February 11th is International Women and Girls In Science Day. To celebrate, we sat down with four of the Environmental Health Sciences Center Core Leadership Group to ask them about their experience as women in the STEM field and what advice they would give to the next generation.
Below is an edited transcript of our conversation.
Ghosts and ghouls aren’t the only things children should be scared of during the spooky Halloween season. October is Children’s Environmental Health Month. There are many environmental hazards and toxins that kids are exposed to daily that are far scarier than ghosts and ghouls, and many are invisible to parents.
The COVID-19 pandemic compounded existing environmental and health injustices experienced by residents of agricultural and unincorporated communities like Knights Landing, so our interdisciplinary team working on the Knights Landing Environmental Health Project went to work right away with our dedicated promotora-researchers.
I was recently invited to speak to students in the GEO Environmental Science and Design Academy at Grant High School in Sacramento, California. An environmental activist I met through Sunrise Sacramento connected me to the program.
The GEO Academy is a series of environmental science classes for sophomores, juniors and seniors interested in environmental studies and includes coursework in environmental science, sustainable agriculture and land use and environmental design.
One vital aspect of EHSC’s work is community outreach and engagement. Our Community Engagement Core (CEC) is dedicated to overseeing this work which includes science communication, facilitating Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee (CSTAC) meetings and acting as a bridge between scientists and local communities where our research takes place. Best of all, scientists and community members can tap into this network anytime.
Summer is here and hot with the possibility of another record-breaking wildfire season in California. So for the first time ever, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) brought together experts from universities, community organizations and government agencies across the nation to discuss the future of the Golden State and other regions in the West threatened by wildfires.
When the air in the San Joaquin Valley was thick with smoke during Butte County’s Camp Fire late last year, UC Davis closed its doors to protect students, staff and faculty. Rather than ask us to traverse campus for classes and meetings, the administration told us to steer clear of the bad air by working remotely. My colleagues and I felt lucky working for an institution that cared about our health, and I was grateful to have a well-filtered retreat at home.
If you’re planning on going to dinner this weekend, be prepared for a strawless outing as Assembly Bill 1884 is now in effect. The bill became law on January 1 and was designed not only to limit the use of plastic straws, but to raise awareness of how prevalent single-use plastics are in daily life. Although AB 1884 doesn’t completely ban plastic straws from restaurants in California, it does limit their use by making consumers ask for them.
There’s nothing like a disaster to suddenly reveal how deeply connected we are to our environment and other living things in it. The 2018 wildfire season in California has been the most destructive and deadly ever in our state’s history. This year, some 7,500 fires have burned 1.6 million acres across California, affecting humans and animals alike.
One sweltering week last July, the UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center took researchers and officials from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) on a reality tour of some of California’s most polluted communities. On the tour, scientists saw up close the environmental health issues residents faced — a glass factory next to an elementary school, an oil and gas facility in a residential neighborhood, a formerly agricultural community transformed into an industrial site through
When I moved to Sacramento last year I thought I was escaping earthquakes. For years, I lived just down the street from the Hayward Fault in North Berkeley. Our little bungalow on a hill was cute but creaky. I used to joke with my husband that if our house collapsed when The Big One hit we could buy that Airstream he always wanted.
So, it was a relief knowing my family was safe from such a calamity when we moved to Sacramento. Then wildfire season hit.