Hunters, Activists, Scouts: Kids, Get Active

Sometimes, kids actually teach grown-ups about what’s important.

Sierra Club California, California Waterfowl and the Girl Scout Council of California learned that yesterday during a joint press conference and educational event.

Alarmed by statistics that show kids spend as much as a quarter of the day hooked to TV screens and computer monitors, the three groups have united with dozens of allies to back Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes’ “No Child Left Inside” Act, AB 2989. From health groups to hunters, law enforcement to local government, just about everyone interested in the well-being of California's kids has signed on to this key legislation.

The bill would fund a grant program that would pay for California’s kids – especially at-risk, underserved young people – to learn and play at outdoor educational and recreational spots. Outdoor education and recreation boosts youths’ self-esteem and improves science test scores, according to a study by state education officials. Right now, the “No Child Left Inside” Act is stuck in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Spending time outdoors provided a passageway into a world of wonders, young Girl Scouts told the gathered adults, including Assemblymember Fuentes, several reporters and representatives of California Waterfowl and Sierra Club California. Hiking, caving and adventuring gave them a passageway into a new world, the teens told their audience.

Just as the kids learned how to “play together,” the three organizations and their dozens of allies have joined forces to focus on what matters: getting kids outside.

Girl Scout Testimony Heightens Outdoor Bill

Girl Scout Jenny Reich, 17, brought grins to the faces of California state senators as she testified today in support of Sierra Club California-sponsored AB 2989 (Fuentes).

Although afraid of heights, Jenny testified, she once climbed Mount Shasta with a group of fellow Girl Scouts. The experience taught her a valuable lesson, she told the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water.

“I was able to make it up the mountain, and that really helped my self-confidence grow,” she said. “I think that all kids ought to have the opportunity to get outdoors like I did.”

Studies show that getting kids outdoors not only helps their self-esteem, it also improves their science test scores. Outdoor activity could be one weapon against the rising rate of youth obesity as well.

Jenny’s enthusiasm for outdoor activity charmed the lawmakers.

“It means a lot when young people come to the Capitol,” said Senator Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who chairs the committee. “I hope we can find the funding – private or otherwise – to support this bill.”

Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes (pictured with Jenny) worked hard on the bill to guide it through the Assembly. Now, support from the Senate is needed to get the bill to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk.

Watch What 'Desperate Housewives' Star Marcia Cross Says About Outdoor Opportunities For Youth (Video)

Learn More About Sierra Club's Efforts to "Build Bridges To The Outdoors"

Your Donation Helps Us Bring California's Youth Into The Outdoors

Real, Live Outdoor Education

Can virtual field trips instill a real-life sense of wonder?

It doesn't seem possible. But a story in today's Sacramento Bee, "Schools substituting field trips with video links," shows schools must settle for video-conference field trips.

That's exactly why California's kids need Assembly Bill 2989. (Felipe Fuentes). Sponsored by Sierra Club California, bill would award grants for outdoor education and recreational opportunities for youth. The Outdoor Environmental Education and Recreation Program it creates would help California kids explore rivers, forests and streams in real life - not virtual reality.

Kids don't need more time in front of an electronic screen. They're already six times more likely to play a video game than to ride a bike. Fewer than 15 percent of them participate in an outdoor education and recreation program.

Young minds expand outdoors. At-risk children who participated in outdoor education programs upped their science test scores by 27 percent, improved their conflict resolution and problem-solving skills and went back to school with better self-esteem and motivation to learn, according to a 2005 California Department of Education study.

AB 2989 will open doors for children, and introduce them to California's natural wonders. Tell your Assemblymember you support this key measure.

Sierra Club California 2008 Priority Bills

Smart Growth/Global Warming. SB 375 (Steinberg) would require certain regional transportation plans to include a sustainable communities strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Would provide incentives for more compact development, reduced driving, greater housing choices and conservation of farmland and habitat.

Clean Energy. SB 411 (Simitian and Perata) would require investor-owned utilities to meet a Renewables Portfolio Standard of at least 33 percent by 2020.

