WSP USA observes Transit Equity Day with commitment to creating places and infrastructure that improves underserved, marginalized and disinvested communities.

Northampton, MA –News Direct– WSP

NEW YORK, February 4,2022 /3BL Media/ — WSP USA, a leading engineering and professional services firm, has formed the Equity Center of Excellence (ECE) to drive the transformation of American transit and mobility to full and equitable access for underserved, marginalized and disinvested communities.

The Equity Center of Excellence will ensure that every project achieves a high standard of accessibility, as equity has become a defining measure of progress for the transportation industry. The ECE meets emerging demand for expertise in applying equity to organizational, program and project needs. The ECE works with clients and partners across the U.S. — and within all WSP’s business lines and regions — to create places, infrastructure and experiences that improve the quality of life for historically underserved, marginalized and disinvested communities.

“WSP’s projects create opportunities to impact lives in ways that extend far beyond structural benefits,” said Denise Turner Roth, Advisory national business line executive and ECE director. “In the pursuit of equity and racial justice, our Equity Center of Excellence will foster a world where everyone can achieve their potential, participate fully and access all opportunities our work generates. Evaluating equity and fairness in everything we do creates a more positive environment where our expertise, resources and skillsets sharpen our business practices while improving our communities. Benefits once perceived as exclusive can now be more inclusive.”

The four key objectives of the ECE are:

• operationalize equity in WSP’s business development and project delivery,

• advance WSP’s mission to create lasting societal value,

• deploy best practices and processes across WSP that empower all colleagues to guide clients in placing equity at the center of their planning, and

• attract and retain diverse talent so that our project teams reflect the communities we serve.

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The ECE consolidates and focuses WSP’s ongoing work developing comprehensive frameworks, policies, processes and resources that help clients put equity into action. At the core of this work is WSP’s commitment to cultural competency, to continually learning and adapting to change, and to accepting accountability for the equitable solutions that each project provides for the natural, built and social environments.

Equity is inextricably linked to our client’s priorities including public trust, effective investments, distribution of benefits, and sustainable outcomes. In its approach, the ECE considers the history of infrastructure decision-making and community impact, the diversity of experiences and the implications of common static indicators like race, income and pollution.

The ECE supports clients in the development of infrastructure that prevents displacement, ensures equitable resiliency preparedness, and creates mobility that is affordable, agile and connected. WSP’s work in transit and mobility connects impoverished rural and urban neighborhoods and communities of color to better job and educational opportunities, and higher quality healthcare.

In 2020, WSP completed the Equitable Development Around Transit Study for the city of Raleigh, N.C. The study identified growth and affordability goals along future corridors for bus rapid transit (BRT) and provided a transit-oriented development (TOD) framework to fully and equitably realize the benefits. The study led to WSP’s creation of the Equitable TOD Guidebook, which the city of Raleigh uses as a toolkit of equitable transit strategies.

Joining Turner Roth in the ECE leadership are Gabi Brazzil, senior equity consultant in public engagement; Heather Martin, senior lead equity consultant in transportation planning; Muhammed Patel, equity program consultant in grants; and Sean Scott, senior equity consultant in urban design.

To learn more about WSP’s equity services, visit , Building a More Equitable Future.

About WSP USA

WSP USA is the U.S. operating company of WSP, one of the world’s leading engineering and professional services firms. Dedicated to serving local communities, we are engineers, planners, technical experts, strategic advisors and construction management professionals. WSP USA designs lasting solutions in the buildings, transportation, energy, water and environment markets. With more than 12,000 employees in 200 offices across the U.S., we partner with our clients to help communities prosper. wsp.com

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from WSP on 3blmedia.com

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/wsp-usa-establishes-equity-center-of-excellence-to-unlock-access-for-underserved-communities-694022402

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) — The City of Springfield announced it just received a $2 million award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through its Healthy Homes Production Grant Program.

Officials stated the Healthy Homes program is aimed to identify health and safety hazards in low-income families’ homes, protecting children and families with incomes at or below eighty percent of the area median income level. The focus is to remediate significant lead and health hazards.

“The success of our community not only relies on economic development, but on our ability to provide safe and healthy homes for our families,” said Mayor Jim Langfelder. “This work, led by our Office of Planning & Economic Development, is critical in our continued efforts to improve the lives of our residents, neighborhoods and workforce.”

According to officials, the Healthy Homes Production Grant Program takes a comprehensive approach to address multiple childhood diseases and injuries in the home by focusing on housing-related hazards. The program builds upon HUD’s successful Lead Hazard Control programs to expand the department’s efforts to address a variety of high-priority housing-based health and safety hazards, such as mold and moisture, poor indoor air quality, pests, carbon monoxide, injury and safety hazards in addition to lead-based paint.

“Springfield has more than 3,500 rental units that were constructed prior to 1940, making the city one of the largest areas in downstate in need of lead and healthy homes remediation activities,” said Krista Kolis, Operations Coordinator for the City’s Office of Planning & Economic Development. “These funds will be used to improve the living environments of 135 prioritized low to moderate-income housing units, single-family, owner-occupied and rental units (1-4 units) throughout Springfield over a 42-month period.”

This is the second grant awarded from HUD to the City of Springfield in six months to address Lead and health hazards in homes. This past August, the City was awarded $3.4 million to address lead hazards and Healthy Home hazards in 169 housing units, to provide safer homes for low- to moderate-income families with children.

The City is working on program guidelines and implementation strategies for both programs. The goal is to make the applications available for families who are interested and eligible for both lead and Healthy Homes and the Healthy Homes Production grant programs by March.

For more information regarding this award including other communities, visit HUD’s website.

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King County Health Officer Dr. Jeff Duchin held a public briefing on February 3, 2022, answering questions from the news media and members of the community.

Dr. Duchin discussed where we are in the pandemic overall:

COVID-19 is clearly not over, but we are heading in the right direction. So, for now and for the coming weeks, this means keep doing what works. Get vaccinated and boosted. Improve indoor air quality. Use high quality face masks and respirators in public spaces. Limit gatherings in crowded and poorly ventilated indoor spaces. And isolate and test, if possible, when you have symptoms.

…Over time, population immunity from vaccination plus natural infection should lessen the impact of COVID-19 significantly. Increasing access to improved treatments will also help a lot.

