The Fermata is the new name of the electronic update featuring the latest news and accomplishments from EPA's Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC) national research program. For those unfamiliar with the term, "Fermata" (also known as a hold, pause, or grand pause) is a symbol used on musical scores indicating that a particular passage should be prolonged—a sustained note. Such small changes in time and perception can make all the difference, impacting an entire composition for the better. Impact and sustainability are the hallmarks of SHC's research, making The Fermata a perfect representation of the program.

A Note from Andrew Geller, Ph.D Acting National Program Director 

Welcome to the Fall 2016 edition of The Fermata, featuring the latest research results and other happenings from EPA’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC) national research program. As you might notice, we’ve had a change in personnel since the last issue. Michael Slimak, Ph.D., our National Program Director, has graciously agreed to fill in as the Director of the Agency’s National Center for Environmental Assessment. Until an executive search committee fills that role permanently, I have the distinct privilege of serving as the Acting National Program Director for SHC. It’s a great opportunity for me personally, and I’m thrilled to have the support of some of the most dedicated and talented researchers and other specialists working anywhere in the federal government.

As you will see from the stories included here, thanks to that support SHC has already achieved quite a bit since Dr. Slimak introduced our last Fermata.

For example, we recently released the Community-Focused Exposure Risk and Screening Tool, or C-FERST for short, a major addition to our growing “sustainability toolbox.” That toolbox provides a suite of easy-to-use, accessible, and scientifically robust online resources designed to help local communities explore environmental and related public health conditions, and take action to advance all aspects of sustainability. We are continually adding tools and resources. Just recently, SHC researchers released a beta version of the Community modeling system for near-PORT (C-PORT) tool for testing and feedback. When complete, the final version will aid communities in evaluating impacts from port activities such as increased ship, rail, and truck traffic. You can read more about it in the C-PORT Fact Sheet (pdf). 

Tools such as C-FERST, C-PORT, and EnviroAtlas, which is also featured below, are helping pave the way for long-term solutions that address environmental contamination and deterioration and promote health and well-being. Other examples of SHC’s innovative work highlighted include the “Living Shores” project off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, which is helping coastal communities become more resilient to storm surges and erosion by understanding the critical ecosystem services that wetlands and other natural areas provide.  

In research areas as diverse as exploring the chemical and physical properties of discarded crab shells and other natural products for mitigating pollution and cleaning up contaminated sites, to tapping extensive data streams from national health surveys in novel ways, SHC researchers are making a true difference improving the health and well-being of the American public.

I’m fortunate to have a front row seat to such dedication and achievement in my new role. I would like to express my thanks to them, to everyone else in SHC, and to the readers of The Fermata who have taken an active interest in that work. Together, we are striking a sustained note in the face of change. That, after all, is what The Fermata is all about.

Exploring the Links Between Outdoor Recreational Opportunities and Physical Activity 

Spending a day hiking a favorite local trail or splashing around with friends and family at a lake or beach is a welcome diversion for many. It seems intuitive that easy access to such areas can play an important role in public health—helping people from nearby communities stay active and relieve stress by interacting with nature. But such benefits have not been explored and quantified in ways that can readily inform land use planning and community development.

EPA researchers recently completed a novel study that may help change that. Using three national spatial databases, they describe “available natural resources for outdoor activities” (ANROA for short). Combining that information on a county-level across the contiguous United States with health and socioeconomic data, they then ran a series of spatial regression techniques, statistical analyses, and computer models to explore how ANROA and income levels impact “physical inactivity rates,” an indication of how often people get outside to take advantage of parks and recreational waters.

The research was conducted using EPA's EnviroAtlas, a mapping tool and suite of resources for exploring ecosystem services. See Addtional Resources below for more.

Their findings, presented in the August 2016 issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, revealed that people who have access to more green spaces generally spend less time sitting around or in other sedentary pursuits. Such findings included “…a significantly negative association between ANROA and the rate of physical inactivity.” Good opportunities for outdoor recreation had a positive effect not just for communities within a single county, but on neighboring counties, too. Looking at socioeconomic data as well showed that community groups at the same income level and with the most available natural resources for outdoor activities were consistently the most active.  

