Answering his question

 

One of Townhall.com's more prolific and dislikable columnists goes by the name of Matt Vespa. And I've kept one of his columns in case I ever had the time to address what he said.

She Can't Be Serious? Kamala Harris Really Asked This Question During a NASA Presentation

It took a bit of work, because Vespa's snark didn't provide it, but this is the actual question that Vice President Harris asked:

" “Can you measure trees — part of that data that you are referring to, [and it’s an issue of] EJ, environmental justice — that you can also track by race their averages in terms of the number of trees in the neighborhoods where people live?” "

Here's the thing -- the environment does vary by neighborhood.  And more urbanized environments have less trees.  And yes, NASA satellites can provide information on greenness density, tree canopy height, the health of the trees (see vapor pressure deficit, very important) and other aspect of the faunal realm.

And they can look at the greenness of cities and neighborhoods too, and enterprisingly, determine the demographics of who lives where. 

Here's a paper that did just that. 

Race, Ethnicity, Income Concentration and 10-Year Change in Urban Greenness in the United States

"Background: Cross-sectional studies suggest urban greenness is unequally distributed by neighborhood demographics. However, the extent to which inequalities in greenness have changed over time remains unknown. Methods: We estimated 2001 and 2011 greenness using Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite-derived normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) in 59,483 urban census tracts in the contiguous U.S. We fit spatial error models to estimate the association between baseline census tract demographic composition in 2000 and (1) 2001 greenness and (2) change in greenness between 2001 and 2011. Results: In models adjusted for population density, climatic factors, housing tenure, and Index of Concentration at the Extremes for income (ICE), an SD increase in percent White residents (a 30% increase) in 2000 was associated with 0.021 (95% CI: 0.018, 0.023) higher 2001 NDVI. We observed a stepwise reduction in 2001 NDVI with increased concentration of poverty. Tracts with a higher proportion of Hispanic residents in 2000 lost a small, statistically significant amount of greenness between 2001 and 2011 while tracts with higher proportions of Whites experienced a small, statistically significant increase in greenness over the same period. Conclusions: Census tracts with a higher proportion of racial/ethnic minorities, compared to a higher proportion of White residents, had less greenness in 2001 and lost more greenness between 2001 and 2011. Policies are needed to increase greenness, a health-promoting neighborhood asset, in disadvantaged communities."

So yeah, Matt, it wasn't a dumb question.

Here's a view of Southern California showing greenness over the region. 

This all occurred to me when I read the following article:

Report finds that heat, drought and fires worsen air in the West

The American Lung Association also found that minorities suffer from air pollution more than their White counterparts

" “Climate change is impacting the East differently than the West,” said Katherine Pruitt, the lead author and editor of the report. “The heat and drought in the West are driving pollution.” That burden is also shared unequally, and communities of color continue to be disproportionately affected by high pollution levels, according to the report. More than 64 million people of color lived in counties with high air pollution exposure, more than half of all those living with unhealthy air."

So yeah Matt, it still isn't a dumb question.  

And NASA can look at air pollution levels from space, too.