Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI) / Public Lab

The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) is an international network of caring and committed members, primarily volunteers, from more than 30 different academic institutions and 10 non-profit or grassroots organizations, as well as a broad spectrum of other work and life backgrounds. We analyze federal environmental data, websites, institutions, and policy with the aim of improving environmental data stewardship and promoting environmental health and environmental justice. We work in collaboration with other organizations and communities concerned about climate change, science policy, good governance, and environmental and data justice.

We have four major program areas: 1) archiving vulnerable environmental data, 2) monitoring changes to information about the environment, energy, and climate on federal websites, 3) interviewing federal employees about threats and changes to environmental health agencies, and 4) imagining, conceptualizing, and moving toward Environmental Data Justice.

Our work in these areas has yielded three major reports, numerous website monitoring reports, academic articles, public comments on regulations, op-ed and analysis pieces written for the public, and extensive coverage in the news.

Our work also entails the development of participatory civic technologies and infrastructures to make data and decision-making more accessible and accountable. We promote models and tools that emphasize community participation at all scales, both within EDGI and in our public-facing tools.

Mission

EDGI documents, contextualizes, and analyzes current changes to environmental data and governance practices through multidisciplinary and cross-professional collaborative work. EDGI fosters the stewardship and expansion of public knowledge through building participatory civic technologies and infrastructures to make data and decision-making more accessible. EDGI creates new communities of practice to enable government and industry accountability.

Vision

We envision a future in which justice and equity are at the center of environmental, climate, and data governance. Governing agencies and industries will be held accountable through transparent, collaborative, community-centered environmental research, technology, and decision-making. We seek to realize a world that creates and maintains healthy, just, bountiful, and beautiful environs in which people thrive.