Belle Glade, Palm Beach County, FL •
• Environmental injustices have very real consequences on the communities that are burdened by them.
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In Louisiana, for example, there's an 85-mile strip of land known as Cancer Alley which contains a concentrated cluster of factories. Research found that in the communities surrounding these plants (which are predominantly Black), the risk of cancer is 700 times above that of the national average (EPA).
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The simple act of breathing is a challenge for residents of the Glades, a small rural community in Palm Beach County due to seasonal burning of sugarcane by private owned company US Sugar Corporation A Sierra Club analysis of EPA data estimates that the practice releases over 3,000 tons of hazardous air pollutants in the region every year, including carcinogenic chemicals Many other states and countries are working to phase out burning in favor of mechanical harvesting processes because of the negative health impacts Belle Glade is 60% Black, and is the poorest city in Florida. Many have argued that this is an example of environmental racism in Florida
In South Florida, one of the issues affecting low-income communities and communities of color is poor air-quality. Research has shown that elevated levels of particulate matter pollution are linked to a wide range of adverse health impacts including asthma, pulmonary disease, high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, and even premature death (EPA).
COVID 19: Research also shows that people who live in places with high levels of air pollution are more likely to die from COVID than people who reside in areas with cleaner air (Wu, et al, 2020). Unfortunately, people living in highly concentrated low-income communities are also more susceptible to the disease.
Image By: Black smoke from burning sugarcane near the Glades, Florida; Patrick Ferguson, Sierra Club
THIS interactive map can help you determine how much air pollution affects your local community.
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