Creating Safe Post-Pandemic School Systems: The Role of the Built Environment

While school children have, for the most part, been spared from the devastating health effects of the coronavirus, they have suffered in other ways -- namely, from the inability to learn in a physical classroom and missing vital interaction with teachers and peers. To address this issue, ESAL and the Architectural Engineering Institute co-hosted a virtual event on December 2 that featured three panelists with expertise in building systems and school governance. The event was moderated by ESAL volunteer Rosemond Ho, who led a thorough discussion on risk management, engineering solutions, and practical considerations for reopening schools.

Two of the panelists, Bruce Lindsay and Stephen Ray, are both professional engineers who have been heavily involved in the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) -- the leading industry organization which has developed indoor ventilation guidelines for reducing virus transmission. The third panelist Philip “Bo” Hammer brought his perspective as a physicist, parent, and two-term school board member from Haddon Heights, NJ. (Read more about Bo Hammer in his interview with ESAL.)

To reopen safely, “the key is to remove the virus through filters or to dilute the virus through outside air,” explained Lindsay. Lindsay is an energy and resource conservation manager for Brevard County public schools in Florida and serves on ASHRAE’s Epidemic Task Force. The minimum filter type required to provide basic filtration of the virus is known as a MERV 13.

According to Lindsay, the most comprehensive solution would be to bring in an engineering professional to assess a school’s HVAC system, which can be complex and vary widely. Some HVAC systems only filter outside air. Others recirculate indoor air and mix in supply air from the outside. Many old buildings from the early 1900s have no active ventilation at all.

Furthermore, school districts are typically cash-strapped and the timeline for making meaningful upgrades to infrastructure would take years, well beyond the timeline of even this pandemic. Running the HVAC continuously is also impractical due to drastic increases to operating expenses.

In mild climates, schools have the advantage of being able to achieve adequate ventilation simply by opening the windows. Another option is to use standalone box purifiers, which may offer higher HEPA filtration. New York City, for example, opted to purchase individual air purifiers for each classroom when it reopened its public schools.

Given these complexities, former school board member Hammer helped focus the discussion towards low-cost, low tech solutions that can be implemented right now. Hammer’s pragmatism was driven by his past experience in carrying out major school renovations and the challenges associated with such a feat.

Ray, a mechanical engineer by training, emphasized the need for a layered approach that involves more than just technical solutions. Ray leads a high performance design team at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago, while also volunteering on ASHRAE committees and on the health advisory team for his children’s schools. He emphasized that administrative controls, which can be highly effective yet inexpensive, should be prioritized: “Even if you can’t revamp your entire HVAC system, you can do tons of things to mitigate the primary mode of [virus] transmission.” This includes checking people’s temperature at the entrance, enforcing masks, keeping students in separate cohorts, installing shields, scheduling, and social distancing.

To drive home the message, Ray recommended a whitepaper written by Taylor Engineering, a nationally recognized firm in building systems and design. Their paper explains that expensive HVAC upgrades cannot be the sole solution and in fact, can be less impactful compared to behavioral measures such as distancing and mask wearing.

At the very least, the pandemic has brought indoor air quality into the realm of conversation for school districts. Infrastructure improvements can create post-pandemic benefits by reducing mold, mildew, and other viruses and bacteria to ultimately enhance student wellness and learning in the future.

The challenges of in-person schooling are not ending anytime soon. Going into 2021, the panelists had this advice to offer engineers and scientists and those involved in school reopenings: “Stay vigilant” and “start making noise,” said Hammer. He explained that getting involved in your community during these tough times can be an empowering and healthy thing to do.

Ray hopes that school districts will maintain clear communication among different constituent groups such as staff, teachers, parents, and students, who must all buy in to reopening plans. Energy manager Lindsay also pointed out that smaller rural districts will struggle to invest in safety measures. He hopes volunteers with technical chops can help out less-resourced schools. And he hopes that public schools will continue to prioritize the neediest groups, especially low income students and kids with special needs.

A recording of this event can be found here.

To access ASHRAE’s guidelines regarding COVID-19, please visit www.ashrae.org/covid. ASHRAE’s virtual national conference will be held on February 9 - 11, 2021. Your local ASHRAE chapter is also a great resource if you are interested in learning more.

Conservation Federation of Missouri: Protecting the State’s Natural Resources

The Conservation Federation of Missouri's (CFM) mission is to ensure that the state’s wildlife, natural resources, and rich outdoor heritage are preserved through advocacy, education, and partnerships. They have over 100 affiliate organizations and more than 50 business partners throughout the state – together they are the voice for the Missouri outdoors. ESAL spoke with Colton Zirkle, education and communications coordinator at CFM, to find out about their work in the state.

RD: How did CFM come into existence?

Zirkle: Around the early 1930s, wildlife populations and habitats in Missouri were dwindling. Bears were a rare sight, and deer and turkey were hunted to near extirpation. On September 10th, 1935, a group of sportsmen gathered in the Tiger Hotel in Colombia to work out a solution to these issues. On that day, the Conservation Federation of Missouri was formed with the intention of creating a non-political state agency for science-based management of wildlife and their habitat. CFM was responsible for gathering the petition signatures and spreading the word of science-based natural resource management. The following year, the Missouri Conservation Commission and the Missouri Department of Conservation were created by Missouri voters through a ballot initiative constitutional amendment.

RD: Can you say a bit about your programs to get people started in conservation?

Colton Zirkle with legislation that helps enable distribution of venison and other foods.

