Sheldon Margen Public Health Library
1 University Hall
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/PUBL/environment.html

Environmental Resources

Organizations and Agencies
Publications and Databases
Guides

Organizations and Agencies

Air and Waste Management Association

"AWMA provides training, information, and networking opportunities to thousands of environmental professionals." AWMA provides access to Daily Envirowire, a daily environmental news and information source.

American Water Works Association

AWWA is an international nonprofit scientific and educational society dedicated to the improvement of drinking water quality and supply.

California. Department of Health Services. Division of Drinking Water and Environmental Management. Chemicals and Contaminants in Drinking Water

This site has the figures for California drinking water primary and secondary maximum contaminant levels and information on arsenic, chromium-6, perchlorate, and other drinking water contaminants of current interest.

CAL/EPA (California Environmental Protection Agency)

Department of Pesticide Regulation

This site contains information on pesticide laws, regulatory and rulemaking information, data on pesticide use, on pesticide residue on fresh produce, pesticide illness surveillance, and information on exposure, sampling, and more. Also includes links to the US EPA/OPP Pesticide Product, Chemical Ingredients, Product Labels, and Company Information Databases.

Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment

Includes California Proposition 65 documents and the Prop 65 list. Also includes the Toxics Directory (2003), which lists agencies and organizations that provide information about or have authority over toxic substances and their health effects.

California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES)

"CERES is an information system developed by the California Resources Agency to facilitate access to a variety of electronic data describing California's rich and diverse environments."

Californians for Pesticide Reform

CPR "is a coalition of over 170 public interest groups dedicated to protecting human health and the environment from the dangers of pesticide use." The full text of some of their reports available in Adobe Acrobat format, including "P" is for Poison: Update on Pesticide Use in California Schools (2002), Pesticides and Human Health: A Resource for Health Care Professionals (2000), and more.

Children's Environmental Health Network

The Children's Environmental Health Network's purpose is to protect the health of children with regards to environmental hazards. A national effort, the Network concentrates on three areas - education, research, and policy. It provides an introduction to the field of child environmental health and provides access to reports resulting from symposia and conferences.

Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)

CIESIN is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that provides information to scientists, decision-makers, and the public about the relationships between human beings and the environment. CIESIN specializes in global and regional network development, science data management, decision support, and training, education and technical consultation services.

Ecological Risk Analysis: Guidance, Tools, and Applications (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy)

This site contains information and resources on the role of ecological risk analysis in environmental decision making. It includes information on ecological screening benchmarks, biological uptake, various guidance documents, as well as information for various types of contaminated sites.

Electric Power Research Institute

EPRI provides scientific, technical, and marketing research for the energy industry.

Environment Canada

This is Canada's "EPA," with numerous publications, databases, and other resources available.

Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute

"EOHSI sponsors research, education and service programs in a setting that fosters interaction among experts in environmental health, toxicology, occupational health, exposure assessment, public policy, and health education."

Environmental Working Group

EWG produces hundreds of reports each year for public interest groups and concerned citizens who are campaigning to protect the environment.

Global Environmental Facility

"The Global Environment Facility (GEF) helps developing countries fund sustainable development projects that also protect the global environment. Established in 1991, GEF focuses on six planet-wide concerns: biodiversity loss, climate change, international waters, ozone layer depletion, land degradation, and persistent organic pollutants." GEF's implementing agencies are the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Environment Program, and the World Bank. These agencies partner with local NGOs. An online database of projects is available.

Health Effects Institute (HEI)

The Health Effects Institute is an independent, nonprofit corporation studies the health effects of pollutants from sources in the environment including motor vehicles. Supported jointly by the EPA and industry, HEI has produced reports on the health effects of a variety of pollutants, including carbon monoxide, fuels and fuel additives, nitrogen oxides, diesel exhaust, ozone, and particulate air pollution.

Lowell Center for Sustainable Production (University of Massachusetts)

The Center's efforts concentrate on:

• Helping people use materials, energy, and other natural resources more wisely;
• Identifying new approaches to sustainability and practical solutions to production and consumption problems through collaborative research and action;
• Building networks of sustainability advocates;
• Integrating sustainability into current systems of production and consumption; and
• Improving the way organizations define and track their progress towards sustainability.

