Greenversations

Last week, Lina Younes blogged about the Beyond Translation Forum series. Today is the National Forum in Washington, DC. Various people will send brief updates during the day, and we’ll update this post though the day.

Lina Younes, Multilingual Communications Task Force Chair, 11:40 am: It’s been only two hours and we’re already producing results. Have been able to make some good contacts and identify potential partnerships. Many local community and state representatives are very interested in continuing the dialogue in favor of environmental protection. Go team!

Marcus Peacock, Deputy Administrator, 12:05 pm: It’s so satisfying seeing an initiative grow from an idea two years ago to the flourishing partnerships we have today. And it is just going to keep rolling along. I expect our existing collaborations will get stronger and we’ll continue to meet new partners. We’ve gone from acorn to sapling with a mighty oak in our future.

Bill Briggs, Director of Public Outreach, 12:30 pm: Sometimes its hard to tell how an event is going when you and your team are on the line for its success. From all the information and input I am gathering, the forum participants are glad this is happening and are helping to achieve the forum’s goals by networking and engaging close collaboration. Someone mentioned to me that they want to have a forum in almost every region. I will be fine for successfully finishing the first national forum before taking on bigger projects.

Bill Briggs, Director of Public Outreach, 1:40 pm: We have begun the real work of the forum: the breakout sessions. Here is where the experts have a dialogue with the stakeholders on how to “go green”, get a contract with EPA and expand the number of college students choosing careers in environmental science and related fields.

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.

Classroom supplies, school buses, building maintenance, indoor air quality, books and pencils - everything about a school can affect the environment or the people who spend time in school. But there are lots of new ways that schools can be greener such as “clean diesel” buses, recycling, or safer chemicals in classrooms.

What did you or your school do to be greener this year?

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En español: 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.

Los artículos escolares, autobuses escolares, el mantenimiento de edificios, la calidad del aire interior, libros y lápices–todo lo relacionado con la escuela pueden afectar el medio ambiente o las personas que pasan el tiempo en el colegio. No obstante, hay muchas nuevas maneras en las cuales los colegios pueden ser más verdes sean los autobuses de”diesel limpio“, el reciclaje,  o sustancias químicas más seguras en los salones de clase.

¿Qué hizo usted o su escuela para ser más verde este año?

About the author: Larry Teller joined EPA’s Philadelphia office in its early months and has worked in environmental assessment, state and congressional liaison, enforcement, and communications. His 28 years with the U.S. Air Force, most as a reservist, give him a different look at government service.

With decades of EPA service under my belt, I’ve been a part of, and sometimes led, dozens of workgroups aimed at improving how EPA does business. Almost all bore fruit—some with longer shelf-life than others—and it’s easy for me to say that EPA is a good place to raise and lend a hand.

Our initial experience this summer producing the Mid-Atlantic region’s series of podcasts shows what a talented group can do, from scratch and on a shoestring budget. We carefully chose the name “Environment Matters” for our podcast series, knowing that “matters” is both a noun and a verb: we’re providing diverse information about the environment and, we hope in an interesting way, convincing people that what they do everyday makes a difference.

What’s a podcast? Webcontent.gov says it’s “a way of publishing MP3 audio files on the web so they can be downloaded onto computers or portable listening devices, such as iPods …. ” (Please note that they can be video, too.) A best practice to grow an audience is to publish the podcasts regularly. We started on July 25 about saving gasoline, followed on successive Fridays with a unique environmental program for students, water quality monitoring at beaches, a baseball stadium built on a brownfields site, and back-to-school advice for the green-minded. We expect to post two or three a month, and so far there’s been no shortage of topic ideas (and if there’s a little healthy competition among our environmental programs to feature their topics, good).

Back to the collaboration that’s made our quick learning possible. I know, there’s an element of show biz that must be at work here. But “Star Wars” this ain’t, so that intriguing factor can’t explain the enthusiasm and creativity that a dozen people have brought to this environmental education project. The jobs and roles of our podcast team reveal the skills needed to launch “Environment Matters”: senior management for the go-ahead and (surprisingly modest) budget; managers in public affairs and IT to energize and select people for each podcast; communications experts to write scripts, host the podcasts, and coach subject expert speakers; web developers to design and feed our multimedia website; transcribers who make the content accessible to deaf people; and one aspiring movie director with an IT day job; he and his boss are audio editing mavens. (You don’t know your colleagues’ hidden talents until you ask.) And help from our headquarters gave us some needed encouragement. Most of us have known each other for years, but our podcasting has quickly boosted our teamness. Do I sound a bit gushy, after all these years?

