EPA Press Office:

EPA Selects Educational Organizations to Receive Over $3.6 million to Support Environmental Projects Nationwide

WASHINGTON — Yesterday, July 8, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the selection of 38 organizations to receive over $3.6 million in funding for projects under the Environmental Education Grants Program.

“Advancing environmental education advances EPA’s mission because it better equips our communities with the information they need to protect public health today and in the future,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “This year’s environmental education grant recipients will work in underserved communities across the country to foster a deeper understanding of environmental challenges and inspire action towards sustainable solutions.”  

The funding will range from $50,000 to $100,000, to organizations that provide environmental education activities and programs. This year’s grantees will conduct project activities in 28 states and the Republic of Palau, America Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.

This year’s environmental education projects include:

• Helping young people in New England grow into a new, inclusive generation of environmental justice problem-solvers through a series of linked experiences.
• Using urban greening initiatives (e.g., tree planting, nature-based solutions, and urban gardening) to help address the impacts of climate change and air pollution in Camden, New Jersey, an environmental justice and overburdened community.
• Transforming a state-of-the-art electric bus into a roving electric classroom that will bring immersive environmental education experiences to 21 Title I elementary schools in Henrico County, Virginia.
• Recruiting educators in Tennessee, particularly from underserved communities, to participate in a year-long cohort focused on environmental education through the lens of addressing climate change resulting in cohort members including climate change education across the curriculum. 
• Educating 400 underserved youth in Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin on the impacts of climate change in environmental justice communities, empowering them with indigenous knowledge to combat climate change, take action, and create local solutions. 
• Employing “meaningful watershed experiences” to empower students, teachers, and community members in Houston, Texas, fostering watershed stewardship to design and implement nature-based solutions to flooding that aim to reduce storm water run-off and the associated pollutants from entering the water supply.
• Engaging students from diverse backgrounds in Kansas and Missouri to come together, dialogue, and take action to address existing barriers to their involvement and interest in green careers.
• Enhancing interest, opportunities, and involvement in green careers for 100 students in rural Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah through the creation of online career resources, statewide virtual youth green careers summits, school-based action projects, mentorship programs and more.
• Braiding indigenous and western science through youth-led community action in the Republic of Palau to address contamination left behind from World War II.
• Establishing a K-12 classroom and outdoor learning space on a peatland conservation parcel in Homer, Alaska, where school visits and field trips will enable students to directly engage with local peatlands, construct native plant gardens, and more.

The following organizations have been selected to receive this year’s Environmental Education Grants:

• CASA, Inc. (CASA de Maryland)
• Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education
• Desert Research Institute        
• Ecology Project International 
• Explora Science Center & Childrens Museum of Albuquerque
• Galveston Bay Foundation     
• Henrico County Public Schools
• Hitchcock Center for the Environment
• Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group
• Hubbard County Solid Waste Conservation District  
• Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education (Ignited)
• Ipswich River Watershed Association
• Ivy Academy
• Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education
• Learning Endeavors
• Louisiana Environmental Action Network      
• Massachusetts Audubon Society
• Minnesota State University - Mankato            
• Mississippi State University
• Missouri River Bird Observatory
• National Wildlife Federation (Atlanta)
• National Wildlife Federation (Houston)
• Neighborhood House of Milwaukee
• New Haven Ecological Project
• New York Sun Works
• Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association
• Openlands       
• Protect Our Water Jackson Hole         
• Rowan University
• Sierra Streams Institute
• Takshanuk Watershed Council             
• The Living Classrooms Foundation
• Trail Blazers
• University of Alaska - Anchorage
• University of Maine    
• Upper Iowa University
• Women for a Healthy Environment
• Youth Environmental Alliance

EPA anticipates providing funding for these projects once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied.

Since 1992, EPA has distributed between $2 million and $3.7 million in EE grant funding each year, for a total of over $95.1 million supporting more than 3,960 projects. The program traditionally provides financial support for projects that design, demonstrate, or disseminate environmental education practices, methods, or techniques. For more information, visit EPA’s Environmental Education webpage.   