Projects include the Chemicals Policy Initiative, Integration of Environmental and Occupational Health, the Precautionary Principle Project, the Sustainable Hospitals Project, and more. Their site includes numerous publications from each of these projects.

National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH)

Established by Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the NECH's mission "is to provide national leadership, through science and service, to promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling disease, birth defects, disability, and death resulting from interactions between people and their environment." The site has numerous publications including fact sheets, brochures, and books. Scientific articles by NCEH authors are also indexed and searchable.

Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals "presents first-time exposure information for the U.S. population for 38 of the 148 chemicals included in the Report. The Report also includes the data from the Second Report; that is, data for 1999-2000." Data comes from National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys (NHANES). Chemicals studied included mercury, lead, pesticides, and phthalates, and also presents exposure data for the U.S. population divided into age, gender, and race/ethnicity groups.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

"The mission of NIEHS is to reduce the burden of human illness and dysfunction from environmental causes."

National Library for the Environment

Includes some full-text U.S. Congressional Research Service Reports on environmental issues, which are prepared for the U.S. Congress. From the National Council for Science and the Environment.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NOAA's mission is to "describe and predict changes in the Earth's environment, and conserve and wisely manage the Nation's coastal and marine resources."

Natural Resources Defense Council

Non-profit group dedicated to protecting the world's natural resources and ensuring a safe and healthy environment for all.

No Breathing in the Aisles: Diesel Exhaust inside School Buses (February 2001).

This report shows that "children who ride a diesel school bus may be exposed to up to four times more toxic diesel exhaust than someone traveling in a car directly in front of it." The report includes emissions data and funding sources for alternative fuels.

Breath-taking: Premature Mortality due to Particulate Air Pollution in 239 American Cities (1996)

This report estimates that "approximately 64,000 premature deaths from cardiopulmonary causes may be attributable to particulate air pollution each year." The report ranks SMSAs by particulate matter concentration, attributable mortality, and attributable mortality rate.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD). Chemical Safety

This program works on the development and co-ordination of environment health and safety activities internationally. A number of the programme's publications, including its newsletter, are available full-text from this site.

OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030

"Using an economy-based vision of developments to 2030, the OECD Environmental Outlook identifies the drivers of environmental change (the economy, population, globalisation, etc.), the specific sectors that put the greatest pressure on the environment, and the resulting environmental impacts. The Outlook shows that the most critical environmental concerns facing OECD countries are the unsustainable use of renewable natural resources, the degradation of ecosystems and the disruption of the environmental systems that support human life."

South Coast Air Quality Management District

AQMD is the air pollution control agency for the California four-county region including Los Angeles and Orange counties and parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

UC Systemwide Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program

"TSR&TP is a University of California systemwide Multicampus Research Unit that supports research on toxic substances in the environment and teaching of graduate students through funding of grants, fellowships, and lead campus programs."

United Nations Environment Programme

UNEP is involved in all manner of environmental issues, such as sustainable consumption, climate change, chemicals, and more. Their site includes databases, publications, and descriptions of their many initiatives.

UNEP Chemicals Programme

Gateway site to a vast amount of information on international chemical programs, such as Persistent Organic Pollutants, Global Mercury Assessment, and the Inventory of Information Sources on Chemicals.

US Environmental Protection Agency

National Center for Environmental Economics

"NCEE analyzes relationships between the economy, environmental health, and environmental pollution control. This includes:

• Economic benefits and costs
• Economic incentives
• Size, composition, and effects of the pollution control industry
• Risk assessment data used in economic analyses

NCEE also serves as a central point of contact for communicating and resolving cross-cutting technical economic issues. This site has:

• Publications by NCEE, EPA, and others, including working papers
• Careers & Internships for professionals to work for NCEE and students to obtain internships and fellowships
• Grant announcements of current and future solicitations and a listing of past grant awards
• Events (workshops, seminars, and conferences) sponsored by NCEE and others
• Internet Links to environmental economics Web sites."

National Service Center for Environmental Publications/National Environmental Publications Information Site (NSCEP/NEPIS)

More than 7,000 in stock and 28,000 digital titles, free of charge U.S. EPA publications are available for searching, viewing, printing or ordering.

