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We're itching to travel again soon after spending more consecutive time in Moscow, Idaho than ever in the history of our organization.
But it's been a productive 12 months! We've been busy supporting projects remotely, teaching, and building our student network. Learn about how we adapted and what we've accomplished below.
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Environmental Health in Batken Province, Kyrgyzstan
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We hope to safely return to in-person meetings, trainings, and field work in Kyrgyzstan later this year.
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We continue to make great progress on our ongoing collaboration with the Kyrgyz Ministry of Health (MOH) and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the Batken Province of Kyrgyzstan. Batken is home to one of the world's last primary mercury mines, and as a major mineral producer for the USSR, also contains dozens of abandoned hazardous mining waste sites across the mountainous region.
We are in the final stages of completing our analysis of the environmental data from fall 2019. The results highlight vulnerable groups and heavy metal exposures in the mining communities. Our TIFO-MOH-MSF team has already started using these results to develop proposed interventions to reduce the most severe exposures in order to improve health outcomes in the region. Simultaneously, final preparations are underway for the biological monitoring program to begin in May. That component of the program has been informed by results from environmental sampling and will give us greater insight into local exposures to heavy metals.
We are cautiously optimistic that we will be able to return to Batken, one of our favorite places, later this year!
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TIFO staff, board members, and students at the first Student Network Session, held in August 2020
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It started as a small zoom meeting to share research and resources for geospatial analysis ... and it was so productive and fun that we've been growing it every since! In April we'll host our 5th Student Network meeting. These virtual sessions have covered various topics ranging from technical to professional development. The group has grown to more than a dozen students on two continents.
Part of TIFO's mission is to build global environmental health capacity. In addition to including students in our project work, we also support independent student research of issues related to mining and health globally.
We are supporting students in multiple capacities from the undergraduate to PhD level. If you know of a student who would be interested in joining our group, please have them reach out to us. We are also developing a scholarship program to support student research and/or professional development.
We know these leaders will be the ones fighting for a safer, more just world, and we are honored to work with them and support their efforts in researching environmental health challenges. Some of the students have been featured in previous newsletters.
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Entrance to the American School of Armenia (AUA) in Yerevan.
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For the second (and we hope the last) time, we moved our annual Environmental Health Course for the American University of Armenia online. We had a fantastic group of 23 Masters of Public Health (MPH) students from four countries. This is a 3-credit, graduate level course that is covered in 3 very intense weeks. The class finished up with case study presentations by the students on topics ranging from lead contamination in Kabwe, Zambia to titanium dioxide particles in consumer products to occupational safety among medical radiation workers. We hope to meet these students in Yerevan in person next year when they are presenting the results of their research in public and environmental health!
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TIFO is working with academic and nonprofit partners to explore the relationships between climate change, conflict, and mining.
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What is 'environmental security'? The topic includes a range of societal challenges that are caused and/or intensified by environmental degradation. We have joined several partners, including AEHS and Norwich University, in exploring the relationships between environmental stressors and conflict. Our unique perspective includes how resource extraction (especially mining), conflict, and climate changes are intimately related to each other.
For example, mining can act to stabilize nations when natural resource revenues are used to build infrastructure and fund government services; however, there are many countries with high-value resources that are plagued by violent conflict and low development indicators in health, economic stability, and environmental resilience. And while renewable and nonrenewable resource extraction contribute to anthropogenic climate change, there is also strong evidence that climate change impacts will include increasing shifts towards informal sector mining and mineral recycling.
We are continuing to work with academic and NGO partners to explore this relationship. We are also advocating for a more realistic understanding of the true costs of low-carbon technology. While these innovations are essential to reduce the impacts of climate change, they are not without significant impacts, and these effects will be more severe in vulnerable and marginalized mining communities.
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Idaho Gives
It's coming! If you work with or support Idaho nonprofits, you'll be hearing a lot about this event later this month. Donating is a great way to help out. You can also help by interacting with us (follow, like, share, comment) on social media to increase our visibility.
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Virtual Presentations, Conferences, and Events
We are dedicated to advancing the science behind our work and sharing the stories of our projects at conferences and public events. We've had 4 TIFO team members present on environmental health research at these recent events, with one of our students (Madi Thurston, UI Environmental Science Senior) receiving first place in a student poster competition!
Past events:
Upcoming Public Events:
- Presentation at the OSU Environmental and Occupational Health Seminar,
- Friday April 30th at 1 pm US Pacific Time
- Sandra Spearman Thesis Defense. 😃 CONGRATS SANDRA!
- Monday April 12th at 3 pm US Pacific Time - contact Casey for Zoom info or see below
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Interested in learning more about environmental health? We've collected a few of our favorite recent articles.
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Plastics on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Plastic is in everything, from the clothes we wear to the water we drink. John Oliver explains how plastics are harming the planet, why recycling isn’t the solution you think it is, and why fixing the problem will be up to not just consumers, but corporations and policymakers.
Plastic pollution is a global crisis, and while we as consumers need to reduce our plastic consumption, industry also needs to take immediate action.
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India's Mystery Illness
Something poisoned more than 650 people in India during the COVID19 pandemic. The cause is a mystery.
Scientists are stumped, but some suspect it may be related to chemical exposures.
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Sacred Apache land 'on death row' in standoff with foreign mining titans
Tribal members in Arizona are fighting to protect a piece of land they consider their "Mount Sinai ."
Transitioning to low-carbon technology isn't without impacts: copper demand will continue to rise in the coming years, and communities around the world will increasingly face the reality about what "sustainable" really means.
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We envision a world where all communities have the knowledge and skills to protect future generations and maintain livelihoods. Help us share TIFO's mission to improve environmental health in mining communities around the world.
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Your 100% tax-deductible contribution directly impacts the health of children and communities around the world.
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