Health Impact Assessment: Incorporating Health into Planning and Decision-Making
Feb. 1, 2019
Offered by Rutgers Continuing Professional Education
Instructors: Karen Lowrie and Leigh Ann Von Hagen
CEU’s Available
Join EAC Executive Director, Jeanne Herb, at the annual Restore America’s Estuaries Summit, December 8-13 in Long Beach, California.
Follow this link for more information or to register: https://www.estuaries.org/2018-summit-general-info
Jeanne Herb, EAC Executive Director, joined Rutgers Climate Institute Associate Director Dr. Marjorie Kaplan in presenting insights regarding state sea level rise policies at a Coastal Resilience Summit organized by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. See the slide presentation here.
Photo credit: AP Photo/Doug Mills, Pool
EAC Executive Director Jeanne Herb, along with Senior Research Specialists Matt Campo and Dr. Jennifer Whytlaw, presented an analysis of social vulnerability in New Jersey’s 239 coastal municipalities at a Coastal Resilience Summit convened by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. See their slide presentation here.
Karen Lowrie, Ph.D. will receive the Richard J. Burk Outstanding Service Award at the 2018 SRA Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA in early December. The award is granted in recognition of extraordinary service to the Society that deserves special recognition. She has served as Managing Editor for the SRA’s international journal, Risk Analysis since 2008.
Congratulations to the New Jersey Climate Adaptation Alliance for winning the Coastal and Ocean Champion Award from the Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute.
The New Jersey Climate Adaptation Alliance is facilitated by the Environmental Analysis and Communications Group in partnership with the Rutgers Climate Institute. Over the past year, the Alliance has also won awards for its work to advance sound climate change policy in New Jersey from the New Jersey Local Boards of Health Association, the New Jersey Association for Flood Plain Management, and the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association. For more information, visit: http://njadapt.rutgers.edu
For more information visit: https://www.monmouth.edu/uci/symposium-and-awards/2018-state-and-ocean-champion-awards/
Compiled by EAC’s Dr. Karen Lowrie, (Managing Editor of Risk Analysis) and Dr. Louis Anthony (Tony) Cox, this special virtual issue of Risk Analysis, prepared a year after Harvey and in the wake of Florence, offers insights on how best to anticipate, communicate, manage, mitigate, respond to, recover from, and learn from such disasters. The issue consists of papers drawn from past issues of Risk Analysis, with a deliberate bias toward the most recent and up-to-date papers. It is an update of a virtual issue originally prepared following Hurricane Harvey, updated in September of 2018 to provide the most recent advances to readers and researchers.
Click here to access the Virtual Special Issue
For more information, contact Karen Lowrie
In the Fall of 2018, EAC’s Dr. Karen Lowrie is leading a class of MCRP students in a studio class that focuses on Farley Towers, a senior living facility managed by the City of Elizabeth Housing Authority. Students will examine the opportunities to improve and expand outdoor areas to accommodate passive and active recreation for older adults. Students will conduct an assessment of the property, collect input from residents, and develop plans and recommendations for improvements to the property grounds and connections to the Elizabeth River trail that is directly adjacent to the property.
This studio project dovetails with the Lifelong Elizabeth project, a foundation-supported and city endorsed initiative to support the implementation of plans to make improvements in built environment design, transportation, social programming or planning policies to make the community a healthy place to grow old in Elizabeth.
Dr. Jennifer Whytlaw will be presenting a poster in the inaugural year for a new Geohealth track at the American Geophysical Union’s Fall Meeting (December 10-14). She will be presenting EAC’s work on examining data on environmental factors to inform community-based efforts to address “upstream” determinants of health through the use of existing authoritative data, namely the Center for Disease Control’s Environmental Public Health Tracking Network and the Environmental Protection Agency’s EJScreen database.
The Bloustein School, in conjunction with the School of Social Work and AARP, is hosting a discussion on the benefits of building communities of all ages in New Jersey at the Special Events Forum at the Bloustein School at 5:00 pm on Wednesday, October 10, 2018. Speakers include Mayor Brian Whaler, Danielle Arigoni, Karen Alexander and Dr. Emily Greenfield. A light reception will follow. Event is Free and Open to the Public! RSVP requested by visitig http://go.rutgers.edu/vow45ur8.
EAC’s Dr. Whytlaw has developed and teaches a GIS Applications in Marine Science and Policy class to Monmouth University students. The course has students gather and analyze spatial data to critically examine uses of the ocean in the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States, including working through NOAA’s Ocean Economics Methodology to examine coastal economies.
