Talking About Climate Change

Hopefully most people would agree that there has been too much talk about climate change and far too little action to stop it.More talking is planned for November, when world leaders will meet for the United Nations COP26 conference.

Despite the environmental disasters currently taking place a round the world I am not very hopeful that our politicians are suddenly going to acknowledge that the time for facing the difficult challenges ahead has arrived. So, although the time for talking should have passed decades ago, we cannot stop talking. We have to keep pushing the conversation about climate change until our politicians finally listen.

So we need to talk about climate change. You can join in the conversation about climate change by taking part in Talk Climate Change's 26,000 Climate Conversations. The goal of this campaign is to generate 26,000 conversations about climate change around the globe by 1 November 2021. To take part you just need to hold a conversation with somebody (it can be anybody you want) about anything at all related to climate change. 

If you want you can submit the details of your conversation to the 26,000 Climate Conversations interactive map.This map features information about climate change conversations which have taken place around the world. If you want inspiration for your own climate change conversations then you can browse this map for topic ideas and conversation starters. Conversations can also be submitted to the map in any language and (if you want) can be submitted anonymously.

Singapore 2030

Land is scarce on the small island city-state of Singapore. To ensure that this limited resource is exploited to the full the authorities have developed meticulous long-term development plans. These plans include a number of major infrastructure projects designed to boost the economy, provide housing and protect the environment.

The Straits Times has released a very impressive scrollytelling map which shows you how the city-state plans to develop over the next decade.As you scroll through Singapore 2030 an interactive 3D map flies over the island of Singapore taking you on a tour of some of the country's planned developments. A combination of this 3D map and artists' impressions of the planned projects provide the reader with a detailed view of how the developments will change the landscape of Singapore. 

  

The seamless 3D panning map in Singapore 2030 is another wonderful achievement by the graphics team at the Straits Times. Over the last few years this team has created some awesome spatial visualizations. 

One of my favorites of their previous work is 'Singapore Underwater'. Almost 20% of Singapore is reclaimed land. The country is therefore very worried about the likely effects of rising sea levels. In order to illustrate the possible impact of sea level rise back in 2018 the Straits Times released a virtual reality visualization called Singapore Underwater.

Singapore Underwater users virtual reality to show how Singapore might look in the future if global warming leads to rising sea levels. Singapore Underwater explains the reasons why sea levels are rising around the world. The visualization also looks at how Singapore might try to mitigate against rising seas and the possible impact of land loss and saltwater contamination of the country's farmland & reservoirs.  

The Straits Times' impressive 3d mapping skills were also evident in their investigation into Who Owns Orchard Road. In 2017 the paper carried out an investigation into who owns the buildings on Singapore's most famous shopping street. Who Owns Orchard Road? explores the diverse ownership of individual buildings on the city's main retail street. The article is illustrated with an impressive 3D mapped visualization of the street.

The Human Slavery Map

It is estimated that around 40.3 million people around the world are currently living in slavery. The Freedom Map uses data from the 2018 Global Slavery Index to map the prevalence of slavery in countries around the world.

Individual countries on this Global Slavery Map are colored to show the modern levels of slavery. The map also contains a number of map markers which link to 'Field Reports' on specific examples of slavery in countries around the globe. The map sidebar is also very informative as it lists global products which are often produced using the forced labor of slaves. This sidebar also provides an overview of the products manufactured in individual countries which often involve slavery.

The Global Slavery Index rankings for individual countries can also be viewed on the Global Slavery Index's own interactive map. This map contains three main views. The 'Prevalence' view colors countries on the estimated number of people living in slavery. The 'Vulnerability' view shows how vulnerable a country's population is to slavery, and the 'Government Response Rating' ranks individual countries based on the steps they are taking to eradicate slavery. 

If you select a country on this map you can view more detailed information, such as the number of people believed to be living in slavery, the proportion of the population in slavery, and a ranking for the individual government's response to modern slavery.

The Life Expectancy Map

People in Mississippi on average die six years younger than people in California. Mississippi has the worst average life expectancy of any state. At birth a Mississippian can expect to live on average 74.9 years. The average Californian can expect 81.3 years on Earth.

The CDC's Life Expectancy at Birth interactive map shows you how long (on average) people in your neighborhood will live. The map reveals that there can be huge differences in life expectancy even between neighborhoods in the same city. 

