A GIS CLASS EXERCISE TO STUDY ENVIRONMENTAL RISK
Meg E. Stewart Department of Geology and Geography, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604,
mestewart@vassar.edu
Jill S. Schneiderman Department of Geology and Geography, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604,
schneiderman@vassar.edu
Stephanie B. Andrews Department of Geography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822,
andrewss@hawaii.edu
ABSTRACT
Geographic Information System (GIS) software can be
used to determine the spatial distribution of environmen-
tal hazards. The ability to look at multiple layers of infor-
mation on one map enables investigators to visually
compare areas that contain high numbers of hazardous in-
dustries with variables such as socio-economic status and
race. We used GIS in a classroom exercise to examine the
distribution of toxic release sites in Queens, New York.
Using 1990 U.S. Census tract data along with Toxic Re-
lease Inventory (TRI) sites registered by the Environmen-
tal Protection Agency (EPA) for Queens in 2000, we
created a series of maps to examine the relationships be-
tween the locations of known toxic releases and demo-
graphic factors such as race, education, income levels, and
linguistic isolation. By using readily available digital data
like TRI sites and census tract data this classroom project
shows students the utility of GIS for analysis of environ-
mental hazards. Our in-class exercise revealed 1) distinct
divides between neighborhoods by race; 2) an association
between the locations of TRI sites and Asian and Hispanic
linguistic isolation; 3) correspondence between the loca-
tions of TRI sites and limited level of education; and 4)
overlap between the locations of TRI sites and neighbor-
hoods of low income. Although not a definitive environ-
mental risk study, these findings suggest that
neighborhoods with limited resources to prevent the sit-
ing of undesirable technologies in their communities or to
move out of harms way may be disproportionately sub-
jected to environmental risks. Exercises of this sort are
easily carried out by students with access to GIS. Such
studies demonstrate to students the societal importance of
integrating natural and social sciences.
Key words: environmental risk, GIS, Geographic Informa-
tion System, Queens, New York, education computer as-
sisted, environmental justice.
PURPOSE
When discussing environmental degradation and pollu-
tion in geology classes, the question arises whether low in-
come and minority communities are disproportionately
subjected to environmental risks than are higher income
and primarily white communities. In fact, numerous stud-
ies support such a correlation (U.S. GAO, 1983; UCC, 1987;
Bullard, 1990; Mohai and Bryant, 1992; Pollock and Vittas,
1995; U.S. GAO, 1995; Mohai,
Stewart et al. - A GIS Class Exercise to Study Environmental Risk
1996). As a result, the high ratio of toxic sites to low in-
come and minority communities has led social justice ac-
tivists to define a new kind of environmental advocacy,
one that demands environmental justice for all (Bullard,
1994). Our class exercise engages such concerns about en-
vironmental issues and social justice; it uses a Geographic
Information System (GIS) as a teaching tool to examine
and encourage discussion of environmental risk in
Queens County, New York. Though not a definitive study
of environmental justice in Queens, the exercise demon-
strates how educators can use GIS technology to urge stu-
dents towards consideration of the distribution of
environmental risk.
The Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) Office
of Environmental Justice defines environmental justice as:
the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all
people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income
with respect to the development, implementation, and en-
forcement of environmental laws, regulations, and poli-
cies. Fair treatment means that no group of people,
including racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic group should
bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmen-
tal consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and
commercial operations or the execution of federal, state,
local, and tribal programs and policies (U.S. EPA-OECA,
2000). Despite the EPAs awareness of what might be
termed environmental injustice, as well as former Presi-
dent Clintons Executive Order 12898 which addresses the
EPAs responsibilities and strategies concerning environ-
mental justice (U.S. EPA-OSWER, 2000), poor and minor-
ity neighborhoods are more likely to receive societys toxic
wastes (UCC, 1987; Bullard, 1990; Mohai and Bryant,
1992). Also, waste incinerators, sewage treatment plants,
petrochemical facilities, and landfills are disproportion-
ately located in these types of communities (Bullard,
1994). This situation has resulted from effective NIMBY
(not-in-my-backyard) campaigns in financially well-off,
politically well-connected, and educated communities
(Mazmanian and Morell, 1990; Kraft and Clary, 1991;
Lavelle and Coyle, 1992).
A GIS is a computer-based system of hardware and
software useful for analyzing and interpreting spatially
referenced digital datasets; these may be geologic maps,
georeferenced aerial photographs, land-use information,
or community demographic data. These data can be im-
ported into a GIS software program as layers and then an-
alyzed to answer land-use questions (Star and Estes, 1990).
227
GIS may be extremely useful for assessing the distribution
of environmental hazards; it is relatively easy to use and
the maps generated furnish a visual aid for determining
possible environmental hazard relationships. For our class
exercise we used low priced or free data that we down-
loaded from the World Wide Web.
Although GIS is used routinely by geologists and
other earth scientists for mapping the distribution of natu-
ral resources and hazards (for example, Hillman,1995;
Hilley and Pollard, 1996; Vanderwall et al., 1996; Corwin
et al., 1997; Lasserre et al., 1997; Freeman and Miller, 1998;
Francek et al., 1999; Lewis, 1999; Livingstone et al., 1999),
GIS has been applied only in a few instances by earth sci-
entists to examine the distribution of environmental risks
