Last week, the state of California released a new interactive online map that lets you look at how environmentally burdened your neighborhood is compared to the rest of the state. The tool, called CalEnviroScreen 2.0 combines both data on pollution sources and the demographics of a community, including poverty, unemployment and linguistic isolation to compute a score that reflects a community’s overall environmental burden.
The list was not good news for the valley, where air and water pollution, pesticides and toxic waste combine with chronic poverty. Of the 10 worst census tracts in the state – eight of them were from Fresno. Experts call these disparities Environmental Justice, or in this case, the lack thereof. Joining us on Valley Edition to talk about these issues are:
- Sam Delson with the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
- Sarah Sharpe of Fresno Metro Ministry