Environmental Studies

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a consortium of natural history and botanical libraries that cooperate to digitize the legacy literature of biodiversity held in their collections and to make that literature available for open access and responsible use as a part of a global “biodiversity commons.” The BHL consortium works with the international taxonomic community, rights holders, and other interested parties to ensure that this biodiversity heritage is made available to a global audience through open access principles. In partnership with the Internet Archive and through local digitization efforts, the BHL has digitized millions of pages of taxonomic literature, representing over 120,000 titles and over 200,000 volumes.

The Earth's climate is changing. Temperatures are rising, snow and rainfall patterns are shifting, and more extreme climate events – like heavy rainstorms and record high temperatures – are already happening. Many of these observed changes are linked to the rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, caused by human activities. EPA partners with more than 40 data contributors from various government agencies, academic institutions, and other organizations to compile a key set of indicators related to the causes and effects of climate change. The indicators are published in EPA's report, Climate Change Indicators in the United States, available on this website and in print. Explore the indicators below.

DataONE is a collaboration among many partner organizations, and is funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF).

Science Reference Service.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Environmental Systems Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem (ESS-DIVE) is a new data archive for Earth and environmental science data. ESS-DIVE is funded by the Data Management program within the Climate and Environmental Science Division under the DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research program (BER), and is maintained by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

ECCC informs Canadians about protecting and conserving our natural heritage, and ensuring a clean, safe and sustainable environment for present and future generations.

The FAO Forestry Department helps nations manage their forests in a sustainable way. The Organization's approach balances social, economic and environmental objectives so that present generations can reap the benefits of the earth's forest resources while conserving them to meet the needs of future generations.

IGS is a recognized leader in the geologic and hydrogeologic sciences. As a part of IIHR—Hydroscience & Engineering (IIHR), a research institute within the University of Iowa’s College of Engineering, IGS continues to build on its rich scientific heritage, while serving Iowans through research, education, and outreach.

Information on Climate Change from the Obama Administration of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

TOXMAP help users visually explore data primarily from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and Superfund Programs. TOXMAP also features Canadian NPRI data, U.S. EPA coal plant emissions data, and U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. TOXMAP overlays U.S. Census demographic data, income figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce, and health data from the NCI SEER program. The current version provides improved usability on mobile devices compared to previous versions.

The United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) launched a new internet based data service for the global user community. It brings UN statistical databases within easy reach of users through a single entry point (http://data.un.org/). Users can now search and download a variety of statistical resources of the UN system.

The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) was established by Presidential Initiative in 1989 and mandated by Congress in the Global Change Research Act (GCRA) of 1990 to “assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change.”

Meteorological and environmental publications, reports and resources.