Environmental Protection for Sustainability

It is amazing how all the events and activities in our lives are interconnected. As a young boy growing up in El Paso, Texas, I was exposed to many aspects of life and even had family relatives from all social classes. This never bothered me, because they were family and it made me aware there was a huge and vastly different world beyond the street that I lived on. While I could see the apparent differences between these social classes, it never really occurred to me there were also differences that occurred under the surface of what was seen. You are probably wondering why I am beginning this editorial with this, but as you read, you will see that these experiences and events in my life have shaped me as a man, a son, and a father. These experiences have also contributed to my approach as a researcher at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the reason why I wanted to share the research in this special feature issue with you. Growing up in a city on the United States border with Mexico really opened up my eyes to the stark differences between the two countries. Not only in the style of living and the culture, but also in daily things we take for granted. Such as the air we breathe, the water we drink and play in, and to the land we live on. Of course, these are issues that affect any city, but in my opinion, they are heightened when it occurs in a metropolis that spans two countries and one border. Additionally, the two cities are tied at the hip, since they are geographically close, in this case separated by the Rio Grande, and any environmental event that occurs in one city is more than likely felt in the other. I can remember driving to school at the University of Texas—El Paso every morning and seeing a thick yellow layer of smog and pollution that blanketed Juarez, Mexico and extended into a portion of El Paso. I can also remember the dirt streets in the Colonias in Juarez, Mexico with tremendous amounts of trash and the erosion from the runoff from the rains (when we did get rain), to the lack of water in both cities and being told by the City of El Paso what days we could use water outside. This was an initial effort the city was making in hopes of extending the available water resources within the region. These memories of El Paso, as well as many others, are so fresh in my memory, even to this day, I can still remember so vividly one activity I did with my grandparents every other weekend that really put into context the concept of environmental protection, even though I did not know it was doing so at the time. We had family that lived in a Colonia in Juarez, Mexico; my uncle, John, his wife Patty, and their son, Pepe, my cousin. While John was a U.S. citizen, he chose to live in Mexico with his wife and their extended family. He did this, because it made him happy. I remember going to their house for the first time when I was about 9 years old. When I first saw where they lived, I was really surprised not from what I saw, but the fact that it was not the same as our house. Their house had cement and dirt floors, electricity was provided from a generator, and from what I remember their city services were very limited (water and sewer). I remember their street was not paved and garbage was strewn everywhere throughout the neighborhood. But, it was my Uncle’s home and he loved it. I too loved going there to visit my family and spend time with my cousin. But, the fact that they lived in so drastically different conditions made me realize that not everyone lived at the same standard of living as we did in the States. To help them out, my paternal grandparents M. A. Gonzalez (&) United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, USA e-mail: gonzalez.michael@epa.gov