8. A system having a computer processor and memory for accessing environmental information from a user computer, comprising: an environmental database, the environmental database containing addresses to environmental information related to project information, setting information, impact information, or mitigation information: wherein project information comprises information about an environment-modifying event, the environment-modifying event including an environment-modifying natural event or construction project; wherein setting information comprises information about a natural, constructed or socioeconomic feature in the area of the project; wherein impact information comprises information about a change to the setting brought about by the project and wherein mitigation information comprises information about a feature designed to ameliorate a potential environmental impact of the project; a metadata database, the metadata database containing a controlled vocabulary or a user defined vocabulary of metadata terms associated with the addresses, wherein the controlled vocabulary contains terms of metadata and an electronic thesaurus relates one metadata term to search terms, specific values or other user-specified indicators, wherein the electronic thesaurus comprises equivalent terms, the metadata being associated with at least some of the environmental information within a source of information with metadata, including some interrelated project information, setting information, impact information, and mitigation information, wherein the metadata is selected from the controlled vocabulary or a user-defined vocabulary to characterize the environmental information; and a user interface, the user interface adapted to receive a search term from the user computer and applying the search term to the metadata database with weighted metadata.
8. A system having a computer processor and memory for accessing environmental information from a user computer, comprising: an environmental database, the environmental database containing addresses to environmental information related to project information, setting information, impact information, or mitigation information: wherein project information comprises information about an environment-modifying event, the environment-modifying event including an environment-modifying natural event or construction project; wherein setting information comprises information about a natural, constructed or socioeconomic feature in the area of the project; wherein impact information comprises information about a change to the setting brought about by the project and wherein mitigation information comprises information about a feature designed to ameliorate a potential environmental impact of the project; a metadata database, the metadata database containing a controlled vocabulary or a user defined vocabulary of metadata terms associated with the addresses, wherein the controlled vocabulary contains terms of metadata and an electronic thesaurus relates one metadata term to search terms, specific values or other user-specified indicators, wherein the electronic thesaurus comprises equivalent terms, the metadata being associated with at least some of the environmental information within a source of information with metadata, including some interrelated project information, setting information, impact information, and mitigation information, wherein the metadata is selected from the controlled vocabulary or a user-defined vocabulary to characterize the environmental information; and a user interface, the user interface adapted to receive a search term from the user computer and applying the search term to the metadata database with weighted metadata. 12. The system of claim 8 wherein the metadata specifies a scientific name.