Air Quality, Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impacts with Chris Whitehead

Welcome back to Environmental Professionals Radio, Connecting the Environmental Professionals Community Through Conversation, with your hosts Laura Thorne and Nic Frederick! 

On today’s episode, we talk with Chris Whitehead, Air Practice Leader at Enviro-Sciences (of Delaware), Inc. and NAEP member,  about Air Quality, Environmental Justice and Cumulative Impacts.  Read his full bio below.

Help us continue to create great content! If you’d like to sponsor a future episode hit the support podcast button or visit www.environmentalprofessionalsradio.com/sponsor-form 

Showtimes:
1:59  Nic & Laura talk about Puerto Rico
8:04  Interview with Chris Whitehead Starts
10:59  Environmental Justice
17:35  Cumulative Impacts
24:13  Air Quality

Please be sure to ✔️subscribe, ⭐rate and ✍review. 

This podcast is produced by the National Association of Environmental Professions (NAEP). Check out all the NAEP has to offer at NAEP.org.

Connect with Chris Whitehead at www.linkedin.com/in/chris-whitehead-qep-cesm-054424a

Guest Bio:
Chris Whitehead is the leader of ESI’s air compliance practice. He has fifteen years of air quality compliance management consulting experience and has been a national client manager for multiple Fortune 500 companies across numerous sectors. Chris most recently has been heavily involved with environmental justice regulatory developments and has led the air teams for commercial offshore wind projects in New England and the Mid-Atlantic. Over the past eighteen months, he has been published six times in various outlets on the topics of environmental justice, the New Jersey EJ law, and offshore wind project development.

He has an M.S. in Environmental Management and Policy from American Public University, a B.A. in Political Science from Loyola University of Chicago, and a Sustainability Program Management certificate through Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Chris lives in southern New Jersey with his wife and two young children, ages five and three. 

Music Credits
Intro: Givin Me Eyes by Grace Mesa
Outro: Never Ending Soul Groove by Mattijs Muller

Transcript

Transcripts are auto-transcribed

[Intro]

Nic 
Hello, and welcome to EPR, your favorite environmental enthusiast Nic and Laura. On today's episode, why don't I discuss my recent trip to Puerto Rico? We talked to Chris Whitehead about air quality, environmental justice and cumulative impacts. And finally, an average American breathes two gallons of air per minute, which means around 3400 gallons of air each day. For internationalist news. The average person breathes the equivalent of 13 pints of air every minute and take 17,000 breaths. And how about that?

Laura 
So does that mean are UK breathing more than where do we take?

Nic 
You know what? That's a great question. Somebody do the conversion for us. Who counts that?

Laura  
Mean? That's a lot of breathing. makes me tired just thinking of it.

Nic 
Yeah, it's not even like a one to one thing because you breathe slower on your sleeve. So they gotta really, really, really want to know.

Laura  
Is that

Nic 
there probably is. Yeah. That's right, even with what we're talking about today. So why don't we go ahead and hit that music

[NAEP Event News]

Laura 
Pennsylvania chapter is hosting its annual communities corridors and connections conference October 5 through seventh. The theme for the event will promote the importance of working together to learn about the unique interdisciplinary nature of our environmental industry and also highlight today's hot topics in industry updates. You can check that event out@www.paep.org. We are up to over 25,000 downloads across the world which is pretty awesome. So we appreciate all of our sponsors and all of our listeners and everyone else but if you would like to keep the show going, please consider sponsoring. If you would like to head on over to www.environmentalprofessionalsradio.com and check out the sponsor forum for details. Let's get to our segment

[Nic & Laura talk about Puerto Rico]

Nic 
I got to go got to had to go to Puerto Rico for a week and traveled the whole island looking for air emissions inventories looking for air emissions at the Air National Guard throughout the town so all over the place. And some of it was absolutely interesting, wild and fun. So it was terrifying. We were on some mountainous roads. And yeah, that was pretty scary. It was Einstein turns. I mean, you know, we knew what we were looking for. So none of it was like shocking or surprise or anything like that. But we talked about field experiences, you know, cutting your teeth,

Laura  
like giant metal detectors like how are you finding this stuff? Oh, no, no,

Nic 
it's like, where are the omissions, you know, archaeological or anything like that. It's like, we're like, hey, we heard you have three generators. And so where are they? And they're like, oh, yeah, they're over there. They're in there, but two of them don't work. Cool. All right. So we're gonna go look at those now. My wife, okay. And so it's, it was just different work. It's not normally what I would do, but I was helping pull some somebody together for work. And so I had to I had to go I had to be the person to go. And we had a little team going out there. It was really cool. At the very end of the trip, we actually did have time to be a little touristy. And we went to, I don't know if you guys know this, but Puerto Rico has three of the five bioluminescent bays in the world right now. And so that was those bio bays are basically you know, bacteria and when you put your hand in the water and you move it, it turns blue. And it's the craziest thing in the world. It's so cool. It is absolutely wild. And it was just a lot of fun. Here's a really cool experience. It was great to see them. It felt like Harry Potter in the water or something like that. I don't know. But But honestly, the thing we remember the most is actually coming back out there were like, there were two we had four people on the island, so there would be new or all on titanium kayaks. So we had a group in front of me and then me and my other co worker. And then in front of both of us was this random group, and they could not kayak to save their lives. I was so funny because they're just like straight left straight. Right. And they must have paddled like, you know, 14 times more than anyone else. Just to get back. It was really fun. But yeah,

Laura  
somebody was really aggressive with the rudder. Yes. Yeah.

Nic 
I mean, like whoever was in the bank was like, just like just kidding. We're gonna go this way into the mangroves. It was amazing.

Laura 
Well, that's cool. Let's revisit this got to go versus have to go. I feel the negative voice saying I have to go. Positive thing I got to go.

Nic 
And it was it was a mixed mixed bag at the time of year the timing of it. It was not correct. And there was nothing I could do about that. We're very busy with proposal season right now. So it's, it was kind of a challenge. For all of that. I worked very hard for two straight weeks. It is almost doubling what I should be doing, which is not not healthy. So that was the half two part got to us. You know, it's Puerto Rico. It's a beautiful place and you know, it still is recovering from Maria. There's still evidence of Maria all over and they've had an earthquake since then, as well. So there's still some natural disaster elements. We saw a building or we're like, Where the heck is this building? I mean, there's that destroyed building right there. That can't be it. And it was that was the building had to had been destroyed. Since the last time we the people have been out there and that's the kind of stuff you see, but you know, it's still it was, you know, beautiful. We had we had wonderful experiences as well. So it's kind of like it was a mixed bag. I think it's fair to and I got to

Laura 
wait to learn more. I got to just because you also get to go home. Most people have to live there and stay there. Yeah, yeah. They actually they get to live there and stay there.

Nic 
Yeah. Because like when you do stuff like that you do it's not just that you're going to mean like we didn't go to the touristy spots. You know, really, we did one touristy thing at the end. But we got to see the island for what it is. And if you know anyone that splits ever been there or anyone that lives there, you sum it up. You mentioned the roads, right? They'll know that means two things right? It means driving in general is kind of chaotic there. And there are potholes everywhere. So you have to be kind of careful where you go. You have to pay attention to the driver and

Laura 
to train for that. Yeah.

Nic 
But it's pretty bad. It is. I would say it's worse than like DC driving to give people some context. It's just Yeah, it's pretty intense. So I mean, honestly, we were doing the mountain roads. We were literally going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, zigzagging around and there 18 wheelers that are coming through the same path and you're like hoping you don't see them on a blind turn. Because there's just no other route. Like there's nowhere else to go they have to do that. And we got out of the car. And none of us could walk straight like we're all or equilibrium is totally messed up. You know, the guy with us was like, now I know what it's like to be a milkshake but yeah, it's but you see really the real island not just the tourist in parts and their mental, you know, humbling experience in some ways in other ways. It's just kind of like, you know, another place and it's kind of neat. Everybody's just doing what they need to do.

Laura 
Yeah, that's how I felt about visiting Cuba in the short window that it was able to do that.

Nic  
Yeah, I mean, you know, Puerto Rico in place for sure. Yeah, it's just there's different things. There's the infrastructure on the island is still struggling in some ways to recover.

Laura 
Glad you had a good time, for the most part, and I'm looking forward to hearing about your next travels. Where's your next travel?

Nic 
Probably Albuquerque, probably. White Sands area.

Laura  
All right, to go to Albuquerque. Cool.