Zirkle: CFM has several opportunities for young people to get involved in conservation at the state level. The Conservation Leadership Corps (CLC) is for high school upperclassmen and college students, and focuses on conservation policy. CLC shows students how they can make a difference and help direct management decisions for the state. Another program, the Missouri Collegiate Conservation Alliance, is offered to all college students free of charge throughout the state. This advocacy program teaches students how to engage with their elected officials and to share their perspective on conservation-related issues. CFM also runs a Young Professionals program that serves as a community for younger people involved in conservation throughout the state.

RD: Are there any programs you would like to highlight?

Zirkle: Missouri Stream Teams is a well-established program that has been highly successful – every county in the state has a team. Each one encompasses a group of people who get together to clean the litter out from streams in their area and to monitor water quality. Other programs such as Operation Game Thief and Operation Forest Arson serve as anonymous tip lines for people to report game violations or forest arson activity in their area.

RD: What are a few of your notable successes?

Zirkle: Share the Harvest is probably our most well-known program. Since its establishment in 1992, hunters have donated more than 4.3 million pounds of venison to their neighbors in need. This program is one of the greatest achievements of the Missouri Model of conservation. Out of the abundance of our wildlife resources, hunters can harvest and share their deer with food-insecure families in the state. The processing of the deer is paid for through a partnership with the Missouri Department of Conservation, Missouri Food Banks, and private donors within CFM. Afterward, Conservation Agents coordinate with local food banks to share with Missourians in need.

RD: What are the challenges faced by your programs?

Zirkle: A large percentage of our challenges stem from the state legislature. Every session, many bills are brought forward that potentially threaten conservation and science-based management of our natural resources. As a result, CFM created the Legislative Action Center (LAC) which serves as an advocacy network through which we notify and educate our constituents on issues affecting conservation at state and federal levels. When a concerning piece of legislation is proposed, we send out an actual alert to people who have subscribed to the LAC. Inside this alert is a link to act. Last year, more than 2,000 emails were sent to elected officials through the LAC.

RD: What sort of response have you seen to your programs?

Zirkle: The work of CFM is received very well! Our membership and affiliates are highly engaged in the work that we do, and we are very grateful – of course, we could not do it without them. Each one of them has their specific area of expertise and they serve as our resource when we go before committees in the Missouri Legislature and on a national level.

RD: What advice do you have for engineers and scientists who want to get involved?

Zirkle: I would invite them to become a member of the Conservation Federation of Missouri! And you can do that at our website and also look into our affiliate organizations who are listed there. I am sure there is something for everyone’ interests! Not all of our members are hunters and fishers. Some are cyclists or hikers, paddlers, or bird watchers – we span a large group of people who love the outdoors. I would invite them to join our Legislative Action Center, also available at the website, as it serves as our voice from the Missouri outdoors. You can learn more about and connect with the Conservation Federation of Missouri on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Curing Ballots in an Election

Tell us about yourself.
I am a biophysicist who now works in science policy in Washington, DC. After graduate school I worked on health policy for a member of Congress as a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow. Now I am a program officer at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

What did you do?
In my personal time I was a voter protection volunteer for the North Carolina Democratic Party during the 2020 General Election. I was a member of their “ballot curing” team, which meant that I called voters whose mail-in-ballot had been rejected and helped them fix it.

Leah Cairns

What happened?
I joined Zoom calls with other volunteers. At the beginning of each call, we were given instructions and training. We were then given contact information for the voters and a script, much like any other political phone bank. If the voter answered their phone, I explained to the voter what had gone wrong, and instructed them on how to vote in-person or how to mail in a new ballot. Because I was volunteering through the Democratic Party, we were only calling voters who were likely Democrats, but there are other similar efforts that are run by non-partisan organizations.

What did you get out of this experience?
This was by far the most rewarding election-related volunteering experience I have ever had. As a Washington, DC resident it can often feel like my vote in a solidly blue city is not very important in the Electoral College process. It was fun to help Democratic voters in a swing state cast their ballots. It’s also important to note that in the 2018 midterm elections in North Carolina, Black voters were twice as likely as white voters to have their mail-in ballot rejected. It was extremely gratifying to take an active role in fighting voter suppression by helping individuals make sure their vote was counted this year.

What is important to you about engaging with your local government?
Individuals can have an outsized impact by engaging in your state and local government, and the same is true for state and local elections. Even though most people focus on the Presidential election, many local elections were decided by very small margins. For example in North Carolina’s race for Supreme Court justice, where more than 5.4 million ballots were cast, the candidates were separated by only 400 votes. As of November 2, more than 15,000 ballots had been cured across the state! It’s clear that ballot curing efforts can decide the outcome of an election.

Will this experience have any influence on your work or your future engagement with your community?
I am hooked on this work. In fact, I am now volunteering for similar efforts for the runoff election in Georgia!

Dominican Immigrant Advocates for Sustainability in Michigan Food Systems

Vanessa García Polanco is a federal policy associate at the National Young Farmers Coalition, as well as a member of the boards of the Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society and Michigan Food & Farming Systems. She was recently appointed the North America Youth Focal Point to the UN Major Group for Children and Youth in support of the UN Food Systems 2021 Summit. García Polanco earned her master’s degree in community sustainability from Michigan State and a bachelor’s in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics from the University of Rhode Island. ESAL interviewed García Polanco about her trajectory to becoming a recognized activist-scholar for equitable, sustainable agriculture and food supply systems in Michigan and beyond.

DR: How did you first get interested in sustainable agriculture?

