Using gCensus to examine census data for your sustainability project
In this example, a Google Earth census / sustainability project similar to your own is built, step
by step.
Indian Point is a nuclear power plant located in Buchanan, New York, just south of Peekskill. It
sits on the east bank of the Hudson River, 38 miles north of New York City.
1) Go to http://gecensus.stanford.edu, click on the link at the top, and select US Census
2000 Summary File 1->State->NY->Westchester County
2) Select Households->Total->Block from the list and open the file in Google Earth. The
map should look like this in Google Earth:
The areas in red indicate census block groups in which there are 284 – 1,292 people. Also note
that the measurement tool was used to show the 5 mile distance from Indian Point, in Buchanan,
NY, to a surrounding suburb. It’s clear that there are many people living close to the nuclear
power plant.
3) Now, go to US Census 2000 Summary File 1->State->NY->Westchester County and
select Race -> Black or African American alone -> Block
The Google Earth map should look like this:
Note that the African American population is relatively small, yet there are portions of Peekskill,
NY, with a somewhat high population (145 – 455 people per census block), which are within 5
miles of the nuclear power plant. As can be seen in Google Earth, Peekskill is also home to a
garbage incinerator that services all of Westchester County, an ash landfill that services the
entire county, and the wastewater treatment plant that services the Town of Cortlandt and a
portion of the Town of Yorktown. It should also be noted that there have been discussions and
concerns among Peekskill residents over the years regarding the air quality near the nuclear
power plant, and that researchers such as Bullard have framed these culminating problems as
environmental justice issues. For eg: http://www.clearwater.org/ea/ej/ej
4) Click on US Census 2000 Summary File 3 -> State->NY->County->Westchester>Population Subjects Summarized to Block Group Level-> Unified over All
Races/Hispanic-> Income (Household) -> Household Income In 1999 -> $200,000 or
more
Look at the map in Google Earth:
When looking at the census tracts of Westchester County in which the majority of people making
more than $200,000 per year live, it’s clear that the bulk do not reside in the area north or south
of Indian Point. That said, the area directly east of the nuclear powerplant does contain many
high earners.
Final thoughts:
When considering all of this geographic data, it’s important to consider whether this is a classic
“not in my backyard”environmental justice scenario or if there are more subtle demographic
issues at work here.
For your own project, as you work with your own census information, consider these same
issues. What did you discover about the environmental problem by looking at the census data?
What information may be missing from your analysis?
Organizing you work:
Remember that you can right click on any Google Earth file located in the “places” area of
Google Earth, and rename it. For example, the layers in this file could be “population,”
“aa_race,” and “income.” A screen shot of this process is shown below.
When your Google Earth .kmz file is complete, (you should have approximately 3 census layers)
upload it to Google Earth in the Collaborative Files area: Census: Final Project. You should
also include all of the previous content related to your project that’s already in Google Earth.
You will be presenting your Google Earth file on the last day of class.