I have been managing the PEYA program in EPA’s Region 1office for over 5 years. It is one of my favorite programs in the agency and is truly a hidden gem. So many students create projects centered around the environment. How cool is it to be recognized for your passion with an award ceremony in Washington, DC, potentially meeting President Obama, and hanging out with kids from across the country with the same passion for the environment as you. I am always amazed and impressed with the scope and depth of some of the projects submitted. I have had winners who have created a rain garden behind their town hall to prevent runoff from contaminating the river behind it; an Eagle Scout who created a program to have fisherman use an alternative weight to lead sinkers; an afterschool group who created an energy audit and program for its school district and so many more.

The regional award program is conducted once a year, and each of the 10 EPA regions selects a regional winner. Each regional winner is invited to an EPA-sponsored award ceremony in Washington, DC and receives a presidential plague.

I never get bored with students’ passion and action towards the environment. We want to read about your great projects and EPA knows you have worked hard on a project so why not get some recognition? You can get the program details (including applications deadlines), check out previous winning projects for inspiration, and get the application at epa.gov/peya. Get the credit you deserve for putting your passion into action and making the environment a cleaner, healthier place, and remember, it’s never too early to start a project for next year!

About the author: Kristen Conroy is the Environmental Education Coordinator in the EPA Reg 1’s Boston region. Kristen has been with EPA since 1991.

Local air quality affects how you live and breathe. It’s like the weather; it can change from day to day. When I purchased my home years ago I really was thinking about the money I would save by heating with the wood burning fireplace. I never thought about the air quality in and around my home. When I had my chimney cleaned, the tech asked if I ever had a carbon monoxide detector. When I told him no, he suggested that I invest in one. It had never crossed my mind, but I purchased one the next week, and was surprised how inexpensive it was. The detector, which simply plugs into an electrical outlet on the wall, helps me monitor carbon monoxide levels in my home.

By making changes in my daily routine, I’ve also started to help keep the air clean. I no longer warm my car in the morning, since the extra emissions contribute to unhealthy air quality. When I cleaned my garage this summer, I properly disposed of some household paints, solvents and pesticides; the materials I kept I now store in airtight containers so that they don’t leak any fumes. Fumes from these items can cause unhealthy air.
Now it’s your turn: How do you check your local air quality? If you’re not sure what you can do, learn more on our site.

Don’t hesitate to share your other Pick 5 tips on how you save water, commute without polluting ,  save electricity , reduce, reuse, recycle , and test your home for radon.

Note: to ward off advertisers using our blog as a platform, we don’t allow specific product endorsements.  But feel free to suggest Web sites that review products, suggest types of products, and share your experiences using them!

About the author: Denise Owens has worked at EPA for over twenty years. She is currently working in the Office of Public Affairs in Washington, DC.

Personally, when my children were babies, I didn’t consider which was the most environmentally friendly option when choosing diapers.  I just selected the most convenient method for our family: disposable diapers. It’s interesting that several months ago, in one of our Questions of the Week on diaper selection, we had a very interesting green conversation going with well over 170 people weighing in on which is the best option for the environment, disposable or cloth diapers. There are many articulate arguments in favor of both options.  At least, companies like this one are finding creative ways to reduce waste while having the added bonus of producing green energy.

As I was reading up on the issue for this blog, I learned that it can take 450 years for a disposable diaper to disintegrate in the ocean, and over 500 years in landfills. While we all should make an effort to adopt more environmentally practices to reduce waste, it gives me hope that at least in the case of disposable diapers there is some hope to go green. So, will we be talking about baby power at a recycling center near you? That might be the way of the future.

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

Personalmente, cuando mis hijas eran bebés, yo no sopesé cuál era la opción de pañales más beneficiosa para el medio ambiente. Seleccioné el método más conveniente para mi familia: los pañales desechables. Es curioso que hace unos meses atrás, en una de nuestras “Preguntas de la semana” sobre la selección de pañales, se suscitó una interesante conversación verde en la cual más de 170 personas opinaron sobre cuál era la mejor opción para el medio ambiente, pañales desechables o de tela. Presentaron argumentos bien articulados a favor de cada una de las opciones. Al menos con compañías como ésta están encontrando maneras creativas para reducir los desechos con el beneficio adicional de producir energía verde.

A medida que leí varios artículos en preparación para escribir este blog, aprendí que toma 450 años para un pañal desechable se desintegre en el océano y sobre 500 años en los vertederos municipales. Mientras todos debemos esforzarnos por adoptar medidas más beneficiosas para el medio ambiente [[http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/wycd/index.htm ] a fin de reducir los desechos, al menos en el caso de los pañales me da alguna esperanza de que vayamos a obrar más ecológicamente. ¿Próximamente podremos hablar de la energía producida por los bebés en una planta de reciclaje cerca de usted? Esa podría ser la opción del futuro.

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 gubernamentales.

As a research chemist at EPA for more than ten years, I have had the opportunity to be  at the forefront of developing novel technologies to achieve the Agency’s mission—to protect human health and safeguard the natural environment. I have also had the good fortune that this period has also marked the burgeoning of Green Chemistry.

There is no doubt that within the past 10+ years the field of chemistry has exploded with the integration of philosophies associated with Green Chemistry.  Very simply, one can envision and justifiably define Green Chemistry as “preventing pollution at the
molecular level.”

