Landfills and disasters: a geospatial analysis of environmental injustice across the Southern United States

IF 2.4 Q3 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Environmental Sociology Pub Date : 2022-01-21 DOI:10.1080/23251042.2021.2004497

lAurA A. McKinney, Ryan Thomson

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

ABSTRACT One under-explored area of concern is the relationship between disasters and the waste they generate, which often amounts to the equivalent of 5 to 15 years of garbage that a community would create under normal circumstances. The road to recovery depends heavily on the removal of waste and debris, the bulk of which is directed towards construction and demolition (C&D), industrial, and municipal landfills. This paper theoretically develops and empirically evaluates the spatial distribution of disasters and waste using environmental justice and spatial inequality frameworks. We employ the spatial durbin model (SDM) to analyze the distribution of landfills, disaster events, and socioeconomic factors for 613 counties in the southeastern region of the United States. Findings demonstrate the disproportionate concentration of landfills in poor areas with high female-householder families and minority populations. We also find natural disasters have significant impacts on the communities that process waste. Conclusions point to the benefits of using spatial perspectives and companion analytic approaches to deepen our understanding of environmental inequality.

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垃圾填埋场和灾难:美国南部环境不公的地理空间分析

摘要一个未被充分探讨的关注领域是灾害及其产生的废物之间的关系，这些废物通常相当于一个社区在正常情况下产生的5至15年的垃圾。回收道路在很大程度上取决于废物和碎片的清除，其中大部分用于建筑和拆除（C&D）、工业和市政垃圾填埋场。本文利用环境正义和空间不平等框架，对灾害和废物的空间分布进行了理论发展和实证评估。我们采用空间杜宾模型（SDM）分析了美国东南部613个县的垃圾填埋场分布、灾害事件和社会经济因素。调查结果表明，垃圾填埋场不成比例地集中在女性户主家庭和少数民族人口众多的贫困地区。我们还发现，自然灾害对处理废物的社区产生了重大影响。结论指出了使用空间视角和配套分析方法加深我们对环境不平等的理解的好处。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Environmental Sociology ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES-

CiteScore

4.60

自引率

12.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Environmental Sociology is dedicated to applying and advancing the sociological imagination in relation to a wide variety of environmental challenges, controversies and issues, at every level from the global to local, from ‘world culture’ to diverse local perspectives. As an international, peer-reviewed scholarly journal, Environmental Sociology aims to stretch the conceptual and theoretical boundaries of both environmental and mainstream sociology, to highlight the relevance of sociological research for environmental policy and management, to disseminate the results of sociological research, and to engage in productive dialogue and debate with other disciplines in the social, natural and ecological sciences. Contributions may utilize a variety of theoretical orientations including, but not restricted to: critical theory, cultural sociology, ecofeminism, ecological modernization, environmental justice, organizational sociology, political ecology, political economy, post-colonial studies, risk theory, social psychology, science and technology studies, globalization, world-systems analysis, and so on. Cross- and transdisciplinary contributions are welcome where they demonstrate a novel attempt to understand social-ecological relationships in a manner that engages with the core concerns of sociology in social relationships, institutions, practices and processes. All methodological approaches in the environmental social sciences – qualitative, quantitative, integrative, spatial, policy analysis, etc. – are welcomed. Environmental Sociology welcomes high-quality submissions from scholars around the world.