It’s EDGI’s 10 year anniversary! In November 2016, after Trump had just been elected for the first time, anthropologist Nick Shapiro sent an email to colleagues asking: What can we as social scientists do to prepare for an assault on federal environmental institutions and data? The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative emerged as the answer, and by the end of the month, the organization had its name and first tasks: Archive as much federal climate and environmental data as possible before the 2017 inauguration and document changes to the EPA.
Ten years later, EDGI continues to respond to escalating assaults on science, environmental health, and democracy. The midterm elections have created an opening for real change. As an organization, we’re ready to help build strong, resilient, and just environmental data infrastructure and institutions for the future.
Since beginning in 2016, EDGI has become a go-to organization for tracking federal environmental data, information, and agencies. Our work informs journalists, researchers, elected officials, civil servants, and communities. Here are 10 times EDGI safeguarded environmental data and governance:
- Sounded the alarm when the first and second Trump administrations purged climate information from federal websites. (2018 and 2025)
- Reported significant declines in EPA’s enforcement of federal environmental laws under the first and second Trump administrations. (2019 and 2026)
- Testified, as represented by member Chris Sellers, before Congress on the first Trump EPA’s enforcement track record. (2019)
- Built software visualizing differences between webpage versions, which was integrated into Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine as its “changes” feature. (2019)
- Documented censorship of the term “climate change” on federal websites during the first Trump administration, finding a ~40% decrease from 2016 to 2020. (2021)
- Wrote an open letter to the EPA imploring the agency not to sunset its web archive of environmental documents, resulting in an extension. (2022)
- Advised EPA’s ECHO database improvements, prompting a new public notification system for permit violations. (2022)
- Formed the Public Environmental Data Partners, a coalition of organizations dedicated to protecting federal environmental data. (2024)
- Launched the Public Comments Initiative to help the public understand and participate in the federal process for environmental rulemaking. (2024)
- Led efforts as part of PEDP to stand up EJScreen when the second Trump administration removed the environmental justice data tool. (2025)
EDGI is largely volunteer run, and with about 40 active members and just 3 full-time staff, we punch far above our weight. But to keep doing this work, we need your support. If you value EDGI’s work, please consider donating to sustain us as we launch another decade dedicated to building a better future for environmental data and governance.