Data as a Tool

Bold ideas that solve the world’s energy needs.

Data as a Tool for Change

SPEAKERS:
Marcella Bondie Keenan, Program Director, Climate Planning and Programs, Center for Neighborhood Technology
Jocelyn Leitzinger, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago
Eric Nost, Assistant Professor, University of Guelph
Anna Wolf, Project Manager, Water and Transportation, Center for Neighborhood Technology

Empirical analysis is critical to informing effective public policy, especially concerning the climate crisis and the gigaton challenge of decarbonization. The Data As a Tool For Change panel provided examples of data utilization in analyzing government response to communities on the front lines of environmental impacts, such as increased urban flooding and deteriorating water infrastructure, in addition to subversive activities of corporate interests.

Environmental justice featured heavily in the presentations given that those most impacted by climate change have been routinely and deliberately disenfranchised. The range of panelist perspectives afforded a greater understanding of the potential of empirical data to enable the public to hold leadership accountable when they fail to protect and provide for constituents. The SISE fellows’ engagement with topics on environmental injustice speaks to the commitment of rising leaders to ensure social sustainability as they solve the gigaton challenge.

The data is out there, as the panel made clear. The challenge lies in attaining the power and agency to access and utilize it while also protecting the individuals at the heart of the data itself. During the open forum for panelist questions, this challenge was identified as a critical barrier in data dissemination and community empowerment. Academic research is often inaccessible for people and groups who lack an equitable seat at the table. Shifting this paradigm is possible, as the panelists noted, by empowering local leaders and organizations and allowing communities to lead the way in policy reform created by and for their own communities.

Session summary by SISE Fellows Jay La Plante, Cristina Bahaveolos, and Liz Stanbrough

Watch a video of the full session here.