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Did you know that every year 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in our planet's beautiful blue oceans? And that's seriously bad news for our friends beneath the waves...
Over 700 species of marine animals have been reported to have eaten or been entangled in plastic - and scientists think that the amount of plastic in the ocean may triple by 2050! But here's the good news - by understanding the issue and taking action, you can help change the future and make our oceans a clean, safe place for our wonderful wildlife!

What's the problem with plastic?

Plastic is an amazing man-made material used to make all kinds of important things. Bike helmets, car airbags and many medical supplies made with plastic save lives, and plastic water bottles can bring clean drinking water to people who don't have it.

The problem is that most of us use more plastic than we need to, and half of the plastic we produce is designed to be used just once and chucked away. This so-called ' single-use plastic' is used to make all kinds of items, such as shopping bags, straws, food wrappers and various packaging . And because plastic takes over 400 years to decompose (break down), it stays in the natural world, causing damage, for a very long time.

Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable Plastic Pollution Primary resource? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!

How does plastic waste end up in the sea?

Scientists think that a whopping 8.8 million tonnes of plastic end up in the ocean every year. That's the same as stacking five plastic shopping bags of rubbish on top of each other on every metre of coastline in the world! But how does it all get there?

One way is through ' ocean dumping', when people illegally tip large amounts of waste directly into the sea. But not all plastic in the ocean is dumped there on purpose. In fact, around 80% plastic in the sea comes from the land....

Much of it is blown into rivers, streams and sewers from overflowing rubbish bins or landfill sites, and from streets and parks where people litter. Another way is through our drains. Lots of our clothes contain tiny plastic fibres, called microfibres, which enter our water ways from washing machines when people do their laundry. And believe it or not, toiletries such as toothpaste and face wash can contain minuscule bits of plastic, too! These "microbeads" get flushed down the drain and, eventually, into the sea ocean. Thankfully, the UK government has banned toiletries containing microbeads, but lots of other countries still use them.

Why is plastic waste dangerous?

Animals and birds can get trapped, tangled and even strangled by all kinds of plastic waste, such as discarded fishing nets and six-pack rings from drinks cans. They also mistake small bits of plastic, such as bottle tops and wrappers, for food and gobble them up - leaving no room in their swollen tummies for real food. And the problem doesn't end there...

When plastic breaks down in the ocean, it doesn't break down completely - it just gets smaller and ends up being swallowed by fish and other marine animals and birds. The tiny particles of plastic absorb toxic industrial chemicals which, when eaten by fish, are absorbed into their tissues and are eventually eaten by humans.

What can we do about plastic pollution?

By working together, our choices can help clean up the ocean - and make it a safe place for our amazing marine life!

Look at how much single-use plastic your family uses by filling out a plastic journal for a week - then talk about what you can do to use less! Be sure to drink from reusable water bottles, use multi-use shopping bags and ask your parents to choose loose fruit and veg, rather than groceries wrapped in layers of plastic. And of course, recycle all the plastic that you can!

You can also help keep our seasides clean by going along to an organised beach cleanup. It's fun, and we promise you'll feel really proud when you see what a difference you've made!

Discover more ways that you can help clean up the natural world with our 10 tips to reduce plastic pollution!

Did you enjoy learning about the problem of plastic pollution? What have you done to help reduce plastic? Leave a comment below and let us know!

Text by Allyson Shaw, NG Staff
Photo credits:
Sea turtle with plastic bag photo - Sergi Garcia Fernandez, Biosphoto, Minden Pictures
Plastic on beach photo - apomares, Getty Images
Pelican with plastic photo - ©Studio One-One, Getty Images
Trash bags in sea water photo - Rich Carey, Shutterstock

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The problem with plastic pollution - National Geographic Kids

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Did you know that every year 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in our planet's beautiful blue oceans? And that's seriously bad news for our friends beneath the waves... Over 700 species of marine animals have been reported to have eaten or been entangled in plastic - and scientists think that the amount of plastic in the ocean may triple by 2050!

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As a parent, you want to make sure you are fueling your child for proper growth and development, while also laying the foundation for lifelong health. Chocolate milk provides 13 essential nutrients into one delicious and affordable beverage that kids love to drink. Read on as we explore some of the top reasons why chocolate milk is an excellent beverage option for children and why parents can feel good about serving it to their kids.

Reason #1: Chocolate milk is a nutrient-packed beverage that's good for you and your kids

Chocolate milk is a type of flavored milk, which means that cocoa powder and sugar are added to plain white milk to add extra flavor and sweetness. These extra ingredients do not take away the powerful nutrient profile that milk offers. With a glass of chocolate milk providing the same 13 essential nutrients as a glass of white milk, it's a no brainer. When it comes to fueling growth and development, not many other beverages can compete with milk's inherent nutrient content.

Calcium and vitamin D are the most familiar nutrients when it comes to milk, which makes sense, because these two powerhouse nutrients are impossible to ignore in child nutrition. Dairy's calcium and vitamin D content, as well as protein and phosphorus, contribute to proper bone growth and development in children. Foods that are rich in calcium and vitamin D play an integral role in helping children achieve their peak bone mass while preventing bone diseases later in life. ¹

In addition to calcium and vitamin D, milk provides a host of immune-boosting vitamins and minerals. Nutrients such as high-quality protein, vitamin A, zinc, and selenium support a strong immune system that helps children fight off diseases and stay healthy.

The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recognize calcium, potassium, vitamin D, and fiber as nutrients of public health concern for underconsumption, which simply means that these nutrients are often lacking in the diets of Americans. 2 For 2 to 18 year old's, milk is the leading source of three of the four nutrients of public health concern (calcium, potassium, and vitamin D). ³ Chocolate milk provides a simple and tasty way to fill nutrient gaps that exist for many children. To learn more about the nutrients found in milk, click here.

Reason #2: Chocolate milk's delicious flavor can encourage milk consumption

For children, chocolate milk can be a stealthy way to be healthy. The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend three servings of low-fat or fat-free dairy foods for individuals 9 years and older, 2 ½ servings for children 4-8 years, and 2 for children 2-3 years. Unfortunately, dairy consumption often falls below the recommended amounts as children enter school, with dairy consumption continuing to fall through adolescence. ⁴

Milk provides valuable nutrition to nourish children's growing bodies, but they have to actually drink it in order to obtain the nutritional benefits. For picky eaters or children who don't like the taste of white milk, the added chocolate flavor can make milk more appealing to drink and help them meet their dairy and nutrient recommendations.

