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Environmental Pollution

commentary

Lessons and Strategies for Restoring Freshwater Ecosystems in the U.S.
Restoring and preserving America's critical freshwater ecosystems presents a significant challenge that requires inclusive stakeholder engagement, clear regulatory and interagency navigation, and robust scientific monitoring.
Oct 8, 2024

commentary

Today's Drinking Water Quality Challenges Require New Approaches
Despite advances in technology and increasing regulation, many in the United States still face challenges accessing safe drinking water. Keeping America's water safe requires new approaches to monitoring, tracking, and treatment.
Aug 28, 2024
commentary

Not Enough to Just Replace Lead Pipes
From late 2023 to early 2024, residents of St. Croix were directed to drink bottled water and then to boil their water to be sure it was safe after testing found elevated levels of lead and severe discoloration in parts of the water distribution system. As the drinking water emergency on St. Croix moves out of crisis stage, officials will need to build public trust and a resilient water system.
Mar 1, 2024
commentary

COP28: How Latin America and the Caribbean Could Benefit from Reducing Emissions
How can countries break down regulatory barriers, secure climate financing, and engage leaders, stakeholders, and citizens at every level to dispel the false choice between a cleaner future and a brighter future?
Dec 12, 2023
commentary

Japan Risks Reputation in Oceania with Fukushima Discharge
Japan's decision in August to begin discharging treated radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean from its destroyed Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is fairly unpopular in Oceania, potentially damaging Tokyo's reputation in this increasingly strategic region.
Sep 28, 2023
commentary

California's Ambitious Decarbonization Plan Hasn't Been Future-Proofed
California has an ambitious blueprint to make the state carbon-neutral by 2045. But there's been no integrated stress test of the whole plan. The state needs and deserves a future-proofed, stress-tested plan that all Californians can trust to achieve its climate goals.
Dec 15, 2022
essay

Environmental Racism: How Historic Redlining Continues to Affect Communities
Starting in the 1930s, neighborhoods across America were redlined—marked on government maps as too hazardous, as in, too Black or too immigrant, for federal home loans. When zoning officials needed somewhere to put a new factory or freeway, those redlined neighborhoods were like a bullseye that they hit again and again.
Jun 27, 2022
commentary

How Could the United States Incentivize Investors to Decarbonize the Economy?
While mandatory climate-related disclosure may improve information and decisionmaking for investors, it alone is unlikely to accelerate investment in decarbonization at the rate needed. To motivate private investment in climate mitigation, policymakers could explore additional policies.
May 12, 2022
commentary

How We Might Better Live with Oil in California
As California grapples with the question of balancing environmental stewardship with the recent renewed focus on “local oil,” lawmakers could look to local communities for the best answers to avoid future petro-disasters.
Apr 1, 2022
blog

Measuring Greenhouse Gases in Los Angeles County
Los Angeles, once the U.S. capital of smog and sprawl, has vowed to lead the nation into a cleaner, greener future by stamping out carbon pollution. A small array of sensors installed on the roof of RAND's Santa Monica headquarters could help it get there.
Nov 30, 2021
q&a

Mapping Environmental Racism: Q&A with Jaime Madrigano and Benjamin Preston
Environmental policy experts Jaime Madrigano and Benjamin Preston are leading an effort to highlight how discriminatory policies have shaped environmental health disparities. Their goal: create an interactive map of the United States to motivate environmental policy that advances antiracism.
Sep 7, 2021
essay

Costa Rica Leads the Way in Cutting Carbon Emissions
Almost every country has pledged to slash carbon emissions to slow the gears of global warming. Costa Rica's plan provides a glimpse of what a carbon-neutral future will look like. It shows how nations can take action and make investments that hold up, regardless of what future comes to pass.
Aug 30, 2021
commentary

Arming the Department of Defense's Environmental Liabilities Program
A new U.S. emphasis on sustainable environmental conditions is emerging just as budget pressures are increasing. The DoD could use this as an opportunity to develop a systematic approach to addressing its environmental liabilities.
Jun 23, 2021
commentary

How a Poor Indoor Environment at Home Affects Children's Health in the EU
One third of children in the EU are exposed to damp or mold, cold, darkness, and noise in their own homes. The good condition of homes should not only be seen as an issue of comfort, but as an essential basic requirement for good health of the residents, especially when they are families with children.
Nov 4, 2019
commentary

Uncovering the Links Between Fires and Public Health in Equatorial Asia
Fires in Indonesia, if left unchecked, could cause an average of 36,000 premature deaths annually across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Researchers built a tool that models the effect of the fires on public health.
Oct 25, 2019
commentary

We Built an App to Detect Areas Most Vulnerable to Life-Threatening Haze
Forest and land-use fires are ravaging Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan islands. Haze from these fires is life-threatening; inhaling smoke can cause heart and respiratory diseases, leading to premature deaths. We developed a new tool to provide decisionmakers with information to protect people who live downwind.
Sep 10, 2019
essay

How Citizen Scientists Are Protecting Their Communities
After Superstorm Sandy, residents of Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood cleaned up debris, pumped out basements, and teamed up with researchers to find out what was in the floodwater. They established safety protocols to help local businesses prevent their chemicals from escaping and wrote a guide to help other communities.
Aug 29, 2019
commentary

Increasing Groundwater Reliance in L.A. County Means Dealing with Extensive Contamination
As the Los Angeles region increases its reliance on groundwater sources to become more resilient in the face of drought and to reduce demand for imported water sources, advances in the information available on groundwater quality and contamination could help community water systems avoid health hazards and better ensure a safe drinking water supply.
Mar 12, 2019
commentary

