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Blog

Welcome to the Thriving Earth Exchange’s (TEX) blog space. The purpose of the blog is to inspire thinking, open-participation and discussion on particular topics or themes. We encourage you to leave comments on any blog post by clicking through to each post and sharing your thoughts at the bottom.

     

Meet the February 2024 Cohort of Community Science Leads

Join us in welcoming our February 2024 Cohort of Community Science Leads! From Mexico to New York to North Carolina, Illinois, and California this cohort is going to do amazing things with community science. Ana Karen Novoa Coatepec, Veracruz Mexico  Ana Karen Novoa is an environmental lawyer with a master degree in environmental and ecological […]

Meet the February 2024 Cohort of Community Science Fellows!

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce our February 2024 cohort of Community Science Fellows! They’ll be working with communities across the United States and Mexico to launch impactful community science projects.  The partnership will connect communities with scientists and technical experts and support them as they work together to tackle local challenges related to […]

2023 Year in Review

2023 Thriving Earth Exchange Year in Review 2023 marked 10 years since Thriving Earth Exchange began with the bold premise that science should put communities first. Over the years, the program’s small but determined staff and leadership experimented with different models of putting this idea into practice, learning from both the successes and the failures, […]

A Farewell Message from Thriving Earth Founder Raj Pandya

Vice President of Community Science Raj Pandya started Thriving Earth Exchange in 2013.  _____ This month, I am leaving AGU and Thriving Earth Exchange. I wanted to use this last blog to say thank you, reflect on our accomplishments together, and talk about what is next. First, thank you. Thriving Earth Exchange is a team […]

The Science of SciComm: Building Trust in Multilingual Science Communication

By Marina Cox In the past decade, science communication has acknowledged the urgent need for diversity, equity and inclusion in its practices, methodology, audiences, and organizations. Language is a crucial tool to promote access and inclusion to STEMM, but it is often overlooked. Last month, I had the opportunity to attend the Inclusive SciComm Symposium […]

Meet the October 2023 Cohort of Community Science Fellows!

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce our October 2023 cohort of Community Science Fellows! They’ll be working with communities across the United States to launch impactful community science projects.  The partnership will connect communities with scientists and technical experts and support them as they work together to tackle local challenges related to natural hazards, […]

Thriving Earth Exchange at 10 Years

Thriving Earth Exchange at 10 Years: A Q&A with Thriving Earth Director Natasha Udu-gama 2023 marks 10 years since the founding of Thriving Earth Exchange. It’s a milestone worth celebrating! It’s also a great time to step back and take stock of where we’ve been and where we’re going. To reminisce and reflect, we recently […]

Sixteen (out of 100) tips for a career in community science

Raj Pandya is Vice President for Community Science at AGU and previously served as founding director of Thriving Earth Exchange   So, you want to be a community scientist or incorporate community science into your work in a big way. Congratulations! I say that because I have found in community science — the chance to […]

Meet the June 2023 Cohort of Community Leads!

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce the June 2023 cohort of Community Leads! They will work with Community Science Fellows to launch 16 community science projects in the United States and Mexico. Stay tuned for more information about the impactful projects to come and the communities who lead and inspire them!   Black Appalachian […]

Community Science at ECSITE: People, Imagination, and Dialogue

Blog post and photos by Liz Crocker Figure 1 View from the rooftop of the Mediterranean Conference Center. Finding ways to ensure communities have access to the benefits of science and can mobilize science to solve their local priorities is currently a global topic of conversation amongst scientists, institutions, educators, museums, and communities. Last month, […]

Meet our June 2023 Community Science Fellow Cohort

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce our June 2023 cohort of Community Science Fellows! They’ll be working with communities from across the United States and Mexico to launch impactful community science projects.  The partnership will connect communities with scientists and technical experts and support them as they work together to tackle local challenges related to […]

Ecological Calendars: Meeting the challenge of climate change and biodiversity

In Western European and North American academic sciences, standardized seasons and calendars allow for experts to communicate about specific dates and periods with clarity. But nature is not a homogenous grid to which all environments conform. Our own experiences can confirm that the muggy thick heat of summer can seem endless in some regions while […]