Learn more about the Monmouth course here: https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/stories/monmouth-university.html
EAC created and presented a three-part webinar series on resiliency planning co-sponsored by the Together North Jersey (TNJ) Resilience Task Force and the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA).
Webinar 1: “Climate Change and Wetland Restoration”
Rutgers University’s current projections estimate a 1.4-foot rise in water by 2050, leaving coastal and riverine communities increasingly vulnerable to inundation, flooding, and storm surge. Encroaching sea waters threaten to destroy the integrity of North Jersey’s wetlands, the loss of which means the loss of an important ecological resource and a critical barrier that protects communities from flooding and storm surge. However, by dedicated efforts to maintain existing or new wetlands, communities can reduce vulnerability to the impacts of climate change while preserving important ecological systems. This webinar will introduce participants to:
Webinar 2: “Green Infrastructure and Urban Resiliency”
Numerous communities across North Jersey have turned to Green Infrastructure (GI) as a stormwater management solution, often with community input on planning and design. In an urban setting, GI affords wide-ranging benefits. GI is an economical approach to water management that mimics the natural water cycle through the planting of trees and other vegetation. GI also enhances aesthetics and creates opportunities for traffic calming and pedestrian safety.
This webinar explores:
Webinar 3: “Web-Based Coastal Resilience Planning Tools”
Many online tools are available to local decision-makers to understand the future impacts of climate change. This webinar will briefly illustrate the key points of several tools, provide information on useful applications, and direct participants to tutorial and demonstration resources. Communities can use these tools as a starting point to plan for future scenarios. Mapping outputs can be incorporated into conversations with the public or into planning documents or to begin to identify areas for future development based on projected climate impacts. The webinar includes information on:
And can also be found on the Together North Jersey Website at: https://togethernorthjersey.com/?page_id=25349
Our 2018 conference explored emerging contaminants affecting the Raritan and renewed watershed planning efforts that will address new and ongoing threats on our path to achieving fishable and swimmable status for the Raritan River, basin and bay. The program included Lightning Talks, Poster Sessions, Exhibitors, two Panel Sessions, a World Cafe, a Keynote address by Debbie Mans, Deputy Commission of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and the annual Awards ceremony.
Click HERE to visit the SRRI site to view the conference materials and presentations.
Karen Lowrie co-facilitated a workshop on May 9 at the Rutgers Atlantic Cape campus with Leigh Ann Von Hagen as part of the Planning Health Communities Initiative. Health Department members from four Southern New Jersey counties learned about Health Impact Assessment and Health in All Policies, in preparation for selecting projects in their counties that could benefit from these tools to incorporate health into decision-making. The workshop was organized with the Society of Public Health Educators and funded by the County Health Ranking and Roadmaps project.
Join EAC’s Jeanne Herb at the Regional Plan Association annual Assembly. Jeanne will be participating in a panel titled, “Expanding the Region’s Carbon Market.” For more information or to register, go to: http://assembly.rpa.org/.
Read Jeanne Herb’s Op-Ed in NJSpotlight on achieving health equity in New Jersey. Follow this link.
On Thursday, March 22, EAC Executive Director Jeanne Herb joined Rutgers professors David Robinson and Robert Kopp as part of a Rutgers panel testifying in front of the New Jersey Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee outlining impacts of changing climate conditions on New Jersey’s coastal zone.
View Jeanne’s testimony here.
Senior Research Specialists Matt Campo and Stacy Krause participated as conference moderator/presenter on panels focused on climate resilience at the annual conference held at the Hyatt Hotel in New Brunswick, NJ.
EAC’s Matt Campo moderated a panel titled “Moving Toward Resiliency: A Look at the Past and Directions for the Future in New Jersey”. The panel included Kelly Pflicke (Senior Planner, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Coastal and Land Use Planning), Linda Brennen, AICP (Supervising Planner, Monmouth County Division of Planning), Julie Krause (New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Water Quality), Chris Testa (Supervising Administrative Analyst, New Jersey Office of Emergency Management), and Tim Dillingham (Executive Director, American Littoral Society). Panelists discussed prior experiences in incorporating climate into existing planning efforts, how the practice can continue to change to enable New Jersey to become resilient, and how governmental and non-governmental partners can help practitioners prepare plans that affirmatively and effectively address risks. The panel covered topics including: integrating hazard mitigation planning and master planning efforts; integrating planning efforts across municipalities and regions; changes that could be made to the municipal land use law to address resiliency; design responses to planning efforts; and the changing nature of how the flood insurance program and finance industry acknowledge of climate risk with regard to municipal finance.
