Environmental Justice Research and Publications Earth Day and "EJ after Repeal & Replace Obamacare" (CfP) In response to ongoing environmental justice struggles in face of Earth Day 22 April 2017, the Environmental Justice journal is providing complimentary
access to a selection of our top papers exploring the equitable treatment of all people, especially minority and low-income populations, with respect to the
development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies now through May 12, 2017. Lindsey J. Butler, Madeleine K. Scammell, Eugene B. Benson: The Flint, Michigan, Water Crisis. A Case Study in Regulatory Failure and Environmental Injustice; Read Now Doug Brugge, Allison P. Patton, Alex Bob, Ellin Reisner, Lydia Lowe, Oliver-John M. Bright, John L. Durant, Jim Newman, Wig Zamore: Developing Community-Level Policy and Practice to Reduce Traffic-Related Air Pollution Exposure; Read Now Adrienne Katner, Kelsey J. Pieper, Yanna Lambrinidou, Komal Brown, Chih-Yang Hu, Howard W. Mielke, Marc A. Edwards: Weaknesses in Federal Drinking Water Regulations and Public Health Policies that Impede Lead Poisoning Prevention and Environmental Justice; Read Now Devon C. Payne-Sturges, Katrina Smith Korfmacher, Deborah A. Cory-Slechta, Maria Jimenez, Elaine Symanski, Jessie L. Carr Shmool, Ogonnaya Dotson-Newman, Jane E. Clougherty, Robert French, Jonathan I. Levy, Robert Laumbach, Kathryn Rodgers, Roseann Bongiovanni, Madeleine K. Scammell: Engaging Communities in Research on Cumulative Risk and Social Stress-Environment Interactions. Lessons Learned from EPA's STAR Program; Read Now David D. Fukuzawa, Fred Karnas: Reconnecting Health and Housing: Philanthropy's New Opportunity; Read Now Karen Clark: The Value of Water. The Flint Water Crisis as a Devaluation of Natural Resources, not a Matter of Racial Justice; Read Now Eric Bonds, Leslie Martin: Treating People Like Pollution. Homelessness and Environmental Injustice; Read Now Elizabeth A. Mosley, Cortney K. Bouse, Kelli Stidham Hall: Water, Human Rights, and Reproductive Justice. Implications for Women in Detroit and Monrovia; Read Now Call for Papers What will be the environmental health outcomes for the poor and current environmentally health marginalized in the United States if Obamacare is repealed and the USEPA develops an anti-climate change agenda? Environmental and climate justice has always focused on the human costs to environmental degradation. Prior to this year, individuals in EJ communities under Obamacare were finally able to receive health care to deal with current and pre-existing environmental health problems caused by environmental inequities. EJ communities tend to be low income with higher numbers of women and children than non-EJ communities. In February 2017, the United States Senate approved the nomination of Tom Price (a physician) to become the Secretary of Health and Human services with a clear agenda to put him in charge of President Trump's efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). Opponents of Mr. Price "denounced his desire to rein in the growth of Medicare and Medicaid by making fundamental changes to the programs, which insure more than 100 million Americans." Dr. Price subsequently introduced plans to dismantle the ACA and roll back Medicaid, which would take health insurance coverage away from 22 million Americans, 14 million of whom are low income. His efforts have been supported by the current Administration which made the repeal of Obamacare one of the primary promises during the election cycle. Since his appointment, EPA antagonist and climate denier Scott Pruitt was also successful in his appointment to lead the USEPA. We are seeking papers that address the changes in future environmental health outcomes for Environmental Justice and Climate Justice communities given these new appointments. Articles by physicians who accept the science of climate change have pointed out that they "see our patients suffering as the planet warms." A 2014 survey by the National Medical Association found that a majority of African-American physicians - who often serve low-income communities and communities of color - report that their patients are already impacted by climate change. Those impacts include injury from severe weather, respiratory issues from heat- related ozone air pollution, longer and stronger allergy seasons, insect-borne diseases such as the Zika virus, and mental health problems associated with dislocation and property loss from extreme weather events. Hispanics are especially likely to experience the negative health effects of climate change. Many of the country's 56 million Hispanics blive in coastal areas where sea-level rise and hurricane-driven floods threaten well-being through injury, property loss, and waterborne illness. Both African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to live in neighborhoods with higher air pollution levels, which are made worse by climate change. Thus, those communities endure higher rates of asthma, lung cancer and premature death. "The leading cause of weather-related death-heat stroke and heat exhaustion is on the rise as climate change shatters heat records year after year. These health impacts are not confined to individuals; their harmful social and economic effects ripple outward to families and communities." We are also seeking papers that address potential changes in mortality and morbidity in EJ/Climate Justice communities because of the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act. Manuscript Submission Deadline: May 30, 2017 Please submit your papers online to our web-based manuscript submission and peer-review system. Editorial questions? Contact Editor-in-Chief Sylvia Hood Washington. Manuscript preparation or technical questions? Contact Author Services. |  Image: © Ingo Bartussek |