I can think of a couple of reasons why some neighborhoods might have significantly lower life expectancy than others. For example you could compare life expectancy in your city with CNN's dot map of Race and Ethnicity Across the US. The two maps on this post show roughly the same area of Upper East Side and Harlem in New York City. The blue color on the top map shows areas with the highest life expectancy. Blue on the bottom map equals white people. Red on the top map equals lower life expectancy. Red on the bottom map equates to the Black and Hispanic population.

Perhaps not surprisingly you can also find similar correlations between levels of income and life expectancy in many U.S. cities. You can compare for yourself the CDC's Life Expectancy map with Esri's Predominant Income Range by Households map, which shows how much money people are earning in each census tract in the United States.

Life expectancy in the UK and the USA is falling, bucking a century long trend of people living longer lives. You can read more about falling life expectancy on this Why Are We  Dying Younger post.

Segregated Vaccination Rates

At the beginning of the Covid-19 vaccination roll-out in Australia the government set a target of inoculating the whole country by October. So far (at the beginning of September) just over 35% of the population are fully vaccinated. Among First Nation Australians the rate is even lower, with just over 21% fully vaccinated.

Last week the Australian government released data showing the percentage of the whole population and the population of Indigenous Australians who have been vaccinated in each Statistical Area 4 region. ABC News has used this data to map out the gap in the vaccination rates across the country. The interactive map in Why is the Indigenous COVID-19 vaccination rate 20 per cent lower than the national average? shows that the rate of vaccination of Indigenous Australians is lower in every single region, compared to the vaccination  rate of the whole population.In most regions they are significantly lower.

The Guardian has also been exploring the difference in vaccination rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. In Indigenous communities being left behind in NSW vaccine rollout the newspaper has created a map showing this vaccination rate difference across New South Wales. The Guardian's article also lists the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous vaccination rates in every NSW health district. In four of these health districts the vaccination rate for non-Indigenous people is over twice the rate of Indigenous people. In none of the districts are Indigenous Australians being vaccinated at the same rate as non-Indigenous Australians.

In March the Australian government claimed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were a priority group for Covid-19 vaccinations.

Covid Trends in America

Esri's Which Way Are Things Going interactive map visualizes the week on week trend in Covid-19 cases at the county level. The map can show you at a glance whether the number of cases in your area has risen or fallen in the last week.The map can therefore help you to quickly assess whether things are getting better of worse in your county.

The color and direction of the arrow symbols on the map indicate whether Covid-19 cases have fallen or risen. Purple colored arrows pointing up indicate that cases have risen. Orange arrows pointing down show that cases have gone down in the last week. The size of the arrows show the rate of the increase or decrease in cases. If an arrow points straight up or straight down then it shows that cases have been rising or falling for nearly eight weeks in a row.

Using arrow symbols can be a very effective way to show the direction of travel for trends on a map. For example the New York Times used colored arrows after last year's presidential election to visualize the shift in the numbers voting for the Republican or Democratic candidate in an electoral district since the previous election in 2016. The arrows in the Shift from 2016 map view in Presidential Election Results 2020 show whether electoral districts have moved left or right politically since 2016.

New Orleans' Blackout from Space

NASA has published satellite imagery which shows a nighttime view of New Orleans on August 31st, after Hurricane Ida hit the city. In Satellite Observes Power Outages in New Orleans an interactive map allows you to swipe between two nighttime satellite views of New Orleans, one dated August 9th and one dated August 1st. The comparison of the two images clearly shows where power outages were experienced after Hurricane Ida.

The nighttime satellite imagery used shows light distribution at a 30m resolution. The August 9th imagery allows you to see how New Orleans is usually lit-up at night when observed from space. The post-Ida image clearly shows where electric power blackouts (from downed lines and damaged transmission towers) have effected the city. 

Back-up generators appear to have been successfully deployed at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and in the city's Business District. The brightly lit location across the river from the airport appears to be the Cornerstone Chemical plant. In the east the ExxonMobile and PBF Chalmette oil refineries also seem to have successfully deployed back-up gemerators.

