EDGI is partnered with a few universities research units/programs, Union of Concerned Scientists, and other research labs and climate organizations.
EDGI has a main website where all of their information is stored. Based on a Google search, there is also a social media account via Twitter.
EDGI has several projects such as “A People’s EPA”, “Data Together”, and “Federal Environmental Web Tracker”
“Federal Environmental Web Tracker”: a public dataset to changes of federal environmental websites under the Trump administration and beyond. This one especially peaked my interest because it is fairly simple to navigate and there is also a Google Sheets version that is downloadable I believe.
EDGI obtains its funding from several 501 c 3 organizations but primarily relies on volunteer work. They are also offered compensation and reimbursement for some of their work or operations. EDGI is fiscally sponsored by Multiplier, a 501 c 3 organization that supports projects that have a planet-saving impact.
EDGI formed in November 2016 to document and analyze changes to environmental governance that would transpire under the Trump Administration. EDGI subsequently became the preeminent 'watchdog group' for material on federal environmental data issues on government websites and a national leader in highlighting President Trump’s impacts such as declines in EPA enforcement.
EDGI has created many projects that demonstrate tracking of environmental governance changes, specifically in environmental data infrastructure. It mainly deals with federal datasets and does not have much information on its website about engaging smaller communities.
There are 50+ members of this organization from academic institutions, non-profit and grassroots organizations, and professionals from a broad spectrum of work and life backgrounds.
Sub-units of this organization include one for environmental data justice.
There are five major programs: 1) investigating and analyzing the inner workings of federal environmental policy, through interviewing of agency staff, as well as data and documentary collection and analysis, 2) monitoring changes to, and exploring standards for, web-based information about the environment, energy, and climate provided by the federal government, 3) developing new ways of making federal environmental data more accessible to the public, 4) imagining, conceptualizing, and moving toward Environmental Data Justice, and 5) prototyping new organizational structures and practices for distributed, collective, effective work rooted in justice.
"The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) documents, analyzes, and advocates for the federal provision of environmental data and governance, from policies and institutions, to public access to information, to environmental decision-making. They seek to improve environmental information stewardship, promote environmental democracy, health, and justice, and to better adapt these all to the digital age." (Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, About section)
The Weldon Spring Interpretive Center was a discursive jamboree for those of us curious about how anthropocenics are narrated. This particular display at the center stood out to me becuase of its resemblance to other interpretive center or science museum displays representing the "life cycle" of an organism or of cycles of ecosystem conditions (e.g. forest succession). One of the first displays visitors see upon entering the center, the display's format and captions read to me as a clear attempt to control the discourse about nuclear contamination and remediation in the area. The image--or its creator--wants to do the work of suggesting that the clean up process has brought the place "back to how it was," cycling back to a good beginning. The text used in this display is exclusively neutral or positive. The arrows moving from each circle to the next purports to display how "this area has served many purposes over the years." It states "these exhibits are designed to educate you on the history, science, and efforts of many to bring the Weldon Spring site full circle." In this cycle, Weldon Spring is not a hazardouse waste site or contaminated site but rather "a site for remedial action." Thus we are to see the space as a "home to many people," then "a TNT and DNT plant," then "a uranium feed and matierals plant," then "a site for remedial action," "an extensive cleanup effort," "a successful solution," and, finally, "a place to enjoy and learn." In this emphasis on a "return" to good conditions, the displacement of residents, health issues plant workers and others' faced, and the uncertainties or messiness of what adequate clean up is are omitted. In this image, and in much of the interpretive center, the discourse around nuclear materials, its effects and cleanup, is neatened, simplified, into a narrative that de-emphasizes the actual health impacts of these processes and of the political wherewithall that was required to make that remediation happen.
The notion of cycling back to something is a particularly intriguing move
this graph is a perfect representation of the affects any thing can have on communities. this graph can be correlated with things like natural disasters and their would be an increase in numbers.