I’m an environmental public health scientist with a broad background and experience in epidemiology, toxicology, and research translation. I have a passion for teaching and for communicating science. I’m especially interested in how we can use scientific information to create effective chemicals policy that protects the environment and public health.
I'm a staff scientist at the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, a global nonprofit organization based in Eugene, Oregon. At ELAW, I provide advice and assistance to environmental defenders around the world.
My partner and I own and run The Bear & Bee Bookshop, a small independent shop in North Adams, Massachusetts that carries used and new books. While we carry a little of everything, we have special interest in queer and feminist books, health and wellness, nature, gardening, science fiction, and more.
My consulting work has focused on the use of scientific data in forming effective public policy. I have extensive experience with chemicals regulation in the United States, including a year as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow hosted within EPA’s Design for the Environment program. I have a special interest in the effectiveness of the restriction and authorisation processes under the European Union’s REACH chemicals policy, through ongoing collaborations with the European Environmental Bureau, CHEM Trust, the Health and Environment Alliance, and other EU- and US-based organizations.
I love teaching, and have extensive experience. In recent years I've taught at Northeastern University, at Boston University’s Sargent College, at the Brown University School of Public Health, and at Boston College. I held an assistant professorship (and chaired the Department of Environmental Studies) at Dickinson College, and I've also taught at the Boston University School of Public Health and at the Brown University Department of Environmental Studies (now part of IBES).
In 2019-20, I lived in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where I collaborated with the Environment and Social Development Organization on local pollution issues, including characterization of PFAS pollution in waterways, lead use in informal industry, mercury in consumer products, and on Dhaka's tragically high level of air pollution.
Rye Howard, DSc, MPH (they/them or she/her)
email: rye.x.howard@gmail.com
secure email: rye@tutamail.com
openPGP: 319951C2ED3378346545872C5CC0019BF4352636
Twitter: @rye_how
Mastodon: @ryehow@mastodon.green
Google Scholar: Riley E Howard
LinkedIn: Riley E Howard
Orcid: 0000-0002-6474-2527
A few of the courses I've written and taught.
- Environmental Health and Policy, a “fundamentals” course on environmental public health, covering the basic scientific approaches (toxicology, epidemiology, risk assessment), the policy and regulatory context, and emerging problems in environmental health.
- Foundations of Environmental Science and Introduction to Environmental Science. These introductory courses, targeted at Environmental Studies majors and non-majors respectively, emphasize the human-environment connection, including energy and climate, agriculture, waste, and toxics.
- Environmental Ethics and the End of the World, a seminar on environmental apocalypse and environmental ethics through the lens of literature.
- Cities, Environment, and Health, an overview of the imapacts of urban design on health and the environment. This class covers the basic history and theory of urban planning and design, examines the impacts of different design approaches, and considers the prospects for the future. Spoiler alert: While cities have their challenges, they can be very, very good for both health and environment.
- Methods in Environmental Health Sciences, a laboratory-based introduction to research methods in the field, including toxicology, epidemiology, exposure assessment, and risk assessment.
- Environmental Policy, an overview of environmental law, policy, and regulation. This course emphasizes US governmental structures and the resulting regulations; because of my particular experience and interests, the regulation of chemicals is highlighted.
- The Global Supply Chain, a senior seminar focusing on global health and environmental impacts of manufacturing, trade, and consumption.
A few environmental health resources that I've been involved in creating:
-
The Health
Studies Guide (tambien en
español) is a resource for communities affected by or concerned about
pollution.
Madeleine
Scammell and I developed the Guide with help from a
number of other collaborators.
- Part I: What is a health study and why would you want one?; Framing your concern as a research question; A menu of health studies; More about each type of health study
- Still in progress: Key considerations in planning a good health study; How to evaluate the results of a health study
- Part II: Who conducts health studies?; Appendix: Environmental health information and resources; Appendix: Annotated epidemiological studies; Glossary
-
La Guía de Estudios de Salud es un recurso para
las comunidades afectadas o preocupadas por la contaminación. Madeleine
Scammell y yo desarrollamos la Guía con la ayuda de otros colaboradores.
Los premieres capítulos son disponible en español.
- La Guía de Estudios de Salud (Capítulos 1-3)
- Turning the plastic tide: How chemicals in plastic are putting our health at risk (2020; shared authorship)
- From BPA to BPZ: a toxic soup? How companies switch from a known hazardous chemical to one with similar properties, and how regulators could stop them (2018; primary author for scientific sections of this report from the Health & Environment Alliance)
- Restricted Success: EEB’s appraisal of restriction under REACH (2017; a primary author of this report from the European Environmental Bureau)
- Approaches for Accelerating Substitution under REACH and Beyond: Strategic Options Assessment (2017; co-author with the Lowell Centre for Sustainable Production under contract with the European Chemicals Agency)
- For academic publications, please see my Orcid page.
