A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of joining some of my colleagues from the European Union at an event in Washington, DC to present information and share examples of how we are all making strides to better understand and assess the environment.

The gathering, A Sustainable Future for All: EU and US Efforts to Measure and Assess Progress Towards a Sustainable and Resource Efficient Economy, was an opportunity to explore how countries on both sides of the vast Atlantic Ocean see a pathway to cleaner, healthier communities and a more prosperous future for us, our grandchildren, and beyond.

One of the great aspects of the rendezvous was listening to the common themes emerge from different perspectives and across a diversity of organizations. EPA research is at the forefront of forging that confluence of thought.

EPA’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities research program was among the first explicitly organized to build bridges across traditional research disciplines—uniting ecologists, public health experts, toxicologists, and social scientists—to illuminate the connections between a healthy environment and specific, identifiable aspects of human well being. We work to connect natural ecosystems and the “services” they deliver such as climate stability, clean air, fertile soils, and watershed functions with critical aspects of livable communities: public health, environmental justice, economic opportunity, and long-term prosperity.

Simply put, we are working to empower communities and make things better for people.

A section of EPA’s interactive Report on the Environment. Go to http://cfpub.epa.gov/roe/ to explore more.

An important way we do that is to develop the information, data, and tools that individuals and communities need to assess and monitor the environment. At the rendezvous, I shared one of our latest examples: EPA’s Report on the Environment. The European Environment Agency produced a similar effort in the European Environment, State and Outlook 2015 (SOER).

EPA’s report is an interactive resource that shows how the condition of the environment and human health in the United States is changing over time. It presents the best available indicators of national trends in five areas of interest to EPA: Air, Water, Land, Human Exposure and Health, and Ecological Condition.

The Report on the Environment is an example of the kinds of scientific, environmental indicator-based resources EPA researchers are developing to provide transparent, open access to the information decision makers need.

Like our European counterparts, we are working together to embrace the concept of sustainability as a way to change the paradigm of environmental protection from something apart from traditional economic calculations to realizing opportunities in efficiencies and long-term solutions. Resources such as EPA’s Report on the Environment are helping us make that happen, and it was great to learn that we have committed partners to work with across the globe.

About the Author: Michael Slimak, Ph.D., is the national program director for EPA’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities research program. An ecologist by training, he has worked on issues ranging from strategic research planning to aquatic and terrestrial contamination and risk assessment.

EPA’s Thomas Burke, Ph.D., shares children’s environmental health research results.

Last week marked the closing of National Children’s Health month, and we took advantage of the occasion to join our partners from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) to hear highlights and the latest research results from the network of Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers that both our organizations have supported over the past two decades.

Over that time, these Children’s Centers have delivered research results where they are needed most, and have come to exemplify how to study—and meet—environmentally related public health challenges through science, collaboration, and community outreach.

The list of direct, positive impacts is long. Examples include the work done by scientists from the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health on the health effects of exposures to certain kinds of pesticides. Results from those studies sparked the adoption of integrated pest management techniques and neighborhood notification laws that have fundamentally changed how New York City addresses pest control. Another notable example is how evidence from studies conducted at the University of Washington Children’s Center informed EPA’s decision to phase out the use of the chemical azinphos-methyl in pesticides.

And those are just two of the many, many examples we can look back on to show the impact that Children’s Centers research have had on improving public health for some of our most vulnerable populations and lifestages. As a new granddad myself, I can tell you that what is equally exciting is to look to the future. By design, the work of the Children’s Centers unite scientists and other experts across a wide spectrum of disciplines. These teams are actively tapping into a wealth of new data streams in chemical screening and toxicology to bring fresh, innovative approaches to tackling the complex challenges that affect children’s health.

Those integrated approaches are increasing the pace of discovery at an amazing rate. But the Children’s Centers don’t stop there. Because of the urgent nature of the work, science translation and community outreach are high priorities. Children’s Center research is designed from the very beginning with the end user in mind. They partner with daycare providers, community leaders, pediatricians and nurses, caregivers, teachers, and parents to ensure that research results are accessible, easy to understand, and ready to support action as soon as possible.

The Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers will continue to help meet our highest priority in keeping kids healthy and safe. While we must remain vigilant to keep the science flowing to public health officials, the impact of that work proves that the future is looking brighter every day.

About the Author: Thomas Burke, Ph.D, MPH, is the Deputy Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development as well as the Agency’s Science Advisor. Prior to coming to EPA, Dr. Burke served as the Jacob I. and Irene B. Fabrikant Professor and Chair in Health, Risk and Society and the Associate Dean for Public Health Practice and Training at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Linda Birnbaum, Ph.D., is director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

A good start lasts a lifetime. That’s the philosophy that drives the children’s environmental health research supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, or NIEHS.

Key discoveries have emerged from this research. We know that children are more vulnerable than adults to certain chemicals, pollutants, foods, and activities. We know that there are periods of time, or windows of susceptibility, when developing minds and bodies are especially sensitive to disruption by environmental exposures. These times include the prenatal period and puberty. We are also finding that the health effects from childhood exposures may not appear until years later.

Over the past seventeen years, the NIEHS and the EPA have jointly funded 23 Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers, or Children’s Centers, across the country. The Children’s Centers examine the effects of air pollution, metals, pesticides, and other environmental contaminants on a number of children’s health outcomes.

There are enormous benefits to our partnership with EPA. Together, our funding goes farther. This allows us to make sure that our research addresses the specific health concerns expressed by the public, and helps to speed the translation of research findings to treatment or prevention of disease.

Here are some examples of recent research findings from the Children’s Centers:

• When pregnant mothers are exposed to common air pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), their children are more likely to have lower IQs or symptoms of anxiety, depression, or attention deficit.
• Some chemicals, such as bisphenol A (BPA) or phthalates, may interfere with hormone function in the body. This can change the timing of puberty, have detrimental effects on behavior, or increase the risk of asthma.
• Children may have increased risk of developing some types of leukemia when fathers are exposed to pesticides around the time of conception, or mothers are exposed during pregnancy.

The mission of NIEHS is to discover how the environment affects people in order to promote healthier lives. For children’s environmental health, our partnership with EPA helps us to achieve that mission.

About the Author: Linda S. Birnbaum, Ph.D., is director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Toxicology Program (NTP). A board certified toxicologist, Birnbaum has served as a federal scientist for nearly 35 years. Prior to her appointment as NIEHS and NTP director in 2009, she spent 19 years at EPA, where she directed the largest division focusing on environmental health research.

By Kacey Fitzpatrick

Need a last minute Halloween costume idea? Want to stand out from the sea of flowing capes and neon spandex? Try going as a non-traditional superhero—an environmental scientist! Check out some of our researchers at work to get an idea of how they work to save the world every day.

Here is some of the latest research they’ve been working on.

• VERGE 2015 Conference
  EPA’s Dan Costa was one of three panelists along with representatives from Aclima and Google at the Verge 2015 conference, Silicon Valley’s annual meeting of entrepreneurs held in San Jose, California. Their session focused on air sensors and their utilities on mobile platforms and how the development of various sensors will someday transform the way individuals, communities and possibly government will use these new data. The session was the most well attended session of the meeting.

  Read more about the partnership in the Science Matters story Private, Government Collaboration Advances Air Sensor Technology.

• EPA Co-authored Article Selected for Society’s Annual Award
  An article written by EPA’s Elizabeth D. Hilborn and UPenn’s R. Val Beasley, published in the journal Toxins in April, has been selected as the second-place winner of the 2015 Award for Outstanding Research Article in Biosurveillance in the “Impact of Field of Biosurveillance” category by the International Society for Disease Surveillance. The article highlights the utility of using cyanobacteria-associated animal illnesses and deaths to provide early warnings of the potential for increased human health risks from harmful algal blooms.

  Read the article One Health and Cyanobacteria in Freshwater Systems: Animal Illnesses and Deaths Are Sentinel Events for Human Health Risks here.

