Past Webinars in the Healthy and Resilient Communities Research Series

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About Past Webinars

Closed-captioned recordings and descriptions of the webinars are provided below. Certificates of attendance cannot be provided for viewing webinar recordings.

Learn more about the Healthy and Resilient Communities Research Webinar Series

Brownfields, Gentrification, and Environmental Justice Research: Learning from Past Experiences​

Watch the Recording:  Brownfields, Gentrification, and Environmental Justice Research: Learning from Past Experiences​ (Presented on September 10, 2024)

An excavator in an empty lot scooping dirt.

This webinar summarized the findings from a three-year research project in collaboration with EPA Region 3 and Region 5. The project used case studies to investigate the types of social outcomes brownfield redevelopment has on communities, specifically measuring indicators of gentrification. The project also incorporated community engagement activities, which catalyzed further collaborations between community members and EPA. Brittany discussed these results and the exciting next steps, offering ideas for future research. ​

Presenter: Brittany Kiessling, Ph.D.

Cumulative Impacts: How Potential Flood Exposures, Resource Access, and Social Vulnerability Affect Resilience Outcomes

A photo from an aerial view of farmland and roads underwater after a flood.

Watch the Recording: How Potential Flood Exposures, Resource Access, and Social Vulnerability Affect Resilience Outcomes (Presented on June 11, 2024)

This webinar covered geospatial model development and model applications in cumulative impacts research. The presentation discussed the basic concepts and data that drive the models, as well as case studies that illustrate their utility in decision-making, goal setting and goal tracking. The research is grounded in environmental justice and resilience frameworks and is meant to connect local disparities to broader resilience outcomes, with a focus on delivering information at multiple geographic scales. ​

Presenter: Kyle Buck, Ph.D.

Social Systems and Justice in the Fifth National Climate Assessment

An illustration of hands surrounding a globe.

Watch the Recording: Social Systems and Justice in the Fifth National Climate Assessment (Presented on March 12, 2024)

Climate change impacts our health, environment, and economy, with differentiated effects on communities and peoples around the United States and the globe. Human activities have been the dominant driver of climate change and it is inextricably tied to a history of human development and decision-making from individuals to organizations to entire societies. For these reasons, we cannot fully understand or respond to current or future changes in climate without understanding the history of human organization – that is, without understanding the social systems that influence these climatic changes.

This webinar shared findings from the Fifth National Climate Assessment’s Social Systems and Justice chapter. This is the first-ever chapter to address whether and how the actions taken to create, mitigate, or adapt to climate change are expected to produce just or unjust outcomes. This webinar reviewed the chapter’s three key messages: social systems are changing the climate and distributing its impacts inequitably; social systems structure how people perceive and communicate about climate change; and climate justice is possible if processes like migration and energy transitions are equitable. It will also discuss related materials from the report’s sectoral and regional chapters.

Presenters: Keely Maxwell, Ph.D. and Emily Eisenhauer, Ph.D.

Community Action and Health Impact Assessment Research

A photo of four silhouettes at sunset. A person is picking up a child.

Watch the Recording: Community Action and Health Impact Assessment (Presented on December 12, 2023)

Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a tool designed to investigate how a proposed program, project, policy, or plan may impact health and well-being and inform decision makers of these potential outcomes before the decision is made. HIA can also be used as an approach to engage the community as a stakeholder and to coproduce recommendations to improve community health.

1. Community Action Roadmap

This presentation discussed EPA Region 5’s Community Action Roadmap, which incorporates HIA’s six steps. The Community Action Roadmap is a tool used by EPA Region 5 (serving Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and 35 Tribes) for assessing and addressing cumulative impacts through a collaborative and community-focused process with governmental and non-governmental partners.

Presenter: Saphique Thomas, M.S. 

2. Principles of Health Impact Assessment

Meaningful community engagement is critical to addressing health and well-being disparities when developing solutions to environmental problems. This presentation discussed the principles of HIA, demonstrated how HIA supports community-engaged problem formulation and research, and illustrated how conducting the health assessment can serve to integrate community knowledge into the process and foster community-based recommendations to improve community well-being outcomes.

Presenters: Joel Hoffman, Ph.D. and Katie Williams, Ph.D.

