Investigating Tree Inequality in the Town of Hempstead: A Study of Environmental Justice Ciara Negron, SBLY 110
Introduction
Results
Discussion
Tree inequality refers to the unequal distribution of trees within communities, cities and towns. This research study focuses on tree inequality on Long Island within the Town of Hempstead. It specifically focuses on the Village of Hempstead in contrast to the Village of Garden City due to the stark demographic differences between the two closely located villages When it comes to these villages, they are widely known to be racially segregated and disadvantaged in the socioeconomic aspect (Shih, 2019). The purpose of this research is to investigate the focus areas to determine if these areas are experiencing tree inequality and if it can be correlated to environmental injustice. Some factors of discrimination that lead to the occurrence of environmental injustices are race, median household income and lack of affluence which can be attributed to the first two factors.
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- Hempstead has a total tree cover significantly less than Garden City, though it is important to remember both villages are highly developed areas. - Hempstead is more intensely developed compared to the development of Garden City. - Garden City is developed but has more open space which can attribute to the higher number of trees than that of Hempstead. - Mann Whitney U-test showed that the results of percent tree cover and percent non-white identifying people was significant at p < 0.5 with a U value of 0. - Mann Whitney U-test showed that the results of percent tree cover and median income was significant at p < 0.5 with a U value of 0. - The graphs down below show a positive correlation with median income and percent tree cover and a negative correlation with percent non-white and percent tree cover. - This indicates that the Village of Hempstead is a possible environmental justice zone experiencing tree disparity.
The initial research and background to the project points to the following questions: 1. Is there tree inequality in the Town of Hempstead - between the Village of Hempstead and the Village of Garden City? 2. If there is, is there a positive correlation to environmental injustice based on the percent of tree coverage and demographic factors of race and median household income? I hypothesize that this research will show that there is tree disparity within the Villages of Hempstead and Garden City and that the contributing factors to tree disparity will be race and median household income, therefore connecting it to environmental injustice.
Methods - Created a study area shapefile by selecting the census tracts in the villages and exporting the selection as a feature class - Tree cover data was calculated by clipping the regional landcover tiff to the study area feature class; this also clips the attribute table which creates new pixel values for each land cover category - I made the decision to classify tree cover as any pixels with labeled Deciduous Forest, Evergreen Forest and Mixed Forest since these are made up of trees larger than 5m tall; then calculated percent of tree cover for each tract using the attribute table field calculator - Created the demographic maps by doing two separate table joins of US Census data to the study area’s census tracts; - Median Income map symbolized with equal interval since it seemed the least bias of all the classifications and Racial Composition map symbolized with dot density - Ran the Mann Whitney U test using an online calculator to test if the results were significant
Hempstead has an approximate total tree cover of 0.51%, Garden City at approximately 3.68% Some census tracts within Hempstead have 0 pixels that were classified as trees Hempstead is developed at a high intensity at 25.7%, while Garden City is developed is at 9.1% Hempstead is developed but with open space at 5.4% while Garden City is at 25.5% Hempstead is approximately 89.5% non-white identifying with an average median income of $73,355 - Garden City is approximately 89.9% white with an average median income of $159,195
Some Limitations of this study: - The land cover data from C-CAP may not be totally all inclusive or completely accurate since it is subjected to the listed categories in the legend from the land cover map above - The researcher made the decision to classify tree cover using only those of Deciduous, Evergreen and Mixed Forest pixels.
References Mann Whitney U-Test calculator: https://www.socscistatistics.com/tests/mannwhitney Shih, J. (2019), Chronic stressors: Stressors, pervasive uncertainty and well-being: Residents’ accounts of living in an economically disadvantaged, racially segregated suburban neighborhood. International Journal of Sociology of the Family, 45(1-2), 1-20. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office for Coastal Management. Classification Guide. Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) Regional Land Cover. Charleston, SC: NOAA Office for Coastal Management. Accessed April 2022 at www.coast.noaa.gov
Created by Ciara Negron Advisor: Dr. Jase Bernhardt Sustainability Senior Capstone Spring 2022