Read the full story from NPR.
After three years of confusion and chaos, Flint, Mich., residents may go back to the water source they used before lead contamination showed up in their drinking water.
In a press conference today, Mayor Karen Weaver recommended the city get its water from Detroit’s system long-term. Flint was using Detroit water before switching in April 2014 to water from the Flint River as a cost-saving measure.
Read the full post from ResearchBuzz.
I know a lot of folks avoid Twitter because it be kind of a mess / useless timesink / brain drain / dumpster fire. And sometimes it can. But it also can lead you to a lot of interesting people, like Spencer Greenhalgh. Spencer is a PhD candidate at Michigan State University who came to my attention in December 2015 because of his work with R and Twitter. And we’ve had some conversations and he’s pointed me toward some great resources.
And he also gave me a terrific question recently – a question about Google Scholar.
Spencer was having trouble searching Google Scholar ( https://scholar.google.com/ ) for his topic of choice – Twitter and graduate students / programs.
I love a good search question. So I jumped into Google Scholar and started messing around, and wasn’t having much luck. Then I thought, “Wonder if Google’s full-word wildcard works in Google Scholar?” Surprise! It does.
Read the full post at Inside Science Resources.
During the recent change in federal government, researchers and librarians were concerned about loss of access to federal data, particularly in the area of environmental science where the new administration’s policies appeared to contradict scientific consensus. Early indications suggested that federal datasets and scientific information would be removed from the web entirely, or at least restricted in access.
In response to these concerns, a number academic institutions and other organizations began to organize data preservation efforts to ensure continued public access to endangered datasets. While websites of specific federal agencies continue to serve as the primary repositories of public data, this post focuses on a few public websites that aggregate and preserve federal datasets and provides a brief description of each.
The public comment periods for two proposed rules, one on trichloroethylene (TCE) in vapor degreasing and one on methylene chloride and N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) in paint and coating removal, will be extended in response to stakeholder requests for more time to comment on the proposals. Comments must be received through regulations.gov in dockets EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0387 or EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0231 on or before May 19, 2017.
EPA proposed these two rules in January 2017, under section 6 of the Toxic Substances Control Act, as amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act.
Read the full story in the Huffington Post.
Many colleges and universities are working to transition toward sustainability in their academic programs, operations and engagement with communities. A major emphasis of their efforts has been reducing the environmental harms associated with campus operations. Typical initiatives include reducing emissions of climate changing greenhouse gases; reducing consumption of energy, water and other resources; building ‘green’ buildings; purchasing ecologically and socially preferable food and other products; and reducing waste generation and disposal in landfills.
While many of these initiatives can and do reduce nitrogen pollution, this has not been a significant or deliberate focus of college and university sustainability programs. That may be changing.
Received via e-mail. Please let them know what you think about rolling back environmental regulations.
On February 24, 2017, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13777 on Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda. The order establishes the policy of the United States to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens placed on the American people. Among other things, it requires each agency to create a Regulatory Reform Task Force to evaluate existing regulations and to identify regulations that could be repealed, replaced or modified to make them less burdensome.
As part of implementing the order, EPA is soliciting public comments and engaging in additional outreach to identify such regulations. We will be accepting comments through May 15, 2017 at docket EPA-HQ-OA-2017-0190. Go to https://www.epa.gov/laws- regulations/regulatory-reform to learn more about this effort.
In addition, EPA’s Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM), will host a public meeting to obtain additional stakeholder feedback on Tuesday, May 9, 2017, from 9:00am to 5:00pm EDT in Arlington, Virginia. The intent of the meeting is to provide an opportunity for interested parties to present recommendations specific to OLEM’s regulations. Please see https://www.epa.gov/rcra/ office-land-and-emergency- management-seeking-feedback- reducing-regulatory-burden on how you can submit comments and participate in or listen to the OLEM public meeting. For more information on OLEM programs, please see https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/ about-office-land-and- emergency-management.
Tools of Change is soliciting nominations for its 2017 Landmark behavior change case studies in two topic areas – (1) energy conservation and (2) sustainable transportation. If you know of anyone working on a particularly effective or innovative approach for changing energy or transportation behaviours, please consider nominating them – or yourself. All nominations must include measured impact results.
Designation as a “Landmark” (best practice) case study through this peer selection process recognizes behavior change programs and approaches considered to be among the most successful, innovative, replicable and adaptable in the world. Designated programs gain exposure and credibility, and we prepare and post detailed on-line program case study materials, which may help them attract customers and investors, and maintain or increase program funding.
Nominations are screened by Tools of Change staff and then the most promising are rated by peer selection panels based on a standard scoring grid. Designated programs are highlighted in our webinars and written case studies, and in the accompanying webinar transcripts and video recordings. Program organizers get a Landmark designation logo for use on websites and in electronic newsletters, providing click-through access to the program’s case study materials.
The nomination form, which can be downloaded from www.toolsofchange.com/en/landmark/, must be submitted by June 5, 2017. Designations will be announced by October 2017, and case study webinars will be presented between January and June 2018.
To view Landmark case studies designated in past years, go to www.toolsofchange.com/en/landmark/.
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