Campus Sustainability Programs

[Note: I’m posting this blog in honor of the annual meeting of the Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, which is about to start here in Washington DC.] Campus sustainability programs are not just successful applications of sustainability models on a small scale. They can also serve as important demonstration projects and teaching opportunities. In…

A Health Risk Assessment Agenda for Green Chemistry

Spurred on by innovations in organic chemistry and chemical engineering and seeking compliance with the regulation for Registration, Evaluation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) of the European Union and the Precautionary Principle, chemical producers are adapting their processes to conform to the practices of “green chemistry” (also known as “sustainable chemistry”). The US EPA, which…

Clarifying Cancer Risk and Causation

 In my long academic and professional career, I have often found myself arguing on the other side of the table from practicing oncologists who are serving as expert witnesses, members of task forces on prevention, consultants, or on panels and round tables. In my opinion, it is important to understand that oncologists are essential professionals…

Flygskam: A Traveler’s Dilemma

Flygskam (“flying shame” in Swedish) is the new trend, popularized by Greta Thunberg but a long time coming, of feeling guilt or shaming others for taking airplanes to get to where one needs to go. Aviation accounted for an estimated 2% of carbon dioxide emissions in 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/04/stayontheground-swedes-turn-to-trains-amid-climate-flight-shame It is a real issue, it is…