The Undivide Project is a nonprofit organization focused on the intersection of the climate crisis and digital divide. Earth Rising Foundation is proud to support their research into how this intersection of issues impacts poor and BIPOC communities. The Undivide Project works with communities to create their own solutions.

This is a major way that the Undivide Project differs from traditional community based research. The Undivide project “examines root causes of divestment, including those created by law or public policy.” This means the Undivide Project works in communities for the long term, engages community members in their work and combines their research with community action.

For example, the Undivide Project recently published the Baltimore Climate and Digital Divide StoryMap. This is an interactive and insightful storytelling board that explains how the digital divide compounds issues related to climate change and racial inequality. “Without adequate digital connectivity, these communities struggle to engage in online education, remote work, and telehealth services, further entrenching social and economic disparities.” Beyond identifying issues, the StoryMap also highlights solutions. “The Baltimore Sustainability Plan outlines comprehensive measures to enhance the city's resilience against climate impacts through green infrastructure, improved energy efficiency, and community-based adaptation projects. Concurrently, efforts to bridge the digital divide include the city’s five-year plan to expand broadband access, focusing on underserved areas to ensure equitable access to digital services.”

This StoryMap is just one example of the tangible impact of the Undivide Project work and the critical need for continued efforts in this area. We also can see the power of their work in the recently published “The Ten States Project for Equitable Climate Risk”. This is a publicly available platform for exploring and downloading GIS data, discovering and building apps and engaging others to solve issues. This project is meant to give the power of data to the people and create a space where local knowledge and experience can guide the creation of information, apps and websites. It is an important step towards more equitable data access and what this could look like on a broader scale.

Earth Rising Foundation is grateful for the attention the Undivide Project is bringing to the digital divide and how technological inequality intersections with the climate crisis. To learn more about their work visit their website at https://theundivideproject.org/about-us/

Undivide Project on the Intersection of the Climate Crisis and the Digital Divide

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