Boy with Autism Recovers After Gluten-free Casein-free Diet
Many parents know that diet and environment can change children’s behaviour. In this video a mother and Dr Kenneth Bock discuss how a gluten and dairy free diet helped her son recover from autism.
Dr Bock recommends also that children and families avoid chemicals, pesticides and other possible contributors to autism such as phthalates in plastic.
‘Growing Greener Children’ is a great first step comprehensive resource for parents wanting to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, EDC’s, include Bisphenol-A (BPA), PCB’s, phthalates and agricultural pesticides that are in everyday items such as plastic water bottles, shower curtains, beauty products (including nail polish, hair spray, shampoo, deodorants, and fragrances), vinyl floor coverings, and more. The joint study highlights a range of health problems associated with EDC’s including breast cancer in women; developmental effects on the nervous system in children and attention deficit hyperactivity in children.
Theo Colborn, Ph.D., President of the Endocrine Disruption Exchange talks about chemicals, parents and dreams of the future for our children.
Theo asks ‘Where are parents going to get information to help understand the myriad of factors in the environment and the effect on their children’. ‘Growing Greener Children’is such a resource for parents.
… as things stand we’re all being used as guinea pigs in the great test of new product safety.”
-Mark Bittman, The Cosmetics Wars, The New York Times, Feb. 6, 2013
Mark Bittman’s article on cosmetics testing in The New York Times highlights the fact that personal care product makers don’t have to prove that the ingredients in their shampoos, toothpastes or other cosmetics are safe before you use them.
The Environmental Working Group (E.W.G.) offers a database of more than 79,000 personal care products, from soap to lip plumper ranked by level of hazard. The database is an excellent way to find out what is in you and your children’s products.
In Australia the Green Party have created a new poll to understand parents perspectives on early childhood education and care. The Green Party has said it’s time to hear what parents thought about childcare.
The film, ‘Play Again’ highlights the importance of play and nature and asks the question ‘What are the consequences of a childhood removed from nature?’.
The film’s synopsis : -
‘One generation from now most people in the U.S. will have spent more time in the virtual world than in nature. New media technologies have improved our lives in countless ways. Information now appears with a click. Overseas friends are part of our daily lives. And even grandma loves Wii.
But what are we missing when we are behind screens? And how will this impact our children, our society, and eventually, our planet? At a time when children play more behind screens than outside, PLAY AGAIN explores the changing balance between the virtual and natural worlds. Is our connection to nature disappearing down the digital rabbit hole?
This moving and humorous documentary follows six teenagers who, like the “average American child,” spend five to fifteen hours a day behind screens. PLAY AGAIN unplugs these teens and takes them on their first wilderness adventure – no electricity, no cell phone coverage, no virtual reality.
Through the voices of children and leading experts including journalist Richard Louv, sociologist Juliet Schor, environmental writer Bill McKibben, educators Diane Levin and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, neuroscientist Gary Small, parks advocate Charles Jordan, and geneticist David Suzuki, PLAY AGAIN investigates the consequences of a childhood removed from nature and encourages action for a sustainable future.’
Is Western education superior? We have an institution globally that is branding millions and millions of innocent people as failures. They are the in-between people and they are falling through the cracks of an in-between world. We have moved from wisdom to knowledge and now we are moving from knowledge to information. We have moved from wisdom to knowledge and now we are moving from knowledge to information. Schooling the World: The White Man’s Last Burden is set in Ladakh and examines the long-unquestioned assumption that the western model of education and schooling improves lives wherever it goes.
A must watch segment on ABC TV’s Catalyst program on plastic waste and our environment.
Plastic Oceans
Oceans are silently choking on our plastic waste. Plastic and synthetic materials are the most common types of debris in our oceans and are having horrific impacts on marine wildlife and systems. As an island continent ‘girt by sea’ marine debris is of particular importance for Australia. Creatures get entangled in plastics and drown and ingested concentrated toxins from plastics pose a threat to the health of the food chain. Plastics also transport and introduce species into new environments. Anja Taylor catches up with the CSIRO research team spearheading the Marine Debris Survey, a world-first study of the plastics around our coastline.
Harvard scientists have studied effects of fluoride in drinking water and found that high levels of fluoride lowers children’s IQ. They looked at 27 studies from across the world and found a direct link between IQ scores and the levels of fluoride in the public water supply. The study’s aim was to investigate the effects of increased fluoride exposure and delayed neurobehavioral development. (1) Children in high-fluoride areas had significantly lower IQ scores than those who lived in low-fluoride areas. The children studied were up to 14 years of age, but the investigators speculate that any toxic effect on brain development may have happened earlier, and that the brain may not be fully capable of compensating for the toxicity.
“Fluoride seems to fit in with lead, mercury, and other poisons that cause chemical brain drain,” says Phillipe Grandjean adjunct professor of environmental health, Harvard School of Public Health. “The effect of each toxicant may seem small, but the combined damage on a population scale can be serious, especially because the brain power of the next generation is crucial to all of us.” (2)
How to avoid fluoride in your water? Installing a rainwater tank or using a reverse osmosis filtration system are two practical solutions. For more details on reverse osmosis see link. Speak to your local council and express your views on fluoride in your drinking water.
Can shopping save the world?The Story of Change urges viewers to put down their credit cards and start exercising their citizen muscles to build a more sustainable, just and fulfilling world. From the makers of the Story of Stuff www.storyofstuff.org
Being a citizen is about acting on our responsibility to stand up for the planet and our children.
Eco parenting is currently developing an innovative, engaging and interactive 3D ‘look inside the human body’. This 3D pilot will demonstrate a child’s wellbeing and the links to diet, lifestyle and environment. If you would like to support this project and receive a one on one consultation with Jane Hanckel and a signed copy of her book then please click here.
