A team of scientists came to Richmond in 2006 to conduct a new kind of study, one that would try to answer residents' questions of which outdoor pollutants were coming indoors. At 40 homes in Richmond and 10 in nearby Bolinas, which has no heavy industry, equipment monitored pollution levels outdoors and indoors. The results were striking. The outdoor levels around Richmond homes were almost double the levels around Bolinas homes, and the chemicals moved indoors. Vanadium and nickel in outdoors air were among the highest in the state.
Hello all: I just received an important notice from the Global Footprint Network (based in Geneva). Today, 20 August 2013, is “Earth Overshoot Day.” It’s the approximate date that humanity’s annual demand on nature exceeds what Earth can renew in a year.
Most likely the items in your home or office came from overseas. Today's report focuses on the question how those products got to you, and what is the impact on the environment and workers?
Abstract: Current literature is insufficient to make causal inferences or establish dose-response relationships for traffic-related ultrafine particles (UFPs) and cardiovascular (CV) health. The Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health (CAFEH) is a cross-sectional study of the relationship between UFP and biomarkers of CV risk. CAFEH uses a community-based participatory research framework that partners university researchers with community groups and residents. Our central hypothesis is that chronic exposure to UFP is associated with changes in biomarkers.
Exposure to high levels of traffic-generated particles may pose risks to human health; however, limited measurement has been conducted at homes near highways. The purpose of this study was to characterize differences between indoor and outdoor particle number concentration (PNC) in homes near to and distant from a highway and to identify factors that may affect infiltration. Read more (abstract only, full article requires subscription)
Elisabeth Stoddard, or Lisa, is an Associate Professor, TRT, and the co-Director of the Environmental and Sustainability Studies Program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester, MA. She teaches courses focused on environmental...
Sarah is a veterinarian for the Marine Mammal Rescue and Research Program at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, based on Cape Cod. There, she provides medical care for stranded dolphins, whales and seals, researches their health and...
Mike helps people and institutions navigate place, time and culture to achieve sustainable, just, and equitable outcomes. His experience includes extensive work and research about effective engagement between agencies and communities...
Caroline works with communities to address local environmental and social challenges through interventions that combine technology, social enterprise, and education. Working both in urban and rural areas, internationally and in her own...
Standing ankle deep in black oil in a green field in Nigeria, Donna Vorhees was startled not by the pollutant inching up her boots, but by the two barefoot women inching past her.
