In Your Backyard

Aug 11, 2016

Bay-Cationing

Chesapeake Bay, In Your Backyard, Water Quality 1 Comment

by Gwendolyn Supplee

My family has been vacationing on the southern eastern shore of Maryland at Janes Island State Park since 2013. The first year, we had an almost one-year old daughter and weren’t quite comfortable getting out on the waters of the Tangier Sound with a little one. So we enjoyed the beauty of the Bay from the land, but were still able to partake in many of the activities that make a “Bay-cation” so appealing, at least to us – fishing and crabbing!

As we began to plan our 2014 vacation, my husband suggested we buy a boat to really experience the Chesapeake Bay where it was meant to be enjoyed, on the water. I was open to the idea, until he came home with a used boat he found with so much dirt, weeds, and small trees growing out of it, I wasn’t sure if he had purchased a boat or a planter for our front yard. Alas, he got the boat sea-worthy for our trip, and we were able to experience the open Bay.

He’s made improvements to the boat every summer, and similarly, the Chesapeake Bay has shown some great improvements in many of its water quality indicators in the last several summers, as well. That’s a big deal considering the impact of a cleaner Bay on the region’s economy, including drawing more families like mine to its shores.

Since 2010, the six Bay states and the District of Columbia have been taking significant steps to meet the clean water goals of the historic Bay TMDL “pollution diet.” The TMDL is designed to reduce excess nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment that leads to murky water and algae blooms, blocking sunlight from reaching and sustaining underwater Bay grasses and creating low levels of oxygen for aquatic life, such as fish, crabs and oysters.

I eagerly read the reports about the outlooks for fishing and crabbing this July before we set out on vacation, and when we got to the park, we quickly made friends with our camping neighbor to learn the best spots for casting our poles and nets.

As a Marylander who frequents the waters of the Bay up and down the Eastern Shore, our new friend commented the Bay had the best clarity and abundance of Bay grasses he had seen in years, and expressed optimism that the cleanup seemed to be working. The next day we reeled in a male blue crab, 6 ¼” point to point, and had to agree, things on the Bay, especially our nightly vacation dinners with crab on the menu, were definitely looking up!

Check out this site for some simple ways to help restore the Bay and keep those blue crab meals coming.

About the Author: Gwendolyn Supplee is a Life Scientist who has been with EPA for six years and currently works in the Air Protection Division. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring the outdoors on land and on the water with her family.

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Jun 22, 2016

Celebrating National Pollinator Week: Is Beekeeping for Me?

environmental education, gardening, honey bees, In Your Backyard, outdoor activities, pollinators, urban agriculture 4 Comments

By Catherine Wooster-Brown

There’s nothing better than sweet golden honey drizzled onto your yogurt, ice cream, or fluffy biscuit. What if you could have a constant supply of honey right in your own backyard, produced by your very own honey bees?

As of 2014, there were about 125,000 backyard beekeepers in the U.S. Each city has its own zoning ordinance for honey bee hives. And there is always a local beekeeping group nearby.

Of course, there are plenty of backyard beekeepers in the Heartland, so the Big Blue Thread (BBT) decided to highlight five of our beekeeping cohorts here at EPA Region 7 during National Pollinator Week, June 20-26.

Jamie Green, Toxics and Pesticides Chief

BBT: Why did you decide to keep bees?

Green: I was preparing to attend a forum several years ago on pollinators, and as beekeepers would be participating, I decided to do some general reading on beekeeping in order to better understand some of the issues or concerns I might hear. The more I read, the more I found them to be pretty interesting insects and decided that, to learn more, I probably would need to do it myself. I thought I would do it for a couple of years and move on to something else, but I’m still learning and found I enjoy working the bees.

Honey bee pollinating flower

BBT: What do you enjoy the most about beekeeping?

Green: There are a lot of different things I find enjoyable about beekeeping, so it’s a little difficult to narrow the list to a few. I enjoy working and observing the bees. I keep my hives at an acreage not far from home, but far enough that it gets me out of town for a little while. It’s a little bit like gardening, in that you work to help keep the hive healthy and thriving, and then once a year you get the opportunity to enjoy the harvest of a little of the extra honey the bees produce. I also enjoy sharing the honey with others. I try to give some to the family that is gracious enough to let me keep my hive on their acreage, and also to others in my family.

