(WASHINGTON D.C. – April 15, 2024)
“Rodney, when you learn better, you do better. And that’s why the President is releasing his plan…” – Chair Brenda Mallory, White House leadership team.
I had the pleasure today of catching up with Chair Brenda Mallory, who was confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in as the 12th Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).
She and I had a meeting scheduled for last week to discuss the President’s Plan on the future of drinking water for millions of Americans. Our time slot was unexpectedly bumped just before we met, in light of her broader roles as a leader within the Executive Branch of our Nation’s government.
So imagine my surprise when one of her staffers reconnected with me to make this interview happen.
Follow-through is a very strong sign of Emotional Intelligence in action for the people.
During our conversation, Chair Mallory made a very impactful quote — I’ll share that in a moment. But first allow me to add context to some of the aspects of our drinking water situation, which may shed light on why the POTUS’ plan is especially needed at this time.
The major crux at play here is the presence of PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) in our drinking water. As a unified group, PFAS is a very versatile, practical, and multi-use compound that was discovered in the 1940s. It has proved handy in creating several items like long-lasting cookware, food packaging, non-stick materials, thermal-insulated products, and durable adhesives. Similar to plastics, they were a major part of the American economic boom that took place throughout the 20th century.
It wasn’t until years later that we discovered that PFAS didn’t exactly biodegrade naturally.
Instead, their super resilient qualities, which made them great for cookware, thermal products and packaging, were the same resistant traits that kept them from breaking-down and then decomposing on their own in nature.
In other words, once constructed through man-made ingenuity, it would require the same amount of ingenuity to return their molecular building blocks back to the Earth.
What we found is that PFAS were so sturdy, so durable, that without special intervention they were around to stay. — This aspect earned this special group of compound materials the term forever-chemicals. Although alarming to find them still going strong so many years later in such inconvenient places like farming soil, shorelines, and drinking water bastions, the true alarm was raised recently, when it was discovered that these compounds were contributing to not-so-positive health effects for millions of Americans.
This is when President Biden alongside Chair Mallory decided enough was enough.
“Rodney, we didn’t always know about those chemicals what we know now, but when you learn better,
you do better. And that’s why the President is releasing his plan…” – Chair Brenda Mallory.
The idea underlying this quote is a major tenet of Emotional Intelligence. You see, EQ (emotional IQ) is not simply about being in touch with one’s feelings/experiences; it’s also very much the modified behaviors that come as a result of this knowledge.
When we know better, we do better.
As a leader in global progress, technology, and success, it is a good sign when our executive leadership takes the time to apply these foundational principles of the human experience into policy and then into action.
Chair Mallory joins POTUS at the pinnacle of our nation’s executive team, who find it important to be both profitable and responsible; forward-facing and inclusive, wide-lensed and detailed-focused. Because when the leadership adjusts its own behavior in light of a situation’s universal impact on the whole, it bodes well as an indicator of our Nation’s growth emotionally and intelligently.
My name is Rodney C. Burris. I am the White House Correspondent for BMORENews, a media outlet in Baltimore where our slogan is, “the news before the news.” This column will look at the events impacting our nation and filter them through the lens of Emotional Intelligence theory. Our goal will be to inform, to make aware, to facilitate connectivity, and then to increase the overall understanding of ourselves as a collective as we take a deep dive into the topics affecting our Emotionally Intelligent Nation.
