To my fellow New Yorkers,
New York City is the greatest city in the world, but it has not always been the fairest. The lasting legacies of federal, state, and local policies have created economic and environmental inequalities within our city. Today, climate change threatens to exacerbate these disparities, putting the most vulnerable New Yorkers at even greater risk. That is why our administration established The Mayor’s Office of Climate & Environmental Justice, released PlaNYC: Getting Sustainability Done, and is now publishing Environmental Justice NYC (EJNYC), the first comprehensive study of environmental inequalities produced by any city in the United States.
The fact is, while heat kills more New Yorkers every year than any other extreme weather event, Black New Yorkers die of heat-related illness at twice the rate of white New Yorkers. Communities of color are disproportionately exposed to emissions from heavy-duty diesel vehicles when compared to communities that are mostly white. Bronx residents experience both the highest rates of food insecurity and the highest rates of diet-related diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure. We cannot allow these injustices to continue.
To make the information in this report more accessible, we have created an interactive mapping tool that consolidates over one hundred data layers into a single platform. Users can now zoom in on a neighborhood to see environmental injustices brought to light.
Studying environmental injustices is the first step towards addressing the problem. We will use the data gathered here to target environmental injustices so that we can build a city that is more environmentally resilient and is one in which all New Yorkers can live healthier and longer lives.