M10: Heat (Environment, Climate Change, and Health)

Question 1

What is Sociology of the Environment?

What are the 3 Keys?

Answer 1

• Concerned with “how humans (their cultures, values, and behaviours) affect the physical environment and how the physical environment affects human activities”
• Foci of sociology of the environment:
  1. Consequences of human action
  2. Influence of the environment on humanity
  3. Social policies

Question 2

What are Products and Consumption-related
Environmental Harms?

Answer 2

• Petrochemical Industry - Manufactures a wide range of synthetic products (e.g., plastics, paints, detergents, pesticides, rubber) -> Effects on air, land
• Carson’s Silent Spring: Silence of the birds – their song stifled by pesticides
• Pollution travels -> vast impact - >Pollutants from Indiana have been found in the breast milk of women living in Nunavut

Question 3

What is Environmental Racism?
List some Examples.

Answer 3

A term used to describe how disadvantaged communities are disproportionately exposed to environmental health factors and disasters brought about by government and/or industrial policies

• Illustrates the relationship between race, class, and exposure to environmental hazards
• Africville in Halifax, NS (history; coverage)
• Toxic chemical levels prompt partial evacuation of Aamjiwnaang First Nation (Oct 3, 2024)
• Imperial Oil Kearl Lake spill in northern AB near First Nations communities (March 2023)

Question 4

10 ways climate change affects our health

Answer 4

Question 5

Climate hazards are disproportionately and unfairly distributed among the most vulnerable social groups.
This is not a coincidence.

Answer 5

Question 6

Example #1: 2021 BC Heat Dome

Answer 6

Question 7

Ex 2: Addressing the Urban Heat Island Effect through an Equity Lens:

Answer 7

Question 8

richer areas have more green, open spaces

Answer 8

more traffic, less green

Question 9

1 weather-related killer

What casues heat related deaths/injuries?

Answer 9

Question 10

What is redlining?

Answer 10

Redlining is the discriminatory practice of denying loans, insurance, or other financial services to people living in certain neighborhoods, often based on racial or ethnic composition, which perpetuates segregation and economic inequality.

The heat map on the right appears to correlate with modern socioeconomic outcomes, such as poverty, lower property values, or higher racial minority populations. The darker red areas on this map likely align with historically redlined zones, illustrating the long-term impact of redlining policies. These areas continue to experience disinvestment, lack of opportunities, and poorer living conditions, creating systemic inequalities that persist generations after the practice officially ended.

Question 11

Factors accounting for hotter temperatures:

Answer 11

Income
Health Disparities
A/C possession
Air Quality & Asthma