Data Remediations Data Refuge

This episode of Data Remediations features the voices of residents of South Philadelphia, long home to what was, until it blew up last year, the world’s longest continuously operating petroleum refinery. Residents talk about life with the refinery, scientists and public health experts weigh in on the environmental and health impacts it has caused. Everyone considers the futures beyond refining they’d like to see transform this sacrifice zone. In February, bankruptcy court approved the purchase-sale agreement of the massive site along Philadelphia’ rivers to a Chicago-based developer, Hilco, Earlier this month (April 2020), amidst a global pandemic and shelter in place orders, Hilco botched a demolition in Chicago and dust and debris settled across the local neighborhood. With Hilco’s plans largely unknown, Philadelphians are getting ready for a new chapter in the struggle for environmental justice.

This episode of Data Remediations features the voices of residents of South Philadelphia, long home to what was, until it blew up last year, the world’s longest continuously operating petroleum refinery. Residents talk about life with the refinery, scientists and public health experts weigh in on the environmental and health impacts it has caused. Everyone considers the futures beyond refining they’d like to see transform this sacrifice zone. In February, bankruptcy court approved the purchase-sale agreement of the massive site along Philadelphia’ rivers to a Chicago-based developer, Hilco, Earlier this month (April 2020), amidst a global pandemic and shelter in place orders, Hilco botched a demolition in Chicago and dust and debris settled across the local neighborhood. With Hilco’s plans largely unknown, Philadelphians are getting ready for a new chapter in the struggle for environmental justice.

This episode of Data Remediations features a special interview with
Philadelphia-based documentary filmmaker, Bilal Motley. For nearly 15
years, Bilal worked in management at the Philadelphia refinery. He offers
us a glimpse into the everyday world of a petroleum refinery, and we talk
about what it was like to work there and how it felt to be there the night
last June when it blew up and why he decided to put his filmmaking
skills--and experiences as a stand-up comedian--to make a documentary about
a really scary event.

In Episode 7, Bethany Wiggin, Katie Collier, and Piotr Wojcik speak with Nathaniel Popkin to talk about their participation in the live performance of a data storytelling and climate sensing art work, a hybrid virtual reality and live performance called The Altering Shores, conceived and directed by Roderick Coover in late November 2019.

In Episode 6, Bethany Wiggin and Meg Arenberg discusses the ways that academics and activists in Houston, a “city entwined with petroleum,” address environmental and climate (in)justices. First, Dominic Boyer considers the emergency of Houston as a frontline city and shares what he’s learned about the slow recovery process post-Hurricane Harvey. Then, activist Yudith Nieto shares her experiences with community organization, urgent collaborations with sciences, and the importance of working creatively towards Another Gulf.

What’s your climate story? In Episode 5, hosts Patricia Kim and Bethany Wiggin discuss the kinds of stories we need to compel climate action and introduce Data Refuge’s new climate storytelling campaign. Since late 2016, Data Refuge has deeply engaged with the necessity for accessible archives and open data. But the question of open access and open data also concerns who can contribute to archives, whose data matter. Listen and learn as we speak with open data experts and one artist about what it takes to create open archives that address the environmental challenges of our present moment.