Reason #3: The benefits of drinking chocolate milk for a healthy and balanced diet

One of the most common complaints against chocolate milk is its sugar content and the extra calories that this sugar provides. The sugar in chocolate milk can fit in a balanced diet. With growing concerns of childhood obesity in the United States, wariness about added sugar content is well-warranted. It's important to remember that some of the sugar content in chocolate milk comes from lactose, the sugar that is naturally present in milk. Additional sugar and flavoring are added to this to give the milk a delicious chocolate taste. In fact, the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the American Academy of Pediatrics recognize that a small amount of added sugars, which fall within the daily calorie limit, can be used to increase the palatability and appeal of nutrient-rich foods, such as low-fat flavored milk. ⁶

While some parents may still have concerns about the sugar content on the nutrition label, research shows that there is no association between drinking flavored milk and an increased Body Mass Index. ⁶ Looking at the bigger picture of children's overall diets, the added sugar in chocolate milk does not make up the bulk of children's sugar consumption. Flavored milk contributes only 4% of added sugars to the overall diets of children ages 2 to 18. ⁷ In comparison, sugar-sweetened beverages contribute 25% of added sugars in the diets of children and 50% of added sugars in the diets of adolescents. 8,9 The small amount of added sugar in chocolate milk does not counteract the nutritional benefits and important nutrient contributions that it provides for children.

Reason #4: Chocolate milk is affordable, delicious, and nutritious

Chocolate milk is a convenient and affordable way to provide your child with valuable nutrition. Grocery stores and many convenience stores offer a wide variety of chocolate milk brands, often including lactose free and low-fat options. At about $0.26 per glass of milk, you can get the most nutritional bang for your buck by giving your children chocolate milk in place of milk alternatives, fruit juices, or other sugary beverages. ¹⁰

Additionally, you can encourage your kids to get an extra serving of dairy at school by drinking chocolate milk with their breakfast and/or lunch. It's worth noting that the chocolate milk that is served in schools is not the same as what you find in the grocery store aisle. School flavored milk is reformulated so that it has even less added sugar and calories than grocery store chocolate milk. Schools now have more flexibility in the types of milk and can offer low-fat and fat-free flavored milk for lunch and breakfast, providing children with even greater access to chocolate milk. A recent research study found that school-age children who drank flavored milk also drank more milk in general and had a higher prevalence of meeting calcium needs. ¹¹ Offering chocolate milk in schools is a phenomenal way to encourage kids to drink milk and meet the recommended amounts of nutrients that they need to grow and develop.

Reason #5: Chocolate milk is an excellent refuel drink for active kids and young athletes

If you have a young athlete at home, stocking your refrigerator with chocolate milk is a simple way to help them refuel after a difficult practice or a big game. The benefits of chocolate milk for young athletes are two-fold - it provides them with the nutrients they need to build muscle and bone mass, and it provides a perfect recovery drink to help them reach peak athletic performance. The science supporting chocolate milk as a post-exercise recovery beverage is well-established. Chocolate milk provides carbohydrates to restore energy used during exercise, high quality protein to repair and rebuild muscle, and electrolytes and fluids to rehydrate and help maintain fluid balance.

It's important for young athletes to establish healthy refueling habits so that they can train and perform to the best of their ability now and establish a foundation for good sports nutrition that they can build on in the future. Compared to many other refuel beverages and recovery shakes, chocolate milk is a simple, tasty, and inexpensive refuel option to provide your kids with when navigating a crazy schedule filled with school, practices, and games.

Bottom Line

Chocolate milk plays an important role in child nutrition, offering delicious nutrition that kids love to drink. Whether you are fueling a young athlete or a growing kindergartner, you can feel confident offering your children chocolate milk, knowing that it will provide them with the nutrients that they need to grow and develop for years to come.

Click here to read more about chocolate milk and child nutrition in Spanish.

1. Golden, N., Abrams, S., Daniels, D., Corkins, M., Ferranti, S., Magge, S., & Schwarzenberg, S. (2014). Optimizing bone health in children and adolescents. Pediatrics, 134(4), 1229-1243. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2014-2173

2. S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025. 9th Edition. December 2020. Accessed at https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/sites/default/files/2020-12/Dietary_Guidelines_for_Americans_2020-2025.pdf

3. National Dairy Council. NHANES 2015-2018. Hyattsville, MD; 2020.

4. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Scientific report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee: advisory report to the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. July 2020. Accessed at https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/ ScientificReport_of_the_2020DietaryGuidelinesAdvisoryCommittee_first-print.pdf

5. Murray, R., Bhatia, J., Okamoto, J., Allison, M., Ancona, R., Attisha, E., De Pinto, C., Holmes, B., Kjolhede, C., Lerner, M., Minier, M., Weiss-Harrison, A., Young, T., Devore, C., Barnett, S., Grant, L., Johnson, V., Mattey, E., Vernon-Smiley, M., . . . Burrowes, D. (2015). Snacks, sweetened beverages, added sugars, and schools. Pediatrics, 135(3), 575-583. https://doi.org/ 10.1542/peds.2014-3902

6. Cifelli, C.J., Houchins, J.A., Demmer, E., & Fulgoni, V., III (2016). The relationship between flavored milk consumption, diet quality, body weight, and BMI z-score among children and adolescents of different ethnicities. The FASEB Journal, 30: 1154.12-1154.12. https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.1154.12

7. National Dairy Council. NHANES 2015-2018. Data Source: Centers for Disease control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data. Hyattsville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm

8. O'Neil, C., Nicklas, T., & Fulgoni, V., III (2018). Food sources of energy and nutrients of public health concern and nutrients to limit with a focus on milk and other dairy foods in children 2 to 18 years of age: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2011-2014. Nutrients, 10(8), 1050. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10081050