…But there’s no guarantee that future variants will be mild. So for this reason, we need to build COVID resilience and better future preparedness for COVID-19.

The long term trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic will bend towards something we can manage successfully as part of our routine lives. But exactly how long it takes to get there and what unanticipated bumps in the road might lie ahead remain uncertain. I hope the next time we meet with additional progress and experience, we can give a little bit more certainty to these forecasts.

DR. JEFF DUCHIN, HEALTH OFFICER FOR PUBLIC HEALTH – SEATTLE & KING COUNTY

Thanks to feedback from many of you, we’re now providing transcripts of Dr. Duchin’s media briefings.

Originally published February 4, 2022

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Originally Appeared Here

Cambridge Air Solutions Holds Reception on Las Vegas Rooftop | ACHR News

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High school environmental sciences teacher Carol Matheny didn’t want to start a new lesson the day before winter break, so she decided to give her students some reading time.

“Our librarians are phenomenal, and I told them I would really like to do a reading day,” says Matheny, who teaches ninth to 12th graders at Parkview High School in Sterling, VA. She couldn’t believe the number of books that arrived after her request.

The librarians curated 52 titles—including novels, graphic novels, and nonfiction—that related to subjects studied in Matheny’s classes, from evolution to invasive species and pandemics. As she looked to choose a book to model the reading she was asking of her students that day, a cover with a person in a plague mask persuaded her to pick up Deadly Companions: How Microbes Shaped Our History by Dorothy H. Crawford.

Matheny so enjoyed Crawford’s look at history, science, and pandemics, including SARS 2003, she took the book home to finish.

“It was a wonderful book, very inspiring,” says Matheny, who began thinking about what else she could do to help mitigate COVID-19 risks for herself and others. She was already following mitigation procedures as best she could, but knew there was more.

When a couple of snow days extended winter break, Matheny decided to attempt to make the Corsi-Rosenthal air-purifying box she had seen on social media.

“I think I’m a follower of every scientist on Twitter, and it caught my attention through someone I was following,” she says. “I saw this box, and I was intrigued. Then I started looking into it, and it looked really simple.”

Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes are effective, inexpensive, safe, and, by all accounts, easy to build. The DIY air cleaners were created by Richard Corsi, dean of engineering at the University of California (UC) Davis and Jim Rosenthal, CEO, Tex-Air Filters. The open-source design requires one box fan, four MERV 13 filters, and duct tape. Cardboard can help improve efficiency by acting as a fan shroud.

A study showed the boxes effectively reduce aerosols in indoor spaces. The aerosol transmission of the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, plus the increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant has put a spotlight on the need for proper ventilation and cleaning the air indoors as a key element to cutting down infections.

Matheny had two box fans that she had purchased to use when her classroom was too hot in the past. A large cardboard box from a recent purchase could be used for the base and as the fan shroud.

“I learned about fan shrouds,” she says with a laugh.

Matheny bought the filters at Home Depot and went home to get to work, with the help of video instructions. Before long, she had built two boxes and tweeted a picture of her creations in front of her Christmas tree with a shoutout to the librarians who introduced her to the book that helped inspire her.

She even received a response from Corsi himself, who offers a #CorsiRosenthal Box rater assessment of designs for those who tweet photos of their boxes with the hashtag.

“Well done, @cpmatheny17,” Corsi tweeted to Matheny. “Nice looking boxes. Well designed shroud. Bonus points for including students.”

When classes resumed, Matheny set up one of her boxes in her classroom “at breathing height” and another in a supply-closet-turned-staff-work-area that also has a copier in it. Bringing them to school gave her an opportunity to speak to students about aerosol transmission, the new variant, the purpose of the boxes, as well as share information about the box, its parts, construction, and function.

Matheny’s students are not the only ones sharing a space with a Corsi-Rosenthal Box. Across the country, concern about children getting COVID launched building projects and volunteer efforts that put them in classrooms from colleges to K–12.

At Brown University and UC San Diego, students built boxes for their classrooms and labs. Brown is also conducting a study on the effectiveness of the units.

One of the donated boxes in K.C. Boyd’s library. Photo courtesy K.C. Boyd

DC Public Schools librarian K.C. Boyd has three boxes donated by Peter Krupa, a parent in the district who started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the supplies. In less than a month, he was funded to build and deliver approximately 50 boxes.

By mid-January, a GoFundMe to build Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County (NC) Schools district funded 66 units, put together by 40 volunteers.

Universities’ public health efforts

Elsewhere, college faculty led the way and produced the boxes to bring better ventilation to local public schools.

A project by Arizona State University (ASU) placed 37 units as of mid-January with another 86 scheduled to be built, according to Megan Jehn, associate professor at ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change. Jehn’s work involves COVID school outbreak investigation, which led her to the boxes project.

“We were just seeing such a high volume of cases in school settings, and so many outbreaks,” she says. “Here in Arizona, many schools were coming back without masking policies. So we thought that this might be one way for us to move the chain in terms of prevention. If I can’t stop transmission in a classroom, maybe we can do something else to improve the quality of the indoor air that might sort of lower transmission.”

They started with the most vulnerable schools that had older buildings and communities at high risk because of intergenerational housing and other factors. At one point, she tweeted asking for teachers who might want one for their classroom.

“Then we just got overwhelmed with responses from teachers requesting boxes,” says Jehn. “We tried to do our best to prioritize based on high-risk settings, older school buildings.”

Across the country, Marina Creed, a faculty member at the University of Connecticut (UConn) School of Nursing and neuroimmunology nurse practitioner in the Multiple Sclerosis Center at UConn Health, worked with immunosuppressed patients concerned about getting sick and school as often the source of their fears. Parents worried about their kids bringing COVID home from school. Educators worried they would contract it at work.

“The schools were the weakest link in their ‘bubble’ as they were trying to keep themselves from getting infected,” says Creed.

So Creed did a little research, looking at the mitigation efforts in one district connected to a patient then broadening her research to the state’s policies.

“I took a look at what the COVID-19 return to school protocols were in the state of Connecticut, and I noticed that there were no portable air filters that were being used in the school systems, which is something that I saw was a public health recommendation by Johns Hopkins University and others,” she says. “So I started looking further into this as to what we can do to stack the odds in the favor of the children and the educators and the staff in the schools to minimize the risk of contracting COVID-19 and minimize transmission. That’s when I found the idea of [the] Corsi-Rosenthal Box.