It follows, that if the pollution is not created in the first place, there is no need for clean-up and remediation technologies. The research undertaken where I work, the National Risk Management Research Laboratory in Cincinnati, Ohio has focused on applying the principles of Green Chemistry and merging them with the principles of chemical engineering.

The overall goal is to develop novel methodologies to produce organic chemicals with a minimized environmental footprint.  Our research has demonstrated that a researcher can use chemistry to influence process design as well as using novel reactors to design new chemical routes for organic synthesis.

As my research career in the area of Green Chemistry continues to grow, I feel that in order to move this field even further, I have to expand on this integration of chemistry and chemical engineering.

I believe that if one is take full advantages of the philosophies of Green Chemistry, researchers must begin to think holistically, and think past the “chemistry bench.” If you look at all the opportunities that exist for process improvements, one must not just be limited to the chemistry, but now must be looking at the plant and not just the bench.

This is where I developed the term Sustainable Chemistry.

About the author: EPA research chemist Michael A. Gonzalez, Ph.D, has served as a primary investigator for Green Chemistry and Engineering projects. His focuses on the development of sustainable chemical processes, incorporating a holistic view of on-going chemistry and processing. He is currently the Branch Chief for the Systems Analysis Branch.

• EPA’s current drinking water standards are designed to protect both adults and children.
• Standards for lead, nitrates, and nitrites, are specifically based on risk to children because they are most vulnerable to these contaminants.
• If you have a private well, you are responsible for testing your water to make sure it is safe and you should test it annually. Resources are available here.
• You can learn about your local drinking water by reading your Consumer Confidence Report to learn whether your water system meets all drinking water standards here.
• Get to know the source of your drinking water and get involved in activities to protect it.
• These include: taking used motor oil to a recycling center and properly disposing of toxic house hold trash e.g. batteries by taking them to special collection sites.

Water is essential for children and adults alike. Water can be fun in its natural state for viewing and admiring. (Or a place of play for all of my creek-stomping days). Just remember to only drink from safe water sources at your home or wherever you may be. And help children to remember to do the same!

About the Author: Emily Bruckmann is an intern at the Office of Children’s Health Protection. She is a senior attending Indiana University who will graduate with a degree in public health this spring.

What do “green” products mean to you?

Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.

¿Qué significa la expresión “productos verdes” para usted?

Cada semana hacemos una pregunta relacionada al medio ambiente. Por favor comparta con nosotros sus pensamientos y comentarios. Siéntase en libertad de responder a comentarios anteriores o plantear nuevas ideas. Preguntas previas.

But environmental protection starts at home, and it is important to understand how one thing affects another, so here’s the challenge (actually a great project for a class to do) – find out and then write up a report so others can understand your local environment too.

I did this a few years ago for the town in which I live, Narberth, Pa. I looked into:

How our electricity is produced.

• Where the oil that runs my heater came from.
• Where the natural gas that runs my stove came from.
• The origin of my drinking water.
• Where my waste water goes.
• What happens to the recyclables (plastics, paper, glass) that are collected.
• What happens to our yard waste that’s picked up.
• Where my household waste/trash goes.
• The quality of the air I breathe.The levels of radon from the ground.
• What happens to our rainwater after it goes down the storm drains.
• The name of our watershed and the location of our streams.
• Our climate and planting zone.
• Where our gasoline comes from.
• What mass transit is available.
• Our topography and geography.
• How our town is zoned.
• The location of our historic buildings.

In the process I discovered some interesting things. Some streams had been piped underground and weren’t on the surface anymore. Our household waste goes to an incinerator where it is burned to produce electricity. Our rainwater goes directly into streams; it’s not treated first. The oldest intact structure in Narberth is a Swedish log cabin. But since it has had many additions, it just looks like a normal house now.

My report is on the web.  Feel free to use it as a model for yours. Go out and discover your local environment!

About the Author: Nancy Grundahl has worked for the Philadelphia office of EPA since the mid-80’s. She currently manages the web for the Environmental Assessment and Innovation Division. Before getting involved with the web, she worked as an environmental scientist. Nancy believes in looking at environmental problems in a holistic, multi-media way and is a strong advocate of preventing pollution instead of dealing with it after it has been created.

Today, plastics are a constant in our lives. From beverage containers, household items to packaging, plastics are everywhere. Ultimately, many of these items are discarded on a daily basis and they end up as trash in our landfills or oceans. For example, in the year 2007, almost 12.1 percent of the total municipal solid waste in the United States came from 31 million tons of plastics. Since plastics do not easily break down into simpler components, they become virtually everlasting in the environment. Increasing awareness of the situation is just the first step in addressing the problem. Recycling deals with just one area. Technological advances are only part of the solution.

That brings me to another aspect of the preponderance of plastics: their toll on the environment. The adverse effects of plastics are not solely related to the tonnage of plastic debris produced yearly. Moreover, the negative impacts on human health and the environment stem from some of the chemicals added to plastics during the manufacturing process.  Recently, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson outlined the Obama Administration’s principles for reforming the legislation commonly known as TSCA, the 1976 Toxic Substance Control Act.  In a recent speech at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Administrator Lisa P. Jackson spoke of the need to fix the weaknesses in TSCA with a new chemical risk management law. The planets seem to be aligning in the right direction. Important players in government, the private sector, health and environmental organizations all seem to agree that the time for reform is now.

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