Missing: One Smelly Old Garbage Gremlin
By Felicia Chou
Today, I found out that our office’s beloved Garbage Gremlin costume is M.I.A, after being “borrowed” by someone from another office. While I’m sure it’ll turn up somewhere soon, its disappearance eerily coincides with the release of our new report that tells us what our nation’s recycling rate is, what is in our trash, how much of it ends up in landfills and incinerators, and how we’re doing compared to previous years.
Perhaps the missing Garbage Gremlin (a grumpy monster that hates recycling) is a sign of how far we’ve come as a nation when it comes to recycling. Maybe we’ve 
moved past needing a grumpy, stinky ol’ monster to remind us that most of what we throw away is actually recyclable, and that creating less waste in the first place is really the way to go. On average, Americans create 4.4 pounds of trash per day, and we’ve kept 87 million tons of garbage from landfills and incinerators, compared to 85 million tons in 2010 by recycling and composting. But even so, more than 60% of our trash still ends up in landfills. So while we might not need the Gremlin as much as we used to, we’ve got some work ahead of us.
This infographic gives us a general overview of our nation’s progress, the environmental impact we’ve made through recycling, and what we can do to continue to make a difference.
There’s also the new report, along with the fact sheet, where you can learn all sorts of other neat things.
Learn more about the stuff we throw away, how it impacts climate change, and what you can do to make a difference.
About the Author: Felicia Chou is a Program Analyst in the Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery. She is currently organizing a manhunt in search of the missing Garbage Gremlin, and is considering offering a reward of eternal gratitude with a three-month expiration date.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Innovative Technology for Water
By Nancy Stoner
In March, I released a Water Technology Innovation Blueprint while visiting the University of South Florida’s (USF) College of Global Sustainability in partnership with the Water Environment Federation (WEF). This Blueprint promotes technology innovation across the national water program as a means to speed progress toward clean and safe water.
Why is technology innovation so important? With the challenges facing our water resources, it presents opportunities to fix these challenges faster, with significantly less cost and energy consumption. During this visit I toured USF laboratories where new technologies are already addressing some of the top ten issues mentioned in the Blueprint. It is easy to see a paradigm shift is occurring across the water sector.
In May, I visited Clemson University’s Water Institute to learn about the Intelligent River project, which was awarded $3 million in 2011 by the National Science Foundation. Clemson is developing methods of harnessing information technology to improve decision making for river systems, like the Savannah River Basin, into which the streams near Clemson flow. Clemson is focused on collecting data from all kinds of water monitoring equipment and developing programs that will analyze all of that data to assist in river management. It can be used not only to provide continual feedback on water pollution, flow levels, aquatic life issues and temperature, but also predict how those water quality and quantity conditions will change based on the decisions made by government, utilities, industry, and watershed groups. This information could potentially be available to all of those groups to achieve goals like ensuring that there is more water to use during a drought, or better habitat for fish, and cleaner source water for drinking.
Next I went to Oakland, California to the East Bay Municipal Utilities District. This wastewater facility has implemented a series of projects to produce energy, including generation of methane from waste that in turn powers generators to run a renewable energy system. This is the first of its kind in North America to be a net-energy producer. With 150,000 drinking water and 15,000 wastewater facilities nationwide accounting for 4% of the national electricity consumption, equivalent to about 56 billion kilowatt hours and costing around $4 billion dollars, a facility that not only conserves energy but generates it holds significant promise.
I plan to continue visiting innovative technology projects around the country to show their tremendous potential for solving our water challenges
About the author: Nancy Stoner is the Acting Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Water.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Paddling in Swan Territory
Each Monday we write about the New England environment and way of life seen through our local perspective. Previous posts
By Amy Miller
It was a beautiful day on the Salmon Falls River. As we paddled up the gently moving water between Maine and New Hampshire, I could imagine we were in the wild north country, not 70 minutes from Boston.
An eagle soared overhead, confirming neighborhood wildlife gossip, and in the distance a woodpecker worked his tree. Just off the Maine bank, turtles sunbathed on fallen logs as we let our kayaks drift silently, not wanting to frighten them off.
