Youth Radio - Topic: Environment

Is There Lead In My Phone Case?

cfoster — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:19:20 -0500

By Rayana Godfrey

There’s no place for lead in the human body, plain and simple. Even the smallest amount of exposure to the element is toxic. Scientists estimate that before the Industrial Revolution, most people had about .01 micrograms of lead for every half cup of blood in their bodies. But we’ve put a lot of lead into the environment since then.

“If you're lucky,” environmental toxicologist Donald Smith told me, “the level of lead in your blood is probably between 1 and 2 micrograms.” That’s a hundred times more than what preindustrial people had. It’s also enough to cause detectable neurological damage, said Smith, who teaches at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Scary, right?

The only thing I knew about lead when I was younger was that it’s the pointy part of a pencil (that’s actually graphite, I've since learned). In high school, lead became merely another element on the periodic table (somewhere near the bottom among those heavy metals). But recently, I’ve had the chance to learn how the metal makes its way from the environment into our bodies.

The occasion was one of Youth Radio’s Brains & Beakers events (watch a video of it below). Researchers from the Center for Environmental Health visited Youth Radio’s Oakland headquarters and demonstrated how they use an X-ray gun to test the chemical makeup -- and safety -- of fashion accessories and household items. Such everyday products pose a serious health hazard if they contain lead. Over time, the metal follows a repeated pathway from the product to your hand to your mouth and into your bloodstream.

“There’s an amazing number of health impacts due to lead,” said Caroline Cox, the Center’s research director. The most severe impacts are the result of exposure in utero and during early childhood when the brain is rapidly developing. According to Cox, a child who is exposed to lead is more likely to be arrested when he’s a teenager. In support of this theory, some economists point to how the U.S. ban on leaded gasoline in the early 1980s resulted in much less lead exposure for infants. And how in the mid 90s, when those infants were teens, the juvenile arrest rate dropped dramatically.

I had no idea these links existed, and I had to learn more about my own exposure. The Center’s researchers told us what to look out for: inexpensive jewelry, vinyl and fake leather, and anything that’s brightly colored, since manufacturers sometimes add lead compounds to paint to give their products a neon glow.

It occurred to me: what if the popular retro trend of dressing in bright colors is increasing our exposure to lead? As someone with a lot of neon in her wardrobe, I felt I had a lot at stake. So I asked Cox and her researchers to test the one fashion accessory I’m always handling -- my canary yellow cell phone case.

A researcher placed my phone case in a chamber and fired X-rays at it. The rays bounced off the case and traveled back at different frequencies based on what elements were in the case. A sensor in the gun read these frequencies and after 30 seconds, a screen revealed which elements were present. I looked next to the symbol for lead, Pb, and saw the letters “ND”… not detected. Phew!

My phone case was lead free. In fact since 2009, although Cox and her team say about 5 percent of the jewelry they check still tests positive for trace amounts of lead, they have found fewer and fewer lead-contaminated products on the market.

But my relief was short-lived, because I soon learned something discomfiting from Donald Smith of UC Santa Cruz. He told me the majority of lead poisoning in children doesn’t come from consumer products; it comes from old houses painted with lead-based paints and dust contaminated years ago by leaded gasoline. My worries became less about what’s in stores and more about what’s in the larger environment.

And I asked Smith if teenagers are safe from the effects of lead, since public health efforts focus on preschool lead exposure.

“Not at all,” he said. Smith even studied elderly people who had accumulated a decade worth of lead in their bones. As osteoporosis set in and their bones began to break down, the lead seeped into their bloodstream. “So even though they weren't being exposed to high levels of lead now,” said Smith, “lead they were exposed to as children and young adults was remobilized and increased their blood lead levels when they were adults.”

There’s no running away from what’s in our environment, and in us.

Editing was contributed by Charlie Foster. Video was produced by Charlotte Buchen with Jenny Bolario and Susana Vuong.

More Info: Youth Radio Investigates is an NSF-supported science reporting series in which young journalists collect and analyze original data with professional scientists, and then tell unexpected stories about what they discover. Check out more from Youth Radio’s science desk here.

