A summary of key things people need to understand the data in reports of environmental or health data. Includes recommended SfA activities and data sources to help understand each.

Download Making Sense of the Data.

Download the Spanish version of this overview.

Participants discuss, read, and practice using one or more units of measurement found in environmental science.

When to Use Them: Before (or along with) a reading of technical documents or reports that refer to any of these units. Choose only the unit or units related to your situation. You can use the fact sheets by themselves as handouts to supplement a meeting or other activity. For a better understanding and practice using the units, each fact sheet comes with a facilitator supplement with suggested discussion questions and activities.

Download all Common Units fact sheets and activity suggestions.

Download only the fact sheets and activity suggestions for:

• Order of magnitude
• Metric prefixes (like kilo-, mega-, milli-, micro-) [handout only]
• Cubic meters (m³)
• Liters (L), milliliters (mL), and deciliters (dL)
• Kilograms (kg), grams (g), milligrams (mg), and micrograms (µg)
• Acres and Hectares
• Tons and Tonnes
• Watts (W), kilowatts (kW), megawatt (MW), kilowatt-hours (kWh), megawatt-hours (mWh), and million-megawatt-hours (MMWh) [handout only]
• Parts per million (ppm) and parts per billion (ppb)

Fact sheets for common limits and levels people encounter in environmental science. Each fact sheet tells you what the limit or level is, how it’s used, how it’s determined, and how it relates to health.

When to Use Them: Before (or along with) a reading of technical documents or reports that refer to any of these limits or levels. Choose only the fact sheets related to your situation.

Download all Limits and Levels fact sheets.

Download only the fact sheets for:

• Detection Limits
• Reporting Limits
• Background Levels
• Reference Dose (RfD)
• Cancer Slope Factor and Unit Risk Factor
• Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) & MCL Goals (MCLGs)
• Groundwater Objectives (GWOs) and Preventive Action Limits (PALs)
• Screening Quick Reference Tables (SQuiRTs)
• Residential and Industrial Soil Screening Levels (RSSLs and ISSLs)
• National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Criteria Air Pollutants (CAPs) and Air Quality Index (AQI)
• Reference Concentration (RfC) for Inhalation
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration Permissible Exposure Limits (OSHA PELs)

Participants examine selections from a technical document and become familiar with typical sections. They record their observations and questions on sticky notes, and group those notes by category. Then they discuss next steps needed to identify information in the document that will help their campaign.

When to Use It: When a community has a technical document that seems impenetrable; they don't know where to begin.

Download A First Look at Technical Documents

Download only the Strategies for Reading pages for:

• Environmental Test Results
• Environmental Impact Statements
• Permit Application Documents

Download the Spanish supplements for this workshop.

Participants practice converting part per million or parts per billion to either mg/kg and µg/kg (for soil) or mg/L and µg/L (for water).

When to Use It: When you need to compare test results with standards, but they're not in the same units. They need to be in the same units before comparing.

Download Converting Between Units

Participants compare environmental test results to health-based standards like EPA MCLs, Soil screening levels, Groundwater Objectives, NAAQS, RfCs, and others (see the Limits and Levels resource for details.) They post the results on the wall and decide which results are most concerning.

When to Use It: When a group receives test results, and wants to know where contamination is the highest. The activity is based on soil, air, or water tests, but the basic idea can be adapted for any data: blood tests, public health data, vehicle traffic. If there is no "standard," compare to typical/background levels or past data.

Download Compare to Standards

Download only the Strategies for Comparing to Standards sheet

Download the Spanish supplements for this activity.

Participants put data from a data table onto a map. Then they use the map to identify trends and hot spots.

When to Use It: When a group wants to look at data for geographic patterns.

Download Mapping Data

Download the Spanish supplements for this activity.

A summary of common strategies for analyzing data sets to find important information, or to challenge claims being made about the data. Includes recommended SfA activities and data sources to help practice each strategy.

Download Drawing Your Own Conclusions

Download the Spanish version of this overview.

Participants identify fact-based claims by industry or government, and consider the different strategies for challenging those claims using data.

When to Use It: Anytime a community group wants to respond to a claim made by an industry or regulator about environmental pollution. Claims could be in:

• a news story or press conference
  
• a proposal for a new or expanded project
  
• an environmental impact study
  
• a public statement or press release

Download A First Look at Challenging Claims

Download only the Strategies for Analyzing Claims handout

Download the Spanish supplements for this workshop.

Participants read a data set, and use a set of tips to find the most newsworthy facts in the data. Then they practice different ways of expressing those facts.

When to Use It: When a group needs practice reading data, finding a notable or
newsworthy fact in the data, and putting that fact into words.

Download Finding Newsworthy Data

Download only the Strategies for Reading...

