrenheit (Oot, 2022). The heat mapping survey also found that the hottest communities in Richmond have more hospital admissions and ambulances for heat-related cases. This increases the financial burden for people living in formerly redlined neighborhoods.
According to Oot (2022), there are two categories regarding the challenges of addressing heat inequity to reduce its impacts. They are physically lowering cities’ temperatures or heat mitigation through infrastructural changes and heat management. They can be short or long-term interventions, including tree planting, constructing shades in public spaces, and improving energy efficiencies (Oot, 2022). Heat-mapping studies can inform a city’s equity-focused climate plan. According to Herring, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) funded a group of volunteers to drive on predetermined routes with heat sensors to create a heat map of ten cities in the U.S. (Hering,2019). For instance, Richmond used the heat-mapping survey to create an equity-focused heat management plan with a Climate Equity Index (Oot, 2022). The 2020 Richmond CEI entailed an interactive tool that maps climate change susceptibility by region using health and income as indicators (Oot, 2022). The climate plan prioritizes tree planting to achieve 30% canopy cover in every neighborhood and 60% in Richmond by 2037 (Oot, 2022). Richmond’s climate plan is an example of a scientific project that can help communities overcome tree inequity.
The Green Southside Richmond Project targets the most vulnerable communities and plants trees in bus stops, elementary schools, community centers, and parks (Oot, 2022). It also provides indigenous trees and free landscaping initiatives to communities. The tree planting projects collaborate with organizations, including Southside ReLeaf, that give a voice to minority communities with a history of facing discriminatory public policies in settlements, housing, and environmental benefits (Oot, 2022). Through community partnerships, the Richmond project enhances public participation in deciding their environment, breaking the redlining barriers that led to heat inequity.
Past public policy decisions such as redlining neighborhoods occupied by blacks, aged, and poor people became a foundation on which heat inequity thrived in the U.S., claiming thousands of lives. Exacerbated by tree inequity, heat inequity is an issue of environmental injustice that presents social and economic implications to people with low incomes, the aged, and blacks. The U.S. government can alleviate heat inequity by engaging vulnerable communities in environmental decision-making through programs like the Green Southside Richmond Project. In addition, there is a need for federal funding to enhance social infrastructure, such as conducive housing in vulnerable communities.
References
Din, A., & Krisko, P. (2022). Tree Equity Scores and Housing Choice Voucher Neighborhoods. Cityscape, 24(2), 205–212. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48680627
Herring, D. (2019). Citizen scientists take to the streets to map the hottest places in ten U.S. cities. NOAA Climate.gov. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/features/citizen-scientists-take-streets-map-hottest-places-ten-us-cities
Jordan, M., & South, E. C. (2021, December 9). Don’t mock “tree equity.” It has health benefits. Washington Post; The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/09/dont-mock-tree-equity-it-has-health-benefits/
Leland, J. (2024). Why an East Harlem Street Is 31 Degrees Hotter Than Central Park West (Published 2021). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/20/nyregion/climate-inequality-nyc.html
Oot, M. B. (2018). Tackling Heat Inequity. Earth Island Journal. https://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/magazine/entry/tackling-heat-inequity/
Wilson, B. (2020). Urban Heat Management and the Legacy of Redlining. Journal of the American Planning Association, 86(4), 443–457. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2020.1759127
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