Office of Air and Radiation

OAR develops national programs, technical policies, and regulations for controlling air pollution and radiation exposure.

AIRData

The AIRData web site provides air pollution data for the entire United States. It provides access to several databases, including National Emission Trends (NET), where one can find data on point sources of air pollution at the facility level (searchable by state and county). One may also generate custom maps and reports.

AIRNOW

AIRNOW provides real-time air pollution data and information about the public health and environmental effects of air pollution.

Indoor Environments Division

Discusses sources of indoor air pollution and has many full-text EPA publications on indoor air pollution.

Office of Ground and Drinking Water

Has current drinking water standards and regulations, information for consumers on their local source of drinking water, and some of their publications full-text.

Office of Research and Development. National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA)

Provides access to Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS, a database of human health effects that may result from exposure to various substances found in the environment), risk guidelines, and risk tools such as the Exposure Factors Handbook.

Region 9 Home Page

Science Inventory

"Science Inventory is a searchable, Agency-wide catalog of more than 4,000 science activities such as research, technical assistance and assessments, along with more than 750 peer-reviewed products. The database contains more than 19,000 records in the archives including project descriptions, products produced, types of peer review, links to related work and contacts for additional information. Users can conduct keyword searches or search within nine cross-cutting science topics."

Superfund Record of Decison System (RODS)

"A ROD provides the justification for the remedial action (treatment) chosen at a Superfund site. It also contains site history, site description, site characteristics, community participation, enforcement activities, past and present activities, contaminated media, the contaminants present, scope and role of response action, and the remedy selected for cleanup. Using RODS, you can search by state, site name or EPA ID for specific ROD documents, or by keyword (such as a contaminant or remediation type) across all ROD documents."

Technology Transfer Network, Unified Air Toxics Website (EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards)

This site provides information on EPA programs and regulations as well as state and local programs. Emission data tables at the county level are available, as is data on the deposition of pollutants on urban waters. Also included are air toxics reduction and assessment tools and strategies.

Terms of Environment (Revised December, 1997)

Provides definitions of the terms and acronyms used in EPA documents

US Geological Survey. Environment and Human Health

This web site is devoted to the USGS's role in understanding environmental contributions to human health and disease. It includes many publications and fact sheets,as well as the Human Health Related Data Sources page, which is a guide to many databases produced by the USGS and others relevant to this topic (including the National Atmospheric Deposition Program, Arsenic in Ground Water of the U.S., Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends, and more.

US Geological Survey. National Water Quality Assessment Program

The NAWQA program collects and analyzes data and information in more than 50 major river basins and aquifers across the Nation to develop long-term consistent and comparable information on streams, ground water, and aquatic ecosystems. Publications and data are available.

Pesticide National Synthesis Project

Provides full-text reports, statistics, analytical methods, and information on pesticide use. Data can also be downloaded.

WHO Public Health and Environment home page

Descriptions and information about specific aspects of environmental health are available, such as environmental burden of disease, ionizing radiation, food safety, occupational health, electro-magnetic fields, and children's environmental health. Numerous documents and publications are available online.

World Resources Institute

"Providing authoritative research, getting it to those who need it, and engaging a broad spectrum of stakeholders in decision-making are all means to the ultimate end: permanent changes that protect the planet and improve people's lives."

Earthtrends, an information portal "regarding the environmental, social, and economic trends that shape our world." It provides data tables, maps, and an extensive searchable database on water resources, population and health, food, and many more topics.

World Resources 2008: Roots of Resilience-Growing the Wealth of the Poor, a report on the enviroment and the poor produced in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme, the UN Development Programme, and the World Bank.

Publications and Databases

To search for journal articles on this topic, use the Online Indexes and Databases. To locate journals, use the Melvyl catalog, or the UC-eLinks Electronic Journals Search.

Air Trends Reports (EPA Office of Air and Radiation)

These annual Trends Reports "are EPA's "report card" on the status of air quality and air pollutant emissions."

Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstract Database (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts)
NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.

"The ASFA series is the premier reference in the field of aquatic resources. Input to ASFA is provided by a growing international network of information centers monitoring over 5,000 serial publications, books, reports, conference proceedings, translations and limited distribution literature."