• Environmental Test Results
• Health Data
• Solid Waste Data
• Pesticides on Food

Download the Spanish supplements for this activity.

Participants start with a data set and its average and match them with common questionable practices used to arrive at an average. They then approach the problem from the reverse angle – starting with an average and then imagining a data set that could match it.

When to Use It: When community members are suspicious of reported results involving averages. The activity gives participants a chance to examine a data set and identify common problems, before they scrutinize their own data.

Download Inside Averages

Download only the Strategies for Challenging an Average handout

Download the Spanish supplements for this activity.

Reports of environmental tests often contain a complete list of results written by a laboratory, and a summary of the most important results written by a government agency or other consultant. In this activity, participants pratice checking to see if the summary matches the lab results, or if there are mistakes.

When to Use It: When participants doubt that the summary of lab results is accurate. Also, when groups want to keep a close eye on the testing process and need tips about what to look for.

Download The Summary vs. The Lab

Download only the Strategies for Checking Summaries of Lab Reports handout

Participants look at a map, consider where there might be contamination or potential exposure, and mark where they would want to take samples.

When to Use It: Before giving input on plans for:

• testing an exposure site (e.g., school, home, garden) to see if offsite
  contamination is intruding
  
• a study design for the cleanup of a hazardous site
  
• challenging an official sampling plan that might be inadequate

Download Sampling Plans

Download the Spanish supplements for this activity.

A summary of factors that contribute to health risks from environmental contamination.

Download Pieces of the Risk Puzzle

Download the Spanish version of this overview.

Participants considering a health study review the major concepts in environmental health: exposure and outcome. They analyze their own situation (or a sample) using key health study considerations, and rate the advantages and disadvantages of specific health study types for that situation.

When to Use It: When community members believe that contaminated air, soil, or water (or a combination) is affecting people's health, and they want a health study to show those effects.

Download A First Look at Health Studies

Note: This workshop was created to supplement the publication Is a Health Study the Answer for Your Community? A Guide for Making Informed Decisions by Madeleine Kangsen Scammell and Gregory J. Howard, 2013 of the Boston University Superfund Research Program (BUSRP) Community Engagement Core. Many resources in the workshop are adapted with permission from that publication. Other parts of the workshop are derived from BUSRP research funded via NIEHS grants 5 P42 ES007381 and 5 R25 ES12084. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIEHS, or NIH. SfA is grateful for BUSRP's important contributions to this workshop.

Participants make statements about the toxicity of an unfamiliar contaminant by comparing its health-based standard (MCL, RSSL, RfC, or RfD) with the same standards for more familiar contaminants like lead, mercury, arsenic, and cyanide.

When to Use It: When you are trying to call attention to a dangerous contaminant that is not widely known. It is particularly useful when there are reports of tests finding the contaminant, but little detail about where and how much.

Download As Toxic As...?

Participants rate several everyday activities that pose various levels of risk of exposure to contamination. They compare their rating with a public health professional's.

When to Use It: When the community faces a toxic threat and the group needs more familiarity with the contaminants of concern and the concept of risk stemming from exposure, and/or when reviewing or preparing input on a risk assessment.

Download Risk: Points of Contact

Download only the fact sheet about

• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
• Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
• Benzo[a]pyrene, a Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH)
• Arsenic

Download the Spanish supplements for this activity.

Participants read about four children who spend time at or near a contaminated place. Then they guess which child has the longest exposure, and verify with a calculator.

When to Use It: When reviewing or preparing input on a risk assessment. Community members need to think about how long they are typically exposed to contamination.

Download Exposed!

Download the Spanish supplements for this activity.

A summary of strategies to consider when communicating key facts to decision-makers or the wider community. Includes recommended SfA activities and data sources to help practice each strategy.

Download Communicating with Numbers

Download the Spanish version of this overview.

Participants look at examples of how one fact can be presented in many different ways. They discuss which ones they find most powerful, and why.

When to Use It: When you have key facts or data that you want to communicate to officials or the general public, but the facts as they are don't make a powerful-sounding media message.

Download Memorable Messages

Download only the handout Strategies for Making Memorable Messages

Download only the resource Benchmark Numbers

Download the Spanish version of the Strategies handout from this activity.

Participants look at graphic examples of how a fact or data set can be presented. They discuss the ones they find most effective, and why.

When to Use It: When you have key facts or data that you want to communicate to officials or the general public, and you need inspiration or ideas for how to present the data visually.

Download Memorable Graphs

Download only the handout Strategies for Making Memorable Graphs

Download the Spanish version of the Strategies handout from this activity.

Participants create a fact sheet for their cause based on a template.

When to Use It: When a group has a short list of compelling facts and graphics, and wants to put them into a fact sheet to inform people and spur them to action.

Download Design a Fact Sheet

Download only the handout Fact Sheet Strategies (includes fact sheet template)