9. Leme, A., Baranowski, T., Thompson, D., Philippi, S., O'Neil, C., Fulgoni, V., & Nicklas, T. (2019). Top food sources of percentage of energy, nutrients to limit and total gram amount consumed among US adolescents: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-2014. Public Health Nutrition, 22(4), 661-671. doi:10.1017/S1368980018002884

10. IRI Multi Outlet + Conv 2020, YTD ending 10-4-20. Based on U.S. average price of unflavored, branded and private label milk, 1 gal. Source- https://www.drink-milk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Nutrients-Study-Snapshot.pdf

11. Nicklas, T., O'Neil, C., & Fulgoni, V. III (2017). Flavored milk consumers drank more milk and had a higher prevalence of meeting calcium recommendation than nonconsumers. Journal of School Health, 87(9), 650-657. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12537

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5 Reasons Parents and Kids Love Chocolate Milk

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As a parent, you want to make sure you are fueling your child for proper growth and development, while also laying the foundation for lifelong health. Chocolate milk provides 13 essential nutrients into one delicious and affordable beverage that kids love to drink.

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Chocolate milk, whether served hot or cold, is more than just a favorite drink that many people have loved since childhood. It's also a great source of several important nutrients. It also has a long and interesting history.

Theobroma cacao, the scientific name for chocolate, translates to "cocoa, food of the Gods.". The Aztecs ground it into powder, mixed it with spices, water, and sometimes honey, and consumed it as a drink.

The shift from chocolate water to chocolate milk came early. As far back as 1494, according to historian James Delbourgo, people in Jamaica brewed "a hot beverage... from shavings of freshly harvested cacao, boiled with milk and cinnamon."

Each 8-ounce serving of 2% chocolate milk contains:

188 Calories

7 grams of protein

5 grams of fat

30 grams of carbohydrates

2 grams of fiber

24 grams of sugar

Chocolate milk is also an excellent source of:

The nutrition profile depends on whether you choose whole milk, 2% or skim. For instance, if you prefer chocolate milk made with whole milk, an 8-ounce serving contains:

206 calories

8 grams of protein

8 grams of fat

26 grams of carbohydrates

2 grams of fiber

24 grams of sugar

The difference is not just in the fat content and the calories. With whole milk, you also get more protein and fewer carbohydrates.

So, which kind should you choose? It depends on your taste and your nutritional goals.

The protein, calcium, and vitamin D in chocolate milk, as well as other minerals and electrolytes, provide important nutritional benefits.

Bone health. Milk is naturally rich in calcium, an essential nutrient for your bones and teeth. In addition, most of the milk available in the U.S. and many other countries is fortified with vitamin D. This combination of nutrients makes milk a bone-health powerhouse.

U.S. dairy producers began adding vitamin D to milk in the 1930s to help eliminate rickets, a bone-weakening disease. Rickets, which at the time was common in children, is caused by vitamin D deficiency and makes bones softer and weaker than they should be.

In adults, vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteomalacia, a softening of the bones that increases the risk of fractures. Both diseases can be prevented by eating foods high in vitamin D - and that's where milk, including chocolate milk, comes in.

Muscle mass and endurance. Chocolate milk is rich in protein, which helps build muscle mass. Several studies have also found that drinking chocolate milk significantly increases endurance, which helps you keep exercising longer.

As a result, chocolate milk can help you build muscle mass directly, by providing protein, and indirectly, by enabling you to exercise longer. Some evidence also suggests that it may be even more effective than sports drinks for increasing endurance and reducing post-workout exhaustion.

Weight management. Unlike other sugar-rich drinks such as juice and soda, chocolate milk is high in protein, and the non-skim versions also contain fat. Some evidence shows that protein and fat both help you feel full, and that feeling full can help you eat less.

Research shows that a diet high in protein - with enough vitamin D and lower calories - may help you lose. Older adults with obesity who increased their protein intake maintained more muscle mass and lost more weight than those who didn't add protein to their diets.

Compared to regular milk, chocolate milk does contain added sugars and added calories, both of which can contribute to obesity, which contributes to many different medical issues. So it's not the best choice if you're trying to keep your sugar and calories in-check.

Also, if your doctor has told you that you need more calcium, it's important to know that oxalic acid, a compound that occurs naturally in cocoa, can make it harder for your body to absorb calcium.

And of course, those with milk allergies or lactose intolerance may not be able to digest chocolate milk without discomfort.

For those with lactose intolerance, there are lactose-free chocolate milk options available. If you're concerned about the added sugar or calories, you can make smoothies with fruit and honey that can give you the same punch without the worry.

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Find out what the research says about chocolate milk, who should avoid it, and how it may affect your health.

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6 Reasons for kids to drink chocolate milk | a2 Milk® USA

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Many kids fall short on nutrients needed for growth and activity, like protein, calcium, and Vitamin D. But you don’t need any recipes or tricks to get your kids the nutrients they need, just a refreshing glass of a2 Milk® Chocolate Milk!

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Flavored milk is a nutritious option for kids, teens and adults to enjoy while getting the same 13 essential nutrients found in white milk. The nutrients found in both are:

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Flavored milk is a nutritious option for kids, teens and adults to enjoy while getting the same 13 essential nutrients found in white milk. The nutrients found in both are: You may also be interested in:

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Oceanography is an interdisciplinary science integrating the fields of geology, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering to explore the ocean. Oceanography is a relatively young field of science. The era of formal oceanographic studies began with the H.M.S. Challenger Expedition (1872-1876), the first voyage to comprehensively collect data related to ocean temperatures, chemistry, currents, marine life, and seafloor geology.

Modern oceanography did not begin until World War II, when the U.S. Navy wanted to learn more about the oceans to gain advantages in communicating across the Atlantic and implementing submarine warfare. By the late 1950s and '60s, underwater vehicles, known as submersibles, revolutionized oceanographic exploration. Today, buoys and water column samplers are used to monitor sea surface conditions and water quality factors, coring devices collect sediment samples, sonar helps create maps of the seafloor, and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) allow us to safely and efficiently explore all parts of the ocean. As ocean exploration increases and technology advances, so does our understanding of the way the ocean functions and supports life on Earth.

