Our 2021 Annual Report: Environment, health, science & impact

An update from the front lines of climate change and environmental health

What a time of change and growth!

We are pleased to share Environmental Health Sciences' 2021 Annual Report, highlighting the many activities we undertook last year that set EHS up for a strong 2022.


Download our annual report here:

EHS-2021-Annual-Report.pdf

Environmental impact

Agriculture and environmental health

2021 was a year of excitement and challenge for our small nonprofit.

  1. We launched EHN en Español,
  2. Doubled down on our commitment to the groundbreaking early career science program Agents of Change, and
  3. Saw significant gains on both the toxics and climate fronts.

And we watched readers – like you! – get engaged in ways that continually surprised us.

Our work continues

PFAS in cosmetics

In just the first three months this year EHS staff has been a hive of activity:

  • Partnered with wellness community Mamavation.com to investigate PFAS contamination in sports bras, cosmetics and other products.
  • Driven a global campaign around groundbreaking BPA limits in Europe – and why the same scientific standards should be applied in the U.S.
  • Published 10 Agents of Change essays & podcasts exploring everything from new pathways into science to workplace chemical exposures.

Take a look at the work EHS did last year and be proud that you, as a reader, are moving it forward.

We certainly are grateful to you!

PS: Just today we published a look at impacts one year after publishing "Fractured," our groundbreaking investigation into spillover pollution from fracking fields in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Check it out!

Banner photo art by David Ryder for EHN.org

A court room gavel sitting on a wooden surface
Credit: Yunus Tuğ/Unsplash+

Federal courts divided, so far, on Trump’s environmental retreat

Judges curbed rollbacks during Trump’s first term. But the courts and the law have changed thanks to Trump’s own appointments. Those votes will be critical as his team seeks to erase the legal basis for climate action in his second term.
President Donald Trump speaking into a microphone
Credit: Gage Skidmore/https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Trump’s energy moves rattle electric utilities

The administration's push for data centers to source their own power is seen by some as a threat to utilities' business model.
Human palm of hand coated with gold
Credit: Photo by MUILLU on Unsplash

Brazil dismantles hundreds of illegal dredges in Amazon mining crackdown

Brazilian police with support from Interpol have destroyed 277 dredges used in illegal gold mining along the Madeira River in one of the largest coordinated crackdowns in the Amazon.
President Joe Biden speaking while holding a microphone
Credit: Gage Skidmore/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Slow rollout throttled Biden’s big clean energy ambitions, former staffers say

An “executive branch machinery that defaulted to caution, process, and reactive strategies” undercut the ex-president’s massive energy and infrastructure programs, a report by his former staffers details.
Marching for science in Washington DC to fight for science funding and scientific analysis in politics
Credit: Photo by Vlad Tchompalov on Unsplash

Push to counter disinformation at COP30 climate summit

As a majority of global citizens call for bold climate change action, a new push for information integrity aims to neutralize the climate denial that has thwarted ambitious action.
A rock formation in the desert with a lake in the background

A tribe in Nevada finally had funding for climate resilience. Then a grant was ripped away

The Walker River Paiute Tribe was poised to strengthen its water, energy, and housing infrastructure with a $20 million federal grant — until the Trump Administration abruptly revoked the funding, halting projects designed to protect the community from worsening wildfires, floods, and extreme heat.

The interior of the New Mexico capitol building in Santa Fe

NM lawmakers say oil and gas wastewater rulemaking ‘tainted’ by politics

Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico are questioning the integrity of the state’s proposed rules for reusing oil and gas wastewater, alleging that political pressure from the governor’s office has undermined public trust in the process.

From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.