García Polanco: I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic (D.R.) in the town of Moca, the hub of the agricultural Cibao Valley. Everyone in my family worked in agriculture or related trades. Even when my nuclear family was not actively farming anymore, we still owned land, and relatives were still farming.

DR: So your interest began in your country of origin?

García Polanco advocates for equity and access in food systems.

García Polanco: Yes, but then I emigrated to the U.S. at age 15 with my family. In Rhode Island, I couldn’t help but notice differences in how agriculture was practiced. There are family farms in the U.S., but the way we produce and access food is really different.

DR: Could you give me an example?

García Polanco: In the D.R., the “mercado” is a loud, interactive event. I grew up knowing the farmers, the small business owners, and their history. The farmers’ markets here are different, as they have different goals. Here, people get most of their food from a supermarket. In contrast, where I grew up we barely went to a supermarket because we could supply our needs in the huge farmers’ markets. Produce came in from towns all over the region.

DR: What was it like for you emigrating to the U.S.?

García Polanco: At first, it was rough. As an immigrant, I felt cultural dislocation. I missed the familiarity of my life in the D.R. Although I had studied English in school, I needed practice.

DR: How did you adapt?

García Polanco: I credit a program called the North Providence Youth Commission, which gave me the opportunity to volunteer for the Office of the Mayor. Though I was only 16, I ran the small business program and promoted shop-local values. In the D.R., we had always shopped from small businesses, so I was familiar with the business concept. I got to know the community in my new town and found it really exciting.

DR: Did your role on the Youth Commission lead to other opportunities?

García Polanco: It led to my coordinating the local North Providence farmer’s market for a couple of years! I wasn’t thinking about my career so much yet, but was interested in environmental issues such as sustainable development, and that means at the community level. I brought my family to the farmers’ market to buy quality fresh produce, support the vendors, and interact with my community outside in the fresh air.

DR: You mentioned before that U.S. farmers’ markets have a different feel than Dominican markets. What do you attribute that to?

García Polanco: The U.S. farmers’ market that I managed was less tied to food access and security. It was more of a cute thing we did on Fridays than a food security and food supply opportunity. It was fun, but frustrating in that regard. My philosophy about sustainable food systems really took root there. I tried to influence the market mission towards one that met basic food needs, for example by allowing the use of food coupons, and encountered barriers. What I did learn was how to manage projects, and I benefited from interactions with community members and elected officials.

DR: By the time you went to college, you were already motivated to pursue a path around food policy?

García Polanco: College was formative in my understanding of food systems. I did agricultural outreach for the Cooperative Extension in Rhode Island, educating people on environmental stewardship. Because Rhode Island is not a big farming state, that mostly meant teaching local gardening, composting, and other environmental subjects. I was immersed in techniques for growing food, but noticed that there were no Latinos or people of color coming to my classes. Nor had there been any Latino or other minority farmers in the farmers’ market. I was also one of the few people of color in my university program of environmental economics. That got me to wondering about equity and access.

DR: How did you channel some of your learning and teaching towards equity issues?

García Polanco: I started to reflect on who’s affected most in terms of local food sustainability. In Providence, which is 30 percent Latino, and RI, which is 13% foreign born, I was tasked with delivering a program in horticulture and environmental stewardship. An initial assessment – interviewing community leaders and organizations serving Asian Americans, African Americans, and other ethnic groups – revealed that they needed something more interactive than classes. We offered a culturally relevant festival that welcomed the whole family: cultural groups performed traditional folklore dances; garden tours by region allowed people to find plants from their home countries; and activities for kids included geographic connections, like a table for Asian-American activities. I got interested in how we develop culturally competent education in environmental stewardship.

DR: How have these experiences influenced your own cultural identity?

García Polanco: I am a young, Latinx immigrant millennial living in the U.S. who cares a lot about the environment, food, and agriculture. It took awhile for my family (and myself!) to understand my college major and the job I wanted to do. My aunt would just say, “Vanessa works with plants.” My mom would say, “You can take a girl out of the country, but you cannot take the countryside out of the girl.” Though my dad is still a farmer in the D.R., my family was confused about my interest in agriculture. It took a few years, but now my family is completely on board with my passion. We spend our family time in farms and nurseries. Agriculture allows me to stay connected to my culture or origin and keep our whole family grounded.

DR: How about “community?” How do you define it for yourself?

García Polanco: I see my community in all the places I have lived. My community includes other people doing food sustainability work, particularly around decolonizing the food supply. In the U.S. and the D.R., there are equity issues in agriculture. For example, out of 47,000 farms in Michigan, only several hundred Black farmers show up on the USDA’s agricultural census. That is both because Black farmers are hugely underrepresented, and also because of USDA access issues. A lot of farmers of color don’t have access for geographical and cultural reasons. For example, they may not meet the criteria established by the USDA for a farm operation on detailed bookkeeping and record keeping, so there is a cultural disconnect on expectations and how to run and manage farm businesses. This bureaucratic system was not designed for non-Caucasian farmers who may have language or education barriers.

DR: How does that relate to your recent Policy Memo on Michigan Farmers of Color and the Future of Sustainable Food Systems?

García Polanco: I saw the opportunity to put together recommendations to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. I reached out to some fellow women of color in food justice advocacy to draft the policy memo about achieving racial justice in sustainable agriculture. For example, Black farmers in Michigan have declined because of a historically racialized agricultural system. The memo recommends creating an incentivized farm program to ensure land access and reduce racial disparities.

DR: What farming trends are particular to Latinx famers in the U.S.?