Astronomy is an interdisciplinary science as well, but it focuses on the study of space beyond Earth's atmosphere. The more recent advancements in space exploration have greatly expanded the field of astronomy.

With safety, cost, and efficiency as top priorities, the manner in which ocean and space exploration have progressed continues to evolve. We have seen a technological transition from manned submersibles and spacecraft to satellites, ROVs, and extraterrestrial probes and rovers. Advances in remote sensing, satellite communication, and data collection, including sampling devices and live video feeds, allow experts from across the globe to connect and share information in real time.

Despite all of these technological advances, there is still so much more to learn and explore. It is difficult to predict what space and ocean exploration will look like in the future. An interesting point to contemplate regarding future exploration comes from Dr. Robert Ballard: "The generation of kids in middle schools right now will explore more of Earth than all previous generations combined. Let that sink in. They're going to explore more of Earth than everyone that's been on this planet before them. That's pretty cool."

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US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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Chocolate milk isn’t just a nostalgic favorite – it’s a powerhouse of nutrition that kids and parents can feel good about. Whether you’re packing school lunches or fueling up after sports practice, flavored milk is a smart choice that delivers essential nutrients while keeping taste buds happy.Here’s why chocolate milk deserves a spot in your child’s routine – at home and at school:

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Abstract

Space missions present several unique challenges to human health and performance, including space radiation, unique gravity fields, living with just a small group of companions in a small space for a long time, limited resources like food and water, and being far away from Earth. Since our last visit to the Moon, scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have identified over 20 categories of human health risks that are related to these spaceflight hazards. Identifying the human health risks posed by space travel allows new science experiments to be designed and new knowledge to be gained, so we can ensure the health and safety of astronauts on their journeys of space exploration. In this article, we will set off on our own exploration mission to discover and learn about some of the main hazards and related health risks that space travelers will encounter.

Space Can Be Risky

In late 2022, the successful launch and return of the Artemis I Moon mission marked the start of a new and exciting chapter in human space exploration. Humans will soon set foot on the Moon for the first time in over 50 years, with plans to establish outposts on the Moon surface and in lunar orbit. Going to Mars is next, and the trip to Mars may take up to 3 years in space! Ensuring that space travelers are safe and have healthy bodies and minds is important for the success of these missions. As space travelers go further away from planet Earth, staying healthy becomes more challenging. For example, during a stay on the international space station (ISS), an astronaut developed a blood clot in a large neck vein []. Normally our bodies make blood clots, which are clumps of blood cells, to stop bleeding if there is a cut or injury. However, if a clot forms in a blood vessel it can be very dangerous because it may block the natural flow of blood needed by tissues and organs. The astronaut took images of the blood clot using an ultrasound device and sent the images to doctors on Earth, so they could form a treatment plan. The treatment plan included medications already aboard the ISS that, luckily, would not run out before the ISS was resupplied. Because of this collaboration between doctors on Earth and the astronaut in space, the astronaut was treated effectively and arrived home safely after the mission. However, if a health event occurred during a longer mission further away from Earth, it would not be as easy to consult with doctors or get certain medications. This article will describe various health challenges astronauts will face, called spaceflight hazards, and will describe several of the most important health risks posed by the hazards faced during a long trip in space.

Spaceflight Hazards and Associated Health Risks

The spaceflight environment has a unique set of health hazards that space travelers must deal with. Spaceflight hazards include space radiation, gravity that is different from that of Earth, long periods of isolation and confinement, living in a small, potentially uncomfortable living space within a closed environment or ecosystem, and being a long distance from home []. Importantly, space travelers will likely experience more than one spaceflight hazard at a time. It is important to understand how the combination of these hazards impacts the unique bodies and minds of every space traveler, as shown in Figure 1. Spaceflight hazards are linked to various human health risks, as shown in Figure 2. These include the risk of cancer or other diseases caused by space radiation, the risk of eye and vision problems, the risk of brain changes that negatively affect behavior, mood, and thinking abilities, and the risk of a poor diet [].

Figure 1 - Spaceflight hazards are a unique set of hazards present during space travel.

Scientists are working to understand how the combination of these hazards, along with individual genetic differences, impact the health of space travelers.

Figure 2 - There are many health risks from space travel, especially during long trips like a mission to Mars.

Important health risks include space radiation-induced cancer and other diseases, eye and vision problems, changes in the brain that negatively affect behavior, mood, and thinking abilities, and a poor diet. Studying these risks and figuring out how to combat them will enable space travelers to have healthy bodies and minds on their trips to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Health Risk 1: Cancer and Other Diseases From Space Radiation

Did you know there is radiation in space? Space radiation is ionizing radiation, meaning it has enough energy to break chemical bonds. Space radiation is unlike any radiation found on Earth. It includes solar particle event radiation coming from the sun, and energetic particles known as galactic cosmic rays that come from outside our solar system (For more information on space radiation, read more here). Unfortunately, space radiation can damage the cells and tissues of space travelers, leading to health problems like cancer or other diseases (To learn more about studying the human health on Earth, read more here and in space, read more here).

Cancer takes many years to develop, so it is unlikely to happen during a space mission. However, cancer could occur after a mission. Scientists are working to understand if cancer triggered by space radiation is more severe and more difficult to treat than cancer caused by ionizing radiation on Earth. They are also trying to figure out how to prevent it. Space radiation may cause health problems besides cancer, like problems with the heart, lungs, blood vessels, gut, or immune system (to learn more about heart health in space explorers, read more here and here). Space radiation may also have effects on the brain, causing problems with the ability to perform tasks, remember things, or learn new things (to learn more about how space radiation impacts the brain, read more here). To study the effects of space radiation, scientists use the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Space Radiation Laboratory, a special facility where space radiation can be mimicked ( Figure 3A, to learn more about studying space radiation effects here on Earth, read more here and here). Importantly, most of the studies on the effects of space radiation have been done in cell cultures and rodent models, so scientists are still trying to understand if these effects would also happen in human bodies.

Figure 3 - Health risks from spaceflight can be studied on Earth in space analogs like: (A) the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory, located at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York; or (B) the Human Exploration Research Analog located at NASA Johnson Space Center.

