Hurricane Katrina-linked environmental injustice: race, class, and place differentials in attitudes

Abstract

Claims of environmental injustice, human neglect, and racism dominated the popular and academic literature after Hurricane Katrina struck the United States in August 2005. A systematic analysis of environmental injustice from the perspective of the survivors remains scanty or nonexistent. This paper presents, therefore, a systematic empirical analysis of the key determinants of Katrina-induced environmental injustice attitudes among survivors in severely affected parishes (counties) in Louisiana and Mississippi three years into the recovery process. Statistical models based on a random sample of survivors were estimated, with the results revealing significant predictors such as age, children in household under 18, education, homeownership, and race. The results further indicate that African-Americans were more likely to perceive environmental injustice following Katrina than their white counterparts. Indeed, the investigation reveals that there are substantial racial gaps in measures of environmental injustice. The theoretical, methodological, and applied policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Keywords: African-Americans; Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); Gulf Coast; Hurricane Katrina; disaster; discriminant analysis; environmental injustice; locally undesirable land uses (LULUs); people of colour (gens de couleur); resiliency; social ecology; social support.