Leveraging Technology for Improved Environmental Stewardship
At a time when technology is more critical than ever in meeting the climate, resilience, water, conservation, and justice priorities of the country, its adoption and deployment in environmental agencies lags behind progress made in the private sector, at other agencies and the federal government as a whole. We need to modernize.
To successfully pursue an ambitious environmental agenda, the federal government needs to significantly rethink how to build, manage, and partner with the technology that supports environmental stewardship. We do not have the time to spare for inefficient and expensive manual processes to address the scale of challenges we face. We are establishing a community of practice, building political will and developing recommendations that can overcome barriers to leveraging technology for environmental applications.
Our Initiatives
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Digital Service for the Planet
We need a “Digital Service for the Planet” for environmental agencies to become better buyers, partners, and consumers of the technology and innovations that are necessary to support the country’s conservation, water and stewardship priorities.
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Data to Bolster Environmental Justice
Understanding that environmental justice exists at the intersection of environmentalism and structural racism, we are committed to using data to bridge the digital infrastructure gap between overburdened communities and access to lasting, equitable forms of climate and environmental relief. We support initiatives to empower community engagement and use of best-available data to overcome environmental justice issues.
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New Data: Water Utility Boundaries
We shouldn’t have to wonder who supplies our water and whether it’s safe to drink. Thanks to new data from the EPA, we no longer have to. Working with SimpleLab and the Internet of Water Coalition, we engaged over 120 academic, nonprofit, industry, and government partners to prototype the first national dataset of drinking water service area boundaries. That work spurred a broader effort at EPA that culminated in the nation’s first comprehensive map of water system service area boundaries and a new federal drinking water justice metric.
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Leveraging Partnerships to Drive Innovations
Federal environmental agencies have a range of options at their disposal to innovate around data and technology tied to mission goals. These “tools in the toolbox” can help agencies partner with other agencies or industry to make real improvements in data and tech use, respond to urgent needs for tech expertise, and ultimately accelerate progress across thorny environmental management problems. We provide insights on how agencies can leverage these tools.
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Decoding Drinking Water in Texas
We built a tool to help understand the durability of—and prioritize future investments in—water systems across East Texas. This interactive, web-based application displays rich drinking water data that policymakers, advocates, non-profits, and technical assistance providers can use to improve drinking water quality and access for Texans.
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Adopting Innovation at the US Forest Service
As shifting climate risks strain our nation’s forests and rangelands, land managers at the Forest Service (USFS) need the capacity to anticipate—and adapt—to changing conditions. Read our report highlighting the barriers we see to adopting the innovative data and tools the Forest Service needs.
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The Wetlands Impact Tracker: Revealing Public Notices for the Public Good
Using AI to extract data from US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) public notices, this dashboard follows federal permitting developments and their impacts on sensitive lands and waters along the Gulf Coast.
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Environmental Permitting Tools
Historic investments in climate resilience, the clean energy transition, and new infrastructure will all hinge on our government’s ability to efficiently permit, site, and build key projects. That’s why we made an inventory digital permitting tools drawn from across government agencies, NGOs, and tech companies. Our goals with this first iteration were to survey tools for interested users, open up lines of dialogue for cross-application learning, and highlight where we see a need for investment in permitting tech.