Tellus Civic Science

We are so honored to have the opportunity to work alongside this accomplished team in support of USAID for the Higher-Education Partnership for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure in India.

Happy Earth Day!! Tellus loves our planet and works everyday to preserve our precious resources, reduce carbon in the atmosphere, and plan for and adapt to a changing planet. We are committed to a cleaner, greener, and healthier earth for all.

Tellus Partners with Claremont Graduate University to Create ResilientScape, a Natural Disaster Screening Tool for Environmental Justice Communities March 7, 2024 In?the summer of 2023, Tellus Civic Science (Tellus) entered into a collaborative partnership with Claremont Graduate University’s (CGU) Geographic Information System (GIS) Practicum to develop a mapping tool—ResilientScape—with the goal of identifying environmental justice (EJ) communities in California that are environmentally and socio-economically disadvantaged and also at high risk for natural hazards, such as drought, flooding, heat waves, and wildfires. EJ communities that endure high exposure to climate change impacts need targeted support to improve disaster preparedness and resiliency, such as community planning, capacity building, green infrastructure, and renewable energy projects – ResilientScape helps to highlight those areas in California that are at risk. Tellus developed the concept for ResilientScape, established core requirements of the tool to meet the needs of EJ communities, and provided regular guidance to the GIS Practicum students as they digested large public datasets and developed the user interface and tool functionality. As Professor Claudia Cáceras, Ph.D., who leads the GIS Practicum, describes the students’ experience, "Our Fall 2023 GIS Practicum students worked on the design, implementation, and evaluation of a GIS-based solution to support underserved communities in California. This real-world experience helps the transition from students to practitioners. We appreciate the work experience on this project and collaboration with Tellus." ? Tellus is excited to publicly launch the beta version of?ResilientScape, through which the firm hopes to engage strategic partners and further tailor the tool’s functionality to best facilitate the needs of prospective users. The core data for ResilientScape comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)?National Risk Index (NRI)?and?CalEnviroScreen, a tool that helps identify communities disproportionately impacted by multiple sources of pollution, provided by California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). Within the ResilientScape tool, users can filter by geographic area (down to the census tract), socio-economic and environmental indicators, and natural hazard types. Tellus is grateful for the ongoing partnership with CGU, which is hosting ResilientScape, and the dedication of the students who built the tool: Hunter Sayre, Anjan Rana Magar, Juan Parrilla, Ahmad Alasmar, Mohammed Aljohani, Abdullateef Almuhrij, Fares Alrewily, and Mansi Alsmarah. Please visit our news page to view this story with a link to the ResilientScape tool: https://lnkd.in/g_ZEMiPA

Register now for this upcoming virtual workshop to learn about climate resilience, coral reefs, and the Allen Coral Atlas tool!

Register now for this upcoming virtual workshop to learn about climate resilience, coral reefs, and the Allen Coral Atlas tool!

Tellus Partners with Claremont Graduate University to Create ResilientScape, a Natural Disaster Screening Tool for Environmental Justice Communities March 7, 2024 In?the summer of 2023, Tellus Civic Science (Tellus) entered into a collaborative partnership with Claremont Graduate University’s (CGU) Geographic Information System (GIS) Practicum to develop a mapping tool—ResilientScape—with the goal of identifying environmental justice (EJ) communities in California that are environmentally and socio-economically disadvantaged and also at high risk for natural hazards, such as drought, flooding, heat waves, and wildfires. EJ communities that endure high exposure to climate change impacts need targeted support to improve disaster preparedness and resiliency, such as community planning, capacity building, green infrastructure, and renewable energy projects – ResilientScape helps to highlight those areas in California that are at risk. Tellus developed the concept for ResilientScape, established core requirements of the tool to meet the needs of EJ communities, and provided regular guidance to the GIS Practicum students as they digested large public datasets and developed the user interface and tool functionality. As Professor Claudia Cáceras, Ph.D., who leads the GIS Practicum, describes the students’ experience, "Our Fall 2023 GIS Practicum students worked on the design, implementation, and evaluation of a GIS-based solution to support underserved communities in California. This real-world experience helps the transition from students to practitioners. We appreciate the work experience on this project and collaboration with Tellus." ? Tellus is excited to publicly launch the beta version of?ResilientScape, through which the firm hopes to engage strategic partners and further tailor the tool’s functionality to best facilitate the needs of prospective users. The core data for ResilientScape comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)?National Risk Index (NRI)?and?CalEnviroScreen, a tool that helps identify communities disproportionately impacted by multiple sources of pollution, provided by California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). Within the ResilientScape tool, users can filter by geographic area (down to the census tract), socio-economic and environmental indicators, and natural hazard types. Tellus is grateful for the ongoing partnership with CGU, which is hosting ResilientScape, and the dedication of the students who built the tool: Hunter Sayre, Anjan Rana Magar, Juan Parrilla, Ahmad Alasmar, Mohammed Aljohani, Abdullateef Almuhrij, Fares Alrewily, and Mansi Alsmarah. Please visit our news page to view this story with a link to the ResilientScape tool: https://lnkd.in/g_ZEMiPA

Axient LLC recently awarded Tellus Civic Science (Tellus) a subcontract to provide environmental security consultation to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) under contract with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. Tellus will manage the planning, concept development, facilitation, and execution of two events – the 2024 Indo-Pacific Environmental Security Forum (IPESF) and a Plastic Pollution Policy (P3) workshop. In addition, Tellus will continue activities and engagements with working groups and partner nations under the Indo-Pacific Environmental Security Partnership (Partnership),?www.ipesp.org. The Tellus’ team has been assisting INDOPACOM with the execution of the IPESF since 2016 and is honored to have the opportunity to continue supporting this multilateral event, which brings Indo-Pacific nations together to share lessons learned and best practices on a wide array of environmental security issues, as well as facilitates collaborative environmental security project development. Historical themes for the event have included energy security; water and food security; climate adaptation and resiliency planning; women, peace and security; combating wildlife trafficking; coastal ecosystem restoration; blue carbon; sustainable fisheries; and plastic pollution.?? During the 2023 IPESF in Sri Lanka, a partner from Fiji brought the need for a regional plastic pollution policy for Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) to the attention of INDOPACOM. Though plastic pollution is a global environmental issue, for PICTs the effects of plastic pollution are detrimental to their marine ecosystems, human health, and their economies that rely on coastal tourism.??Plastic pollution contributes to national fragility by negatively impacting PICTs primary food source of protein from the ocean. The P3 workshop will bring together and build PICTs’ capacity by developing a methodology for data collection and technological tool development, as well as developing a regional policy, built upon existing policies, that is aimed at?reducing plastic pollution through more holistic and effective policy development and implementation.?