“I thought that it was a brilliant way to have a multi-layered mitigation strategy to prevent transmission of COVID-19, or at least to reduce the risk. So our team at the University of Connecticut started studying the boxes and looking to implement them into schools.”

The Corsi-Rosenthal Box public health initiative that developed from Creed’s initial research includes the health center and the Schools of Nursing, Engineering, and Medicine.

Angela Starkweather, a professor and associate dean for academic affairs at the UConn School of Nursing, saw an opportunity not only for faculty and staff, but also students. She brought students into the process to go into the community and teach people how to build the units, as well as educate them on why filtration systems are an important part of mitigation strategies.

As of mid-January, the UConn team had deployed 100 units to West Hartford Public Schools. As part of a second-semester class, students in the School of Engineering will build 100 more air cleaners to give to Coventry Public Schools. The engineering students will also run tests on their air cleaners and analyze the data as part of their academic work. 

Jehn’s group is not testing air quality in buildings with the boxes. Measuring air quality was a point of resistance from schools that appeared afraid they would look bad if their air was revealed to be unhealthy.  Jehn is in discussion to get cooperation from some schools to study the impact of the boxes, she says, and hopes to partner with the UConn team and share protocols for field testing.

“We would love to find a way to make this sustainable, to help the school sort of make this part of their regular fall check-in process—update the filters, update the box, and keep it going,” says Jehn, who is hoping for funding for ongoing research projects and to develop lesson plans and make it part of the STEM curriculum to teach students about public health and disease transmission.

“I see a lot of potential for this to continue,” she says.

As a final part of its project, the UConn group is creating a website to host all of the information for schools to build these themselves. Creed hopes this work gets picked up by other colleges.

“I am hoping to help other universities and states grow this movement to deploy DIY air filters into public schools, especially as a STEM project for classrooms, as improved indoor air quality in K–12 schools is a long-standing need of our communities,” Creed says.

The Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes are great STEM or makerspace projects with value beyond the current pandemic. They can filter dust, pollen, viruses, and other pollutants from the air in classrooms. In California, they have been used to mitigate wildfire smoke indoors. The boxes can be too big for some spaces, so after receiving requests, Rosenthal created a mini version.

Even with the federal COVID-19 recovery funding, districts with old school buildings or that have been historically underfunded often can’t renovate the HVAC system or afford portable HEPA filters for every classroom. Instead, parents, educators, and local volunteers are building and donating units to combat the coronavirus. Many hope to continue past the pandemic, when the units will mean better overall air quality and, in turn, a better learning environment.

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Originally Appeared Here

Great news. The Grand Opening of Simply Fruits East Windsor is next week. I can’t wait to check it out.

It’s located in the Aldi/Staples shopping center on Route 130 South. It’s actually open now for a soft opening if you just can’t wait, but, the Grand Opening celebration will be this Tuesday, February 8th.

The Mayor of East Windsor will be there at 3:45pm for the ribbon cutting, and then, from 4pm – 8pm, the first 200 customers will get a FREE Coconut Bowl. Wow. Grab your friends and go.

Bowls are huge right now, and I don’t think the trend is slowing down anytime soon.

So, what can you look forward to at Simply Fruits? There are Acai bowls, Kale bowls, Pitaya bowls, and Coconut bowls. You can also get fruit parfaits and hot oatmeal. Toasties are a hit too…they come in Avocado, Mediterranean, and ChocTella. Oh, they have fresh juices, smoothies, and tea too. Check out the menu here. Sounds great, doesn’t it? The Chocotella and PB & J Acai look absolutely amazing. Actually, everything looks amazing….so colorful…great for your Instagram too. Wink, wink.

Simply Fruits has made all of their items affordable because they want to make it easy for you to eat healthy. Love that.

 

Stop in for breakfast, lunch, a snack…anytime. You can order online too by clicking here.

Simply Fruits East Windsor is open 7 days a week from 8am – 8pm. It’s address is 440 Route 130, Unit 3A. They’re hiring, if you’re looking for a job.

There’s only one other location as of now in Willow Grove, PA, with another one coming soon to Jenkintown, PA.

Stop by today.

LOOK: 40 Discontinued & Special Edition Kellogg’s Cereals

 

KEEP READING: See 25 natural ways to boost your immune system

 

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When winter comes, many of us tend to hunker down and get cozy inside.

The Scandinavian cold-weather hygge lifestyle has been popular in recent years — cuddling up in fuzzy sweaters and blankets, making a cup of tea and a pot of soup, reading a book or watching a movie, inviting friends over for game night.

After a month or two, though, there’s a danger of feeling cooped up. Coziness can turn to cabin fever.

That’s your body telling you that it’s time to get outside. Fresh air, even if it’s frigid, can be good for you.

Here are some of the health benefits of breathing fresh air, from Long Island Weight Loss Institute:

• It helps clear your lungs. Fresh air generally has higher levels of oxygen than indoor air, improving cleansing and tissue repair within the lungs.

• It can boost energy and mental focus. As you breathe more fresh air, the oxygen levels in your blood go up, helping you feel energized and improving concentration and memory.

• It lowers blood pressure and heart rate. When there isn’t enough oxygen to go around, your heart works harder to make sure what’s available gets where it needs to go.

• It helps you heal faster from illness and injuries. Since cells require oxygen, replacing damaged cells increases your body’s demand for air.

• It can improve digestion. Getting outside and breathing deeply helps us relax, allowing blood flow to divert from the brain and muscles to the digestive system.

Adjust your attitude

“During covid, people were coming out of the woodwork to get outside,” said Shelly Tichy, president of the Westmoreland Conservancy. “Being outdoors is so good for our well-being at any time of the year.”

People often think negatively about winter, so it might take an attitude adjustment to get out and enjoy it.

“There’s so much life around you,” Tichy said. “When you’re walking, you can find a mouse track in the snow or the footprint of a bird. Winter brings out the inner child that we lose as we get older. Winter is so very good to reconnect us with the things we used to do and take pleasure in, like sledding or skating.

“I really do think that can change your whole mindset. Being outside is good not just for your physical health, but for your mental health, too,” she said.

With that in mind, here are some ways to get outside and enjoy what’s left of the Western Pennsylvania winter.

