"I Can't Breathe": Examining the Legacy of American Racism on Determinants of Health and the Ongoing Pursuit of Environmental Justice.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: "I can't breathe" were the last words spoken by Eric Garner (July 17, 2014), Javier Ambler (March 28, 2019), Elijah McClain (August 30, 2019), Manuel Ellis (March 3, 2020), and George Floyd (May 25, 2020). These were all African American men who died at the hands of police in the United States. Recently, police brutality has gained critical and overdue attention as one clear manifestation of systemic racism. However, historical and current policies related to a wide range of environmental hazards have exposed Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to disproportionately high levels of physical, mental, social, emotional, and cultural toxicities, thus creating unbreathable and unlivable communities. RECENT FINDINGS: This paper traces the roots of systemic anti-Black racism in America from its origins in the 1400s, through systems of scientific racism that pathologized Blackness in order to justify slavery, and through evolving policies and structures that have shifted over time but consistently exposed many African American communities to unsafe and unhealthy environments. We conclude with calls for bold solutions to move through and past this oppressive history and toward true environmental justice the enables all communities to thrive together.

The development of a participatory assessment technique for infrastructure: Neighborhood-level monitoring towards sustainable infrastructure systems.

Climate change and increasing natural disasters coupled with years of deferred maintenance have added pressure to infrastructure in urban areas. Thus, monitoring for failure of these systems is crucial to prevent future impacts to life and property. Participatory assessment technique for infrastructure provides a community-based approach to assess the capacity and physical condition of infrastructure. Furthermore, a participatory assessment technique for infrastructure can encourage grassroots activism that engages residents, researchers, and planners in the identification of sustainable development concerns and solutions. As climate change impacts disproportionately affect historically disenfranchised communities, assessment data can further inform planning, aiming to balance the distribution of public resources towards sustainability and justice. This paper explains the development of the participatory assessment technique for infrastructure that can provide empirical data about the condition of infrastructure at the neighborhood-level, using stormwater systems in a vulnerable neighborhood in Houston, Texas as a case study. This paper argues for the opportunity of participatory methods to address needs in infrastructure assessment and describes the ongoing project testing the best use of these methods.

Leveling the Landscape: Landscape Performance as a Green Infrastructure Evaluation Tool for Service-Learning Products.

As part of the ongoing recovery from catastrophic flooding associated with Hurricanes Harvey and Florence, communities along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf Coasts must plan for adaptations that integrate resilience into the redevelopment of community spaces. In designing resilient community spaces, particular consideration must be paid to socially vulnerable communities. Community visioning and neighborhood-scaled design is the first step in the development process. However, it can be a hurdle for communities that lack the capacity to conduct and evaluate such work collaboratively. Service-learning projects implemented through university-community partnerships can help communities increase resilience by developing master plans. The products generated through service-learning projects often conclude at the conceptual level, with no evaluation of the feasibility of their implementation. This study examines the use of landscape performance models in evaluating proposed master plan parameters. It is situated in Manchester, a community in Houston that is physically and socially vulnerable to flooding. Findings demonstrate that landscape performance models can objectively evaluate the costs and performance measures of service-learning products rooted in local conditions and community feedback.