What Would Rachel Say?

2012-02-02T09:31:00.003-05:00

Rachel Carson: A Life in Perspective | University of Southern Maine usm.maine.edu/environmental-science/rachel-carson

Rachel Carson was one of the most influential people of the 20th Century and 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of the path-breaking book, Silent Spring. As a trained scienctist with incredible literacy skill, Rachel Carson communicated to a global audience that humans are not separate from their environment and therefore the indiscriminate spraying of persistant pesticides was folly. She was able to change the public policy debate on the urgent need for environmental protection. Rachel Carson demonstrated that one person can change the world.

One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again? - Rachel Carson

Part of Rachel's inspirations and perspectives were shaped by her years spent on the Maine coast (she spent summers at Southport Island) studying and observing the natural environment. In celebrating Rachel Carson's connections to Maine and her impact on comtemporary society, multiple events are being planned at USM for the spring semester.

Rachel Carson in My Life: Memories and Meaning

Monday, April 16, 5:30 p.m., Lee Hall, Wishcamper Center, Portland

Martha Freeman, USM, author of the book, Always Rachel: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman, 1952-1964, will discuss a special collection of letters from Rachel Carson to her Maine summer neighbor Dorothy Freeman.

Film Screening: A Sense of Wonder

Monday, April 16, 11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m., Lee Hall, Wishcamper Center, Portland
Tuesday, April 17, 12:30-1:30 p.m., Brooks Faculty Dining, Gorham
Thursday, April 19, 1:00-2:30 p.m., LAC Room 287, LAC

This documentary-style film (55 minutes) is a one-actress play in which Rachel Carson recounts - with humor and anger - the challenge of getting her message to Congress and the public amidst widespread personal attack.

More information: asenseofwonderfilm.com. Discussion will follow the screening.

Panel Discussion Thursday, April 19, 5:00 p.m., Hannaford Lecture Hall, Portland

Sponsored by the Department of Environmental Science and the Women and Gender Studies Program

This discussion will highlight the influence of Rachel Carson on the perspectives and lives of five current female environmental leaders in Maine. The event will be moderated by Naomi Schalit, Executive Director of Pinetree Watchdog. Naomi is the former Executive Director of Maine Rivers and former reporter and producer for Maine Public Radio. Panelists include:

Pattie Aho, DEP Commissioner
Michele Dionne, Ph.D., Research Director, Wells National Estuarine Research Preserve
Melissa Welsh Innes, Maine State Representative (D-N. Yarmouth)
Lisa Pohlmann, Executive Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine
Amanda Sears, Associate Director, Environmental Health Strategy Center

2012-02-01T09:14:00.004-05:00

Why Carson still inspires
Wednesday Journal, Tuesday, January 31st, 2012, Peggy McGrath, One View

Whenever I try to point out the debt of gratitude we owe to Rachel Carson, the response is often, "I know the name," but not much else.

I was in that camp myself until several years ago when I read her book, Silent Spring.

At that time, several women and I were concerned with the chemical spraying of mosquitos in Michigan. And there in her book, written 50 years ago, the same chemical was defined as toxic. What? Fifty years ago? That was when my exploration of environmental concerns intensified and became more focused.

2012 is the 50th anniversary of Silent Spring. What a perfect time to acknowledge Rachel Carson and reiterate her message. With political attacks on the EPA and existing environmental laws, we need her voice more than ever. It is acknowledged that without her book, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Air and Clean Water acts, and numerous other environmental agencies would not exist.

READ MORE http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/01-31-2012/Why_Carson_still_inspires

2012-01-31T11:40:00.002-05:00

*Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Contest

Sense of "Water" Contest
2012 is the 40th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act, and this year's Sense of Wonder contest will focus on water. For this year only, the contest has been renamed as the Sense of Water Contest in honor of the 40th Anniversary. Deadline for entries is June 1, 2012.

2012-01-31T10:40:00.004-05:00

The Robins Of MSU, George Wallace and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, MSU Alumni Magazine – Winter 2012 by Gary Morgan
A half century ago, George Wallace—and the robins—of MSU helped inspire Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, arguably the most important book in the 20th century.... READ ARTICLE

Upcoming Events:

In May 2012, the Michigan State University Museum will open an exhibit on the story and legacy of Silent Spring, including specimens of the robins collected by Wallace and his students on the campus of MSU. Check out the Silent Spring walking trail that connects campus spots where events happened Relevant to the book.

The MSU Museum will feature Dying to be Heard, a 30-minute documentary based on the story of Wallace and his robins produced in 2007 by MSU s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism.

Each year, the MSU Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability and Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife stage the Rachel Carson Lecture Series about global environmental challenges. The MSU Department of Zoology offers an annual George J. Wallace and Martha C. Wallace Endowed Scholarship Award for graduate students in ornithology.

Sentinel Lion

2012-01-25T13:20:00.004-05:00

Mary Lamielle Receives Martin Luther King Freedom Medal

Mary Lamielle, executive director of the National Center for Environmental Health Strategies, is one of fourteen Camden County, New Jersey, residents chosen to receive the 2012 Camden County Freedom Medal, honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for their unselfish contributions to improving their community.

For three decades Mary has dedicated herself to promoting the public health and improving the lives of people sick or disabled by environmental exposures. She has served on dozens of federal and state advisory committees including the recently concluded CDC National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures. She is a member of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Public Interest Partners and HUD’s Disability Task Force.

Mary was nominated for the Freedom Medal by Diane Reibel, Assistant Professor of Physiology at Thomas Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia. In nominating Mary, Dr. Reibel noted that “I met Mary twenty-five years ago when I became ill from chemicals in my research laboratory. Mary’s knowledge, support, and advocacy were a life saver for me. What Mary did for me, she has done for thousands of people across New Jersey and tens of thousands nationwide.”

Mary was recently honored with the 2011 New Jersey Governor’s Jefferson Award for Public Service, PSEG Environmental Stewardship Award, and a 2010 US EPA Region 2 Environmental Quality Award, the highest civilian award given by the EPA.

The Camden County Freedom Medal award was created in 2001 to honor the ideals indicative of the slain civil rights leader. According to Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli Jr., “This is Camden County’s way of honoring Dr. King.”

Medals will be presented during an evening ceremony at the Camden County Boathouse at Cooper River on January 20.

Author: National Center for Environmental Health Strategies, Press Release, January 2012

2012-01-24T15:06:00.003-05:00

Beyond Pesticides. Do you want to protect kids from pesticides in schools? Contact your Representative. January 24, 2012

Ask your U.S. Representative to sign-on as an original co-sponsor the School Environmental Protection Act (SEPA). Later this month, Rep. Rush Holt and colleagues will be introducing SEPA, a bill to protect children from pesticides in schools, and it is important that this legislation be introduced with as much support as possible. Please forward this email to your friends and family!

It is time that our nation embraces a basic protection to ensure a healthy learning environment, many of the standards that have been adopted in 35 states. More information, including your state's requirements, are available on Beyond Pesticides' SEPA webpage (bill text, summary, Mr. Holt’s “Dear Colleague” letter, and other useful information).

Need for Federal Legislation

Children need better protection from toxic chemical exposure while at school. Numerous scientific studies find that pesticides used in schools are linked to cancer, asthma and other health problems. A 2010 Harvard University study links everyday pesticide exposure to ADHD. While some states have taken limited action to protect children from pesticides in schools, these policies represent a patchwork of laws that are uneven and inadequate. SEPA would provide a minimum national standard to protect kids in their places of learning.

SEPA Summary

-- SEPA requires that all public schools adopt defined integrated pest management (IPM) programs for buildings that emphasize non-chemical pest management strategies and only use least-toxic pesticides as a last resort.

-- Requires organic management of school grounds and playing fields, and prohibits synthetic fertilizers due to their adverse impact on healthy soils, plants, and turf, and associated environmental impacts.

-- Least-toxic pesticides do not include: carcinogens, reproductive and developmental toxicants, nervous and immune system poisons, endocrine disruptors, or have data gaps or missing information on health effects, as well as outdoor pesticides that adversely affect wildlife, have high soil mobility, or are groundwater contaminants.

-- The bill establishes a 12-member National School IPM Advisory Board that, with the help of a technical advisory panel, will develop school IPM standards and a list of allowable least-toxic pesticide products.

-- It requires each state to develop its IPM plan as part of its existing state cooperative agreement with the U.S. EPA.

-- A public health emergency provision allows the use of a pesticide, if warranted. In this case, notification of the pesticide application is required to be provided to all parents of students and school staff.

Take Action Now.

2012-01-18T12:53:00.001-05:00

New oil spill reaches Bay of Plenty beach

tvnz.co.nz

Small globules of oil have begun washing up in the Bay of Plenty following the latest oil spill from the wreck of the Rena.

... Much debris has also washed up on Matakana Island, including alarge quantity of small plastic beads that could be dangerous towildlife.

Container recovery company Braemar Howells had acted quickly tosecure the container of plastic beads, MNZ said.
It held 660 bags, containing nearly 17 tonnes of the 2-3mmtranslucent polymer beads used in the plastics industry.
The beads are used by the plastics industry and aren'tbiodegradable, but authorities insist they're unlikely to cause toomuch damage...

Another perspective on birds and plastic: Animal Planet Link

Chris Jordan's work attempts to place the impact of consumerism in perspective. For his latest project he traveled to the Midway Islands, near the heart of the Pacific Trash Gyre, to photograph the decomposed bodies of chicks that have been fed plastic litter by confused parents.

2012-01-18T11:05:00.000-05:00

Sentinel Lion 2012

Courageous Whistleblower Wants You To Know: The Keystone Pipeline is a Lemon January 8, 2012

... As an inspector who was responsible for monitoring the pipeline’s construction, Klink has already witnessed more than a dozen spills at pumping stations that were covered up and not reported.

Why did Klink come forward knowing that telling the truth would cost him his job? After sharing what he had seen with his family, his own kids who love and believe in him, didn’t want their Dad to be part of a sinister corporate cover-up. Sounds like Mike passed along some important “family values” to his children...

Mike Klink: Keystone XL pipeline not safe
By Mike Klink | Posted: Saturday, December 31, 2011
Read: http://journalstar.com/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/mike-klink-keystone-xl-pipeline-not-safe/article_4b713d36-42fc-5065-a370-f7b371cb1ece.html

...Despite its boosters' advertising, this project is not aboutjobs or energy security. It is about money. And whenever my formeremployer Bechtel, working on behalf of TransCanada, had to choosebetween safety and saving money, they chose to save money.

Read more: http://journalstar.com/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/mike-klink-keystone-xl-pipeline-not-safe/article_4b713d36-42fc-5065-a370-f7b371cb1ece.html#ixzz1jpGuMOWs

... After repeatedly telling the contractor and TransCanada about my concerns, I lost my job.

But I couldn't watch silently as a company put innocent people at risk with a haphazardly built pipeline. I am speaking out on behalf of my children and your children.

Oil spills are no joke. We need to do all we can to protect our water and our food. I am glad the Nebraska Legislature stepped up to protect Nebraskans. I can only hope that they stand up to TransCanada. We should all take a hard look at the damage that this pipeline will do. I should know; I've s een it in person.

2012-01-18T08:43:00.003-05:00

The 30th National Pesticide Forum
March 30-31, 2012
Healthy Communities: Green solutions for safe environments,Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Kroon Hall, New Haven, CT

Although organic farming and land management continue togrow, policies to protect people from pesticides are threatened in theNortheast and around the country. At the same time, cutting-edgescience links pesticide exposure to health problems, honey bee colonycollapse, and other environmental issues. Join researchers, authors,beekeepers, organic business leaders, elected officials, activists,and others to discuss the latest science, policy solutions, andgrassroots action.

