More than four decades ago, the first celebration of Earth Day raised the idea of protecting the environment to a greater public awareness. Today, the annual event is a reminder of the longstanding goal to provide a cleaner, healthier and sustainable environment for everyone to live in. Here at the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI), a national user facility, every day is Earth Day. Our mission emphasizes the decoding of organisms—plants, fungi, algae, microbes and those microbial communities found in complex ecosystems—in, on and around the planet. Our resources provide vital biological infrastructure enabling our thousands of collaborators to address global energy and environmental challenges, particularly in the face of such issues as climate change and the need to develop better renewable, alternative fuels. What follows is just a small sample of the various projects we’re working on to those ends.
Note: to use the interactive Google map below, click the expand Full Screen brackets in upper right hand corner, and click the project names to find out more about each project.