To learn more about current and past award winners, or to apply for future EE grant competitions, visit the Environmental Education Grants webpage. This website will be updated as future competitions are announced and additional grants are awarded. 

Contact: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov) 

 EPA Press Office:

EPA Selects Three Organizations in New York and New Jersey to Receive $300,000 to Support Environmental Education

NEW YORK (July 9, 2024) - Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the selection of three organizations in New York and New Jersey to receive a total of $300,000 in grant funding for Environmental Education projects.

“Advancing environmental education advances EPA’s mission because it better equips our communities with the information they need to protect public health today and in the future,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “This year’s environmental education grant recipients will work in underserved communities across the country to foster a deeper understanding of environmental challenges and inspire action towards sustainable solutions.”  

“Ensuring access to environmental education programs is vital for nurturing the next generation of environmental stewards,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “EPA is pleased to provide funding directed to projects in Camden, NJ and New York City that will ignite young people’s passion for our environment and foster their commitment to its protection.”

The following organizations have been selected to receive this year’s EE Grants in New York and New Jersey:

Trail Blazers working in Brooklyn, NY will receive $100,000 for their project "IMPACT."

Informed by the rise of climate anxiety in young people, this project will engage children and teens in Brooklyn, NY, through climate literacy programming. The program aims to enhance climate literacy, environmental affinity, and knowledge/stewardship skills. The program employs research-based methodologies, including a place-based and outdoor-oriented model, hands-on activities, and a capstone Community Service Project.

New York Sun Works working in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, NY will receive $100,000 for their project "Educating the Next Generation of Environmental Innovators: Bringing Environmental & Climate Education to NYC Public Schools."

This project will deliver its climate and environmental education program to eight schools in New York City — four in Brooklyn, two in Queens, and two in Manhattan. The program aims to build students’ proficiency in inquiry-based climate and environmental science, enhance understanding of urban agriculture’s role in sustainable communities, and expand teacher knowledge.

Rowan University working in Camden, NJ will receive $100,000 for their project "Greening Camden: Educating, Empowering, and Enriching Communities for Climate Action and Cleaner Air"

Using urban greening initiatives (e.g., tree planting, nature-based solutions, and urban gardening) to help address the impacts of climate change and air pollution in Camden, New Jersey, an environmental justice and overburdened community. Activities span all seven stages of the environmental education continuum, including awareness, knowledge, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, action, and stewardship. Notable activities involve creating learning modules, an online certificate program, and collecting micro-level air quality data from various locations.

EPA anticipates providing funding for these projects once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied.

The funding will range from $50,000 to $100,000, to organizations that provide environmental education activities and programs. This year’s grantees will conduct project activities in 28 states and the Republic of Palau, America Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.

Since 1992, EPA has distributed between $2 million and $3.7 million in EE grant funding each year, for a total of over $95.1 million supporting more than 3,960 projects. The program traditionally provides financial support for projects that design, demonstrate or disseminate environmental education practices, methods or techniques.

For more information visit: https://www.epa.gov/education.   

To learn more about current and past award winners, or to apply for future EE grant competitions, visit: https://www.epa.gov/education/environmental-education-ee-grants. This website will be updated as future competitions are announced and additional grants are awarded.  

Follow EPA Region 2 on X and visit our Facebook page. For more information about EPA Region 2, visit our website.

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For further information: Contact: Carlos Vega, (646) 988-2996, vega.carlos@epa.gov

 EPA Press Office:

EPA selects four educational organizations to receive funding for environmental projects in New England

The environmental education grants, totaling $380,000 for New England, will empower youth to tackle environmental challenges, foster community resilience, and advance environmental justice in underserved communities

Contact Information: Ellen Frank-Lajqi, Frank.Ellen@epa.gov, (617) 918-1031; EPA Region 1 Press Office (R1_Press@epa.gov) 

BOSTON (July 8, 2024) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that four organizations in New England have been selected to receive a total of $380,000 to empower youth to tackle environmental challenges, foster community resilience, and advance environmental justice in underserved communities. The four New England selectees are among 38 organizations across the country to receive over $3.6 million in funding for projects under EPA's Environmental Education Grants Program.

