[CPEO-BIF] Environment, Disaster, and Race After Katrina

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Russell Sage Foundation Releases Special Report:
"In the Wake of the Storm: Environment, Disaster, and Race After 
Katrina" (May 15, 2006)

Hurricane Katrina opened a window on a world of hurt often ignored by 
media, policy makers, and the public. Facing enhanced environmental 
vulnerability and stranded by a lack of public transit, residents of the 
poorest and blackest neighborhoods of New Orleans quickly educated 
America that disasters and rescues are not equal opportunity affairs.

Do environmental disparities by race and class really exist? Researchers 
have gone back and forth, with early studies supplanted by newer studies 
supplanted by still newer studies. Although the evidence is still 
emerging, the best assessment is that disparities are common, and 
researchers increasingly suspect that some observed differences in 
health outcomes are attributable to environmental factors, particularly 
in combination with social stressors related to poverty and lesser 
access to health care. And it is not just income: race seems to be a 
more significant predictor in many studies, suggesting the importance of 
deeply rooted systems of privilege and discrimination.



For the original of this announcement as well as a link to download the 
full report, go to
http://www.russellsage.org/news/katrinabulletin2
--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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