Coverage of National Priority List sites by the print media during the implementation of Superfund: the role of race and income

We review 1982–1984 articles identifying Superfund sites in three national newspapers. Articles almost never identify the race of nearby residents. Based on sites receiving disproportionate coverage, readers might conclude that Superfund generally affected white, working-class families, but results do not support this narrative. In a pooled sample, neither race nor income predicts the number of times a site gets mentioned. When the sample is partitioned by newspaper or by each newspaper's coverage of nearby sites, a positive relationship emerges between the proportion of Hispanic or nonwhite residents and the number of articles about a site. We discuss this apparent contradiction.

Creation of a Network of Seed Sites for In-Situ Conservation of Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Genetic Resources in Lithuania

Twenty six seed (genetic) sites were established for long-term in-situ conservation of medicinal and aromatic plant (MAP) genetic resources in Lithuania over the period 2006–2017. The sites vary in size from 0.4 to 38.0 ha with an average of 7.2 ha. Most of the sites (73%) occur in the existing protected areas. They represent 10 of 22 physical geographical areas of Lithuania and accommodate 120 priority MAP species, which is about 89% of the national priority list. Prioritization of MAP species was based on the monographs of European Pharmacopoeia, European Medicines Agency, World Health Organization as well as German Phytotherapeutic Monographs and other regional and national medicinal plant references. A concept was followed of the dual function and perception of food as medicine, and, vice versa, an approach based on a co-evolutionary relationship between human food and medicine. It was established that only 46 priority species, or 34% of the national priority list, were represented by five and more populations, which is considered as minimum for long-term in-situ conservation. The future conservation planning efforts should focus on at least 15 unrepresented species, 49 species represented at 1–2 sites each and 25 species represented at 3–4 sites each. The MAP site network should expand by covering preferably the remaining 12 physical geographical areas of the country.

Hazardous Waste Cleanup, Neighborhood Gentrification, and Environmental Justice: Evidence from Restricted Access Census Block Data

We test for residential sorting and changes in neighborhood characteristics in response to the cleanup of hazardous waste sites using restricted access fine-geographical-resolution block data. We examine changes between 1990 and 2000 in blocks within 5km of sites that are proposed to the National Priority List that fall in a narrow interval of Hazardous Ranking Scores, comparing blocks near sites that were cleaned with those near sites that were not. Cleanup leads to increases in population density and housing unit density; increases in mean household income and shares of college-educated; but also to increases in the shares of minorities.