Environmental Health & Justice Education (EHJ)

We provide an array of environmental health and justice education experiences.

Most importantly we provide peer reviewed scientific based EHJ education. Looking at the history of the EJ movement and keeping up to date with the most recent science in environmental health.

We share this knowledge through free monthly webinars like the Collaborative on Health & the Environment (CHE-Alaska) with EHJ experts presenting and talking about the latest environmental health and justice issues.

We organize lecture series, bring guest speakers and travel throughout Alaska to share and exchange knowledge with our tribal partners, tribal governments, schools, healthcare professionals, educators, and academia.

We organize and provide training to Indigenous women, girls, tribal citizens, and allies on community based participatory research (CBPR), environmental field sampling institutes, host student interns throughout the year, participate of local conference like Elders & Youth, collaborate with universities and local partners developing prevention strategies like the Breast Cancer Prevention collaboration with the Alaska Run for Women (AKRFW), and continued education events like the Children’s Environmental Health Summit.

Remember: education is key and knowledge is power!

Contact us for more info to get involved!

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The Alaska Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE-Alaska)

Scientific evidence increasingly indicates a relationship between a range of environmental factors and a wide array of chronic diseases and conditions. The Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) is an international partnership of individuals and organizations committed to addressing environmental impacts on human health across the lifespan.

This partnership explores the emerging science of environmental health, justice, and education relevant to the state of Alaska and its people. Coordinated by ACAT, CHE-Alaska works to inform health professionals, researchers, health-affected groups, government agents and other concerned citizens about environmental links to disease and disability.

Learn More About CHE

CHE-Alaska Webinars

Lecture Series

A wealth of knowledge and free! Every year ACAT invites guests’ speakers and expert on environmental health and justice topics from Alaska, the United States and the World to share the latest in science and knowledge on a variety of topics.

Workshops & Trainings

ACAT offers science-based workshops and trainings designed to educate people about ways to prevent exposures to harmful chemicals in the home, childcare settings, schools, and workplaces. We provide information about safe alternatives to replace toxic chemicals and materials in household products such as personal care products, cleaning products, toys, furnishings, and pesticides.

Workshops include:

Training for Early Childcare Educators & Providers

Alaska Community Action on Toxics provides a “Healthy Children in Toxic-Free Childcare” training, designed to inform childcare providers and early childhood educators about ways to reduce childhood exposures to neurotoxic chemicals, including heavy metals, fluorinated chemicals, flame retardants, volatile organic chemicals (solvents and formaldehyde used in cleaning products and building materials), PVC plastic, phthalates, pesticides and antimicrobials. The training is approved for continuing education credits (CECs) by the Alaska System for Early Education Development (SEED). In collaboration with our community partner Thread Alaska, we offer this training in both Spanish and English to childcare providers and early childhood educators. Please contact us if you are interested in the training.

With funding Healthy Babies Bright Futures and the Mayors Innovation Project, Alaska Community Action on Toxics and Thread Alaska replaced more than 500 nap mats containing flame retardant and other toxic chemicals with toxic-free nap mats, reducing neurotoxic exposure to hundreds of children now and for years to come. Studies have found that nap mats are a common source of exposure to toxic flame retardant chemicals in children. Removing toxic nap mats and replacing them with safe mats greatly reduces exposures to chemicals known to cause harm to children.

Safe & Healthy Alternatives / Right to Know

ACAT believes that people have a right to know about harmful chemicals in our air, water, food, workplaces, personal care, and household products. We advocate for transparency in labeling as well as the elimination of harmful substances and replacement with safe alternatives. We offer workshops and trainings about safe and healthy alternatives at such events as house parties, schools, conferences, and other events by invitation.

Community-Based Environmental Health Research

The Community-Based Environmental Health Research: A Field Sampling Institute (FI) provides participants with the tools necessary to conduct their own community-based environmental sampling program to assess contaminants from local and global sources.

The FI brings together tribal leaders and other community members representing more than a dozen villages and communities from Norton Sound region and throughout Alaska for a week-long intensive training program. Participants gain knowledge and hands-on experience from classroom and field sessions with nationally renowned scientists and environmental health experts. They learn about water quality testing, fish sampling, sediment coring, GIS computer mapping, and how to monitor stream health. Through hands-on investigations, participants explore streams, wetlands, and coastal areas. Using modern technology and traditional ecological knowledge. Back in the classroom, they learn how environmental contaminants may affect human health and how to implement independent community-based environmental sampling programs in their villages.

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