gis

CUCREJ GIS

Go to Data Entry Form for Ironbound Pilot

NEW (June 99)!! See the prototype, community based Web-GISs for
West Harlem Environmental Action
The Ironbound Community Corporation
The South bronx Clean Air Coalition

In the strictest sense, a GIS is a computer system capable of assembling, storing, manipulating, and displaying geographically referenced information--i.e., data identified according to their locations. GIS technology can be used for scientific investigations, resource management, and community education. For example, a GIS might allow community-based activists to easily obtain pollution data for their region, or a GIS might be used to find demographic information of affected communities.

We are using EPA Toxics Release Inventory data along with US Census data to examine "environmental inequalities" in the communities of CUCREJ partners. In addition, the information provided will allow community-based groups to access, envision, and create sustainable, healthy environments.

Ultimately, information will be presented that will address additional areas of environmental justice research that interest CUCREJ’s partners including:

Lead poisoning;

Inner-city hazardous waste contamination and pollution prevention;

Asthma;

Occupational health and workers' environments;

Water quality;

Air pollution;

Solid waste management; and

Community-based land use planning and management.

The first step in our GIS is to document the distribution of toxics and its relationship to the distribution of relevant demographic characteristics in the Ironbound community. The information presented here is conceived of as a starting point for a further detailed analysis of the social processes of industrial siting and residential development.