in relation to demography (Schneiderman, 1997; Boer et
al., 1997; Sadd et al., 1997; Sadd et al., 1999). The technol-
ogy holds tremendous potential for communities con-
cerned about the distribution of environmental risks and
offers earth scientists the opportunity to apply our knowl-
edge for purposes beneficial to whole communities.
Any major city in the U.S. would be suitable for such a
class GIS project. We chose Queens, one of the five bor-
oughs of New York City. Initially settled in 1637 by Dutch
colonists, it is densely populated todaynearly two mil-
lion people live within its approximately 112 square miles
(Seyfried and Peterson, 2000). We focused on Queens for
our class exercise because it has a long history of industrial
activity, consists of mostly working class communities,
and comprises an ethnically diverse population. It also
contains within its borders two major airports, La Guardia
and John F. Kennedy.
In order to examine the distribution of environmental
hazards in Queens (Figure 1), we used GIS to look for cor-
relations between the locations of EPA toxic release sites
and demographic variables, such as race, education and
income levels, and primary language spoken in the home.
The EPA defines the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data-
base as containing information from companies and gov-
ernment facilities that report their air, land, and water
releases and other waste management activities (U.S.
EPA-OPPT, 2000). Some previous GIS-based environ-
mental risk studies have utilized TRI data exclusively
(Cutter and Solecki, 1996; Pulido et al., 1996; Sadd et al.,
1999; Sheppard et al., 1999) while others have also used
the EPAs RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act) sites (Ahearn and Osleeb, 1993; Cutter et al., 1996;
Boer et al., 1997; Pulido, 2000). RCRA sites, generically
termed hazardous waste sites, are facilities that generate,
transport, treat, store, and dispose of hazardous waste;
such facilities must provide information about their activi-
ties to state environmental agencies (U.S. EPA, 2000). An
early version of our class exercise utilized RCRA sites for
the purpose of analyzing the distribution of environmen-
tal risk (Stewart and Andrews, 1999). Dry cleaners, gas
stations, and auto mechanic shops are typically found on
RCRA lists. Seemingly innocuous RCRA sites hold a po-
tential danger for a neighborhood, otherwise there would
not be a need to list them with the EPA. However, we
chose to map TRI sites for the class exercise because of the
more immediate threat that a toxic release has on a neigh-
228 Journal of Geoscience Education, v.49, n.3, May, 2001, p. 227-234
borhood. In Queens County there are 59 toxic release
sites. Likewise, there are over 1,600 RCRA sites of which
approximately 45 percent are gas stations or dry cleaners
(U.S. EPA-Region 2, 2000).
In our exercise GIS visually showed students that en-
vironmental hazards associated with incinerators, land-
fills, or sewage treatment facilities in Queens occur
especially in low-income areas, neighborhoods populated
by people with limited education, or those where English
is not the primary language.
METHODS OF MAP CONSTRUCTION
We obtained demographic data from the 1990 United
States Census and examined tract-level data. Tracts are
sections of counties that generally contain approximately
two thousand to four thousand people (Peters and
Larkin,1997). We chose tract-level data because: 1) tracts
are the standard unit of comparison (for instance, Bowen
et al., 1995; Pollock and Vittas, 1997; Sui et al., 1995; Cutter
et al., 1996; Pulido et al., 1996; Boer et al., 1997; Sadd et al.,
1999); 2) tract-level data are readily available; and 3) the
geographic scale is appropriately large. One could use
smaller or larger geographic scales, such as country, state,
metropolitan region, or neighborhood areas, for similar
environmental hazard analyses. Also, data of different
resolution can be organized by county, zip code, block
groups or individual blocks (McMaster et al.,1999). In fact,
choice of scale and resolution are major methodological is-
sues in the environmental risk assessment literature.
Ideally for environmental risk assessment, researchers
would use a coarse-resolution analysisthe use of county
or tract boundariesfor small-scale studies. For larger
scale studies, block groups or block boundaries would be
used for fine-resolution analysis (McMaster et al., 1997).
We used GIS software to analyze the data and con-
struct our maps. At least 18 different types of GIS software
can be used in a desktop environment (Somers, 1999) and
the approach we used should apply similarly to other GIS
software. Students used 1992 Tiger Line files (tract bound-
ary and landmark files), 1990 U.S. Census Tract data
(Summary Tape File 3 data for Queens County, New
York), and current EPA TRI site data for Queens County,
New York to construct their maps.
Students constructed their maps in the following
manner. First, Tiger line files, which are in table format,
are opened in the GIS software. Tiger files are map data
(in polygons) used by the U.S. Census Bureau in
street-level mapping of the United States (Clarke, 2001).
Figure 1 shows the tract boundary and landmark Tiger
files used for this exercise. Second, census tract data are
extracted from a larger database, which are on CD-ROMs
and available at government data repository libraries.
Each separate variable (i.e., race, sex, income level) is
saved as a file with a *.dbf (database file) extension. The
census tract files are opened in a spreadsheet program
and a new database is saved that contains all of the desired
variables. The finalized database is imported into the GIS
and has a column in common with the Tiger line file; the
common column links the two tables and is used for mak-
Figure 1. Location of the class exercise in Queens County, New York, one of the five boroughs or counties of
New York City. The enlarged map shows Queens divided into tracts (a Tiger line file) that were the boundary ar-
eas used for the 1990 U. S. Census. Water bodies adjacent to Queens are shown in the darker shaded areas and
the lighter shaded sections are landmarks such as airports, parks and cemeteries.

