Apply today to be our next marketing & communications specialist
Join our small and mighty team that is pushing boundaries to catalyze new environmental research for people and planet.
We are seeking a full-time marketing and communications specialist to join our communications and engagement lead in supporting and amplifying our program and our eight member organizations. This is an outstanding opportunity to use your communications expertise to bring the UW and wider community together to solve pressing environmental challenges.
Priority will be given to applications submitted before April 5.
Green ways to keep food trucks clean
This story was originally published by UW Bothell
Nearly everyone who has undertaken a heavy-duty cleaning job with a concentrated chemical has likely gasped for air. Your nose, throat and eyes irritated, you realize why product labels recommend ample ventilation and wonder if you might be doing something wrong.
A common and potentially fatal mistake is mixing ammonia and bleach, which produces a deadly gas. “It happens more frequently than you think, especially in our homes,” said Grace Lasker, teaching professor in the University of Washington Bothell’s School of Nursing & Health Studies.
Harsh cleaners also impact the environment when they go down the drain, she said. But while cleanliness is critical, many people don’t realize there are alternative chemicals that are healthier for workers and the planet.
EarthLab
To bring attention to effective alternatives, experts from the University of Washington, a state agency and a nonprofit formed a team to identify and promote safer cleaning methods, starting with food trucks.
Why food trucks? Imagine how difficult it must be for the operators, working in confined spaces and now cleaning more often because of the coronavirus pandemic. Food trucks also are a small business for some immigrant entrepreneurs who could use help meeting health and safety regulations.
The team received an EarthLab grant to create a toolkit of resources called Clean SHiFT (Safety & Health in Food Trucks). EarthLab is a UW initiative that connects the College of the Environment and other UW units in partnerships that take on environmental challenges. The Clean SHiFT project received $49,000 in a 2019-20 grant, which was extended into this year because of the pandemic. The toolkit officially launched this month in March [suggest “this month”], said Lasker, one of the project leaders.
Others who drove the shift to green cleaning are Nancy Simcox, assistant teaching professor in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences; Saskia van Bergen, a chemist with the state Department of Ecology; and Aurora Martin, founder of PopUPJustice, a Seattle community-building nonprofit, and a faculty member at Heritage University on the Yakama Indian Reservation in eastern Washington.
Survey says
The team worked with the Washington State Food Truck Association and health departments in King and Yakima counties to reach food-truck operators. Students from the UW in Seattle and Bothell as well as Heritage University conducted a survey of English and Spanish-speaking operators.
The survey found that most food truck operators clean with bleach. Most weren’t aware of alternative products that also meet regulations. Several people with asthma and other respiratory problems expressed interest in less toxic cleaning methods.
“When they are in poorly ventilated food trucks for long periods of time and doing this cleaning, it’s definitely a worker safety issue,” said Lasker. “You have to make change now for the future.”
Toolkit tips
The Clean SHiFT toolkit integrates food safety and occupational health regulations from the state Departments of Health and Labor & Industries. The resources are available on the website. In addition, Clean SHiFT includes a fact sheet, available in English and Spanish, with a six-step protocol to transition to safer chemicals. Clean SHiFT also recommends third-party certifications of health, environmental and performance criteria. Look for Safer Choice, Green Seal, Ecologo, and Design for the Environment on product labels.
Safer chemical ingredients exist, Lasker said, and companies are using them to create new cleaning products. For example, activated hydrogen peroxide (different from the hydrogen peroxide sold in brown bottles in drug stores) is added with surfactants and other ingredients to make a safer disinfectant that schools and hospitals are starting to use. It is effective, especially when used with a microfiber cloth, said Lasker.
Some other disinfectants approved by the Environmental Protection Agency include ingredients such as isopropyl alcohol and citric acid. And, one of the best methods for cleaning is simple soap and water. That is why frequent handwashing is recommended to help prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Soap inactivates the virus by dissolving the fatty membrane that envelops it.
Good food, thoughtfully
Cleaning is important for customers but only one consideration, said Emily Wigley, owner-operator of Orca Eats food truck on Vashon Island.
“We need to think about the people on the inside of the truck. We also need to consider the earth when we are choosing our products.” said Wigley, a member of the advisory board for the Washington Food Truck Association who supported the Clean SHiFT project.
Orca Eats uses no plastic packaging or utensils, and Wigley grows some of the food she serves in her “food to fender” operation. “Let’s do our best to take care of the people and the earth and make some good food.”
Nature & Health Speaks: Beyond Inclusive Design with The Eli’s Park Project
This article was originally published by Urban@UW.
The Eli’s Park Project is committed to carrying on Eli’s legacy of love through a community-led renovation of the Burke-Gilman Playground Park. They are working with the community to create an accessible, inclusive, nature-based park where people of all ages and abilities can find play and peace. The reimagining and manifestation of this new, inclusive Burke-Gilman Playground Park consists of four phases: Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Documents, and finally, construction. There are additional efforts that are taking place simultaneously including ongoing community outreach, fundraising, and coordination with the project’s partners. The current design uses a parallel pathways concept that “celebrates our togetherness, while honoring our differences”. Two pathways encircle the park, winding together in parallel experiences of places and play. One path remains easily accessible for those who need smooth surfaces to navigate the park safely, while the other meanders off and loops back to offer a variety of experiences for those seeking challenges as they explore.
On February 10th, University of Washington’s Nature and Health invited The Eli’s Park Project to share their inclusive design process through the Nature and Health Speaks series.
Nature and Health is a group of community members, scientists and practitioners who are passionate about the connections between nature and human health and well-being. They establish connections between individuals to “contribute to the design of health-care, educational and community settings that benefit all people.” The Eli’s Park Project had the opportunity to talk to, learn from and connect with over 45 individuals doing incredible work in the local community and across Washington state and the nation.
During the event, participants shared the benefits of inclusive design processes for nature-based projects, the importance of building outdoor spaces to meet the needs of a wide variety of users, the challenges of engaging community during COVID and the need for including anti-displacement strategies into projects that have green outdoor spaces.
Star Berry (she/her), Program Manager of Nature and Health, left feeling “encouraged to think about what it means to be welcoming in addition to being accessible and…allowing for relationships and needs to build.”
EarthLab and Population Health co-fund pilot grant to improve communication around smoke exposure in rural and Tribal communities
EarthLab and the Population Health Initiative have announced a new pilot research grant award to study how Tribal and non-Tribal communities in the Okanogan River Airshed Emphasis Area (ORAEA) receive and communicate information about smoke exposure.
Due to climate change, wildfires are increasing in frequency and severity across the western United States. While land managers have increasingly been proactive in “fighting fire with fire,” i.e., using prescribed fires to prevent severe wildfires, this means that people in Tribal and rural areas will be exposed to smoke outside of the traditional fire season. Therefore, this project aims to address this with effective risk communication for the potentially affected populations.
EarthLab is proud to co-fund this project with Population Health, a new center at UW that addresses the challenges that arise at the intersection of human health, environmental resilience and social and economic equity. The EarthLab Innovation Grants Program invests in interdisciplinary and community-led projects that develop innovative solutions and strategies to pressing environmental challenges. The 2021-2022 Request for Proposal (RFP) will be announced later this year.
About the Project
Project Title
Characterizing Risk Communication Around Smoke Exposure in Rural and Tribal Communities in the Okanogan River Airshed Emphasis Area
Investigators
Ernesto Alvarado, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
Savannah D’Evelyn, Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (postdoctoral scholar)
Nicole Errett, Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences
Cody Desautel, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation
Project abstract
Wildfires across the western United States are increasing in frequency and severity. To lessen the negative impacts of high severity wildfires on both human and forest health, fuel management strategies such as prescribed fires (Rx fires) are being utilized. Use of Rx fires results in less severe wildfires and thus less severe smoke events. However, managing fire with fire increases the frequency of smoke exposure in rural communities outside of fire season.
To address this balance, we must start with effective risk communication for potentially affected populations. The goal of this project is to describe how tribal and non-tribal communities in the Okanogan River Airshed Emphasis Area (ORAEA) receive and communicate information about smoke exposure.
Through key informant interviews and focus groups, we aim to identify the community and cultural perceptions of smoke exposure and describe its impact on the community. We will partner with representatives from the Natural Resource Division for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation (CNRD), the Colville Environmental Trust Air Quality Program (CETAQP), and Washington Prescribed Fire Council (WPFC) to reach communities on and off the Colville reservation.
By working with these partners, we will describe perceived risk of smoke exposure, improve real-time culturally responsive risk communication, as well as advance and evaluate each community’s outreach goals. This work will set the stage for new and continued community-academic partnerships to develop effective and relevant resources and risk communication to enhance the resilience to, and reduce the disproportionate health risks of, smoke exposure.
View the full slate of Population Health 2021 pilot research grants here
Surging snowpack can have positive impact on salmon, slow start to wildfire season
Powerful winter storms this season have made for terrible pass travel and avalanche danger. However, scientists say this surging snowpack will do wonders for our environment.
Our impressive snowpack is good news for the things we are passionate about here in the Pacific Northwest, including beloved species like salmon and orcas — and even fire danger.
Over the Cascade and Olympic basins, our snowpack is running more than 100% of normal.
That bodes well for species like salmon.
“Salmon are highly reliant on having the cold water that’s in our streams and the snow is what provides that cool water year-round, said Alison Studley, the Executive Director of Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group.
Studley says that thriving salmon not only feed the endangered Southern Resident killer whales, they affect the whole ecosystem, making this robust snowpack so critical.
“Salmon when they return from their ocean migration, they bring all these amazing nutrients back to our river systems and then they die they’re feeding our whole ecosystem from the trees to the bugs to the birds to you know the eagles and wolves,” said Studley.
Hefty mountain snow also benefits important crops around the state like hops, apples and cherries in the Yakima Valley.
A healthy water supply also lowers the chance of drought, and the big one: a solid snowpack can slow the start of wildfire season.
“It keeps the grasses, the fuels on the ground wetter, they don’t dry out as quickly and therefore fire season is slower to start,” said Dr. Crystal Raymond, Climate Adaptation Specialist at the University of Washington.
