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Where can we find information about pollution in our air, water, and land? Unfortunately, lack of information is the rule – islands of knowledge and seas of ignorance. We lack basic information on the health hazards of most chemicals, the fate of most pollutants, and the sources of most environmentally caused illnesses.
Nonetheless, certain information does exist. Below are selected information resources on pollution where we live, work, and play.
All Environmental Topics
Air
Water
Food
Our Bodies
Industrial Toxics
Environmental Compliance
All Environmental Topics
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SCORECARD - www.scorecard.org
Source: Environmental Defense
Purpose: To help people identify and take action on pollution problems in our communities.
Features: Scorecard provides interactive maps, locators, rankings, and links for pollution of air, water, and land.
Limitations: Scorecard’s broad scope by necessity links diverse information resources, requiring many layers of information. Scorecard is limited to available electronic data on pollution sources and consequences.
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ENVIROFACTS - www.epa.gov/enviro
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
Purpose: To provide one point of access to major EPA environmental databases.
Features: Learn about the major regulated facilities and sites in your community that effect the environment.
Limitations: Envirofacts does not cover unregulated facilities, environmental health impacts, or facility compliance.
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RTKNET - www.rtknet.org
Source:OMB Watch and Center for Public Data Access
Purpose: To empower citizen involvement in community and government decision-making.
Features: Find free access to databases and resources on the environment, housing, and sustainable development.
Limitations: Underlying government databases lack complete information on environmental and health hazards.
Air
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AIR NOW - www.epa.gov/airnow
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
Purpose: To present a variety of air quality information and resources.
Features: Find your region’s air quality forecast, real-time data, pollution maps, and more.
Limitations: Air quality forecasts cover large areas rather than communities. The site does not address the politics of pollution (see non-governmental web sites for that).
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NATIONAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST DIRTY POWER - www.cta.policy.net/regional/
Source: Clear the Air
Purpose: To educate people and help clean up dirty power plants.
Features: Locate dirty power plants near you, general health effects information, and what you can do for cleaner power.
Limitations: Information is focused on power plants; searches take several clicks.
Water
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SURF YOUR WATERSHED - www.epa.gov/surf
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
Purpose: To encourage stewardship of the nation's water resources.
Features: Learn about the watershed you live in and find a local citizen's organization working to protect the watershed.
Limitations: Finding answers can require searching many unaffiliated websites; EPA lacks standardized information on water quality and pollution sources for all watersheds.
Food
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FOODNEWS.ORG - www.foodnews.org
Source: Environmental Working Group
Purpose: To educate consumers, government, and industry about pesticides on common foods and the potential health hazards of those pesticides.
Features: Pick a random grocery sample that reflects the real life chances of getting pesticides on organic and non-organically grown foods, derived from extensive government tests.
Limitations: Government testing should provide more pesticide samples for more types of foods.
Our Bodies
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BODYBURDEN.ORG – www.bodyburden.org
Source: Environmental Working Group
Purpose: To educate people about industrial chemicals in our bodies and raise important questions about why they are there.
Features: Learn how new tests are finding industrial chemicals in the bodies of sample volunteers – and therefore in all of us.
Limitations: Testing covered only certain chemicals; further testing would find more pollutants.
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SKIN DEEP - www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep
Source: Environmental Working Group
Purpose: To encourage companies to formulate safer personal care product by educating the public and advocating for government and industry safety testing.
Features: Review personal care product hazards by product, by ingredient, or by product category.
Limitations: Since many ingredients in cosmetics are not fully tested, the site is limited in providing difinitive health information.
Industrial Toxics
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TRI EXPLORER - www.epa.gov/triexplorer
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
Purpose: To provide a search tool for the Toxics Release Inventory, a facility-specific database of industrial toxic releases to air, land, and water.
Features: Find well-organized information on industrial toxic waste and pollution by area, chemical, industry, and specific facility.
Limitations: TRI excludes small firms, many chemicals, and some industries, and lacks accounting for chemicals in products; TRI Explorer also lacks company-wide search capability that could be easily included.
Environmental Compliance
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ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE HISTORY ONLINE (ECHO) - www.epa.gov/echo
Source: Environmental Protection Agency
Purpose: To compile for ready public access environmental compliance and enforcement information.
Features: Find inspection, violation, enforcement, and penalty information on over 800,000 facilities that have environmental permits.
Limitations: Compliance history information starts in the year 2000; user friendliness is not yet fully developed.
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