Author: EPA.gov

While I was on my way home, my daughter Mariam franticly called me because she had seen a small mouse running in our family room. I told her that I would stop by the supermarket to buy mouse traps. She insisted that we catch the mouse live and dispose of it. She didn’t want to kill it or use any poisons that might hurt our three house cats. In fact, the scene was quite comical because in our time of need, the three cats were no where to be found!

I wasn’t worried about having a rodent infestation in the house because we observe integrated pest management practices. Furthermore, I hope that the cats’ presence should serve as a natural deterrent. I suppose that the small field mouse, which seemed to be as frantic as my daughter, must have entered the warm house while I brought the garbage can and recycling bin inside. Yes, I had left the kitchen door open in the process, me bad.

When I got home with two sets of mouse traps (including a live-catch one) my daughter kept insisting that she didn’t want to kill the mouse. Surprisingly, while the mouse was scurrying around the family room trying to escape, it jumped into a box full of toys. My husband quickly took the box, dumped it out on the deck, and the small mouse leaped to freedom.

So what are the do’s and don’ts to get rid of mice and other pests in the home? Simple tips include removing sources of food, water and shelter. If you have to use pesticides, read the label first and keep children and pets away while these pesticides are being applied. In the home, traps and baits pose less risks to children and pets. Nonetheless, place them in areas where your children or pets cannot reach. In fact, the use of rat poison in the home leads to accidental poisonings of children on a yearly basis. The Agency has announced stricter policy guidelines to prevent rodenticide poisonings.

I must confess that while the mouse trapping scenario was hilarious this weekend, rodents and other pests in the home are not a laughing matter. They present many health risks and need to be handled properly. With preventive measures, you can keep everyone at home safe and the pests far away.

About the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and chairs EPA’s Multilingual Communications Task Force. Prior to joining EPA, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and she has worked for several government agencies.

Mientras iba a casa, mi hija Mariam me llamó frenética porque había visto un ratoncito corriendo en la sala familiar. Yo le dije que pararía en el supermercado para comprar varias ratoneras. Ella insistió que quería que capturara el ratón sin matarlo y dispusiera del mismo. Ella no quería matarlo y tampoco quería que usáramos venenos para no poner en peligro las tres gatas que tenemos en la casa. De hecho, la escena era realmente cómica ya que cuando más las necesitábamos, ¡las gatas habían desaparecido del panorama!

No me preocupaba la posibilidad de tener una infestación de ratas en la casa porque observamos prácticas para el manejo integrado de plagas. Además, yo estaba esperanzada de que la presencia de las gatas ayudaría servir como un ente disuasivo natural. Supongo que el ratoncito de campo, que parecía igualmente asustado que mi hija, había entrado a la casa buscando calor cuando yo estaba en el proceso de entrar el recipiente de basura, como decimos en Puerto Rico, el zafacón, y el recipiente de reciclaje. Sí, confieso que por descuido dejé la puerta de la cocina abierta en el proceso.

Cuando llegué a casa con dos tipos de ratoneras, incluyendo una que permite que uno capture el ratón sin matarlo, mi hija continuaba insistiendo que no matara el animal. Para sorpresa nuestra, el ratoncito que corría por todas partes intentando escapar, se metió en una caja de juguetes. Mi esposo rápidamente cogió la caja y la echó bocabajo afuera en el deck y el ratoncito saltó hacia su libertad.

Entonces, ¿cuáles son las medidas que se deben tomar para eliminar los ratones y otras plagas en el hogar? Por ejemplo, algunos consejos incluyen el remover las fuentes de alimentos, agua o albergue para estas plagas. Si tiene que usar plaguicidas, siga las instrucciones de la etiqueta y manténgalos fuera del alcance de los niños y mascotas cuando los aplique. En el hogar, las trampas y cepos presentan menos riesgos para los niños. No obstante, coloque las trampas y cebos en áreas fuera del alcance de los niños. De hecho, el usar veneno de ratas en el hogar conduce a envenenamientos accidentales en niños anualmente. La Agencia ha anunciado una política más estricta para evitar los envenenamientos por rodenticidas.