The study concludes that such findings about the importance of ANROA can inform future land use planning and community development that captures the benefits of nearby green spaces for human health and well-being. Expanding access to parks and other natural areas through mechanisms like offering free passes to those with lower incomes might also offer effective strategies for reducing socioeconomic-related health disparities.

Source
Jiang, Y., Yuan, Y., Neale, A., Jackson, L., & Mehaffey, M. (2016). Association between natural resources for outdoor activities and physical inactivity: results from the contiguous United States. International journal of environmental research and public health, 13(8), 830.

Additional Resource
EPA’s EnviroAtlas provides interactive tools and resources for exploring the benefits people receive from nature, known as “ecosystem goods and services.” Using EnviroAtlas, users can access, view, and analyze diverse information to better understand the potential impacts of various decisions. It includes guides on how to use the tool for building a greenway or conducting a Health Impact Assessment; tutorial videos, and user examples on urban tree planting; near roadway buffers for air pollution mitigation; and reducing the impacts that the application of manure-based fertilizer can have on local watersheds.

The Use of Living Shorelines 

From It All Starts with Science, EPA’s Official Science Blog

By Mary Schoell and Marnita Chintala

As we looked out over the water, sounds of laughter from distant kayakers could be heard over the soft ripples that lapped the eroded edge of salt marsh. From this view, it was easy to understand that Sengekontacket Pond—the same pond where Jaws was filmed 41 years ago—and the adjacent salt marsh habitat at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary represented the quintessential beauty of Martha’s Vineyard. However, this area is threatened by both impaired water quality and negative environmental changes, which have eroded almost ten feet of marsh in recent years.

The need for shoreline stabilization inspired a collaboration with the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, the Shellfish Departments of Oak Bluffs and Edgartown, the University of Rhode Island, and a team of us from EPA’s Atlantic Ecology Division to address the social and ecological aspects of coastal restoration.

For the ecological component we applied a natural approach to salt marsh restoration, called a living shoreline. This technique uses natural materials such as coconut fiber coir logs and oyster shell bags that cup the marsh edge. These materials are arranged to reduce wave energy to both enhance the existing marsh and facilitate the growth of new salt marsh area.  Because of concerns with nutrient loading in Sengekontacket Pond, the project has also provided us with the perfect opportunity to examine how the use of alternative technologies such as a living shoreline can aid in nitrogen removal.

Understanding changes in nitrogen, water, soil, plant, and animal health at our sites over time will provide novel information about the practicality and success of living shorelines in New England. The endeavor also incorporates a University of Rhode Island social science study about the public response to this type of restoration and how personal interests and values influence and define restoration success.

To date, we have installed two living shoreline areas. We have deployed close to 50 coir logs (12 feet long and 130 pound each) and around 600 shell-filled bags (3 feet long and 30 pound each) out onto the marsh this summer—making this surely one of the more physically demanding projects that we have gotten ourselves into here at the Atlantic Ecology Division.

Because this is a collaborative project, many stakeholders means many different values and needs. Although we designed this project as an experiment to answer specific quantitative questions about living shorelines, we quickly learned that compromise and communication are crucial for success. Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary values the preservation of nature and is committed to providing opportunities for the public to gain environmental awareness. To honor these goals, we tailored our sampling and monitoring methods to minimize the impact we have on the marsh landscape. To ensure that every piece of the project is environmentally friendly, we avoided the use of plastic shell bags and instead designed and sewed our own biodegradable bags. We have also created an informative poster so marsh visitors can learn about what we are monitoring along the shoreline and why it’s important to track these changes over time.

The project is at the interface of physical restoration, scientific research, social science, and public education. Not only will this living shoreline work help shape decision-making in the context of shoreline stabilization techniques, but it will facilitate public awareness of salt marsh erosion and the need for natural shoreline restoration.

