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Clean Air Raises Kids With Stronger Lungs
A two-decade study that looked at 2,000 kids in 5 cities in Southern California was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Its results remind us once again of the importance of clean air. After all, air is now the world’s biggest environmental health risk with 7 million deaths per year. The researchers found the relationship between the decline of air pollution in the region since the early 1990s and the “statistically and clinically significant improvements” in children’s lung function and growth. In fact, the number of school-age kids with “abnormally low lung faction” dropped by more than half between the 1994-1998 group (7.9% with abnormally low lung function) and the most recent…
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Secondhand Smoke Kills More Than 600,000 A Year
I used to spend my afternoon around outdoor cafes until the other day, when I was trying to enjoy my Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino that I realized I was surrounded by smokers. I couldn’t ask them to stop since it was a smoking-permitted area. But perhaps I should have anyway by telling them secondhand smoke kills more than 600,000 lives each year around the world. This is accountable for 1 percent of all deaths. More sadly, 40 percent of children regularly are exposed to secondhand smoke and that more than 30 percent of non-smoking men and women are too. Here’s I provide detailed figures associated with passive smoking: -379,000 deaths…
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A “Salty” Restaurant that Cleans Air
When we think of salt, we think of it as a seasoning. But for an Iranian restaurant group, salt was the main material for a new kind of eco-friendly building. The “Salt” Restaurant of Shiraz is located in the southern Iran, where the walls, tables and even the stairs were covered with a salty coating. To our surprise, this layer of salt helps clean the polluted air of the city. Inspired by local and naturally occurring salt caves of the region, the group wanted to create a design that reflected the area’s distinctive salt mines and Marharloo salt lake of Shiraz. They stated, “In this particular case, the walls, structural…
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Is A Day-Old Water Safe To Drink?
Have your tried water that’s been left overnight, or even for another day? How do you think about the taste? Treated water’s added chlorine that takes care of microorganisms, but at room temperature they begin to multiply rapidly and can really get the things crazy. But that’s not what makes old water taste stale. For that we can thank carbon dioxide. After about 12 hours tap water starts to go flat as carbon dioxide in the air starts to mix with the water in the glass, lowering its pH and giving it an off taste. But it’s most likely safe to drink. However, back to those microorganisms. Be careful if…
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Make Your Cleaning Routine Green
Cleaning products are everywhere in our homes and offices: on dishes, furniture, clothes, floors, windows, and floating through the air. This may sound bizarre, but in our war on dirt and germs we may often actually be making things worse. Most of the conventional cleaning products we all grew up with are petroleum-based and have dubious health and environmental implications. Instead of opting for cleaning products that annihilate everything in their path, there are plenty of natural products and methods that keep a house clean and fresh without the toxic side effects. Employ green cleaning products As conventional cleaning products have become more thoroughly investigated, more and more brands of…
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Air pollution equals to tobacco smoke, UV radiation and plutonium
We already knew that air pollution killed more people than AIDS and malaria combined, but sadly the problem isn’t always getting the attention it deserves. So it’s good to see that someone finally pinpointed the seriousness of the problem: World Health Organization (WHO), who last year recognized that diesel exhaust can causes lung cancer. This means that air pollution is now categorized along with tobacco smoke, UV radiation and plutonium. This research on cancer is different from previous research that showed air pollution to cause heart disease and lung problems. “The air we breathe has become polluted with a mixture of cancer-causing substances,” says Dr Kurt Straif, Head of the IARC (International…
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Urban air is getting so dirty: 7 out of 8 people fail to breathe standard air
Are you one of those urban dwellers? Air quality has been improving over time in many cities. For example, Japan is almost synonymous with clean air. But unfortunately, while some places are getting better, more others are getting worse, especially as a larger percentage of humanity is moving to urban areas every year. Let’s just see the fact: air pollution now kills more people every year than malaria and AIDS combined and that according to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution now the world’s biggest environmental health risk with 7 million deaths per year. The WHO has created database that contains results of ambient (outdoor) air pollution monitoring from…
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Buying a water purification system
In the last decade, the number of products designed to reduce contaminants in tap water has expanded significantly. In this article, I summarized a quick lesson on home water purification systems. Know the TASTE. Does your water taste funny or smell bad? Does it look reddish or leave Look for products that tackle specifically your problem.Filters reduce chemical contaminants, some metals, parasites, sediment. Provide about 1/2 to 1 gallon of water a minute. DEVICE. Choose a style that fits your needs: Pitchers with : Inexpensive. No installation; frequent filter changes (every 40 gallons). Faucet devices: Faucet with builtin filter — may require pro to install; filter changes every 100 gallons…
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The Chinese Water
For visitors, China’s water problem becomes apparent upon entering the hotel room. The smell of a polluted river might emanate from the showerhead. Need to quench your thirst? The drip from the tap is rarely potable. Can you trust the bottled water? Many Chinese don’t. What about brushing your teeth?s Suggested by the government’s own figures, more than half of the country’s largest lakes and reservoirs were highly contaminated by 2011 that they were no longer suitable for human consumption. China’s more than 4,700 underground water-quality testing stations show that nearly 3/5 of all water supplies are “relatively bad” or worse. Despite Chinese economic growth is striking, the quality of…
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Clean Air Project in Europe
It is not surprising to see the bleak pictures from Beijing clearly showing what happens when protection of air quality is not taken seriously. Good air means good quality of life. As a matter of fact, every person breathes in around 15,000 litres of air per day. Although the air quality in Europe is better than that in China, Europeans should continuous their effort to keep their air clean. The air in Europe contains a lot of nitrogen oxide and fine particulate matter that make people sick. That’s why nine European NGOs are now collaborating on a new project called Clean Air. They are mainly focusing on transportation and…