Industrial Equity Mapper

America’s industrial past is complicated. The steel, aluminum, and other manufacturing industries are well regarded for their role in expanding the middle class. These industries powered economic growth throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, supporting the nation’s rise into the largest economy in the world.

This simple narrative misses so much. Unions — not industry — built the middle class, but this wealth frequently excluded Black people, immigrants, and people who lived near these facilities. Industrial production created a terrible environmental and health burden in neighboring communities, often under-monitored and under-reported while heating the planet. In recent decades, many facilities have closed, unable to compete against international imports or chasing lower labor costs in other countries.

So, where do we go from here? Building a better future starts with better data and using narrative power to tell the story of what industrial transformation — a future for industry that breaks with our past — might look like.

The Industrial Equity Mapper: Stories of Industrial Pollution in the U.S. sits at the intersection of heavy industry and justice in 12 key geographies, delivering concrete data and storytelling to put power back into the hands of everyday people. It analyzes a range of health, demographic, economic, and pollution data with dozens of interviews of industry’s impact on communities. Our work stands on the shoulders of those who have fought tirelessly for better monitoring of industrial pollution and have demanded accountability.

This work is unique amongst other analyses in measuring the specific impact of industry and its function. For the first time, communities in some of the most impacted geographies can find raw facts and moving stories that speak to their direct experiences and the severe risks they face from exposure to toxic pollution from industrial manufacturing.

Across 12 regions of the country, Industrious Labs spoke with dozens of community leaders, organizers, and people living near facilities. The infographic below illustrates some of the socioeconomic factors and environmental burdens of heavy industry in these regions.

Each community’s vision is different. Unsurprisingly, there is no singular narrative or story. Some want to make systems and alternatives so no one can be sacrificed or feel disposable. Others want to bring old and young folx together to stand up and fight. All of these communities paint a clear vision of what transformation looks like for them, what is required to win and industrial transformation is centered in shifting the material conditions of those most impacted.

Click below to read the case studies that include historical context and experiences of impacted communities:

Transforming industry is one of the key projects for the next decade and beyond. Manufacturing materials like cement or steel are more important than ever as we build the wind turbines, subway lines, and heat pumps needed to arrest climate change. But how they are made must change.

Communities are not monolithic; each wants something different, shaped by its own experiences. At times, the goals laid forth sat in odds with other regions. This tension is natural. What’s important is that as federal efforts to decarbonize and transform industry ramp up, communities must have more than just a seat at the table, but the ability to chart their own future. In many cases, that may mean a new green steel mill or a zero-emission paper mill. In others, it might mean looking beyond heavy industry and deeper into community investments.

Uplifting the stories and experiences of those on the ground in these geographies provides a holistic picture of how industry impacts communities living and/or working near industrial facilities today. Frontline communities that have historically borne the brunt of environmental injustice — especially Black and Brown families — will continue to feel the disproportionate impacts of these industries. Addressing this challenge — and the opportunity it presents — is why Industrious Labs exists and has created this mapper.