
“My child has been diagnosed with ADD. His doctors want to put him on stimulants like Ritalin. Is there anything we can do other than take medications?”
Attention deficit disorder (ADD), today referred to as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is not a Ritalin deficiency, yet the use of these drugs is skyrocketing. One in 10 American kids are on stimulant medications. In fact, the global use of ADHD medication rose 300 percent from 1993 to 2000.
One in 10 American kids are on stimulant medications. Photo credit: Shutterstock
Since when did this become a normal consequence of being a child? Back in the day (it wasn’t that long ago) we had maybe one troubled kid in the classroom. How did we go from that to one in ten kids with ADHD today?
The real question becomes what causes ADHD, and why is it so prevalent?
My book The UltraMind Solution focuses on the brain and mood. Several readers asked why I didn’t write any chapters on familiar diseases like depression, anxiety, autism or Alzheimer’s disease. Instead I have chapters on nutrition, hormones, inflammation, digestion, detoxification, energy and calming the mind.
The answer is simple: If diseases as we know them were a useful way to think about what is wrong with our brains, our moods, and our thinking, then I would have written a book about them. But they are not useful.
Instead, this book became an exploration of what is really wrong with our brains. It is about the real causes and solutions for our mental suffering and the epidemics of depression, anxiety, dementia, autism and ADHD we see in today’s world.
Everything we do affects the brain: What inflammatory foods we eat, how we think, how much we exercise, what environmental toxins we are around and even how you maintain your gut flora. Brain disorders are systemic disorders where the body affects the brain. Yes, there’s a mind-body connection, but there’s also a body-mind connection.
Everybody is different. ADHD is just a name we give to people who share a collection of symptoms: They can’t focus or pay attention, they’re inattentive and they are hyperactive.
These are symptoms. What are the causes?
Clayton: A Case Study in the Body-Mind Effect
An exasperated professional woman finally found her way to my office with her 12-year-old son, Clayton. Labeled with a multitude of both psychological and physical diagnoses by a number of highly specialized physicians, Clayton seemed to be a walking embodiment of “bad luck—poor kid.”
In the realm of psychiatry, Clayton was “diagnosed” with ADHD. He could not focus in school, “zoned out,” and was disruptive. Like many other children labeled with ADHD or on the autism spectrum, Clayton’s writing was nearly illegible. On the other hand, he excelled in math.
Physically, Clayton was diagnosed with asthma, suffered from “environmental” allergies, sinus congestion, postnasal drip, sore throats, eczema, nausea, stomach pains, diarrhea, headaches, anal itching, canker sores, muscle aches, muscle cramps, hypersensitivity to noises and smells, sneezing, hives, itchy skin with bumps and frequent infections. He slept poorly and had trouble breathing when he did sleep. He also suffered from anxiety, fearfulness and carbohydrate cravings.
Specialists were treating these numerous symptoms with seven different medications prescribed by five different doctors. These included Ritalin for ADHD, allergy medicine, inhalers for his asthma and hives, acid-blocking medication for his stomach problems and painkillers for his headaches. This is quite a drug cocktail for a 12-year-old, yet he still didn’t experience much relief from his physical, mental or behavioral symptoms.
Unfortunately, this is how we approach things in medicine: Divide it all up into parts, farm them out, and pile on the pills. What a life for both Clayton and his family!
Most psychiatrists not only lack the training to address any physical issues but also feel these are irrelevant to the mental “diagnosis” at hand. I, however, believe these physical ailments are the most important findings and these clues provide the causes and appropriate treatment to repair disordered brain function.
Today, the list of medications and untested cocktails and combinations has grown to frightening proportions. Children with mental, behavioral, or emotional problems like the ones Clayton presented with now get antipsychotic medications, like Risperdal; anti-seizure medications, like Trileptal; and antidepressants, like Prozac; all on top of stimulant medications, like Ritalin, Concerta and Adderall.
As we dug below the surface, we found and treated the causes of Clayton’s symptoms. His story represents, to one degree or another, all of our stories. It illustrates both the despair and the delivery from our epidemic of broken brains. Let’s look at some of the essential keys affected in Clayton’s case.
Nutritional Deficiencies
Like most kids, and especially those on the spectrum of ADHD and autism, Clayton lived on and craved junk food. His typical diet included trans fats, food additives, and an overload of carbohydrates and refined sugar associated with ADHD.
Blood tests confirmed significant deficiencies in many important nutrients. Here are a few:
- Omega-3 fats, eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) and docosahexanenoic acid (DHA), are essential for brain function. In fact, 60 percent of the brain consists of DHA. A lack of these fats is strongly associated with ADHD, as well as eczema and immune deficiency.
- Tryptophan is an amino acid (building block of protein) needed to make serotonin, the chemical in the brain for a relaxed and happy mood, and melatonin, the chemical for sleep.
- Vitamin B6 is crucial to converting tryptophan into serotonin. Clayton’s unstable mood, sleep disturbance, and ADHD were clues to a B6 deficiency. Some of his prescription medications were actually further depleting his B6 supply.
- A clear indication of low vitamin A and omega-3 fat deficiency were “bumps” on the back of Clayton’s arms called hyperkeratosis pilaris.
- His low level of vitamin D led to lowered immunity.
- Deficiencies of other vitamins such as vitamin E and beta-carotene indicated he ate a diet high in junk food and low in vegetables and whole grains.
- Low levels of zinc are associated with lowered immunity, poor heavy metal detoxification, and ADHD. This was consistent with Clayton’s frequent infections, eczema, and allergies, as well as the hyperactivity symptoms.
- Low-magnesium levels lead to headaches; anxiety; insomnia, muscle spasms, cramps, and aches; and hypersensitivity to noises.
Immune and Inflammatory Imbalances
All of Clayton’s symptoms signified immune and inflammatory imbalances. They should not be thought of as separate conditions, but rather one immune system highly annoyed by one or more triggers such as food or environmental allergens, molds, toxins, chronic low-grade infections, or perhaps a combination of these factors.
Special testing for delayed, low-grade food allergies (IgG food sensitivity) showed Clayton’s immune system (and likely his brain) was reacting to 18 foods, including dairy, peanuts, yeast, citrus and especially gluten, all of which created more inflammation.
Gluten can trigger a low-grade, chronic immune response that inflames the brain and many other systems. Canker sores were just another clue pointing to celiac disease or gluten intolerance. Indeed, his IgG anti-gliadin antibodies were elevated, indicating an autoimmune reaction to gluten found in wheat, rye, barley, spelt and oats.
Digestive Imbalances
Nausea, diarrhea, stomachaches, anal itching, and sensitive stomach were clear symptoms of Clayton’s digestive imbalances. The use of frequent antibiotics for the many infections led to a yeast overgrowth and abnormal gut flora.
This resulted in a leaky gut (also called intestinal permeability). This condition gives way to the above-mentioned food allergies, systemic allergies and inflammation. So we can see why his immune system was so angry.
Detoxification Imbalance
Metal toxicity indicates poor detoxification. Tests showed that Clayton had high levels of mercury and lead. His exposure was probably similar to other children of his age; however, he nutritionally and/or genetically could not eliminate the metals from his body and stored them in his tissues.
Mercury has been associated with myriad gastrointestinal as well as autoimmune and cognitive problems.
Lead toxicity has been associated with cognitive and behavioral problems in children. In a recent groundbreaking study, lead toxicity and environmental toxins were clearly linked to ADHD.
By living in a polluted world, playing with toys made in China and coated with lead paint, and crawling around on the floor where shoes drag in the lead pollution from the outside, Clayton was exposed to the dangers of the industrial revolution. He may also have suffered from other environmental toxins like mold toxins from the black mold in his house and food additives we could not measure.
Clearly, Clayton’s problem was not a Ritalin deficiency or bad parenting! The cause of all these problems lay in the dietary and environmental pollutants that throw the seven underlying systems in our body out of balance.
The Simplicity of Treatment
Clayton’s treatment was disarmingly simple. By deliberately and carefully working to find the cause or source of the irritation to his system (nutritional deficiencies, toxic foods, food allergies, gluten, environmental toxins, food additives, yeast overgrowth) and identifying the missing ingredients needed to restore normal physiological function (a multivitamin, omega-3 fats, vitamin B6, zinc, magnesium, vitamin D, healthy gut bacteria, and 5-hydroxytryptophan for sleep and anxiety), Clayton’s health and brain function could finally start to normalize.