• Embassy Science Fellow Discusses Climate Change in Australia
  EPA scientist Rachelle Duvall, currently an Embassy Science Fellow, was invited to be a guest scientist at Questacon-The National Science and Technology Centre in Canberra, Australia on October 13. She presented hands-on science activities to over 200 Questacon visitors. A guest appearance was made by former Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, who “gave it a go” and participated in the activities.

  Check out Duvall’s public seminar on climate change.

• Advancing Children’s Health for a Lifetime
  It’s Children’s Health Month and this week results and impacts of research from the Children’s Environmental Health & Disease Prevention Research Centers (Children’s Centers)—supported jointly by EPA and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences supported—were featured at a special Congressional briefing. This event was followed by the Children’s Centers annual meeting which included presentations and discussions that explore connections between research findings, clinical and community practice, and child protective policies.

  Learn more about the Children’s Centers here.

• World Stroke Day
  World Stroke Day, established by the World Stroke Organization, was observed worldwide on October 29^th. Studies show that air pollution can trigger heart attacks, strokes and worsen heart failure in people who are at risk for these conditions. EPA is raising awareness of heart disease and its link to air pollution and other environmental factors as a partner in the Million Hearts, a national initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017.

  Check out EPA’s Healthy Heart Toolkit and Research.

If you have any comments or questions about what I share or about the week’s events, please submit them below in the comments section!

About the Author: Kacey Fitzpatrick is a student contractor and writer working with the science communication team in EPA’s Office of Research and Development.

Is Halloween on your mind this week?  It’s okay to be scared at the thought of ghosts and goblins running around, but a truly frightful sight is your electric bill driven higher by wasteful water use.

October is National Energy Action Month, and even though you may not realize it, it takes a lot of energy to provide clean water.  Energy is needed to move every gallon of water you use in your home, office, or school from its source to a treatment plant, and through water pipes to your house.  The work doesn’t stop there!  If you need hot water, it takes energy to warm it up before it hits the tap.

Water may seem like an inexpensive resource, but the more water you use, the more energy you use, too.  That’s why it’s so important to conserve water and why we encourage you to “shower better” during the month of October and all-year-round!

Showering is one of the leading ways Americans use water in the home, accounting for nearly 17% of indoor water use.  You can shower better by replacing your old showerhead with a WaterSense labeled model that saves water, energy and money while performing as well as a standard model.  By replacing just one showerhead with a WaterSense labeled model, EPA estimates the average family can save 2,900 gallons of water, enough electricity to power a home for 13 days, and more than $70 in energy and water costs every year.

October is also  Children’s Health Month and a great time to talk to your kids about becoming “green goblins” by conserving water.  Check out WaterSense for kids for games and activities to get them in on the water-saving action.  You can search for WaterSense-labeled products – including showerheads – and more on EPA’s WaterSense website. Shower better with WaterSense and your water use can be one less thing to be scared of this Halloween!

About the Author: Kimberly Scharl joined EPA in 2010, after moving to the mid-Atlantic region from Mississippi. She is a financial analyst and project officer in the Office of Infrastructure and Assistance, and is the regional liaison for the WaterSense Program. Kim enjoys bowling and spending time with her family.

EPA brings in students every summer to work, learn practical environmental skills, and enhance their educational experience through our Pathways Intern Program. The Big Blue Thread is proud to feature several blogs written by these interns, focusing on what motivates them to work in the environmental sector and what attracted them to EPA. We’ve already posted blogs by Andrew Speckin, Sara Lamprise and Kelly Overstreet. Our fourth blog is by Emily Nusz, who continues to intern with our Environmental Data and Assessment staff.

How far away is the nearest water source from where you are sitting now? An arm’s length across your desk? A few feet? Right outside the window?

Villagers carry water jug and food basket

Next time you get the urge to take a drink of fresh, ice cold water, take a moment to think about places that may not have the same laws and regulations.

Perhaps you’ve heard about the global water crisis. Many communities in developing countries don’t have easy access to clean drinking water. They must walk miles each day with heavy jugs on their heads, just to collect muddy water from puddles or rivers. This water is then used to drink, wash dishes, and sanitize their bodies. The water is filled with bacteria, parasites, and waste that can cause a variety of debilitating diseases including malaria and cholera. As a result, thousands of people die every day from avoidable diseases caused by contaminated water.

Little do they know, the water they so desperately need is often right beneath their feet.

Emily Nusz (center) with group of Kenyan children

A few hot summers ago, members of my church and I traveled to Nairobi, Kenya. Our mission was not only to provide care for children in orphanages, but to provide a village with clean water. We decided the best way to accomplish this task was to build the community a water well in the heart of the village for easy accessibility. Our team raised money for the well, and then we were ready to make a large time and energy commitment to a long-term solution for the people. The excitement of our arrival was very powerful. I remember every face in the village beaming with joy.

Water wells can provide clean water for hundreds of villagers. A pump or a tap built in the center of the community can save an entire day of walking to the nearest muddy puddle, and save hundreds of lives by preventing exposure to harmful or even deadly diseases.

Water can be found in underground, permeable rock layers called aquifers, from which the water can be pumped. An aquifer fills with water from rain or melted snow that drains into the ground. Aquifers are natural filters that trap bacteria and provide natural purification of the groundwater flowing through them. Wells can be dug or drilled, depending on the time and cost of the project. They can be dug using a low-cost, hand-dug method, or built using either a high-cost, deep well method or a shallow well, low-cost method. Safe drinking water can usually be found within 100 feet of the surface.

Kenyan countryside in summer

Although I was not physically involved in building the village well, we all contributed to the mission we set out to accomplish. A well was built by drilling a hole that reached down far enough to reach an aquifer, and even lined with steel to keep out pollutants. Our team put together pipes and hand pumps that enabled the villagers to pull the water out of the well and use it safely. Our team was very gratified to know that the well we built will provide clean water for a community of up to 500 people for many years to come!

Learn more about water wells. The best way to keep our water clean is to stay informed of ways to help reduce the risks and protect the source. Learn how you can help. To learn more about global water statistics, visit Global WASH Fast Facts.

About the Author: Emily Nusz is a Student Intern at EPA Region 7, who worked full-time this summer and will continue part-time during the school year. She is a graduate student at the University of Kansas, studying environmental assessment. Emily is SCUBA certified, and one of her life goals is to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reefs off the coast of Australia.

Halloween is right around the corner and many people will celebrate by visiting haunted houses or trails, telling scary stories, watching horror films and such. What a lot of people don’t realize is that they may be unwittingly living in a horror story of their own…

There are many abandoned houses throughout New York and New Jersey. You pass by them every day. Do you ever take notice of one and wonder about its story? I know I do. When I was a child I romanticized stories about the former occupants of those boarded up homes and wondered what had gone so wrong. I wondered if spirits walked the halls. What was behind those boarded up windows?  Would it be too dangerous to explore? Today, I know that they are very dangerous places – but not just for the obvious structural integrity concerns. There are evil demons dwelling inside. Quietly waiting for the innocent to enter…

Do you live with your family in an older home, one filled with the charm of days gone by? Some of those beauties have high ceilings, pocket doors, intricate molding, fireplace mantels, built-in shelving, elaborate front porches and more. True architectural masterpieces! But those surfaces also have a sinister secret, and you and your family could be in grave danger…

Although old homes may (or may not be) haunted by ghosts, they are haunted by a toxic presence oozing creepily from their walls. An invisible menace: lead. Most frightening is that this demon silently poisons its trespassers. Its victims are naively unaware of what’s happening to them, and the children (like in any truly horrific story) are attacked most vehemently. Lead slaughters their future. While they innocently crawl upon the floors and creep along the walls, steady themselves in doorways and on window sills, our most vulnerable unknowingly ingest the very smallest amounts of lead on minuscule dust particles. Their little bodies and brains are invaded by a devastating ghoul that will continue to wreak havoc in their bodies for many years, even decades. AND THE DAMAGE LEAD HAS WROUGHT CAN GO UNNOTICED. A true life horror story if there ever was one!

October is Children’s Health Month and during this final week in October, we also observe Lead Poisoning Prevention Week. Lead poisoning is an insidious foe, a true demon of monstrous proportions and worthy of Halloween nightmares. Lead poisoning affects every organ in the human body, and it does so silently, unassumingly, stealthily. The culprit could be lurking in your own home, on your very own walls. If your home was built before 1978, somewhere beneath the surface of all those many layers of paint, there are very likely layers of paint that contain lead. Lead does not disappear. If you renovate your home and this paint is disturbed, lead will be released into your home. It will silently fall to rest on every surface of your home. It will get into your ventilation system. There is no safe place to hide. Lead dust will find you. There are other ways lead can creep into your safe home: lead in soil, lead in water pipes, glazed bath tubs, stained glass, ceramics, and more. But lead in dust caused by renovations where lead-safe work practices are not followed is the most prevalent route.

Please take a few moments to visit www.epa.gov/lead to find out how to protect yourself from lead poisoning. Encourage your children to wash their hands before eating – especially after handling those packaged Halloween treats from unassuming older homes.

Have a lead-safe Halloween!

By Tammy Newcomer Johnson, ORISE Research Participant

The sidewalk is flooded at the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC.  Photo by Tammy Newcomer Johnson.

I’m a scientist working at EPA and an avid photographer. I have exhibited nature-related photography in a 2-artist show, and I occasionally shoot weddings— preferably on the beach!

“King Tides,” are the highest tides of the year and they provide a glimpse of the future challenges that climate change brings to coastal communities facing rising sea levels. The main 2015 Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Seaboard King Tides will occur on October 28th. Check out this King Tides Map for predicted times. This is a bounty for photographers and a wake-up call for local planners.

Recording King Tides is a great citizen science opportunity. Anyone with a camera can participate!  Images and video of King Tides can help local planners, elected officials, and community members visualize and prepare for future flooding events from sea level rise, high tides, and coastal storms. For example, the King Tides Project teams up with classrooms in coastal communities to empower students to educate local planners about future flooding risks. Likewise, many of the National Estuary Programs are actively engaged in capturing the King Tides. The Casco Bay Estuary Partnership in Maine has an interactive King Tides Trail and an annual King Tide Party to document high water levels. What a fun way to combine art, science, and coastal management!

Want to learn more about King Tides? Check out EPA’s Climate Ready Estuaries and NOAA’s Office of Coastal Management for some great resources.

Here are my King Tides photography tips:

1. Location, location, location! Choose a place that is vulnerable to coastal flooding. Make sure that you include some familiar landmarks so that it is easy to identify the area.
2. The early bird gets the worm! Arrive at your location about 45 minutes before the high tide to scout out the best shot.
3. Quantity leads to quality! Take a lot of pictures so you can compare them and pick your favorite. During a recent wedding I photographed, I took over 2,000 photos. I found some real gems among all of these photos!
4. Bonus points! Get some photos of the low tide to show the contrast and/or take a time-lapse video.

I encourage you to share your King Tides photography with the King Tides Project, the MyCoast App and your local National Estuary Program (if you are in one of those watersheds). Thank you for helping your community to be ready for climate change!

About the author: Tammy Newcomer Johnson is in the ORISE program with EPA’s Climate Ready Estuaries team. She has a Ph.D. in Marine Estuarine Environmental Science (MEES) program from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she explored the impacts of urbanization on the ecology and water quality of the Chesapeake Bay.

By Janet McCabe

On October 19th, I had the honor of presenting EPA’s 15th Annual Green Power Leadership Awards to 25 organizations that are leading the charge in using renewable energy and setting an example for their peers, helping to accelerate development of a strong clean energy portfolio nationwide. The awards honor a range of organizations for innovative achievements in acquiring and using renewable electricity as well as commitments to responding to climate change.