Overlapping Environmental Disasters Put a Strain on Gulf Communities
For Gulf Coast residents, dealing with the impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster is challenging enough. With the Taylor Energy spill, they may face an even more daunting recovery, one that could take decades. Acknowledging the extent and complexity of recovery is the first step toward supporting coastal communities to build their resilience in the face of overlapping disasters.
Nov 29, 2018
commentary

Ammonia – Why the Big Stink?
Ammonia pollution harms human health and reduces the richness and diversity of the environment. As new policy frameworks are implemented in the UK, there is an opportunity to support farmers to make the changes necessary to reduce ammonia pollution.
Sep 18, 2018
commentary

Dockless Bikes Provide Urban Challenges, but China's Experience Shows They Can Work
By encouraging more people to cycle, bike-sharing platforms could provide many potential benefits through reduced congestion, reduced air pollution, and health benefits. But there are also challenges, including pressures on existing cycling infrastructure and the potential for theft and vandalism.
May 31, 2018
commentary

Can Dirty-Air Discontent in New Delhi Push India Toward Greener Days?
The downside to India's dramatic economic growth is New Delhi's off-the-charts air pollution. Public health officials have compared the harms of breathing in India's capital to smoking dozens of cigarettes a day. How bad must things become before Indians demand change and make it stick?
Mar 22, 2018
commentary

Gaza on the Brink
The combined risk of violence and pandemic in Gaza makes this small coastal enclave a ticking time bomb. While neither Israel nor the U.S. has the solutions to all of Gaza's water and health woes, the United States' decision to withhold funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency could only make things worse.
Mar 9, 2018
commentary

Navigating the Uncertain Path to Decarbonization
Deep decarbonization can reduce the risk of climate change, and it offers opportunities to reimagine energy, transportation, and infrastructure. But it could also fail in many ways. Diverse, independent actors need a shared understanding of its complexity and deep uncertainty to design a solution to this challenge.
Jul 11, 2017
commentary

Impact on the Environment from President Trump's First 100 Days
President Trump's actions have not yet resulted in demonstrable change in environmental conditions or funding. But the groundwork is being laid to unwind major regulations and diminish staff at the EPA and other federal agencies with climate-related research in their portfolios.
May 4, 2017
commentary

Uncertainty and Complexity: Biomass Can Help on the Path to Deep Decarbonization
While biomass will almost certainly never become the dominant fuel for the electricity sector in the United States, it is still worth including as part of a menu of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies.
Feb 24, 2017
commentary

China Has Done More About Pollution Than You Think (But It Must Do More)
It is not obvious from recent headlines, but China's central and local governments have done more to curb the nation's air pollution over the past two years than casual observers may realize.
Jan 18, 2016
commentary

Wildfires Getting More Destructive
The potential for smoke to harm air quality and cause health problems was especially acute in 2015 because a record number of wildfires broke out in the United States. Pre-wildfire season preparedness could go a long way toward protecting public health.
Dec 28, 2015
commentary

China at Home: Marrying Prosperity and Well-Being
As China strives to sustain its upward economic trajectory, it must also address its domestic problems—such as its air pollution and the challenges presented by its aging population—if its people are to share fully in the rewards of economic development and expansion.
Aug 21, 2015
commentary

China Can Fix Its Severe Pollution Problem
China's economic transformation over the last three decades has produced potentially deadly air pollution its people inhale every day. But an investment of $215 billion annually could substantially reduce pollution, lessen its drag on productivity, spare the lungs of countless people, and save lives.
Jan 19, 2015
commentary

U.S.-China Global Warming Deal Could Signal Shift on Climate Change
The U.S.-China agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions represents a significant and welcome shift in the international approach to addressing climate change. For the first time, a large developing country has agreed to limit its greenhouse gas emissions -- a crucial step since these countries have become the world’s largest sources.
Dec 9, 2014
commentary

Using Mobile Money to Make Water Safe
Contaminated drinking water contributes to the deaths of some 750,000 children under the age of five every year due to diarrheal disease. A RAND project is using mobile phones to increase the sales and use of safe-water filters in Kenya.
May 21, 2013
commentary

The Environmental Costs of Emissions from Shale Gas Extraction
Further study, including primary data collection in regions where extraction is occurring, will be important to track the magnitude of emissions and to insure that the DEP's permit requirements are adequate to protect human health and the environment, writes Aimee Curtright.
Feb 14, 2013
commentary

Global Methane Initiative: Converting Harmful Emissions to Usable Energy
Carbon dioxide has garnered the most attention in the climate change debate because it accounts for the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions. But there is good reason to worry about methane, say Nicholas Burger and Noreen Clancy.
Feb 6, 2013

Quoted

Mandatory evacuation orders are issued when disasters have potentially life-threatening impacts. Disaster after disaster, orders resulted in evacuations that have saved untold lives. Milton is rapidly intensifying and expected to be one of the largest hurricanes on record when it hits the United States. Staying in place could have severe, life-threatening consequences.

Aaron Clark-Ginsberg

Behavioral/Social Scientist
Source: rand.org
The mechanisms behind the apparent adverse effects of climate change on human health are not entirely understood. However, the need for pre-planning for these events to prevent poor health outcomes is clear. Especially among the most vulnerable populations, it is critical to develop and implement mitigating strategies.

Mahshid Abir

Senior Physician Policy Researcher, Professor of Policy Analysis, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Source: rand.org