This week, National Archives and EPA launched a contest that I wish I could enter myself. I could, if I change my name, age, birth date and occupation, but since that would be frowned upon I’ll stick to what I’m doing behind the scenes.

Unlike those of us excitedly working on this project, students ages 13 to 18 plus college or graduate school students CAN participate. If you know any, I encourage you to get their attention and pass along that now is the time for them to get inspired about their environment! Stand on a tree trunk if that’s what it takes (See Lorax).

Ordinarily and this is speaking from experience, when the younger generation becomes more in touch with their surroundings and the state of the planet, that heightened state of eco-awareness comes with a sense of “green-powerment.” You may find they come home from school rolling their eyes at you even more than usual if you toss away recyclable goods, or forget those re-usable shopping bags or leave the water running (they may have a point sometimes). They mean well. Regardless of the manner in which they communicate this newfound knowledge, in many cases they feel good doing so, especially when their friends are doing the same.

Right now, there is an opportunity for that energy and their creativity to be part of an international project, recognized by renowned judges and exhibited around the United States. On top of that, the grand prize for this contest will be $500, courtesy of the Foundation for the National Archives.

From now until January 6, 2011 “Document Your Environment” invites students to create any type of graphic art, a short video, or a poem using a Documerica photo as a prompt. Finalists and the grand prize winner will be announced in February 2012.

Contest judges include: former Documerica photographer and graphic artist Michael Philip Manheim; Cokie Roberts, author and news analyst for National Public Radio and ABC News; Sandra Alcosser, the first Poet Laureate of Montana and professor of poetry at San Diego State University. Of the nine finalists, one grand prize winner will be chosen by the Archivist of the United States, David S. Ferriero.

About the author: Jeanethe Falvey, State of the Environment project-lead at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Boston, Massachusetts.

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.

Have you ever wondered what’s coming out of that factory stack you pass on the way home, or whether there are chemicals being released upstream from your favorite fishing spot? If so, maybe I can help you. I work with the EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), which was designed to help the public answer questions just like these.

Before I came to EPA I knew very little about TRI. However, without realizing it, I had already read about chemical releases in news articles and scientific papers that used numbers from the TRI public database of chemical releases to the environment. I have since learned that TRI is a database with detailed information on over 600 toxic chemicals from over 20,000 U.S. facilities nationwide. You and I have access to information about disposal or other releases of chemicals into the environment as well as information about how facilities manage chemicals through recycling, energy recovery and treatment!

Over the past several months I have been involved in the preparation of the 2009 TRI National Analysis, which is EPA’s annual interpretation of TRI data. I was very excited to work on this project because TRI is such a rich database. It has a seemingly endless number of ways to slice the data and reveal national and local trends of releases to the environment including by chemical, geographic region, parent company, industry sector, etc.

This year I am especially eager for the release of the National Analysis because we have incorporated some exciting new features. It now includes analyses specific to 13 of the most populous urban areas in the country. Would you like to know about toxic chemical releases in the Denver area? What about Miami? How do they compare? The National Analysis also includes analyses for tribal lands and ecosystems like the Chesapeake Bay, Great Lakes and Gulf of Mexico. Take a look!

But EPA employees aren’t the only ones who can conduct analyses like these. Any member of the public can look up what chemicals are being released in an area. My favorite tool to use for quick information about chemical releases in my zip code is myRTK, which I can access on my smart phone. But if I am at home and want to see long-term trends of TRI releases for an area I use TRI Explorer or TRI.NET. Want to try? Follow this link to TRI’s tools.

I hope you take a look at the National Analysis and maybe even try a few of our analysis tools to see what chemicals are being released into your neighborhood. After all, it’s your right to know.

About the author: Kara Koehrn joined EPA’s Office of Environment Information in Washington DC in 2009 and is the project leader for the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) National Analysis. She recently started a potted vegetable garden at her row house apartment in the city to grow fresh food locally without pesticides.

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.