Two requests of you: ideas for making better podcasts, and topics you’d like us to cover.

About the author: Brenda Reyes Tomassini joined EPA in 2002. She is a public affairs specialist in the San Juan, Puerto Rico office and also handles community relations for the Caribbean Environmental Protection Division.

Lea la versión en español a continuación de esta entrada en inglés.
Some links exit EPA or have Spanish content.

Last year I was having a conversation with former Region 2 Deputy Administrator Kathleen C. Callahan about recycling. I told her about the many things we were doing in our household of six to reduce our carbon footprint and recycle as much as 60% of our waste. She encouraged me to share the experience. I forgot about her suggestion, until a few weeks ago when I had to prepare a presentation on the issue for an EPA outreach event.

For most people “carbon footprint” is still an unfamiliar term. During this specific presentation, I wanted to engage the public in seeking solutions. To explain things in laymen terms, I revisited my conversation with Kathy and incorporated many of the things we are already doing at home. Many of these are outlined in EPA’s Climate Change page.

For starters, we bought and remodeled an old house in Puerto Rico. We sought to take advantage of nature by installing windows and doors that let light and air in. Our garage door is perforated allowing cross ventilation and light inside the house while providing us with security and privacy. Thus, we rarely have to use compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) inside the house during the day. Also, all of our appliances acquired or replaced since 2003 are Energy Star. Since our weather is sunny most of the year, I have two clotheslines to air-dry our clothes. This is not an easy task, but the reduction in our greenhouse gases emissions and energy bill is worth the effort.

Around the house, strategic planting of native and tropical species reduce the amount of heat from direct sunlight and provides us with a lush backyard. A special insulating treatment in our concrete ceiling reduces the temperature during very hot days and ceiling fans keep the house cool even during 95F degree temperature. In our bathrooms, efficient showerheads help us save water thus reducing our carbon load.

Our shopping habits have changed dramatically in the last three years helping us recycle and compost more. We try to buy most of our fruits and vegetables from local farm stands and anything else has to come in a recyclable package.

Even though we still have a long way to go to further reduce our carbon load, please share with us the innovative and creative ways you have minimized your carbon footprint.

Reduciendo nuestra huella de carbono

Sobre la autor: Brenda Reyes Tomassini se unió a la EPA en el 2002. Labora como especialista de relaciones públicas en la oficina de EPA en San Juan, Puerto Rico donde también maneja asuntos comunitarios para la División de Protección Ambiental del Caribe.

El año pasado conversaba sobre reciclaje y reducción de desperdicios con Kathleen C. Callahan, ex sub-administradora de la Región 2, cuando me sugirió plasmar por escrito las medidas que tomábamos en nuestro hogar de 6 para reducir nuestra huella ecológica y reciclar hasta un 60%. Olvidé la recomendación de Kathy hasta hace semanas atrás cuando la agencia fue invitada a participar en un evento masivo y me asignaron una presentación sobre la huella de carbón para educar a los asistentes al evento sobre el tema.

Aunque para muchas personas el término “huella de carbón” es desconocido, tenía como meta hacer una presentación sencilla y en la que pudiese involucrar al público en la búsqueda de soluciones. Al preparar la presentación recordé todo lo discutido con Kathy e incorporé muchas de las cosas que hacemos en nuestro hogar. La mayoría de las medidas tomadas en nuestra casa están sugeridas en la página electrónica de la EPA sobre cambio climático.

Cuando comenzamos la búsqueda de una residencia decidimos que ésta fuese vieja para salvar el preciado espacio verde de nuestra isla. Remodelamos de acuerdo a la ventilación cruzada de la residencia y aprovechamos la abundante luz al instalar ventanas y puertas, incluyendo una puerta perforada de garaje, que permitieran el paso de la brisa y evitaran el encendido diurno de nuestras bombillas compactas fluorescentes. Además todos nuestros enseres adquiridos y/o reemplazados a partir del 2003 son Energy Star. Ya que nuestro clima tropical es soleado gran parte del año solemos tender la ropa al aire libre, lo cual no sólo ahorra energía, pero reduce las emisiones de gases de invernadero.