BBT: What advice do you have for someone who is thinking about beekeeping?

Green: Take a class. There are plenty offered by beekeeping associations and community colleges. Read a lot and connect with at least someone that is experienced and can coach you along the way. In the few years I’ve been doing it, I’ve learned it’s not as easy as just putting some bees in a box and forgetting about them until harvest, so having someone you can bounce questions off is helpful.

BBT: Do you have a favorite food to drizzle honey on?

Green: Honey is good on everything!

Kathleen Fenton, Public Affairs

BBT: Why did you decide to keep bees?

Fenton: We wanted to keep bees to bolster the honey bee population and to help better pollinate our fruit tree orchard.

BBT: What do you enjoy the most about beekeeping?

Fenton: What I enjoy about beekeeping is that it’s a never-ending educational program – learning their processes, their behavior (swarming, health, honey production, pests), and truly teaching others who are interested in the topic. We have loved sharing what we’ve learned over the years.

BBT: What advice do you have for someone who is thinking about beekeeping?

Fenton: Don’t be afraid to ask for help from other beekeepers and just do it! It is fun and relatively easy, and it’s a terrific hobby. I mean, really, one of the end results is HONEY!

BBT: Do you have a favorite food to drizzle honey on?

Fenton: Honey drizzled on grilled Brussel sprouts – and one of the special things we do with our honey is give most of it away as our Christmas gifts to family. It’s a big hit!

John Dunn, Wastewater and Infrastructure Management

BBT: Why did you decide to keep bees?

Dunn: I was curious about keeping bees, so I attended a local beekeeping meeting and I said to myself, “I could do this!” Bees are so smart.

Beekeepers at work

BBT: What do you enjoy the most about beekeeping?

Dunn: It is a real learning curve and I am constantly amazed. Don’t like the stinging so much.

BBT: What advice do you have for someone who is thinking about beekeeping?

Dunn: Lots to learn, hang out with bee people. By its very nature, beekeeping requires some learning and patience. Bee people have these qualities and it makes for a good crowd.

BBT: Do you have a favorite food to drizzle honey on?

Dunn: I eat most of my honey off my left index finger. A little dab will do ya!

Aaron F. Casady, Environmental Science and Technology

BBT: Why did you decide to keep bees?

Casady: Growing up, I helped my beekeeper uncle harvest honey and the experience stuck with me. After I moved to Kansas City and started full-time office work, I looked for hobbies that would help me to stay connected to the outdoors and to explore my interests in agriculture. Beekeeping was a perfect fit.

BBT: What do you enjoy the most about beekeeping?

Casady: Just watching the bees come and go from the hive and observing them work. It amazes me that every time I open a hive, they don’t even stop to look up (that is, if I do it right). They just keep on working! They accomplish so much for being so tiny.

BBT: What advice do you have for someone who is thinking about beekeeping?

Casady: Beekeeping can be a difficult (and expensive) hobby. Find someone to shadow for a year before you decide to get your own hives. Then when you do have your own hives, don’t be afraid to treat them for pests and disease when necessary.

BBT: Do you have a favorite food to drizzle honey on?

Casady: Vanilla ice cream is my favorite food to pour honey on!

Catherine Wooster-Brown, Environmental Data and Assessment

BBT: Why did you decide to keep bees?

Wooster-Brown: My husband, Rick, and I love to garden. We love to work on our own gardens and travel to places to see other gardens. Gardening and bees is a natural fusion. A few years ago, Rick said to me that he would like to put a beehive in our garden and I thought, “What a cool idea!” So for his February birthday, I bought him an unfinished Langstroth beehive that we had to put together, frames and all, and then painted the outside. It was a fun project to work on together during the winter, and then we picked up our first package of bees in April and installed them into our finished hive. It was just like getting a new pet!

