Environmental Health

June 23, 2011

With all the political mudslinging, you would think that people of faith only care about two things: abortion and gay marriage. As a practicing Catholic I tend to think the media portrays people of faith in black-and-white, which is why I was thrilled to see the Catholic Church remind parishioners...

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Elisa Batista

Environmental Health Health Care

June 21, 2011

When I think about fire safety, I think about cartoons. Stick with me here. Every Saturday morning, half awake over bowls of cereal, my sister and I watched hours of Saturday morning cartoons. These blocks of animated programming were laced with PSAs preaching the importance of fire safety: Stop...

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Claire Moshenberg

Childcare & Early Education Environmental Health Health Care

June 20, 2011

As advocates for deep change know, big success is often preceded by small incremental changes that may go unnoticed by the general public. It seems the effort to stop fast food companies from hawking toys to kids is gaining ground. I was watching Friday Night Lights recently (a great show if I don’...

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Susan Linn

Environmental Health

June 18, 2011

As the parent of a newborn and a 4-year-old, I want to believe that my daughters will have healthy environments at home and at school. But as a pediatrician and a researcher for the University of California, San Francisco, I know that many U.S. children may face unhealthy nutrition environments in...

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Anisha Patel, M.D.

Environmental Health

June 15, 2011

One in 10 U.S. Latinos aged 20 and older have diagnosed diabetes, according to the National Institutes of Health . Like many Hispanics in the country, my family has its fair share of diabetics and we are all too familiar with the different types of diabetes: Type 2 diabetes -- the most common form...

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Elisa Batista

Environmental Health

June 14, 2011

Tis the season for summer beauty. Warmer days mean more sunscreen applications, different makeup routines, and more showers to make up for chlorine soaked hair or sweaty days outdoors. Unfortunately, many of the products about to enter your summer beauty routines are more than trendy: They might...

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Claire Moshenberg

Environmental Health

June 9, 2011

I’ve been working to reduce children's exposures to toxic chemicals for almost ten years now. First, in a laboratory, I studied how mercury emissions from power plants were converted to the neurotoxin methyl mercury. Now, at the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR), I’ve been working to shape...

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Lena Pons

Environmental Health

June 9, 2011

Our kids don’t deserve asthma. They deserve clean air. They deserve the chance to play outdoors. But kids don’t get to pick how clean their air is…and in my state, Rhode Island, where air pollution is high, more than 1 out of every 10 has asthma. The truth is we live downwind from other states...

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Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

Environmental Health

June 8, 2011

Today is an "orange alert" day in Washington, DC. That means air pollution levels are high enough to be unhealthy for people with asthma and other sensitivities. In New Mexico, ash and smoke from the wildfires in Arizona are making the air similarly harmful for certain people. With all of that...

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Senator Tom Udall

Environmental Health

June 8, 2011

UPDATE: Did you take action on this one yet? The blogpost and action below shares details about toxics chemicals in infant car-seats, but the sad news is that this issue impacts us all because toxic flame retardants have been found in a wide variety of cushioning from car-seats to couches. And even...

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