Stewart et al. - A GIS Class Exercise to Study Environmental Risk 229

 TRI-present tracts TRI-absent tracts
Variables
n = 38 n = 625

Population per tract 2,753 2,962

Non-white (%) 36.7 42.3

Black (%0) 17.2 22.1

Hispanic (%) 22.7 18.8

Isolated, non-English speakers (%) 5.8 4.9

Median household income ($) 31,971 37,030

Below poverty (%) 12.6 10.7

Public assistance (%) 3.3 2.7

th
Less than 12 grade education (%) 57.6 47.2

Table 1. Single demographic variables analyzed as two classes: tracts that contain a TRI site and tracts that do
not contain a TRI site.

ing thematic maps (Figure 2). Third, TRI sites for New
York are downloaded from the EPAs Region 2 web site
(U.S. EPA-Region 2, 2000). Region 2 covers New York,
New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
(Note that one can download data by state or territory.
Among other monitoring data available on this web site
are Superfund and RCRA sites. The sites are
georeferenced in longitude and latitude.) The EPA gives a
choice of two GIS export formats and the file that is com-
patible with the GIS software is downloaded. A transla-
tion of these downloaded data into the GIS is necessary
but is not difficult if the data projection is known. From
the TRI database for New York, sites for Queens are ex-
tracted and a new file is created. Fourth, users create the-
matic maps (Figure 3) using the Tiger line file and the
census data table. The thematic map is a color-coded map
showing shaded gradations that increase with numbers of
people or higher percentages of a variable. Since census
tract data are presented as absolute numbers, data must be
converted to a percent of the population. This is nothing
more than simple division and multiplication (for exam-
ple, [# people with less than a 12th grade education / total
persons] * 100). Finally, once a thematic map is created,
users overlay on it the georeferenced locations of TRI sites.
Much like analyzing an aerial photograph, we used visual
interpretation to compare locations of TRI sites with high
densities of a demographic variable. According to Clarke
(2001) the plot and look method should never be persons living below the poverty level; 6) people on public
skipped in GIS analysis, at the risk of using complex meth-
ods to prove the geographically obvious (p. 183). Each
demographic variable was analyzed in this manner.
To test the results of our visual analyses we did simple
single variable calculations for each of the variables that
we mapped by choosing all tracts that contained within
their boundaries one or more TRI sites (Table 1). We com-
bined all the tracks with a TRI site and compared these to
all the tracts that did not contain a TRI site to see if a partic-
ular demographic variable might correlate with increased
risk of exposure. This methodology follows standard en-
vironmental risk spatial analyses (for example, Cutter et
al., 1996; Boer et al., 1997; McMaster et al., 1997) and is
used to examine the characteristics of the population sur-
rounding the locations of environmental hazards. There
are 673 tracts in Queens, 39 tracts contain at least one TRI
site and ten tracts have no residents. One TRI site is within
a tract that has no residents. We eliminated tracts without
residents from our analyses. We analyzed single demo-
graphic variables in two classes: TRI-present tracts and
TRI-absent tracts. For each variableexcept population
and incomein both classes we totaled the variable, di-
vided by the population total, and multiplied by 100 to ob-
tain a percent. To calculate the population variable we
summed the populations of tracts with TRI sites and di-
vided by 38 and summed the populations of tracts with-
out TRI sites and divided by 625. We also determined the
median household income variable in this manner.
RESULTS
Our computer-generated maps displayed 1) population
density; 2) racial composition; 3) non-English speakers, in-
cluding linguistically-isolated Hispanics and linguisti-
cally-isolated Asians; 4) household income levels 5)
assistance; and 7) individuals with less than a 12th grade
education. We examined these maps visually to search for
