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Kids who breathe polluted air have higher rates of mental illness

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Kids who breathe polluted air have higher rates of mental illness

By on Jun 15, 2016Share

We know air pollution is linked to heart disease and puts people at risk for stroke. Now a new study reveals that even a small rise in air pollution is associated with a significant rise in mental illness in young people, as reported in The Guardian.

Researchers in Sweden tracked more than 500,000 children under the age of 18 for the study. They matched air pollution concentrations with mental-illness medication dispensed for kids, ranging from sleeping pills to antipsychotics. Places with elevated rates of air pollution were more likely to be places where young people had prescriptions for psychiatric drugs.

Mental illness can hamper a child’s development and “the potential to live fulfilling and productive lives,” the researchers wrote. Although they conducted their study half-a-world away, they pointed to other research that links air pollution to anxiety and depression in California, adding to the growing body of evidence that air pollution can be harmful.

Oh, and just a reminder: Here in the U.S., your race too often indicates whether you live with polluted air and all its consequences.

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Kids who breathe polluted air have higher rates of mental illness

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Green In All The Wrong Places

Green In All The Wrong Places in All the Wrong Places: The Scam That is the Hybrid

I am as planetarily conscious as the next guy, but I’m also practical. Apparently those two things go together like oil and water. Today’s catch phrase of “going green” seems to be less about actually fixing anything and more to do with making money. Prime example? Hybrids.
Now, before you get your dreadlocks in a tangle, let me point out that I clearly stated in the first sentence that I am practical. Therefore, all of the “environmental” self-rehearsed head speak that is about to fall out of your mouth is useless. I’m about to shed some light on the myth that is the hybrid car, and its actual effect on the environment: there is only one real way to save the planet from vehicular air pollution, and that is to slide those Birkenstocks on and walk. Short of that, we have to drive and that will always remain somewhat of an issue for us and the environs.
If you want to argue the environmental aspect of hybrids, keep in mind that the technology exists right now for zero emission vehicles that use a renewable power source that’s availability could eliminate our reliance of fossil fuels. Not reduce: eliminate. Hybrid cars are the environmental equivalent of a pacifier.

The real point of this conversation is the clean green wool that has been pulled over people’s eyes in an attempt to sell a car. The Hybrid comes at us as some sort of salvation from the dreaded and dangerous gas pump simply by playing on the notion that less gas is less money spent and that’s somehow better for the planet. Simple concepts applied to even simpler logic makes people ignore things like the fact that a Prius is actually less cost effective and has little, if any, environmental impact.

A Simple example

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Green In All The Wrong Places

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