Superfund365 is an online, data visualization application that highlights 365 Superfund sites, or the nation’s worst toxic-waste sites as designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). For a year, Superfund365 featured a site a
Superfund365 is an online, data visualization application that highlights 365 Superfund sites, or the nation’s worst toxic-waste sites as designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). For a year, Superfund365 featured a site a day, displaying public data such as present contaminants, responsible parties, regional demographics and area maps. The project launched on September 1, 2007, near New York City, continued across the country and ended in Hawaii, covering roughly a quarter of total number of the sites on Superfund’s National Priorities List (NPL). Along the way, Singer took photographs of the sites, wrote a travelogue and conducted video interviews of people involved with or affected by Superfund. She also encouraged others to pick up the route with her and — as the project moved further from New York — for her. Participants can join the conversation by uploading text and images describing these 365 Superfund sites. Singer’s aim is to allow local knowledge and individual impressions to coexist, mingle and conflict with the official data descriptions generated by government agencies and other organizations.