Go downhill

The Jan. 30 afternoon skiing session at Boyce Park in Plum was full as skiers waited to ride the magic carpet up to the top of the smaller hill or the ski lift to reach the higher slope and terrain park.

Despite the cold — the high temperature was 25 degrees, according to Accuweather — people still came.

“Attendance has been great,” said John Peterson, snow sports school director at Boyce Park. “Embrace the cold, and enjoy being outdoors. There are so many things to do outside this time of year. Winter in Pittsburgh can be fun. And, this year there is plenty of snow.”

With the recent accumulations and lower temperatures in January, he predicts winter activities should be thriving into March.

Peterson said most sessions have been selling out. He noticed an increase in attendance during the pandemic. People were looking for something to do safely and outdoor activities are perfect for that.

“During the pandemic, a lot of families found outdoor sports and exercises are something they all could do,” Peterson said. “They discovered they like skiing and snowboarding, and they’ve been coming back.”

Boyce Park is located not far from Greensburg, Downtown or the Allegheny-Kiski Valley. It has two hills for skiers and a terrain park for snowboarders as well as snow tubing. Sessions are four hours for skiing and two-hour intervals for snow tubing.

“Boyce Park is the best place to learn to ski,” said Jim Jacobs, a ski patroller there for 42 years. “It is so great to see so many families out here. I watched a young boy showing his grandfather how to ski.”

Kailyn Schneider, Kaleb Schneider and Jason Schneider of Freeport have come to Boyce Park a few times this season.

They were attending the afternoon session.

“We are having fun out here,” said Jason Schneider, a skier. “I tried to get them to ski, but they want to snowboard, which is OK as long as they are enjoying it. Spending this time together is great.”

About an hour from Pittsburgh is Seven Springs Mountain Resort. Alex Moser, director of marketing and communications for the resort, said “getting outside is always good for the mind and soul — especially during a pandemic.”

Seven Springs is at a season-high with 31 of 33 slopes and trails open, Moser said. In addition to dressing in layers, Moser suggests making frequent stops inside to keep warm. And be sure to drink enough fluids.

“We have had consistent snowfall this week with a base at a season-high of 46”-50,” Moser said. “The cold temperatures have also allowed for some fantastic snow-making opportunities.”

Visit a county park

Allegheny County’s nine parks, including the aforementioned Boyce Park, offer many winter activities.

North and South Park have outdoor ice skating rinks and are open until mid-March, weather permitting.

Encompassing 3,075 acres in Hampton, McCandless and Pine townships, North Park features a 65-acre lake.

South Park encompasses 2,013 acres in Bethel Park and South Park Township.

Parks have plenty of snow, said Andy Grobe, assistant deputy director for Allegheny County parks. He said the areas are usually busy this time of year, but he’s noticed more usage the past two years during the pandemic.

“We struggled with snow through Christmas, but in the days after it was like a light switch turned on — we had so much snow,” Grobe said.

County rangers offer guided hikes as well as snowshoeing lessons starting with beginners. Class sizes are small to make sure there is enough equipment for everyone.

“Regardless of the weather, people will be out in the parks,” Grobe said. “We tell them to dress for the weather. Winter sports and activities help people stay in shape while they enjoy being outside.”

“People are out in the parks every day all year long, snow or sun,” said Lauren Jones, communications coordinator for Westmoreland County Parks and Recreation.

At the very least, you can take a stroll along the many paths in Westmoreland County’s four parks — Cedar Creek in Rostraver, Mammoth in Mt. Pleasant Township, Twin Lakes east of Greensburg and Northmoreland in Allegheny Township.

Most of the trails are not cleared of snow, but there’s enough traffic to tramp them down to a hard pack, Jones said.

The exception is the path around the upper lake at Twin Lakes, which is cleared for walkers. The path around the lower lake is expressly left snow-covered for use by cross-country skiers.

The sledding and tubing area in the Twin Lakes expansion area is popular, and there’s also a new area this year at Cedar Creek that has three downhill runs and a fire pit.

Even without a dedicated area, you’ll find people sledding and tubing in all of the parks.

“The other parks don’t have marked areas, but wherever there’s a hill, people can sled,” Jones said. “If there’s enough snow, you can get a good run.”

Catch a fish

When ice covers the lakes at Mammoth, Twin Lakes and Northmoreland parks, the anglers come back out.

Like other times of the year, people fishing through the ice need to have the proper Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission license.

“One thing we don’t do is monitor the ice thickness, so people need to follow all (PFBC) guidelines for safe ice,” said parks and recreation director Brandon Simpson. “Each person going out there to fish needs to check to make sure there’s proper ice thickness.

“They also need to have all the safety apparatuses needed, should they go through the ice,” he said.

Red ladders are positioned around the lakes to slide out to reach a person who has gone into the water.

“They’re catching a lot of trout right now. The cold water is good for trout, crappie, perch, catfish, bass,” Simpson said. “Pretty much anything you can catch in the spring and summer season, you can catch in the ice.”

PFBC guidelines also determine how many fish can be kept.

“There’s a short window for ice fishing, which is pretty much the same most years,” Simpson said. “You get about two months out of the season, typically January and February. After that, the ice isn’t safe.”

Ice skating is not allowed on the lakes because there no is park staff to monitor skaters.

“In our park ordinance, we would only allow ice skating if we had an attendant on duty, and we haven’t had that for years,” Simpson said. “The main reason for that is that people who go out to ice skate typically don’t have any safety gear, like life vests or ice picks. Ice fishing people have to have all that stuff, so it’s a lot safer, should they get into trouble.”

Lace up those skates

Western Pennsylvania has plenty of outdoor ice rinks. The newest is located in SouthSide Works on Pittsburgh’s South Side. It opened in mid-December and will be available through the end of February. The rink is located next to the Hyatt on South Water Street.

The UPMC Rink at PPG Place in Downtown Pittsburgh, located in PPG Plaza between Third and Fourth avenues, is larger than the one in Rockefeller Center in New York City, according to its website.

The rink is open through Feb. 27. As skaters glide along the ice, they will encircle a 360-degree immersive tree that lights up and plays music.

The 60-foot-high structure is decorated with more than 103,200 lights and thousands of ornaments. The tree has a sophisticated computer programming system and can perform more than 150 choreographed musical shows, which skaters can watch while on the ice as well as during Zamboni resurfacing.

