Key Information

Goal: Build a rich directory of Environmental Data Torrents Files Date: Mar 28 to 31, 2025, depending on your timezone. 48 hrs event over the weekend. Location: Online, Zoom Link: https://tinyurl.com/ClimateDataSafeHack People: Anyone interested in helping with climate data, no coding experience required, all levels welcome. Communication channel: Slack Visual Collaboration channel: Miro Content Collaboration & Wiki: Notion Price & Award: Free to participate, save the planet Registration: Required on Luma: https://lu.ma/a3sjmyeb

https://youtu.be/3Rktv8Ade1Q

Table of contents

Goals

In the two previous editions of the Climate Data Safe Hackathon, we studied climate data vulnerabilities and developed a concept for safeguarding environmental data. Our approach ensures data is verified through certification, scalable through torrent technology, and sustainable using blockchain-based micropayments for data producers. We also defined our guiding principles and potential sustainable revenue model.

The goal of Hackathon #2 is to collect environmental datasets, build a prototype of our website, and identify future partners. Through this work, we will draft an answer to the question: "How might we collect, verify, and share climate data in a scalable and sustainable way?"

We will work in sub groups

Data Gatherers: Collect Data

While several groups effectively collect, list, and host environmental data, their storage solutions often face challenges: they can be costly, environmentally inefficient, and lack resilience.

We will be building :

• a list of environmental data saving initiatives analysing how they work
• “back the backers” by converting their most significant data sets into torrents for long term availability (past archive, real time feed, future projections).

System Builders: Build Website

What tools and interfaces should we develop to build a system that is scalable, resilient, eco-friendly, easy to maintain, and future-proof?

We will be building:

• a clear workflow with selected tools for environmental data producers to convert their environmental data sets into torrents, and list their data sets with all the required meta data
• a database-backed website to verify files, list torrents with simple search, sort, and filter functions. The final product should have similar functions as “The Pirate Bay” for Environmental Data sets.

Social Connectors: Grow Network

To scale our initiative we need to identify

Environmental data producers

• the data sets at risk
• the organisations and people we should be talking to, as potential collaborators
• Conferences, slack channels, online communities…

Environmental data “consumers”

• who could use our environmental data (if formatted in novel useful ways?)

Climate Data Supporters

• who could support our initiative with grants, and invest in the systems we are trying to build

At the Closing Session, we will demo:

The Problem

1. [Data Gatherers] Provide an overview of the challenge: climate change and vanishing environmental data (quantity and formats), over-centralized existing initiatives, US-centric focus, limited scalability and resilience, high costs and environmental impact, and poor accessibility for non-experts.