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This visualization and caption advance ethnographic insight by providing a striking map of the uneven distribution of toxic release in Los Angeles and the surrounding area, and in particular, illustrating how activist translation of multiple forms of publicly available environmental data together problematize the clustering of racialized populations and heavy industry. Such a map is part of a historical archive of how toxic data has come to be represented in the United States in the wake of Bhopal.

The caption could be elaborated to comment more on how this image connects to current forms of data available about toxicity in Los Angeles— does updated TRI data show the ongoing reconfigurations of emissions and industry relative to environmental activism since 1990?  Which forms of chemical toxicants and industries were not yet added to the TRI at this point in time, thereby making this map perhaps even an underestimation of uneven exposures at the time?

This found image from Laura Pulido (2000) is a GIS produced map which combines TRI data with census data to illustrate the scale of correlation between places of toxic release and racialized communities in Los Angeles. Its scale of attention is notable, as it shows not only the city limits of Los Angeles, but also the industrial infrastructure of the surrounding area, and how closely it corresponds to the location of non-white communities. This scale is part of the creative translation of data by environmental activists.

One way to enrich this image might be to surround the initial map with other aerial images which represent sites from within the different TRI clusters, or locations of the emissions of particular air toxics, so that the harmful qualities of industrialization can be visualized.Another possibility might be to compare this map with a more recent map, and pinpoint areas of recent deindustrialization, in order to see if it has a relationship with ongoing gentrification?A third possibility would be to integrate “illegal” toxic emissions in some format—either through highlighting several industri

This visualization and caption suggest that by manipulating public environmental datasets, it can be learned how toxics share multiple geographical points of intensity in the region. These intensities include many forms of clustered harmful substances which undoubtably combine in the atmosphere, ground, and water, in long-term exposures for the surrounding residents and communities.

This visual evokes a powerful message about the intersection of racialization and environmental injustices that warrants deeper investigation. The layering of statistical data gathered from census tracts with other information such as "brownfield sites" using cartography serves an indispensable tool for visualizing how racializing assemblages manifest spatially. It reminds us of the influential work of Ian McHarg, prior to the advent of GIS technologies in his 1969 published book, Design with Nature.

It may be useful to rethink the mapping less an outcome of environmental injustice on social communities but rather as a starting point to expand our theoretical understandings of "racialization." For example, how might this map provide an empirical example of what constitutes a "racial project?" Conversely, how might it serve as an emancipatory tool for political action?    

The most appealing aspect of the image is related to its aesthetic. By using a color gradient that increases in darkness as the percentage of the Non-Hispanic White population decreases, it compellingly sends out two critical messages. The explicit conclusion shows a causal link between racialized groups and higher concentrations of toxic landscapes. More, implicitly is the near absence of toxic sites in predominantly white geographies which, mapped out as such, works to reinforce the notion of whiteness as a de-racialized category.   

Perhaps historicization. a time-based mapping (overlays) of demographic change and the emergence (and remediation) of toxic sites determined by each decennial census since 1990 (1990, 2000, 2010, 2020? - forthcoming). Also, an added layer of land-use zoning adjustments, official comprehensive planning documents, remediation policies, variances granted by local planning authorities and litigation gathered from court cases.  

Put simply, this visualization recenters geography as contested terrain for the rendering of specific places more toxic than others as they intersect with the inhabited spaces of racialized others.