Authors: Joe Shahir Haddad, Carson Nuzeng Moua, Caroline Phuong Anh ​ Duong Nguyen, Jessica Phuong Linh Nguyen, Aron Perez, Sydney Hiroko Santo, Eric J. Van Note, Jonathan Villafana ANTHRO 25A: Environmental Injustice Instructor: Prof. Dr. Kim Fortun Department of Cultural Anthropology Graduate Teaching Associates: Kaitlyn Rabach Tim Schütz Undergraduate Teaching Associates Nina Parshekofteh Lafayette Pierre White University of California Irvine, Fall 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS What is the setting of this case? SYDNEY SANTO 4 What environmental threats contribute to slow disasters in this setting? What data is available to characterize these threats posed by slow disasters in the community? CAROLINE NGUYEN 8 What factors -- social, cultural, political, technological, ecological -- contribute to environmental health vulnerability and injustice in this setting? JONATHAN VILLAFANA 12 Who are the stakeholders, what are their characteristics, and what are their perceptions of the problems? CARSON MOUA 17 What have different stakeholder groups done (or not done) in response to the problems in this case? CARSON MOUA 20 How have big media outlets and environmental organizations covered environmental problems related to worse case scenarios in this setting? JESSICA NGUYEN 23 What local actions would reduce environmental vulnerability and injustice related to slow disaster in this setting? ARON PEREZ 25 What extra-local actions (at state, national or international levels) would reduce environmental vulnerability and injustice related to slow disaster in this setting and similar settings? JESSICA NGUYEN 27 What kinds of data and research would be useful in efforts to characterize and address environmental threats (related to slow disaster, pollution and climate change) in this setting and similar settings? JOE HADDAD 29 What, in your view, is ethically wrong or unjust in this case? ERIC VAN NOTE 31 BIBLIOGRAPHY 33 APPENDIX 38 TYPES OF INJUSTICE SKETCH 40 CHOOSING A SLOW DISASTER COMMUNITY SKETCH 43 COMMUNITY FAST FACTS SKETCH 45 Fig 1: Location within California, USA. Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Retrieved ​ ​ on November 9, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakersfield,_California. ​ ​ 1. What is the setting of this case? SYDNEY SANTO Bakersfield is a city located in Kern County on the southern side of the San Joaquin Valley. The city is located between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the California Coast Range with a population of about 383,579 people (“U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: United States” n.d.). Due to the city’s landscape, it has a reputation of agriculture and oil extraction. Since it is surrounded by two mountain ranges, it is in a sort of bowl landscape making for ideal conditions for growing crops. As a result, Bakersfield has an unusually high amount of residents working agricultural jobs and is more specialization in mining, quarrying and oil extraction when compared to other places. The oil extraction of Bakersfield is a main contributor to the city’s major problem with air pollution. The median income is $60,058 and the median housing price is $228,000, both higher than the United State’s median. The income inequality is 0.497, which is more than the national average and there is gender inequality in terms of income differences for men and women in Bakersfield, with men making 1.26 times higher than women (“Bakersfield, CA | Data USA” n.d.). The major employer of Bakersfield is office and administrative jobs and health care is the most common industry and the economy employs about 156,000 people. Seeing the parameters of Bakersfield, you can see that it is a relatively large city, there are many different communities within it that differ socially, economically, and overall exposure to environmental hazards (Fig. 2). The demographics for Bakersfield mainly consists of White and Hispanic or Latino, with White only making up for 31.6% and Hispanics and Latinos making up about 50.9% of the population (“Bakersfield, CA | Data USA” n.d.). The city is also in the 85th percentile for low income population and the 62 percentile for minority population (Fig. 3). “The most common racial or ethnic group living below the poverty line in Bakersfield, CA is White, followed by Hispanic and Other.” (“Bakersfield, CA | Data USA” n.d.). Figure 4 presents the areas affected the most by pollution in Bakersfield and this corresponds to areas of low income and communities of color. Bakersfield is also in the 92nd percentile in the United States for Ozone and the 90th percentile for lead paint indicator (EJ screen report 2019). As you can see there are areas that are not affected even half as badly as other areas in Bakersfield which contributes to the economic and racial injustices occurring in this city in regards to environmental hazards. Seeing as these individuals lack a voice and income, they are affected the most by Bakersfield’s oil extractions and agriculture which is a main part of the city’s dynamic. Fig. 2. Selected area for the City of Bakersfield. EPA EJ Screen Report, City of Bakersfield, ​ ​ ​ 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2019. Screenshot taken by Sydney Santo. This image shows Bakersfield’s city boundaries. Fig. 3: Demographic indicators for Bakersfield. EPA EJ Screen Report, City of Bakersfield, ​ ​ ​ 2018. Retrieved November 6, 2019. Screenshot taken by Sydney Santo. This is a graph comparing the demographic indicators of Bakersfield compared to the region, state, and country. Fig. 4: High scoring census tracts in Bakersfield, CalEnviro Screen 3.0, 2019. Retrieved ​ November 6, 2019. Screenshot taken by Sydney Santo. This image shows the pollution levels in Bakersfield. 