Soon my son and his friend pushed ahead, comfortably paddling their fiberglass hulls while I struggled along in a blow-up craft better suited for lounging. We were exploring a waterway that boasts receiving in 1684 the first cow ever to land in the New World.
But danger lurked ahead.
“Wait for me,” I shouted. “There could be KILLER SWANS up there.”
No one paid attention. Which was too bad because I was only exaggerating a little.
Every year boaters enjoying the part of this 37.5-mile river between Rollinsford, NH and Berwick, Maine, report unwelcomed attacks by one or more local swans.
“They attacked our boat,” reported one canoeing angler.
“We weren’t even that close and it came after me,” said another.
Who would think these graceful white birds would create such a stir? Well, apparently anyone who knows anything about swans.
Or anyone who read the 2010 story of a 37-year-old man attacked by a swan in a pond in Illinois. The poor guy drowned after being thrown from a kayak by a mute swan, one of the more aggressive sorts of swans out there. The swan, or perhaps a second swan, stopped the man from swimming to shore, bystanders reported.
While injuries are rare, and serious injuries even rarer, mute swans will aggressively defend their nests in spring and are known to go after people using rivers this time of year. Among the largest waterfowl in North America, swans can weigh up to 28 pounds and have a wing span of up to 8 feet. So their aggression can be scary.
Experts advise that especially in spring we avoid nests, which are usually found along the banks or shore where reeds are flattened (by a sitting female).
Field and Stream’s website had little good to say about the mute swan, which was native to Europe and Asia, and brought to North America.
“Outside of animal rights organizations … you won’t find many fans of the mute swan,” the website said. “It’s an altogether nasty, ill-tempered and destructive bird.”
The swans were gallivanting elsewhere the day I went for a sunset kayak. But anyway, I knew, I was entering their territory, not vice versa.
US Fish and Wildlife Service info on Swans
About the author: Amy Miller is a writer who works in the public affairs office of EPA New England in Boston. She lives in Maine with her husband, two children, eight chickens, dusky conure, chicken-eating dog and a great community.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Join us for the Partnership for Sustainable Communities Twitter Town Hall on Monday, June 17, at 1:30 PM ET.
Posted online by HUD, DOT and EPA on respective websites.
By Bob Perciasepe, Maurice Jones, and John Porcari
June 16, 2013 marks the four-year anniversary of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, a collaboration of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Since 2009, our three federal agencies have been working together to help communities build stronger regional economies, improve their housing and transportation options, and protect the environment.
As President Obama said when the Partnership launched in 2009, “…by working together, [the agencies] can make sure that when it comes to development—housing, transportation, energy efficiency—these things aren’t mutually exclusive; they go hand in hand.”
Our collaboration helps communities plan the housing, transportation and economic development they need as infrastructure for economic growth, helping them attract businesses and improve quality of life for residents.
The Partnership is a one-stop shop for communities to access federal resources that can help them become more economically and environmentally sustainable. To date, the Partnership has provided more than $4 billion in funding for projects in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In Bridgeport, Connecticut, for example, coordinated investments across our agencies are supporting the revitalization of the East Side neighborhood. (Read the case study; watch the video.) An EPA Environmental Justice Showcase Community Grant facilitated renewed access to the waterfront for residents. An $11 million DOT grant for TIGER multimodal transportation is helping build and upgrade roads around the East Side’s Steel Point Peninsula to prepare for redevelopment. And a HUD Regional Planning Grant helped study the opening of a proposed rail station on a cleaned-up brownfield in Bridgeport’s East End. The station will anchor the East Side redevelopment plan, leading to new business investment; mixed-use, transit-oriented development; and affordable homes.
To celebrate the four-year anniversary of work on these and similar projects, the Partnership is undertaking three major activities this summer:
- EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe, HUD Deputy Secretary Maurice Jones, and DOT Deputy Secretary John Porcari will respond to your questions and comments about the Partnership in a Twitter Town Hall on Monday, June 17, 1:30 PM ET. Twitter users may ask questions in advance and during the Town Hall using the hashtag #sustainableqs. You may also join us through the live webstream.
- Throughout the summer, the Partnership agencies will host roundtables in Arlington, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Toms River, New Jersey, and other communities across the country. Municipal staff, community leaders, business and industry representatives, and other stakeholders will be invited to tell us about the successes and challenges of their projects—and what the Partnership can do to help.