Register online and learn more: http://www.beyondpesticides.org/forum/

Fees start at $35 ($15 for students) and include all sessions, conference materials, and organic food and drink. Non-members: $75 (Incl one-year membership.)

Join: Membership

Speakers. Confirmed speaker highlights include: Gary Hirshberg, chairman and co-founder of Stonyfield Farms; John Wargo, PhD, author and Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies professor; David Hackenberg, beekeeper to first discover Colony Collapse Disorder; Curt Spalding, Administrator for EPA's New England Region; Christian Krupke, PhD, Purdue University entomologist studying impacts of systemic pesticides on bees; Chip Osborne, organic turf expert and president of Osborne Organics; and more. See full speaker list.

Organizers. The conference is convened by Beyond Pesticides, Environment and Human Health, Inc., and the Watershed Partnership, Inc., and co-sponsored by Audubon Connecticut, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Connecticut Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA), Grassroots Environmental Education, Green Decade/ Newton, GreenCape, NOFA Massachusetts Chapter, Northern New Jersey Safe Yards Alliance, Rivers Alliance of Connecticut, SafeLawns Foundation, Sierra Club-Connecticut Chapter, and Toxics Action Center. Contact us if your organization is interested in co-sponsoring this event.

IPM on the World Stage

2012-01-11T18:44:00.001-05:00

The 7th International IPM Symposium is right around the corner and registration will be open in the next couple of days. The 7th International IPM Symposium, "IPM on the World Stage" is in Memphis, TN from March 27 - 29th. For more information on the Symposium and to register, visit our website at www.ipmcenters.org/ipmsymposium12.

Join CAMEL

2012-01-10T09:44:00.002-05:00

The National Council for Science and the Environment and the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors (CEDD) are pleased to inform you that the formal launch of the Climate, Adaptation, Mitigation, E-Learning (CAMEL) online resource and community portal will take place on January 19, 2012 at the 12^th NCSE National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment: Environment and Security in Washington, DC.

CAMEL is a free, comprehensive, interdisciplinary, multi-media online resource for faculty members and other educators to enable them to effectively teach about climate change. CAMEL is developing a climate-literate community of researchers, educators and students to meet the major challenges of the changing climate and is making this information widely accessible by providing a forum for sharing and accessing quality curricular materials...

You may join CAMEL here or contact the CAMEL project director

Reforming the Toxic Substances Act (TSCA)

2012-01-10T09:31:00.001-05:00

The following link to the Physician’s for Social Responsibility (PSR) Environmental Health Policy Institute contains statements by Dr. Georges Benjamin for APHA and other key leaders in the field about reforming the Toxic Substances and Control Act (TSCA). Healthcare professionals and public health advocates across the country are speaking out about the harmful role that toxic chemicals play in our lives, and the need for a robust regulatory strategy to address them. With a bill under consideration in the Senate (the Safe Chemicals Act of 2011), and 12 Senators already signed on to co-sponsor it, will 2012 be the year of comprehensive chemical policy reform?

http://www.psr.org/environment-and-health/environmental-health-policy-institute/

2012-01-05T21:59:00.001-05:00

Growing Power: NPA awards Will Allen with the Rachel Carson Environmental Award for his outstanding contribution to the natural products industry
1/4/2012

Winners to Be Honored at Natural Products Association MarketPlace 2012, June 14-16 in Las Vegas

Milwaukee – The Natural Products Association (NPA) announces the winners of the 19th Annual NPA Awards for outstanding individuals and businesses that have made important contributions to the success of the natural products industry. Awardees will be honored for their achievements during Natural Products Association MarketPlace 2012, NPA’s annual trade show and convention, June 14-16 in Las Vegas. For more information, visit http://www.NPAinfo.org/awards. Honorees include Growing Power’s CEO, Will Allen, who will receive the Rachel Carson Environmental Award for his outstanding contributions to the environmental community.

Through this award the NPA recognizes the breadth of Mr. Allen’s accomplishments within the urban farm movement. By receiving this award, Allen joins a prestigious group of individuals who have made similar significant contributions in the sustainable environmental arena. Past winners include Paul Anastas, known as the father of green chemistry; Denis Hayes, director of the Bullitt Foundation, and creator of Earth Day; Dr. Peter H. Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and expert in biodiversity and species conservation; Dr. Michael Balick, director of the Institute of Economic Botany for the New York Botanical Garden; Alice Waters, chef and champion of locally-grown and natural ingredients; and Frances Moore Lappé, author of Diet for a Small Planet.

Will Allen shared his gratitude for this honor and invited the greater community to join him and the Growing Power team this year as they continue to build the Good Food Revolution, “We offer monthly workshops, job training, farm outreach, internships, and youth programs to improve the environment locally and in communities across America.” He continued, “I believe that healthy communities cannot exist without healthy food systems, especially in urban areas, and I appreciate this recognition by the NPA for the work we have accomplished in Milwaukee, Chicago, and throughout the U.S.”

For more information about the NPA Awards and winners, visit http://www.NPAinfo.org/awards

About Growing Power

Growing Power was started in Milwaukee, Wis., in 1993 by Will Allen, a 2008 winner of a MacArthur “Genius Award” who has long worked to produce and deliver healthy food to low-income communities. It is a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities. Growing Power implements this mission by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner.

About Will Allen

Will Allen, son of a sharecropper, former professional basketball player, ex-corporate sales leader, and now farmer, has become recognized as among the preeminent thinkers of our time on agriculture and food policy. The founder and CEO of Growing Power Inc., a farm and community food center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Allen is widely considered the leading authority in the expanding field of urban agriculture. At Growing Power and in community food projects across the nation and around the world, Allen promotes the belief that all people, regardless of their economic circumstances, should have access to fresh, safe, affordable and nutritious foods at all times. Using methods he has developed over a lifetime, Allen trains community members to become community farmers, assuring them a secure source of good food without regard to political or economic forces. In 2010 Mr. Allen joined First Lady Michelle Obama as she launched the White House’s “Let’s Move” campaign to address issues affecting American youth and the risk of obesity and Mr. Allen was also recognized as one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.

About Natural Products Association

The Natural Products Association (NPA), founded in 1936, is the largest and oldest nonprofit organization dedicated to the natural products industry. NPA represents over 1,900 members accounting for more than 10,000 locations of retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors of natural products, including foods, dietary supplements, and health/beauty aids. As the leading voice of the natural products industry, the NPA’s mission is to advocate for the rights of consumers to have access to products that will maintain and improve their health, and for the rights of retailers and suppliers to sell these products. Visit http://www.NPAInfo.org.

Media Contacts:
Growing Power
Anne Eaton
(414) 527-1546, ext. 102
staff@growingpower.org

Natural Products Association
Michael Keaton
mkeaton@npainfo.org

2011-12-20T09:08:00.001-05:00

Webinar series: Improving Children’s Health through Federal Collaboration

2nd Thursday of every month from 2PM to 3:30PM MST

On this page:

The Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8, and the Health Resources and Services Administration, Region VIII, have organized, in collaboration with other Federal partners, a one-year-long webinar series titled Improving Children’s Health through Federal Collaboration. Children, by their very nature, deserve our focused attention and care especially because:

Their bodily systems are still developing
They eat more, drink more, and breathe more in proportion to their body size
Their behavior patterns increase their exposure to environmental hazards.

Protecting the health of children where they live, learn and play is fundamental to making the world a better place for future generations. The purpose of this webinar series is to encourage coordination, collaboration and information sharing across government agencies and organizations, health care providers, educators, and the general public in addressing children’s health issues.

Please save these dates and join us for the following FREE webinars. Also find descriptions about each webinar below.

November 10, 2011 – Children Grow Best in Healthy Environments
December 8, 2011 – Pediatric Environmental Health Resources for Community Health Professionals
January 12, 2012 – Coordinated School Health: Clean, Green and Healthy Schools
Register now for this webinar
Agenda for the January 12 webinar is coming soon
February 9, 2012 – Obesity Prevention
March 8, 2012 – Affordable Care Act
April 12, 2012 – Communities Working Together for Better Health
May 10, 2012 – Successful Asthma Management
June 14, 2012 – Healthy Homes
July – No Webinar This Month
August 9, 2012 – Children’s Environmental Health Research
September 13, 2012 – National Children’s Study

Descriptions of each webinar

November 10 – Children Grow Best in Healthy Environments
In celebration of Children’s Health Month, this first session will present an overview of children's special vulnerabilities to environmental exposures; prenatal developmental windows of susceptibility; common children's environmental hazards such as air quality, asthma triggers, lead, asbestos and pesticide exposure; and, resources to help you protect children from these exposures.
December 8 – Pediatric Environmental Health Resources for Community Health Professionals
This session will discuss resources and strategies for assisting primary care providers and other community health workers in addressing common pediatric environmental health issues. Topics will include taking an environmental exposure history; pediatric environmental health case studies; and how to access free medical consultation and training through the Rocky Mountain Region Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit.
January 12 – Coordinated School Health: Clean, Green and Healthy Schools
School health programs are often a result of a “patchwork” of policies and programs with differing standards, requirements, and populations to be served. In addition, these programs are managed by professionals from multiple disciplines: education, nursing, social work, psychology, nutrition, and school administration, each bringing different expertise, training, and approaches. This session will explore how Federal, State and local agencies are working together to coordinate the various aspects of school health in order to eliminate gaps, reduce duplication of efforts, and leverage limited resources.
February 9 – Obesity Prevention
Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one in three children in America are overweight or obese. The numbers are even higher in African American and Hispanic communities, where nearly 40% of the children are overweight or obese. If we don't solve this problem, one third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives. This session will highlight Let’s Move!, the First Lady’s initiative dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation as well as HRSA’s Healthy Weight Collaborative, and how states are working to impact childhood obesity through their Title V Block Grants.
March 8 – Affordable Care Act
This Session will include an overview of the new health reform law, the Affordable Care Act, and highlight those sections of the law that are especially helpful for children and families. The Affordable Care Act Increases access to necessary preventative services to help keep children and families healthy. This session will describe the new protections for health insurance consumers, and provisions to lower costs and improve care.

April 12 – Communities Working Together for Better Health
This session will highlight projects where communities are working collaboratively with local, state and federal stakeholders to create healthier environments where children can live, learn and play. These community-based projects and programs focus on geographically, politically, demographically, and/or socially defined areas. Learn about resources available for project assistance, funding, outreach, training, education, and capacity-building.
May 10 – Successful Asthma Management
May is Asthma Awareness Month! Asthma affects almost 25 million people of all ages and races. Despite this prevalence, public awareness of common asthma triggers and effective asthma management strategies remains limited. Join us to learn the latest in successful asthma management including identifying warning signs of an attack, avoiding triggers, asthma clinical guidelines and successful intervention strategies.
June 14 – Healthy Homes
This session will highlight how Federal agencies are working in a coordinated fashion to address multiple housing-related hazards and childhood diseases. The Presentation will also include tools and resources available for communities to create neighborhoods and outdoor spaces that promote public health and encourage healthy lifestyles for all ages.
July – No Webinar This Month
August 9 – Children’s Environmental Health Research
The Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research ("Children's Centers") were established to explore ways to reduce children's health risks from environmental factors. The long-range goals of the Centers include understanding how environmental factors affect children's health, and promoting translation of basic research findings into intervention and prevention methods to prevent adverse health outcomes. This session will share latest research and discuss how the Centers foster research collaborations among basic, clinical, and behavioral scientists with participation from local communities.
September 13 – National Children’s Study
This session will provide an update on The National Children’s Study, the largest long-term study of children’s health ever conducted in the United States. The study plans to follow 100,000 children from before birth to age 21 to learn how the environment influences their health, development, and quality of life. Environment is broadly defined to include factors such as air, water, diet, sound, family dynamics, community and cultural influences, and genetics on the growth, development, and health of children across the United States.