In addition to large corporations, nonprofit and educational institutions were also highlighted. From Northwestern University, to Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences, Tucson Unified School District, and the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, these groups educate students and the public about the environment. For instance, Crossroads School (K-12) in Santa Monica, California sourced 100 percent of their electricity use from wind, biomass, and biogas resources through a collective procurement and includes green power in its academic curriculum. And at Phipps, a public garden in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with 100 percent of its electricity sourced from renewable resources, its 350,000+ visitors annually get an in-depth look at photovoltaic arrays, a wind turbine, geothermal wells, and many, many other sustainable energy features—all within a single accessible site. In addition, Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) installed one of the largest on-site solar generation projects at a K-12 school system in the nation last year, and shares the lessons it learned far and wide. TUSD also is working closely with a local Native American tribe on developing its own solar project.

As we’ve seen in the past few years, local governments are doing more with green power. This year’s government winners—Government of the District of Columbia, Ulster County, NY, and the City of Hayward CA Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF)—are leading the way in innovative approaches. For instance, Hayward WPCF’s new cogeneration facility uses the methane produced from the digesters as fuel. Waste heat from the new cogeneration system is captured and used to heat the city’s anaerobic digesters, further reducing reliance on natural gas formerly used to heat the sludge during colder months of the year. This cogeneration facility, along with the facility’s solar array, produces more renewable electricity than it needs, so it exports the excess renewable electricity to other city facilities.

The Sustained Excellence category winners – Intel, Kohl’s, and TD Bank – continue to uphold their outstanding work in driving the green energy market, and first-time winners like Traditional Medicinals and National Hockey League have been investing in sustainable operations, including clean energy and electricity use, for years. What a tremendous inspiration for all!
The Green Power Leadership Awards are sponsored by EPA’s Green Power Partnership Program in collaboration with the Center for Resource Solutions. See the award list for more about all the green power leaders.

I’m  Derron Coles, an engineer and instructional designer in Portland, Oregon who engages young men of color in protecting the environment – a cause most of my students have never considered. I help run Grounding Waters, a youth mentoring program funded through an EPA Urban Waters grant that connects students to nature and encourages them to become advocates for the environment.

Grounding Waters is now mentoring 8th and 9th graders from Alliance High School, Roosevelt High School, and George Middle School in Portland. The program targets students in middle school because when you lose students in math and science then, it’s hard to get them back. Many students who have completed programs like Grounding Waters have gone on to college; 25 percent chose science majors.

For me, the work is personal.

I’m from Baltimore and was in the same position as these students. In high school, I was exposed to engineering. In college, I studied mechanical engineering and the Chesapeake Bay. Later, I earned a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at Oregon State University, where I taught as a graduate student. Teaching gave me a new perspective on how to help the environment. I got excited about being able to create change beyond what I could do alone.

Students in Grounding Waters have weekly meetings with their mentors, who are professional men of color from the Portland area who volunteer their time. Twice a month or more, they participate in weekend activities, with black environmental science college student mentors, to learn how the urban environment affects water quality through restoration and conservation activities like removing invasive plants and conducting water quality experiments.

The students will have an opportunity in March 2016 to present at the Black Student Success Summit in Portland on the impacts community members can have on the urban environment. Participants will move full circle from students to educators as they share what they have learned about their watershed. We’re hoping that by seeing the impacts on water quality, they’ll see their connection to the environment. That’s what stewardship is all about.

This project is supported by Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant. The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program is a public-private partnership program led by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and EPA’s Urban Waters Program. Portland is part of EPA’s Making a Visible Difference in Communities initiative, which provides focused support to 50 communities across the country seeking to become more sustainable.

About the author: Derron Coles is a Principal Consultant with DRC Learning Solutions writing curriculum and supporting youth programs for nonprofit clients like the Blueprint Foundation. While he fully intended to put his civil engineering graduate degree to work in industry, he’s been a dedicated educator for over 14 years.