Meet the March 2023 Cohort of Community Leads

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce the March 2023 cohort of Community Leads! They will work with Community Science Fellows to launch 14 community science projects in the United States, Brazil and Jamaica! Stay tuned for more information about the impactful projects to come and the communities who lead and inspire them!   Braco, Jamaica   […]

Community Science Project at Anemage River – An update

In 2021, Thriving Earth Exchange’s Natasha Udu-gama took the Hano Wene Indonesian Foundation through our approach to community science. Hano Wene works in Indonesia to address education through a holistic approach that includes not only formal education but also bringing electricity to communities, clean water, and food security. Recently, they teamed up with former Thriving Earth Exchange Community […]

Meet our March 2023 Community Science Fellow Cohort

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce our March 2023 cohort of Community Science Fellows! They’ll be working with communities from across the United States, Brazil, and Jamaica to launch impactful community science projects.  The partnership will connect communities with scientists and technical experts and support them as they work together to tackle local challenges related […]

Launching Our Second Decade of Community Science at AGU

When I joined Thriving Earth Exchange in 2014, it was only the second year of the program’s existence. To be honest, at the time I wasn’t entirely familiar with the notion of ‘community science’. I had spent the previous decade neck deep in the world of community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR), vulnerability and capacity assessments […]

Evaluating Our Impact

September of 2020, Thriving Earth Exchange launched a cohort of 16 projects with support from the Betty and Gordon Moore Foundation. This cohort was focused on projects that had potential policy-related outcomes and in 2022 an evaluation was conducted by the Beverly Group to better understand the impacts, opportunities and lessons learned from this cohort. […]

Updates from Adel, GA

January 5, 2023 Our community leads have reached a settlement agreement with the Spectrum Energy Georgia LLC in the operation of a proposed wood pellet plant in Adel. Effective December 24, 2022, the agreement includes more protections for public health than the permit authorized by state regulators, and stronger enforceability provisions in the case that […]

2022 Thriving Earth Exchange Year in Review

2022 was a year in which community science stepped beyond its origins as a somewhat radical “new approach” and emerged as an ever more central and respected part of the mainstream discourse about how to address the challenges of our time. With climate change, pollution and environmental degradation, and issues of disenfranchisement and marginalization increasingly […]

Opportunity: Advancing Justice-Centered Community Science in the Geosciences

Are you geoscience faculty with experience in justice and equity, active-learning practices, and working with communities? Take a look at this paid opportunity to contribute your expertise to co-develop learning materials. Advancing Justice-Centered Community Science in the Geosciences Community science is the equitable partnership between scientists and community members to use science to advance justice […]

Meet the October 2022 Cohort of Community Leads!

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce the October 2022 cohort of Community Leads! They will work with Community Science Fellows to launch 10 community science projects across the United States and in Jamaica! Stay tuned for more information about the impactful projects to come and the communities who lead and inspire them! Bucksport, South […]

Meet our October 2022 Community Science Fellow Cohort

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce our October 2022 cohort of Community Science Fellows! They’ll be working with communities from across the United States and Jamaica to launch impactful community science projects.  The partnership will connect communities with scientists and technical experts and support them as they work together to tackle local challenges related to […]

Community Insights: A Healing Village for Oakland’s Young People

  There is a growing awareness about the connection between time spent in nature and our mental health. At the same time, there is a growing concern about the mental health of teens, who spend less and less time outdoors, and more and more time in front of screens. In many historically marginalized communities, a […]

Meet our July 2022 Cohort of Community Leads

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce our July 2022 cohort of Community Leads! They will work with Community Science Fellows to launch 16 community science projects. Stay tuned for more information about the impactful projects to come from this launch and the communities who lead and inspire them! Adel, Georgia: Concerned Citizens of Cook […]

Equity in Co-Production: The “Fishbowl” Conversation

Author: Natasha Udu-gama   On 12 May 2022, Thriving Earth Exchange hosted a public conversation on “What does equitable co-production look like in practice? A discussion.” I served as an advisory board member for the NSF EAGER grant on Equity in Co-production  last year and the organizers asked if Thriving Earth would be willing to […]

