The Role of Capacity-Building Organizations and Environmental Threat in Addressing Air Quality in Highly Polluted Regions

Abstract

Involving residents in meaningful participation in heavily polluted regions faces many obstacles. This study focuses on the conditions that enhance individual involvement in civic initiatives against environmental hazards in one of the largest cities in the United States, facing chronic and heightened air pollution exposure. The work is based on a large-scale representative survey of 1950 residents in Fresno, California. The survey was carried out by a multiracial coalition of community-based organizations. The findings suggest that those individuals with ties to capacity-building organizations and with civic engagement experience were the most willing to attend local meetings about air pollution. In addition, days with higher levels of air pollution also acted as an environmental threat, motivating civic action. The study suggests that increasing public participation in pollution mitigation begins with investing in the types of civic organizations that specialize in capacity building for public engagement in order to advance the environmental justice principles of procedural justice.