This is its 21st season for the rink, one of the first outdoor rinks for Florida-based Magic Ice USA, which manages rinks across the country. More than 1 million people have skated there.

The Schenley Park Skating Rink celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2020. The $1.4 million project was paid for by money from the Allegheny Regional Asset District, the Schenley Ice Rink Trust Fund and the city.

The rink is known for its annual Citiparks Mascot Skate, where more than 30 costumed characters take to the ice, and its Valentine’s Day skate on Feb. 14.

The renovations included replacing the concrete and piping of the foundation. The repairs took several months.

The entire concrete rink was rebuilt and now has 13 miles of pipe underneath. There is also new, more efficient LED lighting, hockey team benches and seating for spectators. A sound system was also installed, along with dasher boards and plexiglass.

The rink is 200 feet long by 85 feet wide, which is the rink’s original footprint. The logo at center ice was created by artist Dan Buczynski, who works in the city’s sign shop.

Head for the Highlands

From snowshoes and skis to fat-tire bikes, snowmobiles and dog sleds, people are going to find a way to enjoy the mountain ridges in the wintertime. But there are some crucial things to remember about heading to Forbes State Forest right now.

“Our roads are not maintained in the winter, so you’re traveling at your own risk,” said environmental education specialist Rachel Mahony. “If you get yourself stuck, it might be really bad, because you’re going to have to get yourself out. And you won’t have cell service, so you can’t call a tow truck.”

An all-wheel or four-wheel-drive vehicle is the best way to go at this time of year. Prospective adventurers also should be mindful of weather conditions — and how quickly those can change.

“In the last couple of weeks, we’ve had a lot of people push their luck and end up getting stuck,” Mahony said. “There are lots of opportunities to get out and recreate, you just have to do so smartly and be prepared.”

During the winter, roads and trails are designated for different uses. For instance, hikers aren’t supposed to be tramping on top of cross-country ski tracks.

Road-use signs are posted and trees along trails have different colored blazes to signify intended use.

The best way to educate yourself before you go is by searching online for the Forbes State Forest “Winter Recreation Etiquette and Safety” brochure.

“It’s a one-stop shop for information,” Mahony said. “It provides the meaning of trail blaze designations, winter safety tips, main recreation uses and trails suggested for those uses. We try to mitigate user conflicts by communicating accurate information, and hope that everyone will be considerate of other trail users.”

The Pennsylvania Cross Country Ski Association website is another source of valuable information, Mahony said. The site provides access to several webcams that indicate snow depths and weather conditions across the Laurel Ridge.

Snowmobilers can search “PA State Forest Snowmobile Trails” for maps of trails by region, along with weather conditions, on the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources website.

“Winter is definitely my favorite time out here,” Mahony said. “You don’t have insects, there are no gnats in your face. It’s a nice time of the year, and it’s definitely very busy in the Laurel Highlands.”

Organized activities

Forbes State Forest has scheduled these free February activities:

• Sweetheart Snowshoe, 6 p.m. Feb. 18 — The gentle 2- to 2.5-mile snowshoe trek for ages 18 and up will begin and end at the same Laurel Mountain location, where food and beverages will be available.

• Roaring Run Ramble, 9 a.m. Feb. 19 — The moderate-to-strenuous hike in Roaring Run Natural Area will cover about 8 miles through the snow.

Space is limited for both programs. Location will be provided upon registration. For more information or to register, call 724-259-2201 or email [email protected].

The Westmoreland Conservancy will host these upcoming Murrysville-area programs:

• Apple tree rehab/restoration, 9:30 a.m. Feb. 19 at Morosini Reserve — Learn to care for an apple tree by tending to one of the old-variety trees on site. Each participating group will choose a tree on which to practice and adopt for future maintenance through this annual project.

• Winter Walk, 5:30 p.m. Feb. 22 at King Reserve — Explore the South Trail and discover edible plants along the way.

For information and registration, visit the Westmoreland Conservancy’s website.

Get left out in the cold

If you venture out, know that most attractions require online registration and payment.

Skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing

Seven Springs

Where: 777 Water Wheel Drive, Champion

Hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday

Admission: Lift tickets start at $40, Snow tubing tickets start at $28

Details: 800-452-2223 or www.7springs.com

Boyce Park

Where: 675 Old Frankstown Road, Plum

Skiing and snowboarding

Hours: 3:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

Admission: Lift tickets start at $15, tubing tickets start at $17

Snow tubing

Hours: 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to noon, 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to noon, 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Details: 724-733-4656 or www.alleghenycounty.us or www.alleghenycounty.us

Ice skating

South Park

Where: 30 Corrigan Drive, Bethel Park

Hours: 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday

Admission: $6

Details: 412-833-1499 or www.alleghenycounty.us

North Park

Where: 1101 Pearce Mill Road, Allison Park

Hours: 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday

Admission: $6

Details: 724-935-1280 or www.alleghenycounty.us

The UPMC Rink at PPG Place

Where: One PPG Place, Downtown Pittsburgh

Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday (operating on 1 hour and 45-minute sessions)

Admission: $11-$12 for adults, $10-$11 for children age 12 and younger, $10-$11 for seniors

Details: 412-394-3641 or www.ppgplace.com

Schenley Park

Where: 10341 Overlook Drive (Near the Tennis Courts), Schenley Park

Hours: 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday, 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m., 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m., 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m., 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sunday

Admission: Tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $3 for 17 and under

Details: 412-422-6523 or pittsburghpa.gov

SouthSideWorks Winter Ice Rink

Where: 424 S. 27th St., Pittsburgh’s South Side

Hours: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday

Admission: $10 for adults, $7 for children 10 and under

Details: 412-710-7220 or southsideworks.com

Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley at 724-836-5750, [email protected] or via Twitter .

Categories:
Editor’s Picks | Lifestyles | More Lifestyles | Outdoors | Regional | Top Stories

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The UK could become a leader in technology that heats its coastal towns by drawing warmth from the seabed, researchers claim.

(Image: AdobeStock)

An international study involving Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has shown the potential for using capillary heat exchangers for heat pumps in the shallows of the seabed, with the potential to provide homes with an infinite supply of heating.

The study shows that during winter – with a seawater temperature of only 3.7°C – it can produce up to 60W/m2 of heat energy to nearby coastal properties. The amount required to heat an average UK home is 100W/m2.