“Environmental education isn’t just about learning facts and figures; it’s about equipping young people with the skills and knowledge to find solutions to real-world problems and make a real difference in their daily lives and communities,” said EPA New England Regional Administrator David W. Cash. “From students in New Haven tackling environmental justice issues and high schoolers in Massachusetts leading climate resilience projects, to Ipswich River Watershed youth participating in a Floating Classroom and students in the Connecticut River Valley finding nature-based solutions through design and engineering—this year’s selectees from New England are bringing the environment to life for our kids, and showing them that they have the power to protect and improve the world around them.”

This year’s environmental education projects in New England include:

• Helping New England’s youth grow into a new, inclusive generation of environmental justice problem-solvers through interdisciplinary projects, courses, internships, and leadership portfolios at Common Ground High School.
• Empowering high school students from low-income and environmental justice populations in Massachusetts to resolve climate-related issues through youth-led, non-partisan civic action projects in Worcester, Springfield, and Attleboro.
• Providing underprivileged youth in Essex and Middlesex Counties, MA with experiential learning, kayaking, and canoeing on the Ipswich River, along with developing a watershed study curriculum and offering high school internships in environmental careers.
• Enabling youth in rural underserved communities in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts to develop problem-solving skills related to water quality, air quality, and climate change through design and engineering challenges.

The grant funding ranges from $50,000 to $100,000, to organizations that provide environmental education activities and programs. This year’s New England selectees will conduct project activities in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

The following four New England organizations have been selected to receive this year's Environmental Education Grants, totaling $380,000:

• New Haven Ecology Project
• Massachusetts Audubon Society
• Ipswich River Watershed Association
• Hitchcock Center for the Environment

New Haven Ecology Project - $100,000
Growing Environmental Justice Problem-Solvers in New England Public Schools

Common Ground High School, an environmental justice-themed charter high school, part of the nonprofit New Haven Ecology Project, will help New England’s youth grow into a new, inclusive generation of environmental justice problem-solvers. Through a series of linked experiences, starting with interdisciplinary healthy-communities projects in grades 9 and 10, continuing with courses and internships that deepen students’ capacity as environmental justice leaders, and culminating in senior leadership portfolios and capstone projects, 225 Common Ground High School students will participate in environmental justice leadership training and learning while engaging in meaningful environmental stewardship. Community-based nonprofit organizations will play a key role in supporting environmental justice learning and leadership experiences. While building and strengthening a model for teaching environmental justice at Common Ground High School, New Haven Ecology Project will also bring together environmental justice organizations and other public high schools across New England, creating and sharing high-quality teaching resources, model curricula, and educator professional development opportunities, all advancing environmental justice teaching in our region’s public high schools.

Massachusetts Audubon Society - $100,000
Climate Democracy Project: Culturally Responsive In-School Climate Change Education Toward Local Civic Action and Resilience

The goal of the Climate Democracy Project (CDP) is for high school students from low-income and environmental justice populations in Massachusetts to become empowered to resolve climate related issues that impact their local environments. The Climate Democracy Project will take place in three Title 1 public schools in Worcester, Springfield, and Attleboro, Massachusetts – all three cities designated as Gateway Cities, meaning that each faces persistent economic and social challenges. CDP brings together classroom teachers and non-formal educators to involve students in grades 8-12 in youth-led, non-partisan civic action projects focused on community-based climate resilience. Massachusetts Audubon Society (Mass Audubon) seeks to pilot this programming in three middle or high schools and to collect data and resources to create a toolkit and training program for educators across Massachusetts. The CDP will provide place-based, project-based learning around climate resilience and civic engagement, to build a statewide foundation for a more environmentally literate citizenry in Massachusetts, aware of the issues behind climate change, and experienced in the civic engagement skills necessary to create just and healthy solutions for their communities. This one-year project will serve three teachers, 120 students, six non-formal educators, and will advance planning toward production of a “ready to implement” program/toolkit for high school teachers to increase climate literacy in schools. The three partner schools include: Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester; Springfield Renaissance School; and Attleboro High School.

