Greenversations

Do you have a passion for the environment? Have you put the passion into action? Well, you need to let us know and learn about the President’s Environmental Youth Award (PEYA). PEYA is an award program for students K – 12th grade. Whether you completed an environmental awareness project as an individual, a group, or class, you are eligible, and encouraged, to apply.

I have been managing the PEYA program in EPA’s Region 1office for over 5 years. It is one of my favorite programs in the agency and is truly a hidden gem. So many students create projects centered around the environment. How cool is it to be recognized for your passion with an award ceremony in Washington, DC, potentially meeting President Obama, and hanging out with kids from across the country with the same passion for the environment as you. I am always amazed and impressed with the scope and depth of some of the projects submitted. I have had winners who have created a rain garden behind their town hall to prevent runoff from contaminating the river behind it; an Eagle Scout who created a program to have fisherman use an alternative weight to lead sinkers; an afterschool group who created an energy audit and program for its school district and so many more.

The regional award program is conducted once a year, and each of the 10 EPA regions selects a regional winner. Each regional winner is invited to an EPA-sponsored award ceremony in Washington, DC and receives a presidential plague.

I never get bored with students’ passion and action towards the environment. We want to read about your great projects and EPA knows you have worked hard on a project so why not get some recognition? You can get the program details (including applications deadlines), check out previous winning projects for inspiration, and get the application at epa.gov/peya. Get the credit you deserve for putting your passion into action and making the environment a cleaner, healthier place, and remember, it’s never too early to start a project for next year!

About the author: Kristen Conroy is the Environmental Education Coordinator in the EPA Reg 1’s Boston region. Kristen has been with EPA since 1991.

My late grandfather was always full of advice and giving out tips. Whenever he visited, he always came with newspaper clippings and all sorts of articles from magazines. He had all sorts of information for everyone and would talk with each of us grandchildren or children about the information he found. He also would constantly remind me to tell people to spell my last name correctly. Even if it was ordering a pizza and giving your last name. No place was left out of hearing the spelling of our, somewhat lengthy, surname. Make sure you tell them two n’s, not one, he would say. He has made me so very proud of my family’s history. I learned a lot from his words of wisdom, more than I could type out in this blog. I always think about him, especially this time of year, when my grandparents would come and visit us in the fall. I also remember him around November because he was a World War II veteran. As Veteran’s Day quickly approaches, I thought I might provide some reminders of my own, to grandparents, parents, or any veteran out there with little ones. Here are some tips to keep in mind when kids come over to visit and stay with you, some things that you may not even think about normally, but may be important when you have younger company coming over.

• Make sure to wash children’s hands before they eat and also wash fruits and vegetables.
• In older homes particularly, make sure to wash floors and window sills to protect kids from dust and peeling paint that could be contaminated with lead.
• Store pesticides and toxic chemicals far out of reach where children can’t get to them; try to put them in a locked cabinet or area first.
• Make sure you close any container marked ‘child resistant’ very tightly after the product has been used. Child resistant does not mean child proof so you should still be careful with products with child-resistant packaging.
• Store food and trash in closed containers to prevent pests from coming inside.
• Don’t let children handle or play with mercury. (Find out where mercury containing product recycling programs are in your area.)
• Hide medical prescriptions in a locked up location or a secure place so children can not reach them or mistake them for candy.

So as visitors start to pile in, especially children, take a moment to look over these tips and apply them around your home. Also, take some time to remember all of the veterans out there and all that they have given while serving our country.

About the author: Emily Bruckmann is an intern at the Office of Children’s Health Protection. She is a senior attending Indiana University who will graduate with a degree in public health this spring.

Even though Children’s Health Month is nearing its end, I have plenty of reasons to stay invested in the well-being of kids. Aside from working in the children’s environmental health field, I am a parent to a toddler and pregnant!

This viewpoint has its pros and cons. On the one hand, I have access to the latest science and advice about how to protect my children from environmental health threats. On the other hand, all this information can make me a bit paranoid!

