Isabella Pacenza

Brooklyn

I am a young professional passionate about environmental justice and community-based research and advocacy, specifically as explored through the lens of environmental sociology. In 2024, I graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University with dual degrees in Sociology and Environment & Sustainability. Since then, I have been working at the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI), first as an intern and now as a project coordinator. At EDGI, I have worked on several projects, including collating and making accessible FOIA’d documents about military industrial pollution on the Alaskan island of Sivuqaq in the Bering Sea. These documents were mobilized by community groups in the area as a tool to advocate for cleanup in the region. Now, as a project coordinator I safeguard and increase accessibility of federal information and data about the environment and climate. This includes monitoring federal web pages weekly and communicating any changes or removal of information, as well as archiving federal data and tools at risk of deprecation or removal through our coalition the Public Environmental Data Partners (PEDP). I have also been part of the NATURA network since 2022, when I conducted research in an informal settlement of Durán Ecuador exploring resident perspectives of urban risks and nature, and considered the possibility of incorporating Nature-based Solutions in the area. Most recently as an Early-Career Fellow, I traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico to explore high school youth’s visions of their urban environment. By guiding students through developing a project that communicated their perspectives through photography and written prose, we encouraged them to contemplate the aspects of their urban environment that many take for granted, and communicate their perspectives with a larger audience. By continuing to disseminate our findings through a published book, we hope to encourage a movement toward urban development that considers and prioritizes the perspectives of youth and other vulnerable groups.