The older I get, the more I like to play. Did you know that May is Older Americans Month and that this year’s theme is “Never Too Old to Play.” The theme encourages Older Americans to stay engaged, active and involved in their communities.

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of a book, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, that changed the lives for many people who love nature and the out-of-doors.

I hadn’t read Silent Spring until I was an adult. As a child, I remember running down nearby railroad tracks where trains passed by daily around noon transporting large logs heading to the paper mills and lumber yards. My little sister and I used to pick bouquets of flowers that bloomed in abundance near the tracks, white and purple violets, daisies, lilies- of- the-valley for my mother to place on the dining room table.

But those tracks were also sprayed with DDT. We were just kids and had no idea how dangerous it was as we ran down the tracks through the cloud of chemicals. We assumed if the cloud of chemicals was bad for mosquitoes it must be good for us. But I have learned now that the metabolites of DDT are one of those persistent toxicants that are forever a part of me.

Fifty years later we are still thinking about Rachel Carson’s message about the dangers of chemicals and pesticides in our world. The train tracks have been converted into a bike path and trails that weave through the back yards of my childhood neighborhood. DDT is no longer sprayed and the wild flowers are still there. My mom has been active in caring for community gardens and volunteering at the local botanical gardens. She has encouraged all my nieces and nephews to garden and appreciate the out of doors. Mother’s day is around the corner and I am planning to play in a garden and maybe submit an entry with my mom for the Rachel Carson contest.

About the author: Kathy Sykes is a Senior Advisor for Aging and Sustainability in the Office or Research and Development at the U.S. EPA.

I never really gave much thought about medicine until now. Now I need medicine. Now I am a mother and my kids take medicine. Now I study how medicine is disposed of as part of my job as an environmental scientist. And now, I know just how serious a problem unintentional poisoning can be. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 142,000 children were seen in emergency rooms in 2004 and 2005 because of medication poisonings, and more than 80 percent of those poisonings were because an unsupervised child found and consumed medications.

I used to keep my medicine in the bathroom under the sink or in the medicine cabinet. I now know that is not a good idea. Besides being subject to steam and heat, the medicine can be reached by my kids if I store it in the bathroom cabinet. Being the little explorers that they are, my kids see cabinets as perfect treasure boxes – all of this little stuff to play with and potentially ingest.

Additionally, pharmaceutical compounds have been detected at low concentrations in our nation’s rivers, lakes, streams and drinking water, leading to concerns that these compounds may affect aquatic life. For these reasons, EPA initiated a study of unused pharmaceutical disposal practices at health care facilities with the goals of understanding one way in which pharmaceuticals enter our waterways and also understanding what factors contribute to pharmaceuticals entering through water. While EPA understands that there are many factors influencing the handling and disposal of pharmaceuticals by the health care industry, the focus of EPA’s study is on disposal into water. EPA decided to study medical facilities because the Agency believes that these facilities dispose of a large quantity of unused pharmaceuticals.

If you have not already done so, take a thorough look at your medicine cabinet. Find a new location to store your medicine that is not in the bathroom and is up high and out of reach of kids. Properly dispose of the medicine that you no longer use. Don’t dump it in the toilet or down the drain – if possible, take it to a prescription drug take-back event this weekend. Chances are there’s a drop-off location in your neighborhood. To find a drug take-back drop-off point, visit the Drug Enforcement Administration’s web page.

About the author: Meghan Hessenauer is an environmental scientist in EPA’s Office of Water. She is writing guidelines for the health care industry on how to manage their unused pharmaceuticals.

I did an initial post back on March 6th called Getting a Personal Tune-Up. Well I’m half way through the Trash on Your Back Challenge and wow, I’m learning so much about my own daily habits by carrying with me the trash I generate. The trash on my back has served as a present reminder that I need to start making lifestyle changes to generate less trash and prevent pollution.

Before the challenge began the organizers had a telephone conference with the university scientists and researchers who are spearheading the analysis of each participant’s trash as it compares to the norm for Americans in several categories. More on that in the future, but here’s what’s going on now….

Day one began on Earth Day, last Sunday. My wife and I were hosting family and friends in our apartment and I started the day off with an egg breakfast. Dutifully, I cleaned the egg shells and put them in my trash bag thinking, no problem, egg shells are light… I’m off to a good start.