One thing I hope you’ll check out is Clayton’s before and after homework in my accompanying video. You’re going to become amazed at the transformation in his handwriting over just two months! You can see the before-and-after and hear me talk more about Clayton here.
The Result of Clayton’s Treatment
Clayton and his mother were diligent and determined to make changes. At his two-month follow-up visit, Clayton had discontinued all medications, including Ritalin, antihistamines (Zyrtec and Tagamet), bronchodilators, steroid inhaler, Tylenol (acetaminophen) and Advil (ibuprofen).
His mood and behavior returned to that of a typical 12-year-old. His attention improved, his disruptiveness at home and in school disappeared, and his irritability and anxiety vanished completely.
Clayton found himself free from all his chronic symptoms for the first time in his life. His hives, asthma, chronic runny nose, anal itching, stomachaches, nausea, diarrhea, headaches, muscle cramps, and sensitivity to loud noises all completely resolved. He was also able to finally fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night.
Clayton also began to succeed in school socially and academically as he never had before.
I want to give you the tools you need to apply this Functional Medicine approach to your own life so you don’t have to wait 20 years for medical practices and the scientific community to catch up with what we already know today.
The question that remains is how to treat these underlying causes, so you can rebalance your health and empower your brain.
While some severe cases of ADD do require medications, for most kids some simple dietary and lifestyle changes can make enormous differences that have a profound impact to cure ADHD without medications.
7 Strategies to Address ADHD and Broken Brains
1. Eat a real, whole foods diet. It should be free of additives, sugar, trans fats, and processed foods. There is a close connection between the obesity epidemic we are seeing and the epidemic of ADHD and behavior problems in children.
2. Remove food sensitivities. While testing can reveal specific sensitivities (remember Clayton was allergic to 18 foods), two big offenders are gluten and dairy. Partially digested dairy and wheat particles (called caseomorphins and gliadomorphins) are found in the urine of severely depressed patients (as well as children with autism and ADHD). I recommend a complete 100 percent elimination of all gluten and dairy foods for a full six weeks.
3. Address nutrient deficiencies. A host of nutrient deficiencies, including magnesium, zinc, selenium, tyrosine, and fatty acids, play significant roles in the development of ADHD. Many of these nutrients work synergistically. A Functional Medicine practitioner can custom-design a nutrient plan, and you can find all these supplements in my store.
4. Fix your gut. Over my years in practice, I have found the gut to be the source of inestimable suffering. And I have found remarkable discoveries and cures that hold the promise of getting relief from common “functional” gastrointestinal symptoms (and most allergic and autoimmune diseases that originate in the gut), but also from everything from depression to autism, to OCD, to ADHD, to dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
5. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet. Inflammation has been linked to almost all brain problems such as autism, ADHD, Alzheimer’s, and depression. These and other diseases are all related to elevated levels of cytokines and systemic inflammation. They can cause problems in every organ, in every part of the body. Besides supplementing with fatty acids, you will want to eat an anti-inflammatory diet rich in wild-caught fish and plant foods like flaxseed.
6. Consume plenty of antioxidants. Oxidative stress and glutathione deficiency have been connected to dementia, depression, Parkinson’s, autism, and ADHD. An antioxidant-rich diet includes plenty of colorful plant foods.
7. Detoxify. An overload of heavy metals in children who are genetically susceptible to their effects is one of the root causes of ADHD and broken brains. Each person responds differently to toxins. Some are great detoxifiers; others, like those with ADHD, are often not.
Remember, every child with behavior problems—whether it is ADHD, autism or something else—is unique. Each has to find his or her own path with a trained doctor. But the gates are open and the wide road of healing is in front of you. You simply have to take the first step.
Please note: Getting off medications can be difficult, come with certain risks, and must be done under a physician’s supervision. I don’t recommend anyone stop using their medications suddenly.
At the same time, following the plan to optimize brain function and address the underlying causes of mood disorders and brain dysfunction in The UltraMind Solution, many people can get off their medications with their physician’s help and feel better and healthier than ever.
