Data: EPA Releases Updated Environmental and Public Health Indicators in Online Database
From the Environmental Protection Agency:
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released updated environmental and public health indicators in an online database, making information about the current and historical condition of the nation’s environment and human health more accessible to the public. This is an online update to EPA’s Report on the Environment.
Users can explore 85 individual indicators– on our air, water, land, human exposure, health and ecological condition– using interactive graphs, tables, and maps, and download the data for each indicator.
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Examples of environmental and public health trends include:
- Nationwide, emissions of key air pollutants have decreased between 1990 and 2011. As a result, national average ambient air concentrations of the six criteria pollutants– carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide– decreased considerably.
- Total U.S. emissions of major greenhouse gases associated with human activities increased by 6 percent from 1990 to 2013, but have decreased by 9 percent from their 2005 levels. Electricity generation continues to be the largest source of these emissions.
- Between 2005 and 2012, the percentage of food with detectable pesticide residues has decreased. Also, poison control center reports show a 49 percent decrease in the rate of pesticide exposure incidents between 1998 and 2012.
Direct to EPA’s Report on the Environment Homepage and Resources (ROE)
Direct to Selected Resources:
Filed under: Academic Libraries, Data Files, Maps, Patrons and Users, Public Libraries, Reports, Resources, School Libraries

About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.