Tipping the Scales of Climate Justice

Scott Gilman, Sofia Reinach, Maddie Pelz

The data say that while some countries contribute more than their share of harmful emissions leading to climate change, these are not the same countries that will suffer the biggest consequences due to climate change. We want to tell this story to point out the imbalance of cause and consequences of climate change, and to encourage people in the US and elsewhere to take action to reduce their climate footprints. Our audience is people of different ages visiting a science museum, who would see this as a part of an exhibit on climate change and its causes and effects.

Each scale represents a different variable related to either the causes or effects of climate change, gathered from World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and other governmental data sources (linked below). For this sketch, some of the scales are physical and some are projected, but in future iterations they would all be physical. The three scales to the left represent the disproportionate contributions that the US and India are making to different aspects that drive climate change. The first scale demonstrates that the United States consumes more meat than India per person, which leads to increased methane emissions from agriculture. The second scale represents car ownership per person in each country, with the US again having significantly more vehicles per person than India, which contributes to CO2 emissions from fuel use and exhaust. The last scale representing cause shows percentage of non-renewable energy that each country uses. The large majority of US energy consumption comes from non-renewable resources, while India utilizes a higher proportion of wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources.

In contrast to the first three scales that are tipped towards the US, the fourth scale has the opposite slope. This visual contrast emphasizes the last scale, which represents the projected loss of GDP due to climate change. Despite the United States contributing disproportionately to many causes of climate change, the consequences of these actions will be felt more by countries that may have a smaller carbon footprint. This makes clear that the negative effects of climate change do not discriminate by which nation contributes most, and even countries that work hard to reduce emissions will still suffer the consequences of our collective actions.

The last scale invites visitors to ‘weigh’ their own contributions to climate change based on the amount of meat in their diet, and hopefully walk away with knowledge of how changes to their lifestyle might improve climate outcomes for those in the US as well as in other countries around the world who face the biggest threats from climate change.

Economic effects paper:

http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/175901467994702565/pdf/WPS7728.pdf

Renewable energy:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.FEC.RNEW.ZS

 

Meat consumption:

https://data.oecd.org/agroutput/meat-consumption.htm

 

Cars per capita in 2015:

India: https://community.data.gov.in/registered-motor-vehicles-per-1000-population-from-2001-to-2015/

US: https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_01_11.html

Where did Beijing go and will it come back?

When we saw this photo, we were shocked.

In the press, Beijing has stood out for the levels of pollution. Before the 2008 Olympics, visitors and athletes alike voiced concern over the quality of the air. Since then, by the US State Department data, it has become worse.

Diving into the data we noticed that Beijing’s air quality is not as simple a story as it is sometimes reported. There is wide variation in the air quality and visibility in Beijing. One of the most startling differences was experienced in September of 2015 when the Chinese government held the “largest parade it’s ever held” to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in WWII. During the celebration, factories were closed and cars were banned from roaming the streets. A few days after the bans were put into effect, the smog cleared and people saw blue skies in Beijing for once.

We wanted to recreate that experience and to inspire the younger generation to take some action to decreasing their carbon footprint. The air quality is inherently a sensory experience. Pollution can be seen, but it can also be felt. For this reason, our group thought physicalizing the information about air quality trends would make an impression that pictures on a page wouldn’t be able to. We want visitors to try to find images of the Beijing skyline in different pools of water that represent the level of pollution. On a clear day like in September 2015, it’ll be easy to spot those images since the water is clear. But on the worse days, such as in the winter when the coal plants are fired up to provide heating, the water is dark and feels viscous so it’s difficult to find the Beijing skyline. The reality is no different; the smog can swallow up the entire skyline and it’s difficult and dangerous to breathe in the air.

Fighting pollution will be a multi-generational challenge, so our chosen audience is children in China. We present this concept for an installation in the museums in Beijing, preferably in the children’s area. Some of them might have never witnessed blue skies so we want to show them that the environment they live in now can be improved. We also want them to leave with a physical image of the clear skyline of Beijing and on the back of that image, have more information about air pollution and steps they can take to limit their carbon footprint.

By Caroline Liu, Alicia Ouyang, Arturo Chavez

Trees of New York – One City, Two Life Conditions (Summary)

Group members: Kalli Retzepi, Sofia Reinach, Olivia Brode-Roger, Alicia Ouyang

The datasets we focused on are the tree census and traffic volume of New York City. As the initiative to increase nature in cities pushes forward and population of cities grow, the number and health of trees are growing as the number and duration of cars in New York, and are sometimes are odds with each other, as more residents means the need to find space for buildings.

