HDE 103- Environmental Impacts on Child Development

Zero Waste

"The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of all products, packaging, and materials, without burning them, and without discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health" Oxford Dictionary

Learn more about the global----------, led by the World Health Organization, UN Environment and the Climate & Clean Air Coalition, which supports a range of cleaner air initiatives that cover 43 cities, regions, and countries, reaching over 97 million people.

#BreatheLifecampaign

WHO has found that children are most susceptible to the harmful effects of air pollution because:

1.Children spend more time outdoors than adults, and are outdoors during the middle of the day when air pollution levels are higher. 2.Children's respiration rates are higher 3.Children's breathing zone is closer to the ground where the most polluted air is. 4.Children's diameters of the alveoli in their airways are narrower, which makes them more easily affected by inflammation caused by air pollution. 5.Children's lungs are still developing and their immune defense is immature so, as a result, they are more vulnerable to toxic pollutants.

Farmers troubles

1.Investment in irrigation technology is one of the most common reasons farmers become indebted and end up in the kilns. In many cases, climate change has meant that the potential benefits of such outlay has been negated by floods or droughts that have caused poor harvests. 2.Many farmers report an increase in pests due to increasingly erratic rains. 3.Over the past two decades, the cost of chemical inputs like pesticide has risen. Kiln owners will pay off a farmer's debt and offer a consolidation loan. but in return they will be compelled to enter debt bondage until the loan is repaid

Five Principles of Zero-waste From the Experts (These are listed in order of importance)

1.Refuse -refuse to buy things with lots of packaging 2.Reduce -don't buy things you don't really need 3.Reuse -repurpose worn out items, shop for used goods, and purchase reusable products like steel water bottles 4.Compost -up to 80 percent of waste by weight is organic. But this rarely decomposes in landfills 5.Recycle -It still takes some energy and resources to recycle, but it's better than sending stuff to the landfill or allowing it to become litter https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/05/zero-waste-families-plastic-culture/67

Two main causes of pollution in Delhi (and other cities)

1.exploding populations 2.the lack of stringent government regulations to control smog and soot from rapidly growing industry, transport, and construction. -Between 1991 and 2011, Delhi's population more than doubled to 22 million Part of the problem, "is a mobility crisis as use of private vehicles has soared while public transportation has suffered chronic under-investment."

The United Nations Children's Fund's report:

17millions infants globally are breathing toxic air. Infants and young children are more at risk for negative health effects. -For example, air pollution can increase the risk of pneumonia -responsible for the deaths of almost one million children under the age of five each year, making it the number one killer of children around the world.

Seven billion people, more than ---- of the world's population, lived in areas exceeding the WHO Guideline for healthy air in 2016

95%

Problem Recognition

= Seeing the need for personal/lifestyle changes that improve the environment Need Recognition: How much do we need a certain product, service, or condition? Opportunity Recognition: We may have limited or no access to a product, service, or condition. Many environmental problems involve both need and opportunity recognition

Landfills

A major issue with landfills is hydrogen sulfide, which is released during the natural decay of waste. There is a positive association between increased lung cancer mortality rates + respiratory disease and hydrogen sulfide exposure.Other health issues related to landfills: Birth defects and low birth weight Hydrogen sulfide exposure increases with proximity to the landfill Household chemicals and prescription drugs are increasingly being found in large quantities in the leachate from landfills. This is causing concern about the ability of landfills to contain these materials and the possibility of these chemicals and drugs making their way into the groundwater and the surrounding environment

Global impact

According to the World Health Organization, more than 90 percent of the world's children breathe air so polluted it threatens their health and development. There is a wide range of air pollution health effects, including asthma, increased hospitalizations, illness, and reduced life expectancy from heart and lung disease

What are the factors affecting children's health?

Ambient air pollution is the largest environmental health problem in the United States and in the world more generally. Fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 millionths of a meter (PM2.5): -fifth-leading cause of death in the world in 2015 -Contributed to approximately 4.1 million global deaths annually. -In the USAL PM2.5 contributed to about 88,000 deaths in 2015; more than diabetes, influenza, kidney disease or suicide. PM2.5 alone causes more deaths and illnesses than all other environmental exposures combined. Developed countries have made progress in reducing particulate air pollution in recent decades, although much remains to be done But the situation has gotten dramatically worse in many developing countries especially China and India

Environmental Racism

An estimated 70% of the country's contaminated waste sites are located near low-income housing For instance, In the southeast, particularly North Carolina and Virginia, people of color have outsized exposure to coal ash pollution, which contains carcinogens like mercury, lead, and arsenic. The EPA estimates that 1.5 million people of color live in areas vulnerable to contamination.

Not enough food= high food prices

Can be devastating for the poor. In some regions, the poorest residents use more than 60 percent of their income to buy food while for the wealthiest, it is less than 10 percent. Health risks beyond malnutrition.

What else?"See What Climate Change Means for the World's Poor"

Changes to weather, agriculture, and health disproportionately affect poorer countries (a National Geographic story) https://news.nionalgeographic.com/2015/12/151201-datapoints-climate-change-poverty-agriculture/

Environmentalism

Def: is the concern for the environment. Using environment friendly products is one of the ways of showing the concern. Major aim of environmentalism is to retain existing environmental resources. A difficult aspect of environmentalism is to determine what is a real, acute problem or shortage and what is not

Energy & Fuels

Fossil Fuels: the naturally altered remains of dead animal and plant life results in fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, which are burned to release energy. -When burned, unconsumed materials are released into the atmosphere. -For example, the unburned components of gasoline that are causing much of the trouble in the air and water are: Carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas (5 pounds for every gallon of gasoline burned)-a greenhouse gas that is contributing to the "warming" of the earth -leading to shrinkage of ice and glaciers, more water in the environment, flooding, and weather pattern changes Nitrogen dioxides, the main source of urban smog; cause respiratory ailments and infections and, when coupled with high temperatures and humidity, is particularly hard on young children and the elderly Unburned hydrocarbons, are the main source of urban ozone -Stratospheric ozone has been called "good" ozone because it protects the Earth's surface from dangerous ultraviolet light. -Tropospheric ozone (often termed "bad" ozone) is man-made, a result of air pollution from internal combustion engines and power plants.101112

Climate Change cause migration for families..

Guatemala-climate changes leaves farmers without ways of producing food (NPR program) -Climate Change is forcing farmers in Guatemala to leave their land for the U.S Fragment of the program BLITZER: ...in recent years, and what everyone said, almost to a person, was that over the last six or seven years, things really began to change. The weather patterns started to become erratic. The rains didn't come when they were supposed to come. And increasingly, it became impossible for people to grow their staple crops -to grow potatoes, to grow maize. And as a result, they had not only nothing to eat but also nothing to survive on to sell. And so as a result, increasingly, people were abandoning their land and heading north .SHAPIRO: In this town of Climentoro, you say there were almost no young men of working age, but the migration crisis at the border is a lot of parents with young children. And you saw evidence of those departures, too. Tell us about that. BLITZER: That's true. The new dynamic, as you say, is that increasingly families are coming to the U.S. seeking asylum. And you saw that, too, in a lot of these communities. People would say, for example, that, look; we're going to leave anyway, but if we go as a family, we at least have a better shot of making it across the U.S. border.

The World Health Organization's reports:

In 2016, 6.5 million premature deaths were linked to household and ambient air pollution Almost 94per cent of the deaths occurred in low and middle income countries. The problem is exacerbated in urban areas. PM2.5 exposure =array of health effects. But, the Trump administration's efforts to support the fossil fuel industry could increase these emissions when the goal should be further reducing them. "Fine particle air pollution is the largest environmental risk factor worldwide, responsible for a substantially larger number of attributable deaths than other more well-known behavioral risk factors such as alcohol use, physical inactivity, or high sodium intake. "Ninety-five percent of the world's population lives in areas exceeding WHO Guideline for healthy air. Nearly 60% lives in areas that do not meet even the least-stringent air quality target from WHO.

Where there's smoke... Particulate matter is produced mainly by burning things

In the USA, the majority of PM2.5 emissions come from industrial activities, motor vehicles, cooking and fuel combustion, often including wood. The sources are similar in developing countries, but often with more industrial production and more burning of solid fuels in homes. Wildfires are also an important and growing source, and winds can transport wildfire emissions hundreds of miles from fire regions. In August 2018, environmental regulators in Michigan reported that fine particles from wildfires burning in California were impacting their state's air quality.

Noise Pollution

Noise is measured in decibels (dB) The lowest sound humans can hear is 1dB. Homes, offices, and other environment should strive to offer a comfortable amount of noise. Too little sound makes a person feel uncomfortable or lonely. Too much noise is more common problem too little.

Boys exposed to air pollution in the womb may have poorer thinking skills

One study: Boys who are exposed to air pollution while in the womb may end up having poorer thinking skills and memory than boys who aren't. Boys who were exposed to PM2.5 within the womb and up to age 7 performed poorer on memory tests than their peers. Girls who were exposed to PM2.5 while in the womb were not affected the same way However, both sexes exposed to the pollutant performed poorly on computerized tasks.

From: 12 ways to boost your fertility . 1. Beware of chemicals

Pollution can negatively affect morphology and motility. "Environmental pollution can impact the shape of the sperm's head and tail," "Things like cellophane are endocrine disrupters. We absorb all these things into our cells and bloodstream. Heating cellophane while cooking, for example, can leak xenoestrogen, disrupting the hormones." Exposure to chemical pollutants in the home environment can degrade fertility in men This may explain the 50% global drop in sperm quality over the past 80 years.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

Pollution= undesirable changes in physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of air, land, or water that can harm the health, activities, or survival of living organisms. Common to all environmental problems is the widespread growth of pollution

Modern slavery-Farmers

Research in villages found that many families are only one illness away from having to follow others into brick work due to unsustainable debt. Debt bondage is supposedly "interest free", but laborers are poorly paid, often forcing them to become more indebted. They work in dangerous conditions, despite bonded labor being recognized under international law as a practice similar to slavery. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2018/oct/18/how-climate-change-forces-farmers-into-slavery-in-cambodias-brick-kilns-in-pictures Children often come with indebted parents to live on brick kilns. Kiln owners prefer that debt-bonded laborers bring their whole family, as it reduces the risk that they will run away. Children are often used to ensure their parents' loyalty.

