Earthrise Alliance is a left-of-center environmentalist climate advocacy group. The organization uses satellite imagery to document the changes to the natural environment. The organization advocates for a change in NASA policy that would make combating climate change the organization’s main mission.

Earthrise Alliance is a project of the Windward Fund, which is a nonprofit managed by the for-profit consulting firm Arabella Advisors. Arabella Advisors has faced criticism for forming a left-of-center “dark money” advocacy network. ¹

Overview

Earthrise Alliance was formed in 2019 with the goal of using satellite imagery in order to push for action in combating climate change. ²

Lori Garver, the head of Earthrise Alliance and a former labor union and Obama administration official and science advisor to 2016 Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, ³ was an advocate for using satellite data to make the argument for environmentalist policy on climate change. NASA has already been playing a leading role to advance the argument that human activity was the cause of the rapid changing of the Earth’s climate. ⁴

Earthrise Alliance pulls its information from private satellite operators. Among the companies that EA draws its information from are Planet, National Geographic, Schmidt Futures, and Maxar’s DigitalGlobe subsidiary. ⁵

In addition to using data from those private organizations, Earthrise Alliance also unites the efforts of Mission Control Earth, which is a supporter of the Climate Modeling Alliance, and Earthrise Media, which makes satellite imagery available for humanitarian and news reporting purposes. ⁶

EA is a project of the Windward Fund. It is also an initiative of Mountain Philanthropies. ⁷

In 2020, Garver was campaigning to make NASA’s top priority combating climate change. She called for doubling NASA’s budget from $2 billion to $4 billion on Earth science. Among the programs covered in NASA’s Earth science budget are satellites that monitor the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and land. ⁸

Garver also said that the Earthrise Alliance would have a set of policies ready if a Democrat was elected president. She also claims that we only had ten years to act before the planet would sustain permanent damage. ⁹

Staff

Lori Garver is the CEO of the Earthside Alliance. Before she worked in the role, she worked as a science advisor to former U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Before that, she worked as a general manager of the Air Line Pilots Association, an AFL-CIO-affiliated labor union of commercial airline pilots. She was a deputy administrator of NASA in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013. ¹⁰

Dan Hammer is the chief technology officer for Earthrise Alliance. He also serves as a fellow and senior advisor to the National Geographic Labs. He specializes in using satellite imagery for environmental storytelling. Before that, he was a senior policy advisor in 2016 to the Obama administration. ¹¹

Cassie Lee is the chief operating officer of Earthrise Alliance. Before that she was the head of space programs for Vulcan Incorporated. Her focus was using satellite and other space-based data to combat climate change, improve ocean health, and save species at risk of extinction. ¹²

1. Shaw, Adam. “’Shadowy’ Dark Money Network Behind Left-Wing Causes Exposed in New Report.” Capital Research Center. Capital Research Center, April 17, 2019. https://capitalresearch.org/article/shadowy-dark-money-network-behind-left-wing-causes-exposed-in-new-report/.
2.    Boyle, Alan. 2019. “Earthrise Alliance Aims To Turn Data From Space Into A Resource For Climate Action”. Geekwire. https://www.geekwire.com/2019/earthrise-alliance-aims-turn-data-space-resource-climate-action/.  
3.    “Lori Garver”. 2020. Linkedin. Accessed January 27. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-garver-64695362/.
4. Boyle, Alan. 2019. “Earthrise Alliance Aims To Turn Data From Space Into A Resource For Climate Action”. Geekwire. https://www.geekwire.com/2019/earthrise-alliance-aims-turn-data-space-resource-climate-action/.
5. Boyle, Alan. 2019. “Earthrise Alliance Aims To Turn Data From Space Into A Resource For Climate Action”. Geekwire. https://www.geekwire.com/2019/earthrise-alliance-aims-turn-data-space-resource-climate-action/.
6. Boyle, Alan. 2019. “Earthrise Alliance Aims To Turn Data From Space Into A Resource For Climate Action”. Geekwire. https://www.geekwire.com/2019/earthrise-alliance-aims-turn-data-space-resource-climate-action/.
7. Boyle, Alan. 2019. “Earthrise Alliance Aims To Turn Data From Space Into A Resource For Climate Action”. Geekwire. https://www.geekwire.com/2019/earthrise-alliance-aims-turn-data-space-resource-climate-action/.
8. Hofacker, Cat. 2020. “Former NASA Deputy Makes Case For Climate Focus”. Aerospace America. https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/former-nasa-deputy-makes-case-for-climate-focus/.
9. Hofacker, Cat. 2020. “Former NASA Deputy Makes Case For Climate Focus”. Aerospace America. https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/former-nasa-deputy-makes-case-for-climate-focus/.
10. “Lori Garver”. 2020. Linkedin. Accessed January 27. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-garver-64695362/.   
11. “Dan Hammer”. 2020. Linkedin. Accessed January 27. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-hammer/.
12. “Cassie Lee”. 2020. Linkedin. Accessed January 27. https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassie-kloberdanz-lee-2895782/.