Alrededor de la casa, la siembra estratégica de árboles nativos y especies tropicales reduce la cantidad de sol directo que recibe esta además de brindarnos un patio fresco y verde. En cuanto al techo de cemento, éste fue insulado con un tratamiento especial que reduce la temperatura aún en el día más caluroso al igual que los ocho abanicos de techo instalados en los cuartos y áreas comunes de la casa. Adicionalmente, instalamos duchas eficientes en los baños para ayudarnos a ahorrar agua y reducir nuestra huella de carbón.

Por último, y no menos importante, hemos cambiado drásticamente nuestros hábitos de consumo en los últimos tres años. Tratamos de comprar menos alimentos enlatados y adquirir nuestras frutas y vegetales de vendedores independientes o que tengan empaque mínimo. El resto de nuestras compras tiene que estar empacadas en envases reciclables y no patrocinamos el uso de bolsas plásticas. Ahora reciclamos más y hacemos composta para abonar nuestras plantas con los desperdicios orgánicos.

Aunque todavía nos quedan muchas cosas por hacer para reducir nuestro impacto ecológico, ¿me encantaría conocer qué medidas creativas e innovadoras ha tomado usted para minimizar su huella de carbón?

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.

Lea la versión en español a continuación de esta entrada en inglés.
Some links exit EPA or have Spanish content.

As Hispanic Heritage Month fast approaches, many government agencies, schools, and community based organizations across the nation are getting ready to celebrate the culture and traditions of our fellow citizens who trace their roots to the Iberian Peninsula, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas.

Here, at EPA, we have started our own Hispanic outreach tradition called Beyond Translation. This is an initiative that originated in EPA’s Regional Office in Dallas and has gained momentum. The Beyond Translation Forum provides a framework by which EPA and the Hispanic community can engage in a fruitful dialogue as partners in environmental stewardship. Given the growth of the Hispanic population across the country, the Agency is working to improve access of environmental and public health information, both in English and Spanish, in a manner that is relevant to these diverse communities. These forums provide a venue for the Agency and Hispanics to work together to advance the Agency’s mission. The meetings include workshops on promoting higher education and careers in the environmental sciences, environmental health issues, and economic opportunities that exist for working with EPA.

Cultivating community involvement is one of the key elements EPA uses to engage the general public in the Agency’s decision-making process. We seek to further cultivate Hispanic community involvement during Hispanic Heritage Month and beyond. During the next six weeks, we are going to be hosting four Hispanic stakeholder forums throughout the nation starting with the first National Beyond Translation Forum in Washington, DC on September 15th, followed by regional ones in the EPA Research Triangle Park campus on October 1st, McAllen, Texas on October 16 and in Philadelphia on October 30th. We must note that the Philadelphia event also seeks active participation of Asian-American and Hispanic community leaders in the EPA Region 3 area.

Regardless of cultural heritage, all of us at EPA understand that environmental responsibility is everyone’s responsibility. We hope you can join us at a Beyond Translation Forum near you.

Trabajando juntos para un ambiente saludable

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.

A medida que nos acercamos al Mes de la Hispanidad, muchas agencias gubernamentales, escuelas, y organizaciones comunitarias se están preparando para celebrar la cultura y tradiciones de nuestros conciudadanos cuyos antepasados trazan sus raíces a la península ibérica, México, y las naciones hispanoparlantes de las Américas.

Aquí en la EPA, hemos comenzado nuestra propia tradición de alcance público a la comunidad hispana conocida como “Más allá de las traducciones”. Esta iniciativa que se originó en la oficina regional de EPA en Dallas está tomando auge. El Foro “Más allá de las traducciones” brinda un marco mediante el cual EPA y la comunidad hispana pueden sostener un diálogo fructífero como socios en la protección medioambiental. Dado el crecimiento de la población hispana a nivel nacional, la Agencia está trabajando para mejorar el acceso a la información ambiental y de salud pública, tanto en inglés como en español, en una manera que sea relevante a estas comunidades diversas. Estos foros brindan un vehículo mediante el cual la Agencia y los hispanos puedan trabajar juntos para avanzar la misión de la Agencia. Estas reuniones incluyen talleres para promover la educación avanzada y las carreras profesionales en las ciencias ambientales, asuntos de salud ambiental y oportunidades económicas que existen para trabajar con EPA.

