The food you eat, the water you drink, the materials your home is built from, and the fuel that gives you electrical power are all in finite supply. Luckily, Earth has plenty of resources for everyone — so long as people manage them properly. Sustainable practices work toward a world where you, everyone else on the planet, and all future inhabitants of Earth will have their needs met.

Data collected by NASA’s Earth-observing instruments help scientists understand the environmental side of sustainability, from deforestation to agriculture to air quality. However, sustainability also concerns social and economic factors. In addition to satellite data, NASA curates information from socioeconomic studies to provide a full picture of sustainability around the world.

Our data products useful for the study of sustainability include population and land area estimates, natural resource protection and child health indicators, and satellite data about freshwater availability trends. These data have been used for worldwide sustainability surveys and for studies into specific areas.