ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

Highways, Urban Farms, and Housing Density: The Connection Between Health, Poverty, Racism, and the Environment

In the Twin Cities, great disparities exist between communities when it comes to toxin exposure and health, and these differences are usually associated with race and socioeconomic status. A study from the Center for Earth, Energy, and Democracy illustrates the extent of such environmental injustice by comparing two neighborhoods in Minneapolis less than two miles apart. One is mostly Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) while the other is mostly white, and the white community’s median household income is over 4.5 times as high as the BIPOC neighborhood’s. The BIPOC community has about 556 acres of industrial and highway land use within a one mile radius and 44 contaminated sites, while the white community only has about 102 industrial/highway acres and eight contaminated sites. Sites such as these increase the risk of asthma, cancer, and other health issues. The BIPOC neighborhood has only 6.4 acres of parks and 3% tree cover, while the white neighborhood has 80 acres of parkland and 44% tree cover. Additionally, Minneapolis communities that were historically redlined, such as the BIPOC neighborhood in this study, are an average of 11 degrees hotter, due to less vegetation and more concrete and asphalt. As our climate changes, these communities will face the greatest impacts. Fortunately, there are many local initiatives working to address these disparities. One of the most ambitious projects in the Twin Cities right now is the Twin Cities Boulevard project, which seeks to remove a portion of the I-94 highway and rebuild a community-centered neighborhood. The original construction of I-94 demolished parts of several BIPOC neighborhoods, including along Rondo Avenue. Today, the life expectancy in these communities is five years less than the Twin Cities average, due in part to pollution created by the highway, and many residents are trapped in poverty

By Holly Swiglo

because their family’s homes and businesses were destroyed. The Twin Cities Boulevard project will help combat these problems by reducing air and noise pollution, adding parks and trees, and improving safety by decreasing high-speed traffic. It will also boost the economy by creating space for new businesses and affordable housing and providing new jobs. Another local initiative is the East Phillips Indoor Urban Farm project. East Phillips is a neighborhood in Minneapolis with over 70% BIPOC residents and almost one-third living below the poverty line. It is also one of the most polluted areas in the Twin Cities. Lead poisoning, heart disease, and asthma are common, and much of the area is contaminated with arsenic from an old factory. To help solve these problems, community members created a plan to turn a warehouse into an urban farm. This farm would include aquaponic and hydroponic gardening, a farmers’ market, local small businesses, and 28 affordable housing units. It would provide access to healthy, locally-grown food, and is expected to create 1,000 jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of economic development over the next decade. Creating denser housing, such as multi-family homes, is another great way to work toward environmental justice. BIPOC people often face barriers to housing, so creating more affordable homes helps combat both poverty and racial injustice. It also limits the need to develop more land, reduces driving time, makes public transportation more realistic, decreases home energy usage, and limits polluted stormwater runoff. The Minneapolis 2040 plan, which proposes how the city should develop, includes denser housing and other environmental initiatives, such as restoring contaminated areas to their original states, increasing tree cover, promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy, improving soil quality, and encouraging landscapes that filter water and provide heat reduction benefits. I am grateful to live in a community with plentiful parks and trees, few pollutants, and clean air. However, not everyone is this fortunate, and it is our responsibility as people with privilege to help our neighbors facing injustice. We need to support and encourage our leaders to pursue these initiatives and vote for politicians who promote them too. Everyone, no matter where they live, how big their platform is, or how busy they are, should use their voice to push for what is right.

Holly Swiglo is a youth climate activist in her senior year at Roseville Area High School. She led a school climate walkout with almost 600 participants last March, and since then has been working to increase her city and school’s sustainability. Holly was published in Ecosystemic, an environmental magazine based in Washington DC, and is a member of the Environmental Stewardship Institute, a youth program led by the local nonprofit Friends of the Mississippi River. She plans on attending college next year to major in environmental studies and continue her activism. Email: hswiglo@ gmail.com.

Sources: • https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/c0f510c3948846a99db5ec27884ceec1. • https://climate.state.mn.us/disproportionate-heat-risks. • https://www.twincitiesboulevard.org. • https://sahanjournal.com/climate/east-phillips-pollution-urban-farm-proposal/. • https://fmr.org/updates/land-use-planning/ minneapolis-2040-plan-good-environment-yes.