García Polanco: In places like Michigan, Latinx farmers are growing. Many other states are reporting more Latinx farmers transitioning from other food systems roles. I have grave concerns about what it will mean for immigrant farmers in food systems. A lot of Latinx and non-Latinx immigrants work in warehouses, packaging, and farm labor, but not in governance and policy of the food systems.

DR: Why aren’t more Latinos and people of color in those leadership positions?

García Polanco: I have had a lot of privileges, in terms of education and opportunity, that have allowed me to be where I am. Many immigrants do not have those privileges. I know many Latinx people and people of color doing great work at the grassroots level. It’s important to realize that you don’t have to be in Washington, D.C., to be a powerful advocate There are many ways at the community, local, and state level to be a stakeholder. You might feel uncomfortable because you will be the first, or one of the few Latinos, immigrants, or women forging the way. You cannot be afraid to be the first.

DR: Do you have suggestions, particularly for Latinx and female scientists, on how to get involved in policy?

García Polanco: I would say to just start telling your story. It wasn’t until about three years ago that I really felt comfortable explaining why I am doing this, embracing my identity as an immigrant woman in science and agricultural policy. Don’t wait so long to get comfortable. Be present, be loud, bring your full authentic self.

DR: Where did you get your courage?

García Polanco: I tried lots of things for which I did not feel ready. Also, people opened the door to me; they added an extra seat to the table. I found great mentors. I also realized that I could share my voice on Twitter, where lots of policy conversations happen. Through Twitter, I pushed myself to get more involved in conversations about policy and being a public activist- scholar.

DR: Where do you picture yourself in 20 years?

I want to be doing more political education as it relates to engaging people of color in food systems policy and governance. Long term, I definitely want to be doing more transnational work between the U.S. and D.R. I am always learning from one of my greatest inspirations - Saudi Garcia and Ysanet Batista about connecting our food justice work to doing decolonial work in the D.R. I also really want to buy my grandmother’s land in the D.R., where I grew up on weekends watching the plantains growing and getting my first taste of agriculture. I want to keep my Dominican roots.

Being a Poll Worker during COVID-19

Tell us about yourself. I am a microbiologist and science communicator with a Ph.D. in microbiology who lives in Bethesda, Maryland. I work for the American Society for Microbiology to help connect scientists to the latest information on COVID-19 and the virus SARS-CoV-2. I am also a volunteer on ESAL’s social media team.

What did you do? I volunteered as a poll worker for the first time for the 2020 general election. Many typical poll workers are older individuals. Through my work on the COVID-19 Research Registry, I knew this group would be at high-risk for the disease and may not work on Election Day. Since voting is integral to our democracy, I wanted to make sure there were enough poll workers on Election Day to ensure everyone could vote.

Rachel Burckhardt

What happened? I never worked an election—or even voted in Maryland at that point—so the training really helped me learn about the local process. Because of COVID-19, there were fewer polling locations but residents could go anywhere in the county to vote. That meant our polling location could serve voters from any of the 251 precincts in the county, with each precinct having its own ballot.

On Election Day, I checked that each voter had the correct paper ballot and explained how to fill out the ballot correctly. COVID-19 precautions meant everyone had to wear a mask and there were Plexiglas dividers between the voter and myself. Yet, even with everyone wearing a mask, I could still see the joy in each voter’s face as they went off to cast their ballot. It was great to see all the people come out and vote in spite of a pandemic.

What did you learn? Before this election, I never thought about how much work it takes to prepare for and hold an election. But after hours of pre-election training online and in-person, as well as time devoted to set-up and tear-down, I now have a greater appreciation for anyone who volunteers to help make elections happen. Our chief judges (the experienced volunteers who ‘run’ the polling location) ensured that everything went smoothly and kept our spirits up and made the long day fun. Plus, this was a great opportunity to meet other volunteers from the community and learn more about local events. I am already looking forward to volunteering in 2022!

I think my favorite part was witnessing the results of science in action. I read about COVID-19 and the virus that causes the disease every day, but I do not see the impact of the science in people’s lives daily. Seeing the information about masks and transmission put into action to ensure voter safety was really inspiring. As scientists, we want to make sure what we learn helps others. By wearing a mask and practicing good hand hygiene, we can put into practice the knowledge of science and protect each other and our community.

Drinkable, Fishable, Swimmable: Yadkin Riverkeeper Promotes Water Usage for Everyone

Although originally hailing from Boone, North Carolina, Brian Fannon spent 11 formative years as a biologist in Alaskan marine fisheries before returning to his home state to pursue a graduate education. Earning a PhD in geography in 2015, Fannon studied the effects of river geomorphology on the landscape. His background positioned him perfectly to step into the role of “Riverkeeper” at Yadkin Riverkeeper, a non-profit based in Winston-Salem. Field scientists like Fannon monitor, advocate for, and protect the health of the 7,000 square mile Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin and the 200-mile-long Yadkin-Pee Dee River. Fannon spoke with ESAL about the intersection of management and ecology as Yadkin’s Riverkeeper.

CK: What’s unique about Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin in terms of its ecology and management history?

Fannon: In one word: poor. The management has been poor. Yadkin River was settled fairly early in the colonial period, the early- to mid-1700’s with European-style agriculture. They farmed in the only way they knew, and their practices created a tremendous amount of erosion. A lot of this land has loose soils, and the heavy plowing churned it up. The Pee Dee River and most of the Piedmont Rivers, which were documented as being fairly clear even after heavy rains, developed a huge legacy of sediment load, and that load is still working its way through the river. Heavy agriculture, unfortunately, was continued up until the late 1800’s with cotton and tobacco. It didn't really change until the Dust Bowl era when farming changed to be a little less damaging. But at that point it had 150 years’ worth of sediment in it, and it'll probably take 150 years to let that move through the system and come out.

