Projects

Project Highlight: The Wisconsin Green Muslims community in Madison and Milwaukee
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Project Highlight: The Wisconsin Green Muslims community in Madison and Milwaukee

ByMarina Cox

This month’s Project Highlight celebrates an inspiring collaboration between community, culture, and science through the Wisconsin Green Muslims’ initiative in Madison and Milwaukee. This Thriving Earth Exchange project brings together faith and environmental stewardship by empowering community…

Community science strengthens tribal collaborations and capacity
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Community science strengthens tribal collaborations and capacity

ByLiz Crocker

The Kansas State Center for Hazardous Substances Research (CHSR) AGU/Thriving Earth Exchange Community Science Hub is now in its second year of helping Indigenous communities restore underused properties and sustain cultural traditions, with projects underway in seven…

Community Science Fellow Highlight: María de Lourdes Becerra Zavala
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Community Science Fellow Highlight: María de Lourdes Becerra Zavala

ByMarina Cox

This article is in both English and Spanish. María de Lourdes Becerra Zavala is an anthropologist based in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, and a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Universidad Veracruzana. Her work focuses on…

Community Leader Highlight: Nicole Nuñez
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Community Leader Highlight: Nicole Nuñez

ByMarina Cox

This article is written in both English and Spanish. Nicole Núñez Vergara is an agronomist with a diploma in Municipal Environmental Management. She co-founded Vivero Los Chungungos, focused on conserving native and endemic flora of central…

Community science helps schools cultivate food, culture and connection
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Community science helps schools cultivate food, culture and connection

ByLiz Crocker

Many families living in New Mexico’s Central Consolidated School District don’t have access to amenities like grocery stores, and some even lack basic infrastructure such as running water or electricity. The school district, based in…

Moving Forward by Connecting with the Past
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Moving Forward by Connecting with the Past

ByLiz Crocker

With a heritage garden, an indigenous community seeks renewal for its land and people As you stride across the prairie, bursting with late-summer wildflowers and scented with wild sage, the overwhelming impression is of vastness….

Community Science Fellow Highlight: Camila García-Echeverri
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Community Science Fellow Highlight: Camila García-Echeverri

ByMarina Cox

This article is in both English and Spanish. Camila García-Echeverri is a Colombian civil engineer with a Master’s in Hydraulic Resources from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Currently, she also holds a diploma in Project…

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Local Actions to Battle Rising Temperatures: a 5 Year Retrospective on Cambridge’s Fight Against Urban Heat Island Effect 

ByLiz Crocker

by Julia Jeanty Before becoming the AGU Thriving Earth Exchange Program Manager for Community Science Fellows, Julia Jeanty served as a volunteer Community Science Fellow on a project in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the blog below,…

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Project Highlight: Harnessing Community Science for Cleaner Air and Healthier Futures in Lewis Place, St. Louis

ByMarina Cox

Project Team: Dr. Pamela Talley, Mr. Richard Ellis, Ojasi Kirtikar, Ogonna Precious Eli, PhD Student, & Mr. Mercy Onaopemipo Akintola In the heart of St. Louis, Missouri, the historic Lewis Place neighborhood is standing up…

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Community Leader Highlight: Mirella Gallardo and Rafael Schmitt

ByMarina Cox

The article below is in both English and Spanish Community Leader Highlight: Mirella Gallardo and Rafael Schmitt Established in 1995 to help Andean mountain communities like Miraflores improve their livelihoods, Instituto de Montaña develops community-driven…

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“A Long Way With Many Bends”: Water quality in Conodoguinet Creek, Pennsylvania

ByLiz Crocker

Asking tough questions about water quality, a Pennsylvania team discovers the power of a pivot  Encompassing more than 500 square miles of central Pennsylvania, the Conodoguinet Creek watershed provides drinking water and recreational opportunities to…

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Capacity Collaborative Celebrates Successes  

ByLiz Crocker

The Capacity Collaborative (TCC), a non-profit built around bolstering resilience in rural communities, is one of four AGU Thriving Earth Exchange Community Science Hubs. Now in its second year of community science projects, TCC’s Southeast…

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

ByLiz Crocker

  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…

An intercontinental coalition to create a resilient community

Bymgoodwin

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…

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Images of Change

ByNatasha Udu-gama

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…

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

ByHaley McKey

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…

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Community Insights: Seeking Quiet, Residents Question a Quarry

ByHaley McKey

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…

Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions and American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy & Resources

Bymgoodwin

Supplementing this project work, FACS acquired pro-bono legal support through the ABA-SEER/Thriving Earth Exchange partnership to develop a legal brief on the use of public rights away for the installation of solar or other renewable…

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Community Insights: Mapping the pollution to create the solution

Bymgoodwin

The Tar Creek in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, runs directly through a 40-square-mile Superfund site, full of giant mounds of toxic mining waste—a fine, white sand-and-gravel mix known as “chat,” easily blown away by the breeze—that…

How can Communities Reduce their Carbon Footprint? An Introduction to Community Choice Aggregation and Community Science

Bymgoodwin

This blog was originally posted on the University of Washington Program on Climate Change website on May 5, 2020, and is posted here with permission from the author.   By Lily Hahn Here in Seattle,…

Trash-tography: San Diego 4th Graders Take on Water Pollution
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Trash-tography: San Diego 4th Graders Take on Water Pollution

ByKelly McCarthy

Trash-tography – San Diego 4th Graders Take on Water Pollution by Kristen Hurst, Indraneel (Neel) Kasmalker, Carly Ellis, and Kirstin Skadberg It was a beautiful fall day in San Diego. Meaning…it was hot! We were…

Agency testing reveals no harmful minerals in Yacolt Mt. Quarry samples

BySarah Wilkins

A recent study by the Southwest Clean Air Agency (SWCAA) and EPA has found no erionite present in 12 locations sampled in and around the mine site. Read more here: https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/agency-testing-reveals-no-harmful-minerals-in-yacolt-mt-quarry-samples/