Ipswich River Watershed Association - $100,000
Breaking down barriers to place-based education and environmental careers in the Ipswich River watershed

This project will take place in communities that are part of the Ipswich River watershed or drink Ipswich River water, and in other nearby communities in Essex and Middlesex Counties, including Peabody, Salem, Lynn, Lawrence, and Gloucester, MA. These communities are identified as having environmental justice concerns by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool. The project has three audiences and accompanying programs: 1) underprivileged youth participating in summer enrichment programming; 2) 7^th grade classrooms; and 3) underprivileged high schoolers seeking environmental career paths. This project will support the ongoing Floating Classroom program at Ipswich River Watershed Association, which brings youth to the river for experiential programming and environmental education. This project will provide 600 youth and 60 adult chaperones with experiential learning, kayaking and canoeing, and watershed education on the Ipswich River during summer 2025. This project will also support the development of a place-based watershed study curriculum reaching 200 Ipswich River middle schoolers and at least 20 7th-grade teachers and paraprofessionals in the 2024-2025 school year. There are eight Title 1 middle schools in Salem, Lynn, North Reading, and Andover, which will be invited to participate in the 7th grade program along with other interested middle schools. This project will also support two high school youths’ 6-week internship in summer 2025 exploring environmental careers in monitoring, restoration, and environmental education. The project will ensure that our internships are available to a diverse pool of applicants, allowing young people who may experience barriers to participating in internships have an opportunity to explore an environmental career.

Hitchcock Center for the Environment - $80,000
Schools Exploring Engineering, Design and Sustainability (SEEDS)

The Hitchcock Center will enable youth to develop problem solving skills related to water quality, air quality, and climate change. Students and their teachers will explore the intersections of engineering, technology and design and their critical role in meeting many of the environmental challenges that confront society today. This project will use design and engineering challenges to help students understand the idea of using nature-based solutions to address environmental challenges, identify new career pathways, get excited and inspired about science and nature and stay hopeful about climate change solutions. Students will be able to apply the tools and concepts of systems thinking in their present lives, and to inform the choices that will affect our future. Over two years The Hitchcock Center will work with Title I schools in 4 districts representing rural underserved communities in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts, engaging approximately 16 classrooms and 400 students in 5^th grade. Each class will participate in four design challenges (water filtration, stormwater management, erosion control, and air quality), including a field trip to the Hitchcock Center to see nature-based solutions in action. Subawards to participating schools will support student transportation, classroom materials, and student action projects. This project will develop, test, and refine the program model with these schools, ensuring sustainable future learning.

More information:

EPA anticipates providing funding for these projects once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied.

Since 1992, EPA has distributed between $2 million and $3.7 million in EE grant funding each year, for a total of over $95.1 million supporting more than 3,960 projects. The program traditionally provides financial support for projects that design, demonstrate or disseminate environmental education practices, methods or techniques. For more information visit: https://www.epa.gov/education.   

To learn more about current and past award winners, or to apply for future EE grant competitions, visit: https://www.epa.gov/education/environmental-education-ee-grants. This website will be updated as future competitions are announced and additional grants are awarded. 

 EPA Press Office:

EPA Selects Educational Organizations to Receive Over $3.6 million to Support Environmental Projects Nationwide

WASHINGTON — Today, July 8, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the selection of 38 organizations to receive over $3.6 million in funding for projects under the Environmental Education Grants Program.

“Advancing environmental education advances EPA’s mission because it better equips our communities with the information they need to protect public health today and in the future,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “This year’s environmental education grant recipients will work in underserved communities across the country to foster a deeper understanding of environmental challenges and inspire action towards sustainable solutions.”  

The funding will range from $50,000 to $100,000, to organizations that provide environmental education activities and programs. This year’s grantees will conduct project activities in 28 states and the Republic of Palau, America Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.

