1. Why Environmental Awareness?
Increased focus Institute-wide on good environmental practices/sustainability
Regulatory requirements:
Hazardous waste management
Oil pollution prevention and response
Our location on the Charles
MIT as a leader

2. Regulation and Policy
Industrial materials were not always handled in a safe manner and this improper management damaged water supplies and threatened human health saw the publication of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” that brought public’s attention to indiscriminate use of pesticides in agricultural application and to decades of rampant and highly visible pollution. This book led to the public demanding safe and proper management of industrial materials.
So in 1969 Congress sent to the President a bill known as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) whose one purpose among many was “to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man”.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was formed in 1970.

3. Charles River Ecosystem
Aquatic Toxicity