EAC’s Stacy Krause, PP/AICP, CFM presented as part of a panel titled: “Practical Resiliency Planning at the Municipal Level”. Other panelists were Craig A. Wenger, P.E., AICP, CFM, LEED GA (Senior Associate, Technical Manager, Water Resources, Michael Baker International) and Erika F. Stahl, PP, AICP, (Assistant Township Planner, Township of Toms River). The panelists discussed community vulnerability assessments, Hazard Mitigation Plans, and various planning tools that can help communities adapt to natural disasters and sea level rise now and in the future. Michael spoke on the update to the State Hazard Mitigation Plan and Erika presented on how Toms River Township is adapting to natural disasters and sea level rise by incorporating resiliency into redevelopment plans, zoning, and other measures. Included in the Toms River work is a sustainable and resilient guidance report for municipalities, identifying all current planning tools, when and how to best utilize them, state policy recommendations to improve the existing tools, and questions and concerns that must be addressed at the state and regional level. Stacy presented a Coastal Vulnerability Assessment she completed for Long Beach Island in Ocean County NJ. The assessment pinpointed areas and assets vulnerable to future sea level rise and storm surge, past mitigation efforts, and recommended future areas of focus.
Photo credit: APANJ
A Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) is a cooperative planning effort between local governments and military installations. Working with the County of Monmouth, NJ, a team from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy worked with Maser Consulting, P.A, HR&A Advisors, and AECOM to help develop climate resilience analyses and recommendations for the communities surrounding Naval Weapons Station (NWS) Earle. In addition to being the first JLUS to consider climate resilience, the project recommendations also encourage the municipalities to work collaboratively with the base to plan for compatible development and maintain resilient transportation infrastructure that will protect the sustainability of the surrounding communities. You can find out more, and download the full report, from the Monmouth County project website.
Image from NWS Earle Joint Land Use Study, prepared by Maser Consulting for Monmouth County, NJ. 2017.
EAC Director Michael Greenberg was recently appointed as a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Plutonium Disposition Committee. The objective of the committee is to evaluate methods and locations to dispose of 34 metric tons of U.S. plutonium.
The New Jersey Climate Adaptation Alliance – facilitated by Rutgers University–New Brunswick – has launched a social media campaign to enhance public education and to guide people to a wealth of information on climate change resilience on its website.
You can follow the campaign on Twitter (@NJAdapt and @RutgersRCI; hashtags include #njadapt and #climatechange), on the alliance website, and on Facebook.
The campaign will run through spring and include promotion of an infographic and six videos. The infographic – “Reducing New Jersey’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A guide to policy options” – is based on the report, “An Examination of Policy Options for Achieving Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions in New Jersey,” by the Georgetown Climate Center, Rutgers Climate Institute, the Bloustein School and World Resources Institute. The New Jersey Climate Adaptation Alliance has many other resources, including videos, analysis and decision-support tools, on its website.
Bloustein School hosts Dr. Brian Smedley March 27 lecture on “Place, Race and Poverty: Advancing Health Equity in New Jersey and Nationally.” Event is free but registration is required. Read more or register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/place-race-and-power-advancing-health-equity-in-new-jersey-and-nationally-tickets-41249904575
EAC’s Executive Director Jeanne Herb was quoted in a recent article in the New York Times about the links between extreme weather impacts, such as increased frequency and severity of flooding, and amplified risk of toxic spills at chemical sites. Read the full article here.
Read about the EAC group’s related work on using geographic tools to identify industrial and commercial facilities in flood-prone areas. Learn more here.
Image from article by Hiroko Tabuchi, Nadja Popovich, Blacki Migliozzi and Andrew W. Lehren, New York Times, February 6, 2018.
Bloustein School joins Sustainable Jersey and New Jersey League of Conservation Voters in hosting Mayor’s Climate Summit
Learn more about it here: http://www.sustainablejersey.com/events-trainings/nj-mayors-climate-summit/
Photo credit: Event co-hosts with First Lady Tammy Murphy from SustainableJersey.com
Join EAC for an upcoming training course, Health Impact Assessment: Incorporating Health into Planning and Decision-Making, offered through the Rutgers Office of Continuing Professional Education. In this session, facilitators from the Planning Healthy Communities Initiative will lead an introductory training on health impact assessment as a tool to promote community health and equity in planning processes and decision-making.