Meet our July 2022 Community Science Fellow Cohort

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce our July 2022 regional cohort of Community Science Fellows! They’ll be working with communities from across the United States and Mexico to launch impactful community science projects.  The partnership will connect communities with scientists and technical experts and support them as they work together to tackle local challenges related […]

Reflections From the Board: Perspectives on International Growth

Thriving Earth Advisory Board Members share their views and vision for community science around the globe Thanks to the ambitious and inclusive leadership of AGU and the Thriving Earth Advisory Board, the reach and impact of Thriving Earth Exchange goes well beyond U.S. borders. We recently caught up with two of our esteemed Advisory Board […]

Getting Involved World-Wide With Thriving Earth Exchange

Challenges like climate change, pollution and natural hazards know no borders. Thriving Earth Exchange has long facilitated community science beyond the U.S., and our international activities are accelerating even more thanks to new opportunities and partnerships.  Here are six ways for communities, scientists & organizations to engage: Join our WhatsApp group: Our Global Community Science […]

Meet our April 2022 Community Science Fellow Cohort

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce our April 2022 regional cohort of Community Science Fellows! They’ll be working with communities from across the state of Wisconsin to launch impactful community science projects. We are thrilled to be working with University of Wisconsin’s UniverCity Alliance and EPIC-Network to launch a cohort of community science projects in […]

Meet Our April 2022 Cohort of Community Leads in Wisconsin

AGU’s Thriving Earth Exchange, in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s UniverCity Alliance and Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities Network (EPIC-N), will support 14 projects across the state of Wisconsin. As participants in the first state-based cohort of Thriving Earth projects, the community leads in the April 2022 cohort will work with Community Science […]

An intercontinental coalition to create a resilient community

Residents and volunteer scientists collaborate across continents to build flood resilience    Ellicott City, Maryland, is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area, but this charming, historic mill town on the banks of the Patapsco River can feel like a step back in time.  Unfortunately, homes that are a treasured legacy of the city’s historic roots […]

Meet Our New Partner: Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA)

At their core, many community science projects revolve around one critical question: What decisions can make life better in this community? It’s a tough question, made tougher by the increasingly complex economic, social and environmental issues many towns and cities are facing today.  It also happens to be one of the questions government finance officers […]

Community Science as a Force for Healing

In the past two years, the interwoven issues of climate and environmental justice have started to get increasing attention in the scientific community. It’s about time. Or maybe it’s too late. Maybe it’s 150 years too late to prevent climate change and the impact it will have on those who are both most vulnerable to […]

Getting a Read on Radon Through Participatory Research: How a Community’s Questions Shed Light on Indoor Air Quality in Denver

A home is supposed to be a refuge – a safe place to rest in a busy, unpredictable world. But what do we do when home doesn’t feel so safe – when you find out harmful pollutants have been there for years, or even decades? For Denver residents, this hypothetical question became real when they […]

Images of Change

During AGU’s 2021 Fall Meeting in New Orleans, we were honored to meet many community members who are working to make the region’s neighborhoods healthier, more connected and more resilient. Here’s a glimpse of what we saw. Community lead Julia Kumari Drapkin stands in front of a football field in Gentilly, now the site of […]

Meet our February 2022 Cohort of Community Leads

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce our February 2022 cohort of Community Leads! They will work with Community Science Fellows to launch impactful community science projects. Some projects in this cohort are launched in partnership with the American Meteorological Society, and some are with communities who are members of the Anthropocene Alliance and ecoAmerica. […]

Meet our February 2022 Community Science Fellow Cohort

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce our February 2022 cohort of Community Science Fellows! They’ll be working with communities from across the United States to launch impactful community science projects. We are pleased to partner with the American Meteorological Society to launch this cohort, and welcome communities from the Anthropocene Alliance network. Stay tuned […]

“We’re Beyond Being Studied”; Learnings from New Orleans Communities

How can scientific institutions like AGU be better partners to communities? AGU’s 2021 Fall Meeting took place in New Orleans, Louisiana. While we were there, Thriving Earth Exchange visited several communities where Thriving Earth community science projects have taken place or are still in progress. We met community leads, learned more about their projects and […]

New Year, New Faces: A Q&A with Blake McGhghy and Maria Sharova at Thriving Earth