I then took a quick read of the newspaper on-line and we made our way down to the Mall for the Washington, DC Earth Day events. Sadly it was cold and raining, but the concert went ahead as planned. My band and I played a few tunes before the head liner Cheap Trick which was great. Here is a picture of me sporting my trash on stage.

Throughout the day my food and drink intake led to me having to carry around numerous cups and other paper products. It didn’t take long for me to see that these kind of “on the go” containers are a good waste reduction target. All day I kept thinking that if I had brought my reusable thermos I could have enjoyed my coffee and soda without having to carry around those plastic cups.

The next morning I didn’t want to wake my house guests so I skipped making my usual homemade lunch….ouch. I had to buy a cafeteria lunch and got another disposable container to carry around.

Small items really add up. Just washing my hands in the restroom at work has made me more aware of the number of paper towels I use. As such, I started keeping the towel for later use. I now see better how air dryers can make a true difference. I’m realizing the list goes on and on and small everyday choices do have real environmental consequences.
Stay tuned…..

About the author: Matt Bogoshian is Senior Policy Counsel for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. Matt is also an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

This past weekend, I went to the Earth Day festivities at the National Mall with my youngest daughter and one of her friends. We visited the National Sustainable Design Expo-P3 , the NASA exhibits and activities and other booths in the area. While we eagerly participated in the events, one of the activities left me somewhat perplexed. Which activity you may ask? The Carbon Footprint Estimator.

In honor of Earth Day at the National Mall and online, there were several variations of the same question “What is your carbon footprint?” While I pride myself in doing my best to go green by saving energy, saving water, reducing waste, and recycling, time and time again all the quizzes I took this weekend gave me the same grade. What is my Green-O-Rometer? How green am I? Response? Just an average Jane. Not something to be proud of in my book.

So, what were my areas of weakness? Basically, the different quizzes/activities revealed that my weakest area was food consumption. That is an area that I think we frequently overlook when we are thinking of going green. How often do we eat processed or packaged foods? How many times do we eat non-locally grown foods? Do we eat enough locally grown fruits and vegetables? In my case, those were the least green-friendly activities that I engaged in on a daily basis.

So now that I’m aware of my area of weakness, I’ll definitely make a conscious effort to improve. Not only will it be greener for the environment, but it will also be healthier for me and my family.

Are you planning any changes in your daily habits? Want to share any green plans with us? We would love to hear from you.

About the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and currently serves as acting associate director for environmental education. Prior to joining EPA, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and she has worked for several government agencies.

Environmental protection takes hard work. Doing the right thing for your environment and your health involves tough choices. Whether you want to save water, save energy, protect natural resources, reduce toxic chemicals, all these actions involve making a choice between a greener option or a less environmentally friendly option. Let me explain.

The greenest option is not always the easiest. For example, you want to save water? You can’t let the water faucet run without end. You can’t take a shower mindlessly. Want some suggestions for water conservation?  Turn off the tap while shaving or brushing your teeth. Take showers instead of baths and the shorter the better.

Over the years, many of us have gotten used to recycling used bottles and cans. However, reducing waste from the outset involves a greater effort. What can you save today? For example, instead of using disposable plastic bags for saving food, save leftovers in reusable durable containers. Look for products that have less packaging. These are some suggestions on how to make greener choices for the environment.

Want additional suggestions on how you can help protect natural resources like water, air, land, and energy? Please visit our Website.  The choices may seem simple, but there is no doubt that they require a conscious decision if you want to incorporate these actions into your daily lifestyle. Doing so will go a long way to having a healthier environment. What have you done for the environment lately? We would love to hear from you.

About the author: Lina Younes is the Multilingual Outreach and Communications Liaison for EPA. Among her duties, she’s responsible for outreach to Hispanic organizations and media. She spearheaded the team that recently launched EPA’s new Spanish website, www.epa.gov/espanol . She manages EPA’s social media efforts in Spanish. She’s currently the editor of EPA’s new Spanish blog, Conversando acerca de nuestro medio ambiente. Prior to joining the agency, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and an international radio broadcaster. She has held other positions in and out of the Federal Government.

