Charlie Kirk: Climate Denial & More

In case you missed it: find Charlie Kirk quotes @ https://zeteo.com/p/charlie-kirk-in-his-own-words.

Census Dots

Finally updated for the 2020 Census: Census Dots (1 person = 1 dot)

EJAtlas - Global Atlas of Environmental Justice

This is very cool: https://ejatlas.org/

The Distressed Community Index

Nicely-Done! The Distressed Community Index has 15.6% percent of its population living in a distressed zip code and 24.4% percent living in a prosperous zip code. Start at the state level, then switch to counties, and perhas even zip codes.

Not cool: you need to pay them for the data!

The Culture War @ US Universities

Great article in Nature by Emma Marris: How Culture Wars are Affecting US Universities

This is just the usual right-wing BS that the MAGA crowd loves: elinminate DEI to protect academic freedom, frame diversity statements as a 'leftistt loyalty oath', etc. Not something we need to deal with in Massachusetts (yet...).

The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (Version 1.0 & 2.0)

Just released: The Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (Version 1.0). Looks promising, especially the data download option.

Here's Version 2.0 (released December 2024): https://screening-tools.com/climate-economic-justice-screening-tool

Dollar Street

Dollar Street is pretty cool - a great addition to more 'objective' stats about human development and welfare. This - combined with something like Google StreetView - would make for great learning experiences in a World Regional Geography or Cultural Geography class.

The Lasting Legacy Of Redlining

The Lasting Legacy Of Redlining shows that redlining indeed worked as inteneded: cities still segregated.

The Black Elevation Map

The Black Elevation Map is a great data viz: chose what is mapped as 'elevation' and tour the black culture across the USA.

Census Mapper

Census Mapper is a great tool to visualize demographic changes across the USA between 2010 and 2020 and you can export/embed the visualizations.

The Roots of Structural Racism Project

The Roots of Structural Racism Project: Twenty-First Century Racial Residential Segregation in the United States. 

Highways & Racism

Great data viz / Story Map: What It Looks Like to Reconnect Black Communities Torn Apart by Highways.

Then, explore: How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering. This one sits behind the NYT paywall, but you can get the underlying scientific papers:

• Disproportionate exposure to urban heat island intensity across major US cities (Nature Communictions, 25 May 2021).
• The Effects of Historical Housing Policies on Resident Exposure to Intra-Urban Heat: A Study of 108 US Urban Areas (Climate, 2020)

Human Development Indices (5.0)

The Human Development Indices (5.0) are now available at the subnational level (e.g. states in the USA). Nice: the data are available for download. 

Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE)

Unlearning Racism in Geoscience (URGE) ran a 16-week program in the Spring of 2021 using a cool 'pod' idea where interested individuals and organization formed pods of 12 people to work-through each of the 8 two-week units. The program is obviously over, but the curriculum remains accessible and it would not be too difficult to modify & run this program 'stand-alone' and include other STEM fields such as Biology or Environmental Science.

• The URGE Curriculum
• Example of a deliverable (2YC URGE)

Laura Guertin shared her 'pod' experience over on her GeoEd Trek Blog.

Now what for white people like me?

Want to do something - here are a few options:

1. Sign this: Call for a Robust Anti-Racism Plan for The Geosciences
2. Robin DiAngelo: 5 Tasks for white people
3. 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge
4. Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus