Blog posts categorized by Science Communication
A young woman leans over the side of the boat, dangling a Secchi disk into the water. The black-and-white disk is still visible at this depth. The depth of a Secchi disk tells us how clear the water is. Above the young woman's head, a thought bubble reads, "...I hope I don't drop this"

Clean water sustains life

Annie Carew ·
26 August 2025
| Science Communication | 

Living in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, water is a constant topic of conversation. The health of our waterways is important to the health and happiness of communities, whether you live on the Eastern Shore or in the Appalachians. Clean water impacts everyone. People, plants, and animals all rely on having clean and reliable sources of water. Aquatic food webs—underwater plants, insect larvae, and fishes of all sizes—cannot function if the water is polluted.

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Bridging Science and Community: The 2025 Chesapeake Bay Report Card

Julia Frangenberg ·
25 June 2025
| Science Communication |     2 comments

The Chesapeake Bay and its watershed are more than beautiful landscapes. They are the backbone of local economies, habitat for rare and fascinating species, and the home of complex systems between humans, wildlife, and policy. Intensifying climate change and urban development increase stressors negatively impacting this rich ecosystem and the people who rely on it. In 1998, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) produced its first annual “State of the Bay” report card.

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Lessons learned from a two and a half year project on the Upper Rio Grande

Nathan Miller ·
21 February 2023
| Science Communication | Environmental Report Cards | 

This past November, IAN, in collaboration with its partners from WWF, Audubon Southwest, and The University of Massachusetts Amherst published a socio-environmental health report card for the Upper Rio Grande. The report card covers a section of the Rio Grande that stretches from the river’s headwaters in the Colorado Rockies to Fort Quitman, TX. Project members cast a wide net to retrieve relevant data that would allow us to analyze the region's environmental, social, and economic conditions.

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