A publicly available web tool allows access to maps that overlay environmental impacts and the populations they impact (or the populations that manage to avoid such impacts, for that matter).
Heather Hansman shares news about a new tool from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency called EJSCREEN.
"EJSCREEN, which anyone can use through the EPA's website, pulls in the agency's pollution data and intersects it with census data, so users concretely see where groups and industries are being particularly destructive to the environment, and where people are being disproportionately exposed to pollution," writes Hansman.
Twelve environmental indicators populated the map, including air particulate matter and lead paint. The tool also overlays six demographic indicators. EJSCREEN also generates EJ Indexes, which compile environmental and demographic data for comparisons and perspective.
As for the ambitions behind the tool, Hansman explains why both the EPA and Jane and John Q might find the tool useful: "The EPA is using the tool to identify areas with undue environmental burdens, to pick project areas and to show progress in active cleanup efforts. But it might be even move valuable for individuals and local groups wanting concrete details about what’s going on in their own communities."
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