Conservation

Small Actions, Big Impacts: Earth Day 2022

There are reminders everywhere of the climate challenges our global community faces. It can be overwhelming and make it difficult for people to feel motivated to act. Moving beyond the recognition that we face a global and profoundly complex challenge; people are hungry for ways in which we can be part of the solution in our own daily lives.

Corporations are examining both their risk and their opportunity related to climate change. Governments are enacting policies to provide direction and shape ways our societies can move to overcome these challenges. Individuals are seeking practical ways to reduce their environmental impacts.

At Esri, we are committed to being responsible global citizens. We take great pride in developing the tools necessary to apply a geographic approach to solve the World’s most complex challenges. While the tools speak for themselves, and Environment is in our name, we took the additional step this month of addressing the challenge of climate change as a top, company-wide priority.

Esri’s long-standing commitment to being a responsible global citizen has naturally attracted many employees who also share those same values. Many of us come to Esri through our strong user community, and what ties us together?

We’re all motivated to solve complex and inter-related challenges through a geographic approach and apply Esri’s geospatial infrastructure to do just that.

Introduction to Sea Ice is just one of many story maps in the 2022 Earth Day Collection.

This year, get inspired! We’ve compiled global stories that explore how we celebrate Earth Day every day! These stories include terms like “Human Development Engine” and how it helped reframe the benefits of Gorongosa National Park for communities in Mozambique. Discover who holds the moniker for being the “Most Vertical Girl in the World” after having both walked in space AND dove with Challenger Deep.

The DSSV Pressure Drop is pictured here, shepherding the Challenger Deep to its descent point.

It also showcases ways in which the United State Environmental Protection Agency is involving citizens in citizen science efforts to monitor the health of our water, land, and air and its impacts on environmental justice initiatives.

Yet we all appreciate our world in personal ways as well. This Earth Day, we want to take a moment to highlight some personal stories of ways in which we interact with and appreciate our environment.

Find out if David found an infamous 500-year-old tree near Oakland, California in Finding Old Survivor.

Ross explores the ethnobotanical uses of some of our biodiversity in An Herbal Exploration, and he even appreciates the extraterrestrial wonders of a dark sky in Stargazing.

Ross shares stunning images of the stars in Stargazing.

Hannah writes a “thank you” note to the trails she hiked in 2021 and takes us right along with her as she embeds her tracks from the Relive App in Miles of Gratitude.

This Earth Day, we hope these stories inspire you to take your own personal action – whatever that may be! Now you can also help inspire the rest of the world. What’s YOUR personal journey? How do you celebrate Earth Day?

With Story Maps, you can now share your personal stories with the rest of the world and we can’t wait to see how our global community is collectively making a big impact.

Happy Earth Day!

About the author

Sunny Fleming is the Director of Environment, Conservation, and Natural Resources Solutions at Esri. With a background in plant ecology and botany, she has applied location intelligence throughout her career; from monitoring rare species in the field to helping state parks manage recreational assets across their systems. Through collaboration with users, partners, and colleagues, she fosters a community of environmental professionals who use GIS to solve some of our world's most pressing challenges.

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