Close-up of healthy honey bee frame covered with bees and capped honey cells

BBT: What do you enjoy the most about beekeeping?

Wooster-Brown: As my beekeeping cohorts mentioned above, watching bees come and go from the hive, their little pollen sacs all filled up, makes you feel like everything is right with the world. Honey bees are a superorganism, which is an organized society of individuals that functions as an organic whole. They are fascinating to observe. Did you know that honey bees are able to keep the hive temperature consistent (around 95°F) in both summer and winter by moving their wings in unison? OK, so I’m easily fascinated!

BBT: What advice do you have for someone who is thinking about beekeeping?

Wooster-Brown: You can hire an experienced beekeeper, as a mentor, to help you get started. That is worth its weight in gold, because when there’s a problem – and there will be – a beginner or intermediate beekeeper may not recognize the problem as quickly as an experienced beekeeper. You do have to catch some problems right away or your bees could swarm (leave the hive) or they could decline to the point of no return.

BBT: Do you have a favorite food to drizzle honey on?

Wooster-Brown: My favorite honey drizzle is on a fluffy biscuit. But Kathleen’s idea of honey on grilled Brussel sprouts sounds yummy!

About the Author: Catherine Wooster-Brown serves as an ecological risk assessor at EPA Region 7 and a member of the Region 7 Pollinator Workgroup. Catherine has a degree in environmental science and policy from the University of Maine, and studied aquatic biology and macroinvertebrate taxonomy in graduate school at Missouri State University.

Apr 19, 2016

A Picture is Worth… Scientific Data

Citizen science, earth day, In Your Backyard, outdoor activities, Picture Post 0 Comments

By Jeri Weiss

I climbed up Heifer Hill in Brattleboro, Vt., on a beautiful summer afternoon and spun slowly around, taking in the spectacular view. It was August and the trees were all leafed out and the meadow was lush. I couldn’t help thinking about what this might have looked like 10 years ago. What will it look like 10 years from now? What will it look like this fall? As it turns out, I will soon be able to get answers. The Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center in Brattleboro will have a tool to tell us all this story.

Bonnyvale, working with EPA New England, is setting up “a picture post” on April 22 to celebrate Earth Day. The picture post, one of dozens in New England and hundreds across the country, will guide visitors in how to take photographs from the exact same spot all times of the day and all days of the year. These picture posts are basically fences post with octagonal tops that show which way is north and invite anyone walking by to add their observations.

This Digital Earth Watch project, developed jointly by NASA and six other institutions, is run by the University of New Hampshire. Picture Post was created as a tool for non-scientists to monitor their environment and share observations. Using a digital camera, visitors take nine pictures – one in each direction and one up at the sky – and then upload them to Digital Earth Watch network. It’s even easier if you have a smart phone and can use the picture post app.

I learned about Picture Post as I was exploring ways any of us can participate in scientific discoveries at the Brattleboro Citizen Science workshop, which EPA helped organize earlier this month.

When I heard about Bonnyvale’s work I was intrigued, so I looked for a picture post closer to home. According to UNH’s Picture Post web page, two such posts sit on either side of the Fresh Pond reservoir in Cambridge, just 10 minutes from my home. It appeared the last time they were used was nine years ago. Last weekend I walked along the trail circling the reservoir, but found only one picture post remaining. I spoke with Fresh Pond Reservation Ranger Jean Rogers who told me one of the posts was removed when the Reservation created an outdoor community classroom and plans are being made to put it back up.

After a bit of hunting, I found the second post. I took a set of pictures, loaded them up to the web site and was able to see some big differences from the pictures taken nearly a decade ago. The once small, scrawny trees now grow outside of the frame. On the web site (and to the right) you can compare the pictures and even watch the scene animated as it scrolls through the photographic history from that post.

Picture posts not only provide information to Bonnyvale’s students or the Rangers at Fresh Pond, but also give valuable data to scientists. Researchers working with Digital Earth Watch network use the photographs to document the plants, clouds, and seasons—and how they are changing in response to a warming climate. It such a simple way for anyone with a camera to contribute to scientific research. Ten years from now we will be able to see the changes in places we care about, whether it’s the top of Heifer Hill, a spot on my walk around Fresh Pond or from a picture post in your neighborhood. http://picturepost.unh.edu

Jeri Weiss is a drinking water specialist at EPA and helped organize the Citizens Science Workshop.

Apr 8, 2016

Spring Cleaning Can Be Even Healthier using Green Products

Air, children's health, Human Health, In Your Backyard, Local Community, sustainability, sustainable communities, water, What you can do 9 Comments

The welcome return of spring sunshine makes me think of one thing – grimy, winter-weary windows. And then there’s the fridge, the baseboards, the carpets, the bathroom grout, the kitchen cabinets. All these little spots we ignored all winter are now ready for a thorough scrub. No wonder nearly 75 percent of Americans like to do a good spring cleaning.

Good thing you can use the EPA Safer Choice label to help you find cleaning and other household products that are made with ingredients that are safer for people and the environment.

That’s a great assurance, considering household cleaning products are one source of indoor air pollution, which can cause irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue.

Products with safer ingredients improve indoor air quality and can lower the risk of health hazards, including respiratory conditions like asthma; allergic reactions, which can cause skin rashes, hives or headaches; and a variety of other conditions. Children and older people, in particular, are more susceptible to risks — so they’re better off in spaces cleaned with safer products and wearing clothes cleaned with a laundry detergent that uses safer solvents and surfactants. And what about parents and those who regularly clean and do the wash, coming in close contact with cleaners and detergents? Safer is certainly better for them. Safer Choice recognizes that everyday cleaning products make a big difference to your family’s well-being.

Cleaners also affect the quality of our local streams, rivers and lakes. When Safer Choice products get rinsed down the drain and make their way into the watershed, they are less toxic to fish and other aquatic life. That’s good news for New England’s iconic waterways, whether it’s Lake Champlain, the Charles River or Long Island Sound… or the ponds, streams and wetlands found throughout New England.

Here’s something that may surprise you. Unlike food producers, cleaning product manufacturers are not required to list ingredients on their containers or make them public. But to display the Safer Choice label, manufacturers must list all of their product’s ingredients either on the product or on an easy-access website.

Safer Choice is the first federal label for cleaning products and it is proving incredibly popular. More than 2,000 products have already earned the right to carry the logo. They’re available in local grocery stores and hardware stores, and include cleaners for use at home, offices, schools, hotels and sports venues.

The agency’s website (https://www.epa.gov/saferchoice) lists all the products that proudly carry the Safer Choice label. We also offer interactive tools to find the best cleaning products for your home and for businesses like schools, hotels, offices, and sports venues. And my personal favorite – cleaners for those grimy windows.

By Curt Spalding, Regional Administrator, US EPA Region 1 (New England Region)

Apr 7, 2016

A Safer Choice for Spring Cleaning

Human Health, In Your Backyard, Safer Choice Label, Safer Choice Program 3 Comments

by Mindee Osno

In my house, once winter is over, it’s spring cleaning time. I’m not alone, nearly three-quarters of American families are planning some sort of spring cleaning. This spring, I’m going to look for cleaning products that carry EPA’s Safer Choice label.

“What is the Safer Choice label?” you may ask.

EPA spent over a year collecting ideas and discussing options with partners and consumers to create a label that makes it easier to find cleaning products which meet EPA’ requirements for protecting human health and the environment. Today, almost 500 partner companies and more than 2,000 products currently qualify to carry the Safer Choice label.

The Safer Choice label gives consumers assurance that EPA scientists have evaluated every ingredient in products that carry the label to ensure they meets Safer Choice’s stringent criteria, and helps choose less toxic products – including all-purpose cleaners, kitchen and bath cleansers, carpet and fabric shampoos, laundry detergents, car and boat care products, and deck and siding washes – that are safer for our families, our workplaces, and our waterways too!

In addition to safer ingredients, EPA’s Safer Choice standard also includes requirements for performance, packaging, pH, and limiting volatile organic compounds or VOCs.