El cultivar la participación comunitaria es uno de los elementos claves de EPA de involucrar al público en general en el proceso de toma de decisiones de la Agencia. Buscamos fomentar una mayor participación de la comunidad hispana durante el Mes de la Hispanidad y todo el año. Durante las próximas seis semanas, estaremos auspiciando cuatro foros hispanos en diferentes ciudades. El primero Foro Nacional Más Allá de las Traducciones (Beyond Translation) se efectuará en Washington, DC el 15 de septiembre seguido por otros regionales en el campus de EPA Research Triangle Park en Carolina del Norte el primero de octubre, en McAllen, Texas el 16 de octubre y en Filadelphia el 30 de octubre. Cabe señalar que en Filadelfia también estamos buscando la participación activa de líderes de las comunidades asiática e hispana en el área de Región 3 de EPA.

Independientemente de nuestro patrimonio cultural, EPA entendemos que la responsabilidad ambiental es responsabilidad de todos. Esperamos verle en uno de los foros de “Más allá de las traducciones” que se llevará a cabo cerca de usted.

About the author: Marcus Peacock is the Deputy Administrator of EPA.

In 1940 Nazi Germany was consuming Europe. The United States was doing its best to stay neutral. In fact, it was illegal for a US citizen to join a warring power’s military or even ‘hire someone for the purpose of traveling outside the United States to enlist in a foreign country’s military.’ The penalty for doing so was a $10,000 fine and five-year jail sentence.

Despite this, dozens and dozens of US citizens tried to leave the country and join the fight against the Nazis. They included Billy Fiske, who a few years before, at age 16, was the youngest American to ever win an Olympic gold medal. They included a budding poet, John Magee, Jr., who gave up a full scholarship to Yale to fly for the Royal Air Force (see poem below).

And then there was Art Donahue. Art grew up on a farm in Minnesota and at age 19 became the youngest qualified commercial pilot in the state. War broke out when he was 27. The bumper corn crop that year didn’t obscure his view of what was going on. He said, “I felt that this was America’s war as much as England’s and France’s, because America was part of the world which Hitler and his minions were so plainly out to conquer.” In July of 1940 Art wangled his way to London believing it was his mission to defeat what he called barbarism. He saw first hand the courage and composure of the English people. “To fight side by side with these people would be the greatest of privileges,” he said.

Over the next two years Donahue fought all over the world. He flew in England, the Mediterranean, and Singapore. He was shot down twice and horribly burned. Yet he returned to fight again. On September 11, 1942 he went out on a mission over Ostend, and didn’t return. His body was never recovered.

High Flight
by John Magee, Jr
killed December 11, 1941

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds…and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of…wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up, the long, delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, nor even eagle flew.
And while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space…
…put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

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

About the author: Matthias Fripp is a doctoral student in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. His work is funded by an EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Graduate Research Fellowship.

Before I started my studies, I thought that graduate students were free to study any topic they liked. That’s true in principle, but in practice we need to find funding for our research. Fortunately, I was granted an EPA STAR fellowship in 2006, allowing me to pursue a question I consider particularly important: how much wind and solar power should we use in the electricity system in upcoming decades?

Over the last couple of years, I’ve gathered data on the amount of power that could be produced every hour at potential wind farm sites and solar power facilities all over California. I’ve also collected information on existing power plants and transmission lines, and forecasted the cost of building new wind, solar or conventional power plants or transmission lines in the future.

Next, I built a computer model that determines which combination of new and existing power plants and transmission lines will give the least expensive electricity between 2010 and 2025, while also ensuring that the state has enough power every hour. I also use this model to see how much our power bills might change if we work seriously on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The results of this research are exciting. I found that wind and solar power are available at complementary times in California, so we can use them together to make a more reliable (and cheaper) power system than we could if we just used wind or solar alone. I also found that even if we didn’t care about greenhouse gas emissions, we should still plan to use a lot of wind power, because it is beginning to be less expensive than power from natural gas plants. Finally, I found that there is no sharp limit to the amount of renewable power we could use in California: power bills rise slowly as we build more and more renewables, but emissions could be reduced substantially with little or no extra cost.

