Growing Up Healthy Webinar Series: Livestream Event for Children's Environmental Health Day
GROWING UP HEALTHY WEBINAR SERIES:
Tune into the Livestream Event for Children’s Environmental Health Day
The Helen R. Walton Children’s Enrichment Center, the Recess Committee and a Toxic Free Future for Our Children are excited to invite you to the second virtual event in a series focusing on Growing Up Healthy. The livestream event will celebrate Children’s Environmental Health Day and feature the Helen R. Walton Children’s Enrichment Center, Mayor Stephanie Orman of Bentonville, and leaders across the nation highlighting the importance of the environments where young children live and play.
While adults may be exposed through inhalation, ingestion, or dermal absorption, children face the added risks of being exposed to hazardous substances through maternal transfer of toxics, in addition to their own pathways for bodily intake. A child may spend over 10,000 hours of his/her preschool years in a child care program, making early childhood education a critical opportunity for the prevention of exposure to environmental toxins. Armed with this information, the Helen R. Walton Children’s Enrichment Center decided to build a healthy campus focused on eliminating toxins and chemicals that are harmful to the health and well being of children. In 2019, the new Helen R. Walton Children’s Enrichment Center became the first non-toxic, chemical-free early childhood campus in the nation.
Thursday, October 8, 2020 is Children’s Environmental Health Day (CEH Day). The environment is an important but often overlooked factor that influences health and developmental outcomes, especially for children, who are particularly vulnerable to these hazards. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that 34% of all children’s health issues are the result of modifiable environmental factors. We must consider environmental factors, such as air and water pollution, or toxic chemicals in consumer products, because these can be modified and improved through policy measures, individual habits, community efforts, and business practices. As with the coronavirus and so many current health crises, environmental factors are not equally distributed across race and income. Children and pregnant women from low income communities, tribal communities, and communities of color are disproportionately exposed to these harmful toxicants, placing them at higher risk for illness and disability.
While there is an urgent need to put children and families back into the forefront of our nation’s actions regarding health and environment, we also have many children’s environmental health wins to celebrate this year. For instance, in April 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave $697,000 in grants to assist Tennessee in identifying sources of lead in school and child care facility water. In July, Tennessee also unanimously passed HB 2017, creating stronger rules for Lead Free Schools. This year New Jersey applied new clean water protections to 600 miles of waterways, protecting kid’s physical, mental, and emotional health. New Jersey also became the first state to include climate change curriculum in schools.
We must respect the interconnectedness of environmental and human health and prioritize the health of our planet so that our children and future generations have the healthiest possible start to life.
Please RSVP for the livestream and tune in for this day-long virtual event on Thursday, October 8th and help create a better, healthier future for our children.
In support of this event, Naturepedic is offering a 20% discount on their products this month, using code HWCEC20. Naturepedic will donate 5% of sales from this code to the Helen R. Walton Children's Enrichment Center.