2. What environmental threats contribute to slow disasters in this setting? What data is available to characterize these threats posed by slow disasters in the community? CAROLINE NGUYEN The geography and topography, agriculture, transportation, and oil industry contribute to slow disasters in Bakersfield, California. The city is geographically cursed, as the ​ topography of the central valley creates an almost dome-like shape that is perfect for trapping bad air, creating pools of pollution in the ozone that cannot disperse. Bakersfield ranks in the top three of the most- polluted metro areas by average year- round concentration of PM 2.5, most- polluted metro areas by dangerous “spikes” in PM 2.5, and most- polluted cities by ozone pollution (Schlanger 2019). The agriculture in Bakersfield additionally leads to air pollution. Bakersfield is a well known agricultural hub, providing a quarter of food for the United States each year. This region is home to many dairies that emit vast amounts of ammonia gas from cow manure and urine. Once in the air, ammonia gas and nitric acid combine to make ammonium nitrate. According to the California Air Resources Board, ammonium nitrate is responsible for more than half of the region’s PM 2.5 on the area’s most polluted days (Borrell 2018). Specifically, 85 percent of the pollution (Berg 2017). To add on, dust from farming contributes to air pollution. During peak almond harvesting, dust from farming activities and other disturbances account for up to 15 percent of the total PM 2.5 in some areas of the region (Borrell 2018). Another source of pollution that comes from farming stems from the use of nitrogen fertilizer. Use of nitrogen fertilizer has contributed to one third of California’s nitrogen oxide pollution and San Joaquin Valley is one of the heaviest users of nitrogen fertilizers in the state (Borrell 2018). Furthermore, transportation is another contributing factor to the poor air quality in Bakersfield. Diesel trucks transporting dairy products from farms, warehouses, and distribution centers create a lot of diesel pollution. Combined with freight trains carrying oil from refineries, diesel pollution is a major environmental threat in the region (Borrell 2018). Additionally, the oil refineries are an environmental threat to the people of Bakersfield. A U.S. Geological Survey report revealed that oil industry waste fluids containing benzene and other toxic chemicals have migrated into groundwater sites in Kern County. The water used for drinking and irrigation in Bakersfield has been contaminated (Bacher 2019). The health of Bakersfield's residents are being harmed in various ways through the water they drink and the food they eat. There is startling data that shows threats posed by slow disasters in this community. According to the American Lung Association, Bakersfield, California ranked 3 out of 228 metropolitan areas and 1 for 24-hour particle pollution (American Lung Association 2019). To add on , in a Guardian article , it was stated that "of the wider metro area’s 875,000 people, about 70,000 are said to have asthma, 40,000 cardiovascular disease, and 27,000 chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases" (Berg 2017). This data helps demonstrate the health disparities caused by the poor air quality in this area, and how the increased pollution is correlated to increased rates of diseases. Fig. 5: This is a screenshot taken from the World Air Pollution: Real- Time Air Quality Index on October 9, 2019 showing the San Joaquin Valley. This shows how the geography of the region leads to unhealthy air quality because the Valley does not allow air flow. Bakersfield is one of the cities that has the worst air quality in the region on that day. Fig. 6: Here is an image taken from Undark.Org showing levels of particle pollution in San Joaquin Valley in 2017. Fig. 7: Here are charts from the U.S. Geological Survey website showing the makeup of water contaminants in Kern County’s water in 2011. Yellow indicates high constituent concentrations, green means moderate, and blue shows low or undetected. Fig. 8: This image was taken from The California Healthy Places Index website. This image shows how Bakersfield ranks lower in healthy air percentile than regions around it.