For more Youth Radio Investigates stories on Turnstyle News, check out:

In High School Lab, Glimpses of an Ancient Climate

You Can Lead a Kid to Water

My Brain on Ads

A Roundtable Discussion on Harmful Lead Exposure

cfoster — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:32:12 -0500

Lead is a naturally occuring metal used in everyday consumer products like toys, accessories, and furniture. When someone is exposed to lead, either through inhaling or absorbing it through the skin, it can poison their necessary organs and affect the nervous system, causing behavior and attention problems, hearing problems, reduced IQ, slowed body growth, and poor brain development. All this definitely can affect one’s performance in school. I personally feel lead is super dangerous and if people disregard the issue, it can cause serious problems.

After hearing a presentation about lead exposure from researchers at the Center for Environmental Health, I held a roundtable discussion with my Youth Radio classmates Mohommed Aledlah, Daisy White, Sarah Chapman. You can hear it by clicking on the audio player above.

Jonathan and his roundtable guests are students in Youth Radio's Core program.

2012 What's The Point Of Worrying?

denise — Fri, 13 May 2011 12:42:44 -0500

The following originally aired on KCBS.

By Deyantae Newson

There is a theory based on the Mayan calendar that the Earth is coming to an end in 2012. There were similar concerns during Y2K. Instead of overreacting and being afraid, we should do what we can to help our Earth in the meantime.

When I first heard of these Doomsday theories, I was shocked because I thought Armageddon’s only occurred in movies. I admit I got a little scared when I heard these theories. Eventually, I realized that if they were true, there’s nothing I can do but live my life.

Instead of panicking over something unpredictable, I want to focus on preventing the world from getting any worse.

Look at the small pieces of pollution that we make everyday. Cars create pollution, we eat foods with chemicals, and we litter. What if the whole world littered? We would be living on top of trash.

Besides hurting our environment, we also harm our bodies. Soda has harmful chemicals in it. We should consume more water and invent healthier drinks.

I would rather focus my efforts on trying to do something beneficial for myself, my friends, and if possible my environment.

Toms, The Shoes For Your Sole

Mibrahimbartley — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:27:16 -0500

Toms, the new trendy shoe. You’ve seen them around because everybody’s wearing them, guys and girls, young people and old people. I see them everywhere! At school the halls crowd with brightly colored toms shuffling to class. I think they’re really cute! But not only are they stylish, they benefit others. For every pair of toms you buy the company donates a pair of new shoes to a child in need. Their classics are a flat type slip on. But they also have boots, cordones, botas, wedges, hoodies and shirts. They have all sorts of solid colors red, yellow, navy, black, grey, pink, beige, olive and white. They also have some pretty cool patterns! They have checkered shoes, glitters, stonewashed, and so many other crazy patterns that I can’t even describe. They’re light weight, so they’re easy to carry around with you. Toms aren’t the cheapest though. Their shoe’s price ranges from 48 to 100 dollars. But just remember that you’re giving to a good cause! Another problem with toms is that they’re not the sturdiest and they wear out quickly. They have thin rubber soles and not a lot of arch support. They don’t fall apart though. If this review is making you want to buy a pair, they’re sold almost everywhere! Some department stores have them like Nordstrom’s. Most neighborhood shoe stores sell them. And you can also buy them online at toms.com. I have a pair of gray wool cordones, but i have my eyes on their new stone washed classics. The only problem is I don’t know what color to get, there are just too many options!

Consumers Still Afraid To Eat Gulf Seafood

cfoster — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:00:02 -0500

Oh my goodness! Would you ever suspect that even seafood is bad for you now? One year after the BP oil spill, nearly half of all surveyed restaurant patrons gave unfavorable reviews of seafood from the Gulf. CBS News' Mark Strassmann reports on the lasting effects oil in the Gulf has had on seafood and the people consuming it. Many restaurant owners won't even buy seafood anymore.

WATCH:

Tierra is a blogger (and chef!) for Youth Radio Eats!, where this post was originally published.

Let's Cut Down On Air Pollution

rgee — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 12:52:28 -0500

The following was originally published on L.A. Youth.

When we talked to the Air Quality Management District about writing about air pollution, we wanted to know how teens could help reduce pollution. We were excited to learn that there’s a lot that teens can do. Driving less is the biggest thing you can do because exhaust from cars and other vehicles is responsible for more than half of the smog in our region. There are other steps you can take, too. Using less energy helps because some of the energy used to power electronics, turn on lights and heat water comes from air-polluting power plants. Another thing you can do is unplug TVs, computers and phone chargers when you’re not using them because electronics that are turned off but plugged in still use a little energy. So we challenged our staff to drive less and use less energy for one week. They all said that they think they can keep it up.

