Community members describe complex environmental challenges of Southeast Texas

Why Now?

Gulf Coast communities, including Southeast Texas, are experiencing growing environmental challenges that are complex and often hard to describe. When problem-solving begins with residents and researchers defining challenges together, research outputs are more impactful and useful for local communities . The SETX-UIFL began by asking community members to define environmental challenges in their region.

What We Did

The research team used a “Task Force” model of local stakeholder participation, alongside surveys and focus groups, to understand residents’ definitions of environmental challenges. Texas Target Communities helped facilitate the process and suggested the Task Force structure. The Task Force model convenes 8-12 members who represent larger communities from the project area; this size allows for participation from a diversity of groups while remaining small enough for discussion, collaboration, and trust-building. We created a “Technical Task Force” of 8-12 environmental professionals from local government, industry, and the nonprofit sector, and a “Community Organization Leaders Task Force” of 8-12 community-based organization representatives.

Who Was Involved?

The research team used surveys and focus groups, including opportunities to share through written, visual, and small and large group activities, to gather input on how to describe, interpret, and describe and define local environmental challenges. The two Task Force groups met separately and shared ideas through discussion and written comments. Then the research team convened a large group discussion with Task Force members serving as discussion leaders. The researchers analyzed the focus group notes and developed lists of common themes.

Findings

1. Community members warmly described their community as caring and connected, with a strong economy and a vibrant ecosystem. Community members’ input reflected the complexity of challenges: • Refineries that contribute jobs but also pollution; • the need for physical infrastructure but also “green strategies,” educational outreach, and communication; • The desire for residents to stay in the community, despite concerns about health Impacts, housing quality, and flooding; and • Nature perceived as a refuge but also as a source of risk. Community members provided important context about flooding, such as localized drainage problems as well as storm-related impacts on lower-income households and communities of color. Members also focused on air quality pollution and associated health impacts, including cancer rates. Several community members shared that Southeast Texas functions as a “sacrifice zone,” providing products for US and global markets, with little recognition of these contributions or their associated harms. Another common theme was a lack of accessible, publicly shared knowledge about air quality and flooding.