The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air, 1970 to 1990 (retrospective study) and 1990 to 2010 (prospective study) (EPA)

These studies look at the costs and benefits of the Clean Air Act. The abstracts, executive summaries, and full reports are available electronically.

Clean Air Act

Full text, 1990 amendments, and a "Plain English Guide to the Clean Air Act."

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Title 40 - Protection of Environment

Files are structured by Part, or in the case of large Parts, by Subpart.

DieselNet: Diesel Emissions Online

"DieselNet is the online information service on diesel emissions, emission control, diesel engines, fuels, and more." Includes a daily news log. Emission standards are provided for the U.S. and California as well as for other countries. Technical reports on the health effects of diesel are available full-text.

Drinking Water Contaminants Fact Sheets (EPA)

These fact sheets are about chemicals that may be found in some public or private drinking water supplies. These chemicals may cause health problems if found in amounts greater than the health standard set by the U.S. EPA. The versions currently available include consumer versions for inorganic chemicals and technical versions for synthetic organic chemicals.

The consumer version of the fact sheet describes:

• the chemical and how it is used
• why the chemical is being regulated
• what are the health effects
• how much of the chemical is produced and how much is released into the environment
• the drinking water standard for the chemical
• several other facts about the chemical

The technical version of the fact sheets contains similar information plus the chemical and physical properties, trade names for the chemical and other regulatory information.

Drinking Water Standards and Health Advisories (EPA)

Chart that has drinking water standards (e.g. Maximum Contaminant Level Goals, Maximum Contaminant Levels) and health advisories (e.g. Reference Doses, Drinking Water Equivalent Levels, etc.) for a numerous of chemicals.

ECOTOX from U.S. EPA

The ECOTOX database, derived predominantly from peer-reviewed literature, provides toxicity data for aquatic life, terrestrial plants, and terrestrial wildlife. It integrates 3 U.S. EPA databases, ACQUIRE, PHYTOTOX, and TERRETOX. Data in AQUIRE, the aquatic toxicology database, is available from 1915 to the present. PHYTOTOX, the plant toxicology database, contains data from 1926 to 1991. The TERRETOX, the wildlife toxicology database, data comes from test results reported from 1970 to 1992.

ENVIROFACTS (EPA)

Updated monthly, ENVIROFACTS is a relational database that integrates data from many different EPA databases. Subjects covered include Air, Chemicals, Facility Information, Grants/Funding, Hazardous Waste, Risk Management Plans, Superfund, Toxic Releases, and Water Permits, Drinking Water, Drinking Water Contaminant Occurrence, and Drinking Water Microbial and Disinfection Byproduct Information.

ENVIROnetBASE: Environmental Resources Online
NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.

From CRC Press, this environmental science electronic library "offers a comprehensive selection of references that are cross-referenced, fully searchable, hyperlinked, and cross-indexed." Titles include Environmental Chemistry, 7th edition, Environmental Compliance, Environmental Justice Analysis, Handbook of Chemical Risk Assessment, and many more.

Environmental Contaminants Encyclopedia (1998)

This searchable encyclopedia of 118 environmental contaminants from the National Park Service contains a wealth of information including water data, soil data, sediment data, tissue and food concentrations, and fate information. All entries are pdf files. References are also provided.

Environmental Management Internet Research Register

The Internet Research Register is comprehensive database of current research projects worldwide. Academic, industrila, government, and NGO research projetcs are all included. For each research project, the project title, the researchers with their addresses, web site and affiliation, and the project dates, budget, methodology and supporting bodies, as well as a project description are provided. The database is searchable by keyword, project title, researchers surname, institution, and more.

Environmental News Network

Features daily news on current environmental issues. You can also sign up for free delivery of the news via e-mail.

Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management Database (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) (1967 to present)
NOTE: Access limited to UCB faculty, staff and students.

"This multidisciplinary database, provides unparalleled and comprehensive coverage of the environmental sciences. Abstracts and citations are drawn from over 6000 serials including scientific journals, conference proceedings, reports, monographs, books and government publications." Subjects covered include:

Agricultural biotechnology

Air quality

Aquatic pollution

Bacteriology

Ecology

Energy resources

Environmental biotechnology

Environmental engineering

Environmental impact statements (U.S.)

