Urban green space, like urban gardening is another aspect of environmental justice that I find interesting, and one that is gaining more recognition. Urban green space involves the lack of open space and parks in and around cities. It is considered an environmental justice issue because the lack of such amenities creates a poor living environment, and contributes to increased exposure and adverse health effects from pollution. The increased risk tends to affect low-income and minority populations the most because their exposure to pollution sources is greater, and their ability to mediate the harms associated with such exposure is limited. There have been numerous studies conducted on the benefits of having access to green space, and even on the benefits of trees in urban areas. These studies show that parks and urban forests can help mitigate the impacts from soil and air pollution; can help reduce stress and asthma levels; and can help reduce obesity rates.

Despite the benefits of green space, cities, historically, have overlooked its impact in planning. As a result, many cities around the country are severely lacking in trees and park space. Los Angeles is/was one such city. I say is/was because the city has relatively few parks compared to the population. However, in the early 2000s, organizers got together to stop the city from redeveloping a rail yard into an industrial warehouse complex. They were successful in convincing the city that green space was crucially needed (the elementary school in the area didn't even have one single blade of grass!), and the Cornfield plan was put into motion. The Cornfield, also known as the Los Angeles State Historic Park, is a dedicated 32 acres of open space on a redeveloped brownfield site in the heart of Los Angeles. To this date, due to development changes, 13 acres of the park are open to residents, with the remaining acreage to be developed soon.

For more information on the benefits of urban green space, see: http://www.srs.fs.fed.us/pubs/ja/2012/ja_2012_jennings_001.pdf
For more information on the Cornfield, see: http://www.nrdc.org/ej/partnerships/green.asp , http://www.cityprojectca.org/ourwork/urbanparks.html , http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=22272 , or http://la.curbed.com/archives/2012/02/full_cornfield_park_project_finally_moving_forward.php