These risks are also studied in space onboard the International Space Station (ISS) (middle). (C) ISS expedition NASA astronaut Scott Kelly (left) assists Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui (right) with eye and vision measurements. (D) An ISS crew member prepares a meal of various food items (Image credits: NASA).

Health Risk 2: Eye and Vision Problems

Do you or does someone in your family wear eyeglasses to see better? We have known for a long time that going into space can change an astronaut's vision, so we give them several pairs of eyeglasses of differing power to take with them. More recently, scientists have identified an eye disease that is specific to spaceflight, called spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS). SANS includes swelling of the eye nerve and folding of one of the tissue layers of the eye. Both of these issues can make it difficult to see clearly. So far, SANS has not impacted how well space travelers can see before or after a mission. However, scientists are studying how SANS may impact astronauts during and after a longer trip in space, like a trip to Mars. Scientists are also trying to understand what causes SANS. One theory is that the shifting of the fluids in the body that happens in microgravity is part of the problem, though more data are needed to support this theory. Scientists are also working on studying the eyes of both men and women space travelers, to understand if SANS affects them equally ( Figure 3C) [ 3].

Health Risk 3: Changes in the Brain That Affect Behavior, Mood, and Thinking Abilities

Going to space for a long time can be pretty stressful. On a mission to Mars, space travelers will experience long periods of isolation, will be confined in a small space, and may have to go long periods of time without talking to people on Earth. These issues may cause problems with making decisions, performing tasks well, working together in a team, and handling stress. In severe cases, space travelers may feel depressed, anxious, or angry. Luckily, scientists have shown that there are habits that can reduce the stress of going to space. On the ISS, a laboratory in space where astronauts work and live ( Figures 3C, D), sleeping well, exercising, journaling, communicating with loved ones, and thinking positively has helped astronauts reduce stress.

However, a journey to Mars will be more challenging than a mission on the ISS. Space travelers will be gone for much longer periods of time and they may not be able to communicate with people on Earth for long stretches. To study these conditions, scientists use a space analog: something that mimics the experience of traveling in space, without actually going to space [ 3]. One example is the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) at NASA's Johnson Space Center ( Figure 3B). Within HERA, teams can do mock space missions, where they complete mission objectives, live for long periods isolated in small spaces, experience delays in communication, and eat space food [ 3]. Remote locations on Earth, such as Antarctica, have also been used as a space analog. Space analogs help scientists understand which changes in behavior, mood, and thinking abilities may occur during space missions and what space travelers can do to reduce stress and keep their bodies and minds healthy.

Health Risk 4: A Poor Diet

A poor diet has always been a concern for explorers. For example, scurvy, a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C, killed many sailors between the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries. Like sailors, space travelers will also need to ensure they are eating enough healthy foods that contain the vitamins and nutrients they need to survive and thrive. However, unlike sailors, space travelers do not have the option to stop at a port city and refill their food supplies. On the ISS, scientists have been studying the importance of good nutrition and the consequences of poor nutrition, as NASA prepares for longer journeys to the Moon and Mars ( Figure 3D) [ 3]. Poor nutrition can cause many health issues, like poor bone health, reduced ability to think clearly, reduced heart function, and vision problems. Good nutrition may also help fight some of the negative health effects caused by the other spaceflight hazards. Some health conditions on Earth may also be linked to poor nutrition, so studying how a poor diet impacts space travelers is not only useful for a trip to space-it could improve the health of people on Earth, too.

Back to the Moon... and Beyond!

There are many hazards in the space environment that may impact the health of space travelers. These hazards may lead to a number of potential health problems. Research on space-related health risks will enable space travelers to have healthy bodies and minds on their trips to the Moon, Mars, and beyond! If you still want to learn more, and we hope you do, further information on these topics can be found on NASA's website.

Author disclaimer

This work was prepared while ZP was employed at KBR/NASA Johnson Space Center. The opinions expressed in this work are the author's own and do not reflect the view of the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States Government.

Glossary

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Human Research Program of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [JH], by the Human Health and Performance contract NNJ15HK11B [ZP], and by the NASA Langley Research Center Cooperative Agreement 80LARC17C0004 [KM]. Written informed consent was obtained from the individual(s) for the publication of any identifiable images or data included in this article.

Original Source Article

↑Patel, Z. S., Brunstetter, T. J., Tarver, W. J., Whitmire, A. M., Zwart, S. R., Smith, S. M., et al. 2020. Red risks for a journey to the red planet: the highest priority human health risks for a mission to Mars. NPJ Microgravity 6:33. doi: 10.1038/s41526-020-00124-6

References

[1] ↑ Auñón-Chancellor, S. M., Pattarini, J. M., Moll, S., and Sargsyan, A. 2020. Venous thrombosis during spaceflight. N. Engl. J. Med. 382:89-90. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc1905875

[2] ↑ NASA. The 5 Hazards of Human Spaceflight. NASA. (2018). Available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/hrp/hazards (accessed October 19, 2022).

[3] ↑ Patel, Z. S., Brunstetter, T. J., Tarver, W. J., Whitmire, A. M., Zwart, S. R., Smith, S. M., et al. 2020. Red risks for a journey to the red planet: the highest priority human health risks for a mission to mars. NPJ Microgravity 6:33. doi: 10.1038/s41526-020-00124-6

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Hazards During Spaceflight Can Affect Human Health

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Space missions present several unique challenges to human health and performance, including space radiation, unique gravity fields, living with just a small group of companions in a small space for a long time, limited resources like food and water, and being far away from Earth.

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Do you love to play sports? For many kids, there's nothing quite like the exercise and fun that come from being part of a team. Maybe you play baseball, basketball, football, or soccer. Perhaps you prefer softball or volleyball. No matter what sports you enjoy, there is fun to be had on a field or a court near you.

Some athletes take things to the next , though. Rather than playing traditional sports, they strike out on their own. No, we're not talking about bowling or jogging. We're talking about extreme sports!

What is an extreme sport? There's no set definition. For the most part, though, extreme sports are athletic activities involving one person that are dangerous in some way. Most extreme sports give athletes a rush of adrenaline . This is what drives many of them to take part.

