Hazard Characteristics and Patterns of Environmental Injustice: Household-Level Determinants of Environmental Risk in Miami, Florida

Abstract

Limited systematic comparative knowledge exists about patterns of environmental injustices in exposure to varied natural and technological hazards. To address this gap, we examine how hazard characteristics (i.e., punctuated event/suddenness of onset, frequency/magnitude, and divisibility) influence relationships between race/ethnicity, nativity, socioeconomic status (SES), older age, housing tenure, and residential hazard exposure. Sociodemographic data come from a random sample survey of 602 residents of the tricounty Miami Metropolitan Statistical Area (Florida). Hazard exposure was measured using spatial data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Air Toxics Assessment, and the Emergency Response Notification System. We specified generalized estimating equations (GEEs)—which account for sociospatial clustering—predicting 100-year flood risk, acute chemical accidental releases, and chronic cancer risk from air toxics from all and on-road mobile sources. We found that for punctuated, sudden onset events, some socially advantaged people were significantly at risk. Racial/ethnic minority variables were significant predictors of greater exposure to the three technological hazards, while higher SES was associated with 100-year flood risk exposure. Black and foreign-born Hispanic residents, and white and U.S.-born Hispanic residents, shared nearly identical risk profiles. Results demonstrate the complexities found in human-hazard associations and the roles of hazard characteristics in shaping disparate risk patterns.