The following videos provide an introduction to the Economy Map project, starting with its conceptual goals and moving into its display format and user interface. The videos build on one another, so users are encouraged to view them in the order presented here, but, of course, that’s entirely up to you.
What if we could see the whole US industrial economy – and its environmental and human health impacts – all at once? See it. Understand it. Explore it. Economy Map provides knowledge of how industrial activities and economic forces affect the health of people and planet… giving us the power to effectively advocate for change. Economy Map is an interactive visual map of the United States economy and its environmental and human health impacts. It provides a way to dynamically explore and understand the sources and flow of goods, services, and environmental impacts among major industrial sectors. Economy Map in 60 Seconds is a short version of this video.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could see the whole US industrial economy – and its environmental and human health impacts – all at once? See it. Understand it. Explore it. Economy Map lets us do just that. Economy Map is an interactive visual map of the United States economy and its environmental and human health impacts. It provides a way to dynamically explore and understand the sources and flow of goods, services, and environmental impacts among major industrial sectors. This video is a shorter version of An Overview of Economy Map.
Economy Map shows environmental impacts from three perspectives. Direct impacts are those generated directly by the activities of a sector. Sectors with high direct impacts offer opportunities for direct regulation by government to encourage technology improvement or substitution. Intermediate impacts include a sector’s direct impacts and the upstream impacts of its purchased goods/services. Sectors with high intermediate impacts offer opportunities for supply chain engagement. Final consumption impacts are the portion of total (direct and upstream) impacts generated in reponse to consumer and government demand. Sectors with high final consumption impacts offer opportunities for informed purchasing. In Economy Map, the shape of a sector communicates its environmental profile.
Economy Map displays the overall environmental and human health impacts of the US economy in one of three display modes. In network mode, the economy is displayed as a network of flows showing, on the left hand, where in the economy impacts are generated, and on the right hand where responsibility could be allocated for the final economic demand that causes those impacts. The network display mode is particularly useful for understanding the relationship between economic demand and upstream environmental impacts, and for visualizing how impacts flow along supply chains in the economy. This video introduces the user interface for the network display mode and explains how to use it to create diagrams of the flow of specific impacts along specific supply chains.