Dr. Ana Baptista Featured on Resources Radio
Dr. Ana Baptista, co-director of the Tishman Center, has recently been featured on the Resources Radio podcast with host Margaret Walls. In Episode 219, “Environmental Justice and the Cumulative Impacts of Pollution”, Ana breaks down the definition of “cumulative impacts”, why they are a particularly tough problem for overburdened communities to combat, and how environmental justice movements have successfully pushed for greater cumulative impacts legislation in recent years. She also discusses some of the TEDC’s work on this issue, the Cumulative Impacts Tool. This tool compiles CI legislation from across the nation, aiming to give EJ advocates a point of reference for how to push for CI legislation in their own communities.
Listen to the podcast here!
Notable quotes, via Resources Radio:
Cumulative impacts pile pollution on already overburdened communities: “Cumulative impacts represent the idea that, when a community has many sources of pollution, that community is exposed to a variety of chemicals from a variety of sources. Oftentimes, the underlying socioeconomic and health conditions will shape a community’s experience and increase its exposure, contributing to a combined effect of stressors.” (4:28)
New law in New Jersey confronts cumulative impacts: “The state has developed a set of 23 stressors, and looked at the levels of those stressors in overburdened communities versus non-overburdened communities, and set a 50 percent threshold. If an industry is located in a community where those stressors are above the state average in non-overburdened communities, the industry is considered to be causing or contributing to adverse environmental health and public health stressors. The state must then deny the permit.” (19:07)
Prioritizing action over the pursuit of a perfect measurement tool: “There’s a lot that we can explore and better refine, because the reality is that our cumulative-impacts tools are probably just scratching the surface of what the real impact is on communities. Our tool is likely wildly underestimating how burdened communities are, but we also can’t wait for the perfect methods of measurement. Improvements to the tool are important in parallel to taking action.” (27:02)