Environmental & Public Health

New research shows that the extreme weather and fires of recent years, similar to the flooding that has struck Louisiana and the Midwest, may be making Americans sick in ways researchers are only beginning to understand. By knocking chemicals loose from soil, homes, industrial-waste sites or other sources, and spreading them into the air, water and ground, disasters like these — often intensified by climate change — appear to be exposing people to an array of physical ailments including respiratory disease and cancer. ...

By providing a feminist history of the National School Lunch Program, Fellow Jennifer Gaddis recasts the humble school lunch as an important and often overlooked form of public care. Through vivid narration and moral heft, her new book, The Labor of Lunch, offers a stirring call to action and a blueprint for school lunch reforms capable of delivering a healthier, more equitable, caring, and sustainable future.

Editor's note: Fellow Lauren Howe recently won the USAID Agrilinks Young Scholars Food Security Blog Contest with the following post about her work in Ethiopia with sweet potato leaves, which first appeared on the Agrilinks website.

The Organic Center recognized environmental health scientist Dr. Asa Bradman with its Award of Excellence at the organization’s annual benefit dinner March 6 in Anaheim, California.

Fellow Martha Matsuoka co-authored the chapter "Working Together to Clean Up Freight Transportation" in the new report from the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, Strategies for Health Justice: Lessons from the Field.

Fellow Kimberley Miner has published a new article in Nature. A screening-level approach to quantifying risk from glacial release of organochlorine pollutants in the Alaskan Arctic Abstract

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is investing over $25 million in 26 projects to advance the cognitive and physical capabilities of workers in the context of human-technology interactions. These new awards will address critical social, technical, educational and economic needs in the workplace. The awards were issued under the Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (FW-HTF), one of 10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments announced by NSF in 2016.

A new technology in which insects are used to genetically modify crops could be converted into a dangerous, and possibly illegal, bioweapon, alleges a Science Policy Forum report released today. Naturally, the organization leading the research says it’s doing nothing of the sort.

Fellow Karen Merritt was just awarded a Rebel Blend Fund Grant for a public health/street art project for Portland, ME for next year.