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Climate Change Harms Children’s Health: Eat Healthy to Protect Them
Janelle Sorensen
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Today is international Blog Action Day, an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. This year, we’re all talking about climate change.
Climate change affects us all and it threatens more than the environment. It threatens to cause famine, flooding, war, and millions of refugees. And, for all of you Healthy Child Healthy World readers, it affects children. Including yours.
How? Here are just a few ways that child health is uniquely vulnerable to climate change:
• Children are more vulnerable during extreme weather events that can result in injury and death. They rely on others to care for them and they need specialized medical attention. They are also more susceptible to the resulting post-traumatic stress that impacts mental health and behavior.
• Climate change is expected to increase regional air pollution. Both ozone pollution and fine particulate matter emissions from forest fires are increasing due to climate change and can contribute to acute and chronic illnesses of the respiratory system, particularly in children.
• Climate change is also increasing the incidence of insect and pest related infectious diseases like Lyme Disease and West Nile Virus as the temperature change expands where ticks, mosquitoes and other pests can thrive. Even Malaria has found it’s way onto North American shores. Locally transmitted malaria has occurred in Texas, Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, and New York and Toronto. An increase in malaria-carrying mosquitoes will affect young children more than adults because children lack immunity to malaria and because they play outside, where mosquitoes are found.
What does eating healthy have to do with it? Well, beyond having a healthy diet that builds a body’s defense systems – what you eat, and even how you cook, has an enormous impact on planetary health. Here are a few easy steps you can take to reduce your carbon footprint.
1. Eat local. The average American meal travels 1,500 miles from farm to fork increasing air pollution and greenhouse gases.
2. Eat less (or no) meat. Modern meat production uses enormous amounts of water, energy and land. And, in particular, red meat production creates about 3.5 times more greenhouse gases than that of grains.
3. Bulk up. Buying in bulk reduces waste (and thus, energy use) because there's so much less packaging. In addition, bulk foods are often less processed (again, less energy intensive).
4. Turn on your tap. Plastic bottled water is over-priced, over packaged, and not necessarily cleaner than tap. And, consider the planetary impact. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council,
"In 2006, the equivalent of 2 billion half-liter bottles of water were shipped to U.S. ports, creating thousands of tons of global warming pollution and other air pollution.”
Make an investment in a water filter and reusable stainless steel water bottles. They quickly pay for themselves. While you're at it, skip the soda and other bottled drinks. Water's much better for you.
5. Don’t waste food. So many resources go into growing food, then we throw an enormous amount away! What a waste of energy and an unnecessary source of greenhouse gas emissions. If you have legitimate food waste, compost it! When we send biodegradable materials to the landfill, it creates methane – which is a much stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Commit to composting. Learn more at Cool2012.com.
Do you have tips for eco-friendly eating? Join us for our #EatHealthy Twitter Party tonight at 9pmEST and share them (or learn more)! We have a great panel of experts and some super prizes lined up. Find the details and RSVP here. http://ow.ly/umAp
Blog Action Day 2009 is the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices. Visit their website to sign the Climate Change petition and find some other great ways to get involved.
Posted by Tara @ Go Green Street on 10/15 at 09:01 PM
All of these tips are really good. We stopped buying water a few years ago when our family began to work on living greener.
We also buy as much produce from our local organic farmers as possible.
Posted by Gina on 10/15 at 11:11 AM
These are really easy, and sometimes fun things we can all do - and with our kids. Composting and recycling are fun lessons in nature and science and the kids love feeling like they’ve really done something - even if they can’t grasp just how big it is.
I believe that’s it’s really important that we include them in meal planning, cooking and food shopping, and talk with them about why we buy or eat certain things and not others. Mine know that we won’t be enjoying fresh berries in January because they’re not growing here then, and help me find the locally grown produce when we shop too.
I hope that more parents get involved themselves and share what they learn with their kids - thanks!