The EPA’s Commitment to Children’s Environmental Health: History and Current Challenges

Children’s environmental health (CEH) has a 25-year history at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), during which the agency has advanced CEH through research, policy, and programs that address children’s special vulnerability to environmental harm. However, the Trump administration took many actions that weakened efforts to improve CEH. The actions included downgrading or ignoring CEH concerns in decision-making, defunding research, sidelining the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, and rescinding regulations that were written in part to protect children. To improve CEH, federal environmental statutes should be reviewed to ensure they are sufficiently protective. The administrator should ensure the EPA’s children’s health agenda encompasses the most important current challenges and that there is accountability for improvement. Guidance documents should be reviewed and updated to be protective of CEH and the federal lead strategy refocused on primary prevention. The Office of Children’s Health Protection’s historically low funding and staffing should be remedied. Finally, the EPA should update CEH data systems, reinvigorate the role of the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, and restore funding for CEH research that is aligned with environmental justice and regulatory decision-making needs. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(1):124–134. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306537 )

Harnessing soil bacteria and their benefits for sustainable agriculture with changing climate.

Soil bacteria contribute effectively to key biogeochemical reactions in the soil rhizosphere. They support plants in the rhizosphere to adapt quickly to changing climatic conditions. Differences in root exudates, trace gas chemistry, chemical compounds and nutrient exchange contribute to the recruitment of diverse microorganisms by plant roots. This review highlights the importance of characterizing novel microorganisms to support sustainable agricultural practices. We discuss about tools for characterizing microbes and agricultural practices that influence microbial diversity, and have reviewed how microorganisms may have important but unidentified roles in climate change. Beneficial microbes could improve the turnover of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other minerals thereby avoiding the use of chemical inputs, which are not only causing serious environmental harm but also pose danger to human and animal health.

Queering Environmental Justice: Unequal Environmental Health Burden on the LGBTQ+ Community

The LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/-sexual, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, and all subsects) population has been the target of federal and state discriminatory policies leading to high levels of institutional discrimination in the housing, employment, and health sectors. Social determinants of health such as housing conditions, economic opportunities, and access to health care may negatively and disproportionately affect the LGBTQ+ population and reduce their capacity to respond to environmental harm (e.g., obtaining necessary medical care). Social determinants of health have been shown to be associated with unequal harmful environmental exposure, primarily along lines of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. However, chronic diseases, such as respiratory diseases, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, associated with environmental exposure have been shown to occur in higher rates in the LGBTQ+ population than in the cisgender, heterosexual population. We explore how environmental exposures may disproportionately affect the LGBTQ+ population through examples of environmental exposures, health risks that have been linked to environmental exposures, and social institutions that could affect resilience to environmental stressors for this population. We provide recommendations for policymakers, public health officials, and researchers. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(1):79–87. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306406 )

Holding Transnational Corporations Accountable for Environmental Harm Through Counterclaims in Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Myth or Reality?

Considering the imperative need to protect our environment, the present article begins by highlighting the absence of a comprehensive international framework under which transnational corporations may be held accountable for environmental harm. Drawing from the successful decisions on environmental counterclaims in Perenco v Ecuador and Burlington Resources v Ecuador, this article thus argues that this legal void could be filled by holding transnational corporations accountable for environmental harm under international investment law. However, the practice of environmental counterclaims as they have materialised in these recent decisions emphasises the existence of a gap between theory and reality and, thus, their limited chances of success. It is nevertheless suggested that, in the context of current debates surrounding an investor-State dispute settlement reform, States hold the cards to ensure that transnational corporations are held accountable for environmental harm under international investment law.

Advancement of the Duty to Cooperate in Marine Environmental Protection in the Jurisprudence of ITLOS

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea sets forth an unprecedented regime for marine environmental protection that compels parties to cooperate and includes mandatory dispute settlement procedures with binding decisions. Although the Convention does not contain a specific article stipulating a general duty to cooperate, cooperation permeates the logic of the document. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has recognised the importance of cooperation to marine protection and preservation in several cases. It could be suggested that the States Parties have a positive obligation to cooperate and a need to implement a range of actions to this end. ITLOS has consistently interpreted the duty to cooperate as comprising specific obligations: to consult, to exchange information, to monitor and assess relevant activities, to develop measures to prevent pollution or other environmental harm; which offers both the basis for the implementation of the duty to cooperate and the criteria for determining compliance.