What types of activities do most people call extreme sports? It's a long list! It includes skateboarding, surfing, bungee jumping, snowboarding, whitewater kayaking, mountain climbing, and ice climbing. Many would add BASE jumping, heli-skiing, BMX biking, bull riding, and cliff diving to the list. Even mountain biking, cave diving, ski jumping, speed skiing, and street luging are often called extreme sports.

Just thinking about many of those activities is enough to give most people goosebumps. That feeling of fear and is what drives many extreme sports athletes. They seek to test themselves in all sorts of death-defying ways. Many people also enjoy watching extreme sports. Their popularity has soared in recent years.

You may have seen extreme sports on TV or social media. Some of the athletes receive large sponsorships. Many companies want to link their brands with these thrill seekers. Some sponsorships allow extreme sports athletes to compete professionally.

The best extreme sports athletes can have long and profitable careers. But even the smallest mistakes in these sports can have major-even - consequences . Between 2000 and 2011, over four million injuries were caused by extreme sports.

Many of these injuries can be prevented. Unfortunately, the young people who are most likely to in extreme sports sometimes lack good judgment. The lure of Internet leads many to attempt things they're not ready for.

Extreme sports can be very dangerous. Never in an activity you haven't prepared for. If you think you would like to try an extreme sport, get advice from friends and family members first. You should also learn from experts in the sport. If you proceed, start small. Your safety is always what's most important.

CCRA.L.3, CCRA.L.6, CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.R.4, CCRA.R.10, CCRA.SL.1, CCRA.SL.2, CCRA.W.2, CCRA.W.4, CCRA.W.9, CCRA.L.1, CCRA.L.2

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Today's Wonder of the Day is extremely interesting!

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Read Rising Seas: Flooding, Climate Change and Our New World on Epic

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Read Rising Seas: Flooding, Climate Change and Our New World on Epic

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Instantly access Rising Seas: Flooding, Climate Change and Our New World plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

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Fabien Cousteau Leads "Aquanauts" in Record Breaking Undersea Expedition 

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Fabien Cousteau Leads "Aquanauts" in Record Breaking Undersea Expedition 

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Amitai Etzioni says there are bigger priorities than a new push for manned exploration in space

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What It's Like to Spend a Month Under the Sea

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Live Science caught up with Fabien Cousteau, who spent a month in an undersea lab this past summer.

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Help Save our Oceans! : A Groundbreaking Undersea Expedition with Fabien Cousteau

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Dive into some of our planet's most amazing water features!

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What Is Ocean Exploration and Why Is It Important?

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What Is Ocean Exploration and Why Is It Important?

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Exploration is key to increasing our understanding of the ocean, so we can more effectively manage, conserve, regulate, and use ocean resources that are vital to our economy and to all of our lives.

Despite the fact that the ocean covers approximately 70% of Earth's surface and plays a critical role in supporting life on our planet, from the air we breathe and the food we eat to weather and climate patterns, our understanding of the ocean remains limited.

Ocean exploration is about making discoveries, searching for things that are unusual and unexpected. As the first step in the scientific process, the rigorous observations and documentation of biological, chemical, physical, geological, and archaeological aspects of the ocean gained from exploration set the stage for future research and decision-making.

Through ocean exploration, we collect data and information needed to address both current and emerging science and management needs. Exploration helps to ensure that ocean resources are not just managed, but managed in a sustainable way, so those resources are around for future generations to enjoy. Exploration of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone is important for national security, allowing us to set boundaries, protect American interests, and claim ocean resources.

Unlocking the mysteries of ocean ecosystems can reveal new sources for medical therapies and vaccines, food, energy, and more as well as inspire inventions that mimic adaptations of deep-sea animals. Information from ocean exploration can help us understand how we are affecting and being affected by changes in Earth's environment, including changes in weather and climate. Insights from ocean exploration can help us better understand and respond to earthquakes, tsunamis, and other hazards.

The challenges met while exploring the ocean can provide the impetus for new technologies and engineering innovations that can be applied in other situations, allowing us to respond more effectively in the face of an ocean crisis, such as an oil spill. And, ocean exploration can improve ocean literacy and inspire young people to seek critical careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

As a species, humans are naturally inquisitive - curiosity, desire for knowledge, and quest for adventure motivate modern explorers even today. And if all of these examples don't provide enough reasons to explore the ocean, well, ocean exploration is also just cool (if you need it: proof).

The NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research is the only federal program dedicated to exploring the deep ocean, closing prominent gaps in our basic understanding of U.S. deep waters and the seafloor and delivering the ocean information needed to strengthen the economy, health, and security of our nation.

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Why do we explore the ocean? : Ocean Exploration Facts: NOAA Ocean Exploration

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Exploration is key to increasing our understanding of the ocean, so we can more effectively manage, conserve, regulate, and use ocean resources that are vital to our economy and to all of our lives.

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What’s Hiding at the Most Solitary Place on Earth? The Deep Sea

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Got chocolate milk? A popular choice among both children and adults, the beverage is not only yummy but also good for you. All milk, flavored or not, has the same unique combination of essential nutrients. Plain and flavored milk include three out of the four nutrients of concern for kids: calcium, vitamin D and potassium. Check out more reasons why chocolate milk is a good choice:

Kids need the nutrients. Milk drinkers meet their needs for calcium, magnesium, potassium and vitamin A much quicker than non-milk drinkers. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends three servings of low-fat or fat-free dairy for children every day.

Kids who drink flavored milk consume more nutrients than - yet have a comparable body weight to - children who don't drink milk.

Kids who drink flavored milk are less likely to drink soda or juice, which are empty calories with almost no nutritional value.

Kids drink more milk when it's flavored. Children are more likely to get their three daily servings if flavored milk is an option.

In schools, 70 percent of milk kids choose is flavored, low-fat chocolate being the most popular choice.

Studies have shown that removing flavored milk from schools results in a dramatic drop in milk consumption, which means these kids miss out on essential nutrients.

Added sugar is minimal. There has been worry that flavored milk at school contributes to high intake of added sugars in kids, but research shows that flavored milk only contributes 3 percent of added sugars in kids' diets.

An 8-ounce serving of chocolate milk has 12 grams of naturally occurring lactose (milk sugar), and chocolate milk in schools has only 8-12 grams of added sugar.

