This initial phase used data from the Cool Climate project to map the correlation between demographic factors, particularly race and income, and carbon consumption in thirteen American cities. To use the maps, choose the demographic indicator and carbon use variable. This includes total household carbon use per year, or is broken out by transport, housing, food, goods and services.
Once we completed the initial maps we realized that the scatter plots, which show demographics and carbon use for each zip code, were actually the most telling visualization. Thus we created a second series of summary graphs where you can use to compare demographics and carbon footprint across the thirteen cities.
Summary GraphsThese visualizations are based off of data from the Cool Climate project, which used federal national survey data from the early 2010s to make estimates about household carbon footprints for every zip code in the United States. For an explanation of methodology, see Christopher Jones and Daniel M. Kammen, “Spatial Distribution of U.S. Household Carbon Footprints Reveals Suburbanization Undermines Greenhouse Gas Benefits of Urban Population Density,” Environmental Science & Technology 48, no. 2 (January 21, 2014): 895–902, https://doi.org/10.1021/es4034364.