The heat was overbearing and my back was aching after thirty minutes of weeding and planting lettuce seeds. I had gotten through less than a quarter of the row assigned to me and no matter how I tried to sit or squat, there was no avoiding the discomfort of being arched over with the sun beating down on my back. Though weeding and planting vegetables was one of the simpler activities of the trip, it gave me valuable insight into understanding why one of the major health issues in Guatemala is malnutrition. Many of the farmers I spoke to explained the difficulties faced by Guatemalan people due to environmental factors: during the dry season, agriculture burning and forest fires proved to be recurring issues, destroying the farmers’ food and source of income. The compounding effect is an increased rate in malnutrition among children across the country. The indigenous peoples of Guatemala bear the brunt of this issue. Standing among the burnt coffee trees and empty fields, I found myself reverent of the impact of the environment on health, especially within vulnerable communities.
This experience shaped my thinking as I started my career. Beginning in the field of health and technology, I thought about how I could apply what I was doing to concepts in public health, especially as COVID-19 created a necessity for telehealth and presented unique challenges to the healthcare system. Being a part of Everly Health, a growing diagnostics company supporting COVID-19 initiatives, I saw how crucial telehealth and technology has become in providing accessible and affordable care for disadvantaged communities. For example, through the Gaps in Care program, which expanded our patient population to include Medicaid programs and programs that assisted the unhoused in getting diagnostic testing at the peak of the pandemic. This created a huge impact in participating states as people who previously did not have access to COVID-19 tests now had the opportunity to get tested and talk to a provider about their results. This initiative would not have been possible without our rapidly expanding telehealth programs.
With my background in public health and telehealth, I gained a new perspective on sustainable initiatives. The ways we were using technology to provide at-home care made me reflect on other ways we could apply these methods to the growing need for accessible environmental health programs, especially as we continue to see the adverse health effects caused by climate change. This pushed me to begin looking for opportunities in the field of environmental science. I wanted the opportunity to contribute to sustainable initiatives that address the environmental injustices vulnerable communities face.
Working with DigDeep’s Navajo Water Project provided me with first-hand accounts of the water insecurity experienced by the Navajo people, and I developed a deeper understanding of the ways data can interact with technology to promote systemic change. By creating models of data stewardship and governance, vulnerable communities are provided with the tools and knowledge needed to control and use their own environmental data to drive climate mitigation strategies that meet their community’s needs.
The practical experience I gained working in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) made it clear that data are important tools for shaping community efforts to address the adverse effects of climate change on indigenous data sovereignty and governance. I have worked closely with my team and external partners to ensure our projects practiced responsible data stewardship in the communities we supported. Through the use of mWater, a data management system made for the WASH sector, we were able to exemplify what the principles of FAIR and CARE could look like in practice for an indigenous community.
I’m excited to join the Open Environmental Data Project as a Data Stewardship Intern to continue my journey in environmental data and justice. This is an opportunity to build on my foundational knowledge and grow my capacity for building out equitable practices for collecting and sharing environmental data, as well as empowering communities to address pressing climate challenges.