The research – with Beijing University of Technology, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry and Beijing Municipal Institute of Labour Protection – builds on the development of ground-source and air-source heat pumps as alternatives to gas boilers.

MORE FROM ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT

The warmth would be delivered to homes through air-conditioning units, and the same technology could be used to cool properties in hot countries by utilising the cooler seabed temperatures to supply cold air.

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that more than 5.3 million people reside in coastal towns in England and Wales.

In a statement, senior lecturer Hua Zhong, a specialist in applied energy and environmental engineering at NTU, said: “This technology has the potential to become a new and significant addition to the way in which homes around the world can reduce their carbon footprint.

“Due to their proportionately large coastlines, and rich sources of shallow geothermal energy in coastal areas, the UK, US and China have the potential to pioneer this under-researched renewable energy source.”

According to NTU, the technology works by a capillary heat exchanger – featuring capillary tubes of 4.3mm in external diameter – extracting heat or cooling energy from the shallows of the seabed.

Heat or cooling energy is then transferred to an indoor heat exchanger by pump. The indoor heat exchanger then heats or cools the indoor air of the property through a system similar to an air-conditioning unit.

As part of the study, a hotel in Qingdao, China, was used to pilot test the technology. A 250m2 capillary was laid 5m deep in the shallows, 50m offshore. The total distance from the hotel to the capillary was 300m.

Tests showed that the water exiting the seabed in the capillary was heated to 40.6oC, before it was pumped to the hotel and used to warm the air in the building.

Zhenpeng Bai, a researcher in energy saving technology from Beijing University of Technology and Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, said: “The heat capacity of the seabed is infinite – making this an extremely impressive potential source of renewable energy.

“Unlike ground-source heat pumps which can require extensive excavation work, a capillary seabed heat pump requires very little set up and causes minimal damage to the seabed.

“It can have a large heat exchanger area, is less susceptible to corrosion from seawater, is more affordable than other technologies, and does not need auxiliary equipment such as filtration and water treatment.

“The UK, China and US are geographically ideal to develop this technology and help drive down global carbon emissions in a sustainable way.”

The findings are set to be presented at an NTU research conference during the summer of 2022.

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Speakers

Andy Gager, CMRP, CPIM, CAMA
CEO
AMG International Consulting

Gager has over 25 years of manufacturing experience ranging from warehousing operations to plant manager. Specializing in Materials Management and Operations, Gager has led multiple improvements initiatives that include Kaizen events that resulted in process cost reductions of $1.4M annually, strategic sourcing programs that reduced inventories 70 percent, and successful reconfiguration of warehousing operations that reduced space by 60% while improving efficiency. Gager is CPIM, Six Sigma certified Green Belt, CMRP and formally trained in Change Management Principles. He has led and facilitated global design teams with such companies as Alcan and Alcoa. His articles have been published in numerous trade magazines and referenced as a contributing expert in the field of MRO management and EAMs implementations.

Darrell X. Rounds, FMA®, C.E.M. (he/him/his)
EV Infrastructure Strategy Lead for North America
General Motors Company

Rounds has been employed by General Motors for over 24 years where he’s served in several leadership roles related to Facilities Management and Construction. In these roles, Darrell has been responsible for properties totaling more than 53 million square feet and $7.2 Billion in assets. He currently serves as a leader within GM’s Electric Vehicle Occupational Safety organization. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University and his M.S. degree in Construction Management from Eastern Michigan University. He carries the designation of Facilities Management Administrator from BOMI International and is a Certified Energy Manager with the Association of Energy Engineers. He serves on several industry boards including the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations Industry Advisory Group, the ProFM Institute Commission, and the National Institute of Building Sciences as a member of its Board of Directors and its Treasurer.

Mehdi Jalayerian, PE, LEED AP
Senior Managing Director,
Environmental Systems Design, Inc.

Jalayerian’s expertise includes major high-rise and supertall buildings, convention/hotel facilities, and educational/government projects. Mehdi is responsible for business development, client relations, contract performance, and overall quality control among other duties.

Mike Petrusky
Director of Events & Podcast Host
iOFFICE + SpaceIQ

Mike Petrusky is host of both the “Workplace Innovator Podcast” & the “Asset Champion Podcast” while serving as Director of Events at iOFFICE + SpaceIQ. He is passionate about inspiring leaders to pursue the best strategies for the future of work with an emphasis on seeking opportunities to enhance our human experiences both in and out of the workplace. Mike is a dynamic speaker, podcaster, and seasoned marketer who has gained a unique understanding of CRE, FM and Asset Management trends and challenges by interviewing over 200 industry-leaders.

Cody Gray
Director of Product and Design
iOFFICE + SpaceIQ

Cody Gray is Director of Product and Design for iOFFICE + SpaceIQ. Based near Salt Lake City, Utah, he is
focused on EAM and CMMS solutions as well as solutions that interact and support these solutions. He
believes strongly in collaboration and teamwork as driving factors for good design and planning and has
a strong understanding of the multiple facets that can influence a product roadmap. Cody is passionate
about working with his team and the delivery of valuable software solutions to his clients.

Chris Twitchell
Director, Key Accounts
Vector Solutions

Chris is a Strategic Sales Executive with a fifteen-plus-year background facilitating Consulting Services, eLearning, LMS Platform, Human Performance and Technology services solutions into Fortune 500 and 1000 Companies. Chris is involved in many industry associations and has a true passion for the learning industry.

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Originally Appeared Here

Don’t look now, but deep in your eyelids you likely have tiny mites called demodex.

Don’t worry, they (probably) won’t hurt you.

They’re usually benign and sometimes even beneficial, says Keyur Savla, a Ph.D. candidate in vision science at the University of Alabama, as they can perform dead-cell cleanup. But these microscopic creatures also cause serious irritation and infections if they proliferate, which is more common among immune-compromised patients.

Despite years of training in vision science, Savla hadn’t heard of demodex until his Ph.D. adviser began reviewing demodex treatments for a prestigious British publisher. Savla assisted in the research, spending over a year parsing through existing studies, culminating in a July 2020 article in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, titled “Tea Tree Oil for Demodex Blepharitis.”

Yes, tea tree oil.

As in, an essential oil — those tiny dark glass bottles of aromatics found in nearly every medicine cabinet along swaths of the I-15 corridor, where essential oils have become a source of good scents, wealth and some healthy skepticism. Critics say the products are overpriced and oversold; boosters swear by them. But many others simply wonder whether there’s evidence that the products work.

Two of the industry’s biggest players: Young Living and doTERRA, each of which do well over $1 billion in annual sales, are headquartered in the Beehive State. Given the volume of sales, there’s little question about the product’s popularity — each month thousands of homes are continually infused, suffused and amused by a potpourri of some 90 different essential oils products sold in 10 mL vials. But skeptics say the science to support the broadest claims of these oils has been elusive at best.

Suddenly, though, essential oils are popping up in legitimate medical research reviews. It’s worth asking: Have essential oils arrived?

Interviews with medical professionals and industry experts, along with hundreds of pages of research and marketing materials, reveal a growing, and in some cases promising, scientific effort to understand what if any benefits are derived from essential oils. Currently, many of the hopes and claims that are marketed still appear to outpace scientific support. Whether these two realities can be reconciled remains to be seen.

That essential oils have “arrived” at hospitals across America is now a matter of record. No, they’re not curing COVID-19, but major American research hospitals, from Harvard to Stanford, are in fact using aromatic oils as part of a growing push toward “integrative medicine.”

The aim is to incorporate promising nontraditional methods into more mainstream medical settings, says Ana Baldioli, a physical therapist and the Inpatient Integrative Medicine Coordinator at UCLA Health in Los Angeles.

“Hospitals are stressful,” Baldioli says. “So we try to engage the ‘parasympathetic’ nervous system, which helps the body rest and digest, to counter the ‘sympathetic’ system, which triggers fight or flight.”

At UCLA Health, integrative medicine runs a gamut from therapeutic massage, energy healing (Reiki), traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, music, animal therapy, essential oils and more.

UCLA Health provides three essential oils at every nursing station: lavender, lemon and peppermint, chosen for their popularity and lack of side-effects. The oils are not diffused into the air, Baldioli explains, but rather put on a tissue or cotton ball.

In explaining the role essential oils play, Baldioli cites an example of a reluctant patient who needed a PICC line inserted in her vein. The stress was too much until she was offered a back massage, followed by soothing music, lavender oil and a foot massage during the procedure.

Another case involved an older man with cardiac trouble who was struggling to sleep, his heart racing at 120 bpm. “They played music and gave him lavender oil,” Baldioli says, “and within a few minutes his heart rate had dropped to 80 and he was snoring.”

Baldioli says UCLA practitioners are careful not to make medical claims regarding the results. And the examples Baldioli cites are anecdotal, not clinical. Anytime she cites possible benefits, Baldioli is quick to use the phrase “patients report.”

Some tools used in integrative medicine programs, like Reiki massage, are at least as controversial as essential oils: research is disputed, and skeptics believe the placebo effect is doing some (if not all) of the heavy lifting.

But Baldioli thinks placebo would be a feature, not a bug. “We want the placebo effect,” Baldioli tells me. “If we can leverage the power of the mind, give someone something to believe, we’ll use it.”

A woman fills a capsule with essential oils at her home in Santa Clara on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019.

Ravell Call, Deseret News

Essential oils are volatile chemicals. They release from a leaf, flower or bark when plants are heated by steam. The oils are “hydrophobic,” so when the steam cools into water, the evaporated oils separate for capture.

The term “essential oils” has been widely used since the 1750s, but the term is still easily misunderstood. It doesn’t mean that the oils are “essential,” as in indispensable, but rather that they are the “essence” (i.e., smell or taste) of the plant or tree from which they’re distilled.

Steam distillation is an old art, probably originally spreading from Persia and the Middle East. In 1556 a German physician named Walter Reiff wrote that lavender oil “is commonly brought to us from the French Provence, filled into small bottles, and sold at a high price.”

He could have been describing modern day Utah County.

Those tiny bottles were used medicinally at a time when bad air — “miasma” — was thought to cause various diseases. No surprise, then, that aromatic herbs and oils, which at the very least do smell good, were viewed as cures or preventions. Much later, in the 1880s, germ theory displaced ideas about miasma.

But the science and industry of plant aromatics was just getting started.

In 1871 the first major essential oils company, Fritzsche Brothers, was founded in New York City, and in the 1920s, a Fritzsche executive by the name of Ernest Guenther began decades of research and world travel, culminating in 1947 in his six-volume “The Essential Oils.”

Guenther’s contribution drives home the chemistry of essential oils. That they are emitted by plants with pleasant odors can mask the fact that these are, first and always, chemicals. If these oils have any salubrious effects beyond placebo, it will be because of these chemicals.

The chemical in tea tree oil that fights demodex, for instance, is “terpinen-4-ol.”

Guenther’s work remains a classic, but a 1949 review in the journal “Nature” hits at a point that still resonates: on the question of what actual function these oils serve, the reviewer notes “too many tentative solutions … for any of them to seem very satisfying.”

In the intervening years, essential oils have found their way into foods, cleaning supplies, fragrances and cosmetics. Fritzsche Brothers prospered, and in 1990, Fritzsche’s successor company was bought by Givaudan, a Swiss corporation, which remains the world’s dominant player in flavors and fragrances with annual sales of around $7 billion.

As the plodding science drags against soaring consumer hopes and revenue demands, some essential oil companies have overplayed their hand.

Sellers have been warned by The Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission that they cannot “advertise that a product can prevent, treat, or cure human disease” without offering “reliable scientific evidence, including, when appropriate, well-controlled human clinical studies.”

Multilevel-marketing firms and their distributors may be held accountable for making misleading or unsubstantiated product claims. Some essential oil companies try to walk the line between marketing and science by deploying bendable phrases that imply potential benefits, but avoid asserting claims. They often use phrases like “said to” or “thought to” or “often used for” in marketing materials.

But sometimes a company will just let ‘er rip.

One smaller firm, for example, begins its web description of Angelica Root Oil cautiously enough with “has a reputation for” and “in China is used to,” but then suddenly says the oil has the ability to “clean infections, fight viruses, assist with respiratory ailments, help with indigestion, regulate menstruation, and aid sleep.”

Oh, and it might also “purify the blood.”

More prosaically, and more typical of the industry, another company claims its oils help aid against “the threat of seasonal illnesses.”