Friday, February 23, 2018
9:00am – 3:00pm
For more information and to sign up: http://www.cpe.rutgers.edu/brochures/intros/health-assessment.html. Course is approved for 0.5 Rutgers CEU’s, and eligible for 10 points toward certification in the Sustainable Jersey program under the “Health in All Policies Professional Development Training” action.
EAC Executive Director Jeanne Herb is quoted in an article regarding New Jersey rejoining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
Read the full article here: https://thinkprogress.org/new-jersey-to-rejoin-rggi-0d2d8dbde287/
Image from ThinkProgress.org
Greenberg, Michael R., Dona Schneider. 2017. Urban Planning and Public Health: A Critical Partnership. American Public Health Association.
Michael R. Greenberg wears many hats at the Bloustein School. Besides serving as Interim Dean, Dr. Greenberg is a Distinguished Professor and Director of the Environmental Analysis and Communications Group. Along with co-author Bloustein Associate Dean and Professor Dona Schneider Ph.D., MPH, Professor Greenberg’s latest book, Urban Planning & Public Health: A Critical Partnership, was published by the American Public Health Association Press in 2017. The book provides an in-depth summary of the historic connections between the fields of public health and urban planning beginning in the Industrial Revolution. It also draws the connections between urban planning and public health through practical and understandable case examples and outlines critical challenges to integrate science, policy and politics to further the health of communities across the U.S. Dr. Greenberg has studied environmental policy and environmental health at Rutgers for more than four decades.
Save the Date: Annual Sustainable Raritan River Conference. The 10th Annual Sustainable Raritan River Conference and Awards Ceremony will be held on Friday, June 8, 2018. Mark your calendar now and visit http://raritan.rutgers.edu for more information soon.
Join EAC at Social Coast 2018! NOAA’s Social Coast Forum brings together researchers and practitioners from around the U.S. to share how social science tools and methods can address the nation’s coastal challenges. EAC Team member Matt Campo will discuss his collaborative work with Jennifer Whytlaw to integrate dynamic web-based mapping tools into static user guidance to more thoughtfully consider the unique roles of water-dependent uses in adaptation and land use planning.
Bloustein School co-sponsors Sustainable Jersey Mayors Climate summit. February 3, 2018.
Read more or register: http://www.sustainablejersey.com/nc/events-trainings/?tx_cicevents_eventslisting%5Bevent%5D=831&tx_cicevents_eventslisting%5Baction%5D=detail&tx_cicevents_eventslisting%5Bcontroller%5D=Event&cHash=875b9c853f108670922d2e9c966ec0a8
Bloustein School hosts Dr. Thomas Burke January 30, 2018 lecture on “Adapting to Change: Environmental Science and Policy in the Age of Trump. Event is free but registration is required. For more information or to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/adapting-to-change-environmental-science-and-policy-in-the-time-of-trump-tickets-40909603726
Join EAC at NJ-APA Annual Conference. EAC Team members Dr. Karen Lowrie, Matt Campo and Stacy Krause will be participating in panels at the annual conference of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association. https://njplanningconference.org/register/
Our 2017 conference showcased a series of status and trends reports by Raritan stakeholders from across the region. Presentations described several decades of change in key indicators of watershed health for the Raritan River, basin and bay. And during lunch, keynote speaker, Andrew Johnson of the William Penn Foundation reflected on the strategic approach developed and applied through the Delaware River Watershed Initiative to address the same types of issues we face in the Raritan. What do these reports say about the health of the Raritan and what are the key concerns that still need to be addressed? How do we best leverage existing resources to tackle them? These are a few of the questions panelists and participants considered during this day long conference.
We also presented the 2017 Sustainable Raritan River Awards to recognize outstanding achievements in efforts to revitalize, restore and protect Raritan River resources and to make the Raritan region a premiere place to live, work and raise a family. Eight recipients were recognized. You can follow the link below to learn more about them and their good works for a more sustainable Raritan.
New at this year’s conference was a Data Blitz. The Data Blitz — a series of eleven five-minute long lightning talks — covered a broad range of topics highlighting current academic research, community actions, policy and planning efforts by stakeholders across the Raritan region. Each talk was supported by a poster, and the conference closed with a poster session and networking reception.
