Thriving Earth Exchange:Empowering Communities through Science.
Thriving Earth Exchange supports community science by helping communities find resources, project managers, and experts to address their pressing concerns. Together they work to help communities be more empowered, resilient, and responsive. |
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How Thriving Earth WorksThriving Earth Exchange connects communities with scientists and technical experts and supports them as they work together to tackle local challenges related to natural hazards, natural resources and climate change. Community science happens when communities and scientists do science together to advance community priorities. That includes defining questions, designing protocols, collecting and analyzing data, communicating findings and using scientific knowledge in decision-making. Thriving Earth projects begin with community voice, are guided by community knowledge and end in community impact.
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Current Projects
Creation Justice Ministries is currently collaborating with the AGU on ten different Thriving Earth Projects all across the United States. Click here to read more about all of our projects, and click on the images below to learn more about some featured projects!
Featured Story: From Data to Dignity: St. Petersburg Thriving Earth Project Charts a Path Forward
When Creation Justice Ministries first joined the Thriving Earth Exchange (TEX) initiative, we envisioned local church communities becoming catalysts for environmental resilience—places where data, faith, and justice would meet. That vision has taken a powerful step forward with the completion of our first project in St. Petersburg, Florida.
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The Thriving Earth Exchange is a national program of the American Geophysical Union that connects communities with volunteer scientists to tackle local climate, pollution, and environmental justice challenges. In partnership with Creation Justice Ministries, the program helps congregations and faith-rooted organizations translate environmental concerns into actionable, community-driven science projects. Together, we identify priority issues—such as flooding, heat risk, air quality, or historical land injustices—and match congregations with technical experts who can provide mapping, data modeling, and scientific analysis at no cost to the community. Each project is shaped by local wisdom and guided by the values of justice, restoration, and love for neighbor.
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Completed Thriving Earth Projects
Mitigating illegal trash dumping and implementing environmental education at Scott Church (Detroit, MI)
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Scott Memorial United Methodist Church serves a predominantly Black congregation on Detroit’s Westside. A key concern is that Scott Church experiences high levels of illegal trash dumping, with trash polluting the neighborhood and the area behind the church. The community’s goals are to reduce this illegal dumping and begin to educate the congregation on environmental justice issues and the solutions they can be a part of. The community leads are both members of Scott Church, and the project team recruited a PhD student at University of Michigan as a volunteer scientist to help research and implement trash mitigation solutions. The team also recruited a communications and design specialist to help design the project’s mural as well as create advertisements and powerpoints for environmental education events.
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During the project, the project team researched potential solutions to illegal dumping and ideas for environmental education. The team surveyed the congregation and consulted with the Board of Trustees to decide which solutions to implement. They also requested and received project funding and community lead funding from TEX to support the project. To address illegal dumping, the team installed no-littering signs and solar-powered lights in the alleyway behind the church. The project team also commissioned a mural in the church’s parking lot, painted by a local artist, to brighten the space and deter illegal dumping. To support environmental education priorities, the team organized a Recycling Workshop and lunch for the congregation as well as a final lunch-and-learn to share the project results and discuss environmental and health impacts of illegal trash dumping. These trash mitigation solutions have reduced the illegal dumping activity at the church, and the team successfully engaged 40-50 members of the congregation at each environmental education activity. The project team has also received very positive feedback on the mural installation, which depicts members of the community working together to support a healthy environment.
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