“I didn’t start my career in chemical fate and transport modeling. I was previously working as a Civil Engineer modeling municipal water distribution systems and designing wastewater treatment plants when I joined Waterborne Environmental as a temporary favor to Marty Williams. More than 30 years later, my time with the firm has taken me around the world and working on exposure modeling for 6 continents.” 

Renowned worldwide for her investigative and modeling expertise, Amy Ritter, Waterborne’s Principal and Manager, Environmental Modeling and Risk Assessment, has had a career most can only dream about. It has seen her tramping through banana plantations in Costa Rica to rice paddies in China. Through it all, she’s recorded her findings and used them to develop scenarios and models employed by regulatory agencies and universities around the world. 

Born in Sacramento, California to Minnesota transplant parents, Amy developed an appreciation for nature at an early age. “My grandmothers were very into bird watching, which is where I first picked it up,” she says of her lifelong hobby. “I’ve always loved to be immersed in nature and spent most of my summers at lakes in Minnesota and early years going to the beach in Carmel, California. I try to spend as little time as possible...

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While most people are familiar with the term “greenhouse gas” as it pertains to the carbon dioxide produced by our vehicles, there are lesser-known sources of these potent agents of climate change that have a huge impact on global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission budgets. In particular, crop and livestock production contribute emissions in several ways, allowing the agriculture sector to be the 4th highest contributor of GHG emissions after the commercial/residential, industry, and transportation sectors (Figure 1, above). One of those pathways is the application of synthetic and organic fertilizers. If applied in excess, the remaining nitrogen in fields creates an opportunity for the production of nitrous oxide (N2O), a key contributor to GHG. (Figure 2). Because of this, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other state and federal agencies are prioritizing mitigation strategies for agriculture-based GHG emissions. This last action has become critical as environmental conditions due to climate change continue to impact U.S. agricultural lands.

Tracking GHGs requires sophisticated sampling tools and techniques that are best suited to our planet’s varying environments. Manual sampling uses highly specialized and automated monitoring equipment but is often cost-preclusive for many entities. Therefore, while water and soil sampling are often standard practices when assessing environmental health in an agricultural system, GHG emission sampling may... 

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On September 9, 2024, the island nations of Fiji, Samoa, and Vanuatu submitted a proposal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Netherlands, requesting that ecocide be recognized as one of the world’s official “international crimes against humanity.” The proposal requests an amendment to the to the ICC’s Rome Statute, or the legal basis under which the ICC operates. On December 18, 2024, the ICC created its “Draft Policy on Environmental Crimes Under the Rome Statute.” If approved, ecocide would join genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression as the fifth international crime against humanity. 

Ecocides, or acts that destroy the world’s ecosystems, is defined by the ICC as, “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.” Should ecocide become an international crime, company leaders and nations could be prosecuted for knowingly contributing to environmental degradation...

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The National Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants (NAICC) held their annual meeting from January 20st-24th in sunny Monterey, California. Waterborne Environmental’s Jennifer Trask and Shawn Meyer attended the event while briefly escaping the week’s frigid winter temperatures experienced by most of the US. The event was attended by professionals from across the globe and provided a great venue to catch up with old colleagues as well as make new friends within the industry. This meeting presented an opportunity to connect face to face on current work with clients and partners as well as lay the groundwork for future collaborations. During this annual meeting, Waterborne staff were able to touch base with other industry professionals on developing market focus areas for the upcoming year and beyond.

Opportunities for attendees ranged from educational sessions and workshops during the day to multiple days of Exhibit Hall excitement and a friendly game of poker in the evening with all the proceeds being donated to charity! Waterborne’s booth (#420) showcased the breadth of capabilities within the company from various field studies and air monitoring to pollinators and endangered species depicted in a rolling artistic canvas. Some attendees commented on the beauty displayed in the artwork across its entirety. While an award for winning most artistic backdrop or content is not a thing, verbal comments by passersby certainly elevated the reception of the content... 

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