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Environmental Data

What is "environmental justice"?

Definition from US EPA Environmental Justice

"Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies."


Overviews of Environmental Justice

This site has brief definitions from books published on the ScienceDirect site from Elsevier. We may not have access to the full book, but anyone can view the definitions and explanations provided for free.

Two of the resources cited that we can access:

Environmental Justice Resources

Environmental Justice Index

Produced by: US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR)
About: The Environmental Justice Index uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rank the cumulative impacts of environmental injustice on health for every census tract. Census tracts are subdivisions of counties for which the Census collects statistical data. The EJI ranks each tract on 36 environmental, social, and health factors and groups them into three overarching modules and ten different domains.


EJSCREEN: Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool

Produced by: US Environmental Protection Agency
About: Create maps and generate detailed reports based on the geographic areas and data sets you choose.


Heat Island Effect

Produced by: US Environmental Protection Agency
About: This site is more informative than data driven.


Climate Impacts on Human Health

Produced by: US EPA

See also: Environmental data: Climate change


Pennsylvania Environmental Justice (EJ) Areas

Produced by: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Programs

  • DEP Environmental Justice Public Participation Policy
    • DEP defines an EJ Area as any census tract where 20 percent or more individuals live at or below the federal poverty line, and/or 30 percent or more of the population identifies as a non-white minority, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the federal guidelines for poverty.
  • View EJ on a map

Search PubMed for environmental justice topics

All articles that use the phrase "environmental justice/injustice"


Very broad PubMed search

"Environmental Justice"[Mesh] OR environmental injustice*[tiab] OR environmental justice[tiab] OR (("Social Justice"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Health Disparate, Minority and Vulnerable Populations"[MeSH:noexp] OR "Health Inequities"[MeSH:noexp] OR "Health Status Disparities"[MeSH:noexp] OR "Healthcare Disparities"[MeSH:noexp] OR "Socioeconomic Disparities in Health"[Mesh:NoExp] OR Disparities[TIAB] OR disparity[TIAB] OR inequalities[TIAB] OR inequality[TIAB] OR inequities[TIAB] OR inequity[TIAB] OR "disadvantaged group"[TIAB:~2] OR "disadvantaged groups"[TIAB:~2] OR "social disadvantage"[TIAB:~2] OR "social disadvantaged"[TIAB:~2] OR "social justice"[TIAB:~1] OR "social vulnerability"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially disadvantaged"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially vulnerable"[TIAB:~2]) AND ("Environment"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Environmental Pollution"[Mesh] OR "Environmental Pollutants"[Mesh] OR pollution[tiab] OR pollutant*[tiab]))


Very broad PubMed search for US studies

("Environmental Justice"[Mesh] OR environmental injustice*[tiab] OR environmental justice[tiab] OR (("Social Justice"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Health Disparate, Minority and Vulnerable Populations"[MeSH:noexp] OR "Health Inequities"[MeSH:noexp] OR "Health Status Disparities"[MeSH:noexp] OR "Healthcare Disparities"[MeSH:noexp] OR "Socioeconomic Disparities in Health"[Mesh:NoExp] OR Disparities[TIAB] OR disparity[TIAB] OR inequalities[TIAB] OR inequality[TIAB] OR inequities[TIAB] OR inequity[TIAB] OR "disadvantaged group"[TIAB:~2] OR "disadvantaged groups"[TIAB:~2] OR "social disadvantage"[TIAB:~2] OR "social disadvantaged"[TIAB:~2] OR "social justice"[TIAB:~1] OR "social vulnerability"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially disadvantaged"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially vulnerable"[TIAB:~2]) AND ("Environment"[Mesh:NoExp] OR "Environmental Pollution"[Mesh] OR "Environmental Pollutants"[Mesh] OR pollution[tiab] OR pollutant*[tiab]))) NOT ((africa[MESH] OR asia[MESH] OR australia[MESH] OR canada[MESH] OR central america[mesh] OR europe[MESH] OR Mexico[MESH] OR south america[MESH]) NOT (north america[MeSH:noexp] OR united states[MESH]))

Focus on SES/poverty

("Environmental Justice"[Mesh] OR environmental injustice*[tiab] OR environmental justice[tiab])  AND (poverty[mesh:noexp] OR "social class"[mesh:noexp] OR "social determinants of health"[mesh:noexp] OR "socioeconomic factors"[mesh:noexp] OR "economic distress"[TIAB:~2] OR "economic distressed"[TIAB:~2] OR "economic factors"[TIAB:~2] OR "economic stability"[TIAB] OR"economical distress"[TIAB:~2] OR "economical distressed"[TIAB:~2] OR "economical factors"[TIAB:~2] OR "economically disadvantaged"[TIAB] OR "economically distress"[TIAB:~2] OR "economically distressed"[TIAB:~2] OR "economically factors"[TIAB:~2] OR "economically stable"[TIAB] OR "income"[TIAB] OR "Poverty"[TIAB] OR "social class"[TIAB:~2] OR "social determinants"[TIAB:~2] OR "social disparities"[TIAB:~2] OR "social disparity"[TIAB:~2] OR "social inequities"[TIAB:~2] OR "social inequity"[TIAB:~2] OR "social status"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially class"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially determinants"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially disadvantaged"[TIAB] OR "socially disparities"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially disparity"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially inequities"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially inequity"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially status"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic class"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic determinants"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic disparities"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic disparity"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic inequities"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic inequity"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic status"[TIAB:~2])


