Stats Project: How Climate Change is Related to Social Inequality

Flooding in the U.S. will disproportionately affect Black and low-income communities as climate change worsens. Studies show that lower-income and minority communities are more likely to be impacted by flooding and hurricane events, leading to financial burdens and lack of resources for repairs and safety education. Researchers used physical reasoning, modeling, and data on flood occurrences, building locations, and vulnerability to assess the social inequalities of climate change. They found that flood risks are concentrated in white and impoverished communities, with the top 20% of black census tracts expected to see double the increase in flood risks compared to the bottom 20%. However, there are limitations to the study, such as misconceptions about risk-free areas and inaccuracies in location and demographic assessments. The study concludes that low-income and black communities are more vulnerable to floods due to climate change. The article effectively communicates the results us Hi, I'm Lichita Keane, and today I'm going to be talking about how U.S. flooding will disproportionately impact Black and low-income communities as climate change increases. Climate change is a universally impactful force in our current world. However, as many studies have proven, certain aspects of it are more likely to affect lower-income or minority communities compared to the rest of the world. Examples of this are flooding or hurricane events destroying housing or property in low-income areas, creating financial burdens for those unable to afford the repairs. In a news article from Carbon Brief about this topic, reporter Aisha Tandon investigates this exact issue and analyzes detailed reports of previously recorded natural disasters in low-income areas, along with large population data measurements to describe how demographically and geographically targeted these flood events might be. To assess the social inequalities of climate change, researchers had to first look at the history and future of extreme flooding events, including the frequency, severity, cost of damages, and location of the flood occurrences. All of these factors combined form a general assessment of the bias, if you will, of the flood events, as if to say if some areas are more prone to the events or less able to afford repairs from the damage, or if they have lower access to flood protection and safety education resources. Researchers first used simple physical reasoning, complex physical modeling, and recent observational records to make a general prediction about the future progressions of floods in the United States, as well as using flood hazard models formulated by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, of which are based on high-precision terrain data, fully surveyed river channels, local gauge information, and a full appraisal of local protection measures. They then utilized the National Structure Inventory, which is a database of building locations and characteristics for residential and non-residential structures. They used this to determine the exposure of these locations to major flood events, and they also used a residential depth damage functions and non-residential functions survey from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to access the vulnerability of these areas. After surveying the actual land that the flood events occurred on, the researchers then used census tract level characteristics focusing on race and poverty of flood risks across the U.S. in order to gather data on the populations affected most. In the study, they consistently saw that present-day flood risks is concentrated in both the most white and most impoverished communities across the nation. Their findings also concluded that the top 20% proportionally black census tracts are expected to see flood risks increase at double the rate of the bottom 20% of black census tracts. Areas with high black population proportions are clearly concentrated across the Deep South in the very locations where climate change is expected to intensify flood risk. Now, although these findings do support the researchers' initial hypothesis that black and low-income communities would be disproportionately affected by climate change and flooding events in the U.S., there are some aspects of the study, like with all studies, that cannot and were not accounted for either due to the nature of or the execution of the research itself. For example, one of the main limitations with the measure of flood risk described in the report is that properties located outside the SFHA, or the Special Flood Hazard Area, are commonly misconceived to be risk-free, when in reality there may simply not be an up-to-date local flood map, meaning they may be at risk of unmapped fluvial floods, which are floods caused by rain, or fluvial floods, which are floods caused by rivers or streams. They may also be outside of the 100-year flood zone, where lower-frequency floods can still occur. Now, location and race-slash-poverty assessments can also be inaccurate. This is because, you know, most of the United States' citizens are white, meaning that in certain measurements, such populations are more likely to stand out in any given geographical area due to just the sheer size of the group. This also can apply to poverty or housing assessments. When looking at the strengths, however, the study utilized geographic flood risk assessments from many sources to begin their study, and then investigated the racial-slash-wealth demographic afterwards. This means that the research was largely unbiased when setting up the whole report, as the findings were based on scientific research and predictions, and then looked at the areas that were more subjected to flood risks, and noticed the overall trend of the demographics within that area. So, in the end, their study concluded that low-income and black communities are more likely to be affected by floods as climate change increases. When considering the article overall, Tandon communicated effectively the results with detailed accounts of the exact statistical measurements used, along with their respective outcomes. The report she derived her findings from also included many graphs and in-text definitions to make the information easier to read for the common reader. The outside references and sources used were listed, each one with reasonably credible origins and reliability. In conclusion, the results from the study seem to be based on widely accepted scientific data of flood events and racial demographics and wealth demographics of the United States. The purpose of the article can be interpreted as being not only to educate the public on the current state of climate change and the risks it poses to our individual communities, but also bring awareness to the fact that social justice and racial inequality reaches far beyond our everyday interactions. Tandon also makes sure to highlight that climate change can put specific demographics at severe risks simply due to how past socioeconomic problems have shaped the world that we all currently live in. Overall, this article uses sound logic and research to describe the current issue of climate change in the United States and the world in general, and how it impacts lower income and black communities in the context of extreme flood risks and events. Now, although many different climate change predictions rely solely on scientific research and facts, the biggest issue when it comes to determining how climate change will impact different communities really relies on society and how we take care of one another. Once again, I am Wichita Keen, and thank you for listening to this episode about the relationship between social and racial demographics and climate change. Peace out!