It’s referred to locally as the Mighty Muddy Yadkin. In the late 1800s, a comment was made that was too thick to drink and too thin to plow. There’s a lot of legacy sediment working through there and that's impacted the form of the river and also the ecology of the river. A lot of the focus on management now is on preventing more sediment from coming in and also from nutrient overloading from agricultural and urban runoff.

CK: How many people rely on the Yadkin River Basin?

Brian Fannon collects a sample of river water.

Fannon: Somewhere between 800,000 and a million people get their drinking water from it. A lot of industry relies on it. Agriculture relies on the water for irrigation and there's a growing industry in river sports, especially in some of the rural counties that can use any industry they can get. Thirty years ago, the Yadkin was a pretty messy river to be in and there wasn't a lot of kayaking or canoeing. Now, on a summer day, you can watch 150 people putting in boats at some of the access areas.

CK: What is Yadkin Riverkeeper and what are its major goals?

Fannon: Our slogan is: drinkable, fishable, swimmable water for everyone. And our goal is to maintain high water quality in the Yadkin River Basin. Yadkin Riverkeeper works to address threats to the river posed by long-term chemical contamination, coal ash storage, extreme weather events, climate change, and sprawl, while redoubling our efforts to protect the Yadkin River’s vulnerable floodplains, tributaries, and river access points.

CK: How does it achieve those goals?

Fannon: We work to encourage best management practices with agriculture. We work with cities on runoff control and sanitary sewer systems. And we occasionally are involved in lawsuits. Those are not our first choice, but sometimes that's our only choice involving industry to prevent contamination.

Right now, one of our big emerging issues are the PFAS and PFOS compounds, which are known as “forever” chemicals. There’s probably another legacy issue that will grow out of that even though those are generally only 20 or 30 years old. Given that they don't degrade, they are something that we're watching become a problem. One of the other river basins had a DuPont plant that produced a lot of these PFAS compounds. And that was upstream of the city of Wilmington’s drinking water supply. They started testing the water and found that the levels are extremely high and that triggered more testing across the state. We found them to some degree almost everywhere we've looked.

We also work with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality on harmful algal blooms because we're seeing an uptake in those as our weather pattern is starting to show some changes. We're getting longer, hotter summers and we're getting more harmful algal blooms throughout the state and here in the Yadkin River Basin.

CK: What are some successful past projects that have been completed with Yadkin?

Fannon: We were involved with the statewide push with other Riverkeepers and other groups to have coal ash pits cleaned up. Early this year, the state announced that they had come to an agreement that Duke Power was actually going to clean them up and remove them rather than cap them. That was a huge shared success. I don't think anybody expected a ruling that would have called for excavating all of them, so it was a happy day.

This problem with coal ash pits goes back probably 15 years, even before the creation of this organization in North Carolina. It was really brought to light about 10 years ago when one of the coal ash ponds blew out a side and drained into the Dan River, and flooded the river with coal ash. There was some cleanup, but in the end Duke Energy said that it simply wasn't practical or feasible to actually clean it all up. That drove a lot of interest in the issue because basically they had admitted that if there was a spill, there wasn't much they could do about it.

CK: Can you tell me about past or current projects your team is undertaking?

Fannon: One project that we just finished was working with a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. We spent about four years putting together what we call a “Roadmap to a Cleaner Yadkin,” which pinpoints some of the most vulnerable areas and some of the areas that are the easiest to fix in terms of runoff control. This work has been distributed to quite a few areas, including the State, and has gotten really good feedback. The goal was to look at the problem, then come up with some realistic solutions to it -- some places to start. This will hopefully be incorporated into the new basin-wide plan, which should be out sometime next year from the State. So that's the one that we just finished that I'm also very proud of.

An ongoing project that will probably never go away is nutrient loading, primarily from runoff. We have a huge number of concentrated animal feeding operations in this basin. We have just under a thousand chicken farms with anywhere from two to 16 houses, with each house containing about 86,000 chickens over the course of the year. North Carolina is a huge chicken producer, which means we also are a huge chicken litter producer, and all of that has to go somewhere. That's an ongoing project with no end in sight, trying to balance environmental needs with economies in rural counties. It is not an easy thing to do.

CK: What future opportunities for improved management does Yadkin have? And what challenges?

Fannon: Better regulation of our chicken litter. Right now there are very few regulations in North Carolina, as far as with what happens with the litter. It's deemed to be basically a fertilizer range spread on farm fields. Unfortunately, once it rains, the bacteria level and the nutrient level just shoots through the roof. There needs to be a set of guidelines as far as how it's spread, when it's spread, and the amount of spread because in some cases we see it basically just being spread on hayfields to get rid of it. There are also long-term consequences because the chicken litter is high in copper and zinc. We're starting to see a few farm fields in the upper watershed showing signs of heavy metal poisoning and poor growth. So I would like to get better state regulation, but I’d settle for any regulation at this point because that’s probably the single biggest issue where we could have a difference in water quality.

Scientists as Citizens: Getting Involved in Local Government

On September 30, ESAL and the Ecological Society of America co-hosted a webinar on “Scientists as Citizens: Getting Involved with Local Government.” The event featured ESAL volunteers Kendra Zamzow, an environmental chemist in Alaska, and Chris Jackson, a PhD candidate at UC Berkeley. Together, they made the case for how scientists can impact city, county, and state policy and presented time-tested strategies for doing so.

