Pollution in Your Home & Community

Pollution is a concern in many capacities. The air that we breathe is contaminated with smog and other particulates. The water we drink and bathe in may be infected with heavy metals and chemicals, among other non-food items.

Pollution, in all forms, can have negative effects on everyone. Children may have more health problems than adults resulting from air pollution because children have smaller airways. The smaller airways mean more irritation by the pollutant particles that we breathe in daily. Also, children tend to be more active and take in greater amounts of air than adults (compared to body size). Small airways, smaller lungs and more polluted air are a combination of factors that can contribute a lifetime of health concerns caused by pollution. The same goes for contaminated water or food – children are more likely than adults to get ill or be harmed when consuming contaminates.

ACTIVITY!

Go to www.scorecard.org.

At this website, you can enter your zip code to find a pollution report card for your community. Do you subsidize (buy from/work at/support) any of the companies that are polluting your environment? How can you help encourage them to stop, or at least decrease, the amount of toxins that they are releasing into your environment?

You can help the air in your home to be fresher by using an air cleaner while the doors and windows are closed. A HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filter on your vacuum cleaner assists in cleaning the air also.

ACTIVITY!

Take a deep breath. Do you smell any scents in your home? How about fragrant smells that you smell – are they natural sources or artificial? Are there any artificial scents that you smell that you can replace with healthier alternatives? Essential oils and natural candles are great ways to smell fresh scents. What scents do you enjoy? Find some essential oils to use around your home today.

Essential oils are concentrated, pure, distilled oils from plant sources. The essential oils can be used as aromatherapy for relaxation, mixed with natural cleaning products for enjoyable scented natural cleaning supplies, or mixed with natural body care ingredients to make your own perfumes, deodorants, lotions/crèmes, and more. They are highly concentrated and for aromatherapy uses only – that means for us to breathe them in through the nose.

ESSENTIAL OILS ARE NOT INTENDED TO BE INGESTED.

Some essential oils, however, may be used topically (on the skin) and are safe when absorbed through the skin in small amounts.

A good place to start looking for essential oil products is at this website.

http://www.100pureessentialoils.com/site/1562898/page/683562.

ACTIVITY!

Clean your home with all natural ingredients. There are many “green” or natural cleaning products available in stores today, but baking soda, lemon and vinegar can do most everything you need to do. Not only is it a healthy option, but it is simple and saves money, too. http://housekeeping.about.com/cs/environment/a/alternateclean.htm

There are many contaminates in our world. To cover them all is beyond the scope of this program. There are many helpful websites listed in the suggested reading portion of this chapter.

Suggested Reading:

• For more Information on Heavy Metals: http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-156.shtml
• Beyond Pesticides – Website by the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides. The “tools for change” portion of their site includes pesticides factsheets, “how-to plans” for cleaning up your community, alerts and actions information, and a blog. http://www.beyondpesticides.org/index.html