Fact-Checking The EPA Project Update | Coronavirus Visualization Team
By: Coronavirus Visualization Team
Tags: Deregulation, Project Updates, Environment, Climate Change, Donations

Emily Chang, a member of the Coronavirus Visualization Team, is currently serving as the lead for Project Fact-Checking The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). This ambitious team of five high school and undergraduate students has succeeded in conducting professional, scientific research and publishing a paper without the support of an educational institution.

Take a look at their research published as of April 21, 2021!

The team sought to publish this paper as a means of warning policymakers about the dangers of environmental deregulation, a phenomenon that has occurred directly under the Trump administration. Many of his policies have included limiting methane regulation emission standards, relaxing air pollution regulations in national parks and wildernesses, and most notably, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement. While President Biden officially rejoined the accord in his first few days of office, the EPA’s deregulatory actions were not an isolated incident; governments worldwide have been weakening environmental policies during the pandemic.

*Sourced from UCL on Enforcing Environmental Regulations

Project Fact-Checking The EPA hopes to shed light on these resulting dangers.

Current Project Initiatives

With their recent publication in the prestigious Environmental Sciences Europe journal, Project Fact-Checking The EPA is at the final stages in their research initiatives. Initially, Chang divided the team into project sub-teams — environmental, economic, programming, and writing — with each team helping contribute to the project’s larger endeavors. Now all sub-teams have recombined and are awaiting a public response to their recent publication.

Meanwhile, the team is struggling to raise funds for the necessary publication fee.

“One of our team members fronted a 2 grand publication fee,” says Chang, project lead. “I don’t think anybody from the Coronavirus Visualization Team should be given that kind of financial burden. We hope to reimburse this team member and need help to raise money to do so. We have already reached out to NBC29 but I fear that even this isn’t enough.”

As a result, the team has been focusing on marketing and outreach to raise the 2,000 dollar fee. They have already created a GoFundMe page in the hopes of receiving money by donation, and they have been covered by news outlets like NBC29 to help raise awareness of their current work.

Check out the link above if you would be interested in helping donate to the cause.

Recruitment Needs

Project Fact-Checking The EPA is currently looking for new members interested in helping fundraise to cover the publication fee. As of April 21, the project is just under 2,000 dollars short of the goal.

If you are interested in partaking in any future research initiatives of this project and would like to apply to be a member of the Coronavirus Visualization Team, please fill out this form below. If the team has any recruitment needs in the future, other than fundraising, we may consider your application.

The CVT is always on the lookout for partnerships and project collaborations with organizations that seek data we can use. We welcome organizations that are willing to provide mentorship and resources to help us fulfill our mission. If you would be interested in collaborating and/or mentoring Project Fact-Checking The EPA with any of their media initiatives, please email us at coronavirusvisualizationteam@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading this project update!