RESPONSES FROM EDUCATORS
I am an environmental health educator working with middle school teachers through a grant from the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences. I have used Scorecard often in my work, and we have even included an activity based on its use into our curriculum. Students and teachers have found Scorecard to be very useful for researching information about local environmental health threats. I hope this valuable website continues to exist.
L.R, Integrated Environmental Health Middle School Project
Seattle, WA.
I just used the Scorecard website for an activity I did with 120 7th and 8 graders. Please keep this site- it is a great resource.
S.N., Literacy for Environmental Justice
San Francisco, CA
I am a regular user of Scorecard.org, and use it annually as a irreplacable part of two major assignments in our Environmental Science and Policy II core course here. In the first, we have groups of students study one part of Scorecard, preparing a presentation and teaching the rest of the class about one class of pollutants. ..We even have students read a series of articles from Chemical Week magazine about the controversy when Scorecard was launched, one entitled "Scorecard Hits Home." In the second assignment, entitled "What's in My Backyard," students individually examine their home zipcodes, and compare them to one other location with "truly serious" environmental problems, usually nearby. By doing so, students learn about where they live and make decisions about which issues are worst and the difficulties of making comparisons. The students routinely comment on how much they have learned about what is going on in their hometowns, and they are forced to look across the nation at patterns of risk. Finally, as a scholar of environmental justice issues, I have used Scorecard for years to look at pollution and minorities, and to know what is going on in my area. As a "public scholar," I have written op-ed pieces about local coal burning power stations and used information from scorecard on chemical plants in the book "Chronicles from the Environmental Justice Frontline."
T. R. , Environmental Science and Policy, College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, VA
I have sent many students to Scorecard to use it. It's an invaluable resource and I hope you can find a way to keep it going. I would imagine that a collaborative of the foundations from the 2001 report on Foundations and Environmental Justice done by Danny Faber and Deborah McCarthy at Northeastern Univ. should be formed to support it, since it is so useful for EJ purposes.
P.B., Environmental Studies, Brown University
Providence, RI
I use it in teaching undergraduate and graduate students about local environmental issues. For undergraduates, I have them do a number of exercises, such as finding the toxic waste dump nearest to where they live, and write a paper about it. I also use it to introduce my graduate students to the concept of environmental justice.
R.B., Department of Culture and Communication, Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA
I have used "scorecard" in my undergraduate courses in Environmental Sociology. Students made use of the site to profile polluters in their hometowns and it was one of the most engaging and insightful exercises of the entire semester. I'm grateful!
L. H., Program on Environment and Behavior, University of Colorado at Boulder
Boulder, CO
Please don't shut scorecard. I'm a community college biology professor, and I refer my environmental bio students there all the time to investigate local water and air quality issues!
J.C., Montgomery County Community College
Blue Bell, PA
I teach biology at the high school and college level. Your site provides an invaluable resource that I use for 4-10 days over the course of each class that I teach. I would not like to see it changed in any way, but unfortunately I can not help with your funding problem.
Dr. S., gmail.com
RESPONSES FROM PROFESSIONALS: MEDIA, GOVERNMENT, HEALTH AND SAFETY PRACTITIONERS
I conduct environmental risk assessments of existing chemicals for Environment Canada, and I find the Scorecard to be quite useful in my work. One feature I find particulary useful is to be able to quickly look up if particular chemicals are covered under any U.S. or state legislation/regulations. I have not found the US EPA website to be very user-friendly for looking up regulatory information for chemicals. I also like seeing if the chemicals are being used and released in the U.S. (we include a section on chemical use and regulation in other jurisdictions including the U.S. in our reports; this is also important information for the risk managers). The links to other websites/reports with health and other information on the chemical are also useful. The Scorecard is certainly convenient as it provides "one-stop shopping" for many different types of information.
L. L., Risk Assessment Directorate, Environment Canada
Gatineau, Québec, Canada
As a health care giver, yes, I have used Scorecard repeatedly when dealing with toxic issues with clients. It is invaluable when it comes to evaluating what each geographical area has to offer. It is also an invaluable tool when facing relocation. This is information that needs to be available to citizens. I would not want any of the information dropped. With all the money that is wasted...on nonsensical things, it is very frustrating to think that this service is even being considered for a cut.
M. M., Loveland, CO
I use it constantly for my work conducting Cleaning Product Evaluations for schools and other facilities across New England. We list the current cleaning chemicals present at the evaluation site, note the ingredients from MSDSs, and then use Scorecard to check the health hazards information. I particularly rely on Scorecard because of the precautionary approach used, which matches our philosophy. I also recommend that custodians use Scorecard to look up the hazards of the ingredients in their products. It is an easy way for them to obtain this information. I have noted that others in the environmentally preferable cleaning products field also note Scorecard as a resource, as I do.
C. W., INFORM
Frequent user of Scorecard during my employment in a California State agency. The most helpful aspect of the site was the geographic location and quantification of emissions for specific pollutants and the media categorization of the emissions. Such information was helpful for determining which pollutants were a major source of exposure for a specific population.
J.R., California State Agency
The National Academy of Public Administration has prepared a number of studies on environmental issues for Congress, OMB and EPA. In researching each study, we have often referred to the Scorecard and almost every Academy report on environmental issues has cited the Scorecard as a source of valuable information.
S.K., National Academy of Public Administration
