This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
“As we peer into society’s future, we—you and I, and our government—must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage.”—Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address to the Nation, January 17, 1961
Political leaders have long invoked the grandchildren of tomorrow when speaking of the need to protect the environment. We are those grandchildren, and we are here now.
We have fearfully witnessed the political polarization of environmental issues—fundamental human issues that affect the health, livelihood, families, and dreams of all Americans. As our representatives decide on the future of environmental health protections, we must address the very real, but preventable, issues burdening communities in this country. These are stories of today:
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Families lost everything when Superstorm Sandy decimated their homes in Queens, NY in 2012. When heavily damagedpublic transportation shut down and obstructed work commutes, they struggled to get back on their feet. Neighbors with homes still standing went months without power, and years later face chronic respiratory illness due to mold exposures from water damage. Coastal communities like these will struggle to recover for years and will experience more extreme weather events in the future due to climate change.
Health-conscious consumers strive to buy “safe” and “natural” soaps, cosmetics, and other products. They trust these products for their labels, but don’t realize that even “non-toxic” nail polishes still contain toxic or otherwise unstudied chemicals. They don’t suspect that their “BPA-Free” reusable water bottle now simply contains a different, but strikingly similar, ingredient toxic to reproductive health: BPS. And they don’t know that most of the receipts they touch daily are not free of BPA. The health of consumers, as well as their future children, depends on a strengthening of regulation of chemicals in cosmetics and consumer products.
Farmers’ livelihoods and trans-generational relationships with Mother Nature hinge on the quality of the land and the weather. Recently, unpredictable rain patterns have forced farmers to endure potential crop damages from droughts or floods in any given year. Changing temperature patterns have altered the growing season and accommodated new pathogens, insects, and weeds that harm crops and animals. Because of these environmental challenges, farmers struggle to maintain their farms’ viability, adopt sustainable agricultural practices, and ensure the food security of their customers.
Residents of many towns with aging infrastructures do not suspect lead contamination of their drinking water or the indoor buildup of harmful pollutants from local traffic. They do not realize that their children’s stomachaches, learning difficulties, and asthma attacks are related to a toxic home, a place expected to be safe and free of such hazards. Many parents now prepare for the possibility of irreversible cognitive impairment and chronic disease in their children.
Native American tribes and environmental justice advocates recently traveled to Standing Rock to show solidarity with fellow clean water protectors over the Dakota Access Pipeline. They peacefully protested the unjust disregard of indigenous people’s water quality and health in the name of oil—a fuel of the past, not the future. Many were appalled to watch scenes of abuse and protests that evoked histories, lifetimes earlier, of the violations of their ancestors’ rights to safe, uncontaminated water. Native American water protectors and their ancestors envisioned the country moving forward in history, not backward.
The environment shapes millions of lives all across America. As trivial party politics obstruct urgently needed action on environmental health, real people experience real consequences. Health is a human right, not a partisan issue.
Our future is tightly intertwined with the actions or inactions that the government takes on environmental public health. To our current political leaders, we ask you to not shy away from dialogue about our environmental challenges. We ask you to advocate for a governmental foundation of environmental health protection that can catalyze problem-solving on these rising health issues. We ask you to defend our present and our future as you prepare to pass the baton to us.
As future leaders, we promise to pick up that baton, and run. We will sprint towards the finish line, faster and stronger than ever before. We are fiercely and passionately learning the science and equipping ourselves with the necessary tools so that we can deliver on the promise of a healthy future for our generation and those to come. We will get involved, we will stay involved, and we will strive forward. Because there is no other option. We are the future, and we are here now.