This year’s environmental education projects include:

• Helping young people in New England grow into a new, inclusive generation of environmental justice problem-solvers through a series of linked experiences.
• Using urban greening initiatives (e.g., tree planting, nature-based solutions, and urban gardening) to help address the impacts of climate change and air pollution in Camden, New Jersey, an environmental justice and overburdened community.
• Transforming a state-of-the-art electric bus into a roving electric classroom that will bring immersive environmental education experiences to 21 Title I elementary schools in Henrico County, Virginia.
• Recruiting educators in Tennessee, particularly from underserved communities, to participate in a year-long cohort focused on environmental education through the lens of addressing climate change resulting in cohort members including climate change education across the curriculum. 
• Educating 400 underserved youth in Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin on the impacts of climate change in environmental justice communities, empowering them with indigenous knowledge to combat climate change, take action, and create local solutions. 
• Employing “meaningful watershed experiences” to empower students, teachers, and community members in Houston, Texas, fostering watershed stewardship to design and implement nature-based solutions to flooding that aim to reduce storm water run-off and the associated pollutants from entering the water supply.
• Engaging students from diverse backgrounds in Kansas and Missouri to come together, dialogue, and take action to address existing barriers to their involvement and interest in green careers.
• Enhancing interest, opportunities, and involvement in green careers for 100 students in rural Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah through the creation of online career resources, statewide virtual youth green careers summits, school-based action projects, mentorship programs and more.
• Braiding indigenous and western science through youth-led community action in the Republic of Palau to address contamination left behind from World War II.
• Establishing a K-12 classroom and outdoor learning space on a peatland conservation parcel in Homer, Alaska, where school visits and field trips will enable students to directly engage with local peatlands, construct native plant gardens, and more.

The following organizations have been selected to receive this year’s Environmental Education Grants:

• CASA, Inc. (CASA de Maryland)
• Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education
• Desert Research Institute        
• Ecology Project International 
• Explora Science Center & Childrens Museum of Albuquerque
• Galveston Bay Foundation     
• Henrico County Public Schools
• Hitchcock Center for the Environment
• Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group
• Hubbard County Solid Waste Conservation District  
• Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education (Ignited)
• Ipswich River Watershed Association
• Ivy Academy
• Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education
• Learning Endeavors
• Louisiana Environmental Action Network      
• Massachusetts Audubon Society
• Minnesota State University - Mankato            
• Mississippi State University
• Missouri River Bird Observatory
• National Wildlife Federation (Atlanta)
• National Wildlife Federation (Houston)
• Neighborhood House of Milwaukee
• New Haven Ecological Project
• New York Sun Works
• Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association
• Openlands       
• Protect Our Water Jackson Hole         
• Rowan University
• Sierra Streams Institute
• Takshanuk Watershed Council             
• The Living Classrooms Foundation
• Trail Blazers
• University of Alaska - Anchorage
• University of Maine    
• Upper Iowa University
• Women for a Healthy Environment
• Youth Environmental Alliance

EPA anticipates providing funding for these projects once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied.

Since 1992, EPA has distributed between $2 million and $3.7 million in EE grant funding each year, for a total of over $95.1 million supporting more than 3,960 projects. The program traditionally provides financial support for projects that design, demonstrate, or disseminate environmental education practices, methods, or techniques. For more information, visit EPA’s Environmental Education webpage.   

To learn more about current and past award winners, or to apply for future EE grant competitions, visit the Environmental Education Grants webpage. This website will be updated as future competitions are announced and additional grants are awarded.  

For further information: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)

Viewer Garden Questions Answered - Sterile Plants, Daylilies, Roses and ...

 EPA Press Office:

EPA Releases Updated Climate Indicators Report Showing How Climate Change is Impacting People’s Health and the Environment

WASHINGTON — Today, July 2, the United States Environmental Protection Agency released the Fifth Edition of Climate Change Indicators in the United States. The report highlights new data showing the continuing and far-reaching impacts of climate change on the people and environment of the United States. New to the report this year are an indicator on Marine Heat Waves (showing trends related to multi-day high ocean temperatures) and a feature on Heat-Related Workplace Deaths.