- In July, the Partnership will host a webinar series about three of the topics on which EPA, HUD, and DOT offer coordinated support: investing in green infrastructure, creating context-sensitive streets, and integrating housing and transportation planning. See www.sustainablecommunities.gov for dates and further details.
Staff from HUD, DOT, and EPA continue to regularly work as a team to find ways to serve tribal communities, small towns, rural areas, suburbs, and cities more effectively. We feel privileged to be a part of this collaboration, and hope that you will join us in celebrating the progress of communities across the country that are investing in a sustainable approach to economic growth.
About the authors:
Bob Perciasepe is acting administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Maurice Jones is deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
John Porcari is deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
By Mathy Stanislaus
When I went to Omaha, NE last week, I was excited for Superfund’s big announcement: the delisting of over 1,000 residential parcels from the Omaha Lead Superfund site. This was an important milestone in EPA’s overall site cleanup activities, particularly for the residents whose properties were contaminated with toxic lead from the ASARCO smelter cleaned up.
It was also important to the children of the community – our efforts resulted in measurable health improvements: the percentage of children in eastern Omaha with elevated blood lead levels have been reduced from nearly 33 percent before 1998 to less than two percent today.
By reducing blood lead levels, you change people’s lives. You protect a child for his/her entire life and you change the health of a community. As part of one of the largest cleanup projects – particularly in an urban setting – in the Superfund program with over 40,000 largely lower-income residencies, I was very proud to acknowledge the public health impacts from eliminating lead exposure (significant reduction of blood lead levels in children) and the economic benefits of the cleanup.
I spoke with several people when I made the announcement and two really stood out in my mind. One individual explained that what began as basic outreach on public health resulted in a permanent institution in the community to look at children’s health at a multiple of ways that go beyond the lead cleanup.
I also spoke with the person that fields the calls from residents to deal with their issues on a day-to-day basis. They explained how challenging the work can be but understood how EPA can deal with community concerns regarding cleanups and explain how cleanups are done in a way that is protective but also accommodates their lives.
This isn’t easy work. Nor was the cleanup. It was easy to see how challenging these resident-by-resident cleanups were and I’m proud of the work EPA and contractors have done. This cleanup created hundreds of high-paying seasonal jobs and contributed to the development of a skilled labor force with job training funded through an EPA cooperative agreement with the Omaha Metropolitan Community College. Not only are we contributing to improving children’s health, but we’re transforming the community economically.
About the author: Mathy Stanislaus is assistant administrator for EPA’s Office Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
By Erin Birgfeld
“Close the windows!” my father’s voice boomed through the house. “Are you trying to kill me? I have hay fever, you know!”
Back from college for the summer, I had opened all the windows to enjoy a mild summer day, so rare in the Washington, DC, area. What I had forgotten was that my father has allergies to all types of pollen. So while I enjoyed the fresh breeze, the open windows also let in those tiny pollen grains that tortured him every year. Sure, my dad could be a little overdramatic— hay fever (the common term for allergies to ragweed and other types of pollen) wasn’t going to kill him. But it does cause his seasonal sneezing, watery eyes, and aggravates his asthma.
My father isn’t the only one avoiding the sweet spring and summer breezes. More than half of Americans have at least one allergy, with hay fever accounting for more than 13 million visits to physicians’ offices and other medical facilities every year. One of the most common environmental allergens is ragweed, which can cause hay fever and trigger asthma attacks, especially in children and the elderly.
And unfortunately, the news for those suffering from ragweed allergies isn’t good. It turns out that climate change can have an effect on pollen and allergy season. Warmer spring temperatures cause some plants to produce pollen earlier and to keep producing later into the fall season. Plus, increased carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations allow ragweed and other plants to produce more pollen overall. That means more pollen for longer periods of the year! Yikes!
EPA’s Indicators of Climate Change Report features data from the National Allergy Bureau that shows that the length of ragweed pollen season has already expanded by 12-26 days in 8 of the 10 cities where data was collected between 1995 and 2011. Interestingly, ragweed pollen season length increased the most in northern latitudes and less in the south. If this trend continues, people allergic to ragweed pollen will have to deal with bothersome symptoms for longer. That’s nothing to sneeze at.
Dad, what does this mean for you? Since climate change could prolong allergy season for millions of Americans, it’s probably a good thing you moved to Florida…at least for the sake of your hay fever. The climate change impacts on sea level rise and hurricanes is another story, though.
About the author: Erin Birgfeld is the Communications Director for the Climate Change Division within the Office of Air and Radiation. When she’s not working to protect the environment, Erin enjoys hanging out with her two young children, and doing a bit of swimming and biking when she can find the time.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Keep Bad Bugs At Bay
By Lina Younes
During the summer months, we enjoy outdoor activities with family and friends. We actively seek opportunities to have fun in open areas. Whether it’s gardening in our backyard, swimming at the local pool, or taking a stroll at a nearby park, we will likely encounter some small creatures that are even more active than us during this time of year. What creatures am I referring to exactly? Bad bugs, those that feast on humans and animals and may spread diseases. Whether they are ticks, fleas, or mosquitoes, you should take simple steps to keep these bugs at a distance to avoid getting bitten.
In the case of mosquitoes, there is one thing you should do around the home to eliminate mosquito habitats. Get rid of standing water! Mosquitoes need still water to lay their eggs and develop. In fact three stages of their live cycle occur in water! So without water, they cannot grow and multiply! Look around your home to find objects where water can accumulate, such as buckets, plastic toys, bird baths, wading pools even potted plant trays. If you have a bird bath in your back yard, clean it frequently. Don’t let the water rest for more than 3 days. Remember, mosquitoes only need a very small quantity of water to lay their eggs and thrive.
As a virtual “mosquito magnet,” I know that during the summer I have to stock up on insect repellents as much as sunscreen! Given the fact that mosquitoes find me anywhere I go, I have to apply insect repellents frequently to avoid being bitten. As with any type of pesticide and insect repellent, you should read the label first and follow the instructions carefully to protect your family and stay safe.
If you are travelling in the U.S. or abroad, visit the CDC website for any travel advisories with destination-specific information for any outbreaks or other health-related issues. And especially if you are traveling, don’t bring some unwanted hitchhiking guests like bedbugs back home! While bed bugs do not transmit diseases, they are definitely an annoyance. So follow some tips to keep them at bay.
Do you have any tips you would like to share with us?
About the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and currently serves the Multilingual Outreach and Communications Liaison for EPA. She manages EPA’s social media efforts in Spanish. Prior to joining EPA, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and she has worked for several government agencies.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
King Tides and Sea Level Rise, Part 2
By Nancy Stoner
Growing up in Virginia, I loved it when my family went to the beach each summer. The beach was a place where we could have fun together. Now, as the acting Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Water, I am well aware how climate change may impact the seashore and our estuaries.
Coastal processes such as tides don’t just happen right at the seashore. Tides can extend far up into our estuaries and rivers; we have tides in the Washington D.C., which is 188 miles upstream from the Atlantic Ocean. Sea level rise is a concern here and all around the U.S. too. The relative rate of sea level rise measured at the Washington D.C. tide gauge from 1924 through 2012 is equivalent to 13 inches in 100 years. Sea level is projected to rise even faster in the coming decades. Higher sea levels are potential threats to water infrastructure, to homes, to our drinking water supply, and to wetlands and coastal environments.
This month, the Atlantic and Gulf coasts will be seeing their highest tides of the year in a couple of weeks. These “king tides” can cause tidal flooding in coastal communities. King tides provide a glimpse of the future, and provide us with a glimpse of potential future impacts from rising sea levels, and how things could look if sea levels do not recede. The Middle Atlantic Center for Geography & Environmental Studies website shows where and when king tides are expected to happen.
You can help record king tides through photography. The King Tides International Network recently launched a photo contest to help record king tides from all over the world. You can also submit photos of king tides to EPA’s State of the Environment Photo Project. And, for more information about climate change adaptation please visit EPA’s Climate Ready Estuaries program on the web.
About the author: Nancy Stoner is the Acting Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Water.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Water Infrastructure: Meeting the Challenges Ahead
By Katie Henderson
Last week, EPA released the fifth drinking water infrastructure needs survey and assessment. This survey indicates that $384 billion is needed to invest in things like pipes, treatment plants and storage tanks to meet the needs of 73,400 water systems across the country over the next 20 years. This huge need represents challenges to delivering safe drinking water to homes and businesses, especially as we face aging infrastructure worldwide.
Aging infrastructure is something many of us don’t think about that often because most of our drinking water infrastructure is hidden from sight. You might only notice it when it fails, like the water main near my house a few weeks ago. I walked down the street and saw water shooting dozens of feet straight up in the air. It was an impressive sight, all of that water suddenly visible above ground instead of flowing out of sight below. Our neighbors’ water was shut off for a few hours while the city made repairs.
No piece of infrastructure can last forever. Pipes corrode, dams leak, equipment breaks and wells can dry up. Failing infrastructure can be a nuisance – a minor traffic delay on your way to work. Sometimes failing infrastructure can present a severe health or safety risk like a failing dam or a compromised drinking water filtration system.
In some areas, financial need for drinking water investment works out to be greater than $1,000 per person. Today, it’s hard to secure funding to fix infrastructure problems, especially for smaller systems that don’t have an economy of scale to raise enough money through user fees. In addition, many cities are growing and their infrastructure wasn’t built to accommodate large populations. The uncertainty from the effects of climate change adds even more complexity to drinking water systems infrastructure and planning.
EPA and states work together to help systems address aging infrastructure challenges through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and capacity development programs. EPA uses the findings from the drinking water infrastructure needs survey when allocating funds to the states. Through these programs, systems and communities can receive financial and technical assistance. From 1997 to 2012, states loaned $23.7 billion to water systems for almost 10,000 projects across the country.
Our drinking water systems need investment to become more sustainable and protect public health, and the EPA is working to provide funding solutions for the water systems that need assistance.
About the author: Katie Henderson. Katie Henderson is an ORISE Participant in the Drinking Water Protection Division of the Office of Water. She graduated with her Master’s degree from Utah State University and wrote her thesis on water infrastructure challenges in the West. She likes to travel, bake cookies, and promote environmental justice.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Rainy Day Lesson
Each Monday we write about the New England environment and way of life seen through our local perspective. Previous posts
By Dave Deegan
Like many New Englanders, we’ve been really busy lately with our garden. The warm growing months are so fleeting here that you have to be ready the minute you can plant veggies and herbs to harvest some good food later in the summer.
It’s been even more hectic this year, because my wife and I acted on our carefully-developed plans of long-overdue landscaping in our yard. But as any homeowner can tell you, there usually is no simple plan. If you do this, then it triggers that. And that. And something else.
As we thought about how we wanted our yard to be, we knew we needed to address some drainage issues: gutters were draining directly onto a walkway, and in the winter that’s a recipe for dangerous slick ice. So we excavated a channel for the gutter to drain under the walkway, leading into a dry well. Now the water will slowly infiltrate into the earth without turning into mud or ice where we need to walk.
We have another area nearby, where a gutter channels rainwater from our garage, and we thought, “this is a great spot for a rain barrel!”
Diverting rain by collecting it in a rain barrel, or channeling into a dry well (or a rain garden) has a lot of advantages besides our immediate need to address extra runoff in our garden. Stormwater runoff can collect a lot of bad stuff, especially in urban areas with lots of pavement and other hard impermeable surfaces. As water runs off roofs, parking lots and roads, it collects all the trace residues of chemicals, nutrients, silt and debris that have accumulated, and swiftly deposits it all in the nearest storm sewer, and from there it often goes directly into nearby streams, ponds or another water body. In other words, pollution.
It’s amazing how quickly our 55 gallon rain barrel fills up, just waiting for a dry spell when we need to water our garden. It’s been raining steadily for about the past six hours – not even pouring hard – and the rain barrel is full. That’s just one section of roof and gutter. It makes me realize how much water comes down in a typical rainstorm, and how much of a difference our household decisions can make to help solve a problem.
Find more New England resources on how to “Soak Up the Rain.”
More Green infrastructure solutions to stormwater
About the author: Dave Deegan works in the public affairs office of EPA New England in Boston. When he’s not digging rocks out of his garden, he loves being outdoors in one of New England’s many special places.
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
Permalink | No Comments