A Mapping Methodology for Exploring Environmental Injustice: The Case of Pennsylvania
Open Access
- Author:
- Hernandez, Nebraska Aaron
- Area of Honors:
- Geography
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Roger Michael Downs, Thesis Supervisor
Roger Michael Downs, Thesis Honors Advisor
Fritz Connor Kessler, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- Environmental injustice
environmental justice
mapping
pennsylvania - Abstract:
- Since the beginning of the Environmental Justice movement in the early 1980s, mapping has played an important role in the identification of sites of environmental justice and subsequent mitigation efforts. As geospatial data becomes more readily available, past environmental justice mapping methodologies have been replaced by newer, second-generation methodologies that aim to incorporate more environmental and sociodemographic indicators into environmental injustice analyses. However, current second-generation environmental justice mapping methodologies focus too broadly on the averages of environmental and sociodemographic indicators, diluting the importance of outliers which are often the sites of environmental injustice. This thesis proposes the 10th Decile Environmental Justice Mapping Methodology that emphasizes the importance of the tails of the data distributions of the environmental and sociodemographic indicators. By utilizing data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s EJSCREEN, this thesis displays how this methodology can be used by describing and mapping thirteen indicators across Pennsylvania. This thesis aims to critique existing environmental justice mapping methodologies and propose the 10th Decile Environmental Justice Mapping Methodology as a solution that is replicable in any state.