Focus on SES/poverty and US studies

("Environmental Justice"[Mesh] OR environmental injustice*[tiab] OR environmental justice[tiab]) AND (poverty[mesh:noexp] OR "social class"[mesh:noexp] OR "social determinants of health"[mesh:noexp] OR "socioeconomic factors"[mesh:noexp] OR "economic distress"[TIAB:~2] OR "economic distressed"[TIAB:~2] OR "economic factors"[TIAB:~2] OR "economic stability"[TIAB] OR"economical distress"[TIAB:~2] OR "economical distressed"[TIAB:~2] OR "economical factors"[TIAB:~2] OR "economically disadvantaged"[TIAB] OR "economically distress"[TIAB:~2] OR "economically distressed"[TIAB:~2] OR "economically factors"[TIAB:~2] OR "economically stable"[TIAB] OR "income"[TIAB] OR "Poverty"[TIAB] OR "social class"[TIAB:~2] OR "social determinants"[TIAB:~2] OR "social disparities"[TIAB:~2] OR "social disparity"[TIAB:~2] OR "social inequities"[TIAB:~2] OR "social inequity"[TIAB:~2] OR "social status"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially class"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially determinants"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially disadvantaged"[TIAB] OR "socially disparities"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially disparity"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially inequities"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially inequity"[TIAB:~2] OR "socially status"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic class"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic determinants"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic disparities"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic disparity"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic inequities"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic inequity"[TIAB:~2] OR "socioeconomic status"[TIAB:~2]) NOT ((africa[MESH] OR asia[MESH] OR australia[MESH] OR canada[MESH] OR central america[mesh] OR europe[MESH] OR Mexico[MESH] OR south america[MESH]) NOT (north america[MeSH:noexp] OR united states[MESH]))


Focus on race/ethnicity

("Environmental Justice"[Mesh] OR environmental injustice*[tiab] OR environmental justice[tiab]) AND ("Ethnicity"[MeSH:noexp] OR Minority Groups[MeSH] OR "Race Factors"[MeSH] OR "Racial Groups"[MeSH] OR ethnology[sh] OR "children of color"[TIAB] OR "children of colour"[TIAB] OR "communities of color"[TIAB] OR "communities of colour"[TIAB] OR "community of color"[TIAB] OR "faculty of color"[TIAB] OR "faculty of color"[TIAB] OR "faculty of color"[TIAB] OR "faculty of colour"[TIAB] OR "men of color"[TIAB] OR "men of colour"[TIAB] OR "patient of color"[TIAB] OR "patient of colour"[TIAB] OR "patients of color"[TIAB] OR "patients of colour"[TIAB] OR "people of color"[TIAB] OR "people of colour"[TIAB] OR "person of color"[TIAB] OR "person of colour"[TIAB] OR "persons of color"[TIAB] OR "persons of colour"[TIAB] OR "women of color"[TIAB] OR "women of colour"[TIAB] OR ethnic[TIAB] OR ethnical[TIAB] OR ethnically[TIAB] OR ethnicities[TIAB] OR ethnicism[TIAB] OR ethnicities[TIAB] OR ethnicity[TIAB] OR ethnics[TIAB] OR ethnicized[TIAB] OR ethnicsetting[TIAB] OR minorities[TIAB] OR minority[TIAB] OR race[TIAB] OR races[TIAB] OR racial[TIAB] OR racially[TIAB])


Focus on race/ethnicity & US studies

("Environmental Justice"[Mesh] OR environmental injustice*[tiab] OR environmental justice[tiab]) AND ("Ethnicity"[MeSH:noexp] OR Minority Groups[MeSH] OR "Race Factors"[MeSH] OR "Racial Groups"[MeSH] OR ethnology[sh] OR "children of color"[TIAB] OR "children of colour"[TIAB] OR "communities of color"[TIAB] OR "communities of colour"[TIAB] OR "community of color"[TIAB] OR "faculty of color"[TIAB] OR "faculty of color"[TIAB] OR "faculty of color"[TIAB] OR "faculty of colour"[TIAB] OR "men of color"[TIAB] OR "men of colour"[TIAB] OR "patient of color"[TIAB] OR "patient of colour"[TIAB] OR "patients of color"[TIAB] OR "patients of colour"[TIAB] OR "people of color"[TIAB] OR "people of colour"[TIAB] OR "person of color"[TIAB] OR "person of colour"[TIAB] OR "persons of color"[TIAB] OR "persons of colour"[TIAB] OR "women of color"[TIAB] OR "women of colour"[TIAB] OR ethnic[TIAB] OR ethnical[TIAB] OR ethnically[TIAB] OR ethnicities[TIAB] OR ethnicism[TIAB] OR ethnicities[TIAB] OR ethnicity[TIAB] OR ethnics[TIAB] OR ethnicized[TIAB] OR ethnicsetting[TIAB] OR minorities[TIAB] OR minority[TIAB] OR race[TIAB] OR races[TIAB] OR racial[TIAB] OR racially[TIAB]) NOT ((africa[MESH] OR asia[MESH] OR australia[MESH] OR canada[MESH] OR central america[mesh] OR europe[MESH] OR Mexico[MESH] OR south america[MESH]) NOT (north america[MeSH:noexp] OR united states[MESH]))