As EPA’s lead for developing a formal plan for the Agency to more fully implement Open Government, I’d like to know your thoughts on what our Open Government Plan should embrace. What does Open Government mean to you? Is it having more data available to conduct your own analyses? Is it knowing more about the research and regulatory efforts we have underway at EPA? Is being able to more directly participate and collaborate with us in our environmental mission. Are there fundamental or philosophical changes that you believe we need to make in order to truly achieve open government?

Although I have been in federal service for many years, I joined EPA just over a year ago. While I had a good sense about the general mission of the Agency, I was unaware of some of the truly amazing work that goes on in the EPA that supports Open Government. For example, in the last year I learned that EPA has a wealth of environmental data to support actions on many levels– our national programs, our communities, and our personal health. I wonder how many people know about our vast data holdings that range from extensive watershed data, to the compliance history of the facilities we regulate, to air quality and ultraviolet (UV) radiation indices that help you decide when it is unhealthy to be outside.

I am a big fan of our MyEnvironment application which is accessible from our home page. I use MyEnvironment to get information about the areas where my family and I live and play.

Looking ten years into the future, how do you hope that Open Government will have transformed the way that we serve the public and protect human health and the environment? I’m looking forward to learning about the creative and innovative thoughts people have that will help EPA work better with you and better protect the environment and public health.

About the author: Lisa Schlosser is the Director of EPA’s Office of Information Collection.

I’m personally excited about this new effort because it ties in so well with many other projects that use new tools to connect with you and get you involved.  One of the first was this blog, launched in April 2008.  Since then, we’ve started Facebook fan pages and Twitter accounts, put together online discussion forums, done some live video webcasts, and launched Pick 5 for the Environment.

To get started, check out our new open government Web site, which links to many innovative projects and our social media sites.

It also shows our progress on several milestones.  The next one is to write our open government plan.  It’s due April 7, so until March 19 we’re using a special idea collection system to get your thoughts about:

• what should be in the plan
• how we should prioritize what we publish
• how to improve the quality of our information
• new ways of doing business and new tools we should be using

You can also vote and comment on other people’s ideas.

I look forward to hearing from you!

About the author: Jeffrey Levy is EPA’s Director of Web Communications.

As administrator Jackson highlighted, EPA is urging all communities “to broaden the idea of environmentalism.” She emphasized the need to ensure that “EPA and the environmental movement in general represent the full spectrum of voices and concerns from across the country.”

In addition to the events surrounding the LULAC convention, Administrator Jackson met with the Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Fortuño, to discuss many of the environmental challenges facing the islands of Puerto Rico. During their meeting at La Fortaleza, Administrator Jackson announced that the Agency was awarding nearly $72 million to Puerto Rico through the Recovery Act for improvements in wastewater and drinking water systems.

EPA’s community engagement in the islands of Puerto Rico goes well beyond its participation at the LULAC convention. EPA’s presence has greatly improved the conditions of the San Juan Estuary. Stakeholders representing the local government, academia, business, community and environmental groups have collaborated closely over the years to restore and manage that body of water and surrounding land. The collaboration has benefitted the environmental health of San Juan residents. Furthermore, the Agency continues to work closely with local universities to address environmental concerns, such as asthma, air and water quality, to name a few.

EPA’s collaboration with Hispanic organizations and community leaders continues to be a priority for the Agency. The Beyond Translation Initiative is a prime example of the Agency’s efforts to actively engage Hispanic community leaders in this new environmentalism. Stay tuned.

About the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and chairs EPA’s Multilingual 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.

La administradora Jackson destacó que EPA está exhortando a todas las comunidades a “ampliar el concepto del ambientalismo”. Ella enfatizó la necesidad de asegurar que la “EPA y el movimiento ambiental en general debe representar una amplia gama de voces y preocupaciones provenientes de todo el país”.

Además de los eventos relacionados con la convención de LULAC, la administradora Jackson se reunió con el gobernador de Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño para discutir muchos de los retos medioambientales a los cuales se enfrentan las islas de Puerto Rico. Durante su reunión en La Fortaleza, la administradora Jackson anunció que la agencia otorgaba cerca de $72 millones a Puerto Rico de la Ley de Recuperación Económica para mejoras en los sistemas de aguas residuales y potable.