Nic  
So that'll be October, or Goldsboro. I'm also going to North Carolina, where I live so I'm just driving. That it's exciting.

Laura 
All right. Let's get to our interview.

Nic
Cool.

[Interview with Chris Whitehead Starts]

Laura
Welcome back to EPR. Today we have Chris Whitehead, err Practice Leader at Navarro sciences of Delaware Inc. on the show. Chris is also an NDP member. Whoo. Welcome, Chris. Record, man. Awesome. I'm super excited to have you here talking about the sexy world of air compliance and air regulation. So before we jump into your work, though, I don't know that a lot of people who aren't in that field understand what it is. So maybe you could educate us just a little bit on what air quality compliance is or what being a project practitioner is like?

Chris Whitehead 
Absolutely, absolutely. I have been in this field now for almost 16 years. And basically by doing what's called compliance reports with every facility in the country, whether it's a major source would call the Power Five site or minor has to have a permit to operate and each permit tells them what they can do, what environmental impacts they can have, and then give various control mechanisms to try and be sure that they stay in the lanes. We help them through all that process through the reporting or them stare at endless Excel spreadsheet when they don't want to and just basically trying to make their lives easier as you possibly can.

Laura 
So what led you How did your career path progressing? What led you to airfield?

Chris Whitehead 
Sure, that's a good question. I actually studied poli sci undergrad in Chicago and I thought I was gonna go into environmental law actually took the LSAT everything did very, very, very well but then changed my mind last minute and then started looking for other options I thought might be a better fit, but I didn't think I wanted to practice law. So one day, I was actually serving as a bartender just after college, trying to figure out a few things. And I was speaking to one of my bar guests, and he happened to run a small consulting firm in New Jersey doing this for 40 years or so. He was actually one of the first guys to put in motion controls and coal power plants out in the center United States in Michigan, Minnesota a few places. So I had a great opportunity to learn from him directly. So I just thought it was something too good. I couldn't pass up that went on to paranoiacs for about 70 are

Laura 
awesome. And we hear from a lot of people that they get their first opportunities from talking to somebody. So that's cool.

Chris Whitehead 
That's something I always have to be open to. I think I could try to talk to anybody and just honest and always joke around about what you're trying to get out, get out of life and what you're hoping to accomplish and that type of conversation ended up being.

[Environmental Justice]

Laura  
Yeah, that's great. Something listeners may not know also is that air and environmental justice have become pretty closely entwined and they have been for a while but can you tell us a little bit about the nuances that create that relationship and how practitioner addressing issues differently today than maybe they were a decade ago or even just a few years ago?

Chris Whitehead 
That's a great question. And to be extremely honest, I tell this story at the beginning of my environmental justice training and talks around the country. When I first heard the term environmental justice, stakeholder engagement, it was at a public hearing, when I was just just starting out just basically junior consultant. And of course, I'm paraphrasing here, but I was actually telling Oh, don't worry about the public hearing if anyone comes at all it's probably just going to be older and noise. Finance will be out of hand. Two hours, no big deal. And I never really sat well with me. And just fast forward a few years. I was I was trained early on identify regulations that were going to be impactful for Mayans and learn everything we can about them and obviously tell them ahead of time, so it isn't any surprises. When the New Jersey Egypt book came out in the fall 2020 It's pretty obvious. That was a lot. It's gonna be checking all the boxes. But what I didn't know at the time is how much Mike my career was going to turn almost on a dime and how much of my time was going to be spent on environmental justice and interacting with all these groups who've been at this so much longer than I've even been alive, to be honest. But go back to your original question. Though, the air and packs tie in because of something called cumulative impacts. Every site as I said, the beginning in the country emits various contaminants into the air various levels. Most of the time, that's not the big deal. If you have a good site to do what they're supposed to, if there's only then might not be an issue might not have health impacts in the area. But if you have numerous ones on top of each other in the same geographic area, eventually that's going to add up and they're going to be elevated impacts in the area and unfortunately things like LD cases of childhood asthma, extreme cases, actually, mortalities things that that he wanted to avoid. Just to follow a little further to what I learned early on, there are sites that do a good job and try and do what they're actually supposed to. And unfortunately there are many who don't and who are very tight staff and just do the best they can but have bigger issues. If you combine that with all those others types in the area that they that could really add up. So it's basically what we're facing now.