2011-12-17T09:15:00.000-05:00

Mary Oliver to deliver Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture December 16, 2011

The Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education at Florida Gulf Coast University is excited to announce that its Annual Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture Weekend will be held Feb. 17-18, 2012. This year's guest lecturer will be the celebrated winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Lannan Foundation Literary Award, and the National Book Award for poetry- Mary Oliver.

The Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture is a signature event of the Center that brings public intellectuals to discuss issues such as sustainability, ethics, democracy, and literature. This year's Lecture will be a poetry reading with commentary, and will be held at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17 at Saint Michael and All Angels Church on Sanibel Island.

Mary Oliver is widely recognized for her lyrical poems that use vivid imagery to portray the natural world. The Center has chosen Mary Oliver for this year's Lecture because her poetry renders the gravity, grace, and beauty of the ordinary world and inspires a universal sense of wonder. Much like Rachel Carson's unparalleled contributions to human understanding of our environment, Mary Oliver's work has inspired deep appreciation for the wildness and beauty of the nature.

The Eighth Annual Fundraising Celebration will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Sanibel Island beachfront home of Peter and Mallory Haffenreffer. This is the major fundraising event for the Center and helps to further its sustainability initiatives locally and globally.

The lecture will be free and open to the public. Seats will be reserved for contributors to the Eighth Annual Fundraising Celebration. Invitations to the Lecture and Fundraising Celebration will be mailed out in early January to the Center's mailing list. Contact the Center by email at cese@fgcu.edu or by phone at 239-590-7166 if you would like to be added to the mailing list.

2011-12-16T13:13:00.000-05:00

Effective Policies to Reduce Exposures to Pesticides in Schools

Link to Webinar: https://cdph-ooa.webex.com/cdph-ooa/ldr.php?AT=pb&SP=MC&rID=60408657&rKey=b5d104a98e8e10e9

The Grassfed Primer

2011-12-16T12:10:00.002-05:00

Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) is a national nonprofit organization that audits, certifies and supports farmers raising their animals according to the highest welfare standards, outdoors on pasture or range.

We published The Grassfed Primer to help people to identify and purchase meat and dairy products from real grassfed farms. We hope that it helps to explain the problems with feedlot farming systems, but also the significant solutions that real grassfed farming can offer, and why it is important to choose a "grassfed" label that really means what it says.

Find out more about real grassfed farming and Animal Welfare Approved: download The Grassfed Primer here.

Called a “badge of honor for farmers” and the “gold standard,” AWA has come to be the most highly regarded food label when it comes to animal welfare, pasture-based farming and sustainability.

All AWA standards, policies and procedures are available on the AWA website, making it one of the most transparent certifications available.

AWA’s online directory of farms, restaurants and products enables the public to search for AWA farms, restaurants and products by zipcode, keywords, products and type of establishment.

Visit www.AnimalWelfareApproved.org/product-search

Animal Welfare Approved
1007 Queen Street | Alexandria | VA 22314
(800) 373-8806
www.AnimalWelfareApproved.org

2011-12-16T10:24:00.002-05:00

EPA Must Improve Oversight of State Enforcement December 15 2011

http://leanweb.org/our-work/air/epa-must-improve-oversight-of-state-enforcement

On December 9, 2011, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of the Inspector General issues a report entitled EPA Must Improve Oversight of State Enforcement.

The EPA Office of Inspector General evaluated the enforcement in 50 states and 10 EPA regions of three environmental enforcement programs: Clean Water Act, NPDES program, Clean Air Act Title V program and the RCRA Subtitle C program over the time period, fiscal year 2003 through 2009. The findings contained in the report include:

"EPA does not administer a consistent national enforcement program."

"State enforcement programs frequently do not meet national goals."

"States do not always take necessary enforcement actions."

"State enforcement programs are under performing."

"EPA's enforcement programs cannot assure equal and sufficient protection of human health and the environment to all U.S. citizens."

Louisiana Enforcement

According to the Office of Inspector General's report, from Fiscal Year 2003 through Fiscal Year 2009, Louisiana had the lowest enforcement activity level of all of the Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 states. EPA Region 6 consist of the states of Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

Louisiana Ranked

in the lower half of states in the US for Clean Water Act enforcement
in the lower quartile of states in the US for Clean Air Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (regulation of Hazardous Waste) enforcement

Louisiana was one of five states that emerged as persistently underperforming over the analysis period.

Based on interviews with officials from the state of Louisiana and EPA Region 6, as well as external personnel, Louisiana attributed their poor enforcement performance to:

Lack of resources
Natural disasters
A culture in which the state agency is expected to protect industry.

The first major disaster to impact Louisiana during the review time frame (Fiscal Year 2003 through 2009) occurred in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina.

Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality personnel indicated the agency could not enforce because it was overwhelmed by a natural disaster.

EPA's goal establishes that 100% of major emitting facilities and large quantity waste generation facilities be inspected every two years (Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, RCRA).

Louisiana Clean Water Act Enforcement

Only 9% of facilities inspected

Significant Non Compliance identified 3%
22% of final enforcement actions contained penalties

Louisiana Clean Air Act Enforcement

Only 31% of facilities inspected

Significant Non Compliance identified 15%

18% of final enforcement actions contained penalties

Louisiana RCRA Enforcement

Only 2% of facilities inspected

Significant Non Compliance identified 2%

8% of final enforcement actions contained penalties

In 2001, citizen's organizations filed a petition with EPA to withdraw the Louisiana Clean Water Act NPDES program authority. The petition was based on many failures of the program including the lack of timely review of permit applications and the lack of adequate enforcement. Louisiana Environmental Action Network was one of the citizens organizations that filed the petition.

In addition citizens also filed petitions with EPA to withdraw the Clean Air Act and RCRA delegated programs from the state of Louisiana. Louisiana Environmental Action Network was one of the Citizens organizations involved in these two petitions.

LEAN was involved extensively in meetings with EPA and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality concerning the petitions to withdraw the EPA delegated programs from the state of Louisiana.

Office of Inspector General Recommendations:

Establish clear and consistent national enforcement benchmarks so that EPA's enforcement expectations are clear and consistent for state governments and the regulated community.

Establish a clear and credible escalation policy for EPA intervention in states, that provides steps that EPA will take when states do not act to ensure that the CAA, CWA and RCRA are enforced.

Establish procedures to reallocate enforcement resources to intervene decisively when appropriate under its escalation policy.

Develop a state performance scorecard to publicly track state enforcement activities and results from year to year.

The full report can be downloaded from this link:

www.epa.gov/oig/reports/2012/20111209-12-P-0113.pdf

2011-12-03T09:21:00.001-05:00

"Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities"

Two decades ago, Democrats and Republicans together sought to protect Americans from nearly 200 dangerous chemicals in the air they breathe. That goal remains unfulfilled.

Today, hundreds of communities are still exposed to the pollutants, which can cause cancer, birth defects and other serious health issues. A secret government 'watch list' underscores how much government knows about the threat – and how little it has done to address it.

http://www.npr.org/series/142000896/poisoned-places-toxic-air-neglected-communities

DRILLING DOWN: Learning Too Late of Perils in Gas Well Leases

2011-12-02T09:11:00.001-05:00

From The New York Times: DRILLING DOWN: Learning Too Late of Perils in Gas Well Leases
Americans have signed millions of leases allowing oil and gas companies to drill on their land, but some landowners are finding out the hard way what their contracts actually say. http://nyti.ms/rUyQBM

2011-12-02T09:09:00.001-05:00

Environmental Threats to Health: An Ecological Approach Throughout the Lifespan
October 24, 2011
Ted Schettler, Science Director
Watch the talk here.

Emilio F. Moran Lecture 12/8/2011

2011-12-02T09:05:00.001-05:00

Pioneering anthropologist is 2011 Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecturer

Michigan State University 12/02/2011 | Press release wired by noodls on 12/01/2011 15:39

Contact: Sue Nichols, Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Office: (517) 432-0206,

Emilio F. Moran, an ecological/environmental anthropologist, will deliver the 2011 Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture on Dec. 8 in the Lincoln Room of the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center on the Michigan State University campus.

As an anthropologist, Moran's research focuses on how people and the environment interact in complex and sometimes unanticipated ways. His more than 30 years of scholarly study of that interaction have put him at the forefront of a new interdisciplinary field called environmental anthropology.

Moran is one of only a few anthropologists worldwide to study the importance of the human dimensions of global environmental change. He also is recognized as one of the first social scientists to integrate geographic information systems into anthropological research. Moran is the Rudy Professor of Anthropology and Distinguished Professor and serves as director of the Anthropological Center for Training and Research on Global Environmental Change at Indiana University.

Moran also will receive an honorary degree while on campus.

Moran's lecture "Rethinking Human-Environment Interactions" is presented by the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability and the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and supported by the National Science Foundation; the MSU offices of the President, Provost and Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies; the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources; and MSU AgBioResearch.

The Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture Series is a platform for prominent scientists and scholars to share their ideas about global challenges and opportunities with MSU students, faculty, staff and the general public.

###

2011-11-30T09:41:00.001-05:00

Cleanup crews attack toxic goo in South Platte north of Denver.Federal environmental officials have taken charge of a continuing toxic leak into Sand Creek and the South Platte River north of downtown Denver, trying to stop oily black goo from fouling northeastern Colorado's primary source of water.Denver Post, Colorado.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_19437478

Families make legal appeal to keep water in Pennsylvania town.Lawyers for Dimock Twp. families with methane-tainted well water have asked a judge to stay a decision allowing deliveries of replacement fresh water by a natural gas drilling company deemed responsible for the contamination to end today.Scranton Times-Tribune, Pennsylvania.
http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/dimock-families-make-legal-appeal-to-keep-water-1.1239025#axzz1f60ef23H

2011-11-22T10:20:00.001-05:00

Canadian court orders review of Roundup toxicity to amphibians
http://www.safelawns.org/blog/index.php/2011/11/canadian-judge-orders-review-of-roundups-impact-on-frogs/

Linda Lear on Sierra Club Radio

2011-11-21T16:29:00.001-05:00

This week on Sierra Club Radio - January 22, 2011

1) Annie Spiegelman, the author of Talking Dirt: The Dirt Diva's Down-to-Earth Guide to Organic Gardening;

2) Linda Lear, author of the biography Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature, talks with us about Rachel Carson's work, the upcoming 50th anniversary of the publication of Silent Spring, and Carson's role as an iconic figure of the environmental movement.

http://sierraclub.typepad.com/sierra_club_radio/2011/...

American Public Health Association: 100 Year Short Film

2011-11-21T16:08:00.001-05:00

http://vimeo.com/32226544

2011-11-18T16:20:00.001-05:00

Liuna Mid-Atlantic Publishes Revealing Report, "TOXIC EXPOSURE"

This report, TOXIC EXPOSURE, is the culmination of a yearlong undercover investigation into the practices of the asbestos abatement industry in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Ernest Ojito, a college student, worked undercover for a year as an employee of half a dozen contractors that provide asbestos abatement services. What he found was an industry that routinely violates the law and poisons its employees, and a regulatory regime that utterly fails to protect these workers at the most basic level.

Liuna Mid-Atlantic

2011-11-17T15:20:00.001-05:00

NEW! Webinar Series: Improving Children's Health
Multiple dates: Dec 8th, Jan 12, Fe 9th, Mar 8th, Apr 12th, May 10th, June14th, Aug 9th, Sep 13th

TheEnvironmental Protection Agency, Region 8, and the Health Resources andServices Administration, Region VIII, have organized, incollaboration with other Federal partners, a one-year-long webinar seriestitled Improving Children's Health through Federal Collaboration.

