World’s largest citizen science initiative launched for Earth Day 2020

In Washington, D.C., launched by Earth Day Network, the Wilson Center and the U.S. Department of State’s Eco-Capitals Forum, the Earth Challenge 2020 project creates a global expansion of open source citizen science data and opportunities for civic engagement. Using mobile technology and open citizen science data, Earth Challenge 2020 empowers people globally to monitor and mitigate threats to environmental and human health in their communities.

The coronavirus pandemic reinforces the importance of science in understanding and protecting our health and environment. The app enables individuals to participate in authentic environmental research from the safety of their homes, while being part of the global citizen science community.

Earth Challenge has two goals. First, to aggregate existing citizen science from around the world and make it interoperable, creating a coordinated point of entry for the research and public policy community.  Second, to give each user of the Earth Challenge 2020 app the opportunity to take a civic action specifically related to issues in their own country. The app is available in 11 languages. For Earth Day, we will focus on two research areas: air quality and plastic pollution. Over the coming months, issue areas will be added on insects, water quality, food security and local climate impacts.

The Earth Challenge Initiative will:

• Fill existing data gaps to help scientists, policymakers, and society understand and ultimately counter damaging environmental trends;
• Engage and educate millions of people on the crucial role of science, show how their participation is contributing to a larger data set, and provide up-to-date civic engagement actions; and,
• The app also includes country-specific “what you can do” actions to help citizen scientists to take action that address problems like local air or plastic pollution.

Led by principle partners Earth Day Network, the Wilson Center and the U.S. Department of State’s Eco-Capitals Forum, Earth Challenge has been in development for over three years and has attracted a broad alliance of organizations and institutions globally.