Using examples taken from ESAL’s blog as well as from their own personal experiences, Zamzow and Jackson showcased three pathways to local impact: 1) Policy advocacy; 2) Government service; 3) Expert guidance.

For successful models of policy advocacy, we look to Kathryn Kundrod and Mary Natoli, graduate students at Rice University, who led the effort to improve cycling and pedestrian safety at a dangerous intersection in Houston. At the borough level in Alaska, environmental planner Frankie Barker demonstrated how to use local ordinance to ensure clear fish passages. In California, our speaker Jackson himself has been studying how electric vehicle infrastructure can be designed to maximize social equity.

Government service typically requires a more sustained commitment, but one which comes with a commensurate amount of reward. Ecologist Allison Smith is often the only biologist at the table in her job overseeing contaminated “brownfields” for the city of Louisville, Kentucky. In Oakridge, Tennessee, engineer Robert Kennedy III plays a leading role on his city’s Environmental Quality Advisory Board. And in Washington, D.C. microbiologist Ian Simon started off as a neighborhood volunteer but has since become an elected local commissioner.

Scientists, of course, also serve key functions by providing expert guidance to policymakers. Philip Higuera, associate professor in fire ecology at the University of Montana, is one such example, who spearheaded workshops that brought together land managers and community leaders. Zamzow also presented two case studies she was involved with in Alaska: first, she served on a state technical working group advising on water quality in fishable waters; second, Zamzow helped assess the environmental risks of mining exploration activity.

Finally, for scientists out there who are ready to get engaged, Zamzow and Jackson highlighted the step-by-step guides that ESAL has developed as part of its Local Engagement Playbook. These guides walk you through how to advocate for policy in your state legislature or how to join a local board or commission, and more.

The takeaway from this webinar: motivated scientists can have a large impact at the local level.

A recording of the webinar is available through the Ecological Society of America.

Neurobiologist Promotes Shared Governance to Relieve Education Inequities

Ashton Powell is a biology instructor at the North Carolina School of Science & Mathematics and elected member of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education. After earning his bachelor’s in neuroscience and a PhD in neurobiology, Powell became a Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Fellow. There, he became immersed in science policy, a field that informs the courses he teaches today. In both his teaching and public service, Powell is focused on how shared governance can help improve equity and mental health issues. ESAL interviewed Powell about his nonpartisan path to applying his science background to science education and policy.

DR: How did your training in science shape your path?

Powell: When I was going through graduate school, I didn’t know exactly why I wanted to be there. The niches that grad school prepares you for tend to be narrow. I felt like I was being trained for academia, but not for any other career options. And, of course, there is no guarantee of becoming an academic principal investigator (PI), even if you choose that route.

I was lucky because my advisor at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill School of Medicine – Franck Polleux – was a fantastic PI who let me try things to diversify my experience. I became interested in translational science – the interface of scientific research with medicine. I wanted to explore how science gets applied to help humans. I sought experiences after graduate school that dealt with the interactions of science, people, and policy.

Ashton Powell

DR: What opportunities did you find?

Powell: I did a fellowship at the Duke Genome Ethics, Law, & Policy Center, where I became aware of ethical issues in science, such as those associated with genetic diagnoses, amniocentesis, and fetal reduction. And I also went to Washington, D.C. as a National Academies Mirzayan Science & Technology Fellow. I worked on the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law, during the anthrax scare, and even attended Supreme Court hearings. These experiences highlighted other ways to use scientific training.

DR: Did that solidify your interests outside academia and help propel you onto your current path?

Powell: They did! But at first I decided to apply to law school, thinking it would give me a place to work on bioethics and other legal aspects of biology. I had to apply locally, because my wife was still at the University of North Carolina, and it happened to be a popular year for law school applications. I didn’t get in! Ultimately, it freed me for the work I do now. But, in the interim I was out of work, with a child on the way.

DR: Ouch! What changed?

Powell: I saw a teaching job open at the North Carolina School of Science & Mathematics (NCSSM). I was entering with no experience teaching high school students or any real intention to do so, but the job was perfect for me. I caught the teaching bug and passion for fostering science literacy.

DR: Tell me more about what makes it a great fit for you.

Powell: It is a public boarding school for 11-12th graders from all over the state. The school is not managed by the North Carolina Department of Instruction – rather by UNC, which gives us complete academic freedom. All the teachers have advanced degrees. I teach not only science, but science policy. It taps into the very things I had been interested in when I applied to law school. I love having the opportunity to show students the importance of science for a whole variety of careers – whether they go into research, or become judges, or coaches, the many ways science is relevant.

DR: What sort of student body do you teach now?

Powell: Talented students with a serious interest in science and math. Admission to the NCSSM is competitive, and it’s hard for students to be away from home. So, I helped change the admissions guidelines to ascertain that students genuinely want to be there, not because of parental pressure. Still, today’s high school students face tremendous pressures to perform.

DR: How can you address that through your work?

Powell: First and foremost, by respecting the students and treating every kid fairly. And I have also become an advocate for shared governance to make change at a higher level. I was elected Faculty Senate president of the school, allowing me to engage the school leadership in creating respectful working relationships between administration, faculty, and staff. Shared governance builds trust and supports better decision-making. It’s important to have mechanisms in place to hear from students, staff, employees, and families.

DR: Does your interest in shared governance extend beyond the high school?

Powell: Yes, in fact I was the first high school faculty member ever appointed to the UNC Faculty Assembly. It gave me the opportunity to talk with faculty about how students were doing in college, reinforcing my concerns about student mental health. The Assembly is also a model for shared governance. I had built a relationship with university administrators and faculty, including the chancellor. Serving on the Assembly, I mobilized an agenda of improved relationship-building through questioning and listening.