About the Authors: Mary Schoell is a student services contractor working with EPA’s Atlantic Ecology Division. Marnita Chintala is a Branch Chief at the Atlantic Ecology Division and is a Task Lead within the Sustainable and Healthy Communities research program.

Asking Around: Tapping Self-reported Health for Community-Based Health and Environmental Studies

Survey question: Would you say your health in general is excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor?

Could simple, even single-question surveys about how people perceive their own overall health provide important clues for targeting community-level environmental and public health studies and actions? A group of EPA researchers recently explored results from the 2003–2006 and 2005– 2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys to answer just that question.

Conducted by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys “is a program of studies to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. The survey is unique in that it combines interviews and physical examinations,” according to CDC’s website.

That combination of surveys and physical exams allowed EPA researchers to use the CDC program to investigate connections between people’s responses (“self-reported health,” or SRH for short) with race/ethnicity, and a broad range of health risk indicators thought to be important factors in the development of diseases and other health impacts, including blood levels of heavy metals and other environmental contaminants. In all, they extracted data across six areas: sociodemographic, health care, current health status (such as disease and overall health condition), lifestyle factors, serological clinical and nutritional indicators, and blood biomarkers of environmental exposures to metals and volatile organic compounds.

A series of statistical analyses revealed telling correlations between the responses offered through self-reported health and measures of nutrition, health condition, environmental contaminants, and sociodemographic, health care, and lifestyle factors. Results were recently published in the journal BMC Public Health.

As public health officials are always on the lookout for accessible, low-cost ways to monitor for signs of potential trouble and to identify vulnerable communities, the findings are promising.  “Based on the many significant associations between SRH and serological assessments of health risk, sociodemographic measures, health care access and utilization, and lifestyle factors, SRH appears to be a useful health indicator with potential relevance for screening level community-based health and environmental studies,” the study concludes.

Source

Gallagher, J. E., Wilkie, A. A., Cordner, A., Hudgens, E. E., Ghio, A. J., Birch, R. J., & Wade, T. J. (2016). Factors associated with self-reported health: implications for screening level community-based health and environmental studies. BMC Public Health, 16(1), 640.

Additional Resources

EPA Health Research

EPA Environmental Justice and Health Research

C-FERST: A New Tool to Help Communities Navigate Toward a Healthier, More Sustainable Future 

From It All Starts with Science, EPA’s Official Science Blog

By Aaron Ferster

The proliferation of smartphones and mapping applications has made navigation a lot easier than it used to be. Getting from point A to point B usually requires little more than plugging in a distant address and then following a calm, generic voice as it calls out turn-by-turn directions. You can adjust your route, call up pit stops for food or gas en route, or even find alternative destinations on the fly. 

My colleagues here at EPA are working to bring that kind of convenience and ease of use to environmental decision making and protecting public health. I’m thrilled to share that they recently reached a major milestone in that direction with the release of the Community-Focused Exposure Risk and Screening Tool, or C-FERST for short (we pronounce it “see-first”).

C-FERST is an online mapping tool that provides access to resources for helping communities and decision makers learn more about their local environmental issues, compare conditions in their community with their county and state averages, and explore exposure and risk reduction options. Local maps are a key component, helping users gain both a lay of the land and a perspective for plotting out how environmental conditions and sources of pollution might change from one neighborhood to the next. In addition, the rich tool includes reports, fact sheets, links to other environmental and public health tools, citizen science resources, information about other community projects, and structured guides to help communities plan their projects to assess public and environmental health conditions. There’s even a digital community forum where you can ask other users for help or participate in discussions.

C-FERST is intended to serve the needs of a broad range of users, including the general public, academic and nonprofit institutions, environmental and public health professionals, state and local risk assessors, and EPA staff, including environmental justice coordinators, and regional science liaisons.

Together, people can share a computer to assess local conditions, and plot mutually beneficial actions to reduce risks and advance a healthier, more sustainable future for their entire community.