November 10, 2011 - Children Grow Best in Healthy Environments
December 8, 2011 - Pediatric Environmental Health Resources for Community Health Professionals
January 12, 2012 - Coordinated School Health: Clean, Green and Healthy Schools
February 9, 2012 - Obesity Prevention
March 8, 2012 - Affordable Care Act
April 12, 2012 - Communities Working Together for Better Health
May 10, 2012 - Successful Asthma Management
June 14, 2012 - Healthy Homes
July - No Webinar This Month
August 9, 2012 - Children's Environmental Health Research
September 13, 2012 - National Children's Study

Foradditional information, please click here.

2011-11-14T15:04:00.001-05:00

Plastics in Oceans: More Damaging Than Climate Change

www.voanews.com

The United Nations estimates that each one of us uses nearly 140 kilograms of plastic each year. At least 6.4 million metric tons of that plastic has ended up in the oceans. Environmental activist Captain Charles Moore has found that in some areas, plastic outweighs zooplankton ...

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/environment/Plastics-in-Oceans-More-Damaging-Than-Climate-Change--133190248.html

2011 Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecturer

2011-11-14T09:19:00.001-05:00

Emilio F. Moran, a ground-breaking ecological/environmental anthropologist will deliver the 2011 Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture on Dec. 8 in the Lincoln Room of the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center on the Michigan State University campus.

As an anthropologist, Moran’s research focuses on how people and the environment interact in complex and sometimes unanticipated ways. His more than 30 years of scholarly study of that interaction have put him at the forefront of a new interdisciplinary field: environmental anthropology. Moran is one of only a few anthropologists worldwide to study the importance of the human dimensions of global environmental change. He also is recognized as one of the first social scientists to integrate geographic information systems into anthropological research. Moran is the Rudy Professor of Anthropology and Distinguished Professor and serves as director of the Anthropological Center for Training and Research on Global Environmental Change at Indiana University.

"Dr. Moran is one of the world's leading scholars on human-environment interactions," said Jianguo "Jack" Liu, MSU University Distinguished Professor of fisheries and wildlife, who holds the Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability. He also is director of the MSU Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability. "Rachel Carson would be pleased that Dr. Moran was invited to present the 2011 Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture."

Moran also will receive an honorary degree while on campus.

Moran’s lecture “Rethinking Human-Environment Interactions” is presented by the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability and the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and supported by the National Science Foundation; the MSU offices of the President, Provost and Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies; the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources; and MSU AgBioResearch.

The lecture, which is open to the public, will begin at 3:30 p.m. and be followed by a reception.

The Rachel Carson Distinguished Lecture Series is a platform for prominent scientists and scholars to share their ideas about global challenges and opportunities with MSU students, faculty, staff and the general public. Previous speakers have included Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in economic sciences; William Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development at Harvard University; Ruth DeFries, Denning Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia University; Simon Levin, Moffett Professor of Biology at Princeton University; Billie Lee Turner II, Gilbert F. White Professor of Environment and Society at Arizona State University; and Peter Raven, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

2011-11-04T21:02:00.005-04:00

APHA Passes Resolution on PVC and Vulnerable Populations

This week at the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) annual public meeting, the APHA passed a major policy that supports phasing out toxic PVC plastic in schools, daycare centers, hospitals, public housing and other facilities with vulnerable populations. You can read the APHA’s policy statement here.

Stephen Lester from Center for Health, Environment and Justice introduced the resolution, with great support from colleagues in the APHA Environment and Occupational Health Sections.

This resolution by one of the largest association of health professionals in the United States is an important new voice calling for government agencies to take action to address the risks posed by PVC, and endocrine disrupting chemicals like phthalates and dioxin released by vinyl. It comes at a time when a growing chorus of leading businesses like Google and healthcare institutions are supporting efforts to reduce and phase out the use of PVC.

Read the Center for Health, Environment and Justice press release on the resolution's passage here

This information is also now posted on the HCWH website, .

Eileen Secrest

Director of Communications

Health Care Without Harm

Note New Phone: 540-479-0168

follow HCWH at www.Twitter.com/hcwithoutharm

2011-10-25T14:13:00.001-04:00

BPA—another inconvenient truth by Claire McCarthy on October 25, 2011

Once upon a time, more than a hundred years ago, a scientist in Germany created a chemical called Bisphenol-A, or BPA.

Around thirty years later, other scientists discovered that BPA was similar to estrogen, the main female hormone of the reproductive system. They thought of using BPA as a synthetic estrogen. But there were better synthetic estrogens, so they didn’t.

Then, in the 1940’s and 50’s, yet other scientists discovered that BPA was a useful chemical after all. They found that it could be used to make all sorts of things, including plastic linings for cans and polycarbonate plastic. Polycarbonate plastic was particularly useful, because it is clear and shatterproof—making it perfect, for example, for baby bottles. Soon BPA was being used in hundreds of different products, from baby and water bottles to bike helmets to dental sealants and medical equipment.

Continue at:
http://childrenshospitalblog.org/bpa%E2%80%94another-inconvenient-truth/

2011-10-16T10:00:00.002-04:00

EPA: California waters show widespread pollution. Those bracing dips in the local lake or river may not be as healthy as they were cracked up to be judging by a new list of polluted waterways released last week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The study shows a 170 percent increase in the number of waterways showing toxicity in 2010 compared with 2006. San Francisco Chronicle, California.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/15/BA5H1LGCGN.DTL&type=science

Municipal wastewater spreads antibiotic resistance. When wastewater treatment plants discharge treated water into rivers and lakes, they can also pass along antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their resistance genes, a new study finds. If other bacteria in the environment snag these genes, municipal wastewater could contribute to the growth of antibiotic resistance worldwide, the researchers say. Chemical & Engineering News
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/89/i42/8942scene6.html

2011-10-15T10:08:00.006-04:00

In her book, Silent Spring, Rachel Carson wrote about a chain of events that ended in tragedy for robins. It all started when people wanted to protect American elm trees from a deadly disease. They sprayed the elm trees with an insecticide that contained a powerful chemical called DDT. The chemical pesticides ended up killing backyard robins, but long after the elm trees were sprayed. How did this happen?

Read about Carson's courage to voice her concerns. A Food Chain Mystery: From Elm Leaves to a Silent Spring Introduction | Article | Journal Page

2011-10-05T17:26:00.002-04:00

Beyond Pesticides’ 30th Anniversary Reception and Film Screening

Thursday, October 27, 2011 @ 6:30 pm
Busboys & Poets, Washington, DC

Beyond Pesticides is celebrating 30 years of protecting health and the environment through science, policy and grassroots action. Please join us for a reception with live music and organic food and drinks, then stay for a screening of the award-winning film Vanishing of the Bees. Featured beekeeper David Hackenberg, who first discovered colony collapse disorder (CCD), will be with us to introduce the film.

In recognition of our 30th anniversary and the important work that needs to be done to protect health and the environment --through the restriction of pesticides and the adoption of organic practices and policies-- please plan to join us for this event and consider a donation between $30 and $3000. Donate and RSVP.

About the Film
Honey bees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing from their hives. Known as colony collapse disorder, this crisis is explored in Vanishing of the Bees. The film takes a piercing investigative look at the economic, political and ecological implications of the worldwide disappearance of honey bees and empowers the audience to fight back.

2011-10-03T10:19:00.002-04:00

Districts looking for water in far-away places. First it was desalinating ocean water. Then it was recycling sewage water. Now water districts desperate to diversify their supplies in the face of ever-longer droughts are pursuing water purchases from hundreds of miles away as insurance against shortages. Whittier Daily News, California.
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_19027543

2011-10-02T16:11:00.000-04:00

'Emerging contaminants of concern' detected throughout Narragansett Bay watershed
Source: University of Rhode Island, September 21, 2011

A group of hazardous chemical compounds that are common in industrial processes and personal care products but which are not typically monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency have been detected throughout the Narragansett Bay watershed, according to a URI researcher.

Rainer Lohmann, associate professor of chemical oceanography, and graduate student Victoria Sacks, with the help of 40 volunteers, tested for the presence of the chemicals in 27 locations. The compounds were found at every site.

"Being exposed to these compounds is the hidden cost of our lifestyle," said Lohmann. "It's frustrating that as we ban the use of some chemical compounds, industry is adding new ones that we don't know are any better."

Lohmann said the good news is that the chemicals were detected at extremely low levels.

"By themselves, none of these results makes me think that we shouldn't be swimming in the bay or eating fish caught there," he said. "But we only tested for three compounds that might be of concern, and we know there are hundreds more out there. The totality of all those compounds together is what may be worrisome."

The three compounds the researchers measured, which scientists refer to as "emerging contaminants of concern," are: triclosans, antibacterial agents found in many personal care products and which have been identified as posing risks to humans and the environment; alkylphenols, widely used as detergents and known to disrupt the reproductive system; and PBDEs, industrial products used as flame retardants on a wide variety of consumer products. PBDEs have been banned because they cause long-term adverse effects in humans and wildlife.

PBDEs, methyltriclosan and triclosan were found in highest concentrations in the Blackstone River, Woonasquatucket River and in upper Narragansett Bay, while some detergents were detected at similar levels at nearly every site.

"Many of the trends in society - from early puberty changes to some diseases - may be caused by chemical exposures," said Lohmann. "They trigger hormones and disrupt the normal functioning of the body. We have no resistance against them."

Chemicals, Obesity and Diabetes: How Science Leads Us To Action

2011-09-27T14:16:00.003-04:00

Friday, October 14, Colby College in Maine

Registration is open for a unique, one-day conference organized by the Environmental Health Strategy Center and Colby. This is your chance to learn about the latest, cutting-edge scientific research linking chemicals to obesity and diabetes, and discuss policy implications and strategies.

The science will be presented by the leading national experts in this area. Both Maine and national public policy and public health experts will share their insights and lead discussion about policy strategies. Workshops will offer the opportunity to delve more deeply into the science, policy solutions, impacts on vulnerable populations, and how to build this new information into public health and medical work. More information appears below at the linked pages.

Conference info: https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/338/mtgdetail.asp?formid=meet&caleventid=11128
Registration: https://www.colby.edu/administration_cs/special_programs/goldfarb-event-registration.cfm

Please register now to attend if you want a space (the event will sell out), and feel free to circulate the announcement by forwarding it widely.

Plastic Pollution Coalition

2011-09-24T09:57:00.001-04:00

Plastic Pollution Coalition is a global alliance of individuals, organizations and businesses working together to stop plastic pollution and its toxic impacts on humans, animals and the environment. http://plasticpollutioncoalition.org

With its work, Plastic Pollution seeks to put plastic pollution at the forefront of global social, environmental and political discourse.

Plastic Pollution Coalition Strategic Goals

To achieve its mission, Plastic Pollution Coalition has defined the following strategic goals:

End the global dependence on disposable plastic, the primary source of plastic pollution;
Reduce the overall global plastic footprint for individuals, businesses and organizations;

Achieving these strategic goals requires collaboration on a global scale between individuals, organizations, businesses and policy-makers to raise awareness and improve understanding of the complex problem of plastic pollution; to create solutions; and to pursue these solutions relentlessly, with a sense of utmost urgency.

