Transcript Climate Change and Environmental Injustice in a Bi

Spaces of Heightened Risk
to Extreme Heat in a Border
Metropolis
Tim Collins, UTEP Sociology & Anthropology
Collaborators: Sara Grineski, Paula Ford, Raed Aldouri,
Gilberto Velázquez-Angulo, Lourdes Romo Aguilar,
Rosa Fitzgerald, Marcelo Korc
El Paso Heat-Health Workshop, 13 July 2016
Study Purpose/Framework
Purpose: To spatially characterize population
risk to extreme heat and urban greening
adaptation options at the neighborhood level
for El Paso and Ciudad Juárez
 Conceptual framework (Wisner et al. 2004)
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R (risk) = H (exposure to extreme heat) × V (social
vulnerability) (Wisner et al. 2004)
Study Area: El Paso County (TX) and
Ciudad Juárez (CHIH)
Methods: Unit of Analysis
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El Paso (TX) and Ciudad Juárez (CH)
“Neighborhoods”: census block groups and áreas
geoestadísticas básicas (AGEBs) (Collins et al. 2009)
Methods: Approach to Analysis
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Several linked steps:
1)
2)
3)
4)
develop variables for extreme heat exposure and
vegetation abundance at the neighborhood level
construct variable for social vulnerability to
extreme heat at the neighborhood level
map extreme heat, vegetation abundance, and
cumulative heat vulnerability at the neighborhood
level
conduct spatial statistical analysis of extreme
heat—vegetation abundance—social vulnerability
relationships to identify areas most suitable for
urban greening
Cumulative Heat Vulnerability (social)
 9 variables (corresponding with Reid et al. 2009):
 Mean income (-)
 Mean education (-)
 Percentage age ≥ 65 (years) (+)
 Population density (+)
 Percent disabled (+)
 Percent lacking plumbing (+)
 Percent lacking kitchen (+)
 Percent lacking telephone (+)
Some of the Limitations
Lack of compatible bi-national health data
 In general, lack of data on heat-health
outcomes at fine spatial scales
 Data are centered on the year 2000, and it’s
2016
 Not focused on the stakeholder engagement
and coordination needed to implement
extreme heat adaptation projects (including
those involving urban greening)
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Acknowledgements
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We dedicate this work to Paula Ford.
To Bill Hargrove (CERM at UTEP) and Marcelo Korc
(PAHO, El Paso Office) for helping to assemble the
research team and for supporting our efforts on
this the project.
This project was supported by the Southwest
Consortium for Environmental Research and Policy
(SCERP) EPA Cooperative Agreement EM
83486101-01. The content is solely the
responsibility of the authors and does not
necessarily represent the official views of CERM,
UTEP, SCERP, or the US Environmental Protection
Agency.