We decided to tell the story of the tree health and traffic volume of two neighborhoods in Manhattan, Midtown and Upper West Side, because we wanted to compare the growth of two areas that are less than a mile apart, but have very different vibes and values. Midtown is the location of many offices and tourist attractions while the Upper West Side is more of a residential and cultural location. We choose to make a scrolling visualization because we wanted the viewer to focus the numbers and relate to the story of the individual feature. At the end, we created a bar chart so the viewers can see the overall comparison, as well as bring the two neighborhoods back together as part of one city.

The map above would serve as the background of all the components, and provide context. We also intend to include more visualization types with the numbers, such as stacking bars or pie charts, as show in the our handwritten sketch below:

We hope that in the end, the visualization will provide more context of the health of the city and perhaps inspire improvement.

NYC’s 2015 Tree Census: https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Environment/2015-Street-Tree-Census-Tree-Data/pi5s-9p35

NYC’s 2012-2013 Traffic Volume: https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Transportation/Traffic-Volume-Counts-2012-2013-/p424-amsu

Branching Out Across New York

“Branching Out Across New York”

Team members:
Helen Bailey
Margaret Sands
Marc Esposito Gomez
Maddie Pelz

The data say that the number of trees, as well as the most common species of trees, differ across NYC’s five boroughs. These differences create very different landscapes that can impact the experience of each neighborhood. We want to tell this story because the more people know about the trees that make up their neighborhood landscape, the more invested they might be in appreciating or even becoming actively involved in taking care of the trees that surround them.

Our data source was the 2015 NYC tree census, which provided information about the number and species of each tree, as well as additional information about their health. We think that by showing the proportion of trees that are within each borough as well as dividing them by their most common species, people will be able to compare the landscapes of each borough. While this example infographic focuses on the borough of Manhattan, there will be a series of posters produced each with a focus on a single borough. The poster focusing on a certain borough will be displayed on bus stops and buildings around that borough, providing a point of comparison to the borough where the person is reading the poster with others around the city. The inclusion of images of leaves from the most common tree species in each borough invites interactivity of a sort of scavenger hunt to identify each species as they explore the borough. The additional facts about trees found in the highlighted borough also makes it fun to see the poster when you visit different areas, because each contains unique information relevant to your current location.

To illustrate the proportions of trees in each borough as well as the divisions of those trees into each borough’s top species, we utilized a tree map (pun only half-intended). This allows for both levels of analysis (between as well as within boroughs) to be observed in one visualization. In addition to this plot, rather than just listing the top species in each borough, an image of each of the top three tree’s leaves are shown extending from each branch. This visual representation adds additional information about the trees and how one might identify them while exploring each borough’s landscape. Over the course of the project we also identified the top issues that the trees in each borough face, but ultimately decided that the message and intended interaction with the infographic would be clearer if we limited it to a comparison story of tree landscape across the five boroughs.

Sketch 1: In Manhattan

Title: In Manhattan

Image:

Team Member Names: Haley Meisenholder, Rikhav Shah, Mitchel Myers

Summary: The data says that trees take up a small fraction of land area in Manhattan. We want to tell this story because trees should have an equitable share of space. Further, the addition of more trees to Manhattan could greatly enhance its livability.

For our data, we compare the land area of trees in Manhattan to several other groups: people, cars, parkland, and all of Manhattan. For information on trees, we utilized the NYC tree data set from 2015 available on the City of New York website. This data set contains the chest height diameter of every tree and the borough which allowed us to calculate the land area of all trees in Manhattan. For information on people, we used census data to determine the population of Manhattan. From there, the land area of people was calculated using the assumption that each person takes up roughly 2 square feet. For information on cars, we used data from the New York City Economic Development corporation to determine the approximate number of cars and taxis in Manhattan. From there, we used the dimensions of a standard four-door sedan to estimate the land area of a single car. With this information, we calculated the total land area of cars and taxis in Manhattan. For information on parkland in Manhattan, we used data from the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation which provided a precise measure of park land area in Manhattan. For information on the total land area of Manhattan, we used data from the City of New York website.

We believe that our presentation is effective at communicating the un-equitable share of land area that trees possess in Manhattan. This is because the visual presentation: 1) is simple and elegant, 2) is effective for quick comparisons, 3) utilizes recognizable images that allow for rapid recognition of key parties and data sets, 4) utilizes scale to portray the magnitude of the discrepancy between the land area of trees and other groups, 5) is consistent with the symbolism of “tree rings”, 6) uses a slideshow to progress through the data visually. Beyond this, the text and narrative component of the presentation orients the viewer around the specific location in question (Manhattan) and provides the viewer with specific quantitative values for comparisons being made in the visual.