Quinten Harrison

On Monday I walked to school instead of driving. It was an epic fail. I was 20 minutes late to first period and got detention. After that I asked my mom if I could carpool with her. She said sure, but that I’d have to wake up earlier so she wouldn’t be late to work.

After school on Tuesday I took a shower. Usually, I take a 15-minute shower because I shower with the radio on and sing along. I wanted to limit my time to five minutes so I would save energy by using less hot water. I turned the radio off and my shower felt really short, but when I got out I looked at the clock—it had been 10 minutes.

By Thursday, I was finally getting the hang of turning off the lights when I left a room, but with the lights out, everything seemed so empty. When I was in the living room and the rest of the lights were off, I felt like the next victim in a horror film. Maybe the reason why most people leave the lights on is because we’re still afraid of the dark.

Although I didn’t meet my expectations, I changed habits and I feel good about it. If I reduce the energy I use, there will be less pollution and everyone benefits from that.
Quinten Harrison, 17, Marshall Fundamental HS (Pasadena)

Shefali Chauhan

Many times, I have tried to go green by recycling or reusing bags, but these things never lasted long enough to become a routine. That’s why I really liked this challenge because it forced me to break away from my laziness for a week.

The hardest thing for me was taking shorter showers. My showers last about 20 minutes. When I looked up online how long a shower should be, I read on energysavers.gov that this was 15 minutes too long.

The first two days, I stepped into the shower reminding myself that my goal was to turn the water off in five minutes. However, once I felt the soothing, warm water, all intentions of a quick shower flew out the window. When I got out I looked at the clock and saw that my shower time was its usual 20 minutes.

On the third day I took a stopwatch into the bathroom. When I turned off the water and looked at the time, I was relieved that I had taken only six minutes. Surprisingly, I felt just as clean and refreshed as usual. I realized that I could get everything I need to get done in six minutes and that the other 14 minutes was just spent uselessly running hot water.

I also turned off the lights when I wasn’t using them and unplugged the TV, chargers and computer every night. My hope is that the things I did this one-week challenge will become routine.
Shefali Chauhan, 14, Whitney HS

Tracy Yao

I thought the challenge would be easy, but it wasn’t.

The hardest thing was making sure that my computer was turned off. Sometimes I keep the computer on for a long time even if I’m not using it and that wastes power. So I tried to do the computer part of my homework at one time and then switch it off. Then I would do the rest of my homework that didn’t need a computer, like math or science. Sometimes I would forget certain homework and had to turn on the computer again but I got better by the end of the week.

The simplest part was turning off the lights when I left the room and unplugging electronics when they weren’t in use. Another easy part for me was using the clothesline because my family already uses it to save energy. When I did my laundry, the sunlight was so bright that my clothes dried a lot faster than using the dryer.

Even though I was doing this challenge to help reduce air pollution, at first I didn’t see how it was impacting the air. The only thing that I felt could reduce air pollution was driving less, but I have to go to school by car since my school is not close enough to walk to and we don’t have bus stops around my house. But doing this challenge made me more aware of air pollution. I learned that even simple things that don’t sound like they could make a difference, can help.
Tracy Yao, 17, Covina H

Environmentalism Still A Fight At College

denise — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:35:07 -0500

The following originally aired on KQED-FM.

By: Caitlin Grey

In high school it was difficult to convince classmates that their environment was not just forests and mountains far away from Alameda, but that it was everything around them.

College I thought would be different. I hoped the tree-hugger jokes would decrease, maybe the rude comments would stop all together, and perhaps people would even willingly recycle. But sadly my expectations were completely wrong.

When I got to school at the University of Chicago, I immediately got involved with climate activism on campus. It didn’t take long before my new friends started making casual jokes about my environmental tendencies.

But this was nothing compared to the next wave of confrontation coming my way. I created a Facebook event for a national action. College students were making paper pinwheels and planting them on their campuses to attract local politicians’ attention to green energy. Then the pinwheels would be shipped to Washington DC.