Laura 
Speaking of new things in the field, offshore wind and environmental justice are also becoming some issues that you deal with also in your career.

Chris Whitehead 
Yes, I was fortunate nav a couple years ago to actually leave the air commercial Archer went project at the coast, Massachusetts and it was my first exposure to the industry with a great experience to understand the nuts and bolts of all the processes that are involved in that type of the scale of our project and the extended timelines. Again, some traction in the last couple of years. A couple of papers and presentations, looking at the intersection of offshore wind and environmental justice and what exactly that looks like. And actually did a project last year where I surveyed stakeholders within the industry to get their input as to where they thought the biggest potential environmental impacts from these projects were going to be, how they could be avoided. And then when I was a little surprised at the time it first became a real study on stakeholder engagement. And how we want that to ideally, look going forward.

Laura  
Great. And then what does that look like? What should it ideally look like?

Chris Whitehead 
Sure, almost, I don't want to say the talking point that you're going to hear a lot now. But extending community partnerships, a lot of people ask me what that actually means. And I've been advising sites throughout the country now especially in our area. That it means you'd have to invest yourself and multi year effort that goes past just checking the box just in a public hearing. And looking at first honest accounting of what your environment and past actually are, what the makeup of your community is, what the demographics are, what their capabilities are, and then how you can be there to answer whatever questions they have. A big thing is a lot of times people will want to be heard and get their comments or points heard even if you don't agree with them. As you extend accessibility and things like having multiple lingual opportunities and possibly child care at public hearings. So working parents can come it's going that extra mile and putting some thought into things to show honestly that you care and are want to be a part of the community instead of just located inside.

Laura 
Yeah, that's great. Sounds like a really great career for somebody who cares about people and health but also like state and science, right? Yeah. What you're doing 16 years what do you really love about it?

Chris Whitehead 
I thank you for trying to do and path for work and still still make out at the end of the day. There's a way of doing things that takes a little extra effort up front. Occasionally plan these things out and to look for areas to elaborate but things that effort upfront pays dividends than mine. And one of the things I found I'm actually very good at that didn't even know last couple of years is I've developed a skill of getting programs together and collaborations together. That as I get that did I want to try and do something go after it. Kind of think okay, who were my dream panelists or who I want to have on this project? And nine times out of 10 I get and that kind of surprised me to be honest.

[Cumulative Impacts]

Nic 
Yeah, and you know, we're talking about impacts right. So from a NEPA perspective, I think your quality is one of the both one of the most quantifiable resource areas we have. It's also one of the most difficult to discuss, particularly, like you mentioned with cumulative impacts, you know, to be looked back five years, 10 years, really, even just one project in one area, you can say, well, there's not that many impacts. You add all the other ones up, and there are but we don't even have great ideas on how we truly capture that impact. So do you have ideas or thoughts about how we really, genuinely address air quality and

Chris Whitehead 
well, a couple of points there's guidance coming out in various state that justice programs on things like defying cumulative impacts, states like New Jersey, New York and a couple others taking the lead on that now. But then there's also guidance being worked on on the federal level on the same issue, how to exactly define and go after what if there was an impasse are but before we even get there, you can take an honest accounting of what your environmental impacts are, and a lot of sides I know or ISO 14,001 certified as simple as trying to continuously improve minimize watching our whether it's air impacts or water or the space, run down the hole by know what you're putting out into the environment. Have an honest and tenable accounting as extensively as you can, as to what they are from that point. It'll help you be ready. When you're going to live impacts are going to be a sign you'll almost be almost decreased steps ahead.

Nic 
And do you have a particular model that you appreciate using I know, like the Air Force has their own versions of models and other agencies do too? Is there something that you like to use more than something more than others?

Chris Whitehead 
Yeah, I developed i would say i cherry pick a little bit from a couple of existing models. nashit developed my own internal spreadsheet.

Nic 
That's pretty cool. And I mean, huge data nerd. I love it. I love it. And it is really genuinely one of the most data intensive fields so I mean, what about it? What about data, really drives you like why do you like it so much?

Chris Whitehead 
Well, again, going back to something I said before, I like the idea of trying to do impactful work. And if you have a data point, or hopefully obviously extensive data points that show something like an elevated impact. That's a huge, huge tool in your tool belt that says okay, we know Andy Aaron's a problem here. What are we going to do about it? Getting past that one point of being able to prove that there is a problem is huge?

