Engineering Environmental Data Justice: From citizen science to community data

Please join the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for this Lunch & Learn seminar series, A Bimonthly seminar series focusing on convergent research, bringing together Northeastern colleagues and collaborators to think big/bold, explore ideas that build cooperation and foster transformative innovation within CEE and across disciplines beyond CEE.

Abstract: Premature births, unexplained human and livestock sicknesses, flammable water faucets, toxic wells and the onset of hundreds of earthquakes, the impacts of fracking in the United States are far-reaching and deeply felt. In this talk Dr. Wylie explores how extractive resource systems, like natural gas extraction through fracking, are proceeded and supported by extractive data systems that create asymmetric access to information. Drawing together the fields of Environmental Health, Environmental Justice and Data Justice, Wylie explores how we can build community centered information systems that help create accountability for corporations and state agencies.
Based on her work building tools for community monitoring of the oil and gas industry and co-developing the watchdog organization the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI) Dr. Wylie reflects on how we can create community centered research and data systems that move beyond mapping exposure disparities to address the drivers of toxic contamination and make corporations responsible for their environmental harms. This precious present moment for action on Climate Change provides an opportunity to jointly create sustainable and just systems. Now is the time, Wylie argues to organize and collectively theorize, design, and engineer environmental data justice.

Bio: Sara Wylie is an Associate Professor Sociology/Anthropology and Health Science in Northeastern University’s Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute (SSEHRI). Her award-winning book Fractivism: Corporate Bodies and Chemical Bonds examines the U.S. unconventional energy industry. She is the co-founder of the citizen science organization Public Lab and the accountability organization Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI).