Denver, Colo. (October 2, 2018) – In honor of Children’s Health Month, yesterday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the availability of nearly $30 million to support safe drinking water and cleaner air. EPA is making $20 million available for states and tribes to test for lead in drinking water at schools and childcare facilities. At the same time, EPA is announcing approximately $9 million in rebates to public school bus fleet owners to help them replace older school buses with cleaner, more modern vehicles. For more on this announcement visit: https://go.usa.gov/xPKDp
In addition to the newly announced resources, EPA has guidance, recommendations, and programs available to support schools in ensuring clean, healthy, and environmentally conscious school communities.
“Our schools reflect the best of our communities,” said EPA Regional Administrator Doug Benevento. “EPA offers a variety of resources to help school administrators and parents provide safe places to learn and educate students about environmental stewardship.”
A healthy school community starts with traveling to and from school. When safe, walking or biking to school can help children meet the recommended physical activity levels on weekdays, while helping to reduce traffic, lower pollutants, and save money. Clean school buses and anti-idling policies for buses, passenger vehicles, and delivery trucks help reduce emissions in and outside schools. The EPA’s Clean School Bus Program, School Siting Guidelines and Idle-Free Schools Toolkit are useful resources to establish and maintain a responsible transportation program for your school.
Inside and out, it’s important to understand how school communities can be protective of health. From recess to organized sports, knowing the outdoor air quality is important. Understanding how the building’s air system works, how the school is cleaned, and how teachers set up their classrooms is important in considering the indoor air quality.
Knowing the outdoor air quality helps schools identify steps to take to protect students from pollutants that can negatively affect health. Participating in the Air Quality Flag Program is a simple way to get your school community involved in knowing and understanding local air quality. This is especially valuable in the mountain west with high instances of wildfires.
Ensuring a healthy indoor learning environment reduces absenteeism, improves test scores, and enhances student and staff productivity. When considering indoor air quality, it is important to know about radon, which is prevalent in the plains and mountain states. The Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools program is a great place to start or get a refresher!
EPA strongly encourages schools to test for lead in drinking water. EPA has developed a tool kit called the 3Ts (training, testing, telling) for reducing lead in drinking water for schools to use as guidance.
When cleaning and using chemicals in science classes, teachers, school administrators and facility managers can look for EPA’s Safer Choice Label and apply the Toolkit for Safe Chemical Management in K-12 Schools.
Saving resources and reducing waste can be accomplished throughout the school. Facility-level efforts including integrating Energy Star and WaterSense can save money for schools and districts. Schools can participate in a food waste audit and implement strategies to feed children and the community while reducing waste. Students and teachers can pack a waste-free lunch. Make sure to pack only what you can eat, reuse, recycle, or compost. Reusable or compostable bags can be a good choice to carry or cover your lunch items.
As temperatures dip throughout the plains and the mountain west, managing pests in and around school facilities is essential to maintaining a healthy learning environment free of pests and unnecessary exposure to pesticides. To minimize health risks to students and staff, an Integrated Pest Management approach includes adopting preventative measures and choosing the lower-risk methods of pest removal and prevention.
EPA Region 8 is available to connect your school community to resources to establish or maintain healthy school environments in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, as well as 27 Tribal Nations. Please contact April Nowak (nowak.april@epa.gov).
More information and Links:
EPA Healthy Schools: https://www.epa.gov/schools
EPA Children’s Environmental Health: https://www.epa.gov/children
EPA Healthy Schools Transportation: https://www.epa.gov/schools-transportation
EPA Clean School Bus program: https://www.epa.gov/cleandiesel/clean-school-bus
EPA Safer Choice program: https://www.epa.gov/saferchoice
EPA Indoor Air Quality: Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools
EPA Integrated Pest Management:
EPA AirNow & Air Quality Flag Program: www.airnow.gov; https://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=flag_program.index
Energy Star: www.energystar.gov
WaterSense: https://www.epa.gov/watersense
-----------------------------------
RELEASE: Rep. Khanna releases ‘Internet Bill of Rights’ principles, endorsed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee
October 4, 2018 – Washington, DC – Rep. Ro Khanna, who has been dubbed “Silicon Valley’s ambassador to Middle America” released his set of consumer data privacy regulations principles for an ‘Internet Bill of Rights.’ His principles have earned the endorsement of world wide web inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
“The internet age and digital revolution have changed Americans' way of life. As our lives and the economy are more tied to the internet, it is essential to provide Americans with basic protections online,” said Rep. Khanna.
"If the internet is to live up to its potential as a force for good in the world, we need safeguards that ensure fairness, openness and human dignity. This bill of rights provides a set of principles that are about giving users more control of their online lives while creating a healthier internet economy. This is a bipartisan issue with broad public support, giving leaders an opportunity to work together to make the internet work for everyone,” said Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web and founder of the Web Foundation.
Further reading is available from The New York Times.
Set of Principles for an Internet Bill of Rights: You should have the right:
(1) To have access to and knowledge of all collection and uses of personal data by companies;
(2) To opt-in consent to the collection of personal data by any party and to the sharing of personal data with a third party;
(3) Where context appropriate and with a fair process, to obtain, correct, or delete personal data controlled by any company and to have those requests honored by third parties;
(4) To have personal data secured and to be notified in a timely manner when a security breach or unauthorized access of personal data is discovered;
(5) To move all personal data from one network to the next;
(6) To access and use the internet without internet service providers blocking, throttling, engaging in paid prioritization, or otherwise unfairly favoring content, applications, services, or devices.
(7) To internet service without the collection of data that is unnecessary for providing the requested service absent opt-in consent;
(8) To have access to multiple viable, affordable internet platforms, services, and providers with clear and transparent pricing;
(9) Not to be unfairly discriminated against or exploited based on your personal data; and
(10) To have an entity that collects your personal data have reasonable business practices and accountability to protect your privacy.
The principles are built on the Obama Administration’s internet bill of rights proposed in 2015 and in part on the input provided during conversations with:
Representatives from:
###
About the Office
Congressman Khanna represents the 17th District of California, which covers communities in Silicon Valley. Visit his website at khanna.house.gov. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter @RepRoKhanna.
----------------------------------------
Think the dentist is just for cavities and teeth cleaning? Not so. Many times, the dentist is the first line of defense in detecting numerous health problems, from diabetes, cancer and heart disease to anemia, dementia and stress, the dentist can be the first to diagnose a serious problem. “Your dentist should do an oral cancer screening at least once a year,” says Dr. Brian Raskin, author of “Better Than Basic: Your Smile Is Worth The Best”, (www.advanceddds.com). “Catching precancerous lesions and signs of other diseases early can save your life.”
About Dr. Brian Raskin
Dr. Brian Raskin, author of Better Than Basic: Your Smile Is Worth The Best, is CEO of Advanced DDS (www.advanceddds.com), a progressive group practice in Garden City, Long Island, N.Y. The practice features the most advanced techniques in restoring oral health along with the most advanced technology available for a dental practice. Dr. Raskin is a 1982 graduate of New York University College of Dentistry, the same school from which his father and grandfather graduated in 1953 and ‘23, respectively. Dr. Raskin was trained by Dr. Carl Misch, a major innovator in implant dentistry. He has taken more than 2,000 hours of continuing education in numerous phases of dentistry and is regarded as a leader in implants and in sedation dentistry.