To learn more about Safer Choice, visit EPA’s website. There, you’ll find a list of Safer Choice products, and answers to frequently asked questions. Happy spring cleaning!

About the author: Mindee Osno has worked for EPA Region 3 in Philadelphia since 1991. She has been working on Pollution Prevention and Sustainability efforts in the Land and Chemicals Division since 2008. Prior to that, Mindee was the regional ENERGY STAR Program Manager for over 10 years.

Mar 8, 2016

Management of Much Maligned, Often Misunderstood Bats

Bats, In Your Backyard, pests, What you can do 2 Comments

By Marcia Anderson

During summer evenings in Maine, I often sit outside and watch the bats flying to and fro, devouring insects near the edge of a lake. Bats have a reputation for being spooky or even dangerous, but they are some of the most beneficial animals to people. Bats are misunderstood and needlessly feared. Bats actually do humans a great service, as each one can consume hundreds of crop-destroying insects and other pests every night.

Bats do not encounter people by choice and very few bats consume blood. Of the more than 1,100 bat species worldwide, only three feed on blood and none of those live in the United States.

New England is home to many species of bats including the big brown, little brown, red, hoary, Eastern small-footed myotis, and Indiana bat. A single little brown bat can eat 3,000 mosquito-sized insects a night. Most North American bats have small teeth for eating insects including corn earworms, cucumber beetles, leafhoppers, stink bugs, mosquitoes, moths, termites, ants and cockroaches.

Bats are essential to maintaining healthy ecosystems and economies, yet their populations are declining worldwide from habitat loss and disease. Some bats are primary pollinators for fruits and other produce and help disperse seeds of plants that restore forests. Bats prefer roosting near open bodies of water, parks and fields where they can catch the most insects during their nighttime forays.

During the day, bats prefer to roost in tight crevices such as cracks in rocks, and in awnings of buildings where they are protected from predators. They may also roost in attics, soffits, louvers, chimneys and porches; under siding, eaves, roof tiles or shingles; and behind shutters. Still, bats need to be treated with respect and care if they enter a house. Usually they enter through an open door or window, but can fit through openings as small as one-half inch in diameter. Without doubt, the bat’s primary goal is to escape back outside.

If you encounter a bat, don’t panic. Bats are rarely aggressive, even if they’re being chased, but they may bite in self-defense if handled. It is true that bats can carry rabies and should never be touched with bare hands.

If bats begin to roost in your attic or somewhere you don’t want them, your best bet to solve this problem is with is integrated pest management. First, do not simply wait for bats to fly out at night. Not all bats leave the roost at the same time and some may stay inside for the night, especially the young. To properly seal holes, you can use caulking, flashing, screening or heavy-duty mesh. Ask a professional the best way to evict the roosting bats. Often the answer is a one-way door. In any event, get rid of your bats before mid-May or after mid-September to avoid trapping young.

Every state has unique laws related to bat protection, and it may be illegal for anyone, including animal control officers and exterminators, to kill certain bat species. No pesticides are licensed for use against bats and it is a violation of federal law to use a pesticide in a way not described on the label.

When you decide to get rid of bats you should provide a near-by shelter, such as a bat house. Install the bat house a few weeks before you eliminate their indoor roost, to allow the bats time to find the new shelter. Trees are generally not good places for bat houses since they are accessible to bat predators like raccoons and cats. However, if you do use a tree, add a metal protector guard. A pole mount in a garden or field is the preferred bat house location.

Community bat houses can be educational. Families, like ours, can sit outside at sunset and watch the bats on their nightly fly-out. It seems that there really were fewer mosquitoes this past summer, perhaps because of the presence of more bats.

More information on bats from the Smithsonian Institution (http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/batfacts.htm)

More information on Integrated Pest Management: http://www.epa.gov/managing-pests-schools/introduction-integrated-pest-management

More information on Safe methods of pest control: http://www.epa.gov/safepestcontrol

Marcia Anderson, who has a doctorate in environmental management, works with EPA’s headquarters on issues related to pest management in schools. She formerly worked in pesticides for EPA Region 2 and has a home in Lyman, Maine.

