The Earth Journalism Network, a project of Internews, has been working in geo-journalism for years. They stand out as leaders in using geo-spatial information to tell human stories. These stories cover crucial environmental, climate, and political topics for under-represented global voices. Their GeoJournalism team created a toolkit for journalists to use geospatial tools. We worked with EJN to merge these GeoJournalism projects into one global site, Open Earth, which lets users explore all of EJN’s geolocated stories. The stories link back to their local sites, acting as a hub for stories worldwide about climate change, environmental impacts, urbanization, and global development. Putting all of these local stories together connects them into global narratives and patterns.

Open Earth launched at COP21, the United Nations Climate Summit in Paris. The Earth Journalism Network was in full force at the event, with 40 journalists from all over the world reporting on climate vulnerability in their home towns, from Arctic melt to Himalayan drought. EJN featured these stories on Open Earth.