DR: Is that what led to your running for the Chapel Hill School Board last year?

Powell: Yes, as my term ended on the Assembly, I wanted to continue to play a role in governance and figuring how to include people in collaborative processes. I was in a unique position because, typically, a teacher in Chapel Hill would not be allowed to serve on the Board of Education. But, because of the autonomy of the NCSSM, I could run. I invested just $600 in a campaign and was surprised to win.

DR: From a Board of Education perspective, is there a specific shared governance system you recommend?

Powell: I would not advocate for a specific system, rather just systematically listening to various groups across our district and allow it to influence our decision-making. Without a system in place, there is a communication vacuum and you won’t actually know how everything is going in class. Working with PTAs, we must find ways to include more diverse families in decision making. Otherwise, how can you reasonably make decisions on behalf of the school district?

DR: What are your personal priorities for your School Board service?

Powell: Shared governance, mental health, and equity. We have one of the largest achievement gaps in the country. The pandemic has especially revealed the underlying inequities. Our public-school options should be competitive with other options; students that choose private school should not get a huge advantage. While it was not my motivation for running, I also help that it will inspire other teachers to run. Teacher perspectives are generally not well-represented across North Carolina, yet are invaluable for a successful school district. Just as having faculty at the table when decisions are made for universities, having teachers at the table ensures that their voices are heard and that they are informed about how decisions are made.

DR: What advice would you give to other scientists looking to make a difference in their community or state?

Powell: Don’t be afraid of failure. You know how often experiments don’t work, but you still do them. You’ve been trained to fail and move on! If you aren’t using that aspect of your training, then you’re not making full use of what you’ve learned.

Thriving Earth Exchange: Connecting Scientists and Communities

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a global nonprofit that supports 130,000 enthusiasts and experts worldwide in Earth and space science. ESAL spoke with Kelly McCarthy, the education and communications manager who works for the Thriving Earth Exchange – a program of AGU – to find out more about their work with local communities and scientists.

RD: Can you tell us a bit about the program?

McCarthy: AGU’s Thriving Earth Exchange connects communities with scientists and supports them as they work together to tackle local challenges related to natural hazards, natural resources, and climate change. We have over 150 community science projects that are active or complete. They are usually 6-18 months long – that enables a short-term target to be met and supports the development of a long-term relationship. The program is built on the philosophy that all communities – including municipal groups, grassroots organizations, tribal governance, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and any group of people with shared values – should have access to science. The work is truly about partnership and collaboration where science is an essential tool, but not the sole driving force of a project.

RD: How are these collaborations put together?

McCarthy: In our approach communities and scientists do science together – that includes defining questions, designing protocols, and collecting or analyzing data – and it is always guided by community knowledge and potential for local impact. We regularly put announcements out for community applicants through a variety of channels to join an upcoming initiative. We launch projects together as a cohort, often around a particular theme or focus and sometimes with collaborating parties. For example, we’re currently accepting applications from community leaders to start projects with us as part of a collaboration with the American Meteorological Society and Association for Science and Technology Centers that will launch in 2021. Community leaders who join any given cohort are matched with a project manager (an extension of Thriving Earth Exchange staff and member of our Community Science Fellows program) and that person will help scope out a project plan and recruit volunteer scientists from our network to join the team. This enables an exchange of knowledge between the community, scientists, and our broader network.

RD: What is the community science fellows’ program?

McCarthy: As a companion to the cohort model for community leaders, for each upcoming initiative we launch a new cohort of community science fellows. A community science fellow is a volunteer from any background, from any career stage, who serves as a connector and a project manager, working in companionship with the community leaders. Along with participating in regular professional development from Thriving Earth Exchange, each fellow is partnered with a community leader and serves as that community’s project manager, guiding the team through the Thriving Earth Exchange process. Together the community leader and fellow scope a project plan. Then, the fellow will help match the project to a scientist from our network. Once the scientist is on board, the team moves into the “solve phase” of their project – at this phase, the community leader and scientist work in tandem to implement their plan.

RD: Could you provide an example of how the program has facilitated projects between the scientists and communities?

McCarthy: One of our community leaders was an educator in Chollas Creek, which is a neighborhood in San Diego. She was interested in getting local decision-makers to recognize how polluted and dangerous a local creek bed was that her students and their families walked by every day on their way to school. They partnered with us and we matched them with scientists in the California region. They were then able to work together and include the students in designing a way to safely track the trash in the creek bed over time. Over the course of a year they collected data and created visuals that they could present to local decision makers and set up a mechanism for long term monitoring of the creekbed that will continue long after the community’s participation with Thriving Earth Exchange. They shared their methodology to help other educators and communities who are facing similar challenges.

RD: What are the challenges faced by your program?

McCarthy: As this is a volunteer-based organization, on some occasions a project team will need to rescope their original plan, either due to costs, or the broad nature of their original scope. The team might recognize that they need to segment their project into multiple phases to achieve the intended impact, which might require bringing additional scientific partners on board at different points. The silver lining of that is we have a growing network of scientists who are willing to partner with the local communities! We have also seen some challenges and creative solutions to partnerships between communities and scientists in the wake of the global pandemic, when a lot of work had to shift to a remote set-up.

RD: What has the impact of the work been?

