Leading up to Earth Day this year, there’s been a lot of talk about infrastructure, since the Biden-Harris Administration introduced its American Jobs Plan at the end of March. Critics of the plan say it goes too far beyond the traditional understanding of roads and bridges as infrastructure. In fact, that’s exactly the kind of approach we need—for the health of our planet and the health of communities.
This is particularly true for communities of color, which have been disproportionately harmed by “traditional” infrastructure projects that have divided communities and shattered social connections and networks, contributed to an overreliance on automobiles and an underinvestment in mass transit, and increased toxins in air and water. (Learn more about this history in the second section of this email). This year’s Earth Day theme is “Restore the Earth,” and we have
so much to restore.
The poor health outcomes of those types of infrastructure investments range from asthma, heart disease, and strokes to type II diabetes, depression, infant mortality, and premature death. They also contribute to climate change, which has far-ranging impacts on health and health equity.
We can
and must do better—for our health, for health equity, and for our planet.
The American Jobs Plan proposes major investments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air and water quality, and protect nature-based infrastructure like forests, wetlands, and watersheds.
Green infrastructure investments present a new way forward that protects the environment and health. For example, investing in clean public transit reduces air pollution and encourages physical activity, which increases when people walk to and from public transit stops. Rehabilitating and retrofitting housing reduces energy use and greenhouse gas emissions and improves housing quality and affordability, which is a known determinant of health. Upgrading and modernizing drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems prevents toxins from running into oceans and streams and reduces the diseases caused by being exposed to polluted water.
Prevention Institute recently published a
study showing that adding tree cover in urban areas can increase life expectancy in Black and Latino neighborhoods. We collaborate with community-based organizations that are working to achieve
park equity, because parks and green spaces protect public health by providing opportunities for physical activity, time in nature, social connection, and respite. Green spaces also filter air, remove pollution, cool temperatures, filter stormwater, and replenish groundwater.
As we at Prevention Institute have found to be true, a good solution solves multiple problems. In the case of green infrastructure, it reduces risk factors for illness and injury and the ill-health of our environment
and increases protective factors for health by, for example, creating good jobs. Having a good job means being able to buy healthy food, afford safe housing, and get treatment for medical problems when needed.
However, sometimes even the best-intentioned solutions have unintended consequences if we don’t thoroughly consider all of their possible ramifications. In the case of infrastructure, these investments will need to be intentionally designed to achieve health equity and racial justice. When the Biden-Harris administration announced the American Jobs Plan, they called attention to this fact by noting that “unlike past major investments, the plan prioritizes addressing long-standing and persistent racial injustice. The plan targets 40 percent of the benefits of climate and clean infrastructure investments to disadvantaged communities.” Here are some of our recommendations that support health equity and racial justice in implementation:
- Collect data that demonstrates, by place and race, where health inequities and green infrastructure intersect.
- Include people of color, especially community residents and representatives of Black- and Brown-led organizations, in defining infrastructure needs and developing and implementing solutions.
- Invest proactively in Black and Brown communities that have historically been excluded from green infrastructure opportunities.
- Fund community-based organizations to support local engagement and organizing to ensure that infrastructure dollars are spent fairly and equitably.
- Hire from the local community, to accelerate employment for Black and Brown community residents and enable them to work, live, and stay in communities that benefit from infrastructure improvements.
As Congress and the White House turn the American Jobs Plan into actual legislation, we must ensure that health equity and racial justice are not left “on the side of the road” during negotiations but are thoroughly embedded into every element of the plan. That’s how we protect the health of communities and of our planet.
Earth Day in 2021 feels very different from how it’s felt during the last several years. This year, it actually feels like spring. New possibilities are blooming. New opportunities are sprouting up. I hope you’ll join me in watering and tending to the seeds that have been planted. If we all work together to care for them, they’ll bear fruit for healthier communities and help restore our cherished planet.
If you want to talk health, you have to talk green infrastructure.
In unity,
