Climate Action
Mapping the Environmental Movement: My Week at the Esri User Conference
July 24, 2025
Michael Karapetian
Mapping the Environmental Movement: My Week at the Esri User Conference
Hic Sunt Dracones – Here be dragons. Once used on old maps to mark dangerous or unknown territories, this phrase was shown during a presentation at the Esri User Conference, the largest Geographic Information Systems(GIS) conference in the world, and it stuck with me.
Steve Jewett and I were here to present EARTHDAY.ORG’s mapping systems that showcase environmental events happening all around the world. This phrase stuck with me because not long ago, much of the environmental movement remained invisible and uncharted. No one was tracking actions globally. But through our systems at EARTHDAY.ORG, we’ve begun to change that; we now have over 40,000 events captured around the world, with the goal of tracking every action and showcasing how powerful this movement really is.
We were ready to share what we’ve built, and to learn a lot from this amazing community.
Day 1: Sunday, July 13
Weather: Another Beautiful Day in San Diego
Mood: Thrilled
A 3:30 a.m. wake-up call is never fun, but when you’re on your way to one of the biggest and most important conferences of your life, it’s hard not to be excited. My 6 a.m. flight took off, and I used the time en route to San Diego to map out a few goals for the 2025 Esri User Conference. We’d be presenting on Thursday, and our main objective was simple: get as many people to our session as possible. This meant connecting with the 20,000 attendees traveling to the city. We were up to the challenge.
Our mapping systems are managed in a partnership with The Environmental Alliance, founded by Steve Jewett. I first got into environmental work by interning with him years ago for his other organization, National Cleanup Day, so collaborating with him was a full-circle moment.
The first thing we did was head straight to the mountains for a hike. Steve and I put a sign at the bottom of the trail that read Cleanup in Progress, and with our pickers and a bucket in hand, we started the hike picking up trash along the way.
Steve had an ulterior motive: to make me a better salesman. I am by no means shy, but Steve is on another level. He had been a wildly successful salesman in a previous life, and was determined to get me warmed up for the conference. Between the two of us, we carried over 2,000 business cards sharing our contacts and presentation details for Thursday. The hike was our warm-up.
If someone thanked us for picking up trash—and many did—that was our opening. Steve would jump in and say, “Hey, Michael has something for you,” and I’d have to continue with a pitch about Earth Day, cleanups, our mapping systems, and hand them a card.
We finally made it to badge pickup, had a few conversations with conference-goers, and headed to our first social of the week: EDGE – Ethnically Diverse Geospatial Engagement, a networking event focused on diversity in GIS. There, we met up with our mapping consultants, Dympatic, and one of their head developers, Jessica, who would be presenting with us on Thursday.
After chatting for hours, we called it a night. Early Monday morning we would be off to the races.
Day 2: Monday, July 14
Weather: Bright and Sunny – Wow, what a beautiful day in San Diego
Mood: Inspired
The Plenary is the highlight of the Esri User Conference. This is where Jack Dangermond addresses a crowd of 20,000 people live, plus another 60,000 tuning in from around the world. As someone still new to the GIS world, it was wild to see how much people revered this man, and the empire he has built. I soon understood why.
The event opened with a video, and the famous Earth Rise photo that showed Earth hovering in the black of space. How special was that tiny little dot full of life, and full of us.
“We are living in challenging times,” Jack said to the crowd of 20,000 people. As an environmentalist and activist I deeply felt the weight of his words. He continued, “The difference between a normal person and a hero is this: A hero gets up and does something.”
What does this have to do with maps? Turns out, a lot actually. The power of maps (or the “Power of Where,” as Esri puts it) allows us to take complex data about the world around us, analyze it, and use that data to design a future that is equitable, just, and sustainable. The professionals in the room ranged from civil engineers to defense analysts to conservationists and humanitarians. Each using GIS to help the world function.
Our systems at EARTHDAY.ORG allow us to map the environmental movement on a global scale. It helps us to organize what is happening, when, and where, from cleanups to round table discussions, so we can make an actionable difference in shaping our future. People often tell me they don’t feel like the work they do in their communities moves the needle. But that feeling disappears when you zoom out and see a map dotted with millions of others doing the same work.
After the plenary, we went to the area where universities were tabling, spoke with a dozen of them, inviting them and their students to attend our session. Then it was off to the map gallery, where we were handing out cards like madmen.