Nic 
Yeah. Yeah. And actually, that's a good segue. Because I would say, California probably has the strictest air quality regulations in the country, but as you mentioned, the states do things differently and as a whole, do you know where the US falls in relation to other countries? We talk about our air quality regulations or we want Are we one of the best? Are we room for improvement? Should we all be using the California model?

Chris Whitehead 
I had find it hard to quantify, are we the best or not? But I will say there's definitely room for improvement. And the important thing to think about too is how you define sustainability and what works in one state might not necessarily be viable in other states, who I've seen as the person personally last couple of years, is that there's a lot of cherry picking that goes on from state to state and allows states to work together on these types of things last time, just as an example, last time, I checked in on it, there were 32 states were recently enacted or proposed something on environmental justice, and each of them have checked in on the Jersey model. So being from New Jersey is something I'm very, very proud of that. Although not every state is going to go as far and be as extensive as our program. Our program is having influence across the country.

Nic 
That's awesome. That's great

Laura 
sounds Are there parts. So when we think about air quality, and you you mentioned partnering with other states and stuff, you know, New Jersey air isn't doesn't belong to just New Jersey, it came from somewhere else that was gonna go somewhere else. So what are those aspects of parts of air quality that are out of our control, so to say and, you know, maybe like we hear about Sahara and dust or pollutants from other countries, and then he was a lot. How does that play into determining what's going on? In the state and how they define how well they're doing?

Chris Whitehead 
Yeah, that is a big issue. And it's been handled recently blather the air impacts that happen in Jersey, come from states like West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, in some cases, that might still be like at times still on coal or heavier fossil fuel base and that gets carried over to New Jersey. So we're not attainment for a couple of things, and we're probably going to be for a while largely because of that. But you have states like New Jersey working together for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and other other collaborations to hopefully try and address cross state pollution. But until the state's up winds, start being aggressive, as well and start getting off fossil fuels to an extent possible. There's only so much that New Jersey can do internally, our actual air emissions that we produce because of weather patterns, obviously go out to the ocean or obviously, obviously to upstate New York, but Manhattan, Long Island, things like that. And as we develop offshore wind projects is going to help but that takes time. One of the things I try to get people to remember is there's a lot of exciting things happening right now and the approach to get off fossil fuels is going to help a lot of people on health a lot of health impacts but doesn't just happen overnight.

[Air Quality]

Nic 
One of the things I think we want to talk to you about today is air quality. So you know data nerd right you got you look at data but that also means that you have to go get it right. So we have a segment we call field notes where we talk about what people are doing to go in the field and I recently did my very first air emissions inventory in Puerto Rico driving all over the island looking at generators, and it was a pretty, you know, intense experience, you know, so can you tell us a little bit about what those air quality projects are like in the field and like, what should people be considering if they want to get into this field?

Chris Whitehead 
Sure. That depends on the type of site that you go to, but one of the things I liked about consulting is exposed to a wide variety of sectors. I've worked in chemical I've worked in pharma a lot of power sites. One thing is you will always work that way. Anyway, finding common is the site environmental management team is largely overworked and stressed out. So any type of help you can give them any type of automation or analysts say remotely if possible, will definitely be appreciated. And each project is a little bit different. One of the biggest things of course, is budgeting and scheduling and trying to stick to each and as I was told early on, when I started this, if you can limit surprises for your minds, you're doing a pretty good job. More good projects you have under your belt with a certain person, the more likely it is that that individual project manager is gonna stay with you as time goes on. There's a huge amount of turnover in this business, especially last couple of years, people jumping from company to company, and it's not as much to the company or the client staying with you as a consultant. It's that individual project manager.

