Our vision is simple.

We believe our society works best when people can make informed choices.

The Ecos part of our name comes from the greek word (Oikos) for “dwelling place” that became the root for both economics and ecology. And that is what we hope we are doing – trying to provide information about how economics and ecology interact in this place in which we dwell.

MapEcos is not a “tell all” site. The information on the map shows that many companies and facilities have reduced dramatically their emissions, and many have reduced the toxicity of the chemicals they emit. Some have even eliminated toxic pollution altogether. The men and women who brought about these gains deserve our appreciation.

We also want to help facilities tell their side of the story. Too often people assume that pollution results from ill will or incompetence. More often,  people are working hard to make their companies safer, healthier, and cleaner. Many companies have implemented sophisticated management systems to reduce their pollution. We have invited a representative of each facility to tell us about these efforts. Their information will appear on the map in their facility’s “Operations” tab should they choose to share this information.

Of course, by making information about pollution more accessible to the public, we may increase pressure on lagging facilities. This too is part of our goal, because without such pressure leading firms may gain little reward for their actions and lagging firms may accrue little cost. As we said at the beginning, we believe that our society will work best when people can make informed choices.

We hope you like the site, and would appreciate any feedback you care to share. Send us an email to let us know what’s on your mind.

-The MapEcos team