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This page is dedicated to web resources that address specific
environmental
topics. Please feel free to suggest other sites by sending e-mail to me
at
jhayesboh@bridgew.edu
.
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and OCEAN |
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The Breast Cancer Fund has become increasingly interested in the environmental causes of cancer. Its web site includes information about Rachel's Daughters, a film and action guide about the search for causes of breast cancer. It also includes a long list of articles and testimony about the links between cancer and the environment. The Silent Spring Institute also does research on women's health and the environment. Both organizations take their names from the important work of Rachel Carson in educating the public about the hazards of toxic chemicals, especially chlorinated hydrocarbons, in her 1962 book Silent Spring. Learn about this important work and its implications on the Rachel Carson page at onlineethics.org.
Fighting for a safer environment at home, in the community and at
work, the Cancer Prevention
Coalition is a unique nationwide coalition of experts in cancer
prevention and public health, together with citizen activists and
representatives of organized labor,
public interest, environmental and women's health groups. Its goal is
to
reduce escalating cancer rates through a comprehensive strategy of
outreach,
public education, advocacy and public policy initiatives to establish
prevention
as the nation's foremost cancer policy. The web site includes research
on
environmental and other preventable causes of cancer.
Besides Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, the tragedy of Love
Canal
was an important event helping society to understand the potential harm
of toxic chemicals. For several decades, the name of the place was
synonymous with "hazardous waste catastrophe." In recent years, the
name has become
far less familiar, but the story is still important. Fortunately, a few
web sites are dedicated to keeping this story in the public realm. The
most comprehensive is the Love
Canal Collection at the library of SUNY Buffalo, which also has a
special
25th anniversary page. Case Western Reserve's Online Ethics project
also provides a good
Introduction
.
My own One in a Million page illustrates how
small a concentration of a toxic chemical can be harmful.
EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs is responsible for the implementation of regulations and programs related to pesticides.
The Pesticides Action Network North America addresses the health and environmental problems of pesticides. Its site includes news about specific pesticides and activism.
Chem-tox lists research articles about health disorders resulting from exposure to surprisingly common chemicals and pesticides. Illnesses now identified include brain cancer, neuroblastoma, neurological disorders, immune system dysfunction, asthma, allergies, infertility, miscarriage, and child behavior disorders including learning disabilities, mental retardation, hyperactivity and ADD (attention deficit disorders). The information is compiled by a physician and an educator in Florida.
For authoritative but readable information about specific chemicals associated with hazardous waste sites, visit ToxFAQs™ from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To find out whether the public water supply in your area is in compliance with national standards, go to EPA's Safe Drinking Water Query Form and follow the instructions for finding a report on your municipal water supplier. If you use a private well, consider having it tested. Suburban Water Testing Labs is one national company that provides testing services. This link is not an endorsement; contact your local health department or state water-quality agency for a list of contractors in your area. Most government agencies will not recommend such companies, but many will provide a list of companies that meet minimal standards. Massachusetts residents can consult DEP's Private Drinking Water Testing page for guidance.
Part of the definition of hazardous waste, of course, is that it is waste. Government and business are increasingly in agreement that waste reduction is desirable both from a business and an environmental perspective. To this end, EPA has created the Enviro$en$e program, which includes a Small Business Waste Reduction Guide .
If you are interested in water and land issues in the Western United States , visit Jim Washburne's extensive and well-organized list of links.
Wisconsin
Non-point Source Water Pollution Abatement Program. See what
Wisconsin is doing to addresss this important
environmental problem.
Global Warming: Undo It, a project of
Environmental
Defense, is a national campaign to ramp up the fight against global
warming,
the most critical environmental issue we face. Get the facts, help undo
it,
and spread the word. Dynamics of the biosphere is an educational page from Japan that presents many of the earth's biogeochemical cycles (such as the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle, and energy flows) in one convenient location. |
The Ozone Secretariat of the United Nations Environmental Program in Nairobi, Kenya, provides information on ozone, including FAQs and the most recent information on efforts to reduce CFC emissions. |
El Niño el nino / la nina
The NPR program Talk of the Nation is one of the best talk shows on radio. It has a special episode each Friday devoted to science topics. The show builds a page of web resources related to each of the weekly topics. You can click the icon to the left and search the Science Friday site for topics the show has covered. Or you can go directly to the El Niño discussion of April 10, 1998. It contains links to graphics and several web sites devoted to the phenomenon. NEW LINK: A student in my web class recommends this authoritative link from NOAA: Frequently asked questions about El Niño and La Niña |
Paul Ehrlich and the Population Bomb is a Public Broadcasting
Service
documentary about the work that introduced the term "population
explosion."
The Population Bomb
web site displays a constantly-updated estimate of the world's
population
and covers any aspects of population growth.
Wondering how the world's population as changed in
the present? At World Population
you can actually put your birthday into it, and see how much the
population has grown in your
lifetime.
Hunger Awareness Week is a project of students at Northern Arizona University.
Food, Agriculture And Food Security: The Global Dimension is a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
The International Food Security Treaty is a campaign to encourage nations to declare that access to food is a fundamental human right. As simple and decent as this sounds, my guess is that this will be an uphill battle at best, particularly among the industrial powers.
Endangered Species UPDATE
. The internet presence of a magazine published by the School of
Natural Resources
and Environment at the University of Michigan, bringing you articles on
the
science and politics of the discipline of conservation biology.
The "footprint" of human settlement is expanding even more rapidly
than
human population in North America and other economically robust
regions.
Consumerism, perverse zoning requirements, and cultural attachments to
green
lawns and private cars are among the reasons for this problem, known as
sprawl.
See WBUR's Field
Guide to Sprawl and Maryland Ex-Governor Parris Glendening's
Institute
.