Click HERE to visit the SRRI site to view the conference materials and presentations.
May 22, 2017
Click Here to Register and Learn MoreHealth Impact Assessment (HIA) can be used to evaluate a proposed plan or project’s potential effects on the health of a population. HIA provides evidence-based recommendations aimed at enhancing positive health impacts and minimizing negative ones, providing an approach to the decision-making process by:
More Information about Health Impact Assessment
In celebration of Rutgers University’s 250th Anniversary, the conference showcased efforts of Rutgers’ faculty, staff and students, and Collaborative partners in the Raritan Basin, provided a forum for identifying a University-wide agenda for stewardship of the Raritan, and established a network for collaboration among University-based research, extension and outreach-efforts related to the Raritan Basin.
Click HERE to visit the SRRI site to view the conference materials and presentations.
Join us for a half day workshop on June 3, 2016 to learn about how a changing climate may affect public health in New Jersey and about strategies to better prepare New Jersey’s public health practitioners and professionals to address these impacts.
The workshop will provide an overview of how a changing climate may affect human health, the latest research on public health implications of climate change, and leading efforts around the U.S. to prepare public health professionals and agencies to address impacts from climate change. A panel of New Jersey public health practitioners will discuss challenges and opportunities and lay out possible next steps for action in New Jersey.
The June 3 workshop is sponsored by the New Jersey Climate Adaptation Alliance (http://njadapt.rutgers.edu/) in partnership with the New Jersey Public Health Association, the New Jersey Association of County and City Health Officials and the Rutgers University School of Public Health, and the New Jersey Department of Health.
Click here to register:
If you have any questions, please contact Jeanne Herb at Rutgers University at (848) 932-2725 or jherb@ejb.rutgers.edu.
Congressional budget authorization language in 2014 directed the DOE to “retain a respected outside group … [to] undertake an analysis of how effectively the Department of Energy (DOE) identifies, programs, and executes its plans to address those risks [to public health and safety from the DOE’s remaining environmental cleanup liabilities], as well as how effectively the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) identifies and elevates the nature and consequences of potential threats to public health at safety at the defense environmental cleanup sites.” EAC Director Michael Greenberg led this effort. A report was submitted to Congress in 2017, and a scholarly article is currently in peer review.
Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy
Rutgers University
Douglass Student Center, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
On Friday, June 12, 2015, more than 200 leading representatives from government, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and businesses as well as concerned citizens from New York and New Jersey came together to discuss the challenges and opportunities for managing the bi-state waters of the beautiful Raritan Bay. Through expert presentations and collaborative discussions, the participants identified key steps for advancing regional efforts for habitat restoration, coastal resiliency, water quality, fisheries management, and public access.
Click HERE to visit the SRRI site for updates from the 6th Annual Sustainable Raritan River Conference.
Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy
Rutgers University
59 Biel Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Cook Campus Center, Rutgers University
The 6th Annual Sustainable Raritan River Conference focused on the intrinsic values that the Raritan brings to the communities, businesses, and residents (human and non-human alike) throughout the region by exploring the theme of Valuing Natural Capital and Ecosystems Services.
Click HERE to visit the SRRI site for updates from the 6th Annual Sustainable Raritan River Conference.
Duke Farms
Coach Barn
Hillsborough
This conference started with a guided bird walk and ended with a tour of the wetlands restoration work along the Raritan River. Packed in-between were a film on the removal of the Nevius Street Dam and informative workshops covering public access, climate resiliency, regional conservation planning, and wetlands restoration and stormwater.
Click HERE to view mini-conference materials and speakers presentations.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy
Rutgers University
33 Livingston Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
The 5th Annual Sustainable Raritan River Conference was all about Water!
Is there enough for the people and businesses in our communities? Is it clean? How do we keep it safe? How do we manage it when there is too much? What can we do on a personal level, on a business level, on the municipal level, in the region and state-wide to ensure it is a resource we can rely on in the future? How do we make it better so we can ultimately eat the fish from it and safely swim in it? These were some of the questions we explored in the 5th Annual Conference.
Click HERE to view the conference materials and presentations.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
7:45 AM to 5:00 PM
59 Biel Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Cook Campus Center, Rutgers University
Hosted by the New Jersey Climate Adaptation Alliance
The purpose of this conference is to highlight climate preparedness and resilience activities underway in New Jersey,as well as leading practices throughout the United States, in order to enhance climate change adaptation capacity in New Jersey.