If you have a computer and an internet connection, you can give C-FERST a try; no special software is required (although a high-speed internet connection and some familiarity with geographic information system mapping software is helpful).

Check out C-FERST at: www.epa.gov/c-ferst.

Investing in Our Children’s Future 

From It All Starts with Science, EPA’s Official Science Blog

By Jim Johnson 

One of the greatest threats to children today comes from the environment. Exposure to pesticides, pollution, and heavy metals while in the womb or during early periods of development can cause serious and lifelong health concerns. To protect children from environmental threats and help them live healthier lives, EPA and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) created the Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers (Children’s Centers). Teams of multidisciplinary experts at Children’s Centers across the country are looking at how children’s health is impacted by environmental and chemical exposures, epigenetics, non-chemical stressors and other factors with a focus on translating this research into practical information for public use.

This year, EPA and NIEHS are awarding five new Children’s Center grants. Research supported under these awards includes the interplay of air pollution, particulate matter and obesity on asthma among inner city children; prenatal and early childhood pollutant exposure and adverse birth outcomes; air pollution, polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and adolescent cognitive, emotional, behavioral health outcomes; cumulative environmental exposures and increased risk for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia; and the effects of environmental contaminants on the microbiome and neurodevelopment.  Each of the newly funded Children’s Centers is receiving between 1.25-1.5 million dollars per year for up to four years.

There are many obstacles to protecting children’s environmental health. Understanding the complexity of these challenges is just one way that EPA and its partners are reducing harmful environmental exposure and making the world a safer place for children and our communities.

About the Author: Dr. James H. Johnson Jr. is the Director of EPA’s National Center for Environmental Research.

Waste Not: Turning Waste Streams into Resources for Removing Contaminants from Water 

EPA researchers and collaborators are leading studies to help turn a waste stream from the seafood industry into a resource for mitigating the detrimental impacts of mining on water resources. The resource? Crab shells.

The work is part of larger EPA research efforts to develop innovative, sustainable solutions for cleaning up contaminated sites and advancing the management of waste. One promising area they are exploring is the use of “biosorbents,” materials grown by plants, animals, or other living organisms that naturally reduce acidity and bind with harmful contaminants.

Biosorbents are used both as acid neutralization material and as substrate in biological reactors that remove heavy metals and neutralize acidic conditions in water, concerns associated with the formation of “mining influenced water” (MIW). The conditions left by hardrock mining activities can lead to the formation of MIW for decades, and because that kind of mining has traditionally been carried out in remote, mountain settings remediation activities can be a challenge.

That’s where the promise of crab shells come in. They are composed of three main constituents: chitin (a chemical polymer known to chemists as N-acetyl-D-glucosamine), protein, and calcium carbonate. Chitin is ubiquitous throughout the natural world wherever a hard, protective covering is found, from rhino horns to our own fingernails. It’s abundant in shellfish, making it a common waste product piling up at any industrial shellfish facility.

The structural and chemical properties that make shells strong when an organism is alive persist long after it has died. Calcium carbonate from shells easily dissolves in water, counteracting the acidifying conditions of mine waste. This neutralization, in turn, prompts the precipitation of certain metals. Others become trapped in filter-like chitin fibers, or chemically bind with components of the protein, effectively removing them from the water. Recalcitrant metals, which are harder to remove, can also be addressed by adding a biological process to the mix. Under anaerobic conditions (absence of oxygen), adding sulfate reducing bacteria can help to remove these recalcitrant metals by reducing sulfate to sulfide, which takes up a metal ion and precipitates. 

The particular characteristics of crab shells also make them attractive for using as substrates in biological reactors for passive clean up operations. In these, crews can use them to fill biological reactors at abandoned mines sites and let the chemical and biological processes occur over time, with little need for frequent and costly repeat visits.

EPA researchers and collaborators conducted one of the first studies using actual samples of mine influenced water to evaluate the effectiveness of commercially available, crab-derived products as biosorbents and as a substrate for bioreactors. What they found is that the materials effectively neutralize strong acidity, as well as remove iron, copper, lead, zinc, cadmium, and manganese.

