Children's Health

Websites

  • EPA’s Inside Story. “The Inside Story: A Guide to Indoor Air Quality.”
  • Preventing Harm. Environmental Health Strategy Center: A resource and action center on children and the environment, teaches about the impact of toxins on the developmental processes of children.

Articles

Organizations

Books

  • A Sense of Wonder, Rachel Carson (Harper Collins, 1956). A classic book of words & pictures about the joys children find in the natural world. A good reminder of the important work we do inspiring children to find awe and wonder in the world around them.

  • Child Care Design Guide, Anita Rui Olds (McGraw-Hill Professional, 2000). This book, though designed for childcare center use, is a must have for children's museum design professionals, especially those who cater to the very young. Olds emphasizes that a child's space must have "spirit" and emphasizes natural materials choices from a child development perspective.

  • Growing Up Green: Education for Ecological Renewal, David Huchison, Thomas Berry (Teachers College Press, 1998). This profound and theoretical work brings together ecological thinking, child development and holistic education. It overviews the remarkable possibilities we have as educators to help reestablish children's relationship to the earth community.

  • Home Safe Home, Debra Lynn Dadd (Tarcher, 1997). A comprehensive guide of safe alternatives to commonly used products, including sections on synthetic fibers, fabrics, carpeting, furniture, cleaning products. Includes studies on indoor air pollution.

  • Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer & the Environment, Sandra Steingraber (Perseus Books, 1997). A beautifully written and well-researched book linking many commonly used chemicals with the staggering incidence and increase in cancers of all types. Though not an easy read, Steingraber, a poet/scientist/cancer survivor, looks with great sensitivity at the silence surrounding chemical use and cancer rate increases, while asking the bold question: How can profits be given priority over a child's life or our childrens' future?

  • Our Stolen Future, Theo Colburn, Dianne Dumanoski and John Peterson Myers (Plume, 1997). An overview of how hazardous and carcinogenic toxins cause reproductive, developmental, endocrine and immune system disorders. With over 75,000 chemicals currently in use and 20 new chemicals added to the market each week, the authors make excellent points about the toll that these largely untested chemicals have on health.

  • Prescriptions for A Healthy House, Paula Baker-LoPrete, Erica Elliott, John Barta, Lisa Flynn (New Society Publishers, 2001). Written by an architect with chemical sensitivity and a physician trained in environmental medicine, this invaluable guide explains where and why standard building practices are not healthful, what to do differently, and how to find necessary expertise and materials.

  • The Nontoxic Baby: Reducing Harmful Chemicals from Your Baby's Life (Lotus Press, 1991). Though somewhat outdated, the beginning section of this book gives an overview of the effects of chemicals on children, and important information for parents about making healthy choices for their children's environment.

  • Toxic Turnaround, Joy Williams, Sonya Holmquist and Diane Takvorian (Environmental Health Coalition, 1998).  A comprehensive easy-to-use guide from Environmental Health Coalition that shows local governments how to reduce the use of toxic chemicals. The book features case studies from cities across the country to illustrate that pollution prevention is effective and cost efficient and encourages municipalities to implement policy to make toxic chemical reduction a way of life. Includes a list of the top four chemical groups that should be rejected as a matter of course.

  • Toxins A to Z: A Guide to Everyday Pollution Hazards, John Harte, Cheryl Holdren, Richard Schneider and Christine Shirley (University of California Press, 1991). A highly readable reference guide for household, office and lawn chemicals.

Disclaimer

Greenexhibits.org contains numerous links to organizations that practice sustainability. Providing a link is not to be considered an endorsement of a site or the entity that produced it, its political views, products or services. By activating the link, you are leaving greenexhibits.org for another site, content of which we have no control over.