Dairy companies have worked with schools to reduce the amount of sugar by 38 percent - making nearly all of the chocolate milk served in schools less than 150 calories for an 8-ounce serving. In fact, flavored milk only has 31 more calories than white milk.

So go ahead and enjoy the chocolate milk - and encourage your kids to do the same at school. They'll get the essential nutrients they need to grow strong and focus well in school.

1. Murphy MM, Douglass JS, Johnson RK, Spence LA. Drinking flavored or plain milk is positively associated with nutrient intake and is not associated with adverse effects on weight status in US children and adolescents. J Am Diet Assoc. 2008 Apr;108(4):631-9.

2. Frary CD, Johnson, RK, Wang MQ. Journal of Adolescent Health 2004;34, 56-63

3. The impact on student milk consumption and nutrient intakes from eliminating flavored milk inschools. 2009. MilkPEP research conducted by Prime Consulting Group. Presented at the SchoolNutrition Association Annual National Conference, 2010.

4. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, NHANES (2003-2006), ages 2-18

5. 2011-2012 Projected School Milk Product Profile, MilkPEP School Channel Survey, conducted by Prime Consulting Group. This is a joint project of the Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP), the National Dairy Council and the School Nutrition Association, conducted July, 2011. Reponses were received from processors who collectively serve over 51,000, or 53% of all K-12 public schools.

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3 Reasons to Keep Chocolate Milk in Schools

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Got chocolate milk? A popular choice among both children and adults, the beverage is not only yummy but also good for you. All milk, flavored or not, has the same unique combination of essential nutrients. Plain and flavored milk include three out of the four nutrients of concern for kids: calcium, vitamin D and potassium.

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A new informational campaign and online portal launched Monday shows that the U.S. dairy industry creates nearly 3 million U.S. jobs, has an overall economic impact of more than $628 billion and accounts for more than 1 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

At a kickoff news conference, the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) emphasized research data as they unveiled their "Got Jobs? campaign.

The joint effort features a logo reminiscent of the iconic "Got Milk?" ads, but with a different message: "Dairy creates jobs, exports create more."

Does your state#GotDairyJobs? Check out the new hub for all things#dairyjobs and exports, https://t.co/1YZbgu1irK. Spread the word:#Dairycreates jobs,#exportscreate more. pic.twitter.com/Mcsy0pm8kS
- National Milk (@nmpf) May 21, 2018

A new GotDairyJobs.org portal showcases hard facts and real faces of real people working real jobs, thanks to dairy. The resources are intended to help the dairy industry, news media and others tell the dairy economic impact story that is playing out nationally and in virtually every state.

The source for much of the data comes from Dairy Delivers℠, IDFA's economic impact tool. The new portal enables users to quickly find state-by-state fact sheets showing economic impact and exports.

One-page fact sheets featuring state-by-state data-as well as national data (shown below)-are available to download in just one click.

More than 20 journalists attending the virtual news conference were told that over the next year, the site will offer monthly features, videos and hard facts that demonstrate dairy's continued impact on jobs, tax revenue and communities around the country.

At the kickoff news conference on Monday, USDEC President and CEO Tom Vilsack described the importance of tax revenue provided by dairy industry to state and local governments across the country, including those in Iowa where he formerly served as governor.

"When state and local taxes here in the state of Iowa approach $1 billion, that is a significant amount of money that provides assistance and help in terms of keeping libraries open, in being able to ensure that there are adequate police and firefighters on staff and to be able to make sure that schools are properly supported. It goes right down the line," he says in the audio track below. (Click on orange arrow to hear more.)

"Dairy has a positive story to tell, affecting a wide swath of America, creating jobs and tax revenue in rural, suburban and urban communities," said Vilsack, who also saw dairy's impact first-hand as U.S. Agriculture Secretary. "I'm delighted we now have a go-to place where people can find state-by-state data and compelling human stories that reinforce the same message: `Dairy creates jobs and exports create more.'"

Using #GotDairyJobs, the dairy industry supplies social media resources on the site (at " Share the Story") that will amplify the campaign and create a dairy jobs conversation on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

State-by-state fact sheets focusing on export data are also downloadable with one click.

"As milk continues its journey from farm to table, it becomes a job-creation machine, employing farm workers, truck drivers, construction workers, factory workers, retailers and even cargo ship captains navigating the ocean to ports in fast-growing countries demanding more dairy than their own countries can produce," said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. "The United States is uniquely positioned to meet this growing global need, which allows U.S. dairy to provide opportunities for job creation and growth in the United States."

Michael Dykes, D.V.M., president and CEO of IDFA, said the potential for increasing exports relies on a level playing field with global competitors.

"Backed by fair and proactive trade policies, the U.S. dairy industry will continue to keep and create jobs in states across the country," said Dykes.

The video below shows national job-creation information by the numbers. The campaign plans to focus on top job-generating dairy states, one per month, over the next year with similar videos, as well as human-interest stories and other content.
DAIRY IMPACT BY THE NUMBERS: WATCH VIDEO BELOW
For questions and ideas on how your organization can participate in the campaign, contact Mark O'Keefe at mokeefe@usdec.org.
Mark O'Keefe is vice president of editorial services at the U.S. Dairy Export Council. Learn more:
Subscribe to the U.S. Dairy Exporter Blog
T he U.S. Dairy Export Council fosters collaborative industry partnerships with processors, trading companies and others to enhance global demand for U.S. dairy products and ingredients. USDEC is primarily supported by Dairy Management Inc. through the dairy farmer checkoff. How to republish this post.

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Got U.S. Jobs? Dairy Creates Nearly 3 Million!

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A nationwide campaign launched Monday has a relevant economic message for every state: "Dairy creates jobs, exports create more."

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Read Nutrition and Your Body: Your Body on Dairy on Epic

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Read Nutrition and Your Body: Your Body on Dairy on Epic

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Instantly access Nutrition and Your Body: Your Body on Dairy plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

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Instantly access The Dairy Group plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

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Explore the roles that diet, physical activity, and genetics play in the obesity crisis, and learn the choices you can make to stay healthy. (Mmm, grapes!)