Benefits of the Environment, Revitalization, and Environmental Cleanup

Watch the Recording: Benefits of the Environment, Revitalization, and Environmental Cleanup (Presented on October 10, 2023)

Ecosystem goods and services produce the many life-sustaining benefits we receive from nature: clean air and water, fertile soil for crop production, pollination, and flood control. These ecosystem services are important to environmental and human health and to well-being; yet they are limited and often taken for granted. This webinar highlighted the approaches to assess the benefits of ecosystem services of restored biological conditions to support goal setting, inspire action, and communicate and track relevant outcomes. The case studies illustrated a transferable and adaptable framework to 1) identify relevant benefits of environmental restoration to communities, 2) identify relevant metrics and indicators of ecosystem services, 3) apply quantitative models to link changing biological conditions to ecosystem services, and 4) compare and evaluate management options.

Presenters:  Susan Yee, Ph.D. and Tammy Newcomer-Johnson, Ph.D.

Available Tools to Advance Our Understanding of Cumulative Impacts

Aerial image of a neighborhood in Chicago next to an interstate, railroad, and utilities

Watch the Recording: Available Tools to Advance Our Understanding of Cumulative Impacts (Presented on July 11, 2023)

EPA is working to improve its publicly available tools and analytical methods that help measure community assets and vulnerabilities for analyzing changes in cumulative impacts from exposure to multiple chemical stressors in environmental media (air, water, land) and non-chemical stressors, such as social determinants of health and extreme weather events. This webinar highlighted three of these tools that can be used to assist in our understanding of cumulative impacts, particularly in communities already overburdened by disproportionate impacts that can arise from unequal environmental conditions. The presentations were followed by a Q&A session.

1. Eco-Health Relationship Browser

This presentation highlighted EPA's Eco-Health Relationship Browser, a useful resource for anyone interested in nature’s positive contributions to cumulative impacts. It allows users to search through 1,200+ peer reviewed research articles using a visually dynamic web-based interface, which diagrams linkages between ecosystems, ecosystem services, and human health outcomes. An update to the tool added hundreds of articles on air quality, water quality, urban heat islands, and engagement and recreation in green spaces and resulting physical and mental health effects.

Presenter: Marc Russell, Ph.D.

2. Environmental Quality Index (EQI)

This presentation highlighted EPA’s EQI, a tool to help researchers better understand how health outcomes relate to cumulative environmental exposures that typically are viewed in isolation. It provides county-by-county snapshots of overall environmental quality data across the entire U.S. within five domains: air, water, land, built, and sociodemographic environments. It provided an overview of the EQI and a summary of the health outcome research that has been conducted to date.

Presenter: Kristen Rappazzo, Ph.D.

3. Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool (EJScreen)

This presentation highlighted EPA’s EJScreen, the Agency's publicly available, award-winning environmental justice (EJ) screening and mapping tool. It has been updated and enhanced with important improvements to better meet the needs of users and provide expanded insight into potential EJ concerns in overburdened communities. The update features new indicators on environmental burdens, socioeconomic factors, climate change, health, and critical service gaps.

Presenter: Matthew Lee, M.E.S.

Cumulative Impact Assessment: Research and Regulatory Activities at EPA

kids chase a kite while the sun sets

Watch the Recording: Cumulative Impact Assessment: Research and Regulatory Activities at EPA (Presented on March 14, 2023)

Individuals, groups, and communities are exposed to numerous chemical and non-chemical stressors found in their built, natural, and social environments (i.e., the total environment) as they go about their everyday activities. Evidence in the literature shows that environmental and social injustices drive health disparities linked to exposure to these stressors. Communities of color, low-income communities, and other underserved communities bear the brunt of these injustices and, as a result, face disproportionate health impacts.

EPA’s approach towards cumulative impacts is multi-pronged and includes engaging communities, governmental partners, and stakeholders; better understanding decision contexts; clarifying the scope of existing legal authorities; extending the consideration of environmental justice concerns in multiple regulatory and permitting contexts where such authority exists; and advancing the science of cumulative impacts to improve the Agency’s capacity in coming years.

During this webinar, the assistant administrator for research and development moderated a panel of representatives from several EPA offices working to incorporate cumulative impacts into research, policy, law, and decision making. Each panel member gave brief remarks followed by a moderated discussion and a questions and answers session with attendees. Learn about EPA's cumulative impacts research.

Presenters

  • (Moderator) Chris Frey, Office of Research and Development, Assistant Administrator for Research and Development and the Agency Science Advisor
  • Sarah Mazur, Office of Research and Development, Principal Associate National Program Director for EPA’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program
  • Charles Lee, Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, Senior Policy Advisor for Environmental Justice
  • Ann Wolverton, Office of Policy, Senior Research Economist in the National Center for Environmental Economics 
  • Helen Serassio, Office of General Counsel, Associate General Counsel for the Cross-Cutting Issues Law Office
  • Alan Walts, Region 5, Director of the Tribal and Multi-media Programs Office

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Last updated on September 12, 2024