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Next week marks the second Earth Day of the coronavirus pandemic. While a year of lockdowns and travel restrictions has limited our ability to explore the natural world and gather with others for its defense, it is still possible to experience the wonder and inspiration from the safety of your home.
Here are three new films to watch this Earth Week that will transport you from pole to pole and introduce you to the scientists and activists working to save our shared home.
1. The Year Earth Changed
Where to Watch: Apple TV+
When to Watch: From April 16
The coronavirus pandemic has brought home the stakes of humanity's impact on the environment. But the lockdowns also proved how quickly nature can recover when humans give it the space. Birds sang in empty cities, whales surfaced in Glacier Bay and capybara roamed the South American suburbs.
The Year Earth Changed captures this unique year with footage from more than 30 lockdowned cities between May 2020 to January 2021. Narrated by renowned wildlife broadcaster David Attenborough, the film explores what positive lessons we can take from the experience of a quieter, less trafficked world.
"What the film shows is that the natural world can bounce back remarkably quickly when we take a step back and reduce our impact as we did during lockdown," executive producer Alice Keens-Soper of BBC Studios Natural History Unit told EcoWatch. "If we are willing to make even small changes to our habits, the natural world can flourish. We need to learn how to co-exist with nature and understand that we are not separate from it- for example if we closed some of our beaches at for a few weeks during the turtle breeding we see that it can make a huge difference to their success. There are many ways that we can adapt our behavior to allow the natural world to thrive as it did in lockdown."
2. After Antarctica
Where to Watch: San Francisco International Film Festival
When to Watch: 12 a.m. PST April 9 to 11:59 p.m. April 18
In 1989, Will Steger led an international team of six scientists and explorers to be the first humans to cross Antarctica by dogsled. Steger and his team weren't just in it for the adventure. They also wanted to draw attention to the ways in which the climate crisis was already transforming the icy continent and to rally support for the renewal of the Antarctic Treaty, which would keep the continent safe from extractive industries.
In After Antarctica, award-winning filmmaker Tasha Van Zandt follows Steger 30 years later as he travels the Arctic this time, reflecting on his original journey and once again bringing awareness to changes in a polar landscape. The film intersperses this contemporary journey with footage from the original expedition, some of which has never been seen before.
"Will's life journey as an explorer and climate activist has led him not only to see more of the polar world than anyone else alive today, but to being an eyewitness to the changes occurring across both poles," Van Zandt told EcoWatch. "But now, these changes are happening in all of our own backyards and we have all become eyewitnesses. Through my journey with Will, I have learned that although we cannot always control change, we can change our response. I feel strongly that this is a message that resonates when we look at the current state of the world, as we each have power and control over how we choose to respond to hardships, and we all have the power to unite with others through collective action around a common goal."
After Antarctica is available to stream once you purchase a ticket to the San Francisco International Film Festival. If you miss it this weekend, it will screen again at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival from May 13 to May 23.
Tasha Van Zandt
3. The Race to Save the World
Where to Watch: Virtual Cinema
When to Watch: From Earth Day, April 22
While many films about the climate crisis seek to raise awareness about the extent of the problem, The Race to Save the World focuses on the people who are trying to stop it. The film tells the story of climate activists ranging from 15-year-old Aji to 72-year-old Miriam who are working to create a sustainable future. It follows them from the streets to the courtroom to their homes, and explores the impact of their advocacy on their personal lives and relationships.
Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Joe Gantz told EcoWatch that he wanted to make a film about climate change, but did not want to depress viewers with overwhelming statistics. Instead, he chose to inspire them by sharing the stories of people trying to make a difference.
"Unless millions of people take to the streets and make their voices heard for a livable future, the politicians are not going to get on board to help make the changes needed for a sustainable future," Gantz told Ecowatch. "I think that The Race To Save The World will energize and inspire people to take action so that future generations, as well as the plants, animals and ecosystems, can survive and thrive on this planet."
Check back with EcoWatch on the morning of Earth Day for a special preview of this inspiring film!
By Michael Svoboda
For April's bookshelf we take a cue from Earth Day and step back to look at the bigger picture. It wasn't climate change that motivated people to attend the teach-ins and protests that marked that first observance in 1970; it was pollution, the destruction of wild lands and habitats, and the consequent deaths of species.
