The state of California has made efforts to mitigate the climate crisis, such as Gov. Gavin Newsom’s N-79-20 Executive Order that requires all new vehicles to have zero net emissions by 2035. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the state’s energy consumption levels are the second lowest per capita in the nation. The University of California system has amassed numerous sustainability awards that have put it on the national map for environmental leadership.
However, there is a substantial amount of environmental hazards that compromise the health of Orange County residents despite these advancements. These higher pollution levels are mostly recorded in lower-income neighborhoods that house more Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) residents.
According to the Orange County Environmental Educational Justice Fund (OCEJ), environmental racism is defined as the “disproportionate distribution of challenges to lower income BIPOC communities.” The organization strives to fight for environmental justice by “mobilizing and empowering marginalized community members,” as these groups make up a sizable amount of Orange County.
The OCEJ website says that the county faces environmental issues such as decreased air and water quality, lead contamination, and lack of open space. The higher pollution burden placed on disadvantaged communities further aggravates the local effects of environmental racism.
UCI environmental and occupational health professor Dr. Jun Wu studies exposure assessment for air pollution, which focuses on the relationship between the impact of these environmental hazards on humans.
“I’m particularly interested to look at the health disparity issues, [such as] how lower-income [communities] and communities of color may have higher exposure to environmental hazards, or less exposure, to environmental resources such as clean space,” Wu said.
One UCI-led study on which Wu worked on explored the link of atmospheric pollutants to malignant brain cancer.
These pollutants are thought to have carcinogenic properties due to the inflammatory effect they have on the human body. The study found that exposure of rats to various forms of particulate matter (PM), which are pollutants composed of both solid and liquid components, trigger inflammatory stress and cellular determinants of cancer called biomarkers. The expression of these factors accompanied a molecular change in the brain that was linked to activation of brain tumor pathways.
The researchers found an association between prolonged exposure to heightened ozone, benzene, and other particulate matter levels and malignant brain tumors in Latino men.
Another instance of environmental injustice in Orange County is soil contamination, particularly lead contamination in local communities. Although no data was collected on the health impacts of lead contamination, Wu and her team found that the soil in neighborhoods with less education and higher poverty rates had higher concentrations of lead.
Residents without health insurance or those who live in renter-occupied housing are also impacted by high lead levels in their soil. According to Wu, these disparities were noticed within the city of Santa Ana alone, without even taking other Orange County cities into consideration.
Above: Map of lead concentrations in OC soil, courtesy of OCEJ
Wu said that the most impacted neighborhoods also tend to house more children.
“There’s no safe threshold for lead exposure, but in the areas [where] you have more children, you actually have higher soil lead exposures,” Wu said, referring to the lower-income neighborhoods in Santa Ana.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), childhood lead exposure can lead to cerebral and nervous system damage, delayed growth and development, and problems with behavior, learning, hearing and speaking.
Research by Ab Latif Wani, Anjum Ara and Jawed Ahmad Usmani of Aligarh Muslim University explained that despite the high toxicity of lead, its unique chemical and physical properties, such as malleabilaty and resistance to corrosion, make it an effective material for construction and industrial use.
According to these researchers, lead interferes with cognitive processes due to interferance with cellular ion channels. The lead ion blocks voltage-dependent calcium channels, which leads to the body being unable to effectively carry electrical impulses that power the heart and nervous system. Furthermore, the team found that permanent amounts of lead in the bloodstream, even at low levels, reduce childrens’ cognitive capacity.
These effects point to the urgency of resolving issues of environmental racism, as any level of lead exposure can exacerbate low education rates and other issues in these communities.
Wu’s department conducted another study in response to concerns raised by members of Santa Ana’s Madison Park Neighborhood Association regarding air pollution from the nearby Kingspan industrial corridor.
“They have residents just across the street [from] this industrial corridor and an elementary school also across the street. So you can imagine [that] residents have big concerns,” Wu said.
An independent study led by UCI air pollution scientist Dr. Shahir Masri, who researches air pollution exposure assessment and epidemiology, found that inside the Kingspan corridor, levels of the pollutant PM 2.5 were on average seven times higher than outdoor levels, with some pollution levels exceeding the maximum threshold of PM 2.5 detectors. According to Masri, this level of pollution, which exceeds the Environmental Protection Agency’s “safe” designation, warrants 24-hour outdoor air monitoring as it has the potential to pose a public health concern.
Potential respiratory consequences of the industrial corridor’s proximity have started to emerge outside of Kingspan, seen in an uptick in asthma rates and asthma-related emergency room visits for surrounding residents.
“In this neighborhood, [these rates are] quite high compared to the average values in Orange County,” Wu said.
The lower income communities in which these trends are observed are more vulnerable to the effects of environmental hazards since they tend to have higher rates of preexisting health conditions, according to Wu.
Another main concern of Wu and other environmental epidemiologists are the impacts of climate change, and most specifically, heat waves.
Wu and her team analyzed 20 years’ worth of fire data in the state of California, and they found that census tracts with higher wildfire frequency and burn area had lower proportions of minority groups.
“However, when considering [Indigenous] populations, there’s a greater proportion residing in highly impacted [areas],” Wu said.
These highly-impacted communities also housed a high percentage of elderly residents.
These census tracts are mainly located in rural areas, where many residents do not have a college education or computer access.
According to the study, these factors combined with environmental hazards may mean that “disadvantaged families who cannot afford to live in urban areas are rendered at greater risk of dangerous wildfires that may impact their health and further exacerbate socioeconomic inequities.”
Lauren Le is a STEM Apprentice for the winter 2022 quarter. She can be reached at laurenl9@uci.edu.