Virtual Program Schedule:
8:30 am Welcome message, Children's Environmental Health Network
8:31 am Message from Eco-Healthy Child Care®
8:33 am Presentation: Keeping Florida’s Children Safe: Florida Choose Safe Places. Florida Department of Health
9:03 am Message from the Union of Concerned Scientists
9:04 am The children of the Helen R. Walton Children's Enrichment Center thank Mayor Orman for the Bentonville, AR CEH Day Proclamation
9:08 am Message from PolicyLink
9:13 am Message from the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health
9:14 am Presentation: Healthy Homes: Radon & Indoor Air. Florida Department of Health Radon & Indoor Air Program
9:45 am A special thank you message to Mayor Harris for the Shelby County, TN CEH Day Proclamation
9:45 am Message from Moms Clean Air Force
9:47 am Presentation: From Data to Action: Using Data Visualization Tools on CDC's Environmental Public Health Tracking Network for Improved Community Health. CDC- Environmental Public Health Tracking
10:02 am Message from the Cancer Free Economy Network
10:03 am Fireside chat: The Black and Latinx Maternal Health Crisis. Black Millennials for Flint & MOMCares/The Rising Mama LLC
10:31 am Message from Safer Made
10:32 am Fireside chat: Nsedu Obot Witherspoon's 20th Anniversary CEH Leadership Interview Series- Polly Hoppin, UMass Lowell Center for Sustainable Production
11:19 am Message from the Evangelical Environmental Network
11:21 am The Morning More Vang Children's Entertainment Program - featuring music and stories from Sharon and Randi, The Beat Buds, Shabazz Larkin, Georgie Badel Liberty, and our partners at the American Public Health Association and Moms Clean Air Force
12:07 am A special thank you message to Mayor Bowser for the Washington, DC CEH Day Proclamation
12:07 pm Presentation: On the Air: Educating Children about Air Quality and Climate Change. Clean Air Partners
12:41 pm Childhood Cancer Prevention Report Preview. Childhood Cancer Prevention Initiative
12:44 pm A special thank you message to Mayor Harris for the Shelby County, TN CEH Day Proclamation
12:44 pm Message & Tour of The Helen R. Walton Children's Enrichment Center, an Eco-Healthy Child Care® Endorsed Facility and the first Health Campus for Early Education in the US
12:48 pm CEHN’s 15th Annual Child Health Advocate Awards and Panel Discussion
2:16 pm Message from the American Public Health Association
2:17 pm Presentation: The Case for Healthy, Climate-Friendly School Food & How to Improve School Food in Your Community. Friends of the Earth US
2:52 pm Message from Americas for Conservation
2:53 pm Presentation: Childhood Cancer Prevention Report. Green the Church
3:33 pm A special thank you message to Mayor Hines for the Rogers, AR CEH Day Proclamation
3:33 pm Message from the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative
3:34 pm Presentation: Toxic Textiles: The impact of harmful chemicals in clothing on children’s health. Green America
3:50 pm Children's Sustainable Fashion Show. Sponsored by Hope & Henry. CEHN & Fashion Fwd
4:05 pm Message from the National Center for Healthy Housing
4:06 pm Unbreathable film screening and panel discussion. American Lung Association
5:06 pm Message from the American Lung Association
5:07 pm Discussion panel on Child Care and COVID-19. Eco-Healthy Child Care® featuring Michelle Barnes with the Helen R. Walton Children’s Enrichment Center
5:40 pm Message from the National Association for the Education of Young Children
5:41 pm A special thank you message to Mayor Harris for the Shelby County, TN CEH Day Proclamation
5:41 pm Film Sneak Peak & Fireside Chat. "Planet Prescription: Healing Healers. Healing The Planet. Healing Us." Climate Listening Project & Mother & Others for Clean Air
6:11 pm Message from the National Environmental Education Foundation
6:12 pm Presentation: #Vote4OurFuture: Getting to the Roots of the Green new Deal. National Children's Campaign & Zero Hour
6:48 pm Message from the Washington DC Department of Energy and Environment
6:49 pm About the Eco Book Worms book club. American Public Health Association
6:49 pm The Evening More Vang Children's Entertainment Program - featuring music and stories from Sue Fliess, Ricky Kej & Lonnie Park, Erin Dealey & Susan Eaddy, and Erin Dealey & Susan Eaddy, and Rena Strober
6:57 pm A special thank you message to Governor Hutchinson for the Arkansas CEH Day Proclamation
7:30 pm Good night and thank you from CEHN!
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Helen R. Walton Children’s Enrichment Center is a Northwest Arkansas nonprofit organization providing early childhood education for 240 children from birth to kindergarten. Our mission is simple: children are our first priority. Since 1982, our commitment has been to provide families access to the highest quality of early childhood education and care. The new campus is the first early childhood program in the nation designed and constructed with an emphasis on a toxic-free environment using only the safest building materials. Visit hwcec.org to learn more.