The earliest Earth Days raised awareness, led to passage of new laws, and spurred conservation. But the original problems are still with us. And now they intersect with climate change, making it impossible to address one problem without affecting the others.
The 12 books listed below remind us about these defining interconnections.
The first three focus on biodiversity and on humanity's fractured relationships with the animals we live with on land.
The second trio explores the oceans and, at the same time, considers social and cultural factors that determine what we know – and don't know – about the 75% of our planet that is covered by water, perhaps the least well understood part of the climate system.
Agriculture and food security are examined by the third tranche of titles. This set includes a biography that may challenge what you think was/is possible, culturally and politically, in the American system.
Finally, there is the problem of waste, the problem of single-use plastics in particular. These three titles offer practical advice and qualified hope. Reducing litter might also reduce emissions – and vice versa.
As always, the descriptions of the works listed below are drawn from copy provided by the publishers or organizations that released them. When two dates of publication are included, the latter is for the paperback edition.
A Life on Our Planet My Witness Statement and Vision for the Future, by David Attenborough (Grand Central Publishing 2020, 272 pages, $26.00)
See the world. Then make it better. I am 93. I've had an extraordinary life. It's only now that I appreciate how extraordinary. As a young man, I felt I was out there in the wild, experiencing the untouched natural world – but it was an illusion. The tragedy of our time has been happening all around us, barely noticeable from day to day – the loss of our planet's wild places, its bio-diversity. I have been witness to this decline. A Life on Our Planet is my witness statement, and my vision for the future. It is the story of how we came to make this, our greatest mistake – and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right. We have one final chance to create the perfect home for ourselves and restore the wonderful world we inherited. All we need is the will to do so.
Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction, by Michelle Nijhuis (W.W. Norton 2021, 352 pages, $27.95)
In the late 19th century, as humans came to realize that our industrializing and globalizing societies were driving other animal species to extinction, a movement to conserve them was born. In Beloved Beasts, science journalist Michelle Nijhuis traces the movement's history. She describes the vital role of scientists and activists such as Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson; she reveals the origins of organizations like the Audubon Society and the World Wildlife Fund; she explores current efforts to protect species; and she confronts the darker side of conservation, long shadowed by racism and colonialism. As the destruction of other species continues and the effects of climate change escalate, Beloved Beasts charts the ways conservation is becoming a movement for the protection of all species – including our own.
How to Be an Animal: A New History of What It Means to Be Human, by Melanie Challenger (Penguin Random House 2021, 272 pages, $17.00 paperback)
How to Be an Animal tells a remarkable story of what it means to be human and argues that at the heart of our existence is a profound struggle with being animal. We possess a psychology that seeks separation between humanity and the rest of nature, and we have invented grand ideologies to magnify this. In her book, nature historian Melanie Challenger explores the ways this mindset affects our lives, from our politics to our environments. She examines how technology influences our relationship with our own animal nature and with the other species with whom we share this fragile planet. Blending nature writing, history, and philosophy, How to Be an Animal both reappraises what it means to be human and robustly defends what it means to be an animal.
Ocean Speaks: How Marie Tharp Revealed the Ocean's Biggest Secret, by Jess Keating, Illustrated by Katie Hickey (Tundra Books 2020, 34 pages, $17.99)
From a young age, Marie Tharp loved watching the world. She loved solving problems. And she loved pushing the limits of what girls and women were expected to do and be. In the mid-twentieth century, women were not welcome in the sciences, but Marie was tenacious. She got a job at a laboratory in New York. But then she faced another barrier: women were not allowed on the research ships (they were considered bad luck on boats). So Marie stayed back and dove deep into the data her colleagues recorded. At first the scientific community refused to believe her, but her evidence was irrefutable. The mid-ocean ridge that Marie discovered is the single largest geographic feature on the planet, and she mapped it all from her small, cramped office.
Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don't Know about the Ocean, by Naomi Oreskes (University of Chicago Press 2021, 744 pages, $40.00)
What difference does it make who pays for science? After World War II, the US military turned to a new, uncharted theater of warfare: the deep sea. The earth sciences – particularly physical oceanography and marine geophysics – became essential to the US Navy, which poured unprecedented money and logistical support into their study. In Science on a Mission, historian Naomi Oreskes delves into the role of patronage in science, what emerges is a vivid portrait of how naval oversight transformed what we know about the sea. It is a detailed, sweeping history that illuminates the ways funding shapes the subject, scope, and tenor of research, and it raises profound questions about American science. What difference does it make who pays? A lot.
