Health Affairs August 15, 2022
The environmental justice movement seeks to critically examine the climate change crisis through a health equity lens. This involves calling attention to the urgent need to dismantle environmental policies that have negatively impacted marginalized populations, including low-income individuals and communities of color. The connection between health disparities and environmental injustices is clear: a significant number of the downstream health disparities we see today are a direct result of disproportionate exposures to upstream environmental factors, including extreme heat, air pollution, lead exposure, and water contamination. Environmental injustices are considered a byproduct of systematic racism and contribute to a multitude of health disparities, including respiratory illnesses such as asthma, lead poisoning–associated disorders, and cancers; they also exacerbate underlying health conditions such as...
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