ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

• Major Reports

• Organizations

• Environmental Justice

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Major Reports 

Alaska Dietary Survey: 1956-1961
by Christine A. Heller, Ph.D. and Edward M. Scott, Ph.D. Public Health Service Publication No. 999-AH-2

Arctic Report Card 2007
An international team of research scientists has created this peer-reviewed website which tracks multiple changes in the arctic environment. The Report Card is organized by NOAA and will be updated annually. 

Current State & Trends Assessment: Polar Systems, Chapter 25: Polar Systems by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment  
This chapter discusses the impact of polar climate change on human, animal and biodiversity. Contains longitudinal data about Arctic regions, climate change, and biodiversity. Discussions on human impacts and contamination of the Arctic region are presented. This chapter is part of an assessment to study the impact humans have on ecosystems. (PDF size: 994kb)

Environmental Health Risks of the Arctic Assessed
The summary report of the Artic Monitoring and Assessment and Programme. The full article can be found in the International Journal of Circumpolar Health, 2002 Nov 61(4):300-318. (PDF size: 37kb)

The First International Polar Year, 1881-1884: The Arctic Environment in Historical Perspective
The records of the first IPY offer a rare glimpse of the circumpolar Arctic environment as it existed in the past. These observations collected so long ago now hold the potential to improve our understanding of historical climate variability and environmental change in the Arctic.

Northern Overexposure or pollution in the Arctic
Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 106, Number 2, February 1998

State of the Arctic, October 2006
This report is a review of environmental conditions during the past five years relative to those in the latter part of the 20th century. The review was conducted by an international group of twenty scientists who developed a consensus on information content and reliability. The report updates some of the records from the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.

The tip of the iceberg: chemical contamination in the Arctic.
WWF International Arctic Programme, February 2005. (PDF size: 259kb)

 

Organizations

   Alaska

Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT)
The only comprehensive data base of contaminated sites in Alaska with the mapping of 2,000 military, oil and gas, mining and other industrial sites.

Arctic Contaminants  
A three year grant which documents Alaska Native understandings of environmental changes.

ANTHC - Division of Environmental Health and Engineering
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium works in partnership with Native communities to provide a comprehensive array of public health-based services statewide.

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation

Environment Health Program, State of Alaska

Anchorage - Environmental Services Division

Rural Alaska Sanitation Coalition

   National

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
The mission of the NIEHS is to reduce the burden of human illness and disability by understanding how the environment influences the development and progression of human disease. To have the greatest impact on preventing disease and improving human health, the NIEHS focuses on basic science, disease-oriented research, global environmental health, and multidisciplinary training for researchers.

National Library of Medicine (NLM)
NLM, on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is the world's largest medical library. The Library collects materials and provides information and research services in all areas of biomedicine and health care.

Environmental Health and Toxicology
NLM gateway to valuable environmental health information and databases.

Enviro-Health Links - Pesticide Exposure
This National Library of Medicine (NLM) Enviro-Health Links site addresses the relationship between pesticides and human health. The page provides links to selected web sites on pesticide exposure, as well as on the treatment and prevention of pesticide poisoning.

Household Products Database
A consumer guide that provides information on the potential health effects of chemicals contained in more than 6,000 common household products used inside and around the home. This resource helps scientists and consumers learn about ingredients in brand-name products.

TOXMAP
A Geographic Information System (GIS) from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) that uses maps of the United States to help users visually explore data from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

ToxTown
An interactive guide to toxic chemicals and environmental health risks you might encounter in everyday life, in everyday places. Tox Town is a project of the Specialized Information Services Division of the National Library of Medicine and was launched in October, 2002.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment. Since 1970, EPA has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people.

Where You Live
Enter your zip code and choose from four databases to find environmental information about your community.

   International

Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA)
An international project of the Arctic Council and the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), to evaluate and synthesize knowledge on climate variability, climate change, and increased ultraviolet radiation and their consequences.

Environment Canada

Many Strong Voices
A collaborative programme with the goal of promoting the well-being, security and sustainability of coastal communities in the Arctic and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the face of climate change, by bringing these regions together to take action on mitigation and adaptation.

Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME)
PAME was established in 1993 with a mandate to address policy and non-emergency pollution prevention and control measures related to the protection of the Arctic marine environment.

Other

Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) -- Climate Change News
Materials available on the site are designed to make policy makers, in particular, aware of not only the science of climate change and energy use patterns, but also of the many possible solutions that can lead to a more environmentally sustainable society.

GLOBIO: Global methodology for mapping human impacts on the biosphere
A UNEP program.

Healthy People 2010 - Environmental Health Focus Area
This site focuses on the six major topic areas within the Healthy People 2010 Environmental Health Focus Area: Outdoor Air Quality, Water Quality, Toxics and Wastes, Healthy Homes and Healthy Communities, Infrastructure and Surveillance, and Global Environmental Health.

Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN)
IEN was formed by grassroots Indigenous peoples and individuals to address environmental and economic justice issues. IEN's activities include building the capacity of Indigenous communities and tribal governments to develop mechanisms to protect sacred sites, land, water, air, natural resources, health of both people and all living things, and to build economically sustainable communities.

North Pole Ice Cracking
Video of ice cracking at the North Pole, filmed by Andrew Revkin.

Photographic Comparisons of Alaskan Glaciers
This photographic collection from The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) features repeat photography of Alaskan glaciers, matching photos of glaciers taken as early as the 1890s with recent photos taken at the same physical location.

 

Environmental Justice

Enviro-Health Links - Environmental Justice
This National Library of Medicine (NLM) Enviro-Health Links site provides links and descriptions to environmental justice sites.

Social Equity and Environmental Justice This site from the University of Connecticut includes Case Studies, Reports, Commissions, and Resolutions

You can also search for your topic in:

• MEDLINEplus
• PubMed (with an arctic emphasis)