Environmental justice is justice. It means ensuring clean air and safe drinking water for all communities, as well as providing equal access to those who make the laws and policies that influence these fundamental aspects of human health and welfare.
But for those who are responsible for managing the Chesapeake Bay Program’s nearly four-decades-old effort to improve and protect the water quality and living resources in the Chesapeake Bay, environmental justice is challenging to measure. Concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus as well as water clarity are all measurable and quantifiable with the right equipment and analysis. But how do you measure inequality across neighborhoods in a watershed that covers six states and the District of Columbia? What parameters are most instructive to use?
Scientists at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) are attempting to do that through several environmental justice indicators on the annual Chesapeake Bay & Watershed Report Card. The report card presents data on a variety of Bay health indicators that managers use to assess progress for the multi-state cleanup and restoration. A team at the Integration and Application Network is trying to determine how social indicators can fit into this framework. It’s starting with two indicators: heat vulnerability and the walkability factor.
Image of backhoe lifting a piece of concrete from the sidewalk.
Image of man with white wire border fence for garden. In background is a chain-linked fence with rowhouses behind.
Image of a white church in the background with standing water in the foreground
Advocates hope new environmental justice indicators included in Chesapeake Bay report cards will encourage a more equitable distribution of resources in the multi-state cleanup. Photos, clockwise from top left: Children play in Herring Run, a Baltimore stream that has experienced flooding with sewage tainted water; removing impervious surfaces to plant trees in Baltimore; water encroaches on a church in Dames Quarter in Somerset County; and a gardener readies plants at a community plot in the Reservoir Hill neighborhood in Baltimore.
This issue also introduces readers to our 2021 Knauss fellows, a diverse group who have spent a year-long fellowship working on marine and environmental issues in the legislative and executive branches of government in Washington, DC. And readers will meet Extension Specialist Kate McClure, who is focused on resilience on the coast. McClure is especially concerned with underserved communities and making sure their leaders have access to resources that can help protect them as waters rise.
Finally, the CQ team was recently honored by winning two Apex Awards for Publication Excellence. We appreciate the support of our readers and all who contribute to the magazine content that allows us to be so successful.
