August 2, 2022
U.S. Embassy Tallinn Chargé d’Affaires Gabrielle Cowan joined Estonian President Alar Karis, Minister of Education and Research Tõnis Lukas, and GLOBE Director Tony Murphy in Käsmu to open an environmental study program, in cooperation with the U.S. space research center, NASA. During the four-day expedition, 170 students, teachers, and scientists from Estonia and abroad will explore the Käsmu Peninsula to gather environmental measurements which will supplement NASA’s own data. NASA scientists Brian Campbell and Peter Falcon will guide participants throughout the program. The expedition is organized by the GLOBE program in Estonia, in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy in Tallinn, the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research, the Environmental Investment Center, and GLOBE students and alumni.
“Our partnership with GLOBE Estonia is a great example of the creative ways we can work with our Estonian friends to address pressing global challenges like the climate crisis,” said Gabrielle Cowan, Chargé d’Affaires at U.S. Embassy Tallinn. “I want to thank the students and teachers, the GLOBE and NASA Administrators, and our Estonian partners for your commitment to science and environmental education. Your work is so important as we fight climate change.”
GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) is a global environment-oriented education and research program for primary, elementary and high school students. GLOBE’s day-to-day operations in Estonia include making environmental measurements and observations and transmitting data to the globe.gov database. Data and research results collected by the students during the 2022 expedition will be submitted to the GLOBE Global Research Project Competition and will also supplement NASA’s data on land cover, biodiversity, microclimates and the state of water bodies.
The GLOBE program was initiated by U.S. Vice President Al Gore in 1994, and Estonia joined the program in 1996. Estonia’s GLOBE program was recognized in February 2021 as a GLOBEPlus member, one of only nine such programs in the world, and has been frequently commended for the number and quality of environmental measurements the program has provided.
More information about the 2022 GLOBE Expedition can be found here: https://www.globe.ee/grle2022/.