While scientists are hopeful that this mountain snow could reduce fire danger in some regards, there is some hesitation as well — acknowledging that things can still go south.
Washington State Climatologist Dr. Nick Bond says if temps warm up too quickly in late spring, rapidly melting snow could drain our water resources and possibly lead to flooding.
“We should always be guarded. Mother Nature always has some tricks up her sleeve and doesn’t always play fair,” said Bond.
Scientists say not everyone may benefit equally from this snowpack. Raymond says while more mountain snow can result in fewer fires for forest lands, a heavy snowpack could actually cause grasses and shrubs to grow more readily, priming spots like those in Eastern Washington for bigger fires.
Achoo! Climate Change Lengthening Pollen Season in U.S., Study Shows
New research suggests that climate change is responsible for longer pollen seasons in the United States and more pollen in the air, as well.
This article, featuring a quote from Kristi Ebi (Center for Health and the Global Environment) was originally published in The New York Times.
Among the many disasters climate change is wreaking around the world, scientists have now identified a more personal one: It’s making allergy season worse.
That is the message of a new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published on Monday. The researchers found a strong link between planetary warming and pollen seasons that will make many of us dread spring just a little bit more.
According to the new paper, the combination of warming air and higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has caused North American pollen seasons since 1990 to start some 20 days earlier, on average, and to have 21 percent more pollen.
Scientists have suggested for some time that the season is getting longer and more awful, and the new research provides greater detail and estimates of just how much a warming planet is responsible for the greater misery. They concluded that climate change caused about half of the trend in the pollen season, and 8 percent of the higher pollen count. What’s more, the trend of higher pollen counts, the researchers said, is accelerating.
The most pronounced effects were seen in Texas, the Midwest and the Southeast, said William Anderegg, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Utah and the lead author of the new study. The effects were less obvious in the northern United States, including New England and the Great Lakes states. The greatest pollen increases came from trees, as opposed to grasses and weeds, he said.
The researchers employed the techniques of attribution science, which is commonly used to state the degree to which extreme weather events like heat waves, wildfires or the amount of rain a hurricane brings are worse than they would have been in a world without climate change.
Applying this branch of science to pollen was a novel and welcome idea, said Kristie Ebi, a professor in the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the University of Washington who was not involved in the study. “It’s a great piece of work,” she said. “There has been very little research on the application of detection and attribution analysis to the health risks of a changing climate.”
Read more at The New York Times.
CHanGE Comes to EarthLab
New collaboration between UW Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE) and EarthLab will accelerate climate research, action and resilience.
Today, EarthLab announced that The Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE), an initiative within the Departments of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) and Global Health in the University of Washington School of Public Health, has joined EarthLab as its eighth member organization. CHanGE will receive strategic operational and communications support from EarthLab staff as it enhances EarthLab’s increased focus on addressing the climate crisis and increases EarthLab’s global scope.
CHanGE is a community of researchers, teachers, practitioners and students working together to highlight the connections between climate change and human health, with a focus on supporting interventions to reduce risks; training the next generation of climate and health practitioners; and working with community and practice partners to support healthy climate action.
ChanGE’s diverse membership includes 34 faculty from across the UW and around the country as well as practice partners throughout the region and world. CHanGE invites new members to join from the UW, other colleges and universities, and community and governmental organizations by visiting here. The center was founded by UW Professor Dr. Kristie Ebi in 2014.
“Public health is about partnership. CHanGE’s home is in public health, but our partners are in a wide range of other disciplines, particularly the environmental sciences,” said Dr. Jeremy Hess, CHanGE’s director.
“Joining EarthLab strengthens CHanGE’s connection with other UW organizations focused on climate change and makes it easier to integrate health into their work. The partnership also facilitates broad engagement and programming, allowing us to fulfill our mission of highlighting the connections between climate change and health in a wide range of settings,” said Hess, professor of environmental and occupational health sciences, global health and emergency medicine and adjunct professor of atmospheric science.
EarthLab provides each member organization with critical administrative and communications support to amplify their work addressing significant environmental challenges. These challenges range from ocean acidification, ocean equity, sea level rise and freshwater ecosystems to forest fires, the connection between nature and health, and increasing diversity in the conservation field. Current members include: Climate Impacts Group, Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program, Future Rivers, Nature and Health, The Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center, Northwest Climate Adaptation Center and Washington Ocean Acidification Center. Learn more about EarthLab member organizations.
“We know that addressing complex environmental problems means pushing against boundaries and EarthLab member organizations do this in many innovative ways,” said Ben Packard, executive director of EarthLab.
“We are eager to help Jeremy and his team bring their research to practice in order to protect people’s health in our changing environment,” Packard said. “This new partnership with CHanGE paves the way for greater impact on our shared desire for action in the face of climate change.”
This is the first member organization led by UW faculty from outside of the College of the Environment, signaling new potential for EarthLab collaborations across the breadth of UW’s schools and colleges. Although EarthLab was founded within the College of the Environment, it exists to connect University of Washington units with each other, as well as connect the university with the wider community, under a vision of creating an equitable, just and sustainable world where people and planet thrive. Learn more about EarthLab.