Dark Side of the Ocean: The Destruction of Our Seas, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do About It, by Albert Bates (Groundswell Books 2020, 158 pages, $12.95 paperback)
Our oceans face levels of devastation previously unknown in human history due to pollution, overfishing, and damage to delicate aquatic ecosystems affected by global warming. Climate author Albert Bates explains how ocean life maintains adequate oxygen levels, prevents erosion from storms, and sustains a vital food source that factory-fishing operations cannot match. Bates also profiles organizations dedicated to changing the human impact on marine reserves, improving ocean permaculture, and putting the brakes on heat waves that destroy sea life and imperil human habitation at the ocean's edge. The Dark Side of the Ocean conveys a deep appreciation for the fragile nature of the ocean's majesty and compels us to act now to preserve it.
The Planter of Modern Life: Louis Bromfield and the Seeds of a Food Revolution, by Stephen Heyman (W.W. Norton 2020, 352 pages, $26.95)
Louis Bromfield was a World War I ambulance driver, a Paris expat, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist as famous in the 1920s as Hemingway. But he cashed in his literary success to finance a wild agrarian dream in his native Ohio. There, in 1938, Bromfield transformed 600 badly eroded acres into a thriving cooperative farm, which became a mecca for agricultural pioneers and a country retreat for celebrities like Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. This sweeping biography unearths a lost icon of American culture. While Bromfield's name has faded into obscurity, his mission seems more critical today than ever before. The ideas he planted at his utopian experimental farm, Malabar, would inspire America's first generation of organic farmers and popularize the tenets of environmentalism years before Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.
Food Fights: How History Matters to Contemporary Food Debates, edited by Charles C. Ludington and Matthew Morse Booker (University of North Carolina Press 2019, 304 pages, $32.95 paperback)
What we eat, where it is from, and how it is produced are vital questions in today's America. We think seriously about food because it is freighted with the hopes, fears, and anxieties of modern life. Yet critiques of food and food systems all too often sprawl into jeremiads against modernity itself, while supporters of the status quo refuse to acknowledge the problems with today's methods of food production and distribution. Food Fights sheds new light on these crucial debates, using a historical lens. Its essays take strong positions, even arguing with one another, as they explore the many themes and tensions that define how we understand our food – from the promises and failures of agricultural technology to the politics of taste.
Our Changing Menu: Climate Change and the Foods We Love and Need, by Michael P. Hoffmann, Carrie Koplinka-Loehr, and Danielle L. Eiseman (Comstock Publishing Associates 2021, 264 pages, $21.95 paperback)
Our Changing Menu unpacks the increasingly complex relationships between food and climate change. In it, Michael Hoffmann, Carrie Koplinka-Loehr, and Danielle Eiseman offer an eye-opening journey through a complete menu of before-dinner drinks and salads; main courses and sides; and coffee and dessert. Along the way, they examine the escalating changes occurring to the flavors of spices and teas, the yields of wheat, the vitamins in rice, and the price of vanilla. Their story ends with a primer on the global food system, the causes and impacts of climate change, and what we can do. Our Changing Menu is a celebration of food and a call to all – from the common ground of food – to help tackle the greatest challenge of our time.
Plastic Free: The Inspiring Story of a Global Environmental Movement and Why It Matters, by Rebecca Prince-Ruiz and Joanna Atherhold Finn (Columbia University Press 2020, 272 pages, $28.00)
In July 2011, Rebecca Prince-Ruiz challenged herself and some friends to go plastic free for the whole month. Since then, the Plastic Free July movement has grown from a small group of people in the city of Perth into a 250-million strong community across 177 countries. Plastic Free tells the story of this world-leading environmental campaign. From narrating marine-debris research expeditions to tracking what actually happens to our waste to sharing insights from behavioral research, Plastic Free speaks to the massive scale of the plastic waste problem and how we can tackle it together. Interweaving interviews from participants, activists, and experts, it tells the inspiring story of how ordinary people have created change in their homes, communities, workplaces, schools, businesses, and beyond. Plastic Fee offers hope for the future.