This year my husband and I went on vacation to Boise, Idaho to visit his parents, and then to San Francisco to attend my husband’s boss’s retirement party. The last time I was in Boise was before I started with the ENERGY STAR program. At that time, while I recognized the ENERGY STAR label, I didn’t know that the program qualifies more than 60 product categories—from TVs to dishwashers to light bulbs. Now that I help the program promote ENERGY STAR qualified consumer electronics, I am always looking around at what products people have in their homes to see if they are ENERGY STAR qualified.

I was pleased to see that my in-laws recently replaced their kitchen appliances and washing machine with ENERGY STAR qualified models. I also noticed that their electronics were ENERGY STAR qualified– the TV in the kitchen, the computer in the den, even the digital-to-analog adapter in the bedroom all had the familiar blue label.

When we went to our hotel in San Francisco, I also looked around at the electronics. Again I was pleased that not only was the television qualified, but so was the DVD player. The one electronic that did not have the label was the MP3 docking station. Since the hotel was built in 2006, perhaps they purchased these docking stations before the program started covering them in 2010.

My in-laws and the hotel in San Francisco have both taken small but important steps that make a big difference in protecting the climate. These little steps add up: if every TV, DVD player, and home theater system purchased in the United States this year earned the ENERGY STAR, we would prevent more than 10 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to the emissions from about a million cars. We would also save more than $700 million in annual energy costs. So the next time you are in the market for a new electronic, consider ENERGY STAR in your purchase.

About the author: Una Song works for EPA’s ENERGY STAR program focused on consumer electronics marketing. In her free time she plays tennis and likes to try new restaurants.

When I was a teenager, we used to play touch football in the neighborhood. Whoever was around would be allowed to play, regardless of ability or age. Super Bowl Sunday brought me back to those memories of what seemed like a simpler time.

But maybe it wasn’t so simple. In those days, we used to drive trash over to the “town dump” and toss it into a former gravel pit. Things have changed and the NFL has changed with the times.

The NFL worked to minimize the environmental impact of Super Bowl activities. And in reading what they were doing, I saw that the NFL’s activities and actions were so easy we can scale them to our personal actions.

The first activity they listed dealt with trash. NFL event facilities diverted trash by recycling and reusing potential waste materials. The Lucas Oil Stadium, the Indiana Convention Center, and hotels serving as team headquarters, as well as the NFL headquarters and the Motorola Super Bowl Media Center all participated. The JW Marriott hotel also took part in a composting pilot project during Super Bowl week. Food waste scraps were collected in compostable bags and taken to a facility to be converted into nutrient-rich compost.

Massachusetts has extensive recycling programs and so, like the NFL Superbowl Committee, we can divert waste from the trash through our recycling and our composting programs. Inspired by the NFL, I put my recycling bin out for my guests on Superbowl Sunday and collected cans, bottles and plastics. And I composted paper and food scraps.

The NFL even launched a Superbowl Climate Change Initiative with steps taken to reduce the overall greenhouse gas impact of Super Bowl activities and events. The organization used renewable energy certificates to provide “green” power for major Super Bowl XLVI event venues and is planting several thousand trees in neighborhoods in partnership with ‘Keep Indianapolis Beautiful’ as part of the “greening” of Super Bowl XLVI. Again following the NFL, I plan to participate in a local tree donation program this spring and contribute to the greening of my community, too. There are so many ways to participate locally in NFL’s greening efforts. Let us know your ideas.

About the author: Gina Snyder works in the Office of Environmental and Compliance Assistance at EPA New England and has been a volunteer river monitor on the Ipswich River, where she also picks up trash every time she monitors the water quality.

Did you know that more than half of young children are exposed to secondhand smoke and most of this exposure occurs at home? Now that the weather is warming up, this is a good time to talk with loved ones who smoke about the benefits of taking smoking outside.

My secondhand smoke “aha” moment came a number of years ago at a colleague’s going away party. I picked up my son at his pre-school near work, cautiously entered the restaurant (sniffing for smoke along the way), then dashed my son to the private back room where the event was being held. Relieved there was a door and the air smelled free of smoke, (and giving no thought to ventilation), I foolishly concluded that it was safe for my son to stay. During our drive home, I kissed my son’s head and ruffled his hair and quickly discovered he reeked of cigarette smoke.

There’s good reason for my instinctive reaction I experienced and that I still so clearly recall. There is no risk-free exposure, no safe level of secondhand smoke, and no safe tobacco product, either for the smoker or the nonsmoker exposed. Cigarettes are a toxic mix of more than 7,000 chemicals and breathing in even a little smoke can be dangerous, resulting in temporary and sometimes permanent health consequences. We know secondhand smoke causes premature death and disease in adults and children who do not smoke.