Tengo que confesar que mientras la escena de la captura del ratón este fin de semana fue bastante cómica, la presencia de ratas u otras plagas en el hogar no es materia para reírse. Estas presentan riesgos a la salud y tienen que ser manejadas adecuadamente. Con medidas preventivas, usted puede mantener su familia sana y dejar alejadas las plagas de su hogar.

Sobre la autor: Lina M. F. Younes ha trabajado en la EPA desde el 2002 y está a cargo del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Comunicaciones Multilingües. Como periodista, dirigió la oficina en Washington de dos periódicos puertorriqueños y ha laborado en varias agencias gubernamentales.

Each week we write about the science behind environmental protection. Previous Science Wednesdays.

What’s that, you say? International development is best left to experts in policy and economics? Well, think again because I believe that engineers and scientists have an important role to play.

While it’s easy for most of us to take our roads, electricity, schools, police forces, and food supplies for granted, there are still billions of people around the globe for whom these are not yet a reality.

Think about how much people’s lives—their health, education, safety, and well-being—would improve if they had the same level of infrastructure many of us probably take for granted. Transportation is faster and safer with paved roads; electricity improves education and healthcare, which, in turn, improves quality of life and people’s productivity, feeding tax revenues to the government to use in further improving infrastructure.

It’s positive feedback, spiraling upwards if we could only get it started!

This is what motivates me and the rest of my team. Over the past six years, we have been working to improve energy infrastructure in developing countries by building a better option for distributed energy generation: one that is renewable (uses solar energy), affordable, and can be made entirely with local materials, skills—and people.

The technology, which we call a Solar ORC, uses a solar thermal co-generation technique to simultaneously provide electricity and hot water in volumes required by typical rural institutions such as schools and clinics, allowing them to improve services, stretch their budgets, and avoid environmental degradation due to burning of fossil fuels. At the same time, local fabrication and dissemination of the technology provides good jobs and spurs the local economy.

In conjunction with our partners in southern Africa, we have already installed and tested several prototype systems, optimized for construction in Lesotho. Our most recent achievement is the initiation of our first full-scale system installation at a rural health clinic in Lesotho in 2009.

This type of work is challenging but also immensely rewarding. With each installation I am directly involved in improving the quality of infrastructure—and quality of life—for local people.

So to all of the young scientists and engineers out there wondering how you can make an impact on the world—think outside of the box and consider whether international development might have some challenges in store for you.

About the Author: Amy Mueller is a Ph.D. candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a co-founder of STG International, a non-profit organization combining science and engineering with international development. STG’s work developing a novel solar energy technology is supported in part by an EPA People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Award research grant.

This year has gone on record as the snowiest winter in Philadelphia. With the aftermath of back to back snowstorms (huge piles of snow and icy spots) still very much a part of daily life, the prospect of early Spring seems like a fantasy. Yet, even though it’s still February, Spring will come early – as it does every year – in the form of the Philadelphia International Flower Show.

The Philadelphia Flower Show is an annual rite of Spring that brings together garden exhibitors from all over the world, transferring the huge floor of the Pennsylvania Convention Center into a magical Spring display. It is a sight to behold, taking us from winter to spring as we step into a wonderland of gardens, plants, and floral designs. Billed as the world’s largest indoor flower exhibit and the oldest (1829) in the nation, the Flower Show annually attracts more than 250,000 visitors from all over the world. With its international appeal and audience, it’s very fitting that the theme of 2010 show is “Passport to the World.”

Traditional gardens, despite their beauty and appeal, can cause serious harm to the environment, including pesticide and nutrient runoff, and introduction of invasive species. That’s why since 1993, EPA has used this wonderful venue to educate gardeners on techniques that protect the environment and at the same time create beautiful gardens.

Each year, using native plants, and recycled materials, the EPA flower show team of volunteers designs, constructs, and creates an exhibit that vividly demonstrates the beauty and practicality of native plants, sustainable water usage, and beneficial landscaping techniques. In keeping with the Show’s 2010 international focus, our exhibit depicts an “East Meets West” theme, showcasing a Japanese style tea-house, set in a picturesque North American native garden. Our thousands of visitors are sure to be inspired by the splashes of colors and exotic textures of evergreens, azaleas, pitcher plants, phlox and a host of other native species as they adorn a cedar walkway and tea-house. The exhibit appears to be floating above a reflective pools.