The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Joseph Allen, Assistant Professor of Exposure Assessment Science at the Harvard Chan School, for his mentorship and support
Co-signed by current students at universities across the U.S. in fields covering environmental health, public health, toxicology, epidemiology, medicine, and science:
Boston University
Kathryn Veale, Massachusetts
Lindsey Butler, Massachusetts
Samuel Williams, New Hampshire
Devashri Salvi, Massachusetts
Emma V. Preston, Massachusetts
Columbia University
Alexandra O Hunt, North Carolina
Cassandra Shah, Illinois
David Cuervo, Texas
Sonia Dattaray, California
Christina Olbrantz, Wisconsin
Carisse C. Hamlet, New York
Cassandra Trickett, California
Alexandra Schulte, Georgia
Margaret Rice, Wisconsin
Sarah Kramer, Tennessee
Ragini Kathail, California
Kyle Colonna, Pennsylvania
James Deats, New York
Amy Galvan, Texas
Nicole Comfort, Massachusetts
Katrina Lu, New York
Mayra Cruz, Texas
Shanna Keown, New York
Leah Hargarten, Wisconsin
Shanlai Shangguan, Massachusetts
Myla Ramirez, New Jersey
Adriana Garcia, Pennsylvania
Joseline Cruz Vasquez, New York
Tiffany Zau, New York
Eliza Little, Connecticut
George Washington University
Ans Irfan, Virginia
Brenda Trejo, Idaho
El'gin Avila, Michigan
Harvard University
David Rainey, Idaho
Bora Plaku-Alakbarova, Massachusetts
Jie Yin, Massachusetts
Yingshuo Zhang, Massachusetts
Andrew Shapero, California
Kelvin Fong, Canada
Xindi Hu, Massachusetts
May Woo, California
Sarah Coppola, New Jersey
Lacy Reyna, Illinois
Sebastian Rowland, Maryland
Alexander Wu, Texas
Man Liu, China
Erika Eitland, Connecticut
Longxiang Li, China
Anna Iokheles, Massachusetts
Skylar Klager, Florida
Annelise, Massachusetts
Hannah Laue, New Hampshire
Rachel Cluett, New York
Ariane Dumas, Florida
New York University
Laura A. Gladson, Washington
Anthony Murphy, New Jersey
Md Mostafijur Rahman, Bangladesh
Nicholas F. Lawrence, Massachusetts
Kirtan Kaur, New York
North Carolina State University
Stephanie Eytcheson, South Carolina
Princeton University
Jane Baldwin, Connecticut
Rutgers University
Kate Annunziato, Massachusetts
Kyle Saitta, Pennsylvania
Nirmala Thomas, India
University of Arizona
Isaac Cisneros, Arizona
Montserrat Rojo de la Vega, Arizona
University of California, Davis
Jacklyn Kelty, California
Esther Kukielka, California
Kelley T. Patten, California
Madeline Gottlieb, Connecticut
Jacqueline Barkoski, Michigan
Amanda Berrian, California
Caitlin French, California
University of Cincinnati
Courtney Ogle, Ohio
Josh Baugh, Indiana
University of Colorado Boulder
David Pfotenhauer, Wisconsin
Katherine McQuie, Colorado
Sierra Flori, Colorado
Sarah Vander Meulen, Colorado
University of Iowa
Jess Beswick-Honn, Iowa
Alyson Gray, Ohio
Ezazul Haque, New York
Jaymie R. Voorhees, Illinois
Jessica Ricchio, Illinois
Nicole Brandon, California
Abigail Tompkins, North Carolina
Audrey Tran Lam, Iowa
Karen Thornton, Iowa
University of Memphis
Zhuqing Xue, Tennessee
Terri Ledsinger, Tennessee
Fariha Sultana, Bangladesh
University of Michigan
Grace van Velden, Michigan
Brandon Reid, Michigan
Christopher Schaitkin, Pennsylvania
Grace Kuan, Michigan
University of New Mexico
Tasmin Naila, Bangladesh
Tamara Young, Jamaica
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Justin Hart, Michigan
Anne E Corrigan, Virginia
Kristin Reed, North Carolina
University of Pennsylvania
Anne Gonzalez, Arkansas
Sara Labrum, Pennsylvania
University of Southern California
Jeniffer Kim, California
University of Texas at El Paso
Isabel D. Aguirre, Texas
Monica Amaton, Texas
University of Washington
Josi Herron, Montana
Trevor Peckham, California
Katie Fellows, Washington
Ryan Babadi, California
Matthew Schneider, Washington
Miriam Calkins, Massachusetts
Caroline Johnson, North Carolina
Saori Kitabatake, Japan
Chris Boyer, North Carolina
Rachel M. Shaffer, Georgia
Washington State University
Tegan Horan, Washington
Yale University
Christina Bui, California
Duane Bean, Michigan