According to Nicole Stevens, Director of Clinical Research at doTERRA, the “immune support” claims boil down to something very similar to what Ana Baldioli at UCLA told me: They support the immune system by helping convince the brain to “rest and relax” instead of entering “fight or flight” mode.

“Lifestyle experiences (such as sleep, diet, stress, drugs, etc.) can put strain on the immune system,” Stevens said via email, adding that essential oils can “help the body function better overall, including the immune system, through mechanisms like stress reduction and improved sleep.”

Essential oils company doTERRA’s sprawling campus in Pleasant Grove is pictured on Thursday, July 8, 2021.

Spenser Heaps, Deseret News

But others hold out hope that the oils can do much more, and they’re waiting on science to prove it.

One prominent, level-headed optimist is Robert Tisserand, known for his book “Essential Oil Safety: A Guide for Health Care Professionals,” now in its second edition. An icon in the field, he helps direct an eponymous institute in Southern California.

In our conversation, Tisserand cited ongoing research in Brazil looking at how citrus oil may help fight an aggressive brain cancer. He also said essential oils could soon be helping fight antibiotic resistant bacteria, in synergy with traditional antibiotics. The oils may disarm a key weapon the bacteria use to expel the antibiotic, he says.

Tisserand can name many other such examples of ongoing research, some of it promising but still early. He discusses a study showing that diffusing certain oils into the room can lower bacterial, fungal and viral counts. But these, too, have not yet reached the stage of any systematic review. And, on the flip side, not much is known about the impact of diffused oils on indoor air pollution.

But Tisserand also points to a handful of essential oil products that are moving into the medicine cabinet. In Germany, lavender oil is used in oral capsules to fight anxiety, with support in clinical trials. Another essential oil has been commercialized to treat acute bronchitis, also supported by randomized controlled studies.

And then there’s the farm.

“Essential oils are now widely used in raising pigs and chickens and other animals instead of antibiotics,” Tisserand tells me. Typical mixtures might involve “cinnamon, thyme and oregano.”

And what about tea tree oil, the nemesis of our friends, the demodex? While Keyur Savla’s research for Cochrane Review looked at six studies with 562 participants, they concluded that they still lacked high confidence in tea tree oil, although some are willing to recommend it.

Peppermint oil has a similar story. The herb has long been thought to be effective in treating the upper and lower digestive tract, and Tisserand referred to a sizable body of research on the topic.

But not so fast, says Dr. Ellen Stein, a gastroenterologist at Rutgers University. She cites recent controlled research that has shown high placebo effects and only slight benefit from the oil itself. But Stein said she still suggests peppermint to patients. “It’s low cost and low side effects,” she says over the phone. “I advise patients if it works for them, they should use it.”

Settled science, of course, can be a moving target and Stein knows that the shadow of placebo is there. But like Baldioli at UCLA Health, she can live with that, just like so many consumers who swear by the products.

Robert Tisserand does urge caution about ingesting essential oils.

“For most essential oils,” Tisserand says, “there is no information about what would be an appropriate dose.”

The same is true, really, of any delivery method for these products.

For example, some marketing for “Thieves Oil” makes reference to an elaborate backstory about its purported use during the black plague outbreak. Thieves Oil, the Young Living website says, offers “immune system support” and is “cleansing to the digestive system.” The website also recommends its use on the feet during “cold winter months.”

When I asked about the foot rubbing advice, a Young Living spokesperson replied via email, “Some customers choose to rub oils on their feet because they contain larger pores, which is believed to assist in the absorption of the oil and provides a soothing effect.”

But other questions remain about how much of a given oil is prudent to put on one’s foot to absorb, and for what measurable effect? Or, how much of another oil should one put in a diffuser, and for how large a space? Or, how much, if any essential oil is safe to ingest?

DoTERRA’s website, for instance, recommends ingesting cinnamon oil, aka casia, “to support healthy cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune function.” Nicole Stevens points to studies that do show metabolic benefits from cinnamon, including a 2020 study led by Giulio Romeo at Harvard that used 500mg daily over 12 weeks, with promising results for pre-diabetic subjects.

But it’s unclear whether ingesting “one or two drops” of cinnamon oil in lemon oil and water, as suggested on doTERRA’s website, could measurably improve metabolic health — or how the oil compares to swallowing an alternative, like, say, cinnamon powder.

DoTERRA’s research team has published over 20 peer reviewed papers, with more on the way. Some of doTERRA’s current work includes clinical trials testing current products. Other work is basic lab research, including agar plate testing to look at whether an oil can fight specific bacteria, viruses or fungi.

This kind of research may be a long way from clinical trials, but it’s a movement in the direction of more rigorous study by larger distributors like doTERRA and Young Living, something that has been too often missing in an industry marked by sales pitches and lofty claims.

Some in the industry are hopeful that change will come as research grows, allowing sellers to be more narrow and also more accurate in their claims. Tea tree oil, for example, has also been studied for gum disease, and substantive research suggests that a diluted tea tree oil mouthwash may be as effective as commonly prescribed chlorhexidine, but with fewer side effects.

And then there’s lavender oil. A 2017 research review in the journal Mental Health Clinician has the headline, “Essential oil of lavender in anxiety disorders: Ready for prime time?” Scholars review evidence “from multiple high-quality randomized trials suggests a role … in the treatment of anxiety disorders.” They also note its low cost and low side effects.

In another win for lavender, research at the University of Kentucky suggests that putting the oil on a nearby object reduced hospital intensive care stays for infants who had pre-birth narcotics dependency. An added bonus in this study: The NICU setting eliminates placebo on the patient side.

So while Ana Baldioli and her team at UCLA Health may be open to placebo as a side benefit, there is some evidence that more may be in play.

“We don’t have all the answers in peer-reviewed publications, but the science is proceeding exactly as it should to fill in the gaps of our understanding,” says Nicole Stevens at doTERRA. “Our mindset has been to do the best we can with current scientific knowledge, and when we know better, do better.”

But reviewing the marketing materials, it’s clear the industry is still riddled with vague and often unsupportable claims.

“So many pressing questions,” René-Maurice Gattefoss wrote in his groundbreaking “Aromatherapy” book in 1937, “but we will answer them as best we can on the basis of our experience, meager as it is before the immensity of the problem. At least the questions have been raised.”

That was some 85 years ago. For critics, that’s a long time to wait for answers. But science does move slowly. The question is whether marketing materials can keep the same pace.

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