As a Communications Coordinator and a Flower Show volunteer, I have coordinated outreach and education for the Flower Show team for more than 10 years. And while our exhibits always carry messages of sustainability, it is amazing to see unique exhibits year after year, conveying environmental messages in a special and beautiful way.

If you’re in the area, stop by and see for yourself the beauty and environmental benefits of green gardening. The 2010 Philadelphia International Flower Show runs from Sunday, February 28th through March 7th at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Whether you are an aspiring gardener, an experienced gardener, or you just like to enjoy the sights of Spring, there’ll be plenty to see, learn, and enjoy.

See you at the Flower Show.

About the Author: Bonnie Turner-Lomax came to EPA Region’s mid-Atlantic Region in 1987 and has held several positions throughout the Region. She is currently the Communications Coordinator for the Environmental Assessment & Innovation Division.

When I was younger I lived only a few blocks away from a large playground. I used to go there with my family and friends to do the ‘usual’ playground activities: run, swing, race the boys on the monkey bars, and ride down the slides into sand, grass, or my personal favorite, concrete. I was, and still am, a very active person and because of this a have acquired my fair share of bumps, bruises, and scars from my exciting playground sessions. Perhaps this is why we are beginning to see a shift in the way in which playgrounds are being constructed.

More and more we are starting to see playgrounds, and playing fields covered in artificial synthetic turf. While there are some benefits to artificial turf, including low-cost maintenance and less potential for injuries, artificial turf may have potential environmental hazards that could overshadow its advantages. The crumb rubber used in artificial turf may include chemicals such as latex and other rubbers, phthalates, and toxic metals.

The EPA has done studies in attempts to uncover the potential harms of artificial turf. So far, the studies have not revealed any hazards of concern. It is suggested, however, that more studies should be done to better understand the potential environmental hazards of artificial synthetic turf.

The two sides of the argument have very strong points, each bringing issues even beyond the health standpoint and into the financial and environmental positions as well. I believe it is appropriate to view the issue as “unresolved.” More research should be done to learn more and make accurate decisions as the whether artificial turf is here to stay or needs to be taken away.

What are your opinions on artificial synthetic turf? Do you play on artificial turf?

About the author: Nicole Reising is an intern at the Office of Children’s Health Protection. She is a sophomore studying non-profit management at Indiana University.

Choices, choices, choices! We make them everyday. Sometimes we weigh our options and make sacrifices before making our choices. Perhaps you chose to use a reusable water bottle today instead of just grabbing a disposable bottled water. Other times we may decide the trade-off isn’t worth the effort. Tell us about trade offs you are willing to make to help protect the environment. Share your thoughts.

What trade offs would you be willing to make in your life to protect the environment?

Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.

¡Selecciones, opciones, elecciones! Las hacemos todos los días. A veces sopesamos nuestras opciones y hacemos sacrificios antes de hacer nuestra selección. Quizás usted puede escoger utilizar botellas reutilizables de agua hoy en lugar de optar por una botella de agua desechable. Muchas veces decidimos que el trueque no vale la pena del esfuerzo. Cuéntenos acerca de que ha decidido cambiar o abandonar para poder ayudar a proteger el medio ambiente. Comparta sus pensamientos.

¿Qué trueque estaría dispuesto hacer en su vida para proteger al medio ambiente?

Cada semana hacemos una pregunta relacionada al medio ambiente. Por favor comparta con nosotros sus pensamientos y comentarios. Siéntase en libertad de responder a comentarios anteriores o plantear nuevas ideas. Preguntas previas.

EPA is currently accepting applications for the 2010 National Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management, which recognizes leadership in addressing environmental triggers as part of comprehensive asthma programs. I can personally attest to the benefits of winning; in 2006, it was awarded to my program, Improving Pediatric Asthma Care in the District of Columbia (IMPACT DC).