McCarthy: To date, we have supported projects in communities where over 17 million people live, and the impacts are still being revealed. Local impacts range by project: that might look like improved stormwater infrastructure resulting from a community science partnership, a grassroots group being able to better explain the potential risks of a nearby mining operation to public officials, or completion of an independent air or water quality study that contributed to a larger public health assessment. Often projects involve local efforts to mitigate climate change such as informing solutions to address extreme temperatures or new innovations for flood mitigation. The impact on a local level varies, but as the network of projects grows, and with the addition of our community science fellows, we have been able to support over 150 projects. One of the biggest impacts echoed in feedback from our participants is the network that allows community leaders to not feel alone.

RD: What have you learned about how local governments leveraged expertise?

McCarthy: Our projects range in terms of the level of policy engagement – we’ve got some projects that are really involved at the grassroots level, and their work with scientists is helping guide some of the conversations those people are having with city or county officials. For example, one of our communities recently partnered with several scientists through the Thriving Earth Exchange to put together recommendations for county officials deliberating over the expansion of an industrial facility. In other cases, the city is more deeply involved in the partnership with Thriving Earth Exchange scientists – in one case our community leader is also a city official working on a project to support her city’s climate goals in Utah. One community was recognized by the state of Virginia for their work on flood mitigation with a Virginia House Resolution! While those are some good examples of cities welcoming the expertise of scientists from the beginning, in some cases, partnership with institutions via the scientists can help to expedite some of the efforts from the community, especially when it comes to grassroots efforts.

RD: How can scientists engage as experts more effectively with the local communities?

McCarthy: I think just being open and getting to know the community leaders in their areas! It often comes down to building relationships and listening. After hearing what your community’s priorities are, ask what in your expertise might you contribute? Scientists can consider how their expertise might align with those community priorities, rather than figuring out how to include the community leaders in the research that they are doing.

RD: How can scientists get involved?

McCarthy: We are always looking for new scientists! Scientists can join our community science network and subscribe to our newsletter to receive regular updates on new projects seeking a scientific partner. Interested scientists can also look directly at our list of projects actively searching for a scientific partner and reach out if they are interested in working with us. Folks can connect with us at www.thrivingearthexchange.org or on Twitter @thrivingearth.

Science, Technology, and the Vote: Securing the Integrity of Elections

As we approach the beginning of November, the upcoming presidential election is on the front page of newspapers, as well as on the front of many Americans’ minds. On Monday, October 12, ESAL co-hosted a virtual panel discussion with the AAAS Center for Scientific Evidence in Public Issues which featured guest speakers who work at the intersection of science, technology, and the elections. I had the pleasure of moderating the event, where we learned more about the panelists’ work, and how science and technology can be used to help ensure the fairness, integrity, and security of the voting process.

Juan Gilbert, a professor in the Information Science and Engineering Department at the University of Florida, spoke about how he became inspired to get involved in election work during the controversial Florida recount in 2000. Since then, he has created a number of technologies to improve the voting process. For example, he and his lab built the first accessible open source voting system, called Prime III, which is now used for elections in multiple states. He’s also working on a number of designs that haven’t been implemented yet, but that could help to improve the accessibility and security of the voting process, such as video-based identification and remote voting systems.

Gilbert also explained the importance of paper ballots, and why voting can never be done completely online. He compared it to something like online banking, where we have the ability to confirm what happens on the other side, noting, “If I put a dollar in my account I can go verify the dollar actually showed up. In voting the intentional design is that you cannot have that connection. Your ballot is private. You cannot tie a human being to a ballot. It’s supposed to be completely anonymized.”

Jennifer Morrell, a partner at The Elections Group and a nationally recognized expert in election auditing, focused on her work with risk-limiting audits, or RLAs -- a form of auditing that takes into account how many ballots must be verified to achieve statistical confidence, based on the margin of error. She explained how RLAs work, and why they are important for detecting voting system errors, improving accountability, deterring fraud, and assuring that votes are issued, counted, and reported accurately. She also covered other types of audits that can help elected officials think about topics like resource allocation or the layout of voting equipment, which are particularly important this year to ensure safe and efficient elections during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another important issue that Morrell touched on was the security measures that ensure the integrity of ballots submitted via dropboxes. These include an inspection process of the boxes themselves, as well as several steps of ballot verification using features like the signature, watermark or QR code, and even the size and weight of the ballot paper, which make them incredibly hard to fraudulently replicate. She emphasized that there’s no silver bullet: “It’s layers of security, layers of vetting, layers of review, and layers of validation that provide the integrity that the election.”

Thomas Beatty, a faculty member at the University of Arizona’s Department of Astronomy, spoke about his work on advocating for fair districting. Unlike the other two panelists, Beatty’s work on the election is something he does on the side of his professional career as an astronomer. He highlighted the important role that scientists and engineers can play in local government by bringing their technical expertise and perspectives to policy issues. He also discussed how people with STEM backgrounds can get involved without having to reorient their career. “Just showing up is a major part,” he noted.

His message resonated with many of the audience members, who wanted to know how they could get involved in election issues in either volunteer or professional capacities. The panelists brought up a variety of opportunities such as attending city council meetings, volunteering for a campaign, and reaching out to local election offices. They also discussed the growing need for skills such as data analysis, software design, project management, and even adult education.

As a final thought, Morrell noted that there will be a lot of lessons learned with this election, which will create an opportunity to bring in new people and new ideas. She expressed optimism that the next generation of students and young professionals can improve the voting process in the coming years, and help ensure that we “maintain this thing called democracy in a way that serves everybody, and in a way that we can validate or ensure the integrity of the process.”

A video recording of the event is available on YouTube. For more information, please see the links and resources shared by the panelists.