Environment | Hip Moms Go Green

Childhood Asthma: Surprising Environmental Causes & Prevention

Monday, May 10th, 2010

Childhood asthma is a debilitating disease that affects the lungs of young children and can last throughout adulthood. This condition can cause a lot of pain and fear in young children, and can be heavy on their parents’ minds and pocketbooks. Not only is childhood asthma a terrifying experience, it is also on the rise. Several government studies have shown that childhood asthma conditions have increased by as much as 60 to 70 percent! Of course, some is these are probably doctors becoming better at diagnosing asthma conditions, but the rise is still astonishing. Childhood asthma is now the most common condition in the developed world, and things aren’t going to get better.

The problem is that the lungs are very sensitive organs that eagerly absorb inhaled air to pick up all the oxygen that they can. In the process, lungs also absorb any particles in the air straight into their tissues. You may not be surprised to learn that the air indoors is filled with all kinds of particles that can cause damage to the lung tissue. High on the list are particles produced from paint and outgassing. VOCs and other fume particles from paint are clearly bad news, causing a variety of illnesses throughout the body, but when a baby is raised in a home where there’s a lot of VOCs, its lungs can become permanently weakened.

You may have never heard of outgassing, but it happens when particle board used to build houses starts to “exhale” or release particles from inside its fibers into the air. Unfortunately, particle board is put together with truly nasty chemicals like formaldehyde, which have been proven to cause lung damage when they are breathed in. And before you start blaming these construction chemicals for all the asthma in the world, take a look at the studies done in Australia and Europe that link childhood asthma to common household cleaners, especially bleach. Window cleaners, air fresheners, and disinfectants were also pinpointed.

If you are worried about your child developing an asthma condition, you may be panicking–understandably–but fortunately there are things you can do to make your home safer and hopefully asthma-free. First, use green construction materials wherever possible. VOC-free paints and varnishes are a must. To get rid of the outgassing effect, try using green particle board instead. This board uses recycled lumber materials and natural resins instead of formaldehyde and other nasty chemicals. Finally, be extra careful of what chemical cleaners and cosmetics you use. When in doubt, always look at the labels. If there’s a warning sign, it’s there for a reason. Stay away from bleach and try using eco-friendly products, stain-fighting enzymes, and ionized water when possible.

Furry Vengeance

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

A comedy romp that feels a little like “Dr. Doolittle” meets “The Great Outdoors,” Furry Vengeance stars an assortment of animatronics forest creatures along with humans, Brendan Fraser and Brooke Shields. This fun family film sends a message about saving the environment with a campy comedy spirit.

In the movie, a young real estate developer, Dan Sanders faces the retaliation of a gang of furry and winged animals determined to thwart his attempts to create a new housing subdivision. The gang’s leader, a super-savvy and determined raccoon, leads his animal tribe to fight Sanders and eventually teach him the consequences of destroying a part of the fragile ecosystem.

In connection with the film, there’s a social campaign afoot called ‘Take Part,’ which focuses on the importance of endangered species and habitat preservation. An online guide accompanying the movie offers ways to get involved with ‘Take Part’ as well as volunteer information and an activity guide. A customized package of activities and materials will be delivered to elementary students nationwide to get them involved and inspired to protect animals and their home habitats. The film teaches kids the ramifications of hurting the environment and how to be green, not mean.

Plastics in the Ocean: Danger on the High Seas

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

The very qualities that make plastics so attractive to people can prove dangerous once these plastics get out of our hands…especially if they find their way into the ocean. The long-lasting, lightweight materials can float around the ocean for years and years, accumulating in larger piles while doing damage to the ecology of whatever ocean they happen to be dumped in. Every year 14 billion pounds of garbage are dumped into our oceans, a large portion of this consists of plastics.

Some plastics find their way into the seas through accidents, such as the plastic bag spill of 2000, but much of the plastic is just litter, cast carelessly aside by smaller boats and even larger manufacturers that could not care less about the viability of ocean waters. On land, these plastics can eventually be recovered, recycled, or stored in landfills, but in the ocean they are constantly moving and still very durable, so every piece of plastic added contributes to a dangerous whole.

Chemicals

The first primary danger of almost all plastics floating in the ocean are the chemicals they are made with that can leech out into the saltwater, chemicals like phthalates and other compounds that can have serious toxic effects in high concentrations. These chemicals can eventually infect surrounding plant and animal life, lowering reproductive rates and increasing die-offs.

Large Plastics

Large plastics, such as the notorious pieces of fishing net that can stretch for miles across the ocean, tend to affect larger types of marine life, such as seals, sea lions, and dolphins. If these animals do not know to avoid a particular area, they can run into large plastics, get caught in them, and drown without being able to come back up for air. Large plastics also tend to break down into smaller plastics, which can pose other types of danger.

Smaller Plastics

Small plastics share some of the same dangers as larger pieces, but also have more subtle hazards. Birds, turtles, and small fish can easily mistake small pieces for food and eat them only to choke on the inedible plastic (in the case of birds, mothers can choke when trying to regurgitate the plastic to feed it to their chicks). When small plastics breakdown, they turn into microscopic plastic pieces that are harder to see but easier to eat, and more likely to cause toxic damage to ocean life.

Plastic Masses

Most news-watching people are now aware of the massive “garbage patch” or “trash vortex” located in the Pacific Ocean, where tides have brought plastics from around the edges of the ocean into a central spot. Similar, though smaller masses are also forming in the Atlantic Ocean. While these masses may conjure images of entire islands of walkable plastic, spots that bad are very rare, and usually there are only small pieces of plastic floating here and there…for hundreds of miles. The total effect is very unhealthy to ocean life, especially the small eco-habitats that have incorporated the plastic masses and use them to hide from prey or search for food.

Check out this video on Hip Moms Go Green TV entitled, World biggest garbage dump – plastic in the Ocean.

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