For instance, pregnant women can no longer worry only about eating sushi or soft cheese.  Moms also have to watch for toxins in our water bottles, personal care products, household items, food and the baby’s toys and plastic bottles.  It is overwhelming and confusing—even to a person who works on these problems.

During my first pregnancy, I was the model pregnant woman—I ate organic, didn’t use plastics and bought the “right” products. However, when my first daughter was born extremely premature – she was born 3 ½ months early and weighed 1 ½ lbs.—I realized just how little control I really had over her health and exposures.  She had plastic tubes all over her and inside her keeping her alive and was pumped full of antibiotics and medications that saved her life. All of these early exposures have risks associated with them, however.

Millions of parents can tell a similar story. Try as we may, we can’t control many of the factors that affect the health of our children.  What we can do is be educated and proactive. It is part of my job to help elevate the discussion among researchers, environmental health professionals, and healthcare providers about children’s health. More importantly, I want to bring the discussion down to the street level where I and millions of other parents and parents-to-be are looking for guidance.

Moms and dads should not have to be toxicologists to protect their children. My hope is that we can advance science in these areas and make good use of the knowledge between doctors, scientists, policymakers and parents to better protect the health of our kids.

About the author: Margo Young is the Children’s Health Coordinator for EPA Region 10. She works in EPA’s Seattle office.

While watching television the other night, I caught a glimpse of a movie about a certain kind of pest: rodents. I know that horror films clearly over exaggerate and are intended to scare people but it did bring back some memories for me. Last year I lived in a new apartment with two of my best friends back at school. One night as we were having a movie night, one of my roommates yelped that she saw a mouse run across our kitchen floor. My other roommate and I went to check it out and as we stood there anxiously awaiting the arrival of our four legged visitor, it suddenly ran across the edge of the floor disappearing into a wall. We all immediately jumped on our kitchen table and screamed. It was a scene straight out of a movie. Girly, I know. I’m sure the mouse was just as scared we were. Needless to say, we discovered later that we had more than just one mouse and a pest problem. Our ordeal with mice lasted a month or so until we had carefully and safely eliminated all rodents and sealed up any possible nook and cranny that they could get in. I will be forever grateful to the roommate that was brave enough to ‘take out the trash’. Moral of the story, though, is that we handled our situation safely. It should be noted that as young adults we were able to take care of the situations ourselves and young children should definitely not. This brings up a few good tips to keep in mind when handling pest infestations of your own, especially when children are around.

• Always keep pesticides and other household chemicals out of children’s reach, preferably in a locked cabinet.
• Never transfer pesticides to other containers that children may associate with food or drink.
• Never place rodent or insect baits where small children can easily get to them.
• If you are interrupted while using a pesticide or household chemical, make sure to properly reclose the container and put it out of children’s reach.

Remember that pesticides aren’t just limited to those used for rodents but apply to many other products that may be in your house. You can visit a virtual house where you can learn about various chemicals and pesticides, health and safety tips, and what to do if an accident occurs. Take a stand against those pests but do so in a safe way!

About the author: Emily Bruckmann is an intern at the Office of Children’s Health Protection. She is a senior attending Indiana University who will graduate with a degree in public health this spring.

She’s turning 13 and bright as can be, but I’m in need of advice on how to teach my daughter that there’s an easy-to-see connection between what she’s learning about the environment and simple, everyday choices she makes that affect the environment. And this being Children’s Health Month, it’s time for teenagers, including my brand new one, to consider as well how environmental health affects children and their health now and as adults.

She recently read the student version of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” which clearly explains and visualizes environmental trends, the influence of human-made carbon emissions, and ways government, industry and people can begin to reverse conditions which have likely alarming consequences. (Readers of Greenversations, I’d confidently guess, are well familiar with Gore’s evidence and argument.)

She gets it. So why, on the same day, can she cogently explain what the Keeling atmospheric CO2 curve tells us, and then leave lights on in empty rooms or ask for multiple car rides when one and a bike ride or two would do? Might some creative Children’s Health Month tips do the trick?

This very short Greenversations piece ends with one sincere request because I’m hoping you feel my pain and have the answer: Can you help me help her connect the global–personal–health dots?

There’s one other consideration to hone my request. My darling daughter can get a bit huffy if I say something critical.

About the author: Larry Teller joined EPA’s Philadelphia office in its early months and has worked in environmental assessment, state and congressional liaison, enforcement, and communications. His 28 years with the U.S. Air Force, most as a reservist, give him a different look at government service.

Children may be more vulnerable than adults to environmental health threats. Although the home is typically a safe place for children, when it comes to environmental heath it’s wise to know the facts. October is Children’s Health Month. Check out the October calendar for environmental health tips.

How do you protect your children from environmental health hazards in and around your home?

Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.

Los niños son más vulnerables que los adultos a los riesgos ambientales. Aunque el hogar normalmente es un lugar seguro para los niños, cuando se trata de la salud ambiental infantil, es mejor conocer los hechos. Octubre es el Mes de la Salud Infantil. Consulte el calendario de EPA para octubre y allí encontrará consejos de salud ambiental en inglés. Para más consejos en español

¿Cómo protege a sus niños de las peligros a la salud ambiental en y alrededor de su hogar?

Cada semana hacemos una pregunta relacionada al medio ambiente. Por favor comparta con nosotros sus pensamientos y comentarios. Siéntase en libertad de responder a comentarios anteriores o plantear nuevas ideas. Preguntas previas.

Childhood lead poisoning is a major environmental health problem in the United States. Lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, nervous system damage, kidney damage, and decreased intelligence.  National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week is October 18-24.

What do you do to protect your children from lead poisoning?

Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.

Taking full advantage of last weekend’s surprisingly warm fall weather, I made a trip to Old Town Alexandria. What a perfect place to spend a Saturday afternoon. With all the walking I did, I needed something to quell my unruly stomach grumbles. I decided to allow myself to succumb to one sweet in particular: cupcakes. The place was busy with lots of children eagerly waiting. I almost thought about buying a dozen. Then my college wallet kicked in and I decided to purchase just one. However, after my return home, I got to thinking about what I had eaten that day and realized: A.) Yes, that cupcake was good and B.) I hadn’t eaten the recommended five servings of fruit and vegetables for the day! While I like a piece of broccoli about as much as the next 8 year old, I really try my hardest to get in as much fruits and veggies as I can. Fruit can easily be enjoyed like a dessert! And vegetables can be eaten with all sorts of dishes. Here are some of my other thoughts:

• One way to really teach and attract kids to healthy items is to get them involved in the process. It helps you out and makes your food healthier at the same time! By safely allowing older kids to help or just observe you peeling and trimming fruits and vegetables, it will help them feel a part of the process and removes dirt, bacteria, and pesticides.
• I also know that water is appealing to kids and getting them involved in washing fruits and vegetables can be easy. The sound itself of the water in the sink has a calming affect and removing traces of chemicals and bacteria from your food will make it safer and taste even better.
• Also, selecting a variety of foods can be helpful to engage kids so they don’t have to eat cooked carrots every night of the week. A variety will give you a better mix of nutrients.

All in all, vegetables and fruits really can be just as appealing as a cupcake! Check out other healthy, sensible food tips. Use the occasional cupcake as a treat and give kids the chance and opportunity to love eating fruits and veggies!

About the author: Emily Bruckmann is an intern at the Office of Children’s Health Protection. She is a senior attending Indiana University who will graduate with a degree in public health this spring.

Exposure to mercury can result from misuse or overuse of mercury-containing products.  Even something that seems as small as a broken thermometer needs to be cleaned up and disposed of properly. October is Children’s Health Month.

How do you protect children from mercury?

Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.