WWU Environmental Policy major Madisyn Cook to present research on how historic redlining continues to shape health disparities

Madisyn Cook’s great-grandfather grew up in North St. Louis, Missouri, near the factory-lined banks of the Mississippi River. As an adult, he worked in one of those factories. He died of asthma-related issues in his 40s before Cook was born.

So did her grandfather, also from asthma.

“All the men in my family have passed from lung-related issues and asthma, probably because they’d all lived and worked in St. Louis,” said Cook.

Now a junior in Western’s College of the Environment, Cook lived in St. Louis until she was 4, when her mom moved them to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for better living conditions and opportunities. Even so, Cook still struggles with asthma.

“My great-grandma was one of the first Black nurses in St. Louis County. Growing up, she told me about all the asthma and lung-related health issues she saw,” said Cook. “That inspired my interest in environmental justice and environmental racism.”

Personal connections — family, home, loss and resilience — motivated Cook to examine how redlining, a discriminatory housing practice with roots going back almost a century, continues to affect marginalized communities, especially in terms of environmental health outcomes in North St. Louis.

Cook’s research, “Why Can’t I Breathe Clean Air,” earned her a 2026 DEI Scholarship from the Northwest Association of Environmental Professionals (NWAEP). The award comes with an expense-paid trip to present at the 2026 National Association of Environmental Professionals (NAEP) Annual Conference and Training Symposium in Anchorage, Alaska, in May.

The research came out of a winter 2025 Environmental Research and Public Communication course taught by Professor of Environmental Policy Troy Abel in the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy.

“Madisyn developed a powerful example of science communication grounded in new evidence on air pollution hot spots in St. Louis,” Abel said. “I now use Madisyn’s poster as a model for my current students. Now, her work will serve as a national model.”

Redlining refers to the color-coded zoning system that the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), a federal agency, used in the 1930s and 1940s to grade the “residential security” of neighborhoods. Areas were ranked from “best,” outlined in green to identify the safest areas to invest in, to “hazardous,” outlined in red and deemed the highest risk for mortgage lending.

A disproportionate number of primarily Black neighborhoods were labeled “hazardous” on the HOLC maps. This process made it nearly impossible for residents to get a home loan and essentially codified racial segregation, set the stage for infrastructure disinvestment, opened zoning to polluting industries, and effectively created a toxic perimeter around communities. HOLC created redlined maps of more than 200 U.S. cities.

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 ended the discriminatory lending practices, but the legacy of redlining persists. Many of the homes in formerly redlined areas are gone, paved over by highways and shopping malls. And in areas that are still residential, urban renewal has often led to gentrification and displacement.

“St. Louis’ inner city is now being re-gentrified without the proper cleanup,” said Cook. “It’s pushing communities out further, displacing them once again, even further from resources. It’s a vicious cycle.”

Cook’s research details the history and structure of the issue and lays out possible policy changes that could lead to environmental remediation and justice in St. Louis.

After Western, Cook plans to attend law school and aspires to become an environmental lawyer to advocate for marginalized communities.

“I’ve known I want to do something law-esque for a really long time,” said Cook. “Environmental policy was something I hadn’t heard of until I came to Western.”

In high school, Cook chose a law pathway — a career-focused program that led to a legal internship in her senior year. She was also inspired by her great-aunt, who is a judge in Dallas.

“The fundamentals behind environmental justice and environmental racism have always been there and made sense to me. I just never knew that there was a place for them,” she said. “When I saw the possibility of becoming an environmental lawyer, I thought it was awesome that there was a way I could mesh environment and law.”

Cook chose Western because of the College of the Environment’s environmental justice offerings and because she was drawn to smaller class sizes with more access to professors.

“Western was one of the only places that offered environmental justice on a scale that I loved, including the connections that I could get with my professors,” she said. “I don’t think I could get the same level of education at a big institution, learning about environmental racism and justice.”

Cook was part of the College of the Environment’s inaugural summer undergraduate research program in 2025. Research Immersive Summer Experience (RISE) offers paid research experience for first and second-year students. Cook continues to work on the community resilience project she started last summer with Associate Professor Rebekah Paci-Green, helping Lummi Island create an evacuation plan.

She is also a student ambassador for WWU’s Office of Admissions, where Cook helps prospective students navigate the college search process, shares her experiences, and leads campus tours.

When she’s not studying or working, Cook is taking steps to launch a new club that will teach students to crochet, embroider, and sew handmade items — warm hats, socks, and blankets — to be donated to the YWCA.

The handwork provides necessary calming and centering as she juggles her busy schedule.

The other two NWAEP scholarship recipients heading to the conference in May are in graduate and doctoral programs. The website notes that the scholarship award is a great opportunity for students in their final year because it guarantees a spot to present research.

But that “suggestion” didn’t stop Cook, who was only in her second year when she started this research project, from submitting her work to the scholarship.

“I thought that it was good enough to submit, and I wanted someone to at least read it,” she said. “My paper was so fleshed out because Professor Abel required so much of us out of that paper.”

The conference won’t be just a place to present her research, she said. It will give her a glimpse of her future.

“I’ll probably be one of the youngest there, but I’m excited to just see where everyone else is and see what I could grow into,” said Cook.

“I’m looking forward to meeting a whole bunch of environmental professionals doing things that I want to do. I’ve never met an environmental attorney or lawyer, so I’m excited to see how they think differently in terms of their profession,” she said. “I’m also just excited to show off what I’ve done.”

Learn more about the College of the Environment’s Environmental Policy major and other degrees in the Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy Department.

Jennifer Nerad covers Western's College of the Environment and College of Business and Economics for the Office of University Communications. Have a great story idea? Reach out to her at neradj@wwu.edu.