Wildfires hurt minority communities most

Wildfires have a more damaging and lasting effect on poor and minority communities, according to a new study recently outlined in The New York Times. Bob Bolin, an environmental social science professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University, comments on the study and the reasons these groups are less able to adapt when a fire hits.

“The difference between the wealthy and the poor is the wealthy can afford losses, they have insurance, health insurance, secure jobs — typically somewhere else— and the poor don’t,” Bolin said.

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