Update! Honeybee Final Project

Hey there!

This week has been crazy busy, so sorry for the late post! Because I've been grinding away on work, there really won't be much of a post today, but I though I'd update you on how my final project is going. 

In case you weren't aware, I'm doing my final project on colony collapse disorder of honeybees in the United States. I assume you've probably heard a little bit on the subject in the past. Around 2008 is when this issue became a big problem. 

If you don't know much about it, let me tell you a little bit about it! Basically, all over the world, the honeybee population in colonies, specifically for farms, has been declining. The mysterious part? No one is really sure what the exact cause is! Now, if I had to guess I don't think it's a single cause, like a disease, but rather a combination of several factors. Parasites, diseases, treatment of honeybee colonies, and genetic variation are probably all involved in some form or another. 

Now I know what you might be thinking, who cares? They're just bees, they're pests as far as I'm concerned. Honeybees are incredibly essential to the function of this planet. Honeybees help pollinate a lot of our food, and without them, about 1/3 of our food would not be available! They also make honey, which is delicious. Their role in the world is so vital, and their absence is already being felt in some parts of the world. In some areas of China, for example, farmers have started to hand-pollinate their plants. That's right, they have to physically go out onto the farm and pollinate each individual flower. 

Now, in my final project I have decided to focus on the United States. California, because it has so many farms and is an important almond producer, is also focused on. Below is a map I made showing how many honeybee colonies collapsed in the year 2012-2013. Not all states have the same number of colonies, but regardless, the drastic decline of these populations is intense.

That's all I really have time for today, but hopefully this provided some quick info and you enjoyed a brief update. I'll post next week more about the final project and present all my infographics/maps.

-The Green Sasquatch

TRI Sites in Los Angeles County

Hello!

Today I will talk about a bit of a heavy topic: TRI sites in Los Angeles. I know what you're thinking, what the heck is a TRI site? 

TRI sites are any sites, like an industrial company in a particular location, that have to report to the Toxic Release Inventory Program, which is a part of the EPA. This TRI site must report how much of particular toxic chemicals were released into the environment or managed through some form of sustainability, like recycling. The data released to public includes some very specific information, such as where the site is exactly located, including address and latitude and longitudinal coordinates. A toxic chemical, for this TRI program includes any chemical that can cause "cancer or other chronic human health effects, significant adverse acute human health effects, or significant adverse environmental effects."

After combining some data, I've created the maps and data table below to show some interesting information regarding the location of these TRI sites and their relation to certain points of interest in Los Angeles County.

Below is a table that contains some important numbers that I will reference later on. I think it speaks for itself, but as you can tell, there are an alarming number of TRI sites near places they probably should not be.

Schools and TRI Sites

The map below shows most, but not all, of Los Angeles County. The schools, as indicated by yellow triangles, overlap with big red blobs, which indicate their proximity to a TRI site. In this case, each school below is within half of a mile from a TRI site. Of the 2,384 schools in Los Angeles County, 232 fall within that half of a mile range. Now, statistically speaking, that means that less than 1% of schools in Los Angeles County are near a TRI site. But many more, 784 to be exact, fall within the mile range of a TRI site, which is quite alarming.

A school should not be that close to a toxic site. These young students should not be breathing in or interacting with toxic chemicals. It seems wrong to expose children to terrible chemicals that may have an effect on them later in life, like carcinogens.

Data Sources: GIS Mapshare at UCLa, http://gis.ats.ucla.edu//Mapshare/Default.cfm# and TOXMAP, http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/

Recreational Sites and TRI Sites

Depicted below is a map of recreational sites within a mile of TRI sites. As you can tell by the location of the trees, there are several recreational sites that fall within the 1 mile range. To be exact, 29 of 374 recreational sites fall within this area. Recreational sites include golf courses, zoos, resorts, and others. Fewer of these recreational sites fall within the half-mile range around a TRI site. As you can imagine, these recreational sites probably attract a lot of people. Therefore, it probably is not the best idea to have such toxic sites so close to such an area.

Data Sources: GIS Mapshare at UCLa, http://gis.ats.ucla.edu//Mapshare/Default.cfm# and TOXMAP, http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/

Hispanic Population and TRI Sites

This map was the most difficult to make, but by far the most interesting. Sometimes minorities can get the short end of the stick and in some cases have poor living conditions. Not terribly surprisingly, this map connects with that idea. 

As you can see, the big red blobs seem to be bundled up in the same area as the deep blue squares, which is where there is a higher Hispanic population. The yellow squares just show which census tracts are in a half of mile from a TRI site. 

I think it is interesting and rather curious that the denser Hispanic populations seem to be where the TRI sites are. Keep in mind that I am pulling this data from two different sources and just trying to compare the data. Of the total Hispanic population in the county, which is 4,329,287 people, 1,597,882 live in a census tract near a TRI site. That is about 40% of the total Hispanic population in Los Angeles County living close to a TRI site.

Data Sources: GIS Mapshare at UCLa, http://gis.ats.ucla.edu//Mapshare/Default.cfm# and TOXMAP, http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/

Now I have complied this data from different sources and for all I know some of this data is completely unrelated to other data, but it does pose some interesting questions about environmental justice. Should TRI sites be so close to schools or recreational areas? And why are some TRI sites in areas of higher Hispanic populations? I think these maps prove that there definitely are some TRI sites to be cautious about. Of course, not all TRI sites produce the same amount of or the same chemicals. And how they dispose of those chemicals can vary. Therefore, it is not fair to say that TRI sites are completely evil. However, it is good to keep them in mind. 

-The Green Sasquatch

Sources:
http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov/toxmap/
http://gis.ats.ucla.edu//Mapshare/Default.cfm#
http://www2.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program/learn-about-toxics-release-inventory

Maps, Maps, and More Maps!

Hi!

Hope you had a lovely Cinco de Mayo. Today I would like to present a few different maps, explain how I made them, and what they're of. So let's get to it!

Map #1 - Elevation of Olympic National Park, WA

Data source: USGS (2011). https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/products/aster_products_table/astgtm and LAGIC (2006). http://lagic.lsu.edu/data/losco/national_parks_boundaries_bts_2006_faq.html.

The Olympic National Park is one of my favorite national parks. See that thin strip of the park that is on the coast. That's where I go camping almost every year! Lots of tide pools and rocks to climb. Definitely visit if you have a chance!


By using EarthExplorer, I was able to find this data collected by USGS. The elevation data is from the ASTER GDEM data. ASTER stands for Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer. GDEM stands for Global Digital Elevation Model. Lots of big words. The pictures, which are captured from a satellite, were taken in 1 arc-second. An arc-second is a form of measurement of degrees. Degrees are broken down into 60 arc-minutes and an arc-minute is broken down into 60 arc-seconds. The ASTER data was complied by both NASA and Japan's METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry). By combining data from the National Park shape file downloaded from LAGIC and this elevation data, I was able to create this map.

This map provides information about the elevation of the Olympic National Park in Washington state. It is quite clearly a fairly rocky and elevated area. The coast line, as to be expected, has a low elevation, but the middle of the park has a significantly higher elevation.  

Map #2 - Night-time in Africa (2000 and 2010)

Data source: NOAA (2000 and 2010). http://ngdc.noaa.gov/eog/dmsp/downloadV4composites.html.

I know that might be a bit hard to see, so click here to see a bigger picture of it!

This map was created using data from the NOAA and NGDC. Satellites captured these images during night. The pictures are in 30 arc-seconds grids, so these pictures are very good quality. For the "Night-time in Africa 2000," the DMSP satellite number F15 took the picture. For the "Night-time in Africa 2010," the DMSP satellite number F18 took the picture. The lights consist of light from "cities, towns, and other sites with persistent lighting, including gas flares." I made the maps separately, then created a GIF of them. I decided to focus on Africa because I figured there would be a lot of urbanization, but it seems that after creating it, both India and Europe light up significantly more in 2000 than they did in 2010. As is expected, many countries, especially ones with cities on the coast, had more lights. This is probably because over time, more and more countries have urbanized, and more light likely means more cities. 

Map #3 - Land Cover of King County, WA

Data source: USGS (2006). http://www.mrlc.gov/nlcd2006.php.

This lovely image is of my own King County in Washington State. Might be a bit hard to see on the map, but there is a small black dot near the water which shows my hometown, Bellevue. This data was created using data from the NLCD, or National Land Cover Database. This data is a "a 16-class land cover classification scheme that has been applied consistently across the conterminous United States at a spatial resolution of 30 meters." It basically shows the different types of land of the United States. I made the map by compiling both the land cover data and combining data from UCLA mapshare of US counties. 

I find this map particularly interesting because it shows the variety of the type of land in King County. Lots of forest and lots of (somewhat) dense city-like areas. The peninsula is full of red, meaning that a lot of people live and it is developed. And we do truly live up to the title of "The Evergreen State." Lots of evergreen forests on the right of the county!

Hope you enjoyed this week's post and let me know what you think of these super fun maps!

-The Green Sasquatch