IES Gets Ready to Launch the Blue Crew Water Stewards Program

Thanks to support from New Belgium Brewing Company (Fort Collins, CO), IES is laying the framework for establishing a new community water quality initiative: The Blue Crew Water Stewards Program. The purpose of the program is to reduce our chemical footprint through the many successful strategies IES has developed.This project will employ community-based socialmarketing (CBSM) to encouragemore sustainable behavior and reduce unregulated trace contaminant water pollution from individuals and households. IES will train willing citizens to become Blue Crew Water Steward neighborhood leaders, who will learn effective ways to identify negative habits, set goals, and encourage behavior change within their communities.  The exciting part about the Blue Crew is that the trainees become the teachers.  IES associates are currently developing a comprehensive plan including a trainers’ manual for this groundbreaking community project.  More information: Zoe Keve, zoe.keve@i4es.org.

IES Community Carbon Credit Workshop Generates New Ideas

On October 27, IES and environmental professionals from across Colorado gathered for the second Guidelines for Community Forestry Carbon Credits workshop in Denver.  The workshop focused on generating practical ideas for funding and implementing projects that achieve integrated environmental benefits through strategic tree planting and documented carbon sequestration.Participants examined innovative projects in Colorado and other states to develop a framework for generating grassroots and local business support for community forestry offset projects.  Experts from Broomfield, Westminster, and Vail provided case studies from their communities.  Community forestry offset projects enable communities to tackle multiple important environmental challenges, such as polluted stormwater runoff and ozone air pollution, while helping to meet carbon reduction goals.  For more information on the workshops or IES’s Colorado Urban Forestry Climate Coalition initiative, please contact Ryan Moore, ryan@i4es.org.

Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CEC) State-of-the-Art Water Analyses

IES is partnering with the City of Golden, the U.S. EPA Region 8 Laboratory, and Dr. Thomas Borch of Colorado State University (CSU) to complete state-of-the-art chemical analysis of wastewater and drinking water samples. Over the past two years, the CEC project team has been working with City of Golden chemists to collect dozens of raw wastewater effluent samples and several treated drinking water samples, many of which have been processed and prepared for analysis at CSU.  Analyses of the wastewater and drinking water samples are now underway using advanced Liquid Chromatography / Mass Spectroscopy and Gas Chromatography techniques at the EPA lab.  EPA will provide analytical results down to concentrations as low as 10 parts per trillion for over one hundred CECs.  IES will evaluate the community contribution to wastewater of our target pollutants, including parabens, triclosan, nonylphenol, BHA, BPA, benzophenone, atrazine, DEET, and caffeine.  This is the first time scientists have looked at potential community contributions of contaminants from packaged food, personal care and household products.  IES expects to publish the results of the analyses in the next few months.  More information:  Carol Lyons, Carol@i4es.org.

NCAR Study Confirms Trees’ Role in Fighting Ozone Air Pollution

A recent study from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, CO found that trees’ impact on the removal of ozone-causing chemicals from the air is significantly greater than previously thought.  Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), precursors to ozone air pollution, are absorbed by leaves.  The NCAR study showed that the rate of absorption is higher than generally assumed and that trees’ uptake of VOCs increases when they are stressed, such as when ozone levels are high.  This suggests trees can provide negative feedback to ozone air pollution – the more polluted the air, the more VOCs are removed.  Trees also emit VOCs and their net impact on ozone formation varies by species.  Planting more trees that have a positive impact on ozone and less that have a negative effect may help reduce ozone air pollution.  However, there are complex environmental tradeoffs associated with trees.  For example, many oak tree species emit relatively high quantities of VOCs, which may lead to increased ozone air pollution. But some oaks, like the bur oak, are among the hardiest and most efficient water-users of any variety planted in this region.  For information on the environmental impacts of trees, visit www.i4es.org or contact IES at solutions@i4es.org.

Contaminants of Emerging Concern Continue to Pose Health Threats

Recent scientific reports confirm concerns about the human health impacts of trace pollutants found in household products, personal care products, and food.  Researchers at the University of Texas School of Public Health recently reported that bisphenol A (BPA), which is used to line metal cans and plastic containers such as baby and water bottles, was found in a majority of fresh and packaged food samples.  According to the Texas study, BPA is associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and sexual dysfunction in males (Environmental Science & Technology 11-1-10). October’s Scientific American revealed research showing that more than 90 percent of pregnant women had detectable levels of BPA.  The study showed that pregnant women who eat canned vegetables daily, were exposed to tobacco, or worked as cashiers had elevated levels of BPA in their bodies (www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=recipe-for-high-bpa-exposure).  Another recent study from the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment reported that chemicals found in household drugs and cleaning products, most notably BPA, can survive waste treatment and are routinely released into the environment. Little is known about the effects of these chemicals on land, water and human health (CCME Project # 447-2009).  IES’s CEC project team is striving to find non-toxic, contaminant-free, and cost-effective alternatives to all food, personal care, and household products.  A copy of IES’s Guide to Contaminant-Free Shopping is available at www.i4es.org.

Colorado Gives Day - December 8

The Institute for Environmental Solutions is participating in Colorado Gives Day, a new initiative to increase philanthropy in Colorado through online giving.  For 24 hours beginning at 12:01 a.m. December 8, every dollar donated to IES online through GivingFirst.org will be boosted by the Colorado Gives Day Incentive Fund, a special fund created to stimulate charitable giving for Colorado non-profits.  By giving to IES with a credit card on Colorado Gives Day, you can increase your impact on environmental improvement! Please mark your calendar to go to www.GivingFirst.org/i4es on December 8, and click the DONATE NOW button.  All credit card fees are paid by the Community First Foundation, so 100% of every contribution, plus the Incentive Fund, goes to IES.  More information:  Jack Hoopes, Jack@i4es.org.

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