Zero Waste: Benefits proposed by advocates include:

Saving money. Since waste is a sign of inefficiency, the reduction of waste can reduce costs. Faster Progress. A zero waste strategy improves upon production processes and improving environmental prevention strategies which can lead to take larger, more innovative steps. Supports sustainability. A zero waste strategy supports all three of the generally accepted goals of sustainability -economic well-being, environmental protection, and social well-being. Improved material flows. A zero waste strategy would use far fewer new raw materials and send no waste materials to landfills. Any material waste would either return as reusable or recycled materials or would be suitable for use as compost. Zero waste's promotion of a cyclical product life can help reduce the need to create and fill landfills. This can help reduce incidences of respiratory diseases and birth defects that are associated with the toxins released from landfills. Zero waste also can help preserve local environments and drinking water sources by preventing pollutants from entering the ecosystem.

Types of resources

Social Environmental Resources: include an array of societies, economic and political groups and community organization. -people are united in common cause, such as saving the manatees Physical Environmental Resources -include natural tangible (e.g., trees, soil, and ocean) and less tangible (e.g., air, sound, and light) surroundings. Eco-consciousnessrefers to the thoughts and actions given to protecting and sustaining the environment. Conservation is the act or process of preserving and protecting natural environments from loss or depletion. -The degree of eco-consciousness varies from person to person

In Delhi

The number of cars increased five times to about 8 million, at a rate of half a million new cars per year. Another major contributor to air pollution in Delhi is the presence of the 70,000 trucks that drive directly through the city on long distance journeys.

Consequently: Air pollution

The number of children who have been impacted by air pollution has more than doubled in the last ten years. Children of all age groups are vulnerable and "even newborns have respiratory diseases, which were previously not seen so early in life." 1.WHO: exposure to toxic air during childhood reduces lung growth and the adult-maximum functional lung capacity, which can result in increased susceptibility to infection and pulmonary and vascular diseases 2.Polluted air also affects development of the nervous system in children, potentially reducing cognitive function.

Water Pollution

The two main problems associated with water are shortage and water pollution The five main types of contaminants in the U.S. water supply are: 1. Chlorinated solvents 2. Trialomethanes 3. Lead 4. PCBs (or polychlorinated biphenyles) 5. Pathogenic bacteria and viruses.

Another one: Growing Avocados in Mexico

The world's hunger for avocados is having a devastating effects on Mexico Between 30 percent and 40 percent of the annual forest loss is due to avocados. That is about 15,000 to 20,000 acres (6,000 to 8,000 hectares). Experts say a mature avocado orchard uses almost twice as much water as fairly dense forest, meaning less water reaches Michoacan's legendary crystalline mountain streams on which trees and animals in the forests depend. Species like the monarch butterfly also rely on Michoacan forest as habitat, though .... there does not appear to have been damage to the monarch wintering grounds from avocado expansion yet. Guillermo Haro, the attorney general for environmental protection, said Michoacan grows about eight out of 10 avocados exported worldwide, but added that the state's forests "are a wealth greater than any export of avocados."

Lead

Until 2015 the Exide Technologies lead-acid battery smelter, in southeast Los Angeles County, California, recycled approximately 11 million lead acid batteries per year while operating on temporary state permits. This violated multiple federal environmental regulations and exposed over 100,000 residents to lead and other toxic metals. The result was large-scale environmental disaster with lead contamination of the air and soil in largely Latino communities: And lead pollution in children growing up in this area. How do we know? Seen in biological samples that families often save: baby teeth.

Climate change = increased frequency and intensity of destructive weather events, such as floods and hurricanes.

Warming of the planet Most important effects: Effects on agriculture "Agriculture is one of the most important economic sectors in many poor countries," and also ...Unfortunately, it is also one of the most sensitive to climate change Danger for the world's poor people What else can happen? Disease rates are expected to rise. Even a small rise in temperatures "could increase the number of people at risk for malaria by up to 5 percent, or more than 150 million more people affected". Curbing CO2 emissions would limit the global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius. Diarrhea would be more prevalent, and increased water scarcity would have an effect on water quality and hygiene.

Results of the study "This study demonstrates that low-income children exposed to higher levels of air pollution early in life....

are less likely to achieve the American dream of upward economic mobility."

Social Class Mobility and Class Persistence: Social Mobility Definition

▪Social Mobility The movement, up or down, between social classes Most Americans believe we live in a society with a high degree of social mobility. However, compared with most other wealthy countries, the United States has less social mobility. There is a tendency of children to reproduce their parents' social class: social persistence.