“EPA’s Climate Change Indicators report is an authoritative resource of how the climate crisis is affecting every American right now and with increasing intensity,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Extreme heat, flooding, and wildfires have become more common, harming human health, threatening livelihoods, and causing costly damage. Regular updates to the data in the Climate Indicators website and report help us track these unprecedented changes so we are better informed in our shared work to confront the crisis.” 

The Fifth Edition presents highlights from a subset of EPA’s total of 57 indicators, which include historical data and observed trends related to either the causes or effects of climate change. The report explores the interconnected nature of observed changes in climate with chapters thematically organized around Greenhouse Gases, Heat on the Rise, Extreme Events, Water Resources at Risk, Changing Seasons, Ocean Impacts, Rising Seas, and Alaska’s Warming Climate. Since publishing the first edition in 2010, EPA has maintained an up-to-date online resource of climate change indicators and regularly released updated publications that present the latest data.

EPA partners with more than 50 data contributors from various U.S. and international government agencies, academic institutions, and other organizations to compile these key indicators of climate change. EPA’s indicators show multiple lines of compelling evidence that climate change is increasingly affecting people’s health, society, and ecosystems in numerous ways. For example: 

• Global and U.S. Temperature – Worldwide, 2023 was the warmest year on record, 2016 was the second warmest, and 2014–2023 was the warmest decade on record since thermometer-based observations began. In the U.S., unusually hot summer days have become more common over the last few decades, and unusually hot summer nights have increased at an even faster rate, indicating less “cooling off” at night.
• Heat Waves in U.S. Cities – Heat waves are occurring more often in major cities across the United States. Their frequency has steadily increased, from an average of two heat waves per year during the 1960s to six per year during the 2010s and 2020s. The average length of the heat wave season across the U.S. cities is 46 days longer now than it was in the 1960s and, in recent years, the average heat wave in major U.S. urban areas has lasted about four days.
• A Closer Look – Heat-Related Workplace Deaths - From 1992 to 2022, a total of 986 workers across all industry sectors in the United States died from exposure to heat of which the construction sector accounted for about 34 percent of all occupational heat-related deaths. During this time frame, 334 construction workers died due to heat exposure on the job.
• Sea Surface Temperature – Over the past century, sea surface temperature has increased and continues to rise. Sea surface temperature has been consistently higher during the past three decades than at any other time since reliable observations began in 1880.
• Marine Heat Waves – Between 1982 and 2023, the annual cumulative intensity of marine heat waves has increased in most coastal U.S. waters, with the largest changes in waters off the Northeastern U.S. and Alaskan coasts. When a location experiences an increase in annual cumulative intensity over time, that means marine heat waves are becoming either more common, longer, more intense (hotter), or some combination of the three.
• Marine Species Distribution – In conjunction with warming ocean waters, many marine species off U.S. coasts are shifting northward and are moving to deeper waters. Since the 1980s, shifts have occurred among several economically important fish and shellfish species. For example, American lobster, black sea bass, and red hake in the Northeast have moved northward by an average of 145 miles.
• Coastal Flooding – Tidal flooding is becoming more frequent along the U.S. coastline. Most sites with long-term data experienced an increase in tidal flooding since the 1950s. At more than half of these sites, floods are now at least five times more common than they were in the 1950s. The rate of increase of flood events per year is largest at most locations in Hawai'i, and along the East and Gulf coasts.
• Wildfires – The extent of area burned by wildfires in the United States has increased since the 1980s, with the largest increases occurring in the West and Southwest. Of the 10 years with the largest acreage burned, all have occurred since 2004, including peak years in 2015 and 2020. This period coincides with many of the warmest years on record nationwide.
• Length of the Growing Season – The average length of the growing season in the contiguous 48 states has increased by more than two weeks since the beginning of the 20th century. A particularly large and steady increase has occurred since the 1970s. States in the West (like Washington and California) have seen the most dramatic increase.
• Snowpack – From 1982 to 2023, the snowpack season became shorter at 80% of the sites measured. Across all sites, the length of the snowpack season decreased by an average of about 15 days and peak snowpack has shifted earlier by an average of nearly seven days since 1982.
• Arctic Sea Ice – The September 2023 sea ice extent was the fifth smallest on record. It was about 789,000 square miles less than the historical 1981-2010 average for that month – a difference almost three times the size of Texas. Since 1979, the length of the melt season for Arctic sea ice has grown by 37 days. On average, Arctic sea ice now starts melting seven days earlier and starts refreezing 30 days later than it has historically.

