Environmental Intersection by George Lindemann

You see vending machines filled with junk food at your child's school and you try not to hyperventilate. Then, the school serves french fries and touts it as a "vegetable" and now you know -- you've got a problem.

Most of us have read the devastating news that childhood diabetes and obesity are occurring in epidemic proportions in the United States. According to the CDC, type 2 diabetes (formerly known as adult-onset diabetes) has been reported among U.S. children with increasing frequency over the last two decades. Obesity rates in children are just as alarming, having more than tripled in the past 30 years.

It is clear that our children need a radical change in their diets, and that change begins at home. But if we're serious about creating a truly lasting impact, we need to worry about what they are eating at school as well. This is obviously a steep uphill battle: School systems around the country suffer from a serious lack of funding. Many have become so desperate that they have even turned to junk food advertising and sponsorships to make up for the lack of funds.

So how do we make inroads in our schools? How do we protect our kids? I asked my friend and activist, Colleen Kavanagh, executive director of Campaign for Better Nutrition, for her insight on the subject.

Q: For any parent interested in improving their child's cafeteria lunch, how can they get started, and are there organizations to help them begin this potentially uphill battle?

A: Starting is easy. It takes less than an hour of research:

1. Find out what is already going on. Your district is required by federal law to have a Wellness Policy and a permanent committee that oversees it. Go to your district website, read the policy, put the next meeting on your calendar. While you are on the website, go to the section on school nutrition and find out what they are serving.

2. Brush up on how the school lunch program operates. Just Google the USDA fact sheet on the National School Lunch Program.

3. Email your district PTA/PA to find out what they are doing on school food or if they know of any other parents who are working on it. Put it in your calendar to email those parents to set a coffee date.

4. Start a positive relationship with your food service director; he or she is a key ally. If you don't have support here, all your work will be much harder. Also find allies on the school board -- look up the biographies of your board members and determine who might be a likely champion for improving school food. Send the food service director and board members an email letting them know how important you think the school lunch program is for your child/children.

5. Go to www.angrymoms.org and watch their video and access the resources they have compiled in their "Get Started" guide.

Remember that every district is different, so what worked for "two angry moms" or in Berkeley with Alice Waters might not work for your district. After doing your initial hour, spend some time with your new contacts finding out the unique character of your district's food -- how much money do they have, do all the schools have cooking capability, are the staff qualified to cook, etc. Be open-minded, there are many ways to improve school food. If your district has no school kitchens or staff that can cook, starting with a goal of cooking from scratch at each school site might be unrealistic. In that case, you might want to find a better vendor, have higher quality or more variety of produce, offer more entree choices, etc.

Q: School lunches are based on federal nutrition standards and are based in science. When were the federal standards last updated? And according to these standards what does a "nutritious" lunch look like?

A: The standards haven't been meaningfully updated since 1995 when -- and don't cringe -- they were changed to reflect the misfound notion that excess fat consumption was giving us heart disease and making us obese. Carbohydrates were given a larger focus on the plate based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Kids have been getting fatter ever since, not all caused by the school lunch program, but certainly the program has contributed to the problem.

Updated standards were required in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. That bill contained a lot of the recommendations by Michelle Obama's Obesity Task Force, but the new standards were developed by the Institute of Medicine for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, which oversees the school nutrition programs. Basically, they call for more produce, at least half of all grains being whole grains, less sugar, less salt and drinking water instead of sugary drinks. A great disappointment is that they still recommend a low-fat diet despite the mounds of evidence we have that this is not good advice, and they do not responsibly distinguish between good and bad fats. They also continue to confuse the issue of foods that contain cholesterol, such as eggs, animal fat, etc., and foods that promote unhealthy cholesterol ratios, which are refined carbohydrates.

So, although the new guidelines are better, they still operate like a living science experiment based on faulty data inputs. The problem is that the experiment has over 30 million participants, so the damage this bad advice could cause is magnified. I hope we don't have to wait another 17 years before the next update, which will hopefully catch up to the real science instead of the popular science. If you want to know where we should be headed next, check out the Harvard School of Public Health Food Guide Plate. Though Harvard is still having trouble giving up the low-fat message, their guide is better than the federal one.

Q: Do you believe that the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act will be able to accomplish its goal of combatting obesity and hunger?

A: This problem has taken decades to build. We can reverse in a shorter time frame, but not by 2015. The important contribution of Mrs. Obama is the multi-pronged, incredibly inventive steps she has made toward achieving this goal. No administration has ever used the power of the White House to forge agreements with grocers to provide healthier food on their shelves. Other massive federal agencies like the Forest Service and General Services Administration are improving their nutrition guidelines as well. On the private sector side, I just heard that Dr. Alan Greene may have convinced the American Academy of Pediatrics to recommend parents never feed infants powdered white rice cereal. All of these measures and so many more are coming together to promote health. We will reach a tipping point, but I guarantee that it won't happen until the soda companies start showing rapid declines in sales.

For more great tips on improving your school's food offerings, check out these helpful resources: www.thelunchbox.org, www.traytalk.com, www.schoolnutrition.org and www.healthyschoollunches.org .

Follow Sloan Barnett on Twitter and on her Facebook Fan page at https://www.facebook.com/GreenGoesWithEverything.>

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A hot topic in South Florida right now with serious implications for the Everglades and us all...

Florida issues new water pollution standards

By Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Nov 02, 2011 05:07 PM

Nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen flow into waterways from fertilized lawns, golf courses, leaking septic tanks and malfunctioning sewer plants. In the past 30 years, nutrient pollution has become the most common water pollution problem in Florida —- but the state's rules for how much nitrogen and phosphorous are allowed in waterways were only vague guidelines. The EPA told all states in 1998 to set strict limits on nutrient pollution, and warned it would do it for them if no action was taken by 2004. DEP officials started working on new standards in 2001, but 2004 passed without any change. In 2008, Earthjustice and a coalition of other environmental groups sued the EPA to force it to take action in Florida. A year later, the agency settled the suit by agreeing to impose nutrient pollution standards -- and the complaints began boiling up from Florida industry leaders about costly, unnecessary federal regulations hurting the economy. Attorney General Pam Bondi, on behalf of Agriculture Commissioner Adam Hasner, sued to block implementation of the rules, and on Wednesday she filed a motion accusing the EPA of exaggerating the threat from nutrient pollution. EPA officials have said all along that they would drop their pollution limits if the state would come up with some new standards. In the EPA's letter Wednesday, agency officials said that if the state's Environmental Review Commission and the Legislature ratify the new state standards, and the EPA gives its formal approval of the final version, the agency would then withdraw its controversial pollution standards. Craig Pittman can be reached at craig@sptimes.com [Last modified: Nov 02, 2011 05:08 PM] Click here for reuse options! Copyright 2011 St. Petersburg Times

Federal and state officials announced today before the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration Task Force major revisions to the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP).  Consisting of almost 70 individual restoration projects, CERP is moving forward through projects scattered throughout South Florida, but major ecological decline of the Everglades ecosystem continues.  Audubon has long called for faster progress toward restoring the historic River of Grass, through such means as bundling projects together for more comprehensive planning and speedier implementation. See Audubon’s 2008 Tipping Point Fact Sheet.

The new plan, to be developed over 18 months, calls for such action in order to get projects moving forward at a faster pace.  A decade worth of projects will be evaluated for achieving on-the-ground results quicker than the original CERP plan could deliver.  The new plan was prompted by recent National Academy of Sciences reports detailing the decline of the Everglades ecosystem and the urgent need to expedite restoration progress before the ecosystem degraded to a point from which it was unlikely to recover.

Audubon applauds this initiative to hasten the recovery of the Everglades ecosystem, which suffers from decades of decline caused by over-drainage, water pollution, and water diversion which inundates some areas with too much freshwater, while Everglades National Park and other areas receive far too little.

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Progress continues...

It's that time of year again, and I can't help but think about the ghoulish chemicals our children are coming in contact with. Add to that the 6.9 billion dollars that Americans are spending on one-time use decorations and costumes this year, and my head starts to spin. But Halloween fun doesn't have to be an unhealthy witch's brew. It can be healthy and green too!

We can tackle the two most worrisome chemical exposures -- costumes and makeup -- while reducing our impact on the earth at the same time.

Safe, Eco-friendly Costumes

Many costume accessories, such as masks, noses and fake teeth, are made from poly vinyl chloride (PVC). The Center for Health Environment and Justice (CHEJ) warns that PVC has become known as the "poison plastic" because it is full of toxic chemicals such as phthalates, chlorine, dioxin and lead. A CHEJ study found that this vinyl can release as many as 108 volatile organic chemicals into the air. Some of these chemicals can cause developmental damage as well as damage to the liver and central nervous, respiratory and reproductive systems. So if you're buying a pre-made costume this year, look for the number three recycling code to help you avoid PVC. You may not have the benefit of a label though, so avoid any soft plastic with a strong "new toy" smell.

But seriously, why buy a potentially unhealthy costume that will likely be worn once? You can save some hard-earned money, and the planet too, with these tips:

• DIY: If you're feeling crafty, you could make your child's costume from safe materials you already have around the house. Not sure it's your cup of tea? Check out these simple costume ideas at Parenting.com and the Mother Nature Network.

• Check consignment and thrift stores.

• Consider swapping: Search for a swap in your area or learn how to organize your own at www.GreenHalloween.org.

Non-toxic Face Paint

Just this month, HealthyStuff.org released an unsettling report about the shocking number of toxic chemicals in kid's costume makeup. They tested products from large retailers, in which they detected potent neurotoxins and carcinogens. Here is what they found:

• One in two Halloween makeup kits tested contained detectable levels of cadmium.