The EPA STAR fellowship has made a huge difference, freeing me to focus all my efforts on this work, and providing the resources to do it right.

About the author: Rob Lawrence joined EPA in 1990 and is Senior Policy Advisor on Energy Issues in the Dallas, TX regional office. As an economist, he works to insure that both supply and demand components are addressed as the Region develops its Clean Energy and Climate Change Strategy.

Although we haven’t hit the record number of consecutive days over 100 degrees this Summer (69 days in 1980), we have experienced over 2 dozen days between 100 and 108 in Dallas. And while most of the human population has the option of going indoors, we need to think of our pets that remain outside after we go to work or to school. Here is a photo of our vizslas (Nebo on the left and Jena on the right) that inspired today’s blog entry.

The most important step is to check out the yard or kennel area that your dog will be staying in. There are general areas of concern: Is there adequate shade to give protection from the sun? If there isn’t a tree providing a canopy, you could stretch a tarp across a corner of the kennel or build a lean-to shelter. Is there plenty of fresh water available? Providing a bucket of clean, fresh water in a shaded area is necessary. A child’s plastic wading pool could be a great spot for your pet to dive in and cool off. Is there good ventilation in the area? I’ve been known to run a small electric fan in the peak of the day if there is not a good breeze in the area. [Note: make sure that the fan and power cord are safely away from your dog’s reach.]

And if you are like me, taking your pets for an outing to the home improvement store and pet supply store on Saturdays is a highlight of their week. Just make sure that you do not leave your dog locked in a sealed vehicle when you run an errand. You would be amazed how quickly the temperature rises inside the car or truck and you are putting your pet’s life in danger. Remember - in some areas, including here in north Texas, it is against the law to put your pet at risk.

About the author: Jeffrey Levy joined EPA in 1993 to help protect the ozone layer. He is now the National Web Content Manager.

Today, we launched a new design for our Web site’s home page and a bunch of pages that support it. (This is where I was going to thank everyone who contributed, but I ran out of space.) I’m pretty excited about it, but why should you care?

The #1 reason is that it’s easier to do whatever it is you wanted to do. We know your idea of fun isn’t cruising EPA’s Web site. So how have we learned what you want? We looked at our search logs, conducted focus groups, and did surveys. And we talked about what each of our many audiences would want to do on our site.

Now, we haven’t yet converted the entire site. That’s because we’re working to clean up the rest of the site (which is more than 500,000 pages), getting rid of old stuff, rewriting material that looks like it was pulled from a legal textbook, etc. As that gets done, we’ll see about using the new design.

Enough theory. Here are some things I think are especially cool, most of which we’ve never done before:

• Right on the home page, you can search for information about your watershed, learn how your electricity is made, and get the UV Index to protect yourself from the sun. And one click away are a bunch of other resources based on your ZIP code.
• You’ll find all kinds of tips about what you can do at home, at school, in your office, etc.
• We’ve also made it easier to support our mission in a more formal way, whether it’s working for EPA, getting a grant, or joining one of our partnership programs.
• You can watch our latest video, listen to our latest audio, or check out our latest photo, with easy access to the whole collection.
• You’ll also always find a link to our latest Blog Question of the Week (this is a personal favorite - it’s very interesting reading all of your responses!).

I hope you enjoy the new look; it’s just one of many projects we’ve got in the works, like creating a site for mobile phones and exploring social media like YouTube. And let us know how we can use the Web even better to help you get things done, either in a comment here or using the form on our sneak preview page.

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.

Hurricanes, spring floods, and other incidents can all wreak havoc with our daily lives. Here at EPA, we’re ready to respond in an official way. For individual people, preparing can range from keeping extra food and water to making evacuation plans. Either way, it pays to think ahead. In fact, September is National Preparedness Month.

How have you prepared for emergencies?

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En español: 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.

Huracanes, inundaciones y otros incidentes pueden arruinar nuestras vidas cotidianas. Aquí en EPA, estamos listos para responder de manera oficial. Para los individuos, los preparativos pueden comprender el almacenar alimentos y agua adicionales, así como hacer planes de evacuación. De cualquier manera, es bueno anticipar las cosas. De hecho, septiembre es el Mes Nacional de Preparación.

¿Cómo se ha preparado para las emergencias?