associations between the demographic data and the loca-
tions of toxic release sites.
Although TRI sites are scattered throughout the bor-
ough, TRI sites cluster in the upper northwest corner of
Queens (Figure 3). The clearest visual association of TRI
sites associated with a particular demographic parameter

230 Journal of Geoscience Education, v.49, n. 3, May, 2001, p.227-234

Figure 2. This figure shows two tables in the GIS software browsers. The NY081TRT table on the right side of the
figure is the tract boundary file. The Queens table on the left was imported into the GIS software from a spread-
sheet program and contains demographic data from the 1990 U.S. Census. These two tables have a common col-
umn called TRACT (circled); these are joined in the GIS so that the data from the census get connected to the
proper tract outline (or polygon). Once joined, the user can create thematic maps.

is shown in Figure 3: communities with households earn-
ing less than $35,000 (1989 dollars) host a disproportion-
ately larger number of TRI sites when compared to
communities with higher incomes. Although not pre-
sented here because of space limitations, our map show-
ing the locations of TRI sites and communities in which 25
to 100 percent of the population has less than a twelfth
grade education shows a distinct association. This educa-
tion demographic cuts across all races. Also not given
here, neighborhoods of non-English speaking Hispanic
and Asian people overlap with concentrations of TRI sites.
There also appear to be only slight correlations between
locations of TRI sites and population density. Interest-
ingly because this runs contrary to many previously pub-
lished reports, the maps we generated that display the
distribution of people in Queens by non-white race (in-
cluding black, Hispanic, and Asian) show no correlation
between race and toxic releases but do demonstrate the
segregated nature of the borough.
Our single variable analyses shown in Table 1 concur
with what we see on our maps. Populations more likely
than not to live near a TRI site include Hispanics, isolated,
non-English speakers, persons living below poverty level,
persons on public assistance, and those with less than a
12th grade education. The median household income is
also significantly lower in tracts that contain a TRI site.
The data for our classroom analysis came from two
different time periods: the U.S. Census data are from 1990
and the toxic release sites are current and were down-
loaded from the web in February 2000 (U.S. EPA-Region 2,
2000). However, 2000 U.S. Census data will be available on-
line beginning June 2001 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000) and will
provide the opportunity to update these maps.
Although our classroom exercise allows us to suggest
some potential demographic characteristics that lead to in-
creased exposure to environmental risk in Queens County,
this project is not a definitive environmental risk study for
Queens, NY. For more conclusive evidence for environmen-
tal risk, we would need to 1) statistically prove or disprove
greater risk of exposure to toxic materials for certain popula-
tions; 2) ground truthvisiteach TRI site; 3) examine dif-
ferent geographic scales and bordering counties for so-called
edge effects; 4) include additional hazardous facilities, such
as Superfund sites, RCRA sites, or incidents of diseases such
as cancer (using cancer registry data); 5) scrutinize the
amounts, types and local distributions of released toxins; 6)
use 2000 U.S. Census data; and 7) investigate the historical
land use in the area. Nonetheless, this is a useful class exer-
cise for examining correlations between environmental risk
and demographic variables and for teaching the power of
GIS.
The single variable analysis shown in Table 1 provides a
way to test what we see on the maps. Limitations with this
method include an inability to track the realistic distribution
of a toxin, whether by wind, spill surface, or underground
plume. This method also assumes that a risk decreases or
stops at an arbitrary geographic boundary, such as a tract
boundary line. However, for a class exercise this simple cal-

