When science is sidelined, there is often an underlying story of the people who are hurt by these decisions and it is often children. Read more >
Photo: US Marines
The Time Has Come for Stronger Investment in Water Infrastructure – Especially for Underserved Communities
Sara Schwartz, UCS Science Network, UCS
July 9, 2018 10:56 AM EDT
When news of the Flint water crisis broke headlines, 21 million people across the country relied on water systems that violated health standards. Low-income communities, minority populations, and rural towns disproportionately deal with barriers to safe water. Drinking water challenges are complex: failing infrastructure, polluted water sources, and low capacity utility management are all part of the issue. Read more >
Dialogue About Risks of Environmental Exposure Begins with Taking Environmental Justice Concerns Seriously
December 11, 2017 3:02 PM EDT
Public health officials are tasked with one of the most critical jobs in our modern risk society: to research, understand, educate, and help prevent the multiple and complex ways in which people are exposed to and suffer from disease. But when public health officials deflect attention away from significant sources of toxic pollutants that put people at risk (and instead blame the overexposed population’s race, lifestyle, or genetics), they do a disservice to the people they are supposed to protect. Read more >
Ivette Perfecto and John Vandermeer in a shaded coffee farm in Chiapas, Mexico. They use diverse shaded coffee as a model system to study ecological complexity and its implications for farm management and biodiversity conservation.
Agroecology to the Rescue: 7 Ways Ecologists are Working Toward Healthier Food Systems
Marcia DeLonge, senior scientist
August 2, 2017 11:44 AM EDT
A lot has been written about agroecology, and a new special issue of the journal Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems takes it to the next level. Read more >
Photo: Partners Healthcare
Climate and Energy in the Health Care Sector: An Interview with Bill Ravanesi
John Rogers, Senior energy analyst
July 25, 2017 2:52 PM EDT
Health care has been in the headlines a whole lot lately, and it’s never far from our minds or wallets. It’s never far from our lungs or hearts, either—or, it turns out, our energy choices. How we make electricity, and what happens to our climate, have big implications for human health.
Our health care sector isn’t taking those connections lightly. Here’s what one expert had to say about how Massachusetts institutions are leading the way on connecting the dots. Read more >
