Air Pollution Calculations, Crisis Management and Rearranging Your Workflow: What I'm Reading This Week

Between two unexpected snowstorms, an unexpected illness and general ennui, it’s been another rough week.

I read a fantasy novel to escape my unpleasant reality, but the effects were so ephemeral. I’ve decided it’s best to focus on nourishing and nurturing while I wait for brighter and warmer days. I found comfort in a cup of peach tea while I read my book, and I have plans to visit with friends and family in the next few days.

I hope you’re finding warmth and peace wherever you are as well as strength to persist. Until next time, stay safe, be well and be kind!

Air Pollution Calculations

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been assigned the difficult task of determining the return on investment (ROI) of reducing air pollution.

Over the course of the EPA’s 55 years, Republican and Democratic administrations have used different estimates of the monetary value of a human life in cost-benefits analysis to determine environmental rules, including cost estimates of avoided asthma attacks, heart and lung disease, and premature deaths. The EPA announced Jan. 12 that going forward, it will be counted as zero.

In other words, the EPA will no longer consider the health benefits of curbing two of the most widespread deadly air pollutants—fine particulate matter and ozone—when determining regulations. This change could potentially make it easier to repeal limits on these pollutants from coal-burning power plants, oil refineries, steel mills and other industrial facilities, reports The New York Times.

In a statement to The Associated Press, spokeswoman Brigit Hirsch said the agency “absolutely remains committed to our core mission of protecting human health and the environment” but “will not be monetizing the impacts at this time.” The EPA will continue to estimate costs to businesses to comply with the rules and will continue “ongoing work to refine its economic methodologies” of pollution rules.

As to be expected, this change in monetizing benefits from fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone has been met with praise for less onerous regulations as well as vocal objections.

One objection in particular stood out to me because it gets to the core of what safety professionals do. Speaking to The Associated Press, W. Kip Viscusi, a Vanderbilt Law School professor who helped develop a government system to monetize health risks more than four decades ago.

Viscusi said: “If EPA goes through with this plan, it will have a devastating impact on environmental regulations.” And, if the agency abandons these calculations to measure risks to human life, “it will undermine the rationale for all health, safety and environmental regulations.″

Many national news outlets have covered the news, including The New York Times, Associated Press, The Washington Post and ABC News. I highly recommend reading more to understand what is at stake.

Crisis Management

I’ve found myself less excited and optimistic about this new year than in the past. This piece from Theresa MacPhail offered a plethora of insights, but I’ll start with the most important one: I’m not the only one feeling this way.

Ever since COVID-19 first emerged, I have struggled with the very construct of time: Was 2022 really four years ago? How long will winter, nay January, last? Is it even possible to make a five-year plan anymore? These questions can bleed into other aspects of your life, from making it difficult to stay focused to even looking forward to things in the future.

These are some of the effects of living in a polycrisis, a term used when multiple, interconnected crises occur at the same time: wars (or threats of war), health insecurity, political upheaval or uncertainty, environmental anxiety, unmet basic needs, financial crises, etc.

A polycrisis also exposes our brain’s biggest weakness: we’re not great at thinking about the future. We use today to anticipate our tomorrow, so when today is unpredictable or unexpected, we can’t see what’s to come.

There’s not just one passage I can highlight for you; I encourage you to read the entire piece here. It’s reassuring to hear that humanity has faced similar circumstances in the past and survived, though I do not wish to fathom any polycrises in the future.

Rearranging Your Workflow

After these first two stories, I needed to find something more joyful. T, The New York Times Style Magazine, delivered with this actionable and animated piece on how to arrange your desk for good juju.

Megan O’Sullivan spoke with several folks about how they arrange their desks. I liked how this piece incorporated a diversity of ideas. Too often, we get so caught up in our world, er, desk that we can’t envision other ways of doing things.

Listening to others reminded me that neither our present or future is fixed. We can easily mix things up—and find something that suits us. A few folks interviewed lean toward minimalism, but I’m a maximalist. Still, I could do with some better organization. I’m going to set a timer for 30 minutes and see what I can accomplish.

I hope you are just as inspired after reading this article.