2020 Thriving Earth Exchange Year in Review
2020 was a year of change in ways none of us anticipated. Along with the rest of the world, the Thriving Earth Exchange team and our network of fellows, community leaders, scientific partners and collaborators were challenged to accept, accommodate and adapt as the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the way we work and live.
For us, 2020 was also a year of growth. We started the year with a look back: A comprehensive program evaluation brought into focus all that we had accomplished in our first six years and illuminated opportunities to have an even greater impact. In the months that followed, even as we grappled with cancelled travel and virtual meetings, we forged ahead with building our next chapter and expanding our reach.
Our program’s activities this year reflect three major roles:
- We manage community science projects, following and improving the community science approach we established over the past seven years.
- We teach individuals to manage community science projects through a fellowship program that cultivates a new generation of community science leaders.
- We teach organizations to manage community science projects through collaborations that empower others to adopt and build on our community science experience and expertise.
This year, our focus was not only on doing community science, but on fostering the growing community science movement. As interest in this way of working has expanded, organizations like the National Science Foundation and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have looked to our program for ideas and suggestions about how to help ensure science serves the needs of society and communities.
We enter 2021 with an acute awareness of the uncertainties inherent in life and science. While the coming year will doubtless bring achievements and challenges alike, we look forward to the year with a fresh vision for supporting communities and their evolving priorities—as well as a renewed sense of confidence in what we can achieve when we work together.
Our Projects
2020 saw our cohort model for community science come to fruition. Nearly all projects launched this year were facilitated within a cohort, in which multiple projects move through the community science process in tandem, creating a shared journey that allows project teams to learn from each other along the way. It’s a model that has proven its mettle this past year.
We completed 13 projects and launched 32 new ones, each effort designed to address a specific community priority in areas such as climate action, flooding, natural spaces, sustainability, and the environmental and public health impacts of human activities on air, water and soil.
Projects launched in 2020
September 2020 Science Policy and Engagement Cohort
- Quantifying the environmental benefits of using urban greenery to remove particulate matter (PM 2.5 and PM10) in South Central Los Angeles, California
- Designing public green spaces for carbon sequestration and environmental justice in San Ysidro, California
- Designing a living shoreline to mitigate flooding and increase community resilience in American Venice, New York
- Mapping the Extent of the Tar Creek Superfund Site and Other Potential Risks in Ottawa County, Oklahoma
- Establishing an Air Quality Monitoring Network to Inform Local Strategies in Columbus, Ohio
Additional projects are being scoped with communities in Carmel Valley, California; Marine Protected Area Collaborative Network, California; Pinole, California; Durango, Colorado; Lower Illinois River Valley, Illinois; Paxico, Kansas; Barren River Area Development District, Kentucky; Hamburg, Michigan; Antlers, Oklahoma; St. Helena Island, South Carolina; and Fairfax County, Virginia.
August 2020 California Community Science Cohort (with California Strategic Growth Council)/h3>
- Developing a Climate Change Assessment and Climate Change Adaptation Plan in Big Sandy Rancheria, California
- Preparing a GHG Inventory and Developing Future Emissions Scenarios in Costa Mesa, California
- Measuring and analyzing indoor air quality and temperature before and after home retrofit projects for substandard housing units in North Fair Oaks, California
- Assessing Neighborhood-Scale Impacts of the Urban Forest on Air Quality and Human Health in San Jose, California
- Identifying Drivers of Extreme Urban Heat and Generating a High-Resolution Vulnerability Index in San Diego, California
We are in the process of scoping additional projects with communities in Arcata, Chico, Coachella, Fresno and Stockton, California.
Independent Projects (those launched outside of cohorts described above)
- Phase 2 of Evaluating Ordinances and Policies to Reduce Flood Risk in Horry County, South Carolina
- Phase 2 of Designing a Green Roof for Community Re-vitalization and Empowerment in Flint, Michigan
- Assessing the potential impact of new urban development on flooding in James Island, South Carolina
In addition to these formal projects, we enjoyed exploring opportunities with other communities not listed and hope to welcome them to the program in the future.
Projects completed in 2020
Independent Projects (those launched outside of cohorts described above)
- Developing a Feasibility Study for Community Choice Aggregation Renewable Energy Options in Arlington, Virginia
- Incentivizing Clean Industry in Birmingham, Alabama
- Mapping Vulnerable Heat and Community Health in Bronx, New York
- Phase 1 of Designing a Green Roof for Community Re-vitalization and Empowerment in Flint, Michigan
- Communicating and Acting on Climate Change in Hallandale Beach, Florida
- Assessing Flooding and Hydrodynamics for Improved Stormwater Management in Natchitoches, Louisiana
- Understanding Impact of Municipal Water Sources on Urban Farming in New Orleans, Louisiana
- Establishing a Plastic Waste Management Program in Staunton, Virginia
Fellowship Program
Complementing our shift to a cohort model, this year we also transitioned from staff-managed projects to a fellowship-based management model. Community Science Fellows are committed volunteers who facilitate and lead community science projects. Each Fellow is matched with a local community and is responsible for guiding a project from idea to impact. Fellows gain essential skills through a two-day training and receive ongoing support from Thriving Earth Exchange staff and a peer group of Fellows.
