Environmental justice advocates often argue that environmental hazards and their health effects vary by neighborhood, income, and race. To assess these patterns and advance preventive policy, their colleagues in the research world often use complex and methodologically sophisticated statistical and geospatial techniques. One way to bridge the gap…

Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) provides opportunities for scholars and students to respond directly to community needs; students also practice critical thinking, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution skills necessary for professional life and engaged citizenship. The challenges of involving undergraduate students in CBPR include…

Jurisdictions are in the process of establishing regulatory systems to control greenhouse gas emissions. Short-term and sometimes long-term emissions reduction goals are established, as California does for 2020 and 2050, but little attention has yet been focused on annual emissions targets for the intervening years. We develop recommendations for…

A pervasive problem in estimating the costs of pollution is that optimizing individuals may compensate for increases in pollution by reducing their exposure, resulting in estimates that understate the full welfare costs. To account for this issue, measurement error, and environmental confounding, we estimate the health effects of ozone using daily…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution of a sustainability network at a large California public university, as an example of organizational change. Design/methodology/approach: The paper combines participant observation and case study techniques over a three-year period. From 2007 to 2010, the author helped found the…

Preliminary assessment of Environmental Impact Statements in California indicate that their effectiveness is directly related to the local political structure. Environmental planning is expected to improve as environmental impact reports gain more credence as an information base for city planners. The need for uniform impact guidelines are…

This factsheet is for anyone responsible for modernization projects in California's public schools where materials containing lead may be disturbed or where lead abatement is planned. It explains the state requirements for properly dealing with lead hazards so that children and workers are protected. Its sections address why to be concerned about…

Public policymaking and implementation in the United States are increasingly handled through local, consensus-seeking partnerships involving most affected stakeholders. This paper formalizes the concept of a stakeholder partnership, and proposes techniques for using interviews, surveys, and documents to measure each of six evaluation criteria.…

A recommended change in pest control management in California called "integrated pest management" is discussed. The support and resistance to this issue are explored. (MR)

The use of highly toxic agricultural chemicals in California has made fieldwork one of the most hazardous occupations in the state in terms of time lost to occupational illness. Despite this problem, state standards to protect farmworkers are inadequate, inefficiently enforced, and based on incomplete research. (Author/MA)

In an interdisciplinary study the role of the news media in environmental problems is examined. A description of the environmental problems of the San Francisco Bay Area and of the many news media which serve this area introduces this second volume of the study. The dimensions of the information explosion in the Bay Area news media are documented…

The demand for school construction and the agency regulations and practices involved in the process are described in this report. A four-part theoretical framework explains the process of school facility construction. First, school districts follow a process that consists of nine fundamental steps: (1) needs assessment; (2) long-range planning;…

In an interdisciplinary project graduate students from several fields--including medicine and communication--conducted an assessment and critique of media performance in the are of environmental problems. The project had no direct faculty supervision--the first such student project funded by the National Science Foundation. This volume presents an…

This document is comprised of two reports: (1) "Science-Based Recommendations to Prevent or Reduce Potential Exposures to Biological, Chemical, and Physical Agents in Schools" by Derek G. Shendell, Claire Barnett, and Stephen Boese (supported by grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Institutes of Environmental Health…

This report contains the proceedings of the first of two hearings that explored the risks of environmental toxins to children. Testimony concerned the special vulnerability of children to toxins; the dangers of lead poisoning; instances of childhood cancer, birth defects, and developmental problems; passive smoking; child health in the California…