image: Environmental Justice is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published quarterly in print and online. The Journal encompasses study and debate on a broad range of environmental inequalities at the local, national, and global level tied to social, health, and economic equity. The journal features studies that demonstrate the adverse effects on populations that are already at risk for health and environmental hazards, as well as the complicated issues inherent in remediation, funding, relocation of facilities that pose hazardous risk to health.
Credit: ©Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers
New Rochelle, NY, July 1, 2015--Low-income and minority populations disproportionately reside near roadways with high traffic volumes and consequently face increased exposure to traffic-related air pollutants (TRAP) and their associated health effects. New case studies demonstrate the feasibility of incorporating strategies to reduce TRAP exposure into the building design and site development for near-highway housing and school developments in the planning stages, as described in an article in Environmental Justice, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article will be available free on the Environmental Justice website until August 1, 2015.
National data has shown that non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics, and people living just above or below the poverty line are more likely to have higher TRAP exposure. While much interest has focused on preventing and minimizing indoor sources of air pollution to achieve "greener," healthier buildings, more research and implementation of TRAP-reducing tactics, such a HEPA filtration, land-use buffers, vegetation or wall barriers, and better urban design are needed to protect people who live near high traffic roadways.
In "Developing Community-Level Policy and Practice to Reduce Traffic-Related Air Pollution Exposure," Doug Brugge, PhD and coauthors from Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts University (Boston, MA), Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ), City of Somerville and Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (MA), and Linnean Solutions (Cambridge, MA) present case studies carried out in Somerville, MA and Boston Chinatown.
"Preventing exposure to traffic pollution is critical to achieving optimal environmental health for Environmental Justice communities," says Sylvia Hood Washington, PhD, MSE, ND, Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Justice, and Research Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.
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About the Journal
Environmental Justice is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published quarterly in print and online. The Journal encompasses study and debate on a broad range of environmental inequalities at the local, national, and global level tied to social, health, and economic equity. The journal features studies that demonstrate the adverse effects on populations that are already at risk for health and environmental hazards, as well as the complicated issues inherent in remediation, funding, relocation of facilities that pose hazardous risk to health.
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science, medicine, biomedical research, and law, including Sustainability: The Journal of Record, Environmental Engineering Science, and Ecopsychology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.
Journal
Environmental Justice