Can I Recycle This? A Guide to Better Recycling and How to Reduce Single Use Plastics, by Jennie Romer (Penguin Books 2021, 272 pages, $22.00)
Since the dawn of the recycling system, men and women the world over have stood by their bins, holding an everyday object, wondering, "Can I recycle this?" This simple question links our concerns for the environment with how we interact with our local governments. Recycling rules seem to differ in every municipality, leaving average Americans scratching their heads at the simple act of throwing something away. Taking readers on an informative tour of how recycling actually works (setting aside the propaganda we were all taught as kids), Can I Recycle This gives straightforward answers to whether dozens of common household objects can be recycled. And it provides the information you need to make that decision for anything else you encounter.
Zero Waste Living: The 80/20 Way: The Busy Person's Guide to a Lighter Footprint, by Stephanie J. Miller (Changemaker Books 2020, 112 pages, $10.95 paperback)
Many of us feel powerless to solve the looming climate and waste crises. We have too much on our plates, and so may think these problems are better solved by governments and businesses. This book unlocks the potential in each "too busy" individual to be a crucial part of the solution. Stephanie Miller combines her climate-focused career with her own research and personal experience to show how relatively easy lifestyle changes can create significant positive impacts. Using the simplicity of the 80/20 rule, she shows us those things (the 20%) that we can do to make the biggest (80%) difference in reversing the climate and waste crises. Her book empowers busy individuals to do the easy things that have a real impact on the climate and waste crises.
Reposted with permission from Yale Climate Connections.
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Amazon Warehouses Linked to Environmental Injustice in Southern California, Report Finds
Over the past year, Amazon has significantly expanded its warehouses in Southern California, employing residents in communities that have suffered from high unemployment rates, The Guardian reports. But a new report shows the negative environmental impacts of the boom, highlighting its impact on low-income communities of color across Southern California.
The report, from the People's Collective for Environmental Justice (PCEJ) and students from the University of Redlands, shared with The Guardian, is meant to serve as an "advocacy tool to help raise awareness related to the warehouse industry's impacts on Southern California's air pollution issues," Earthjustice noted.
California's Inland Empire, 60 miles east of Los Angeles, has emerged as one of the largest "warehousing hubs" in the world in just the past few decades, according to Grist. Since establishing its first warehouse in the region in 2012, Amazon has become the largest private employer in the region, where 40,000 people now work in Amazon warehouses, picking, packing, sorting and unloading, as well as driving trucks and operating aircrafts, The New York Times Magazine reported.
"The company is so enmeshed in the community that it can simultaneously be a TV channel, grocery store, home security system, boss, personal data collector, high school career track, internet cloud provider and personal assistant," The New York Times Magazine added.
In just the last year, Amazon has tripled its delivery hubs in the region due to the demand for online shopping during the COVID-19 crisis. But despite the economic boom, heavy air pollution mainly from trucks going in and out of the warehouses infects nearby communities, the new research showed, according to The Guardian.
The research found, for example, that the populations living within a half-mile of the warehouses are 85 percent people of color, while California's overall population is 64 percent people of color, The Guardian reported. The research also found that communities with the most Amazon warehouses nearby have the lowest rates of Amazon sales per household.
"Amazon has boomed in 2020 and tripled the amount of money it's making, and it is happening at a cost to the folks who live in these communities," Ivette Torres, a PCEJ environmental science researcher and analyst, who helped put the research together, told The Guardian.
The research also demonstrated that the top 10 communities with the most warehouses in the region also experience pollution from other facilities, like gas plants and oil refineries, Earthjustice wrote in a statement.
"The Inland Empire, probably more than any region in the United States, has disproportionately [borne] the brunt of the environmental and economic impact of goods movement, and Amazon is driving that now in the Inland Empire," Jake Wilson, a California State University, Long Beach, professor of sociology, told Grist.
Last year, the San Bernardino International Airport Authority ratified a decision to allow an air cargo facility development at the airport, allowing Amazon to operate more flights out of the region, Grist reported.