Plastic Pollution Coalition Core Initiatives

Educate and inform. Elevate the discourse about plastic pollution to the forefront of the public attention; deliver access to information about all aspects of plastic pollution and their interconnections;

Connect globally. Connect all involved parties—local communities, environmental organizations, public health organizations, environmental justice organizations, individuals and businesses—to each other in their work to end plastic pollution;

Strategic Initiatives

(1) Encourage, inspire and support individuals, organizations and businesses to end their dependence on disposable plastic, and to reduce their plastic footprint;
(2) Encourage, inspire and support plastic product manufacturers to own the end of life of their products; to invest in truly biodegradable products; and to self-regulate the output of non-biodegradable matter;
(3) Encourage, inspire and support the creation of economic incentives for businesses willing to invest in plastic alternatives; legislation that curbs irresponsible proliferation of disposable plastic;
(4) Encourage, inspire and support international leaders to form global alliances against plastic pollution

2011-09-08T10:17:00.000-04:00

What was in the World Trade Center plume? Ten years later, what exactly residents and rescue workers were exposed to remains at least a partial mystery. The question is: did all those toxicants – whether dust particles or air pollution – harm human health? Scientific American
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-was-in-the-world-trade-center-plume

2011-09-04T18:57:00.001-04:00

Conserving and developing more sustainable systems is not boring or depriving -- it's actually engaging and innately satisfying. Questioning where things come from and how they're made helps us become deeper, holistic thinkers and will have a major impact on our children. If we truly change our ways we will not diminish or "lose" our lifestyle -- we will gain enormously. We'll lead more thoughtful and meaningful lives together. When people reflect on the highlights of a past year, they often mention a time they have slowed down and connected with family or friends, taking notice of something beautiful in nature. We can have lots more of this.

-- Quote from Peg Winship's last Ask Beth column, February 27, 2007 For the health of our children and the world, fight global warming, February 27, 2007

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/02/27/for_the_health_of_our_children_and_the_world_fight_global_warming/

2011-09-01T17:12:00.002-04:00

U.S. researchers find Roundup chemical in water, air

Report: Roundup is Everywhere in Air, Water | Safelawns Daily Post and Q&A Blog

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

2011-08-31T10:27:00.006-04:00

Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011 One of the All-TIME 100 Best Nonfiction Books

By Bryan Walsh. When Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published in 1962, there was no Environmental Protection Agency, no Endangered Species Act, no Earth Day. Ecology was considered a second-class science, and most people thought of nature as something to defeat, not preserve. Corporations and governments alike had license to blanket the earth with toxic chemicals, all in the name of science and progress. And except for a few lone voices in the wilderness, we all thought this was normal. So much of that changed with Carson's book. The quietly relentless marine biologist showed conclusively that industrial chemicals were contaminating America — most notoriously the pesticide DDT. Carson's work would help lead to the ban of DDT in the U.S. as well as the creation of real legal protections for the environment. But its lasting impact was on the spirit of the American people: no longer would we passively accept being poisoned.

Read TIME's profile on Rachel Carson.

Find this article at:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2088856_2089109_2089112,00.html

2011-08-22T09:50:00.004-04:00

Mosquito resistance to bednets fuels malaria worries

www.reuters.com

LONDON (Reuters) - Mosquitoes can quickly develop resistance to insecticide-treated nets, a study from Senegal shows, raising fears that a leading method of preventing the disease may be less effective

Ann Beyke as “Rachel Carson: A Chautauqua Performance”

2011-08-02T10:19:00.004-04:00

“One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?” Rachel Carson

August 1, 2011 from 2pm to 3:30pm, Del Webb Alegria http://dce.unm.edu/osher.htm

This lecture, FREE to Osher Members and residents of the Del Webb Community, will be held at Del Webb Alegria, in Bernalillo, NM

For more information visit http://dce.unm.edu/osher.htm or call Maralie W. BeLonge at (505) 277-6179.

Rachel Carson was a marine biologist when few women dared even tread the water... Her lifelong love of nature and science led to research on how uncontrolled chemical use in our cities, towns and farming communities devastated wildlife and food sources. Silent Spring, her bestselling book on the topic, detailed this devastation and led to the eventual ban on the use of DDT in the United States. Carson’s work made environmentalism an integral part of our lives.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is an active and self-motivated group of people age 50+ who share curiosity and a love of learning. Keep yourself updated on current Osher events by becoming a fan of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute on Face Book: http://www.facebook.com/UNMOSHER

2011-08-01T12:46:00.000-04:00

Quote of the Day
"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." - Aldo Leopold

Seen in Toxipedia Newsletter 8 1 2011

2011-07-20T15:32:00.002-04:00

"IPM is not about hugging trees. It’s about a better environment in which to hug our kids.”

From Northeast IPM Insights: School IPM: Good for Children, Easy on the Budget

http://www.northeastipm.org/about-us/publications/ipm-insights/school-ipm-good-for-children-easy-on-the-budget1/

2011-07-01T11:48:00.003-04:00

Giant turtle found dead in New South Wales having swallowed over 300 bits of plastic. A giant sea turtle has been found dead after swallowing more than 300 bits of plastic. The helpless creature starved to death because its guts were clogged with debris including bags, lids, tape and fishing line. London Sun, United Kingdom.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3670462/Giant-turtle-found-dead-in-New-South-Wales-having-swallowed-over-300-bits-of-plastic.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News

2011-06-28T12:40:00.002-04:00

New Wave Of Compostable Products Creates Recycling Conundrum

What happens when you mix up items that are supposed to be composted with your recycling, or trash? Are you doing the environment more harm or good. Check out our slideshow on new products on the market and the best way to dispose of them.

The sneaky business of pesticides

2011-06-24T11:51:00.000-04:00

Pesticides to be stripped from Clean Water Act - Call your Senator!
Last week we alerted readers to behind-the-scenes lobbying in Congress that would strip pesticide protections from our nation's stongest environmental laws. On Tuesday, June 21st, the Senate Agriculture Committee quietly approved legislation to exempt pesticide applications from permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act — with no notice, and no press.

The bill, Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011 (H.R. 872) would reverse a 2009 court order requiring the permits as a part of the National Pollutant Discharge System (NPDES). Instead, pesticides would remain subject only to the much weaker statute under which most pesticides are regulated, the Federal Insecticide Fungicide Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). H.R. 872 has already passed in the House of Representatives.Read more »

Getting Real about Food & the Future by Christopher B. Bedford (video)

2011-06-22T10:46:00.001-04:00

2011-05-26T11:36:00.003-04:00

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." -- Rachel Carson, May 27, 1907 - April 14, 1964, Published Silent Spring in 1962

Don't Allow This to Be Another Silent Spring OnEarth Magazine (blog) by Sigourney Weaver Rachel Carson has been on my mind lately. Maybe it's because we are approaching the 50th anniversary of the publication of Silent Spring. Maybe it's because I have been given the honor of receiving the Rachel Carson Award from ... Read article: http://www.onearth.org/blog/dont-allow-this-to-be-another-silent-spring-tell-lawmakers-to-take-climate-action

2011-05-05T20:35:00.003-04:00

Environmental Health in Schools

Tuesday May 10, 2011 2:00 p.m. Eastern / 11:00 a.m. Pacific time

Free webcast hosted by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

(AAIDD) http://www.aaidd.org

Environmental Health Initiative http://www.aaidd.org/ehi/

Jerome A. Paulson, MD, FAAP, associate professor of Pediatrics and Public Health at George Washington University, will discuss environmental health in schools.

Teachers and other adult staff are afforded protections from hazards by OSHA regulations, employment contracts, or occupational health services. But children who are more vulnerable to hazards than adults are not provided these protections. Major environmental problems include indoor air quality, lighting, pests and pesticides, heavy metals and chemical management issues, renovation of occupied buildings, noise, and cleaning processes and products.

Dr. Paulson will offer recommendations for dealing with data collection, federal actions, state and local actions, and for building the capacity of the Environmental Protection Agency and the CDC-funded Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSU) in responding to and evaluating risks to children's environmental health in schools.

Click here to register

EPA: Sense of Wonder Contest

2011-04-29T09:28:00.002-04:00

To honor the late preservationist and ecologist Rachel Carson, the EPA, Generations United, and the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., are holding a photo, essay, and poetry contest "that best expresses the Sense of Wonder that you feel for the sea, the night sky, forests, birds, wildlife, and all that is beautiful to your eyes." In her book The Sense of Wonder (written in the 1950s and published in a magazine in 1956), Carson used lyrical passages about the beauty of nature and the joy of helping children develop a sense of wonder and love of nature. Maximum award: publication on the websites of EPA Aging Initiative, Generations United, and Rachel Carson Council, Inc. Eligibility: entries must be joint projects involving a person under age 18 and a person age 50 or older. Deadline: June 10, 2011.
http://www.epa.gov/aging/resources/thesenseofwonder/index.htm

Green Ribbon Schools

2011-04-27T08:56:00.006-04:00

April 26, 2011 U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announces plans to create a Green Ribbon Schools program that will be run by the U.S. Department of Education with the support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

A Texas live oak, the official tree depicted on the Education Department's official seal was planted in the plaza at 400 Maryland Ave., S.W., facing the National Mall.

Also attending

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson
White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley
Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson
Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig
American Forests CEO Scott Steen
Fifth grade students from D.C.'s Amidon Elementary School Knowles Elementary
Jośe Rodríguez (Teacher Ambassador from Cedar Park, Texas)

The program will promote public schools that show exemplary efforts to:

raise environmental literacy, both inside and outside the classroom;
reduce a school's environmental footprint by improving energy efficiency and resource use; and
increase a school's environmental health.

"At Earth Day Network, we are particularly excited to have collaborated with three key leaders in the Green Schools movement – the Campaign for Environmental Literacy, the National Wildlife Federation, and the U.S. Green Building Council – to make this initiative happen. This exciting new program has the potential to invigorate and empower schools nationwide for growing the 21st-century economy. By encouraging schools to apply for this award, powerful strides will be taken to ensure we meet our shared goal of greening America’s schools within a generation."

Read more:
Official Tree
Arne Duncan

Protecting NYC water

2011-04-25T09:10:00.001-04:00

http://www.nyc-dep.org/safetodrink.html

New York City's is among the best urban water supplies in the world, and will remain so through summer 2011. After that, hydraulic fracturing ("hydrofracking") beneath the New York City aquifer may begin causing contamination of our City's water supply.

Gas Drilling in NYC Watershed is an unacceptable risk to New York's water supply. Such drilling would wreak havoc on the environment, contaminating surface and groundwater supplies, and damaging the watershed.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/news/natural_gas_drilling_get_involved.shtml

To alert more New York City residents to the dangers of contamination posed by hydraulic fracturing in the City's Marcellus Shale / Catskills aquifer, please help us post the following notices.

The website is http://www.nyc-dep.org/spreadtheword.html

DEP would like to send you information and updates regarding Natural Gas Drilling in the Watershed. To subscribe to periodic emails on this subject click here.

Our 'Toxic' Love-Hate Relationship With Plastics

2011-04-19T17:46:00.003-04:00

iStockphoto.com

Our 'Toxic' Love-Hate Relationship With Plastics Science writer Susan Freinkel chronicles the rise of plastic in consumer culture — and its effects on the environment and our health — in Plastic: A Toxic Love Story. Freinkel says plastics leach potentially harmful chemicals into our bloodstream — and that scientists are now figuring out what that does to our bodies. (NPR, FRESH AIR)

Think Outside the Bottle/Take Back the Tap

2011-04-19T16:15:00.011-04:00

Take Back the Tap, April, 20

Bottled Water Myths http://www.storyofstuff.com/pdfs/storyofbottledwater_myth-v-reality.pdf

Bottled Water: Get the Facts http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/bottled/

Corporate Accountability International: Think Outside the Bottle http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/think-outside-bottle/

Blue Gold, Maude Barlow

Plastic/Plankton

Chris Jordan 's work attempts to place the impact of consumerism in perspective. For his latest project he traveled to the Midway Islands, near the heart of the Pacific Trash Gyre , to photograph the decomposed bodies of chicks that have been fed plastic litter by confused parents. http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/midway/#CF000313%2018x24

Pictured: One Sea Turtle’s Worth of Plastic http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/sea-turtle-plastic/

Polymers are Forever http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/270/

More plastic than plankton in Pacific Ocean

Reese Halter | Calgary Herald | 01.25.2009

http://www.greenchange.org/article.php?id=3870

2011-04-01T10:06:00.002-04:00

High levels of toxic lead found in air outside Chicago school. Residents in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood complained for years about metallic-tasting smoke rolling down their narrow streets but had little evidence it was harmful. Now they have proof. Chicago Tribune, Illinois.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-met-pilsen-lead-problems-20110331,0,6458283.story

Cancer scientists get pushy about prevention

2011-04-01T09:54:00.005-04:00

As evidence linking pollutants and cancer becomes increasingly clear, scientists around the world are calling for something to be done — and they're getting downright pushy about it. Well maybe not pushy, exactly. But definitely pointed and impatient as they urge policymakers to take steps now to protect us from chemicals that cause cancer. Read more.