• 100 percent of the products tested contained chromium.

• Other metals detected include: arsenic, mercury and lead

Can you imagine slathering those hidden hazards on your child's little face? I can't, and it makes me angry to think I may have done it without even knowing.

Luckily, you can make your own face paints with great recipes from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. And there are a few natural face paints and pencils available if you'd rather not make your own:

• Miss Terra Firma, in partnership with GreenHalloween.org, created a line of non-toxic high performance face paints that are made with only the safest ingredients.

• Nova Natural makes non-toxic face pencils which are made primarily of palm oil.

If you're planning to use your own makeup, be sure to double check it for safety in the Skin Deep Database.

With a little planning and creativity, you can create a safe costume, save a little money and reduce your waste for an all-around green Halloween!

Follow Sloan Barnett on Twitter and on her Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/GreenGoesWithEverything.

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WASHINGTON — A new fast-track planning effort could shave years off the next phase of Everglades restoration, putting more fresh and clean water into the central and southern portions of Florida’s "River of Grass" more quickly.

A restoration task force that met Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla., announced a rapid planning effort that, if approved by Congress, could transform how large public-works projects across the country are built. It’s also expected to cut the planning process for the next major restoration project in the central Everglades from six years to 18 months.

“The reality is the ecosystem has continued to degrade,” said Dawn Shirreffs, the Everglades restoration program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association. “We’re running out of time. We don’t have the time to spend six years on a project anymore.”

Thursday’s announcement came out of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ effort to streamline large projects nationwide. The Army corps decided to use the planning process for the next major restoration project, which will provide more a natural flow and deeper clean new water through the central Everglades and Everglades National Park, as a pilot.

Previous plans were overly detailed, expensive and time-consuming, the Army Corps of Engineers found. The time — as well as data — being invested in studies wasn’t leading to a better product, officials said in materials that were prepared for Thursday’s task force meeting.

Also, projects in the Everglades had a tendency to be addressed one by one rather than simultaneously, Shirreffs said. But there are three components of Everglades cleanup, all intertwined, and all best addressed together, she said. Water can’t be moved unless it’s clean, it can’t be cleaned unless it’s stored and it can’t be stored unless it gets to the places designated for storage.

Cleaning up the pollution that's flowing into the Everglades requires reducing the phosphorus in the water to 10 parts per billion. Amounts any higher won’t stop changes in plant and animal life in the Everglades, a delicate ecosystem of marshlands and forests that's home to a variety of threatened species.

Because of high levels of phosphorus, cattails have been taking over the saw grass in the Everglades for decades. The pollutant has flowed from fertilizers on sugar and vegetable farms and the sprawling suburbs of South Florida.

The state was supposed to get to its phosphorus-reduction goal by 2012, but the Florida Legislature pushed back the deadline to 2016. Earlier this month, Florida Gov. Rick Scott met in Washington with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and offered some alternative plans for resolving some of the legal disputes over water quality in the Everglades, but he also said that Florida would need another six years.

The state's plans call for downsizing some construction projects and relying more on water storage on public and private lands. The plan, Scott said, puts to use land that's already in public ownership so that projects can be authorized and built promptly "at a reasonable cost to the taxpayers."

Specifically, the state will be looking for opportunities to use publicly owned land to store and treat water in the Everglades Agricultural Area — where farmlands exist amid the Everglades' water system — and move the water south to water conservation areas and Everglades National Park.

That’s expected to achieve more natural water circulation and tie together the state’s work north of the conservation areas and the Interior Department’s Tamiami Trail bridging project, along the highway that runs from Tampa to Miami, passing through the Everglades.

Last week, Salazar visited the Tamiami Trial project in Miami-Dade County. It’s one of the first bridges in a series of planned spans that would raise parts of the highway above the wetlands and eventually could restore the historic freshwater flow of the River of Grass to levels not seen in 80 years.

The federal government eventually would like to see 5.5 miles of bridges on Tamiami Trail, at an estimated cost of $324 million and to be built over four years. So far, it’s unclear whether money for the bridges will be budgeted, however.

Friday, officials will break ground on a separate project: a 12,000-acre reservoir in western Martin County, Fla., designed to improve the quality of the water in the St. Lucie Estuary and the southern portion of the Indian River Lagoon.

A congressional subcommittee will look next week at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s plans to acquire more land in the Everglades for conservation, how it would be paid for and what effect it would have on public access and recreation within the refuge and conservation area.

MORE FROM MCCLATCHY

Everglades restoration imperiled by monitoring program cuts, experts say

Fla. Gov. Scott clarifies Everglades drilling comments

Judge wants EPA to enforce Everglades pollution rules

By Erika Bolstad | Miami Herald