Winning the award gave us more visibility, increasing our network and allowing us to speak with a more validated voice. We’re leveraging more opportunities to enhance asthma care services for the underserved in our community, implementing projects that allow us to increase our impact where it’s needed most. For example, we are using geographic information systems (GIS) to map emergency department (ED) visits to identify neighborhoods in need of asthma outreach and education. In addition, a grant project through the National Institutes of Health is allowing us to leverage electronic medical records, improving communication among primary care providers and generating important information about long-term trends in community health.

The award also helped us develop high-performing partnerships with local, regional and national leaders. For example, we began working with the Boston Public Health Commission, a 2009 Award Winner, to develop a legal framework for environmental remediation of rented dwellings whose poor environmental conditions risk tenants’ health. Finally, winning the award helped us increase our funding base through grants and donations. Each of these projects, partnerships and funds enhances IMPACT DC’s ability to provide comprehensive asthma care to our community members, enabling them to lead healthier, happier lives.

EPA’s emphasis on comprehensive asthma care and willingness to broadly conceptualize the issues has been important to ‘turning the tide’ of asthma care in the United States. Through the National Environmental Leadership Award, programs like ours have a platform from which to show health care providers, insurance plans, health departments, and community-based coalitions that a comprehensive approach works to improve the health, quality of life and cost of medical care for people with asthma.

If you know of a health plan, health care provider or community program improving the quality of life for those with asthma, encourage them to apply for the National Environmental Leadership Award.

Together, we can bring these issues to the forefront of the nation’s consciousness and improve the lives of millions with asthma.

About the Author: Dr. Stephen Teach is the principal investigator and medical director of IMPACT DC, and also serves as the associate chief of Emergency Medicine and associate director of the Center for Clinical and Community Research at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Students are often looking for opportunities to earn service hours. Non-profits, faith-based organizations often have such opportunities. Yet, why not think of creative ways to earn these service hours and protect the environment at the same time? And who says that community service should be limited to those who are currently enrolled in school? Volunteering for the environment should be everyone’s business regardless of age.

In last week’s blog, “Never Too late for a New Year Resolution,” I was struck by one of the statements from a regular Greenversations commenter, Michael E. Bailey. He highlighted how the City of Mission Viejo where he lives has made the 3 Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle) one of its top priorities in environmentalism. He points out that this active community involvement has earned Mission Viejo a green reputation.

I was surfing EPA’s Web site and found useful information on how you can volunteer to protect the environment. There are tips for teachers and students, multicultural community groups, and other public participation opportunities.

There are many volunteer opportunities to improve the quality of our local waterways. The “Adopt your watershed” program has useful toolkits on watershed stewardship for volunteers. You can also recommend to your Girl Scouts troop to participate in the clean up of a local stream or waterway so the Girl Scouts can earn a service patch. Businesses can also board the green bandwagon by organizing environmental awareness activities to encourage green procurement.

These are just a sampling of some of the tools available. I’m sure that many of you have already put creative methods into practice. We would like to hear from you. So, as the old Chinese proverb says: “a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” It’s just a matter of starting. You can also make a difference today by engaging in environmental stewardship.

About the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and chairs EPA’s Multilingual Communications Task Force. Prior to joining EPA, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and she has worked for several government agencies.

Los estudiantes siempre están a la búsqueda de oportunidades para obtener horas de servicio. Muchas organizaciones sin fines de lucro o aquellas basadas en grupos de fe también brindan dichas oportunidades. Sin embargo, ¿por qué no pensar en maneras creativas para conseguir estas horas de servicio y proteger al medio ambiente al mismo tiempo? ¿Y, quién dice que el servicio comunitario está limitado solamente a aquellos que están matriculados en las escuelas? El voluntarismo a favor del medio ambiente es responsabilidad de todos independientemente de la edad.

En el blog de la semana pasada, “Nunca es demasiado tarde para una resolución para el nuevo año”, me sorprendió uno de los comentarios de uno de las personas que envía comentarios regularmente a nuestro blog Greenversations, Michael E. Bailey. El destacó cómo la Ciudad de Misión Viejo donde él reside ha adoptado las 3 Rs (reducir, reutilizar y reciclar) como una de sus prioridades en ambientalismo. Señala cómo este civismo comunitario activo le ha ganado a Misión Viejo una reputación verde.

Estaba visitando varias páginas del sitio Web de EPA y encontré información útil sobre cómo uno puede prestar servicios voluntarios para proteger el medio ambiente. Hay varios consejos para maestros y estudiantes, grupos comunitarios multiculturales, y otras oportunidades de participación pública
Hay muchas oportunidades para mejorar la calidad de nuestras vías acuáticas locales. El programa de EPA llamado “Adopte su cuenca fluvial”, tiene herramientas de comunicaciones para voluntarios interesados en actividades de civismo ambiental enfocados en temas de agua. Usted también puede recomendar a su tropa de “Girls Scouts” a participar en actividades de limpieza de arroyos o ríos locales para que las niñas puedan ganar un parche de servicio. Los negocios también pueden unirse al movimiento ambientalista al organizar actividades de concienciación ambiental que fomenten la adquisición de productos verdes.

Esto es sólo una muestra de las herramientas disponibles. Estoy segura que hay muchas otros métodos creativos que usted ya ha puesto en vigor. Nos encantaría escuchar su opinión. Como dice el antiguo proverbio chino, “un camino de mil millas comienza con un solo paso”. Sólo hay que comenzar. Usted puede hacer la diferencia hoy participando activamente en el civismo ambiental.

Sobre la autor: Lina M. F. Younes ha trabajado en la EPA desde el 2002 y está a cargo del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Comunicaciones Multilingües. Como periodista, dirigió la oficina en Washington de dos periódicos puertorriqueños y ha laborado en varias agencias gubernamentales.

The U.S. EPA asked for your ideas about how to better manage our stuff and you answered back with your passion, creativity, and many ideas on how to make a difference! U.S. EPA’s national video competition, “Our Planet, Our Stuff, Our Choice,” closed on February 16, 2010 with over 200 submissions. Thanks to all who entered!

Submissions were received from Florida to Alaska and most states in between. Contestants focused on raising awareness of the connection between the environment and the “stuff” people use, consume, recycle, and throw away. The medium was thirty to sixty second videos. Videos focused on both community and individual actions that can make a difference. There were serious entries and funny ones, too. Choosing the top twenty five and finally the prize winners will be tough for the review panel. First, second, and third place prizes will be awarded along with two student winners.

Visit our YouTube site to check out all the entries. Winners will be announced here in April 2010.

About the Author: Melissa Winters joined EPA’s Seattle office in 2007 where she works to reduce the climate impact of materials and their consumption.

Links on this page may exit EPA.

Each week we write about the science behind environmental protection. Previous Science Wednesdays.

“You say you want a revolution,” said the Beatles. Well, we have one—a scientific revolution.

Nanotechnology is a scientific revolution of the sort described by Thomas Kuhn. In Kuhn’s description, science moves along with a certain set of beliefs until anomalies occur that don’t fit in with these beliefs. As the anomalies become more evident and common, somebody or some group forms a new and totally different theory that explains what’s going on–and shifts the whole direction of science. Hence, a scientific revolution occurs, and science moves forward on this new basis.

For example, 17th Century scientists were doing their “normal science” developing equations that explained how the sun rotated around the earth. These equations got more and more complicated trying to explain what was happening. Then, Galileo came along and said the earth rotated around the sun. This shifted the current geocentric paradigm and caused a scientific revolution in astronomy.

Unfortunately, Galileo was punished by the Inquisition for his “heresy,” but science marched on.

Before being able to work at the nanoscale, we thought that you could slice and dice materials to their smallest size, and they would still retain their properties—like color, magnetism, conductivity, melting point, etc. However, an anomaly occurred at the nanoscale. Materials were changing properties in a particular very small size scale—the nanometer scale.

For example, if you take a piece of gold jewelry, it is colored gold. You would expect that by chopping it up really, really small, its color would remain gold. That is not the case, however. If a particle of gold is 10 nanometers across, it is red. You also would not expect your gold ring to be reactive; yet, at a 2-3 nm size range, gold is a good catalyst.

All this is very exciting to scientists and engineers. Maybe we could “tune” properties to get the color we want or the reactivity we want. However, as scientists and engineers at EPA, we must make sure that the environment and human health are protected while making use of these really cool materials.

To carry out this mission, I support research in both applications of nanotechnology for helping the environment and implications of nanotechnology that may cause harmful effects. Some of the research results can be found at http://epa.gov/ncer/nano/.

About the Author: Dr. Barbara Karn is a scientist in EPA’s National Center for Environmental Research where she works in nanotechnology.

I can still recall watching the soap suds fly over the River Park ball field from my Chicago front yard on a windy summer’s day. This was before the ban on phosphate enriched detergents that took away those dirty bubbles created by the small North Branch of the Chicago River flowing over the spillway into the North Shore Channel. This urban resource was fenced-in from the community for decades due to safety concerns, but my grandfather would still take me through a hole in the fence to look at the turtles, dragonflies and to watch him fish.

Thanks to numerous restoration and protection efforts, this community at River Park now has a revitalized waterfront both upstream and downstream of the spillway. Access to the river has been made by removing the old fences, constructing walkways and viewing areas, and opening a boat launch just downstream of the spillway. River Park has developed into a popular fishing spot for more than just the immediate community.

This river is more than just a recreational opportunity for its residents to enjoy. It serves as a living laboratory for students and teachers to explore and learn. Adjacent to this urban waterway is a Chicago public high school – the Von Steuben High Science Center and two Universities (North Park and Northeastern Illinois). As a high school student I did a study relating bacteria counts to river flow at North Park University and as a senior I conducted an expanded research study of the aquatic life in the North Branch and presented it in the Chicago Science Fair. I was awarded a two year summer internship with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, which eventually led to my career at EPA.

Living along an urban waterway can inspire and provide special opportunities for community members to expand their understanding of their local waters and contribute to its restoration and protection. I know I’m not unique in this regard and I look forward to seeing more anecdotes on this blog describing how others were inspired and took action to improve our urban waterways.

About the Author: Wayne Davis is an environmental scientist in the Office of Environmental Information and has been promoting the use of aquatic biological indicators for community outreach for most of his 23 year EPA tenure. He also manages a Web site on biological indicators – http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators.

The great snow storm that hit the East Coast last week left all of us in DC wondering what to do without work, school, and many other things that were shut down due to the snow. As soon as the snow hit, I was outside. Throughout the week I was determined to get out of my apartment and enjoy the snow as much as I could. I was outside a lot, but I was not the only one! People filled the streets, walking to the huge snowball fight in the city, shoveling snow, and sledding wherever possible.

This was shocking to see, as most of the news shows urged people to stay inside. It was great to see a substantial amount of kids outside, and admittedly, a little shocking as well. I expected the kids to stay inside to watch their TVs, text on their cell phones, and play video games. However, kids filled the streets and the sledding hills.

It is important for children to get outdoors! Not only are they missing out on the beauty of the world, but perhaps it is part of the reason why there is an increase in childhood obesity.

The No Child Left Inside Act is a good start for children to get outside and learn about the environment during the school day, but it is not enough. It is important for parents to encourage their kids to go outside and play, and even better if they join them in the play! If you’re having difficulties thinking of things to do in your own backyard or neighborhood, here are a few activities I used to do when I was younger:

• Plant a garden
• Go on a bike ride
• Play basketball
• Roller-skate
• Play in the sprinkler
• Rake leaves
• Walk the dog

So, the big question is what will happen when all the snow has melted away, and the power is back on, and the children are back in school and parents back at work? Will children and their parents still continue to play outside? We all made the best of the snow and had our fun, but the fun doesn’t have to stop there!

What outdoors activities do you and your children do for fun?

About the author: Nikki Reising is an intern at the Office of Children’s Health Protection. She is a sophomore studying non-profit management at Indiana University.

All of us can take part in protecting human health and caring for our environment. Whether it be doing something big like organizing a community recycling project, or doing something on a smaller scale like picking up a piece of trash someone else may have dropped, our combined efforts really can make a difference.  Tell us about something you did today to help us make a difference.

What did you do to protect human health and the environment today?

Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.

Todos tomamos parte en la protección de la salud humana y el cuidado de nuestro medio ambiente. Sea algo grande como organizar un proyecto de reciclaje comunitario o hacer algo a menor escala como recoger un pedazo de basura que otra persona dejara caer, nuestros esfuerzos combinados pueden hacer una diferencia. Díganos algo sobre lo que usted ha hecho hoy para ayudarnos a hacer una diferencia.