Thriving Earth Exchange recently welcomed Community Science Fellow coordinator Maria Sharova and manager of community lead engagement Blake McGhghy , and since then, they’ve been vital members of the team. To kick off  a new year of commitment to community science, we held a Q&A with them to learn more about them – and their […]

2021 Thriving Earth Exchange Year in Review

2021 followed a year no one could have expected. Yet even as we continued to respond and adapt to the new reality of the ongoing pandemic, Thriving Earth Exchange found innovative ways to advance community science and spark new collaborations in the United States and around the world. This year, we launched a record number […]

Video: Community Science Perspectives 2021

Thriving Earth Exchange is to share our 201 video featuring photos, written testimonials and videos from many of our wondering Thriving Earth Exchange participants — including community leads, scientists and Community Science Fellows, and partners in the U.S. and around the world! A huge thank you to everyone who contributed for the opportunity to hear […]

A Dedicated Team and a Deep Well of Data: Uncovering the Mystery of Uranium in Glastonbury, Connecticut

When Glastonbury, Connecticut’s health officials and town leadership suspected uranium contamination in residential wells, they partnered with Thriving Earth Exchange to investigate. The project uncovered key information the town needed to advise residents, summed up in a thorough report written with the community in mind – all amid the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.  What’s in your water? Glastonbury, a community with a history of agriculture and fruit orchards, is a town of about 35,000 people, and a suburb of the city of Hartford. “We take a lot of […]

Meet Our New International Partner: Association of Young Geologists and Environmentalists of Senegal (AJGES)

Thriving Earth Exchange and AJGES team up to bring community science to Senegal  In the latest expansion of Thriving Earth’s impacts beyond the U.S., a new partnership with a group of scientists in Senegal provides an opportunity to bring the community science approach to local environmental issues in the West African nation. The Association of […]

Share Your Community Science Perspective for #AGU21!

Share your Story! Have a passion for community science? Share it with us to be featured at Fall Meeting 2021! Each week until Nov. 29, we’re sharing a new prompt to get your creative juices flowing. This Week’s Prompt: Why Is Community Science the Future of Science and Society? Tell us where community science going. […]

Thriving Earth Exchange and ecoAmerica partner to support community-led projects, climate leadership across the U.S.

AGU’s Thriving Earth Exchange and ecoAmerica are thrilled to announce a new partnership to support projects that help communities respond and adapt to the impact of climate change on public health, the environment and infrastructure. Thriving Earth Exchange connects communities with scientists and technical experts to help them explore priorities related to natural resources, natural […]

Meet our October 2021 Community Science Fellow Cohort

Thriving Earth Exchange is pleased to announce our October 2021 cohort of Community Science Fellows! They’ll be working with communities from across the United States to launch impactful community science projects. Three projects in this cohort are launched in partnership with the National Park Service, and five are with communities in the Anthropocene Alliance network. […]

Community Insights: Seeking Quiet, Residents Question a Quarry

Nestled between the Cascade Mountains and the Pacific Coast, Clark County, Washington, is a largely rural, forested area rich in both natural beauty and natural resources. Outdoor enthusiasts are drawn to the sweeping river views and bountiful fishing afforded by the Columbia and Lewis Rivers, while industrial interests are drawn by the region’s stores of […]

Scientist Spotlight: Inspiring Institutional Change

An assistant dean reflects on the role of academic administrations in advancing community science   For environmental chemist Christopher Spiese, PhD, science doesn’t stop in the lab. “If I think about my scientific heroes, I think about people who did excellent science in the lab and brought it out into the wider world,” says Spiese, […]

Partner Community Insights: Creating a garden for comfort and connection

Small town seeks to cultivate fruitful connections in the wake of disaster   The Australian town of Tallangatta knows a thing or two about change and resilience. Tallangatta, population 1,100, today sits on the edge of Lake Hume. In the 1950s, the entire town was relocated to its current spot, when the dam creating Lake […]

Scientist Spotlight: Cultivating a Culture of Service in Science

For environmental scientist Katherine Meierdiercks, collaborating with communities is part of the job    You could say coming to Siena College as an assistant professor was a watershed moment for watershed expert Katherine Meierdiercks, PhD. Having long approached science as an expression of service, Meierdiercks found in the college the mix of encouragement, opportunities and […]