In 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) removed its environmental justice screening tool, EJSCREEN, from its website. This screening tool was very useful for students, researchers, urban and rural planners, and advocates for the disadvantaged in helping to identify communities facing the heaviest environmental burdens in the United States.
Social Explorer Professional, a resource that UMKC Libraries subscribes to, has rebuilt the EJSCREEN in Social Explorer. Their EJSCREEN replicates the EPA’s methodology of cumulative-impact data analysis. Social Explorer has actually enhanced the tool beyond what was available through the EPA. Census block-group-level detail on communities is included, as well as Census Place coverage for cities and towns not included in the EPA tool. Social Explorer’s EJSCREEN factors in 12 environmental indicators (for example, air pollutants, traffic proximity, Superfund facility proximity, etc.) with six demographic vulnerability measures to calculate an Environmental Justice Index. Read Social Explorer’s announcement about their EJSCREEN replacement.
Access is included in Social Explorer Professional, available through UMKC Libraries with your UMKC username and password.
Social Explorer Professional offers interactive and customizable maps to display historic and current U.S. Census data. Select Use as a Guest when asked to login. Guides and videos are available by clicking on Help within the tool.
Schedule a research consultation with a librarian to get started using Social Explorer for your research, including the updated EJSCREEN.
By: Scott Curtis, Teaching & Learning Librarian, Liaison to the School of Science and Engineering