The night ended with our second social, GUiCE: GIS Users in Clean Energy, hosted by Dympatic. Met a lot of people, handed out more cards, made it back to Steve’s house, and crashed.
Day 3: Tuesday, July 15
Weather: What? Yet another beautiful day in San Diego?
Mood: Focused
I came downstairs first thing in the morning to see Steve already at it. The conference had an app that allowed you to message attendees directly, and Steve had already messaged 100 people. We had ten meetings scheduled for the day and I haven’t even had coffee. It’ll be another productive day!
We head to the Expo hall full of companies from all over the world showcasing their products that use GIS. We had our meetings, and explored the hall.
Eventually Steve and I split up. I ducked into a few sessions to learn more about how GIS works in the nonprofit and humanitarian space. The day ended with yet another social: The GIS for Good social. My kind of people. The food, made up of the best empanadas I’ve ever had, matched with some phenomenal varieties of salsa. We spent the night talking to people from all over about our work, made great connections, and possibly some good friends too. Hopefully, they show up to our session.
Once we made it back to Steve’s house, we crashed again.
Day 4: Wednesday, July 16
Weather: Oh my goodness, it’s YET another beautiful day in San Diego
Mood: Slipping
At this point, we’re three full days (and three socials) in. We’d talked with hundreds of people about our work and theirs, made friends, business connections, and had several people confirmed to come to our session. Today’s mission was to practice our presentation in the presenter hall and check out a few sessions from our friends.
Coffee in hand, we set up in the hall to rehearse. We’d been practicing for weeks, but today something clicked. I didn’t need notes. I didn’t need guidance. I knew everything on our slides by heart, and then I realized why. I had pitched our session, Earth Day’s mission, and our mapping systems to hundreds of people in the past three days, each time in a slightly different way. I knew it by heart.
Later that night, we attended our fourth social of the week: the Young Professionals Network social (Steve came as an “honorary” youngin’). There, I got the chance to speak to Jack Dangermond. We had a quick but meaningful conversation.
Steve and I promised we’d end the night early as we had to present the next day. But then they brought out a massive roasted fish for everyone to share… and of course, we weren’t going to let that go to waste.
Made it back home… eventually. Crashed.
Day 5: Thursday, July 17
Weather: Have I mentioned that it’s a beautiful day in San Diego
Mood: Cooked.
Exhausted from the hard work the past few days, I grabbed coffee at the conference center and we set up at the practice area. We ran through our presentation several times and nailed each one. We were ready. We just hoped our hard work to connect with people paid off and people would show up.
It was finally time for the session, and looking around the room, I realized about two-thirds of the audience were people we’d met during the week and personally invited. These were the right people who were genuinely interested and who were the right connections to continue to build our work.
We crushed it. The presentation had energy, flow, and crowd work. And most importantly, we got each person deeply invested in our work, our mission, and our vision for the future. The questions afterward were thoughtful and engaging. It was a genuinely fun exchange of information.
To celebrate the week, Esri hosted a massive party at Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres. We explored the stadium, met up with many of the people we met throughout the week. No better way to end the conference.
Day 6: Friday, July 18
Weather: Cloudy
Mood: Proud and deeply satisfied
Ending on a great note, Steve and I made it to the closing ceremony, where Jack was going to address the crowd one last time.
Jack reflected on the impact of the conference and left us with more wisdom. He reminded us that we no longer see our world as just a rock floating in space, but as a living ecosystem. It’s the foundation for all life and everything we know. With the power of data and knowledge, we have the ability to create the world we want. One that is more just, safe, and sustainable for all.
The week leaves me with a lot to reflect on. First, I now have hundreds of ideas swirling in my head for how we can improve the systems and maps we use to better serve the global environmental movement. And, most importantly, to continue to bring resources to the communities that need it most.
Second, the work we do at EARTHDAY.ORG is vital to protecting the environment and our shared future. It’s needed now more than ever.
Third, I’m deeply grateful to have had this experience, and to have spent it alongside my mentor and friend, Steve. I’ve known him a long time, yet he still had a lot to teach me. I now feel like I can talk to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Thanks, Steve.
With no official socials that night, we created our own. We went out with Steve’s wife and our friend Bill Willoughby, co-founder of National Cleanup Day and another mentor of mine.
The sunset on San Diego, despite the clouds, and I left the city with new ideas, friends, and experiences to shape the work I do at EARTHDAY.ORG.
Time to use what I learned and get back to work.
