Greenversations

By Melissa Greer Dreyfus

As the oppressive heat of summer is now fading into fall, I am able to take more time to actually enjoy my surroundings in the great outdoors during my weekend runs. (This is in contrast to summer outdoor running, where my goal is to make it to the next drinking fountain without over-heating.) I’ve always enjoyed trail running as a means to escape some of the traffic and intensity of living in the Nation’s Capitol area. I’ve had the opportunity to test out several of the great scenic running/biking trails in the area including the Mount Vernon Trail, Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal Trail, Rock Creek Park Trail, Rock Creek Trail and Capital Crescent Trail.

Amazingly, the Capital Crescent Trail and thousands of miles of other trail systems across the country were constructed along old railroad routes. The Capital Crescent Trail follows the route of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad’s Georgetown Branch rail line. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a non-profit organization that is “dedicated to assisting local communities in converting unused railroad corridors into trails”. There are many trails not only in the DC Metro area, but across the country. Trail information is accompanied by local resources such as hotels, to plan a complete getaway virtually anywhere in the U.S.

Not only can you exercise on former railroad routes converted to trails, but land reuse options also encourage a variety of community recreation activities.  The Superfund Redevelopment Program at EPA is helping communities return some of the nation’s worst hazardous waste sites to safe and productive uses. Along with cleaning up these Superfund sites and making them protective of human health and the environment, the Agency is working with communities and other partners in considering future use opportunities and integrating appropriate reuse options into the cleanup process. Communities across the country now have areas such as recreational model airplane flying fields, open space, athletic fields soccer, football and baseball, playgrounds, and equestrian trails on land previously contaminated and unavailable for public use.

Exercise and a healthy lifestyle are critical for combating the obesity epidemic among children in this country. By providing a variety of fun activities, and exercising as a family, we can lead a healthy lifestyle and set a good example for kids to follow as they grow. Along with the great sight-seeing, these trails and recreation facilities offer excellent options for outdoor activity close to home at little to no cost.

Grab your friends and family and explore options for outdoor activities in your own backyard!

About the author: Melissa Greer Dreyfus is an Environmental Health Scientist in the Community Involvement and Program Initiatives Branch in EPA’s Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation in Arlington, VA.

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.

For the last three weeks, I’ve been having a greenversation with my colleagues in the blogosphere on the disposal of cadmium/lead-laced toy jewelry. I was glad to see the exchange that has developed over time. The comments have compelled me to write a third blog on this issue. I’m very happy to report that since we started this conversation on the toxic toy jewelry and metal trinkets, CPSC has actually recalled some items due to their cadmium and lead content. Those are great news! Just helping to get the word out to parents so they will keep these toxic items away from their children.

However, this greenversation points to the need to further address the proper disposal of other household items that may have hazardous content—batteries, electronics, even cell phones, to name a few. The title of my blogs, “When in doubt, throw it out,” was not meant as a blanket statement for all solid waste management. There are guidelines for the proper disposal and recycling of items with hazardous waste. So, I recommend that you visit the following Web pages to obtain additional information on the important issues you mentioned so we can all work to protect the environment where we live, work, learn and play.

Here are some useful Websites for the disposal and recycling of the following products:
batteries; mercury-containing light bulb recycling; electronics; cell phones; used oil; and general household hazardous waste.

Thank you for your input. Keep it coming.

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.

While I was in graduate school, I ran into someone collecting signatures in protest of the nearby construction of a hazardous waste incinerator. When I asked him what should be done with the hazardous waste, he said “They just shouldn’t make it.” I dismissed him as oversimplifying a complex situation—that chemicals are a vital part of our lives and we just can’t not have the industry. I suspected his real motives were that he didn’t want it near to where he lived. However, after I began working at EPA and learned about green chemistry, I realized that, whatever his motives, he was essentially right. To an ever-increasing extent, we’re discovering that we can have a vital, innovative, competitive chemicals industry with less—or even no hazardous waste.

This year marks my 12th year working with EPA’s Green Chemistry Program and those dozen years have clearly shown me how effective green chemistry can be in preventing pollution.

Green chemistry is “the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances.” It applies to what chemists make, what they make it from, and how they make it. It encourages scientists to think as broadly as possible about the potential impacts of the chemistry choices they make and to minimize the hazard associated with those choices. It’s a significant departure from traditional environmental protection, which focused on protecting people and the environment by minimizing exposure to hazardous substances. Instead, green chemistry protects by focusing on minimizing the intrinsic hazard of chemicals.

Fortunately, we can have the high-performing chemical products that our economy depends on—stuff used in health care, safety, building, transportation, electronics, food and agriculture, entertainment, and nearly every other industry—at a competitive price AND with a lower environmental footprint. There is no fundamental scientific reason that the chemistry has to be hazardous. The fact is that much of the chemistry that the industry currently uses is decades old and from a time that environmental protection was an afterthought, if it was a thought at all. What green chemistry espouses, and the winners of the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge demonstrate, is that you can have “cleaner, cheaper, smarter chemistry” if you include reduced hazard as one of the design criteria.

My dream is that one day, we won’t need a Green Chemistry Program—it will be as natural a part of the way that chemists practice their science as the Periodic Table of the Elements. You can read more at www.epa.gov/greenchemistry.

About the author: Rich Engler is a chemist in the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics and is currently the Program Manager for EPA’s Green Chemistry Program. Before he joined EPA, he taught Organic Chemistry at the University of San Diego.