Mar 1, 2016

Celebrate New England’s National Parks

In Your Backyard, Land, Local Community, national parks, outdoor activities, sustainability, urban escapes, water, What you can do 0 Comments

By Gina Snyder

This is a year of anniversaries for the Boston Harbor and Islands. Twenty-five years ago the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority announced that no more sludge would be dumped into the harbor. After over 100 years of discharges to the harbor, this was a real milestone and it opened the way for the Boston Harbor Islands to become a unit of the National Park System 20 years ago. And just a decade ago, Spectacle Island, reclaimed from a former landfill, was opened for visitors.

While the first National Park was created on March 1^st, 1872, it wasn’t until 100 years ago this year that we had a National Park Service. What better way to celebrate the first National Park and the 100^th anniversary of the Park Service than for New Englanders to visit the island jewels in Boston Harbor and celebrate the environmental milestones at the same time? Ferries run in summer to some of the 34 islands in the park, including Spectacle Island and George’s Island (www.nps.gov/boha).

Visiting our National Parks is a great way to enjoy nature. As of this year, Massachusetts has sixteen National Park locations (www.nps.gov/ma) among twenty-seven national parks plus several national historic sites and scenic trails in all of New England. Ranging from small historic sites to a 2,180-mile long public footpath known as the Appalachian National Scenic Trail that runs from Maine to Georgia, these parks give you a variety of choices for celebrating the centennial.

If it’s a small historic site you want, why not head to JFK’s birthplace in Brookline or Washington’s headquarters at the Longfellow House in Cambridge. And if it’s a wilderness hike in nature, check out one or all 2,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail as it runs through the scenic, wooded, pastoral, wild, and culturally resonant lands of the Appalachian Mountains, through Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont each have one National Park – Weir Farm National Historic Site in Connecticut, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in New Hampshire and Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Vermont. Maine and Rhode Island each have two sites. In Maine – well-known Acadia National Park and Saint Croix Island International Historic Site, home of the earliest French presence in North America. And in Rhode Island, Roger Williams National Memorial in Providence and Touro Synagogue National Historic Site in Newport.

Celebrating our national parks lets us get outside to enjoy the environment. Here in the Boston area, it’s an advantage that you can get to many of our nearby parks by public transit. The three right in Boston are easily accessible: Besides the Harbor Islands, Boston’s National Historic Park is at Faneuil Hall (www.nps.gov/bost) and the Boston African American National Historic Site and meeting house is centered on the north slope of Beacon Hill (www.nps.gov/boaf).

In this year of centennial celebration for the National Park Service you are invited to get out and find your park, ( www.nps.gov/subjects/centennial/findyourpark.htm) but with the success of the Boston Harbor clean up, you can get out and find your island.

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About the author: Gina Snyder works in the Office of Environmental Stewardship, Compliance Assistance at EPA New England and serves on her town’s climate committee.

Feb 18, 2016

I Walk the Beach in Winter

climate change, coastal ecosystems, In Your Backyard, Local Community, water 1 Comment

By Phil Colarusso

Empty, cold, windy, the beach in the winter. I walk down a deserted shore with the waves rumbling next to me. Little evidence of life except for a stray gull or a few eider ducks diving just beyond the surf zone. The wind whips sand particles stinging as they hit my face. Walking into the wind takes some effort.

Geographically, this is a beach I visit often, but it is a very different beach than the one I walked on in the late fall. Winter storms, wind and waves have continued with their eternal reshaping of the landscape. Large sections of sand dunes have eroded in one of the winter storms. The constant wind redistributes clouds of sand along exposed sections of beach. Sand grains collect in clam shells, behind clumps of dune grass or debris, any place that allows relief from the vigorous wind.

In my lifetime, I’ve seen nature’s reshuffling of this beach dozens and dozens of times. As I stroll along the shore, I contemplate the fate of a grain of sand. How many times does a single grain of sand get moved in its life span? How far does it travel in its lifetime? I envision the grain of sand being blown down the beach by the wind and moving in and out on a wave or with the tide. The one constant for a sand grain is motion. The one constant for most beaches is change. With climate change triggering sea level rise and more intense storms, this current rate of change will also change.