... According to some, like cancer prevention advocate Dr. Samuel Epstein, mainstream cancer groups such as the American Cancer Society (ACS) have a long history of promoting that status quo, fastidiously keeping the focus of research and policy discussions away from the dangers of cancer-causing chemicals. Chair of the national Cancer Prevention Coalition and past president of the American Public Health Association, Epstein recently authored a scathing critique of ACS's record on cancer prevention entitled More Interested in Accumulating Wealth than Saving Lives.

Songbirds of the Rocky Mountains

2011-03-17T14:32:00.002-04:00

Many species of birds have declined in recent years. Earthwatch scientists in Wyoming are making links between levels of human development and the decline of songbird populations. http://e2ma.net/go/6996995282/208499522/221125304/22480/goto:http://www.earthwatch.org/rf-hall0311.html

Water Pollution

2011-03-11T17:14:00.002-05:00

(http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/waterpollution.html) directs users to resources on drinking water, water pollution, bottled water, water regulations and standards, disinfection byproducts, and Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products as Pollutants (PPCPs). These resources provide pre-formulated PubMed and TOXNET searches as well as links to related databases and data repositories.

4.7 earthquake in Arkansas, gas well operators suspend fracking

2011-03-10T13:14:00.001-05:00

Food Matters: A Clinical Education and Advocacy Program

2011-03-10T10:42:00.004-05:00

What Clinicians Need to Know About Our Food System to Help Ensure Healthy Pregnancies, Healthy Families and a Healthy Planet, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Half-Day Program May 14, 2011

Registration opening soon at www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org

For more information contact Michelle Gottlieb at mbgottlieb@comcast.net, 617-216-5658

Developed by Health Care Without Harm, Boston Medical Center, University of California's San Francisco's Program on Reproductive Health and Environment, Jointly Sponsored by Health Care Without Harm, Boston University School of Medicine

Pesticides and Pollinators: A future without bees

2011-03-10T09:49:00.000-05:00

PAN UK’s Annual Rachel Carson Memorial Lecture looks at the role of pesticides in the decline of bees

Nearly half a century has passed since the release of Rachel Carson’s notorious book, Silent Spring, but its relevance has in no way diminished. Regarded by many as launching the environmental movement, Silent Spring remains a key part of the reading-list for every burgeoning environmentalist.
This year’s Pesticide Action Network UK’s Annual Rachel Carson Memorial Lecture focuses on ‘Pesticides and Pollinators: A future without bees’ (not dissimilar to Silent Spring’s original message). The recent decline in populations of Honeybees and numerous other pollinators has been linked to pesticides in several ways, from a loss of foraging habitat to an increased susceptibility to diseases.

This April, you are invited to join activist Sam Roddick and a host of PAN UK associated organisations to find out more about pollinators, the threat posed by pesticide-dependent agriculture and what we can do to help.

Cost: £20 (£12 student/unwaged)
Date: April 1st 2011
Time: 6.30 pm
The Human Rights Action Centre
17 – 25 New Inn Yard
London EC2A 3EA
To register your interest and join the debate, email admin@pan-uk.org or visit www.pan-uk.org

National Environmental Education Week: Ocean Connections April 10-16, 2011

2011-02-21T08:02:00.003-05:00

Green Reading for Educators http://www.eeweek.org/resources/green_reading_educators.htm The following books explore different philosophies of environmental education and different approaches to integrating environmental education into your curricula. Also see our list of green reading for kids. http://www.eeweek.org/resources/green_reading.htm

The ocean covers nearly three quarters of our planet's surface, provides 70 percent of the oxygen in the atmosphere and houses about 20 percent of the known species on Earth. It regulates climate and weather and provides food and energy resources for humans worldwide. No matter how far from the coast, water in every stream or river on the planet eventually ends up in the ocean, and all life on Earth is dependent upon its health. Recognizing the importance of protecting the health of our ocean and understanding our dependence upon it regardless of its proximity, EE Week's 2011 theme is Ocean Connections. Register today to participate in EE Week 2011.

www.eeweek.org

Greetings from School IPM 2015!

2011-02-08T16:37:00.000-05:00

Every day, 49 million children attend school in the United States, served by nearly seven million teachers and staff. But they're not alone. Schools are also frequented by a number of pests including cockroaches, mice, dust mites and more. Asthma is epidemic among children, impacting nearly 6% of school children nationally with rates as high as 25% in urban centers. Cockroaches are potent asthma triggers.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a prevention-based, highly effective approach proven to reduce pest complaints and pesticide use by up to 90% in schools and other public buildings. IPM practices such as sanitation and exclusion also improve food safety, fire safety and energy conservation. Our newsletter highlights real-life examples of IPM in practice and can help you start an IPM program in your school district. For more information, visit www.schoolipm2015.com.

...questioning Teirney’s scientific integrity

2011-02-03T09:26:00.000-05:00

Engineering Education “Today in History” Blog: Rachael Carson publishes the Silent Spring

Consider School Air Quality in Absentee Rates

2011-01-26T15:29:00.002-05:00

To the Editor (Education Week, 1 11 2011):

Regarding your articles about absenteeism, including “Early Grades Are New Front in Absenteeism Wars,” (Oct. 20, 2010), the healthfulness and safety of the facilities themselves should also be considered when looking for reasons why students aren’t in school.

The Environmental Protection Agency states: “Studies show that one-half of our nation’s 115,000 schools have problems linked to indoor air quality. Students are at greater risk because of the hours spent in school facilities and because children are especially susceptible to pollutants.” A 2002 review of studies related to school facility condition, commissioned by the 21st Century School Fund, found links to student absenteeism, achievement, and behavior. School buildings can affect student health in many ways.

A Government Accountability Office report from 1995 lists irritated eye, nose, and throat; upper-respiratory infections; nausea; dizziness; headaches; and fatigue or sleepiness as some of the impacts of poor indoor environmental quality.

The health problems resulting from unhealthy school conditions impact students’ educations in a variety of ways: absenteeism due to building-related health problems; “presenteeism,” when children are present, but not able to do their best because they don’t feel well; and use of substitute teachers because classroom teachers are absent for the same reasons as their students.

As the EPA notes in “Tools for Schools”: “The price for neglect is high, but the investment in maintenance need not be.” Although some indoor-environmental-quality issues may stem from problems requiring costly repairs, others can be resolved with cost-neutral measures, such as switching to environmentally preferable cleaning products and practices.

Our investment in our children’s health and academic performance is essential. There is ample evidence that buildings affect people. We need to ensure that school facilities–our children’s compulsory workplaces–are safe, healthful places. Until all schools are safe and healthful, we should include the impact school facilities are having on students in our discussions about absenteeism.

Virginia Mott

Lakeville, Maine

Related:

Press Release: New Data Shows Schools Ignore Children's Health: Groups Urge Action by EPA and States National Association of School Nurses/Healthy Schools Network, January 11, 2011

Healthy Schools Network
National Healthy Schools Day

Rachel warned us....

2011-01-06T11:08:00.000-05:00

Massive Fish and Bird Kills Throughout Eastern U.S. |
By Teresa Bertossi
With the massive bird kills, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, “A Fable for Tomorrow”, comes to mind: On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robbins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices ...
- http://headwatersnews.net/

Old Tire Mulch removed from Boston playgrounds

2010-12-05T17:48:00.000-05:00

JAMAICA PLAIN GAZETTE, MA DECEMBER 3, 2010

Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR ) in MA removes tire mulch from local playgrounds

By David Taber December 3, 2010

SOUTHWEST CORRIDOR-Citing maintenance concerns, the state Department of Conservation has decided to replace the controversial "recycled rubber mulch" ground-cover-made from old tires-with woodchips at three Jamaica Plain, MA playgrounds along the Southwest Corridor Park.

"They were actually out there taking the mulch out this morning," Abigail Hykin, a member of JP Moms, an advocacy group that launched a campaign against the rubber mulch last summer, told the Gazette Nov. 16. New playgrounds at Amory Street, New Minton Street and Williams Street along the corridor were installed last spring and the rubber mulch groundcover was put in at that time.

The JP Moms group's efforts to get rid of the rubber mulch were based on fears that regular exposure to volatile organic compounds in the tires might have long-term negative health impacts. Some also said that exposure to the tires caused them to have respiratory issues, and complained that the light-weight material is easily spread throughout the park and carried home in children's' clothes.

"We're thrilled that DCR listened to the community and did the right thing. Now everyone can enjoy these playgrounds, including those of us with asthma, latex allergies, chemical sensitivities and everyone who just wants to limit their children's exposure to environmental toxins," Audrey White, another member of JP Moms, told the Gazette in an e-mail.

Rachel Carson Homestead Seeks New Executive Director

2010-12-04T09:44:00.000-05:00

Attn: Mayor Setti Warren Re: MBTA Herbicide spraying

2010-11-14T12:32:00.032-05:00

Letter online at Don't spray 'em, Outsmart 'em.

Boston Globe: Newton group seeks end to herbicide use along Green Line

2010-11-14T12:19:00.000-05:00

Massachusetts Plans to Spray Herbicides on Rights of Way

2010-11-14T12:00:00.001-05:00

See other plans for Herbicide Spraying from Turnpike, Highway Department, Commuter Rail, AMEX, etc.
http://www.mass.gov/agr/pesticides/rightofway/plans.htm

MBTA plans Herbicide Application in Newton -- DEJA VU!

2010-11-14T09:24:00.011-05:00

Brief history:

Back in July 1995, GreenCAP received over 50 calls in response to the “public alert” that GreenCAP mailed to residents, day care centers, nursing homes and other property owners near the MBTA tracks. The Newton Board of Aldermen passed a resolution requesting a public meeting. The scheduled spray was postponed. There was a large public meeting at the Newton Free Library with representatives of the MBTA, city officials and state representatives.

Both the public and city and state officials strongly objected to the MBTA’s pesticide use. Citizens questioned the need for spraying. They expressed serious concerns about the hazards of the weed killers, Roundup and Oust, about the potential for pesticide drift and run off to surrounding properties, about the MBTA's lack of communication, and about the way the spraying would be conducted.

--- and...Nov. 4, 2006, Dear Green Decade Board,

On November 2, 2006, an Allerton Road resident whose yard runs up to the MBTA fence line called to to tell us about the recent clear cutting and herbicide application of the MBTA tracks and slopes. It was obvious from the devastation left behind on the right-of-way slopes in Newton Highlands and near Crystal Lake and beyond, that the vegetation control is not done in a scientific, horticultural, or public health-sensitive manner.

Apparently, areas previously protected from herbicide application no longer had protected status and advance notification to the public was limited to a single notice in the Boston Globe four months prior to the date of the herbicide spraying. The city of Newton was notified of weakened protections for waterways and wetlands in a single letter of 2000 sent to the Conservation Commissioner of Newton.