¿Qué hizo hoy para proteger la salud humana y el medio ambiente?

Cada semana hacemos una pregunta relacionada al medio ambiente. Por favor comparta con nosotros sus pensamientos y comentarios. Siéntase en libertad de responder a comentarios anteriores o plantear nuevas ideas. Preguntas previas.

Before coming to EPA, I taught environmental law at Georgetown for 16 years. As a law professor, I was an avid consumer of information about EPA’s rules, their effects on communities of interest, and their status in the regulatory process. Unfortunately, I often found that it was often hard to find this kind of information at all, and close to impossible to find it all in one place.

This is why I’m so excited about our new Rulemaking Gateway. This is a new web site that makes EPA’s rulemaking process more transparent and easier to follow. It gives you the tools to understand how you can get involved in EPA’s priority rulemakings, how a rulemaking might affect you, and where each rule falls in our rulemaking process. As a former and future professor, I know this tool will be helpful to my students, my fellow academics, and to me. As a citizen, I see that the Gateway will be useful to me, my neighbors, and my community.

I hope you will find that the Gateway helps you to both track and participate in our rulemakings. I currently serve as EPA’s Regulatory Policy Officer, and in this role, I hear from many of our constituent groups. You have told me that you want to know what’s going on with EPA rules early and often. You want to know how you can get involved while the rule is still being drafted. Before I joined EPA, I wanted the same things. I wanted it to be easier to get a brief snapshot of an EPA rule and understand its evolution.

The Gateway does this and more. It gives you the opportunity to learn about a priority rule right from its start. It makes it easier than ever before to get up-to-date information as a rule goes through each phase on its way to being finalized. For example, EPA is working on a rule to investigate the potential hazards associated with lead weights used to balance the wheels on your car. Lead is highly toxic, especially to young children, and recent data shows that even very low levels of lead are associated with decreased intelligence, impaired neurobehavioral development, and behavioral effects. This rulemaking is in its early stages. We started working on it in fall 2009 and aren’t planning to ask for public comment until spring of 2011. Yet the Gateway already projects a date for the proposal; gives a description of how the rule might affect children’s health, environmental justice, small businesses, and sub-national governments; and provides a link where you can learn more about lead in paint, dust, and soil.

The Rulemaking Gateway is a major step forward in response to President Obama’s call to “establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.” I hope you’ll use the Gateway to learn about and get involved in EPA rulemakings. They affect you; they affect everyone. Help us protect human and environmental health by getting involved. And once you’ve experienced our Gateway, visit our Discussion Forum where you can tell us how to make it work even better for you.

About the Author: Lisa Heinzerling is EPA’s Associate Administrator for the Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation (OPEI). She is on a leave of absence from Georgetown Law.

An Inside Job

It wasn’t too long ago that I was working to improve human health and the environment from outside the government. Only a year ago, I was working with communities to redevelop properties at brownfield sites. When you’re outside the government, gaining access to the government officials who make decisions that affect your work can be a challenge. Now that I’m in the government, I have a chance to provide the access that’s so important to people and groups with environmental concerns. That’s why I’ve started a series of Video Town Hall discussions that will help me hear what you have to say.

Our first Video Town Hall was held in December, and I was very happy with the discussion that took place. The topic was the Superfund program, and we fielded questions from people and groups across the country. Our plan was to answer as many questions as time allowed, and I was pleased that we were able to answer every single question that we received.

Our next Video Town Hall will be held on February 23 from 1:30-3:00 PM Eastern Time. For this Town Hall, we plan to cover two topics.

First, we want to talk about how people and businesses can reduce their carbon footprint through reducing, reusing, and recycling. We all know that climate change is one of the great challenges facing our nation. Any effective strategy to fight climate change will require that we rethink the way that we buy new products and dispose of old products. I want to know how you’re fighting climate change through materials management, and what my office can do to help you reduce your carbon footprint.

The second topic is EPA’s upcoming environmental justice analysis of the Definition of Solid Waste Rule. We recently began seeking input on our draft plan, and we’d like to know what you think.

