A New Species of Environmental Injustice: Natural-technological Events and Social Marginalization in the United States

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dc.contributor.advisorElliott, James R
dc.creatorBrown, Phylicia Xin Yi Lee
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-22T15:51:29Z
dc.date.created2024-05
dc.date.issued2024-04-11
dc.date.submittedMay 2024
dc.date.updated2024-05-22T15:51:29Z
dc.descriptionEMBARGO NOTE: This item is embargoed until 2026-05-01
dc.description.abstractClimate change's impact on exacerbating existing environmental injustices (EIs) has garnered significant attention. However, less explored are the implications of climate change-induced flooding on ongoing EIs within areas of industrial-technological concentration where socially marginalized populations reside and work. This dissertation seeks to illuminate this "new species of EI": the flooding of toxic industrial facilities, or natural-technological (natech) events, and their unequal distribution and burdens on socially marginalized populations across the contiguous United States (CONUS). Guided by political economy theories through an intersectional environmental framework, the subsequent quantitative and spatial analyses utilize federally-funded datasets to uncover the unequal distribution, production, and potential future pathways of natech events in socially marginalized neighborhoods across the CONUS. These findings underscore the importance of employing intersectional environmental frameworks to critically examine how interconnected systems of oppression contribute to the uneven distribution of intersecting environmental hazards for socially marginalized populations in a climate-changed world. This dissertation first illuminates the frequent occurrence and disproportionate clustering of natech events in neighborhoods characterized by socially marginalized Black and Hispanic populations across the CONUS. Longitudinal analysis reveals the unequal production of natech environmental injustices in socially marginalized neighborhoods, exacerbating negative socio-natural transformations. Additionally, it sheds light on the significant future natech risks for socially marginalized populations across the CONUS, underscoring the urgency for large-scale and cooperative structural interventions to address industrial-technological injustices. These findings advocate for an intersectional environmental framework, integrating various environmental-related sociological subfields to address the compounding environmental hazards and inequities exacerbated by the ongoing climate crisis. Ultimately, this research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of environmental injustices towards the development of more effective mitigation and resilience strategies in an era of climate crisis.
dc.embargo.lift2026-05-01
dc.embargo.terms2026-05-01
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationBrown, Phylicia. A New Species of Environmental Injustice: Natural-technological Events and Social Marginalization in the United States. (2024). PhD diss., Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/116166
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/116166
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.
dc.subjectEnvironmental Injustice
dc.subjectNatural-technological
dc.subjectIndustrial-technological Hazards
dc.subjectFlooding
dc.subjectClimate Change
dc.titleA New Species of Environmental Injustice: Natural-technological Events and Social Marginalization in the United States
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialText
thesis.degree.departmentSociology
thesis.degree.disciplineSocial Sciences
thesis.degree.grantorRice University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy
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