Former NASA Executives and Researchers Establish Climate Action Alliance

​Lori Garver, former NASA deputy administrator, has teamed with leading environmental and space scientists to form Earthrise Alliance, a philanthropic initiative established to fully utilize Earth science data to combat climate change. Earthrise Alliance funds fellowships and awards grants to partner organizations that engage and activate educators, journalists, voters and decision makers. In addition, Earthrise Alliance provides partners with meaningful content, tools and applications derived from satellite data to inform the actions of these target communities.  

Stressing the importance of their mission, Garver reflects that, “In the 50 years since the first Earthrise photo was taken by Apollo 8 astronauts, our planet has literally changed before our eyes. Investment in space activities has driven scientific and technological advances that have transformed our understanding of Earth’s changing climate. Earthrise Alliance was created to translate this knowledge into meaningful action and to inform critical decision making that supports and sustains humanity on planet Earth.”

Steve McCormick, co-founder of The Earth Genome and former president of The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and The Nature Conservancy, states that “Earthrise Alliance is a transformative force to mobilize action for the environment. The Earthrise Alliance team combines world-class expertise in data science with experienced industry leaders and policy-makers to empower key constituencies with critically important and timely information.”

NASA alumni joining Garver on the Earthrise Alliance leadership team include Cassie Lee, recently the head of space programs for Vulcan Inc. and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation; Dr. Dan Hammer, former White House senior policy advisor and winner of the Pritzker Environment Award; Jason Kessler, former project director of Mission Control Earth and program executive at NASA; and Dr. Edward Boyda a quantum physicist and Rhodes scholar in English literature. Earthrise Alliance is supported by an acclaimed advisory board that includes Megan Smith, former U.S. chief technology officer; Dr. Ellen Stofan, former NASA chief scientist and director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum; Andy Revkin, strategic adviser for environmental and science journalism at National Geographic; and Cady Coleman, former NASA astronaut.

Additional information is available at EarthriseAlliance.org.

Earthrise Alliance is a project of The Earth Genome (www.earthgenome.org) and the Windward Fund (www.windwardfund.org) and an initiative of Mountain Philanthropies.