There are two ways to participate in the Town Hall: over the internet or by phone. You can send questions to [email protected] before or during the discussion, and we’ll also take a few questions from the phone toward the end of the call. All the information you need to participate is available on our Video Town Hall page.

I know that people outside of the government have important things to say about the environment; they just need someone to listen. Now that I’m the guy on the inside, that’s what I intend to do.

About the author: Mathy Stanislaus is EPA’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.

Part of my morning routine consists of packing my youngest daughter’s lunch. Although her school encourages waste-free lunches, I have found that lately I haven’t been observing green practices. Let me explain. Even though I had purchased several sets of reusable plasticware, these reusable containers remained in the cabinet untouched. On the other hand, I was using, on average, two disposable sandwich bags daily for her lunch. Those disposable bags add up. When you come to think of it, these bags just end up as trash in our landfills.

I must confess that being green can take extra work. Call it laziness or simply a bad habit, but you can easily fall into the trap of not minimizing waste, not saving energy, or not saving water. So, I decided that even though it’s February, I was going to set a new green New Year resolution for myself. I am committing to using reusable containers when preparing lunches for my daughter and myself. By abiding by this pledge on a daily basis, I will prevent more than 500 disposable plastic sandwich bags from reaching our landfills in one year.

So, even though many of our traditional resolutions may have not survived the first week in January, it would be nice to recommit our efforts to going green. I would love to hear your thoughts on the issue. How have you been able to minimizing packaging and waste at lunch time? Remember, we cannot promote any commercial brands or products, but tips are definitely welcomed because it’s never too late to go make a new green resolution any day of the year.

For more suggestions on how to reduce wastes and recycle, visit our consumer tips. [http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/wycd/funfacts/index.htm ] I’m sure that you will find something green that you can do today.

About the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and chairs EPA’s Multilingual Communications Task Force. Prior to joining EPA, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and she has worked for several government agencies.

Parte de mi rutina matutina consiste en preparar el almuerzo para mi hija menor. A pesar de que su escuela alienta a los padres a proveer almuerzos con el mínimo de desechos he encontrado que últimamente no he estado observando las prácticas más beneficiosas para el medio ambiente. A pesar de que había adquirido varios conjuntos de plásticos reutilizables, estos envases reutilizables permanecen en el gabinete sin usar. Por otra parte, he estado utilizando un promedio de dos pequeñas bolsas desechables para sándwich diariamente al preparar su almuerzo. Estas bolsas desechables se acumulan y terminan en nuestros vertederos.

Tengo que confesar que el ser realmente “verde” conlleva un esfuerzo mayor. Sea pereza o simplemente malos hábitos, pero es fácil caer en la trampa de no minimizar los desechos, no ahorrar energía o no ahorrar agua. Por lo tanto, he decidido que aunque ya estamos en el mes de febrero, voy hacer una nueva resolución ambiental para el nuevo año. Me he comprometido a utilizar envases reutilizables al preparar el almuerzo para que mi hija se los lleve a la escuela o yo me los lleve al trabajo. Al cumplir con este compromiso diariamente, evitaré que más de 500 bolsas desechables lleguen a los vertederos en un año.

Por lo tanto, aunque la mayoría de nuestras resoluciones tradicionales quizás no sobrevivieron la primera semana de enero, sería bueno que nos redoblemos nuestros esfuerzos a favor del medio ambiente. Me encantaría escuchar su sentir sobre este tema. ¿Ha podido minimizar las envolturas y desechos durante el almuerzo? Tengo que destacar que no podemos promover marcas ni productos comerciales, pero los consejos son definitivamente bienvenidos porque nunca es demasiado tarde para hacer una nueva resolución verde cualquier día del año.

Para más sugerencias sobre cómo reducir desechos y reciclar, visite nuestros consejos para el consumidor. Estoy segura que encontrará algo “verde” para hacer hoy mismo.

Sobre la autor: Lina M. F. Younes ha trabajado en la EPA desde el 2002 y está a cargo del Grupo de Trabajo sobre Comunicaciones Multilingües. Como periodista, dirigió la oficina en Washington de dos periódicos puertorriqueños y ha laborado en varias agencias gubernamentales.