Nic 
Yeah, that's a really great point, actually. And I honestly I don't know if we've talked about that as much but it is really, really important. Relationships are very important. When you touched on something that sparked another question for me, like, you want to make sure that that you're working with the project manager, you guys are getting along and you don't want to give them any surprises, right so for air quality, and you say you're using data, and basically, you hit a button, right and you turn it turns out the data that you need, and then you see what's going on. Or do you have a sense I guess over time as you've done this, you know, before you even hit the button, hey, this is going to be an issue. Is that something you just want over time? Or do you have ways to teach people that

Chris Whitehead 
while the larger sites, pedophiles will have what's called continuous emission monitors, or stems on their equipment, most times and regular data readouts and calibrations that have to be done on those units and you have to report quarterly most times and so you're on top of this thing a lot so you will and I can't even tell you the amount of permits and ink on my hands from going through this. What you are comfortable with the site and know what their emission limits are you getting get a sense of finding those red flags like hey, this was over X, Y or Z in minutes or hours. What's the issue? If it pops up again? I mean, the next Check and Next check after that. Yeah, you know, you're going to have to have something actual concrete to go in and change. There's a little common sense obviously, but more often exceedance happens more likely it is it's actually a hardware issue and not just maintaining properly or things like that.

Nic 
And I got you I got you. And you know we talk about like all the fields mishaps that we have in the field as well. But was there ever a time where you maybe got sick from being out in the field? Store? You want to share that?

Chris Whitehead 
Sure. Sure. Couple of things come to mind. I hadn't mentioned quickly I had I have a service background. And one of the jokes was stack tested in Sam's is the first time you go up on a stack. The person I was kind of hugs the stack and doesn't want to even look over the edge at all. So I ever did that. I got a little a little bit sick to my stomach and out for a couple hours. A bigger issue I had actually actually made the news a little bit. I was exposed to the possible Legionnaires case. So it's Department of Health a little bit more closely than I wanted to pick and a half but only a bad case of bronchitis and pneumonia. I didn't have Legionnaires but it scared the heck out of me.

Nic  
Yeah. Oh my gosh, I just pneumonia. Yeah,

Chris Whitehead 
that's just you having a bad

Nic 
Yeah, real Oh my gosh.
_______________

Chris Whitehead 
generic let's get the heck out of me. Yeah.

Nic 
Oh my gosh, I just pneumonia.

Chris Whitehead 
Yeah, that's just you having a bad couple days.

Nic 
Yeah, for real. Oh my gosh. Well guys are happy and healthy now.

Chris Whitehead 
Thank you for that.

Nic 
One of the other things you do, he says you do a lot of work with presentations and all that but one of the things we love to ask on the show is what do you do for fun? What do you do to unwind? What are your hobbies

Chris Whitehead 
I talk on Pac Man. Oh, I have two beautiful kids. My son Kyra is five and my daughter Haley is three. So I spent a lot of time with them. We just actually taught them to rather my son actually I'm sorry to ride his bike yesterday. So I was just Oh wow. That over the top excited that sprinting after my kid as he's down the street. But yeah, same type of sports with them or just being outside with family having a good time going to Phillies games. Something a little more close to home. I started a vegetable and fruit garden at our house a couple of years ago when we bought the place and effort in to it was kind of long to the point where I'd never even have to buy produce at the store anymore. Almost every day when my daughter Haley comes home from school she I was asked to go pick strawberries and the smile on her face when she's gone is just over the top and I get a lot of joy from that.

Nic  
Yeah, and you know, you say you're a Phillies fan. I'm a pirates fan. So I was just I don't even I'm actually Yankees fan. Oh, really?

Chris Whitehead 
I'm a Yankees fan, but I'm outside of Philadelphia. So I'm kind of learning not to hate.

Nic 
So what are your kids? What are your kids? They Phillies are they gonna go Yankees as well?

Chris Whitehead 
I'm letting them pick whoever they want, but just got it on his hat. Probably his jersey all that stuff. So I'm guessing he's probably ahead that way. But honestly, who knows? Right

Laura 
behind the scenes cheering

Chris Whitehead 
now it's funny how it works out when I was a kid. My grandfather tried to raise me as a Mets fan, because this was 1986 and seven. They were amazing on top of the world. Yeah, but didn't stick and all of a sudden around 91 I chose to follow a horrible, horrible Yankees team because I liked Don Magan

Laura 
well, you joked about doing podcasts for fun but I do know that you really enjoy giving presentations, which is a skill that a lot of people struggle with and so we're just wondering if you have any advice, either for giving presentations or even getting published? You've got a lot of stuff that you've had published to maybe just some ideas to share with people in general.

Chris Whitehead  
Yeah, sure. The first part, getting present patients that Republic obviously is best by talking to anybody if you can talk to somebody and be confident on a topic. Doesn't matter if it's in front of one or two or 10 or 100 people in my opinion, and it's just an opportunity to be up there and talking about issue Whoa, and public patient that's going after a theater or a topic you want to find out more about and if you think it's a good idea, and you'd haven't read a lot about it or I saw a lot about it out there. Probably worth going after. And just a quick story. When I said I was actually looking at the intersection of offshore wind and environmental justice last year, that stemmed from an opportunity I had right by the paper by Texas at the beginning of this year. LexisNexis said okay, Chris, environmental law in New York 5000 words, go ahead. Okay. kind of joking to myself. At first, I didn't even know about 1000 words. I thought okay, what can I do that I have experienced and what can I do that I think might be impacted? So that's how I kind of combined two things I was working on a lot at the time that I didn't see a lot on in the scholarly papers and stuff. And just kept on going with it and turned it into this survey project and started developing a lot of very useful connections that I still have and potential opportunities for business. So any type of publications and presentations you can get if you keep talking about it and are passionate about these ideas that could potentially turn into things down the line. And actually I'm so one other thought too. I've enjoyed all of them. I've done. I've done a number of them first, during the actual youth groups also doing doing the Earth Day presentation in my high school, the last couple of years talking about talking to students and getting them educated on certain topics and answering their watch and it's definitely exciting.

Laura 
Yeah, that's cool. What do you find is something maybe one of the biggest things they struggle with?

Chris Whitehead 
Why depends on the left. But I tried to I was while I'm speaking to various student groups or kids is just to tell them a little bit about what's going on in the environmental field and the importance of it and as an option as a career. I went to a private boarding school for high school and there's nothing wrong at all with it, but a lot of our graduates end up going to go into law going into finance, just going after money. And that's but not to beat a dead horse here. But I think there's a possibility to work and still make a good living on top of it. Yep, totally.

Laura 
Well, that was all the questions we had for you today. Is there anything else we missed that you'd like to talk about a

Chris Whitehead 
year actually, I just narrow stuff down LinkedIn, that when I'm bringing up, I tried to do one general research topic every year. Last year. It was the environmental justice officer when stuff they ended up turning into what's called the lions projects, which is how we want stakeholder engagement look going forward and anyone who wants more info on that can go viral sciences.com lashing in our field lines project, but my next one is going to be looking at social cost carbon impacts are in overburdened communities versus not overburdened areas, and whether or not we're properly accounting for that, in our mining efforts go forward. Todd says that with all your large infrastructure projects we're doing to have extensive environmental and health benefits long term, but with all these moving parts and things happening at once, are we going into a period where we might have a bump in ambient emissions for five years for 10 years? What does that actually look like? And if that is going to happen? What can we do to potentially buffer guess that?

Nic 
I guess, you know, the future of inequalities and there's lots of regulations coming out lots of information coming out. You're doing studies like this now. Do you think we're headed in a good direction when it comes to air quality? Because I know sometimes we eat greenhouse gases, even mentioning a term can be a triggering for people who work in NEPA because we weren't doing it. We weren't doing it. Now. We are doing it again. Do you think we're headed in the right direction or do we still have some work to do?

Chris Whitehead 
I agree with you that it's frustrating when things change, but administration better but if you look at overall trend lines for MBA concentrations, almost without exception, we're doing very well. But this important thing to highlight that is not just greenhouse gases to worry about a thing called co routines, like Chem 2.5 and also get kicked out and say atmosphere from fossil fuel combustion. And that's what actually causes localized health effects, like asthma, like various heart problems at times, that when we start off we have work to do. And that's actually why I said one of the reasons why I've gotten so passionate about environmental justice is to try to address the Hot Pockets we still have through the country and what can we do to bring those down and make things a little bit more balanced? Yeah,

Nic  
that's perfect. Thank you. Sure.

Laura 
Awesome. Well, good luck with all those projects. It's really important work that you're doing people need to breathe clean air. So if people have questions for you want to follow up, where can they get in touch with you?

Chris Whitehead 
Sure. I'm very active on LinkedIn. So um, I would open the chat. They're

Laura 
awesome. Thank you so much. It was really great having this chat with you, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Chris Whitehead 
Thank you guys as well.

[Outro]

Nic 
And that's our show. Thanks, Chris, for joining us today. We had a really good conversation. Please be sure to check us out each and every Friday. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. See you everybody.

Laura
Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai