Earth 911 site a model for e-gov
- By William Matthews
- Apr 29, 2002
Earth 911
Chris Warner is trying to turn his Web site, Earth 911, into the global
source for practical environmental information.
It has taken 11 years, but Earth 911 (www.Earth911.org)
now receives environmental information from 10,000 localities across the
United States. Just enter your ZIP code and discover where to get rid of
used oil and old tires, how to dispose of outdated medicines, where to find
electric vehicle charging stations or how to recycle grass clippings.
"I'm just trying to save the world," said Warner, who gave up a lucrative
career in real estate development in Phoenix to try to make a difference
in the environment. In the process, he created a Web site that the Bush
administration is citing as a workable model that could be widely used in
e-government.
Stephen Goldsmith, an e-government adviser to President Bush, points
to Earth 911 as the kind of public/private partnership that could save local,
state and federal agencies "millions of dollars" while making information
much easier to find for the people who need it.
Earth 911 is run by the nonprofit Cleanup Inc. and is supported by corporate
sponsors such as the Home Depot Inc., Microsoft Corp., BP PLC and AT&T.
Localities can post information such as telephone numbers and addresses
of recycling centers or special cleanup dates on the site.
The upside is
that localities don't have to spend money operating their own Web sites,
and people know there is one Web site where they can quickly find useful,
local environmental information.
Goldsmith, who advises Bush on e-government matters related to volunteer
service initiatives, is urging government agencies to make wider use of
the Earth 911 model. "Government should stop looking at the number of portals
they can put up" and rely more on a few "private channels" to provide information
to the public, he said April 16 at an e-government conference sponsored
by Microsoft.
In California, for example, before Earth 911, 248 environmental hotlines
were providing information such as locations to dispose of motor oil. There
were 52 just in Los Angeles County, according to Warner.
It is much harder — and more expensive to keep so many hotlines operating
and current than to maintain one Web site, he said.
Warner said he is aware of nine government agencies — federal, state
and local — that are considering developing Web sites based on the Earth
911 model.
"The biggest problem is that government agencies don't want to give
up control of their information," Warner said. "Every city wants its own
portal," even though it often makes more sense for similar information from
several adjacent jurisdictions to be in one place.
"We have information from 26 government agencies on one page. The public
doesn't care who runs the page," they just want easy access to the information,
he said.