Identifying Actions to Prepare Electricity Infrastructure in Seaports for Future Power Supplying Cruise Ships with Energy from Land

Cruise ships are unfortunately at the infamous forefront of the means of maritime transport emitting the largest amounts of harmful substances into the atmosphere and aquatic environment. At the initiative of IMO and the European Union, formal restrictions were introduced regarding the level of harmful emissions on the high seas and in ports generated by seagoing vessels. To meet these challenges, shipowners have invested in various technological solutions on their ships to reduce the number of harmful emissions, and by ordering new vessels; they promote the use of pro-ecological solutions related to energy saving and eliminate environmental harm. However, despite the actions taken by shipowners, seaports unfortunately lag behind the challenges and expectations of the market and are still not prepared, for example, to power the ships moored in ports with shore-side energy to reduce the environmental pollution when the ships are at berth. The aim of this paper is to identify actions taken by seaport authorities to prepare electricity infrastructure in seaports to power vessels with energy from the land. Key legal restrictions concerning reduction in pollutions emitted from ships in the ports are also described and analyzed. The results of the study also show the approach of seaports to the issue of Onshore Energy Supply for cruise ships. The research was conducted among the selected ports in the Baltic Sea Region where cruise ships are accepted. The following research questions were formulated: (1) What legal regulations oblige seaports and shipowners to reduce the level of pollutions emitted into the environment? (2) Do the ports use a benchmark to assess the level of harmful emissions when defining the amount of port fees for cruise shipowners? (3) How are cruise ships powered in the port? (4) What investments are planned in the port regarding the infrastructure related to the diversification of shore-side electricity for the ships? The studies were conducted by using a few research methods, i.e., the desk research method, the exploration method, and the CAWI Computer Assisted Web Interview. The results of this research can provide an interesting source of information both for cruise ship owners and cruise seaport authorities, but also potentially for shipyards where new vessels are constructed.

A review on sustainable production of graphene and related life cycle assessment

Advanced materials such as graphene and the family of 2-dimensional (2D) crystals are very attractive because of the myriad of applications that could be developed based on their outstanding properties. However, as soon as material development reaches enough maturity for production to be scaled up and to enter the market within products, it is crucial to place the technology in the context of possible risks to economic well-being, social equity and environmental harm. This review aims at highlighting the current state of art on sustainable development of graphene-based materials and related environmental impact assessment studies using life cycle assessment. We show that sustainable development has focused mostly on the use of waste or low cost materials as precursors. However, the findings from relevant life cycle assessment studies reveals the limits of this approach, which does not take into account that waste recycling is often very energy intensive. We provide an overview on the life cycle environmental impact assessment, with a focus of global warming potential and energy demand, carried out on different graphene productions methods for specific applications, ranging from composites to electronics. Finally, an outlook is given focussing on the comparison of the different production routes and the results from the life cycle assessment.

Designing the sewerage network of the city in purpose to reduce impact to the environment and water bodies

Today, the study of the city’s sewerage network is an important part of the life of the city and the environment. Ensuring optimal living conditions not only for oneself, but also for other participants in the environment should be a priority for a person. Today we can face various problems that complicate the operation of the city sewer network and can cause detrimental effects on the environment. To prevent this impact on the environment, you first need to understand the cause of this impact, and then look for a solution. Wastewater is a pollutant of rivers, lakes and the water system in general. Wastewater is formed in connection with human activity, the appearance of rainwater, as well as under the influence of industrial enterprises. The purpose of the article is to develop the management of wastewater flows within the city sewer network to ensure the highest quality water clarification and minimize environmental harm.

The Role of Literary Artists in Environmental Movements: Minamata Disease and Michiko Ishimure

By offering new fantasies, perspectives and representations, artists have the power to make people aware of social issues and inspire them to action. This paper describes how artists can offer a vision of environmental resistance by employing fantasy and using tools of poetic expression for communities affected by environmental destruction. This paper employs a case study methodology to examine the Minamata disease victims’ movement in Japan through the lens of environmental justice. As part of this movement, writer Michiko Ishimure created a fantasy called Mouhitotsu-no-konoyo, based in a mythical world and featuring the moral relationships that the people of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, had embraced before modernisation. I will show the importance of this fantasy for the movement, analysing it from two perspectives: those of ningenteki-dori (the human principle) and the invisible fantasy about the mythical world. Ishimure’s fantasy offers a moral message to prevent further environmental harm.