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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by Sloan Barnett

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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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We spend a lot of time providing a healthier life for our family. This month we've talked about cleaning up our water, cleaning products, mattresses, our paint and even our bodies. But now it's time to worry about another important member of the family, and one who is often forgotten -- Fido!

Pets are especially impacted by the dangerous chemicals in your home because they live so close to the ground, both indoors and out. So where should we look for the greatest dangers?

Start by thinking about fleas, ticks and mosquitoes. Our pets are exposed to the insecticides we spray on the yard, and the flea shampoos we bathe them in. Many of these treatments contain chemicals that are linked to cancer, allergies, asthma and are suspected endocrine disruptors. For example, many concentrated "spot-on" flea medications contain a pesticide called permethrin, which can cause skin and eye irritation, rashes, inflammation and neurological symptoms. In fact, the EPA is set to begin reviewing these product labels and developing stricter testing requirements for flea and tick treatments that are applied to a pet's skin.

It is obviously still important to prevent infestations, but it is also possible to get the job done using safer methods. Some require more time, but your family will benefit from the lower pesticide exposure as well. Try these tips for safer flea and tick control:

• Groom your pets with a flea comb.

• Trim the lawn frequently.

• Wash pet beds and blankets often.

• Vacuum your home regularly.

• Check the NRDC's GreenPaws Flea and Tick Products Directory before deciding on chemical treatments.

We can keep mosquitos from dominating our dog's turf naturally too. The key here is prevention -- catching them before they grow from larvae into adults. If you've already got a flying mosquito population to deal with, it's best to combine several natural remedies. Here are some pesticide-free ideas:

• Get rid of potential breeding grounds from your landscaping by removing standing water: water buckets, empty plastic growing pots, gutters, clogged drains and bird baths.

• Add bacillus thuringiensis (BT) to the water in ponds, fountains and birdbaths to kill larvae. BT is a harmless natural substance that is safe for pets, fish, birds and wild life but is deadly to all kinds of larvae. It's available at most gardening stores.

• Spray the entire yard (including shrubbery) at least once per month with a mixture of natural pyrethrums, bacillus thuringiensis and neem oil. The mixture also helps to manage fleas and ticks and will destroy sneaky mosquito hideouts in smaller pockets of standing water.

• Enlist the help of a good old bug zapper for flying adult mosquitoes.

By focusing on Fido, you're also addressing yet another source of toxic chemical exposure in your home!

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

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Doing the laundry is simple enough, right? Sort by color, choose your water temperature, add the detergent, set the cycle -- and then off you go to brew a fresh cup of tea, for a job well done.

Except that as you sit and sip, you recall the rash on your arm a few days earlier after you wore your dark green blouse to work. Or what about the itchiness that your son started complaining about a few weeks ago after wearing his favorite t-shirt? On an impulse, you walk back down to the laundry room, reach for the laundry container, look at the ingredients -- and wonder what is actually in that product that gets your whites so dazzling, and gives everything that fresh smell.

Maybe it's time we all took a closer look at what we're adding to our laundry.

Clean Laundry Naturally

It's only natural to want our clothes to be clean. The problem is that what we use to clean them is anything but natural. When I talk with people about switching to healthier household cleaners, they're most reluctant to change their laundry detergents -- they're just too hooked on the smell to make the change. But what if they knew what was in that smell?

Recent findings in a study done by the University of Washington show that air vented from machines using the top-selling scented liquid laundry detergent and scented dryer sheets contains hazardous chemicals, including two that are classified as carcinogens. Analysis of the captured gases found more than 25 volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including seven hazardous air pollutants. Of those, two chemicals -- acetaldehyde and benzene -- are classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as carcinogens, for which the agency has established no safe exposure level.

So make the change today. Switch to a non-toxic, biodegradable, plant based detergent. I promise you won't miss the old stuff.

Toss the Dryer Sheet

The "fresh" scent of fabric softeners usually serves as a disguise for a surprising array of toxic chemicals. In fact, recent studies reveal that among all household products, one of the most toxic is fabric softener.

Dryer sheets often contain toluene, trimethylbenzene, and styrene -- which are neurotoxins according to the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. To make matters worse, dryer sheets are exposed to heat from water, dryers or ironing, which can make them emit hazardous vapors. So you see, it's not the spin cycle that's making your head spin...

Adding a quarter cup of baking soda to the wash cycle will soften your clothes nicely, and a little white vinegar will prevent static cling. Of course if you prefer a sheet, many green alternatives exist on the market.

Green Your Washing Machine, Too

While you're greening your clean, don't forget to consider your washer. Look for a front-loading, Energy Star machine the next time you're in the market for a new one. New washers on the market today can cut your energy, water and detergent use, which saves you money in the long run.

Top-loading machines use about 40 gallons of water per load, while Energy Star washers use only about 25 gallons. Top-loading washers have to be filled to keep the clothing wet while the agitator works the water around. Front-loaders, on the other hand, work their magic on a horizontal axis that saves both water and energy.

By the way, many cities will give you a rebate when you buy one of these machines because of the water and energy savings. You might check out the Department of Energy's Make a Clean Change -- Recycle Your Old Washer program, which promotes rebates on energy-efficient models.

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

Books by this author

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This Blogger's Books from

Green Goes with Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet
by Sloan Barnett

Follow Sloan Barnett on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sloanbarnett