Kids Acting Up? – Blame the Air
PS -“It’s very well known that air pollution can affect respiratory function or health. But it’s not as well known that it can also affect the brain,” says Younan. Over the past decade, scientists started to note mounting evidence that suggests inhaling polluted air is toxic to the brain. That is slowly being linked to behavior, particularly for children and adolescents.
Parents, it’s not your fault! Your kids are victims of the environment, they’re not lashing out against you, it’s a complete assault against nature. How dare the earth put all of these pollutants blatantly into the sky with utter disregard for our easily influenced children. Where is the government, we need someone to stand tall and be our champion in this very big, possibly even HUGEE issue:
OK, maybe we’ll have to wait three (or seven) years before government starts making some moves on this. In the meantime, how have we arrived at these behavioral conclusions:
“Parents completed questionnaires on their children’s behavior (which asked about things like lying and cheating, substance use, and vandalism) every few years. The research team then used data on daily measures of air pollution in the area to classify the amount of pollution each child was exposed to near their home over the course of the study.”
OK first off, I’m not saying that air pollution doesn’t have an effect on children’s (or all humans) overall health but the fact that the surveys collected throughout this study were ones completed by their parents is just straight comical. Lets collect raw data on a child’s behavior from the people who are often the most delusional about that very child. It would probably be better off having the children fill out the survey themselves or better yet put a green(good) and red(bad) cookie in front of the dog every morning and record which one it eats first.
Anyway, after reading this the NYC air seems a little thicker, it may be time to try out one of those nifty Chinese fashion masks. The reasons for pollution being especially dangerous to children is simply because their brain and body are still developing. Many would argue that this pollution can (and will) effect all animals that are exposed to it:
“Even at relatively low levels of exposure [in animals], we see changes in behavior,” Cory-Slechta says. “Things like impulsivity, which can relate to delinquent behavior.”
Do we have a solution? Two Words: Stop Polluting
No, we’re not gonna completely wipe out our footprint but there are many minor tweaks that we can make in our daily lives to add momentum to the movement:
- Drive Less Walk More. Utilize Mass Transit when Possible….it’s not THAT bad. I love the NYC subway so much I bought a bike.
- Home improvements:
- Install energy-saving lights
- Choose energy efficient appliances
- Make sure your walls and ceilings are insulated
- Use biodegradable, non-toxic cleaning products (do some research on your everyday cleaning products, you may not like what you see)
- Eat locally and plant a garden, because why buy when you can grow carrots like these:
(Yes, that is a mini watermelon and onion – trial and error my friends, trial and error)
- Eat Less Meat and More Plants (cutting meat out one day a week makes a difference….and you might like it)
- RECYCLE (yeah we can use things over)
These are just a few (of a long list) changes that you can implement to make a little impact and SAVE OUR CHILDREN! Sorry for the dramatics but I’m not sorry at the same time, we need to lose the “what can little old me do” mentality and take pride in the Action of Doing!
Its all about Positions to Win…And putting ourselves(and children) in them.