Stewart et al. - A GIS Class Exercise to Study Environmental Risk 231


Figure 3. This thematic map of Queens, New York,
shows that households with a median income of
$35,000 or less in 1989 dollars (shown by the lightest
shading) contains the largest number of Toxic Release
Inventory (TRI) sites (shown as black dots). See Figure
1 for the local landmarks, i.e., major airports.
culation is sufficient to test visual interpretations. For
more detailed and rigorous environmental risk studies,
we suggest a buffer or plume analysis (Chakraborty and
Armstrong, 1997, McMaster et al., 1999; Sheppard et al.,
1999) that uses the GIS to map, for example in the case of
buffer analysis, a specified distance around the risk site.
Or, in the case of plume analysis, the use of prevailing
wind directions to map a plume direction for the toxin.
CONCLUSIONS
GIS is a fast, easy-to-use tool that can be employed to ex-
amine the distribution of toxic release locations, hazard-
ous waste sites and other environmentally problematic
areas. Visually striking, GIS examinations are likely to en-
gage students interested in environmental issues. As a re-
sult of our class exercise, students saw clearly that in
Queens, NY, communities of individuals with a low me-
dian household income (Figure 3) and without a high
school diploma are more likely to live in close proximity to
toxic sites. In general, such maps illustrate the fact that
communities with fewer resources to mobilize against the
concentration of undesirable environmental technologies
232 Journal of Geoscience Education, v.49, n. 3, May, 2001, p. 227-234
and materials in their communities, end up harboring
them.
This classroom project follows approaches of previ-
ous GIS environmental risk studies. As in those studies,
we used TRI sites and census tract data to look for associa-
tions between environmental hazards and community
characteristics. Note, however, that comprehensive risk
studies use statistical analysis, field checks of EPA data,
multiple geographic scales, and include study of edge ef-
fects and historical contexts. This study does not attempt
to explain patterns or processes of risk potential. Rather,
it demonstrates the utility of GIS and real data in the class-
room to engage and inform students interested in envi-
ronmental risk.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Funding for development of this class exercise came from
the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation through Vassar Col-
leges Mellon Teaching With Technology in the Under-
graduate Curriculum initiative (ADD) to Meg Stewart and
from a National Science Foundation grant (DUE9653266)
to Jill Schneiderman. We thank Yu Zhou for her helpful
comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Reviews from
Ryan Jensen, Gary Rosenberg and an anonymous re-
viewer significantly improved the paper.
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About the Authors
Meg E. Stewart is the Vassar College GIS Technology Con-
sultant and is an adjunct faculty member at Dutchess
Community College, in Poughkeepsie, NY. She has a BS
degree in Geology from California State University, Hay-
ward and an MS in Structural Geology from the Univer-
sity of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Jill S. Schneiderman is an Associate Professor of Geology
at Vassar College and the editor of The Earth Around Us:
Maintaining a Livable Planet (W.H. Freeman, 2000). She
teaches geology, environmental studies, and womens
studies.
Stephanie B. Andrews received her BA in Geology from
Vassar College in 1999. This project was the result of her
senior independent work. She is currently a graduate stu-
dent at the University of Hawaii.

As human expansion and influence have grown to levels that

challenge the stability of the entire terrestrial environment, we
have discovered how the origin and persistence of life owes much
to an unseen balance that is deep and delicate. Ironically, many
aspects of this balance have become known to us only through our
unwitting displacement of them.

John D. Barrow The Artful Universe, Clarendon Press Oxford,

1995

234 Journal of Geoscience Education, v.49, n.3, May, 2001, p. 227-234