It’s time to turn back and as I retrace my steps from the way I came; the wind is now at my back. With the wind at my back, nature doesn’t seem quite as violent. The waves coming ashore don’t look as big. A gull floats effortlessly above me on the wind exerting no effort at all, appearing at peace. The deeper message seems pretty clear, we need to work with nature not against it. Are we as a society, sand grains being blown around haphazardly by the wind or are we the sea gull who can adapt and use that same wind to our advantage? In the distance, three wind turbines are visible on the horizon.

About the author: Phil Colarusso is a marine biologist in the Coastal and Ocean Protection Section of EPA’s New England office, and is an avid diver

Feb 4, 2016

See the data, find a solution

algal bloom, Chesapeake Bay, data, Great Lakes, In Your Backyard 0 Comments

by Amanda Pruzinsky

Ever remember a time when you were in school thinking “why am I learning this?” I sure can. But I can also remember the first time everything just clicked and made complete sense. For me, it was in my high school environmental science class where I felt like I could make a real difference by helping plants, animals, and people all at once!

To provide students with the opportunity to work on important environmental projects, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency worked in collaboration with many organizations to create a contest for high school students in the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay regions. The Visualize Your Water Challenge asks students to use open government data to help visualize nutrient pollution.

Though nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus are vital for life, too many nutrients in our waterways can cause algal blooms that harm aquatic life. This contest gives young people an opportunity to dive into the world of environmental data, GIS technology, problem solving, communications, and more.

I know that when I was a high school student, I would have been ecstatic for this kind of opportunity to use real-world data for environmental problem solving. Data visualization helps us to see the data in a new way, so we can not only better understand what it is telling us, but how we can more effectively communicate it to others. People all over the world, including here at EPA, are working on creating these kinds of visualizations to help make decisions and find new solutions to environmental challenges.

If you are a high school student, parent, teacher, or know someone who is, there is more information available on the contest and eligibility.

Get in on the challenge today! The competition closes on March 1, 2016.

About the Author: Amanda Pruzinsky is a physical scientist for the Water Protection Division in EPA’s mid-Atlantic region working to support all of the water programs with a focus on data management, analysis, and communication.

Jan 21, 2016

Calling All Planners

climate change, Human Health, In Your Backyard, What you can do 1 Comment

by Megan Goold

US EPA Photo by Eric Vance

To me, a new year means it’s time to start planning: vacations, doctor’s appointments, summer camps, career development plans…the list goes on and on. Some planning is easy and exciting, and more welcomed than others. For example, I’d rather plan a vacation than a root canal.

However, it’s the difficult issues that tend to need the most planning, the most preparation, and involve the most information. So, as you can imagine, an issue as complex as climate change requires planning and preparation across the board. How will a changing climate impact our town? Our roads? Our electricity? How will it impact my school? My health? My safety?

Understanding our vulnerability to increased risk from flooding, more frequent extreme weather events, and other climate change impacts is the first step in being prepared for these changes. On April 4-6, Antioch University and EPA are co-hosting a conference in Baltimore which is designed to build capacity for local decision-makers to take action on climate change in the face of uncertainty. The conference will include sessions on constructing resilient buildings, conducting vulnerability assessment for flooding and extreme heat, planning for the needs of at-risk communities, and much more.

In addition, a workshop will be held on the third day of the conference to bring together students and educators to focus on the question – how can we build community resilience through education?

As you are starting to plan your 2016, put this one on the calendar. It’s a must for local decision-makers, governments, students, and small businesses alike! While planning for a changing climate is not the easiest of tasks, it’s a necessary one.

Check out EPA’s website for more about climate change impacts on water quality and quantity, and learn more about the Local Solutions: Eastern Regional Climate Preparedness Conference on the conference website.

About the author: Megan Goold is the Climate Change Coordinator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 3 office, where she manages a network of climate change professionals, and has recently launched a Climate Literacy initiative.

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