Among the local residents to oppose the decision was Jorge Osvaldo Heredia, a resident of San Bernadino in Southern California since 2005. "This whole region has been taken over by warehouses," Heredia told Grist, and commented on the "horrible" air quality in the city on most days. "It's really reaching that apex point where you can't avoid the warehouses, you can't avoid the trucks," he added.
Advocates who published the research are pushing on the South Coast Air Quality Management District, a local air pollution regulatory agency, to move forward with the Warehouse Indirect Source Rule, which would require new and existing warehouses to take action to reduce emissions locally each year, The Guardian reported. Some solutions include moving towards zero-emissions trucks and mitigation fees.
"Last year, we saw some of the worst air quality, with wildfires adding to it, and the trucks were still in and out of our communities. So this is a huge change that we need right now, and that we actually needed yesterday," Torres concluded, according to The Guardian.
Scientists at the University of Purdue have developed the whitest and coolest paint on record.
Painting buildings white to help cool down cities has long been touted as a climate solution. However, the white paints currently on the market reflect only 80 to 90 percent of sunlight and cannot actually cool a roof to below air temperature, The Guardian reported. However, this new paint can.
"Our paint can help fight against global warming by helping to cool the Earth – that's the cool point," University of Purdue Professor Xiulin Ruan told The Guardian. "Producing the whitest white means the paint can reflect the maximum amount of sunlight back to space."
The new paint, introduced in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces on Thursday, can reflect up to 98.1 percent of sunlight and cool surfaces by 4.5 degrees Celsius. This means it could be an effective replacement for air conditioning.
"If you were to use this paint to cover a roof area of about 1,000 square feet, we estimate that you could get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts. That's more powerful than the central air conditioners used by most houses," Ruan said in a University of Purdue press release.
The new paint improves upon a previous paint by the same research team that reflected 95.5 percent of sunlight. Researchers say it is likely the closest counterpart to the blackest black, "Vantablack," which can absorb as much as 99.9 percent of visible light. The new paint is so white for two main reasons: It uses a high concentration of a reflective chemical compound called barium sulfate, and the barium sulfate particles are all different sizes, meaning they scatter different parts of the light spectrum.
White paint is already being used to combat the climate crisis. New York has painted more than 10 million square feet of rooftops white, BBC News reported. Project Drawdown calculated that white or plant-covered roofs could sequester between 0.6 and 1.1 gigatons of carbon between 2020 and 2050. The researchers hope their paint will enhance these efforts.
"We did a very rough calculation," Ruan told BBC News. "And we estimate we would only need to paint one percent of the Earth's surface with this paint — perhaps an area where no people live that is covered in rocks — and that could help fight the climate change trend."
The research team has filed a patent for the paint and hope it will be on the market within two years, according to The Guardian. However, Andrew Parnell, who develops sustainable coatings at the University of Sheffield, said it would be important to calculate the emissions produced from mining barium sulphate and compare those with the emissions saved from using the paint instead of air conditioning.
"The principle is very exciting and the science [in the new study] is good. But I think there might be logistical problems that are not trivial," Parnell told The Guardian. "How many million tons [of barium sulphate] would you need?"
Parnell thought green roofs, or roofs on which plants grow, might prove to be a more ecologically friendly alternative.
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Less than three years after California governor Jerry Brown said the state would launch "our own damn satellite" to track pollution in the face of the Trump administration's climate denial, California, NASA, and a constellation of private companies, nonprofits, and foundations are teaming up to do just that.
Under the umbrella of the newly-formed group Carbon Mapper, two satellites are on track to launch in 2023. The satellites will target, among other pollution, methane emissions from oil and gas and agriculture operations that account for a disproportionate amount of pollution.
Between 2016 and 2018, using airplane-based instruments, scientists found 600 "super-emitters" (accounting for less than 0.5% of California's infrastructure) were to blame for more than one-third of the state's methane pollution. Now, the satellite-based systems will be able to perform similar monitoring, continuously and globally, and be able to attribute pollution to its source with previously impossible precision.
"These sort of methane emissions are kind of like invisible wildfires across the landscape," Carbon Mapper CEO and University of Arizona research scientist Riley Duren said. "No one can see them or smell them, and yet they're incredibly damaging, not just to the local environment, but more importantly, globally."
For a deeper dive:
Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, Axios, BBC
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