CUERE Spring 2025 Seminar Series

UMBC - Dept. of Geography and Environmental Systems

Citizen science plays a critical role in bridging gaps left by the state in environmental monitoring. By examining projects such as air quality monitoring, rain gauges, and biodiversity initiatives, this study highlights how low-cost sensors and resident reporting can augment national services and research efforts, contributing enhanced local data to broader models for precipitation, air quality, and biodiversity. However, the processes of racial capitalism give rise to a "datascape" of socio-ecological segregation, where higher-income and predominantly white neighborhoods disproportionately contribute to citizen science datasets and benefit from their incorporation into national models. This unequal geography of participation results in critical gaps in social and geographic representation and early warning systems for low-income and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities, perpetuating environmental injustices. These disparities create a feedback cycle, further entrenching uneven socio-ecological spaces and exacerbating existing inequities. Findings from hurdle models reveal how these uneven contributions shape socio-ecological geographies, with significant implications for addressing gaps in data representation, fostering equity in citizen science, and the understanding how nature and society are co-produced. The presentation concludes by exploring pathways to disrupt this feedback loop and reimagine citizen science as a tool for justice.

More details about the Spring 2025 CUERE Seminar Series are available at: