Environmental Burden Index (EBI): A Novel Method to Estimate Environmental Quality

Environmental data is widely available, but often difficult to use and analyze. Tools are needed to display environmental data, support environmental public health research, and inform data-driven decision-making. To help fill this need, we are designing the Environmental Burden Index (EBI), which estimates environmental quality at the census-tract level for the United States. The EBI is still in development but the methods used to create and rank the index represent a new approach in using and applying environmental data.

The EBI aggregates environmental data from multiple sources into one easy-to-use index. Data is selected to reflect different facets of environmental quality such as air pollution, toxic releases, industry, the built environment, and climate change. Data is aggregated and census tracts are ranked nationally, at the state level, and against “like environments.” We define like environments using k-weighted means analysis on a USGS land-use dataset to subset all tracts into one of 6 environmental categories. A multi-stage psychometric evaluation is planned once the index is complete.

The EBI is the first nation-wide estimate of environmental quality available at the census tract level to support public health research and practice. The methods used to create the EBI are an innovative development in the way environmental datasets are analyzed, visualized, and used. The EBI makes environmental data more approachable and easier to use for data-driven decision-making, policy initiatives, and hypothesis generation to support environmental public health.