March 2020 Newsletter: Challenging Times — Wishing You the Best

Hello!

The Green Science Policy Institute and I send our best wishes and positive thoughts to everyone as our lives are being impacted by the global coronavirus pandemic. We hope you are staying well and finding a way to appreciate the final days of winter. I’m working from home and enjoying walks with my friends and colleagues at a suitable distance.

If you haven’t yet seen them, consider spending half an hour watching our seven short informative videos on reducing harm from Six Classes of harmful chemicals at www.SixClasses.org.

My winter has been energizing and productive, from skiing the powdery slopes of Mount Spokane to educating legislators on Capitol Hill on how to decrease the use of PFAS chemicals. We are so gratified that many of our long-time suggestions were included in the 2020 military budget. This included stopping the military use of PFAS firefighting foam and requiring military rations to have PFAS-free packaging. You can choose to buy PFAS-free products as listed here.

Arlene & friends at Dark Waters in Jackson Hole. Click to see the trailer

A highlight of this winter was my ski trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where I hosted four free screenings of the legal thriller Dark Waters. This compelling film, starring Mark Ruffalo, tells the true story of a tenacious attorney (my friend and colleague Rob Bilott) who uncovered a decades-long cover-up on the health harms of PFAS. The attendees of the screenings were so very enthusiastic–it’s clear this movie deserved award nominations. Mike Hoover, my host in Jackson Hole, thought it was the best film of the year. (Mike was the cinematographer for our 1976 Everest climb, the Eiger Sanction, and winner of an Academy Award and 8 Emmys.) Dark Waters is now available for rental through most cable and streaming providers.

In February we held our Flame Retardant & PFAS Dilemma Symposium at UC Berkeley. At this year’s event, more than 130 participants from academia, government, industry, NGOs, and the general public learned from experts about the science and policy of chemical classes of concern. The PowerPoint slide presentations on reducing harm from toxic chemicals are available on this page.

Finally, our Institute wants to hire a Science and Policy Associate or Fellow and an Operations Manager to facilitate our work for reduced toxics in a healthier world. You can learn more on our jobs page.

Please read on for some memorable pieces including a couple excerpted from our Institute’s recent monthly newsletters. Do let me know if you might want to hear from our Institute each month in addition to receiving this quarterly e-newsletter.

With best wishes for your health and happiness,
Arlene

Frozen in Time: CNN Features Pamirs Expedition 

Click my 1974 photo above for the CNN Pamirs article

In January CNN ran a dramatic story about our historic 1974 Pamirs expedition. I was one of 170 climbers who came from around the world to attempt the 23,400 foot high Peak Lenin in Soviet Central Asia. Tragically, a team of eight Russian women climbers perished in a horrific storm just below the summit. I was turned back by the same blizzard high on the mountain and just managed to get down safely.

Raptors are the Solution While you may view rats as pests, beloved pet cats and dogs, birds of prey, foxes and other wildlife in your neighborhood see them as delectable treats. That’s why rat poison can be dangerous and counterproductive. Once a rat eats rodenticide, the poison becomes a lethal part of the local food chain. The poisoned rat poses a grave threat to wildlife and delicate ecosystems, pets, and even children. In other words, rat poison isn’t just rat poison. And due to lax regulation and loopholes, some of the worst of the worst anticoagulant rodenticides continue to be used. Rat poison leads to terrible inadvertent consequences–it kills the very predators that keep the rodent population in check.  A much better and more humane solution is to protect raptors–owls, hawks, eagles, and other birds and predators that feast on rats. That’s the goal of Raptors Are the Solution (RATS), a project of Earth Island Institute. RATS was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2011 after Cooper’s hawks began falling dead on the streets from eating poisoned rats. They are doing important work educating people about the beneficial role of birds of prey and about the danger they face from the widespread use of rat poison. I have just agreed to join their scientific advisory board. Thriving raptor populations will control rat populations and help keep our ecosystems, pets, and children safe. According to RATS, better measures against rats include: Don’t let bird seed or pet food collect in your yard, garage, or home Pick up trash on your street Close openings in your home Remove ivy You can learn more about this organization and supporting these magnificent birds here. I buy their gorgeous calendar every year and suggest you consider doing the same.