Hazardous waste

Industrial hygiene

Microbiology related to industrial & environmental issues

Pollution: land, air, water, noise, solid waste, radioactive

Risk assessment

Safety science

Toxicology & toxic emissions

Water pollution

Waste management

Water resource issues

EnviroSense (EPA, DOD, DOE)

EnviroSense, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, allows those implementing pollution prevention programs or developing research and development projects to benefit from the experience, progress, and knowledge of their peers. Databases available include: EPA's Solvent Alternatives Guide (SAGE), Hazardous Solvent Substitution Data System (HSSDS) and INEL's Solvent Handbook Data System (SHDS).

GreenFILE

The GreenFile database by EBSCO offers well-researched information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. The database provides indexing and abstracts for approximately 295,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 4,600 records. It covers content going back more than 35 years. Journal articles unique to GreenFILE include Bioscience, Journal of Environmental Planning & Management, Journal of Ecology and Conservation Biology.

IRIS (Integrated Risk Information System)

The IRIS is a U.S. EPA database of human health effects that may result from exposure to substances found in the environment.

IRIS from EPA

IRIS from the National Library of Medicine

IRIS from MICROMEDEX
NOTE: Access limited to UC faculty, staff and students.
Please LOG OFF when you are done searching.

Click on ChemKnowledge Free Text Search, then scroll down to select IRIS as your database to search.

Lead Poisoning Prevention--State Contacts Directory 2000 (National Conference of State Legislatures)

This page enables you to search the program summaries and titles of key contacts in the 2000 directory of state lead poisoning prevention contacts. Searching can be done by state, major issue area (e.g. Inspections, Surveillance, etc.) or by key words.

Mainstreaming Gender in Water Management (2003; pdf file)

"As part of its ongoing efforts to support both Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and gender mainstreaming strategies, United Nations Development Programme’s Environmentally Sustainable Development Group has prepared this Resource Guide for Mainstreaming Gender in IWRM. Developed in consultation with stakeholders in various regions and supported by the Gender Water Alliance, gender specialists and practitioners, the guide consists of five parts:

1. An introduction and overview notes on gender mainstreaming in IWRM,
2. A guide to existing tools and materials,
3. Briefing notes on bringing a gender perspective to water sector capacity building; equality between men and women; and institutional capacity to promote gender in IWRM Projects,
4. Case studies and good practices,
5. A guide to gender mainstreaming within the project cycle."

National Service Center for Environmental Publications/National Environmental Publications Information Site (EPA)

Search or browse NSCEP/NEPIS to locate any of thousands of U.S. EPA publications that are available for viewing and printing.

Rachel's Environment & Health News

Full text archives of this electronic newsletter go back to Issue 1 (December 1, 1986).

Scorecard

Provided by the Environmental Defense Fund, Scorecard allows the general population easy access to the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) data (see below). In addition, Scorecard provides detailed information on more than 7,460 chemicals, including all the chemicals used in large amounts in the United States and all the chemicals regulated under major environmental laws.

TRI (Toxic Release Inventory)

TRI "is a publicly available EPA database that contains information on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities reported annually by certain covered industry groups as well as federal facilities." TRI lists amounts of certain chemicals released to the environment using data compiled annually.

EPA's TRI home page, including TRI explorer, which provides access to the TRI database (1988-2005)

TRI from the National Library of Medicine's TOXNET (1987-2005)

TRI from the Right-to-Know Network (1987-2005)

Water Quality Association Glossary of Terms

World Bank: Environment

This portal "provides access to an overview of the World Bank's work on environmental issues and links to relevant activities across the Bank, both in the operational regions and in different sectors with which we work. (It includes) Information about the Environment Strategy, our Operational and Safeguard Policies, our environmental work in the regions, projects, analytical studies, capacity-building efforts, partnerships, and publications."

Guides

Guide to World Environmental Law.

Health, Environment, and Work

"This site provides many academically based educational resources, a search facility, as well as vetted and updated links relating to Occupational and Environmental Health and Medicine."

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