Environmental Health
The term environmental health is used to frame issues where pollution and toxins in the environment cause or contribute to health problems, both chronic and acute. Environmental health concerns often have a very disproportionate impact on minorities and low-income people because of the ways facilities and roads are sited.
Some key areas of concern:
Sustainability and the Rights of Future Generations
Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms to which all individuals are entitled, often held to include the right to life, liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law. These rights are universally accepted, as is … more
PA Judge: Corporations Are Not “Persons”
A New Civil Rights Movement: Liberating Our Communities from Corporate Control Pennsylvania judge holds that corporations are not “persons” under the Pennsylvania Constitution By Thomas Alan Linzey, Esq., Executive Director, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund March 28, 2013—To protect small … more
Endowment Investments with High Return & Ultra-Low Risk
This is another no-brainer. Recently, colleges and universities have been earning an average 6–8% return on their endowment funds. Most facilities projects to reduce energy & greenhouse gas emissions [GHG] have a 5–7 year payback — a 14%–20% return—which means … more
50 Toxic Food Additives
50 Jawdroppingly Toxic Food Additives to Avoid There have been great advances in food preparation in the last century. These days, well over half of the foods that we can buy in a typical supermarket are pre packaged or prepared. … more
Food Matters!
“Food matters” is probably the understatement of the year. Some of us are vegan, and some are carnivorous; some strive for a traditional, nutrient dense diet, and others follow a macrobiotic regime. But I think we all want food that … more
Sustainability Questions for Students & Educators
To make good decisions about sustainability, people need to know the facts. Here are some questions that have arisen and might be suitable for class projects or independent study: What steps can local & county government take to produce immediate reductions in … more
Principles of Ecology
The principles of ecology were derived from years of observation about how things work in natural systems, including Aldo Leopold’s observations and insights (many of them chronicled in his now-famous Sand County Almanac…). Leopold broadened ecological thinking from a biology-centered … more
Farmworker Health & Safety
By Sapna E. Thottathil* [This article was originally published in Greenhealth Magazine.] As the health care sector steps forward in support of healthy and sustainable food systems, two critical considerations are the health and safety of the workers producing our foods. … more
Exposure to Toxic & Endocrine Disruptor Chemicals
In 2007, more than 200 biologists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, nutrition researchers, and pediatricians from around the world met at Torshavn, Denmark for the International Conference on Fetal Programming and Developmental Toxicity. The conference was organized jointly with, and sponsored by, BCPT (the … more
‘Progress’, a poem by Lisa J. Parker
…on the human effects of coal mining and other resource extraction industries: Progress In a ton of black gold boring through the fatness of the Blue Ridge on the Clinchfield freight lines, three generations are trapped. The first generation talks … more