New Flame Retardants, Old Problems Click above to read our study After years of research and advocacy, dangerous flame retardants known as PBDEs have been phased out of most furniture foam, electronics, and children’s products. Unfortunately, our new study found that PBDEs are being replaced with equally toxic flame retardants in many electronic products and children’s car seats. These replacement chemicals – organophosphate flame retardants – are associated with lower IQ in children, reproductive problems, and other serious health harms. Most concerning of all, organophosphate flame retardants have been found in nearly every person studied. And flame retardant chemicals aren’t necessary, or even effective, for reducing fire hazard in many products. These chemicals are added to meet flammability regulations. But research show they often delay ignition only a few seconds, and make fires smokier and more difficult to escape. Instead of replacing organophosphate flame retardants with yet another potentially toxic chemical, manufacturers should stop using flame retardants altogether. It’s time to stop playing whack-a-mole and increase fire safety in furniture, electronics and children’s products with creative designs and inherently fire-resistant materials.

Our Institute Petitions EPA to Regulate PFAS as Hazardous Wastes Click above to read about our petition What can be done to help communities whose drinking water has long been contaminated by PFAS? And how do we prevent more communities from falling victim to this problem? Along with our partners at the UC Berkeley Environmental Law Clinic and community groups from Alaska to North Carolina, we petitioned the U.S. EPA for a policy solution to both problems. Our petition demands the agency list hundreds of PFAS as hazardous wastes under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). RCRA is the statute that governs the management of hazardous wastes to minimize pollution. Designating these chemicals as RCRA hazardous wastes would make them subject to strict storage, transfer, and disposal requirements ‘from cradle to grave’- thus preventing more contamination. RCRA listing would also automatically designate these chemicals as hazardous substances under the federal Superfund law, unlocking clean-up dollars to address already-contaminated sites. Our co-petitioners are five PFAS-contaminated communities: Alaska Community Action on Toxics, Buxmont Coalition for Safer Water in Pennsylvania, Clean Cape Fear in North Carolina, Fountain Valley Clean Water Coalition in Colorado, and Michigan PFAS Alliance. The UC Berkeley Environmental Law Clinic worked with us to develop and submit the petition. “RCRA listing is a two-fer,” says law clinic Director Claudia Polsky. “It will ensure safer management of PFAS wastes, and will make it easier to hold polluters accountable for cleaning up PFAS-polluted sites.” “We teach our children at an early age: if you make a mess, clean it up,” said Hope Grosse and Joanne Stanton, co-founders of the Buxmont Coalition for Safer Water in Pennsylvania. “The same goes for polluters, even the military. By listing PFAS as hazardous wastes under RCRA, this petition will make polluters accountable for cleaning up.” Read a news article here and see the full petition here. You can read a related petition submitted by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) here.

37th Annual Berkeley Himalayan Fair, May 16 & 17, 2020 Click above for more information We really hope it will be possible to have the annual Himalayan Fair this year. At the Fair, you can enjoy the food, music, dance, crafts and arts of the Himalayas. The Fair is held in Live Oak Park, 1300 Shattuck Avenue in North Berkeley, California. The fair’s profits go directly to orphanages, clinics, schools, village water supplies, and other Himalayan charities. Please stop by our booth under the big tree northeast of the stage to enjoy the day of Himalayan dance and other entertainment. Contact me if you’d like to volunteer to help out at our booth or with the fair. I describe starting the Fair after returning from the Great Himalayan Traverse in my memoir Breaking Trail. More information about the Himalayan Fair is here.

Calendar March 24, 2020, Green Labs Summit, Online Arlene Blum will give a keynote. The intent of the Summit is to bring together scientists, manufacturers, sustainability professionals, and others to envision a truly sustainable future. Where: Online, register here.   May 16 & 17, 2020: 37th Annual Berkeley Himalayan Fair Enjoy the food, music, dance, crafts and arts of the Himalayas. Profits to Himalayan charities. Where: Live Oak Park, 1300 Shattuck Avenue at Berryman, North Berkeley. More info is here October 28, 2020: CWEA PFAS Summit, Reno, Nevada Arlene Blum will keynote the PFAS Summit at California Water Environment Association (CWEA) Annual Conference. Her talk is entitled: “PFAS: What It is, What It Comes From, Where It’s Found and Its Dangers” When: 10:00am Where: Reno-Sparks Convention Center, Reno, NV