La participación comunitaria de EPA en las islas de Puerto Rico va más allá de su participación en la convención de LULAC. La presencia de EPA ha contribuido enormemente a mejorar las condiciones del Estuario de San Juan. Partes interesadas que representan funcionarios y líderes del gobierno local, las universidades, el sector privado, grupos comunitarios y ambientales han podido colaborar estrechamente a lo largo de los años para restaurar y manejar este importante cuerpo de agua y terrenos circundantes. Esta colaboración ha beneficiado la salud medioambiental de los residentes de San Juan. Además, la Agencia continúa trabajando de cerca con universidades e instituciones locales para abordar preocupaciones ambientales como el asma, la calidad del aire y del agua, entre otros.

La colaboración de EPA con organizaciones y líderes comunitarios hispanos continúa siendo una prioridad para la Agencia. La Iniciativa de Más allá de las traducciones es otro ejemplo primordial de los esfuerzos de la Agencia por entablar una comunicación activa con líderes comunitarios hispanos en este nuevo modelo de ambientalismo. Permanezcan sintonizados.

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 gubernamentals.

… pronoun. 1. That which belongs to you <as in, “The data we – the federal government – collect is yours.”>

President Obama believes you should have much better access to the data government collects on your behalf, and has launched an exciting government-wide effort to make sure that happens. It’s called Data.gov. The White House unveiled this web site last month as one of the leading examples of its Open Government Initiative, created to bring greater transparency, openness and collaboration to how the government conducts the public’s business. I was fortunate enough to be tapped as co-chair of the Data.gov effort.

Data.gov is designed to deliver a variety of machine readable datasets and tools over the Internet that the public can download for their own use. We think that easier access to these resources will prove valuable to a broad array of individuals and communities – from researchers to business people to educators and volunteer groups. One of the basic ethics underlying Data.gov can be found in its Data Policy on secondary use, “Data accessed through Data.gov do not, and should not, include controls over its end use.” Simple.

We’ve also designed Data.gov to be a two-way street. We’d like to understand what data and tools you’re curious about and need. And we’re encouraging you to share your own innovative ideas to help us provide the best possible service to the public.

With millions of hits on the web site over the past two weeks, Data.gov has already generated some real interest. But this is just the beginning. We expect that the types and volume of data and tools residing in Data.gov will grow steadily over time. We hope you find our work valuable and stimulating, and we ask that you join us in enhancing this public resource. After all, it’s yours.

A couple of weeks ago, EPA Administrator Jackson issued a memo calling for maximum transparency in everything we do. The memo put into EPA terms the ideas first espoused in the memo President Obama issued on his first full day in office, saying that government must be transparent, participatory, and collaborative.  The overarching theme is that you, the public, are entitled to know what we’re up to.

Those of us in EPA’s Web community really took notice, because our site and various social media tools (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) offer so many ways to serve those goals.  We have several projects underway.

One of the first is that the Administrator publishes her daily working calendar showing meetings with the public.  Next, she directed her senior management team to do the same.

We’re now setting up the process, and you’ll soon be able to see who’s meeting with top EPA leaders.

It occurs to us, though, that we could do better than simply giving you a calendar in table form. What if you could download multiple calendars across EPA and other agencies, and then create mashups as you saw fit?

So we want to publish machine-readable formats, too. And that’s where you can help us. Please let us know what works best: comma delimited, something else?

Also, please help us understand how you’d use the info; that’ll help us figure out how to make it easier.

We’ll be coming back to you to ask for your help on other questions, too, so here’s to a long, collaborative discussion!

Communities grow to meet demand for homes, schools, shopping, offices, roads, and everything else. But community growth can affect the environment due to increases in traffic, energy and utilities, waste, and more.

How has your community used smart growth for environment-friendly development?

Las comunidades crecen para cumplir con las demandas de hogares, escuelas, centros comerciales, oficinals, carreteras y todo lo demás.  Sin embargo, el crecimiento comunitario puede afectar el medio ambiente debido a aumentos en el tráfico, energía y servicios públicos, desechos y más.

¿Su comunidad ha usado el crecimiento inteligente para un desarrollo beneficioso para el medio ambiente?