Cleaner Air at Ports. SB 974 (Lowenthal) would charge containers shipped through the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland in order to raise money for air quality and transportation improvements.

Land Use/Fire Protection. SB 1500 (Kehoe) would allow the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to require local governments to guarantee adequate structural fire protection before approving development in high-fire-hazard State Responsibility Areas.

Fire Protection. SB 1617 (Kehoe) would establish a fair and equitable new fee on homes in State Responsibility Areas to fund some of the costs of their fire protection. The fee would be tiered to give incentives for reducing fire risks, and would also fund proactive prevention activities.

Safer Products. AB 1879 (Feuer and Huffman) would give the Department of Toxic Substances Control the authority to establish safeguards to protect people and the environment from consumer products containing known toxins like lead, mercury and arsenic.

Recycling Mercury Thermostats. AB 2347 (Ruskin) would require manufacturers to establish a program for recycling thermostats containing mercury, a potent neurotoxin.

Water Conservation. AB 2175 (Laird and Feuer) would establish numeric water savings targets for urban and agricultural water use and require a 20% reduction in statewide urban per capita water use by 2020.

Outdoor Education. AB 2989 (Fuentes) would create a permanent program in the Department of Parks and Recreation that would award grants to schools and non-profit groups that provide outdoor education and recreational opportunities for youth.

CALIFORNIA BILL WOULD BAN TEFLON CHEMICALS IN FOOD PACKAGING

California families should be able to enjoy pizza or popcorn without fear that toxic chemicals will harm our families.

That was Sierra Club California Director Bill Magavern's message on Tuesday, when he joined Senator Ellen Corbett, the Environmental Working Group, United Steelworkers and California Labor Federation at a press conference in support of a new bill to remove toxic PFCs from food packaging.

Below are excerpts from EWG's press release.

SACRAMENTO – Your french-fry container or pizza box may be delivering a dose of toxic chemicals with your meal. Those and many other types of food packages have stain-proof or grease-proof linings made with chemicals called PFCs – the same chemicals used to make Teflon – that are linked in animal tests to cancer or reproductive harm.

State Sen. Ellen M. Corbett of San Leandro has introduced a bill, SB 1313, that would make California the first state to ban two of the most worrisome PFCs in food packaging. The bill, sponsored by Environmental Working Group (EWG), would prohibit more than trace amounts of PFCs called PFOS and PFOA in any material used to package food, beginning in 2010.

“Despite the fact that most consumers believe the packaging surrounding their food is safe, the reality is that many kinds of food packaging contain toxic chemicals that can cause harm to children’s health and the environment,” said Corbett.

For decades, PFOA and PFOS have been used in packaging for fast-food sandwiches, french fries, pizza, baked goods, beverages and candy. Today they contaminate the entire planet, from Arctic polar bears to the blood of virtually every American. Federal health officials have detected the chemicals in 98 percent of people tested, and EWG found them in the umbilical cord blood of 10 of 10 newborn babies.

PFOA is considered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a likely carcinogen and a chemical that induces breast tumors in animals. In addition, PFOA and PFOS have been linked to pregnancy problems that can include developmental complications.

Governor Appoints Outstanding Doctor to Air Board

Sierra Club California applauds the governor’s appointment of John Balmes, M.D. to fill the seat of the medical/health representative on the California Air Resources Board. Dr. Balmes is committed to reducing global warming pollution and achieving cleaner, healthier air for all Californians, and especially for children, the elderly, and the millions of Californians suffering from asthma and other lung diseases.

Dr. Balmes is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) where he is the Chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), and an Attending Physician in Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine at SFGH. Dr. Balmes leads an active research program involving controlled human exposure studies of the respiratory effects of ambient air pollutants, and he has advised both CARB and the Department of Toxic Substances Control, among other governmental bodies.

As it grapples with the two vitally important tasks of protecting public health and stabilizing the climate, CARB will benefit enormously from the expertise and commitment of John Balmes.

In related news, a groundbreaking new study from Stanford University being released today identifies and quantifies that carbon dioxide is not just heating up the planet, it is making it harder to breathe.