Gretchen Gehrke is co-founder of the Environmental Data Governance Initiative, which was formed in 2016 to track and analyze changes to federal environmental data and practices under the previous Trump administration. It’s now a leader in a new field: environmental data justice.
Their website is a treasure trove of information about access to environmental data and the prevalence and consequences of suppression of data and of specific terms like “climate change”, and the lack of enforcement of policies such as the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. In an email interview with Salon, Gehrke explains the Environmental Right to Know: that is, the belief that people have the right to know about environmental issues that affect them, and the ability to influence environmental governance decisions in a meaningful way.
