NorthWestern Energy, Montana's monopoly energy corporation, is constructing a methane-fired power plant in Laurel, MT. The project promises to be an immense carbon and Hazardous Air Pollutant (HAP) emitter. I made this data visualization for a factsheet about the plant, to alert the local community specifically about the levels of HAPs that would pollute their air every year upon project completion.
Software used: Illustrator
Software used: Illustrator
Team of stakeholders:
Communications Director
Lead Community Organizer
Communications Director
Lead Community Organizer
My role: Graphic Designer
In my design process, I thought about what these HAPs might look like under a microscope. I Googled microscopic images of air particles, carcinogens, and other pollutants and used that as inspiration. Because the data was delivered in exponents that are hard for a layperson to quickly and easily make sense of, it was important to visually illustrate which HAPs were the largest polluters. In addition, I created a key to accompany the image and tell a more complete story.
This infographic directly impacted community members who were given the factsheet at a community informational session. Not only were most of them unaware of the plant’s construction, but most were outraged at what the plant’s pollution could do to the local community at such high levels. We received dozens of petition signatures and reached more people to grow the power of our campaign against the methane-fired plant.
