Report on the Environment: an EPA site

I recently had the opportunity to review a new website put out by the EPA highlighting one of their newest reports: the 2008 Report on the Environment (ROE). Divided into common topics of interest covering most major environmental issues, the website includes information about the findings of their research, graphs and charts on trends over the years, and the methodology used and corresponding limitations found in their studies. It’s a great place to go for specific information and statistics regarding many hot topic environmental issues.

I believe they are still working on fine-tuning the website, but it's up and fully functional. While information is laid out clearly, the nature of the information and the sheer volume of text does not allow for a concise, easy read. Nevertheless, you can find detailed information that would be great for reference use in reports, summaries, and updates.

I wanted to share three of the questions the site administrators asked of me in my site review, along with my responses. If you get some free time, dig around and you'll be surprised at what you might find!

• Imagine you are particularly interested in the condition of coastal waters in the United States. Please describe the type of information available in the ROE about this topic. The importance of coastal waters as a natural resource; how the state of our coastal waters is assessed; factors that affect this extent and condition; a brief discussion of what the existing indicators from this field of study might have missed.
• Imagine you are particularly interested in the topic of birth defects. What does the ROE say about birth defects among infants in the United States? Birth defects are the number one cause of infant mortality in the US, but in 70% of the cases the cause is unknown. Genetic, chromosomal, bacterial, viral, and chemical exposures and specific choices (drinking, drugs, smoking, etc.) of the expecting mother can cause birth defects to a developing fetus. From 1999 through 2005, the overall rate per 100,000 live births with specific birth defects in the US decreased slightly, from 1,170.2 to 1,085.1. In this time period, the most common types of birth defects were musculoskeletal, respiratory, or heart-related. Despite all the data collected since 1933, there are some major limitations and gaps with the recording of birth defects in the US.
• Please explore the Web site to search for other information of interest to you. I looked up information on Pesticide Residues in Foods, and really found the information helpful. I went from there to look at the Fertilizer Applied for Agricultural Purposes, Reported Pesticide Incidents, and the other section on toxics. Since I not only work for the NC Conservation Network but also serve on the Board of Directors of another nonprofit environmental group working specifically on reducing pesticide use (Toxic Free NC), I will plan to share the information from this section to provide some recent statistics on our field of work.