I got a wave of resistance almost immediately after promoting the pinwheels event. Multiple students said it would lead to a huge waste of paper. Others argued it was dumb to send the pinwheels to DC, because shipping uses jet fuel. And on top of those arguments, one fellow student got personal, calling us hypocritical.

I tried to explain that environmentalists have to operate within the society they are trying to change, but it was useless.

Should all environmentalists kill themselves so they won’t waste any resources on their own lives? Should we sit in the dark and eat gruel from trashcans? Absolutely not. None of this changes anything about the way our world works, and environmentalists need to subsist on a planet that we are trying make subsist for itself.

I expected college to be a place where passionate like-minded people come together to create change, and while I’ve found some of that, it’s mostly proving to be a place where my beliefs will be tested.

A Guide For Aspiring Activists

rgee — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:18:10 -0600

A new book by Sharon Smith called, “The Young Activist’s Guide to Building A Green Movement and Changing the World,” is truly geared towards life in the present.

In addition to providing lists of current resources, websites, and organizations that can help youth on their way to creating a green revolution, the book also features the experiences of Brower Youth Award winners. Sharon Smith is the program advisor of the Earth Island Institute’s Brower Youth Awards, which are presented to extraordinary young environmentalists. (For Youth Radio's coverage of the most recent Brower winners, click here.)

The philosophy behind the book is that there is an urgent need for environmental change. The introduction says, “We are on the verge of some of the most significant societal changes in human history. We have to be. We can’t continue on our current path any longer.”

Young people can be the catalyst for that change, but they may not know how to get started, according to the book. “We all know it’s one thing to feel that call stirring deep within us, and it’s another thing altogether to confront our fears.”

The book outlines 11 steps to follow to turn dreams of environmental change into reality.

1. Find your passion
2. Create an action plan
3. Build a green movement
4. Spread your message
5. Politics
6. Corporate campaigns
7. Protest with power
8. Make media headlines
9. Grow the green
10. Green your campus
11. Change the world.

Urban Farms: Planting The Seed Of A Good Idea

cfoster — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:22:29 -0600

Beside the environmental benefits of reducing reliance on fossil-fuel-guzzling transportation, eating locally produced food is often healthier. It's clear we need more youth leaders who understand where our food comes from and how their actions can impact human and environmental health. But how to start?

Here is a little project you can do in your community: find an abandoned rooftop to demonstrate how the food is efficiently produced. Click here to see a photo of a rooftop garden.

A rooftop garden will get natural light from the sun, so all you really need is some planting equipment, seeds, and water. You can also use hydroponics, a method of growing that uses mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. It uses much less water and space than field farming, as well! This is a great project to do with your friend and family.

Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture (commonly referred to as UPA) distributes food in or around a village, town or city, creating job opportunities and reducing the cost of food. The food's quality is usually better too. This is a perfect opportunity for women to be part of the informal economy in a city, and it's easy to manage in your day along with household tasks and childcare. Better health and nutrition, increased income, employment and food security within the household are all results of urban farming.

You might be thinking, "I want to do that, but I am an active person and I need to move around." Well, let me tell you: gardening requires a lot of movement and good exercise. Gardeners report that garden “activity” increases self-esteem, pride, confidence, and personal satisfaction. Gardening has been directly connected to reducing risks of obesity. So, to everyone -- parents, teens, kids, and seniors: if you don't like hard core exercise, here is another option for you!

Some people may think of gardening as a woman's thing, because it's gendered as another food-related household chore. But the idea of gardening-as-workout is actually common among some men, who identify gardening as “exercise” more often than do women.

As I was web surfing I came across the website of Maryland-based The Children's Guild school. Like Berkeley's Edible Schoolyard, they have an urban gardening program that tries to help middle school kids with weight issues and heart problems by harvesting food from the campus's vegetable garden. The students learn about where their food comes from and learn how to keep their bodies running.

So, you young leaders out there, consider urban farming -- the best way to keep together the mind, body, soul... and environment.

Jowana is a blogger (and cook!) for Youth Radio Eats!, where this post was originally published.

Youth Tell The Story Of Oil Spill Impact

rgee — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:28:47 -0600

Young people in Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots Youth Leadership Council partnered up with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade to document how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has affected those in New Orleans. This past August, the 25 young people interviewed local residents, teachers, and environmental workers about solutions for dealing with the spill and the impact it has had on their lives.

Watch a sample video interview below, and find more video interviews here: