Children Most Vulnerable to Climate Change

Children are among the most vulnerable members of society. Natural and man-made disasters often affect children more than adults because they are unable to fend for themselves. This is doubly true in poor countries, where children often suffer from malnourishment and illnesses such as malaria or HIV.

Climate change brings with it drought and flooding along with food shortages and violence. The resulting toll on children in the developing world may be catastrophic.

Make your own Dishwasher Detergent

Phosphate free dishwasher detergents cost a fortune, even though they are made of very simple ingredients.

From TheNewHomeMaker.com comes this recipe for a DIY dishwasher detergent:

1 cup baking soda
1 cup borax
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup citric acid (which can be bought at a winemaking store, or might even be available in the grocery store with canning products)

In addition, vinegar makes a great rinse agent instead of Jet Dry

If you make it, let me know what you think.

Make your own Laundry Detergent

As part of our quest to reduce our family's exposure to harmful compounds, as well as use products that are less harmful to the environment, I've been looking for ways to make my own laundry soap. After hunting around a bit, I've found a simple enough recipe that I'm going to try this week.

1 cup of pure soap (like Sunlight) grated
1/2 cup washing soda (sodium carbonate)
1/2 cup borax (Careful handling this, it is an irritant and is slightly toxic).


This recipe is based on this Instructable.

If you try it, let me know how it goes.

What' in "Fragrance"?

My research into phthalates has taken me down a number of strange paths. Here is an explainer from EWG on what the word "fragrance" means when it's listed in cosmetics.

Video

Bisphenol A - Measuring my response.

In the wake of the terrifying report on leaching of bisphenol A from polycarbonate baby bottles released this month (LINK) and the frenzy of media panic that ensued ( here, here and here), I am taking a deep breath and doing my homework before deciding what to do, or what to say.

My concern over our exposure to a wide range of industrial and commercial products has been growing over the past year or so, and I'm taking this opportunity to take a detailed look at what's out there, how it gets inside us and what it does once it's there.

Keep your eye on the site for the next few days, I'll let you know what we've decided to do in our house, as well as what some other options might be - and if there is cause for concern at all.

Read the full report here.

Large Families as a Cause of Climate Change

A new report out of the UK is urging governments to encourage people to have smaller families in order to help mitigate climate change.

As we await PhilosopherKid #2's iminent arrival and ponder the eventual size of our family, this makes me think about population effects. That being said, this strikes me as a little absurdist and extremist. The real population problems facing the planet are coming from the unmitigated growth in Asia and Africa, where American and Vatican promoted abstinence only AIDS education is failing dismally.

This report reminds me of a study claiming that obesity is a significant contributor to global warming because cars and planes have to use more fuel to schlep around fat people. This of course is a load of crap.

Studies like these make a mockery of the serious issue of climate change and take attention away from real, practical solutions.

If you grow it, they will eat

I've been wanting to start a vegetable garden for some time now, and have put it off only because of time.  The environmental and economic arguments for growing your own food are very strong, but now it seems that there is a reason even closer to home.



A recent study has shown that kids (in rural areas at least) eat more produce if it is homegrown.

It was a simple, clear finding," said Debra Haire-Joshu, Ph.D., director of Saint Louis University's Obesity Prevention Center and a study author. "Whether a food is homegrown makes a difference. Garden produce creates what we call a 'positive food environment.'"



When children are involved with growing and cooking food, it improves their diet," Haire-Joshu said. "Students at schools with gardens learn about math and science and they also eat more fruits and vegetables. Kids eat healthier and they know more about eating healthy. It's a winning and low-cost strategy to improve the nutrition of our children at a time when the pediatric obesity is an epidemic problem.



Read More

Even if you live in an urban area, you can find coop gardens, although the waiting list might be long.  If you've got a lawn (even a little one) here are some sites that will help you get started.



Urban Gardening Ideas



Urban Vegetable Gardening



Children and Urban AgricultureHow to grow Vegetables, Vegetable Gardening



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening - UBC Botanical Garden Forums



Go ahead, get dirty!



Children Eat More Fruits And Vegetables If They Are Homegrown

via ::ScienceDaily



Technorati Tags: gardening

Downloadable furniture from Foldschool

This looks pretty cool. You download a PDF with instructions and layouts. You supply the parts and labour. The result: sweet sweet low impact furniture.







Architect Nicola Enrico Staubli designed this as a sort of flatpack design, in the sense that the sheets of cardboard can be shipped flat, thereby reducing the waste associated with their transport.



Foldschool (via TreeHugger)









Technorati Tags: philosopherdad, foldschool, flatpack, furniture

Hydrogen-powered Lawnmowers? Sign me up

I know, I know. There are still a lot of problems generating hydrogen in a clean, efficient and sustainable manner. But fuel-cell lawnmowers and chainsaws.... A green dad's dream!!

In a breakthrough that could make fuel cells practical for such small machines as lawnmowers and chainsaws, researchers have developed a new mechanism to efficiently control hydrogen fuel cell power.

Many standard fuel cell designs use electronics to control power output, but such designs require complex systems to manage humidity and fuel recovery and recycling systems to achieve acceptable efficiency.

The new process controls the hydrogen feed to match the required power output, just as one controls the feed of gasoline into an internal combustion engine. The system functions as a closed system that uses the waste water to regulate the size of the reaction chamber, the site where the gasses combine to form water, heat and electricity.

From Science Daily









Technorati Tags: fuel cells, lawn mowers

I love TreeHugger:

The consensus among public health experts is that excessive use of antibacterial agents in household products leads to increased antibiotic resistance as well as other health effects.  (See Hygiene Hypothesis at Wikipedia).  Anyhow, here is a list of stuff that contains the antibiotic triclosan, which has many similar features to the amphibian
hormone 1. 


We���ve all seen the personal care items that proclaim the equivalent of ���Kills Bacteria On Contact,��� or, ���Kills the Germs That Cause Bad Breath.��� There���s a whole conversation we could start about whether sterile lifestyles���the sort that get enforced with bactericides in personal care and cleaning products��� could have an adverse impact on childhood immune system development and allergic response. But, we���ll leave that topic for later. This post is focused on the environmental risk versus the human health benefit of adding the bacteriocide Triclosan to soaps and lotions. (A list of consumer products containing triclosan is presented below.) We're focused on this more narrow question because of a recently studied consequence of triclosan in freshwater environments. Triclosan, widely used in soaps and toothpastes for its ability to kill bacteria, has been found to hasten the transformation of tadpoles into adult frogs. The new research, "published online September 29 in Aquatic Toxicology , is the first to show that triclosan can act as an endocrine disrupter at concentrations found in North American streams... More than 55% of streams examined in 2002 had a median concentration of 0.14 parts per billion (ppb) (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2002, 36, 2322���2329)". The concern is not just with aquatic life, due to triclosan���s structural similarity to thyroid hormones, which orchestrate growth and development in wildlife and humans.

The following partial list of Triclosan-containing personal care products was obtained from the Household Products Database.

Noxzema Triple Clean Antibacterial Lathering Cleanser

Colgate Total Toothpaste, Fresh Stripe

Revlon ColorStay LipSHINE Lipcolor Plus Gloss, Solar

Gentle Antibacterial Body Soap with Moisture Beads

Clearasil Daily Face Wash

Shield Deodorant Soap Bar, Surf Scent

Softsoap Gentle Antibacterial Body Wash with Vitamins

Aveeno Therapeutic Shave Gel

Softsoap Fruit Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap

Right Guard Sport, Deodorant Aerosol, Fresh

Right Guard Sport, Clear Stick Deodorant

Suave Deodorant Soap, Antibacterial

Old Spice High Endurance Stick Deodorant,

pHisoderm Antibacterial Skin Cleanser

Softsoap Liquid Antibacterial Body Soap

Clean and Smooth Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap

Old Spice Red Zone Antiperspirant & Deodorant

Colgate Total Toothpaste

Revlon ColorStay LipSHINE Lipcolor Plus Gloss

New Vaseline Brand Intensive Care Antibacterial Hand Lotion

Lever 2000 Soap Bar Antibacterial

Lever 2000 Deodorant Soap Bar

Imina Lathering Facial Cleanser

Softsoap 2 in 1 Antibacterial Hand Soap Plus Moisturizing Lotion

Softsoap Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap with Light Moisturizers

Right Guard Sport, Deodorant Aerosol

Suave Liquid Hand Soap, Antibacterial

Bath & Body Instant AntiBacterial Hand Gel-Freesia

Dial Liquid Antibacterial Soap, Original Formula

Clean and Smooth Kitchen Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap

From TreeHugger

Tags: philosopheredad,, antibiotics,, triclosan,, hygiene, hypothesis,, environment, health

"Re-Goodie" Those Cheap Toys

One of my favourite environment/design/sustainability blogs, Treehugger.com has a great article about what to do with the tons of cheap plastic crap that seems to accumulate on its own. The Curious Boy is not even a year old and we're already ankle deep.

Some of the ideas: give them to a doctor's office or clinics, give them to charity or have a garage sale and give the money away.

The problem with cheap stuff is that the plasitic is not very durable and will not stand up to repeated wear, teething or dishwashing.

Treehugger via ParentHacks

Pollution Shortens Life Expectancy Worldwide

While this AP article at ENN talks about worst case scenarios, the fact remains that pollution is having an important impact on all of our life expectancies as well as our general health.

More than 10 million people are at risk for lung infection, cancer and shortened life expectancy because they live in the 10 worst-polluted cities in the world, according to a report issued Wednesday.

The report published by the Blacksmith Institute, an international environmental research group, lists 10 cities in eight countries where pollution poses health risks and fosters poverty.

"Living in a town with serious pollution is like living under a death sentence," the report said. "If the damage does not come from immediate poisoning, then cancers, lung infections, mental retardation, are likely outcomes."

The worst-polluted places in the world, the report said, are in secluded areas far away from capitals or tourist areas.

These countries, which are mostly part of the developing world, generally have few or inadequate pollution controls, and the problem is compounded by the local governments' "lack of knowledge" and the inability of citizens to enforce justice.

Three Russian cities are among the most polluted _ Dzherzhinsk, Norilsk and Rudnaya Pristan. The other cities are Linfen, China; Haina, Dominican Republic; Ranipet, India; Mayluu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan; La Oroya, Peru; Chernobyl, Ukraine; and Kabwe, Zambia.

Read more