All of US

Ben Schmidt's All of US is an interactive dot map which allows you to compare population data from 2020 and 2010 US censuses.However this 'dot' map actually doesn't use colored dots but represents data in the United States as Wee People. 

Last month the Census Bureau released the first detailed data from the 2020 U.S. census. In 2020 Census Statistics - Local Population Changes and Nation’s Racial and Ethnic Diversity the Census Bureau published data from last year's census on population changes and on the racial and ethnic demographics of the United States. The All of US map uses this data to show the population density and racial mix of every neighborhood in the country.

This isn't the first interactive dot map of the 2020 census. CNN's Race and ethnicity across the nation uses colored dots to represent 150 people from a particular race or ethnic group living in each census tract area.'All of US' though has a few extra features which improves on CNN's map. For a start All of US allows you to compare how the population density and racial mix of neighborhoods has changed in the last decade, since the 2010 census. If you switch between the 2010 and 2020 census data then you should be able to see how the racial mix and populations densities have changed at the neighborhood level.

All of US also includes a number of interesting base map options. For example you can view the 2020 census data overlaid on top of 1930's redlining maps. This allows you to see which racial groups now mostly live in neighborhoods which were deemed at risk for lending purposes by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation in the 1930's.

Poles of Inaccessibility

A Pole of Inaccessibility is the location in a country which is furthest from the sea. A Pole of Inaccessibility can be defined as being the center point of the largest circle that can be drawn within a country without encountering a coastline. 

You can discover the furthest point from the coastline in every single country on Karim Douïeb's Observable notebook the Pole of Inaccessibility of Every Country. On this interactive map the largest possible circle (without encountering a coastline) has been drawn on every country. The Pole of Inaccessibility for each country is at the exact center of its circle. If you click on country's circle on the map then Google Maps will open showing the actual location of that country's Pole of Inaccessibility. 

Atlas Obscura has also worked out a number of Poles of Inaccessibility. Their collection of points on the Earth which are hard to access include the Arctic Pole of Inaccessibility (the northernmost point that is furthest from land), the Eurasian Point of Inaccessibility (the point on the Eurasian continent that is furthest from the ocean) and the North American Pole of Inaccessibility (the spot in North America furthest from the coast).

A Pole of Inaccessibility doesn't actually have to be the furthest point from the sea. You can use other entities from which to measure the furthest distance from. For example seas & oceans can have Poles of Inaccessibility which are calculated as being the furthest points from land.Another way to work out Poles of Inaccessibility might be to find the locations furthest away from a road.

Places of Inaccessibility is an interactive map which shows Germany's most inaccessible locations for car drivers. The map visualizes the points in Germany which are the furthest away from a road. Großer Knechtsand is Germany's Pole of Inaccessibility being 13.59 km from the nearest road. Part of the reason it is so far from a road is because it is on a road free island. A point in a military training area in Bergen is the most inaccessible place that is neither in the water, on an island or in the mountains.

Wet & Dry America

Around half of the United States is currently experiencing drought conditions. Parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska are facing extreme drought conditions. This drought isn't exactly unexpected. In recent years the western half of the United States has seen ever decreasing levels of precipitation leading to increasing incidence of drought. Not something that has been troubling the eastern US.

You can explore the current and historical drought conditions on Esri's interactive Drought Aware map. Esri's Drought Aware map allows you to view the latest drought conditions across the United States and also view historical drought records. The map uses data from NOAA's Drought Monitor to show all the areas of the United States currently experiencing drought conditions and the severity of those drought conditions. As you can see from the screenshot above the map currently shows drought conditions in much of the west.

 

The reason why the western half of the United States has been experiencing increasing levels of drought in recent years is due to global heating and falling levels of precipitation. In the western half of the country climate change has led to less rain. 

Interestingly global heating has led to opposing conditions in the eastern half of the United States, which in recent years has been seeing increasing levels of precipitation. You can explore this divide in more details in the New York Times' These Maps Tell the Story of Two Americas: One Parched, One Soaked. The screenshot above shows the change in annual precipitation in the last 30 years, when compared to the 20th Century average.

As you can see from the NYT's map the western half of the United States is becoming drier at the same time that the eastern half of the country is becoming wetter. According to the Times this conforms to climate change predictions which broadly suggest that as the planet becomes warmer historically wet places will get wetter and drier places will get drier.