24. Designing for Complementarity among Programs Generating Environmental and Health Information

Pre-Breakout Session Discussion Notes

BREAKOUT SESSION SUMMARY AND AGENDA

Thursday, February 1, 2007, from 1:30-5:00 pm

Session Chair: 
Sidney Draggan, Ph.D. Ecologist, Science and Science Policy Advisor. karhu@peoplepc.com , 202.484.7375


Discussants:
Dr. Caryl Waggett, Pennsylvania Consortium on Intedisciplinary Environmental Policy, Program on Human Health and Environment, Allegheny College.

Ms. Gladys Cotter, Associate Chief Biologist. U.S. Geological Survey.

Dr. Stan Morain, Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico.

Dr. William Sprigg, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, University of Arizona.

     Our awareness—and our understanding, management and stewardship—of our health and our environment depends substantially on observations and measurements (referred to generally as monitoring). These observations and measurements provide the data and information associated with the wide-ranging research, operational and infrastructure activities associated with gauging the pulse of ourselves and of our surroundings.

Discussion:
     For a variety of motivations, a substantial number and variety of scientific and technical disciplines are asked to generate data and information directly and indirectly usable for purposes of monitoring for assessment and for supporting decisionmaking. These disciplines range, for example, from surveys of groundwater or of bear populations to the measurement of various chemical substances in the human body or in the air, soil and water. Additionally, the economic, social and information sciences generate data and information that lend context to monitoring (for example, witness the growing power of geographical information systems.) Currently, there is growing recognition of—and action to resolve—the longstanding, inherent disconnections among the interdisciplinary [1], spatial [2], temporal [3] and decisionmaking [4] dimensions that exist over the wide spectrum of monitoring for assessment activities.

The potential for monitoring—writ large—is limited only by our ability to pose relevant questions about what, where, when or how much. This data and information forms the basis of assessments that prove useful in supporting decisions by stakeholders. Armed with monitoring information, these stakeholders can pose the more specific why and what now questions—to chart and guide their management of human and environmental resources, and their stewardship of the ecological, economic and social systems that constitute the biogeosphere. The spectrum of stakeholders ranges from heads of state or of environmental or health agencies to farmers, private sector managers, consumers and individuals with a need-to-know.

This monitoring landscape, obviously, is a complicated scene with its inputs from different scientific and technical specialties, questions from diverse interested parties, and a variety of options for addressing problems and issues, or for capitalizing on opportunities. Recognizing that monitoring needs and data and information reside within fluid and expansive spatial and temporal dimensions makes the practice of monitoring all the more complex. For example, at a local level of spatial resolution a corn farmer in Iowa shares with a regional disaster manager—and with the head of a national health and human services agency—a real need for weather and climate information gleaned from meteorology. Or, the chief executive officer of a major food company shares with a new mother the need to know about pesticide or microbiological food contaminants. In each case, different questions can arise and there well may be gaps in what information and data generated by monitoring is available. Can such information collected by, for example, the World Meteorological Organization be used in answering a question in Iowa? Or, can data on microbiological contamination in California foodstuffs inform health departments and consumers in Florida and New York? Can there be an ideal situation where monitoring data and information are collected once, and used in a variety of situations? That is, can we measure once:use many?

Currently, the answer is a qualified no. But, on the plus side, the question is being asked by a growing number of stakeholders and monitoring practitioners. There is a growing effort to design for complementarity among monitoring programs; in particular, those that generate environmental and health data and information.  This Breakout Session is designed to explore and discuss how to advance this need.

Outcome: 
We expect to produce a single page of science-based recommendations (ideally, no more than 6-10) that articulate workable, defensible and credible actions that can establish a roadmap for interlacing disparate information for greatest value in protecting human health and enhancing environmental stewardship.

Agenda:

1:30 – 2:00        Welcome, Sidney Draggan
                        Participant Introductions, All (Name, Title and Affiliation)
                        Review of Ground Rules, Roles, Session Agenda
                        Session Issue Overview

2:00 – 2:45        Discussant Presentations (10 minutes each plus a few minutes questions
                            -Dr. Caryl Waggett, Allegheny College, Pennsylvania Consortium on Intedisciplinary Environmental Policy, Program on Human Health and Environment.
                            -Ms. Gladys Cotter, Associate Chief Biologist. U.S. Geological Survey.

2:45 –3:30         “Around-the-Room” Discussion

3:30 – 3:45        Identify Workable Next Steps, with Priorities

3:45 – 4:00        Break

4:00 – 4:30        Continue Discussion, Articulate Recommendations

4:30 – 4:45        Finish Discussion, Adjourn

Further Reading:

Pre-Breakout Session Discussion Notes

Finding the Forest in the Trees:  The Challenge of Combining Diverse Environmental Data
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/4896.html

Environmental Health Indicators: Bridging the Chasm of Public Health and the Environment
[Workshop Summary (2004)]
http://newton.nap.edu/books/0309092655/html/

Global Perspective on Environmental Health. Environmental Health Perspectives 114 (8). August 2006
http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2006/114-8/editorial.html

Getting the Lead (Information) Out.  Online Magazine 30 (4), July/August 2006.  pp. 20-27
http://www.infotoday.com/online/jul06/index.shtml

Building Lead-Free Communities.  Reference and User Services Quarterly 44 (4), Summer 2005.  pp. 289-295.
http://www.ala.org/ala/rusa/rusapubs/rusq/contents/contents.htm