Ripples #9. Area chart showing total trade in environmental goods as percent of GDP, from 1997 to 2021, for Canada (top), the US (middle), and Mexico (bottom). Source: International Monetary Fund, Climate Change Indicators Dashboard (Trade in Environmental Goods), 2022. Satellite imagery of the Pacific Northwest (2024–2025) adapted from Planet Labs PBC. (Photo: Dennis Ha)
Ripples #4. Bar chart showing CO2 emissions embedded in global trade for Asia (dark green), a net exporter of embodied CO2, and the European Union, the United Kingdom, and North America (light green), net importers of embodied CO2, in 2022. Source: Global Carbon Budget (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Satellite imagery of the Salish Sea (2024) adapted from Planet Labs PBC. (Photo: Dennis Ha)
Ripples #6. Bar charts showing the percentage of national CO2 emissions embodied in exports (light red) that were part of production-based emissions, and the percentage of national CO2 emissions embodied in imports (light blue) that were part of consumption-based emissions in 2019, for Canada (left) and China (right). Source: Global Efficiency Intelligence, Embodied Carbon in Trade: Carbon Loophole report. Satellite imagery of the Salish Sea (2024) adapted from Planet Labs PBC. (Photo: Dennis Ha)
Ripples #5. Chart showing per-capita consumption-based CO2 emissions for the United States (area of red triangle), Canada (area of orange triangle), and Mexico (area of yellow triangle) in 2022. Source: Global Carbon Budget (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Satellite imagery of the Pacific Northwest (2025) adapted from Planet Labs PBC. (Photo: Dennis Ha)
Ripples #3. Stacked bar chart showing annual CO2 emissions from international aviation (dark grey) and international maritime shipping (light grey), from 2017 (left) to 2023 (right). Source: Global Carbon Budget (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Satellite imagery of the Pacific Northwest (2025) adapted from Planet Labs PBC. (Photo: Dennis Ha)
Ripples #9. Area chart showing total trade in environmental goods as percent of GDP, from 1997 to 2021, for Canada (top), the US (middle), and Mexico (bottom). Source: International Monetary Fund, Climate Change Indicators Dashboard (Trade in Environmental Goods), 2022. Satellite imagery of the Pacific Northwest (2024–2025) adapted from Planet Labs PBC.
Ripples #8. Tree map of maritime chokepoints with largest volume of crude oil and petroleum liquids transported in 2023: Strait of Malacca, Southeast Asia (brown), Strait of Hormuz, West Asia (light green), Suez Canal and SUMED Pipeline, Egypt (beige), Bab el-Mandeb, Arabian Peninsula–Horn of Africa (dark green). Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration. Satellite imagery of the Salish Sea (2025) adapted from Planet Labs PBC.
Ripples #7. Tree map of the largest flows of CO2 emissions embodied in trade for 2019: from China to “Other Asia and Pacific” (area outlined in beige), from “Other Asia and Pacific” to China (light brown), from China to the United States (green), from Canada to the United States (dark brown), and from China to “the Middle East” (orange). Source: Global Efficiency Intelligence, Embodied Carbon in Trade: Carbon Loophole report. Satellite imagery of the Pacific Northwest (2025) adapted from Planet Labs PBC.
Ripples #6. Bar charts showing the percentage of national CO2 emissions embodied in exports (light red) that were part of production-based emissions, and the percentage of national CO2 emissions embodied in imports (light blue) that were part of consumption-based emissions in 2019, for Canada (left) and China (right). Source: Global Efficiency Intelligence, Embodied Carbon in Trade: Carbon Loophole report. Satellite imagery of the Salish Sea (2024) adapted from Planet Labs PBC.
Ripples #5. Chart showing per-capita consumption-based CO2 emissions for the United States (area of red triangle), Canada (area of orange triangle), and Mexico (area of yellow triangle) in 2022. Source: Global Carbon Budget (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Satellite imagery of the Pacific Northwest (2025) adapted from Planet Labs PBC.
Ripples #4. Bar chart showing CO2 emissions embedded in global trade for Asia (dark green), a net exporter of embodied CO2, and the European Union, the United Kingdom, and North America (light green), net importers of embodied CO2, in 2022. Source: Global Carbon Budget (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Satellite imagery of the Salish Sea (2024) adapted from Planet Labs PBC.
Ripples #3. Stacked bar chart showing annual CO2 emissions from international aviation (dark grey) and international maritime shipping (light grey), from 2017 (left) to 2023 (right). Source: Global Carbon Budget (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Satellite imagery of the Pacific Northwest (2025) adapted from Planet Labs PBC.
Ripples #2. Bar chart of CO2 emissions embodied in international trade (green) against global CO2 emissions (orange) in 2019. Source: Global Efficiency Intelligence, Embodied Carbon in Trade: Carbon Loophole report. Satellite imagery of the Pacific Northwest (2025) adapted from Planet Labs PBC.
Ripples #1. Pie charts of consumption-based CO2 emissions in 2022 (top), 2006 (middle) and 1990 (bottom) for Asia (light grey), Europe (black), North America (dark grey), and the rest of the world (white). Source: Global Carbon Budget (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Satellite imagery of the Pacific Northwest (2025) adapted from Planet Labs PBC.
The Ripples series was created in 2025 as part of a broader project led by the Global Reporting Centre (GRC) at the University of British Columbia investigating the hidden costs of global supply chains. I developed this series through discussions with the GRC, curator Christine D’Onofrio, and Gavin Fridell, a researcher at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, whose work explores the political economy and ideological aspects of trade and trade policy. Fridell’s extensive knowledge of the environmental stakes of international trade and my practice of critical data visualization formed the basis for conversations examining the potential of environmental goods (products manufactured or services rendered with the main function of addressing, or contributing to solve, an environmental issue), and how trade can be analyzed through irrational drives of the psyche. Shaped by such discussions, the Ripples series explores information about international trade, the technologies by which we make sense of the world, and the parts of nature that escape their rational ordering.
Five of the nine images of the series were included on billboards along Vancouver’s Arbutus Greenway, in October and November 2025, as part of a City of Vancouver public art program. See the project website for additional context, and documentation of related events: globalreportingcentre.org/ripples