The resident, whose yard includes a compost pile and organic garden, was not notified of the spraying although, in the early 1990s, the Health Department had promised to alert her when the MBTA was going to use herbicides and her name was still on record.

OUST

In 1999, The Environmental League of Massachusetts, referencing a research review (15 pages, 183 citations) in the Journal of Pesticide Reform, Fall 1998, noted that Oust is one of a new generation of herbicides called sulfonylureas that are 100 times more toxic to weeds than their predecessors. These chemicals have been shown to cause serious crop plant damage when they drift away from target areas.

Glyphosate has been measured in runoff four months after its application. Glyphosate increases non-target plants' susceptibility to disease and reduces the growth of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. It has reduced populations of beneficial insects, birds, and small mammals by destroying vegetation on which they depend for food and shelter.

---

Green Decade Letter to Mayor Warren, November 2010

2010-11-13T05:59:00.000-05:00

From Marcia Cooper, President, Green Decade/Newton

Dear Mayor Warren,

Green Decade appreciates the attention you have given to the importance of public safety in Newton. We have a concern on this topic, since becoming informed of the MBTA’s plan to spray hazardous herbicides along the tracks in Newton and Boston, Braintree, Brookline, Cambridge, Malden, Medford, Milton, Quincy, Revere and Somerville. Pesticides that are harmful to our health and the environment ought not to be used in our community.

There will be hearings November 15, 2010 regarding the MBTA’s Vegetation Management Plan (VMP) and a Yearly Operational Plan (YOP). Written comments will be accepted until December 9, 2010.

http://www.env.state.ma.us/mepa/mepadocs/2010/102510em/pn/5.pdf

Green Decade supports the use of alternative non-chemical weed control methods, such as planting low maintenance vegetation and mechanical cutting that are proven to be both effective and economical.

With public safety as a high priority, we ask that you submit written comments urging the MBTA to revise its plan to spray along the MBTA tracks in Newton.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of our request.

Sincerely,

Marcia Cooper

President, Green Decade/Newton

A Green Glossary

2010-11-06T08:18:00.001-04:00

Compilation of terms marketing green products: a "green" glossary
Source: Green Chemistry & Commerce Council, November 2010

There is no one organization that officially defines terms used in the marketing and sale of green products. Instead, there are a multitude of organizations ranging from government to industry to independent certifiers, to nonprofit organizations. This leaves consumers confused by what are often unwarranted or overblown claims of sustainability or environmental friendliness, a phenomenon known as greenwashing. Innovators and leaders in the production of sustainable products also struggle with greenwashing as they try to differentiate their products in the marketplace. In the absence of definitions of "green" or current guidelines for words and terms used to market and sell green products, product manufacturers making safer, more environmentally sustainable products have few tools to identify their products from others.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has attempted to establish baseline environmental marketing criteria with its "Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims," known as the "Green Guides;" but the latest update of these guides was published in 1998, with a 2009 update still to be released. There is currently a rising tide of legal and regulatory actions aimed at products pitched as "environmentally friendly," as consumers and the FTC have begun challenging whether such claims live up to their billing.

In an effort to gain some clarity about the definitions of terms commonly used to market and sell "green" products, the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council (GC3), a business to business network of firms across sectors dedicated to advancing safer chemicals and products has developed a "Green Glossary." Terms that are commonly used to market and sell green products were researched and a number of these were selected for inclusion in Version One of the Glossary. Initially, definitions of terms were gathered from various sources including government, industry, certifiers, and the nonprofit sector. The variety of definitions for single terms, none of which is "official" highlights the challenge that has made greenwashing so prevalent. For Version One of the Green Glossary we have included definitions most likely to be used and respected by companies trying to differentiate their products as safer. The definitions included are for the most part from either government or highly regarded non-profits.

The Glossary provides a definition or definitions of a term, the source of the definition - government, guideline, standard, label, industry, government, NGO - as well as a website, notes, and opportunities for misuse. The opportunities for misuse often illustrate the limitations of the definition.

Download the glossary

2010 Rachel Carson Award

2010-11-02T12:57:00.000-04:00

The Environmental Issues Committee (EIC) presented the Rachel Carson Award to Garrett Brown and the Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network (MHSSN) at AIHce 2010 in Denver, Colo. Brown is a founding member and primary coordinator for MHSSN activities.

MHSSN is a volunteer network of about 400 occupational health and safety professionals who have placed their names on a resource list to provide information, technical assistance and on-site instruction regarding workplace hazards in the 3,000 "maquiladora" (foreign-owned assembly) plants along the U.S.-Mexico border. Network members, including industrial hygienists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, occupational physicians and nurses, and health educators, among others, are donating their time and expertise to create safer and healthier working conditions for the one million maquiladora workers employed by primarily U.S.-owned transnational corporations along Mexico's northern border from Matamoros to Tijuana. Since 2000, the Network has expanded its work to include projects in Indonesia, China and Central America.

Established in 1987, the Rachel Carson Award is the highest honor bestowed upon an environmental health and safety (EHS) professional by the AIHA Environmental Issues Committee. It is presented to EHS individuals or groups who have attained outstanding success and distinction in their Environmental and Industrial Health and Safety business, profession or life's work.

The EIC is accepting nominations for the 2011 Rachel Carson Award, which will be presented at AIHce 2011 in Portland, Ore., May 11-15. If you or someone you know is a qualified recipient, please contact Patty Beach for more information or see the nomination form on the committee web page.

Lead Free Kids

2010-10-28T14:15:00.000-04:00

You Can Prevent Lead Poisoning

Learn what you can do to prevent lead poisoning in your home, in your school, on the job, during your home renovation, or as a property manager/landlord.

National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (NLPPW)

2010-10-19T10:58:00.003-04:00

Lead-Free Kids for a Healthy Future

“Lead-Free Kids for a Healthy Future” is the theme for this year’s National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (NLPPW) which will be observed on Sunday, October 24, 2010 through Saturday, October 30, 2010. The Tracking Program has teamed up with the National Center for Environmental Health’s Healthy Homes & Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch to provide health communication resources and information to help you promote awareness. The 2010 NLPPW Toolkit is an online resource that includes lead week posters and flyers plus, widgets and buttons for your use. It also includes sample press materials that can be customized for your program. The 2010 NLPPW Toolkit is available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/nlppw.htm#. For more information, please contact Desir’ee Robinson at drobinson@cdc.gov.

Also see

Be Lead Safe, Not Lead Sorry

Act for a Healthy Tomorrow

Be Lead Safe, Not Lead Sorry

2010-10-19T10:26:00.003-04:00

Stripping paint? Renovation?
Maintenance? Rehab? Restoration?

When old walls and woodwork need attention,
Take precautions. Think Prevention.

Beware lead fumes, chips and dust.
Learn lead safety. It's a must!

Bag up belongings. Take everything out.
Cover the carpets. Make sure no one's about.

No children, no pets, no mommies-to-be
Until all's cleaned up and completely lead-free.

Open the windows. Set up the fan.
Seal up the doors as well as you can.

Keep gardens and play yards lead-safe as can be.
Use drop cloths to catch flying chips and debris.

Choose tools with care. Sharp scrapers are best.
Sharpen them often. Don't make a mess.

Dress for the Job. Wear special work clothes.
Protect your hair, eyes, mouth and nose.

Choose a respirator just right for your face.
Make sure the appropriate filter's in place.

Don't eat or smoke on the job 'til you're through,
Or some of the lead will get into you.

Clean up with care. Don't spread lead about.
Vacuum and wet mop to get the dust out.

Change clothes at the work site.
Don't bring Poison dust with you.

Only after you're clean
Can kids safely kiss you.

With toxic hazards, don't take a chance.
Dispose of them properly, far from your manse.

Lead poisoning is bad news. You don't want to get it.
It comes from old paint. So take steps to prevent it.

-- Ellie Goldberg, 1985

2010 Heinz Awards announced

2010-09-22T11:52:00.000-04:00

This year's Heinz Family Foundation awards include honors for a scientist documenting the effects of endocrine disruptors, a champion on the global seed vault and one of the giants in the field of 'green,' or non-toxic, chemistry. USA Today
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/09/2010-heinz-awards-announced/1

2010 Rachel Carson Legacy Conference

2010-09-21T09:48:00.002-04:00

CHALLENGING MARCELLUS SHALE: The Consequences and Alternatives

Keynote Speaker: Karl-Henrik Robèrt, Ph.D., MD, one of Sweden’s foremost cancer scientists and the founder of The Natural Step

Friday, September 24, 2010, Mellon Institute Audtorium, Carnegie Mellon University

The 2010 Rachel Carson Legacy Conference: Challenging Marcellus Shale - Consequences and Alternatives will address the health, environmental and community effects Pennsylvania will face with the development of the Marcellus Shale natural gas fields.

We have gathered people from New York, Colorado and Pennsylvania with experience and expertise in evaluating the results of the deep shale fracking industry.

The Alternatives approach will be highlighted by keynote speaker Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt of Sweden founder of The Natural Step process for reaching a sustainable economy. He will be followed by Ken Melamed, Mayor of Whistler, B.C., who will describe the Whistler 2020 plan as implemented based on Dr. Robert's approach and a panel of renewable and sustainable energy businesses illustrating current economically viable applications of renewable energy systems.

This event is a conference. Registration with fee is required.

For more information and to register for the conference, please visit the Rachel Carson Homestead website.

Rachel would be appalled at how we are moving backwards...

2010-09-05T14:39:00.001-04:00

Nearly a half century ago, in September of 1962, the groundbreaking book, "Silent Spring." about the danger of heavily marketed pesticides was released. Chemical corporations spent a ton of money attacking the damning content of the book and the character of its author, groundbreaking biologist and journalist Rachel Carson.

"Silent Spring" is credited with setting into the motion the birth of the environmental movement and the eventual creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

But now in 2010, the global predatory corporations that produce toxic chemicals and pesticides (think Monsanto and Dow as examples) are in ascendance, with formidable financial and political power. Then toss in the toxic impact of the likes of the oil companies, and it becomes clear that financial largesse now frequently trumps public health.

The "restoration of the America that used to be" that the right wing yearns for is one that predates "Silent Spring." The health of all Americans is endangered by such a simplistic refutation of science. Rachel Carson would, no doubt, be appalled at how we seem to be moving backwards when it comes to protection from the chemical industry.

Mark Karlin
Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout
http://www.truth-out.org/

A Combination of Bad Choices

2010-09-05T09:41:00.001-04:00

Even when they acknowledged limited risks, they seemed to consider each danger in a vacuum, never thinking the combination of bad choices would add up to a total well blowout.

Five key human errors, colossal mechanical failure led to fatal Gulf oil rig blowout. A string of mistakes, first by people, then by a supposedly fail-safe machine, sealed the fates of 11 rig workers and led to the fouling of the Gulf of Mexico and hundreds of miles of its coastline. New Orleans Times-Picayune, Louisiana.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/09/5_key_human_errors_colossal_me.html

The price of gas: A Need to Know investigation

2010-08-28T09:35:00.007-04:00

August 27th, 2010 The price of gas: A Need to Know investigation

Hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — is a process used by energy companies to get natural gas out of the ground. Fracking involves forcing water, sand and chemicals underground to fracture rocks and release the natural gas trapped within them. But what happens to those chemicals once they’ve been injected into the ground? That depends upon whom you ask. In a joint effort with ProPublica, the non-profit investigative journalist organization, we sent correspondent John Larson to Wyoming, where some residents believe fracking is contaminating their water and risking their health.

