NEJAC RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY

The document advocates for the integration of lived experience, experiential knowledge, and community knowledge into environmental regulatory systems to better understand cumulative impacts in overburdened communities. It defines these terms to ensure consistent regulatory use and argues that such knowledge is an essential complement to professional scientific data, which often has blind spots. The text recommends that the EPA institutionalize training for employees in active listening and implicit bias, and adopt mixed-methods approaches to integrate qualitative community data with quantitative analysis.

• The document defines three distinct types of knowledge for use in cumulative impact assessments: 'lived experience' as direct, first-hand experience of a situation; 'experiential knowledge' as intuitive understandings derived from lived experience; and 'community knowledge' as shared understandings that offer general insights into a community's condition, such as Indigenous knowledge.
• Lived experience is identified as a critical information source for understanding the intersections of various impacts and the specific causes of environmental and health problems in overburdened communities, though it is often unfairly viewed as inferior to professional or scientific knowledge.
• To effectively incorporate lived experience, the document recommends that environmental and health regulators receive training in active listening, the mitigation of implicit bias, and the avoidance of defensiveness when faced with government criticism.
• The document suggests using mixed-methods approaches from the social sciences to integrate qualitative experiential knowledge with quantitative data, noting that regulators should provide careful explanations to community members when regulatory conclusions contradict their experiences.

APA

Gehred, N., & Ellickson, K. (2025). NEJAC RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/NEJAC%20CI%20reccs_theme%205.pdf

Chicago

Gehred, Natalie, and Kristie Ellickson. NEJAC RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2025. https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/NEJAC%20CI%20reccs_theme%205.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gehred |first1=Natalie |last2=Ellickson |first2=Kristie |title=NEJAC RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=February 2025 |url=https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/NEJAC%20CI%20reccs_theme%205.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gehred2025nejac, author = {Gehred, Natalie and Ellickson, Kristie}, title = {{NEJAC RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2025}, month = feb, url = {https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/NEJAC%20CI%20reccs_theme%205.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }