Environmental Indicators Project

How polluted is my neighborhood? Is it getting cleaner or dirtier? Is it safe for my kids to play outdoors? In many poor or marginalized communities, the answers to these questions — so critical for the health, safety, and vitality of a neighborhood — are often impossible to find. The Pacific Institute began its Environmental Indicators Project (EIP) to answer these questions and give neighborhood residents access to the information they need to revitalize and clean up their communities.

What are indicators? Environmental indicators provide science-based information on environmental and social conditions at the neighborhood level. We hope this research will support those who are fighting for clean air, healthy families and a safe community. But instead of just publishing some figures and moving on, we’ve been working directly with community organizations to determine what information should be tracked and how we should use it.

Our first project, working in West Oakland, California, has been a huge success: Publicity and community pressure generated by the Environmental Indicators report and other outreach has shut down a top source of toxic pollution. The Oakland City Attorney, local city council and state assembly leaders, the Port of Oakland, and many other stake holder groups are now paying much closer attention to the problems of West Oakland – most notably air pollution, and the solutions that residents are putting forward. And the community has now begun the process of taking the project over and updating the indicators with plans for an updated report in the near future.

Our success in West Oakland has gotten the attention of other community groups and the Pacific Institute is now working in Richmond, California to address land-use and pollution issues that have long plagued this community.