Also watch: Actor Mark Ruffalo speaks out against fracking

Carl Safina: The oil spill's unseen cuilprits, victims

2010-07-13T17:15:00.000-04:00

Carl Safina: The oil spill's unseen culprits, victims | Video on TED.com

www.ted.com

TED Talks The Gulf oil spill dwarfs comprehension, but we know this much: it's bad. Carl Safina scrapes out the facts in this blood-boiling cross-examination, arguing that the consequences will stretch far beyond the Gulf -- and many so-called solutions are making the situation worse.

Reading The Sea Around Us

2010-06-27T07:49:00.001-04:00

Revisiting Rachel Carson's 'The Sea Around Us' SouthCoastToday.com
June 2010 is an especially poignant time to be teaching Rachel Carson's "The Sea Around Us" (1951) to teachers.

By LAURIE ROBERTSON-LORANT, Dr. Laurie Robertson-Lorant, English Department adjunct, Bridgewater State College, is a Melville biographer and poet who has taught sustainability education at UMass Dartmouth.

June 26, 2010

June 2010 is an especially poignant time to be teaching Rachel Carson's "The Sea Around Us" (1951) to teachers. The catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a wake-up call to end our deadly addiction to fossil fuels and a tragic reminder of how little we have learned about the ocean since Carson's masterpiece appeared more than half a century ago. A masterful writer, marine biologist Carson combines informed observation, solid scientific knowledge and mindful contemplation of the geology, history and biodiversity of our ocean.

Read More

Choose Reusables

2010-06-02T14:06:00.006-04:00

Watch video: here

An Environmental Partnership in Chelsea MA

2010-05-22T08:28:00.005-04:00

US’ 2nd Largest Produce Market and The Chelsea Collaborative Form An Environmental Partnership
by Ellie Goldberg

Chelsea is the 3rd most environmentally overburdened community in Massachusetts. An urban industrial city across the harbor from Boston, it is home to 40,000 residents (61% non-white 23.3% below poverty line) within 1.8 square miles -- every inch an environmental justice zone.

Chelsea has the highest rate of respiratory illnesses (child-senior), strokes, and cardiovascular disease in Massachusetts. It is in the highest category for expected lifetime cancer cases from diesel pollution (CATF). Their diesel exhaust level is 5 times the U.S. average (EPA).

On the banks of Chelsea Creek along Chelsea's eastern border are the storage facilities for all of the jet fuel used at Logan International Airport, 80% of the home heating oil used in the region and all the road salt used in eastern Massachusetts. Chelsea also has heavy diesel trucking corridors that cut through and surround the city servicing many other companies and industries. Chelsea's New England Produce Center is the 2nd largest produce market in the country.

The Produce Center gets approximately 37,000 “refeers” (refrigerated trucks) deliveries from across the country every year. With local produce distribution traffic, this adds up to about 2,000 - 3,000 delivery trucks in and out of the market each day. And, there are approximately 250-500 trucks idling at any one time. For extra cold storage space, many companies use stationary "refeers" that are no longer road worthy. Using high sulfur diesel “RED FUEL," they idle 24 hours/day, 365 days/year producing thousands of tons of hazardous pollutants. (As of June 2010, red fuel will no longer be available for use in refeers.)

The Chelsea Collaborative, a non profit human service agency, formed a Clean Air Coalition. Under the guidance of RoseAnn Bongiovanni, the Collaborative's associate executive director, the Collaborative was awarded $1.9 million in Recovery Act Funding to Reduce Diesel Emissions and Create Jobs in Chelsea. Forming a first time alliance with The New England Produce Center, the partners will upgrade the truck dock electrification system at the market and repower 79 stationary cold storage trailer with electric engines.

"The members of the New England Produce center are excited about enhancing the air quality by reducing harmful emissions caused by diesel engines. This project allows us to be a better neighbor and member of the community" said Brian Eddy, Sr., General Manager of The New England Produce Center. "Our objectives from the start of this project were to obtain energy savings, environmental sustainability, and demonstrate community leadership. We take great pride in our participation and view the project as a major success. The Chelsea Collaborative and its representatives have played an integral part in bringing all of us a better community in which to live and work."

Catherine Maas, an active member of the Chelsea community, a member of the Chelsea Board of Health, and the lead diesel activist for The Chelsea Collaborative, presented the Collaborative's unique community-market environmental partnership at the EPA's 2010 Environmental Justice Conference in New Orleans this past January. Click here: New England Produce Market Transport Refrigeration Unit (TRU) Electrification Project (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)

http://www.cleanairinfo.com/ejconference/documents/Track%202%20Green%20Jobs/Catherine%20Maas_Putting%20Federal%20Dollars%20to%20Work.pdf

ROSEANN T. BONGIOVANNI
Roseann Bongiovanni is the Director of the Chelsea Green Space and Recreation Committee, a grassroots environmental group based out of the non-profit agency, the Chelsea Collaborative. Roseann is a lifelong Chelsea resident. After graduating from Chelsea High School where she was the Senior Class President, she attended Boston University on a full-tuition scholarship and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Italian. Roseann was then awarded the Dean’s Scholarship to attend the Boston University School of Public Health where she earned a Master’s Degree concentrating in Environmental Health.

Roseann is also a Chelsea City Councilor and served as the President of that elected body in 2007. Roseann was a recipient of the ACE Founders’ Award in 2001; and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration named her one of 10 National Environmental Heroes in the Spring of 2006; and she was awarded the All Chelsea Award “Adult Resident of the Year” in 2007. She has been a guest speaker at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Salem State School of Social Work, Boston University School of Social Work, Boston University Law School and numerous conferences.

ACT FOR A HEALTHY TOMORROW: A Valentine

2010-02-08T08:28:00.014-05:00

A Valentine v. 11/2010
to raise awareness of the intimate connection between our health and the quality of our environment and the need to work for public integrity, health security and human rights.

Act for a Healthy Tomorrow

Watch our children grow

Ensure each child a healthy start

Safe and happy, strong and smart

Act for a Healthy Tomorrow

Act for a Healthy Tomorrow
Help our children grow

Protect their water, soil, food and air

Show the kids how much you care

Act for a Healthy Tomorrow

We always reap what we sow

Stop lead, perc, hexavalent chromium, and TCE,

dioxins and furans, and PBDEs,

DEHP, formaldehyde, and 2,4-D

Think safe kids, safe food, safe air, safe bees!

Act for a Healthy Tomorrow

Act for a Healthy Tomorrow
Protect every family you know

Stop asthma, brain damage, and cancer

Pollution prevention is the answer:

Act for a Healthy Tomorrow
by Ellie Goldberg, M.Ed., www.healthy-kids.info

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

www.healthytomorrow.org
http://www.saferstates.com/

www.chej.org

www.grassrootsinfo.org
http://www.saferchemicals.org/

www.toxicsaction.org
http://www.eatwellguide.org

www.cleanwateraction.org/ma
healthychild.org
http://www.ewg.org/childrenshealth

www.healthlink.org

www.artscraftstheatersafety.org

http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/
www.PesticideWatch.org
www.PesticideReform.org.

www.noharm.org

www.checnet.org
http://www.aaidd.org/ehi
http://www.healthandenvironment.org/

www.beyondpesticides.org
http://www.safecosmetics.org/
www.greencape.org
www.greendecade.org

www.healthy-kids.info

Nursery Rhymes, Revised

2010-02-01T07:47:00.000-05:00

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep
and doesn't know where to find them.
They're in a sprayed field.
Their fate has been sealed.
Bo-peep will never find them.

Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With chemical smells
From sprayed silverbells
And with WARNING signs all in a row?

Jack Sprat, he found a Rat.
His wife thought it unclean.
She found some Raid,
with which she sprayed.
Now the Sprats no more are seen.

Little Jack Horner
sat in a corner
eating his Birthday Pie.
He put in his thumb
and pulled out a plum
and said,
I wonder how many
pesticides have I?

Simple Simon
met a pieman,
going to the fair
Said Simple Simon
to the pieman,
"What's inside
of there?"
Said the pieman
to Simple Simon,
"Pesticides a plenty,"
Said Simple Simon
to the pieman,
"Indeed, I don't
want any."

Peter Peter,
avid DEET-er,
has a wife
and likes to keep her
free of 'squitos,
fleas and flies,
and wonders why
his puppy dies.

Sing a song of pesticides,
a pocketful of dyes,
Four and twenty chemicals
baked up inside.
When the pie was opened
the birds began to cry,
"Who has added these poisons
to our precious food supply?"

Sing a song of pesticides,
a pocketful of lies,
Four and twenty chemicals
baked up inside.
When the pie was opened
the birds forgot to sing.
Didn't Rachel Carson warn you
about a Silent Spring?

Poem Ideas by Maeve Ward, Ellie Goldberg, Sasha Goldberg, Maggie Cooper

Zero Waste Information

2009-10-07T15:10:00.002-04:00

www.ecocycle.org

Videos about Zero Waste

http://www.grrn.org/video/

The Story of Stuff
with Annie Leonard

and

Zero Waste Systems
with Eric Lombardi

Tapped

2009-08-28T13:43:00.002-04:00

Don't Drink the Water

‘Tapped’ documentary pulls plug on bottled water craze

Only about a fifth of the plastic water bottles purchased in the United States are recycled.Courtesy producers of TAPPED.Tapped, a new documentary about the bottled water industry from director Stephanie Soechtig and the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car?, is a pretty damning look at how consumers have been tricked into spending too much money on water packaged in plastic and quite often not as clean as what’s available from the faucet.
I knew bottled water sucks, but I didn’t know it sucks this much. Not only is it a clear waste of resources (only 20 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States are recycled, and far too many of the rest probably end up in the Pacific Garbage Patch), it’s an incredible waste of money for consumers, who pay more than the price of gasoline for water that’s marketed as “pure,” but in reality is largely unregulated, full of harmful toxins like BPA, and far less safe for drinking than free tap water. (In fact, 40 percent of the time, bottled water is nothing but municipal tap water, freed from the government oversight that keeps it safe.)
Tapped, which began a one-week run at the IFC Center in New York on Friday, traces the evolution of bottled water from its hoity-toity Perrier days to its present ubiquity, and succeeds at making the industry reps look like total jerks. A few too many mid-interview cutaways to Soechtig looking concerned came off as a little journalistically self-important, but Tapped does a solid job of covering every aspect of this damaging industry and inspiring more outrage than despair. It features interviews with the likes of Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin and Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), not to mention some footage of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) tearing into an FDA rep at a government hearing.
I will never look at bottled water with anything less than loathing from now on.
Watch the trailer:

The film’s website lists where you can see it in the theater. So far, it will be screened in a smattering of cities on the East and West costs. There’s also a Facebook page for the film.

Voyage confirms plastic pollution

2009-08-28T11:24:00.001-04:00

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Voyage confirms plastic pollution

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Scientists have confirmed that there are millions of tonnes of plastic floating in an area of ocean known as the North Pacific Gyre.

Stop GreenWashing

2009-08-13T09:04:00.001-04:00

Greenwashingindex

2009-08-13T09:01:00.001-04:00

Green Markets

2009-08-13T08:47:00.000-04:00

Greenmarket Documentary: From Mountain Sweet Berry Farm To Manhattan
In a new short documentary by Serious Eats, Rick Bishop of Mountain Sweet Berry Farm shows the love and care that goes into the whole farmers market process.

Chemical companies, US authorities knew dangers of Agent Orange

2009-08-10T10:13:00.001-04:00

Thanhnien Newspaper, Vietnam, August 10, 2009

Reported by Jon Dillingham

Agent Orange victims march on Le Duan Boulevard in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 Sunday to commemorate the first Orange Day in Vietnam.

Those responsible for exposing Vietnamese citizens and US troops to toxic defoliants kept silent about known health implications, a review of documents finds. More...