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“How Do Highways Affect Racial Disparities in Air Quality”
by Valeska Fresquet Kohan ’23

What is the additional pollution that someone is exposed to by living close to a highway?  Are there stronger or weaker effects in areas with minority communities?  Inspired by the history of the Rondo neighborhood in the Twin Cities, this study attempts to measure the varied impacts of highways on air quality. While there is extensive literature on the disparate exposures to pollutants such as PM2.5 and NO2, no empirical study has estimated the impact of freeways on air pollution as well as their differential effect on minority areas close to interstates.  Knowing the extent to which highways exacerbate pollution inequalities is essential to inform policies that reduce vehicle-emitted pollutants, which may also reduce environmental justice disparities.  This paper uses spatially-specific satellite estimates at the km^2 level from 2015-2020 and Census demographic data to test whether policies that reduce highway emissions would disproportionately benefit minority communities.  Using a difference-in-differences specification with time and tract fixed effects, I find that living close to an interstate increases exposure to NO2 by 6.1% and PM2.5 by 1.5% on average.  In addition, relative to White areas close to interstates, minority areas experienced less relief from pollution during the pandemic.  Specifically, Census tracts with less than 50% non-Hispanic Whites had 6.4% higher NO2 pollution than White-majority populations after March 2020. 

“Examining the Role of Place Attachment in Climate Justice Engagement and Jewish Relationships to the Environment”
by Madeline Medina ’23

It is critical that environmental justice and marginalized identities are the focus of climate-related discussions and research.  Solutions must support the long-term wellbeing of people, especially and importantly those who are most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change.  Psychological research suggests that place attachment–the meaningful bonds that occur between people and their environment (Scannell & Gifford, 2010)–is a key factor in motivating environmental behavior, but little research has examined its connection to environmental justice-oriented behavior.  This two-part exploration first evaluated the role of place attachment on engagement with both a typical climate change centered message and a climate justice message (Study 1), and found that there was no effect of message condition on engagement with climate issues.  Study 2 used a grounded theory approach to explore identity-specific place attachment bonds, and investigated Jewish relationships to place to develop an understanding of Judaism-based environmental justice engagement.  Study 2 generated a set of recommendations for future Jewish community action as the effects of climate change become more observable.

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