Sillari, working for Material Research L3C, an open-access supply chain investigative organization, created an ArcGIS map of the train route of vinyl chloride, a highly toxic chemical used to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC). This map not only outlined zones of risk, but also provided the first clear picture of the number of people that are being put in danger by the production of PVC.
“People all along this rail route and many other rail routes are at risk of disasters and derailments that can ruin an entire community,” Sillari said. “It should be enough to know that people living near the production facilities are extremely disproportionately affected to create change. But I hope showing that it affects a lot more people can create more solidarity around the issue.”
Vinyl chloride is carcinogenic, deadly if inhaled, and associated with a number of long-term health problems, The Post reports in “Millions of Americans face risk of a toxic ‘bomb train.’” The article also discusses the racial and economic inequities of proximity to chemical plants and rail routes.
“We are lucky to live where we do in Maine, and not face the everyday threat. There are areas in the US where people see a refinery or chemical production plant right outside their window,” Sillari said. This work, she added, “is making me think more about what I have in my hands, and all the people and surrounding environments that are being harmed from the production of things.”
Toxic-Free Future hired Material Research to create a report on vinyl chloride as part of their ongoing efforts to pressure Home Depot to stop selling products containing PVC. Material Research also made a vinyl chloride technical report for Earthjustice and Beyond Plastics, which will be used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its current review of the chemical.
“Selena is a great example of how COA students become involved in real-world questions when they are students and go on to do important work in the wider world,” said Material Research Research Coordinator (and COA adjunct professor) Jill Weber. “We do research on toxics, and with the one-year anniversary of the train derailment, one of our clients asked us to do some research and provide a GIS map. Selena was the primary person on this project, and the report has been picked up by none other than The Washington Post and NBC News.”
Sillari said that she feels inspired by the on-ground, civilian activists taking action on the vinyl chloride issue.
“Selena is a great example of how COA students become involved in real-world questions when they are students and go on to do important work in the wider world” — Material Research Research Coordinator Jill Weber.
“People have been campaigning for vinyl chloride to be banned for a long time. It’s extremely toxic and flammable, so transporting it by rail is super dangerous,” Sillari explained. The EPA ranks it as the country’s fourth-highest problem chemical.
Material Research’s report on Vinyl chloride can be found here.
The idea for creating a GIS rail route map was inspired by Sillari’s curiosity about using GIS to visualize the movement of supply chains. Working with the president of Material Research, Jim Vallette, she built on this idea. Sillari hit some challenges along the way, as the routes of toxic chemicals such as vinyl chloride are not public information. She and Vallette ended up using photos posted by civilian rail enthusiasts tracking the railcars containing vinyl chloride and transportation data of all US rail routes to determine the chemical’s path.
Sillari started working for Material Research during her senior year at COA, when she took a GIS class taught by Gordon Longsworth. For her final project in this class, she reached out to Weber, who teaches botany at the college, to see if there were any plant-related mapping projects she could work on. Weber explained that she also worked for Material Research, which Sillari hadn’t heard of yet, and said they were looking for someone to help them with mapping projects.
Sillari dove in, and for her COA senior project, she developed an interactive world map with all the chemical plants and facilities that Material Research has investigated. This map became known as the World Atlas, and is now prominent on the company’s website, where it is continually updated and expanded.
“I’ve learned a lot about how the power of data and research can promote change,” said Sillari, touching on the relevancy of creating and publishing these open-access maps.
Sillari feels grateful to be learning from her work. She was able to add a whole new level of public-interface interactivity and information visualization that Material Research did not have before hiring her. She credits her human ecology background with giving her a wide variety of skill sets to use in her multifaceted position with Material Research.
Sillari enjoys the creative side of GIS work and figuring out how to enable the user to “interact with this interface and receive the most out of it.” In addition to making other maps, such as one investigating the supply chain of electric vehicle batteries, Sillari is now a projects and operations manager at Material Research. She helps to organize and plan future projects and meets with clients about ongoing investigations.
Material Research is hired by nonprofits and other organizations to conduct in-depth supply chain research. They are based in Southwest Harbor, Maine. Their mission is to provide open-access data to global communities, including journalists and human rights activists around the world.
“The ultimate goal of all of that is that the work doesn’t exist anymore, my job doesn’t exist anymore, because there’s no more toxic chemical production in the world,” Sillari said.