Understanding and addressing climate change is critical to EPA’s mission of protecting human health and the environment. Tracking observations over time reveals valuable information about what people are experiencing today and can help inform climate solutions. The Fifth Edition of the Climate Change Indicators in the United States report provides abundant evidence of how climate change is happening all around us. Taking action to fight the urgent threat of climate change is an opportunity to build more resilient infrastructure, protect public health, advance environmental justice, strengthen America's working communities, and spur American technological innovations.

Download the report.

Explore EPA’s climate change indicators.

For further information: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)

 EPA Press Office:

EPA Reaches New Milestone in Cleanup of the Gowanus Canal Superfund Site Cleanup

Issues Order to Require $369 Million Cleanup of Second Canal Section

Contact: Stephen McBay, (212)-637-3672, mcbay.stephen@epa.gov

NEW YORK (July 1, 2024) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it has amended its administrative cleanup order for the Gowanus Canal Superfund site in Brooklyn, New York on June 27, 2024, to address the middle segment of the canal – known as Remediation Target Area (RTA) 2.

“Dredging and capping of the upper segment of the Gowanus Canal started in late 2020 and will be completed in July. This is a major milestone in cleaning up the canal and improving water quality,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “Together with the extensive dredging, capping, and bulkhead repair work that has already been completed, this order will ensure the cleanup of the next portion of the heavily contaminated Gowanus Canal, which will be a huge benefit to the Gowanus and Red Hook communities.”  

Dredging and capping of RTA 1, the upper segment of the Canal, started in late 2020 and will be completed in July. Initial RTA 2 work, which began in late June, includes access dredging to facilitate the mobilization and use of equipment needed to conduct work in this portion of the canal, followed by debris removal and bulkhead construction. The full-scale dredging and capping required by the newly amended order will follow. That work is estimated to cost $369 million and will take several years to complete. The detailed engineering and design work for RTA 2 was performed in parallel with the RTA 1 work to accelerate its progress. RTA 3, the lower segment of the Canal, is expected to be implemented after the completion of RTA2.

EPA and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) are closely coordinating the cleanup of the Gowanus Canal and the surrounding area. EPA, NYSDEC, and the New York State Department of Health have been and will continue to oversee the work, which includes plans for community health and safety monitoring. The order amendment has been issued to six parties that EPA determined have the largest shares of responsibility for the contamination at the Gowanus Canal site: Brooklyn Union Gas Co. d/b/a National Grid New York; the City of New York; Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, Inc.; Hess Corp.; Honeywell International Inc., and The Brooklyn Improvement Co.

More than a dozen contaminants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and heavy metals, including mercury, lead, and copper, are present at high levels in the Gowanus Canal sediments. The 2013 cleanup plan for the Gowanus Canal Superfund site includes dredging to remove contaminated sediment from the bottom of the Canal that has accumulated because of industrial and combined sewer overflow (CSO) discharges. Following dredging, construction of a multilayer cap in dredged areas will isolate and prevent migration of any remaining chemicals in the deep native sediment. Certain areas of the native sediment, below the original canal bottom, that contain mobile liquid tar and are too deep to excavate, will be mixed with cement and solidified to prevent the spread of the tar into the water of the Canal. Two CSO retention tanks are being constructed by the City of New York will prevent the hazardous substances found in CSO solids from re-contaminating the Canal. The current cost of the overall cleanup plan is estimated to be over $2 billion, including both the in-Canal work and CSO controls.

Visit the Gowanus Canal Superfund site profile page for additional background and site documents.

Follow EPA Region 2 on X and visit our Facebook page. For more information about EPA Region 2, visit our website.

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