A new analysis highlighted how nature loss disproportionately impacts communities of color and low-income households in Illinois and across the country.
The research showed there are racial dynamics to nature loss, with communities of color three times more likely to be located in nature-deprived areas than white communities.
Samantha Zeno, senior policy analyst at the Center for American Progress, said those with low income experience some of the most severe environmental inequities. In Illinois, 70% of low-income households live in nature-deprived areas.
"These communities are more vulnerable to extreme weather," Zeno pointed out. "They're more vulnerable to climate change. They experience worse health outcomes. And the future generations of those communities have a diminished inheritance of health and a greater gap in their innate connection to nature."
Zeno noted a correlation between pollution and nature loss. Communities located near pollution sources are also almost twice as likely to be in nature-deprived areas, creating compounding health risks. She stressed the analysis comes at a time when the country needs to take a hard look at the human effects of extractive industries and put it at the forefront of future conservation efforts.
Zeno stressed how current federal policies perpetuate conservation challenges. She believes efforts to expand drilling, mining, and logging on public lands while rolling back protections will only accelerate the destruction of outdoor spaces.
"It's so many additional stories being erased, and so many stories have been indicated that they will continue to be erased," Zeno argued. "These all just signal to communities of color that they're less welcome in our outdoor spaces, and that is very far from what conservation communities have fought for."
Zeno underscored that access to natural areas can help reduce blood pressure, lower stress, improve immune function, and decrease rates of cardiovascular disease, depression, and premature mortality. She called on community-centered conservation models prioritizing access to nature as a human right.
"Addressing the nature gap not only requires traditional conservation efforts but also a direct confrontation of systemic racism, economic and health inequities that have created and perpetuated environmental injustices in the way that we see them today," Zeno contended.
Illinois News Connection originally published this story.