Choose to smoke outside, until you can quit, and share that message with others you care about or who care for your kids in their homes or cars.

To learn more about the dangers of secondhand smoke, visit EPA’s website.

To get help with quitting, visit Smokefree.gov or contact the national quitline at 1-800-QUITNOW.

Lastly, the Surgeon General and CDC websites host a number of helpful consumer publications, posters, and tips.

About the author: Alison Freeman is the secondhand smoke policy specialist in EPA’s Indoor Environments Division, which addresses indoor air topics, including smoke-free homes, asthma, mold, radon, Indoor airPLUS and schools.

Every year around April 15, we’re all bound to hear too many times the old saying that there are only two things certain in life: death and taxes. Now we can add a third thing that’s certain about life…the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.

It was signed 40 years ago on April 15. So maybe this year April 15 should be known as “Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement Day.”

The U.S. and Canadian governments are wrapping up their inter-agency reviews and are pushing to finalize the Agreement this spring. The new version will be more prevention oriented; building from older versions of the pact that focused more on cleaning up past problems (the updated Agreement will retain commitments for remediation, too, especially for Areas of Concern). The next generation of the Agreement will be more streamlined and user-friendly. It’ll have stronger commitments to tackle nutrients that are choking aquatic life and local economies in Lake Erie and other “priority watersheds.” It’ll have new commitments on climate change impacts, call for a net gain in habitat and face down invasive species. The stronger focus on prevention will be especially important with pest species that undermine the ecology and economy of the Lakes.

Check out footage of the original 1972 Agreement being signed (amidst Vietnam War protests outside), courtesy of colleague and Canadian negotiator, Mike Goffin of Environment Canada.

So, come this April 15, let’s not think of it as Tax Day. Let’s think of it as Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement Day.

PS: And, it doesn’t hurt that this year, federal taxes are actually due Tuesday, April 17…

To find out more about our Great Lakes restoration efforts, visit , or follow me on Twitter (CameronDavisEPA).

About the author: Cameron Davis is Senior Advisor to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. He provides counsel on Great Lakes matters, including the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

It’s a simple question. How far do you have to go to get healthy food?

I’m lucky. I can walk eight blocks to get to a full service grocery store. If I bike in the other direction, I have even more options: a Latino food market and a grocery store full of organic vegetables, fruits, and other healthy options. In a pinch, Swiss chard from my garden becomes a meal of fresh greens.

While many people associate environmental justice with reducing pollution problems, access to healthy food is just as essential for public health as well. In many urban and rural areas, families may have a long journey to get healthy, fresh foods. The ‘Food Desert’ as it is now called, is an area where residents don’t have easy access to fresh food. While the definitions and distances vary in a city or rural area, the idea is the same: Getting healthy food is hard work in a food desert.

Many brownfields communities also are ‘food deserts’ where options for getting healthy foods are difficult. Brownfields are abandoned properties or vacant lots where the presence or potential presence of environmental contamination prevents reuse.

In the last few years, the EPA, our state and tribal partners and community leaders have highlighted how brownfield communities can change their ‘food environment’ as part of site. They are putting brownfields to new healthy uses that improve food access in underserved areas, contributing to public health and economic development.

You can learn how former brownfields are becoming supermarkets, farmer’s markets, urban farms, community gardens, and even food banks. Take a look at the resources we’ve developed from projects or those of our Superfund colleagues.

Do you live in a food desert? These maps from the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) can help connect you to your food environment.

You can help your community see that vacant building or abandoned gas station in a new way. It may be a brownfield now, but it can improve food access in your community. You can work with local officials to pick safe garden sites and learn what vacant lots to avoid due to likely environmental contamination. Talk to your city or town about whether a brownfield grant can fund assessing or cleaning lots or structures to become the supermarket, greenhouse, garden, urban farm, farmers market or a healthier grocery store you need.

About the author: Ann Carroll has a science and public health background and has worked on environmental health issues in the US and internationally for close to 30 years and with the EPA’s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization for the last ten years. She helps communities assess and clean brownfields and plan for their safe reuse. Ann is working on a doctorate in environmental health and is a Fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for a Livable Future.