For Immediate Release
May 20, 2025
DURHAM, May 20, 2025 – The Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) has released the following statement in support of higher education, science, and the environment. The statement is being released ahead of the 2025 AEESP Research and Education Conference to be held on May 20-22, 2025 at Duke University (Durham, NC). The conference addresses the theme of Information in the Public Sector. Over 1000 professionals from academia, industry, non-profit organizations, and government will be in attendance. The conference sessions, workshops, and plenaries will focus on the education, training, and research needed to ensure clean water, air, food, and communities for all.
We encourage you to share the statement with your family and friends, professional network, and elected representatives. When doing so, we invite you to add a personal message speaking to the importance and impact of your particular areas of teaching and research.
The full statement, with 275 signatories, is available online.
AEESP Statement in Support of Clean Water, Air, Food, and Communities
You deserve to drink clean water. You deserve to breathe fresh air. You deserve to eat safe food. Your children and grandchildren deserve to grow up and play in unpolluted neighborhoods. Everyone deserves the same – clean water, air, food, and communities – to avoid dire consequences for their health and wellbeing. As environmental engineers and scientists, it’s our job to provide these basic rights for society, but we need your help to continue doing so.
For over 50 years, our clean water and air regulations have saved millions of lives. We have removed lead, arsenic, and other toxic metals from drinking water, safeguarding communities. We advanced key technologies and policies to reduce smog in cities, improving air quality. We introduced new systems to capture mercury and other harmful chemicals from power plant emissions, ensuring food safety. We pioneered processes to filter and disinfect disease-causing organisms in water, saving more lives than any medicine. These advancements and many others are made possible by the education, training, scientific research, and innovation that happen at our universities and federal agencies. This work must continue to navigate new challenges and ensure that basic rights are shared by all.
As environmental engineers and scientists, we abide by a code of ethics that requires us to (i) protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public and (ii) express professional opinions truthfully and only when founded on adequate knowledge and honest conviction. This code of ethics compels us to speak out about recent actions that jeopardize our ability to continue delivering clean water, air, and food to you, your family, and your neighbors each day.
We are concerned about the increasing attacks on higher education, science, and the environment. Revoking the visas of faculty and students prevents them from making brilliant, creative, and impactful contributions to our society. Firing our partners in federal agencies, who have faithfully served the country, compromises decades of knowledge and experience that safeguard our communities. Canceling projects awarded by the National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, National Institutes of Health, and other federal agencies stifles American ingenuity, new technologies, and workforce development. Rolling back environmental regulations and ignoring the threat of climate change unnecessarily puts us all at risk.
Universities operate on the principle of academic freedom, ensuring our ability to pursue knowledge without outside interference. The recent attacks on higher education have resulted in censorship and retaliation. Our students – your family members, friends, and neighbors – deserve to pursue their education and goals of preserving the health, safety, and welfare of the public without fear or political interference. You deserve to benefit from the knowledge, ideas, and technologies they generate through the culture of innovation at American universities developed through decades of academic freedom and steady investments in scientific research.
As environmental engineers and scientists, we work behind the scenes every day to provide clean water, air, food, and communities. We love our job and take joy in our contributions to society, but we need your help to best protect you, your family, and your neighbors from current and future environmental threats. Please share this statement with your friends and family, professional network, and elected representatives and encourage them to speak out in support of higher education, science, and the environment. We need your help to ensure the highest quality of life for all.
Founded in 1963, AEESP is a collaborative, supportive, and diverse community of more than 1400 researchers and educators that advances the professional development of its members to be successful innovators and leaders in creating equitable solutions to regional, national, and global environmental challenges.