Assessing air pollution exposure disparities in disadvantaged communities of Greater Boston: a new cumulative environmental justice score system

Abstract Disadvantaged communities in the U.S. experience higher levels of air pollution, leading to increased environmental justice (EJ) challenges. In this work, we combine socioeconomic metrics with spatially interpolated fine particulate matter and ozone concentrations from fifty-nine low-cost sensors and nine reference monitors to investigate inequality in air pollution exposure among different population groups in Greater Boston. The results indicate that the disadvantaged groups are exposed to higher levels of air pollution. Air pollution is concentrated in the center of Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, and Everett, corresponding to high population density and anthropogenic activities. We further assess the environmental equality by reconstructing the EJ map for Massachusetts using median household income, percentage of minority, and percentage of limited English speaking as indicators. The EJ blocks are clustered in large cities across Massachusetts. Many communities in Greater Boston are classified as EJ communities due to the high percentage of minorities. Chelsea and Everett face more severe EJ issues, with most of their communities exceeding multiple EJ indicators. Additionally, we introduce and demonstrate a new method for determining EJ communities by utilizing the multi-criterion framework to calculate the cumulative EJ score for every census block, integrating air quality with socioeconomic indicators, and each indicator can be viewed as a policy action. Chelsea, Everett, and Lynn consistently exhibit the highest EJ scores with no improvements over the years. The EJ score system provides the time evolution to assist authorities and the residents in tracking the progress in improving the EJ scores of their communities. The method indicates the strength of the efforts needed to maintain or improve the EJ scores for achieving better EJ in the communities, allowing authorities to take immediate actions to improve the environmental well-being of vulnerable communities.