The studies concluded, “crab-shell products can be an important alternative for MIW remediation.”

Source

Pinto, P. X., Al-Abed, S. R., & Reisman, D. J. (2011). Biosorption of heavy metals from mining influenced water onto chitin products. Chemical Engineering Journal, 166(3), 1002-1009.

Al-Abed, S., Pinto, P., Holder, C., Lomnicki, S., & McKernan, J. (2015). Metal Removal Mechanisms Using Passive Treatments in Mining-Impacted Water. Paper presented at the 250th ACS National Meeting and Exposition Boston, MA.

Additional Resources

EPA Land and Waste Management Research

EPA Research on the Management of Contaminated Sites

Helping the Army Target Net Zero 

One hundred percent renewable energy, zero depletion of water resources, and no waste contributed to landfills. Those are the goals of an ambitious program by the U.S. Army called Net Zero. EPA’s Office of Research and Development joined forces with the Army in November 2011 to provide the innovative research and technologies the Army needs to reach those goals.

The immediate aim of Net Zero is to manage resources on Army installations in ways that match consumption with conservation: produce as much energy as is used, conserve and recycle freshwater, and eliminate the need to send waste to local landfills. Because many military bases resemble small cities, they offer ideal proving grounds for testing and advancing the real-world sustainability practices required to get there. Pilot studies are currently underway at 17 locations working toward one or more aspects of Net Zero by 2020.

Recently, EPA researchers published a study based on Net Zero activities at the Fort Carson Military base in Colorado, one of only two sites where the Army is looking to achieve net zero in energy, water, and waste. The study addressed the question of the benefits of taking a more systematic approach: “Do resource opportunities or efficiencies appear when energy, water, and waste are integrated?”

To answer that question, the researchers reviewed insights from both military and civilian urban sustainability projects, and then applied system dynamics models to simulate the “urban metabolism”—the flow of energy and materials—through Fort Carson. “In eight modeled scenarios, we investigated trade-offs and additional gains that appear when energy, water, and waste sectors are considered separately or together.”

What they learned illustrates important sustainability lessons for both military bases and civilian urban areas alike. First, the study suggests that an integrated, systems-oriented approach can potentially yield significant benefits over single actions for reducing energy use, conserving water resources, or reducing waste. One example: turning waste into energy instead of sending it to the landfill. Such a management system had the potential for reducing landfill-bound waste by 85% while meeting some 40% of Fort Carson’s energy demands.

Source

Procter, A. C., Kaplan, P. Ö., & Araujo, R. (2015). Net Zero Fort Carson: Integrating Energy, Water, and Waste Strategies to Lower the Environmental Impact of a Military Base. Journal of Industrial Ecology.

Additional Resources

Promoting Sustainability through Net Zero Strategies

EPA Tools and Resources to Help You Achieve Net Zero

Read more about Net Zero

Resources and Opportunities for Sustainability and Healthy Communities Research

Recent Sustainability Research Grants:

These sustainability research grants are currently open or have been awarded within the past five years.

• Performance and Effectiveness of Green Infrastructure Stormwater Management Approaches in the Urban Context: A Philadelphia Case Study
• Sustainable Chesapeake: A Community-Based Approach to Stormwater Management Using Green Infrastructure
• Sustainable Chesapeake: a Collaborative Approach to Urban Stormwater Management

Sustainability research grants are also awarded through the People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) program. P3 is a unique college competition for designing solutions for a sustainable future. Learn more about the P3 program.

For a complete listing of EPA Sustainability Research Grants: Sustainability Research Projects

Recent Funding Opportunities:

These funding opportunities are closed for applications. Award recipients have not been announced.

• National Center for Sustainable Water Infrastructure Modeling Research
• 13th Annual P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet

Stay Current on Research Funding Opportunities & Events

Sign up for EPA’s National Center for Environmental Research listserv to receive announcements on new funding opportunities, upcoming research meetings and webinars, and special announcements. Research Grants Listserv