Climate Resiliency and Inequality in the Hudson Valley: Comparing surface cover in disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged communities

Keywords: climate resiliency, climate change, Hudson Valley, environmental justice, inequality, disadvantaged, tree canopy, impervious surface, Beacon, Hudson, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Yonkers, students
Session Type: Virtual Poster Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 49

Abstract

There is growing recognition that climate change poses disproportionate risk to low-income or otherwise socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. How to evaluate and address these risks, therefore, is an increasingly prominent question. We quantified resiliency and environmental justice indicators in six regional cities of the Hudson Valley: Beacon, Hudson, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, and Lower Westchester. We observed disparities in tree canopy cover and impervious surface cover between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged communities, as defined by the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA). Using tree canopy and impervious surface cover layers from the National Land Cover Database and the Zonal Statistics as Table analysis tool in ArcGIS Pro, we calculated mean percentage surface cover by block groups for each study area. We then used NYSERDA’s map of Disadvantaged Communities to calculate the difference in tree canopy and impervious surface cover in disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged block groups. We found that in each area, disadvantaged communities have less tree canopy coverage and more impervious surface coverage on average than non-disadvantaged communities. We also mapped the disadvantaged communities against heat vulnerability and flood hazard zones. Our findings help inform how to prioritize environmental justice in climate change mitigation efforts and guide reinvestment strategies for communities. These maps can be a tool to understand the spatial inequality of resilience to climate change for the general public and policy makers.