Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI)

The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) is a research collaborative and network of diverse professionals promoting evidence-based policy-making and public interest science that advances the Environmental Right-to-Know (ERTK). We document, contextualize, and analyze current changes to environmental data and governance practices through multidisciplinary and cross-professional collaborative work; foster the stewardship and expansion of public knowledge through building participatory civic technologies and infrastructures; create new communities of practice to enable government and industry accountability; and promote models and tools that emphasize community participation at all scales, both within EDGI and in our public-facing tools. Forming in November 2016 to document and analyze changes to vulnerable federal environmental data and governance practices under the Trump administration, EDGI has grown into the preeminent watchdog tracking and assessing modifications to federal environmental information resources and their accessibility; a national leader in highlighting Trump’s impacts on environmental, data, and information policies and practices; and the forerunner in developing a new field of inquiry and critique: environmental data justice.