The program, piloted in 2019, expanded dramatically in 2020 and has proved valuable for our participants, our program, and our community partners. Fellows gain experience managing diverse teams, working across disciplinary boundaries and connecting science to action, while an expanded pool of project managers has increased our program’s reach and amplified our impact.
Fellowship cohorts active in 2020
September 2020 SPEC
September 2020 Science Policy and Engagement Cohort
- Michelle Bailey
- Laura Bartock
- Garrett Boudinot
- Maddie Foster-Martinez
- Alexis Garretson
- Kai Greenlees
- Todd A. Harwell
- Zavia Jenkins
- Sehdia Mansaray
- Tiffany Mouzon
- Estenia Ortiz Carabantes
- Urooj Raja
- Aradhana Roberts
- Heidi Steltzer
- Katherine Swensen
- Jessica Tran
- Claire Zarakas
August 2020 California
- Abby Ackerman
- Morgan Corey
- Diana Dalbotten
- Karen Grosskreutz
- Gabriel Lotto
- Leah Nagel
- Kristen O’Shea
- Daniela Soleri
- Isabella Arzeno Soltero
- Meg Thorley
December 2019
- Maitreyee Doshi
- Chad Heinzel
- Anna LoPresti
- Jill Petraglia Parsons
- Sharon Pfeifer
- Garima Raheja
- Kathryn Semmens
- Shelly Strom
September 2019
- Pamela Braff
- Cameron Dunn
- Caitlyn Hall
- Julia Jeanty
- Eva Kostyu
- Brendan O’Leary
August 2019
- Neel Kasmalkar
- Isabelle Bully-Omictin and Cintya Renderos
Partnerships and Collaborations
Collaboration has always been core to the Thriving Earth Exchange ethos. This year, our partnerships and collaborations reached new heights—and new continents! We established our first four international partnerships, part of a special effort focused on enabling other organizations to manage community science projects in their local regions. We also cultivated fruitful relationships with many U.S.-based organizations to increase community-centric approaches and co-manage community science projects.
2020 Collaborations
Collaborations active in 2020 included:
- ACORN, University of Washington
- American Meteorological Society
- American Political Science Association
- Association of Science and Technology Centers
- Association of Young Geologists and Environmentalists of Senegal
- California’s Strategic Growth Council
- EPIC-N
- Future Earth Australia
- Instituto de Montaña (Peru)
- Public Lab Mongolia
Reflecting on a Year of Change
2020 changed us as individuals and as a society. Two main waves of change in particular—the enhanced visibility of the movement to advance anti-racism in science, and the adaptations made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic—brought new perspective to what Thriving Earth Exchange does and how we do it.
Anti-racism in science
The murder of George Floyd—and the many who came before—exposed anew the inherent weakness and injustice of a society built on systemic racism. Joining many other scientific organizations in looking inward to confront the ways racism influences the STEM community, AGU renewed its commitment to create an inclusive and equitable community for all. In taking a serious look at our responsibility and our opportunity to advance justice, we focused on how we as scientists must become part of the solution not only through awareness, but through reform.
Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic
Community science does a lot of things, but most of all, community science listens. As the world absorbed the dramatic changes the COVID-19 pandemic brought in our lives and our communities, we listened to what our community leaders and scientific partners were experiencing and what they needed from us. And then we did what we had to do: we adapted. We exchanged tips for effective virtual collaboration, shared creative and compassionate ideas for DIY COVID-19 solutions, and started conversations about what comes next. We found new ways to support our communities to advance both longstanding and newly emerging priorities, and we even found ways to reallocate funding from travel and onsite operational expenses, allowing us to serve even more communities.
A message of hope
In losing some of our stability this year as a society, we also lost some of our complacency. The nation’s experiences brought into stark relief many challenges that had been brewing under the surface for a long time. The suppression of minority communities and voices, the disproportionate impact of society’s ills on certain groups, and the tendency for attention and benefits to accrue in places that already enjoy advantages of wealth and privilege—these challenges have long been known to the communities we serve, many of which suffer disproportionate impacts from environmental hazards, climate change and activities that threaten the health of people and ecosystems. It is our hope that with the surfacing of these injustices, we can find renewed vigor and a greater sense of unity in the effort to right the wrongs and build a better future for all communities.