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If you're like most kids, you've probably heard at least one parent say, "Don't forget to take your vitamin!" or "Eat your salad - it's packed with vitamins!" But what exactly are vitamins?

Vitamins and minerals are substances that are found in foods we eat. Your body needs them to work properly, so you grow and stay healthy. When it comes to vitamins, each one has a special role to play. For example:

Vitamin D in milk helps your bones.

Vitamin A in carrots helps you see at night.

Vitamin C in oranges helps your body heal if you get a cut.

B vitamins in whole grains help your body make energy from food.

Vitamins Hang Out in Water and Fat

There are two types of vitamins: fat soluble and water soluble.

When you eat foods that contain fat-soluble vitamins, the vitamins are stored in the fat tissues in your body and in your liver. They wait around in your body fat until your body needs them.

Fat-soluble vitamins are happy to stay stored in your body for a long time. Then, when it's time for them to be used, special carriers in your body take them to where they're needed. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are all fat-soluble vitamins.

Water-soluble vitamins are different. These vitamins dissolve in water. When you eat foods that have water-soluble vitamins, the vitamins are not stored in your body. Instead, they travel through your bloodstream. Whatever your body doesn't use comes out when you urinate (pee).

So water-soluble vitamins need to be replaced often because they don't stick around! This crowd of vitamins includes vitamin C and the big group of B vitamins - B1 (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), niacin, B6 (pyridoxine), folic acid, B12 (cobalamine), biotin, and pantothenic acid.

Vitamins Feed Your Needs

Your body is one powerful machine, capable of doing all sorts of things by itself. But when it comes to vitamins, it can use some help. That's where food comes in. Your body is able to get the vitamins it needs from the foods you eat because different foods contain different vitamins. The key is to eat different foods to get an assortment of vitamins. Though some kids take a daily vitamin, most kids don't need one if they're eating a variety of healthy foods.

Now, let's look more closely at vitamins - from A to K:

Vitamin A

This vitamin plays a really big part in eyesight. It's great for night vision, like when you're trick-or-treating on Halloween. Vitamin A helps you see in color, too, from the brightest yellow to the darkest purple. In addition, it helps your body fight infections by boosting your immune system.

Which foods are rich in vitamin A?

milk fortified with vitamin A

liver

orange fruits and vegetables (like cantaloupe, carrots, sweet potatoes)

dark green leafy vegetables (like kale, collards, spinach)

The B Vitamins

There's more than one B vitamin. Here's the list: B1, B2, B6, B12, niacin, folic acid, biotin, and pantothenic acid. Whew - that's quite a group!

The B vitamins are important in metabolic (say: meh-tuh-BAH-lik) activity - this means that they help get energy from the food you eat and set it free when your body needs it. So the next time you're running to third base, thank those B vitamins.

This group of vitamins also helps make red blood cells, which carry oxygen throughout your body. Every part of your body needs oxygen to work properly, so these B vitamins have a really important job.

Which foods are rich in vitamin B?

whole grains, such as wheat and oats

fish and seafood

poultry and meats

eggs

dairy products, like milk and yogurt

leafy green vegetables

beans and peas

fortified cereals

Vitamin C

This vitamin is important for keeping body tissues, such as gums, bones, and blood vessels in good shape. Vitamin C is key if you get a cut because it helps you heal. It also helps the body absorb iron from food. Kids need iron to prevent anemia.

This vitamin may also help your body fight off infections. If you get a cold, for instance, vitamin C can help shorten the amount of time you are sick.

Which foods are rich in vitamin C?

citrus fruits, like oranges

cantaloupe

strawberries

tomatoes

broccoli

cabbage

kiwi fruit

sweet red peppers

Vitamin D

No bones about it . . . vitamin D is the vitamin you need for strong bones! It's also great for forming strong teeth. Vitamin D lends a hand to an important mineral - it helps your body absorb the calcium it needs. Vitamin D is made in the skin when exposed to sunlight, or you can get it from the foods you eat.

Which foods are rich in vitamin D?

milk and other dairy fortified with vitamin D

fish

egg yolks

liver

fortified cereal

Vitamin E

Everybody needs E. This hard-working vitamin protects your cells and tissues from damage. It is also important for the health of red blood cells.

Which foods are rich in vitamin E?

whole grains, such as wheat and oats

wheat germ

leafy green vegetables

vegetable oils like sunflower, canola, and olive

egg yolks

nuts and seeds

Vitamin K

Vitamin K is the clotmaster! Remember the last time you got a cut? Your blood did something special called clotting. This is when certain cells in your blood act like glue and stick together at the surface of the cut to help stop the bleeding.

Which foods are rich in vitamin K?

leafy green vegetables

dairy products, like milk and yogurt

broccoli

soybean, canola, and olive oils

When your body gets this vitamin and the other ones it needs, you'll be feeling A-OK!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you're like most kids, you've probably heard at least one parent say, "Don't forget to take your vitamin!" or "Eat your salad - it's packed with vitamins!" But what exactly are vitamins? Vitamins and minerals are substances that are found in foods we eat.

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Read Plastic Sea: A Bird's-Eye View on Epic

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Read Plastic Sea: A Bird’s-Eye View on Epic

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Instantly access Plastic Sea: A Bird’s-Eye View plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

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https://www.brainpop.com/technology/scienceandindustry/plastic/

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Plastic Pollution: How Humans are Turning the World into Plastic

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Plastic Pollution: How Humans are Turning the World into Plastic

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California’s bag ban hurting the job market?

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California’s bag ban hurting the job market?

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California’s bag ban hurting the job market? | Fox Business Video

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Toronto is banning plastic shopping bags in stores.

Starting in January 2013, you'll have to bring your own reusable bag to the store to cart your goods away.

More than 250 million bags end up in landfill every year, never breaking down into compost, according to a report by CBC News.

Plastic bags can also clog drainage systems and, when they are washed out to sea, can hurt fish and other marine animals.

Plastic bags are banned or restricted in about a quarter of the countries in the world, according to online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

Countries including Italy and South Africa have banned plastic bags. Many large cities have also banned them.

Toronto currently charges five cents per bag-for instance, for people who want a plastic bag to carry their groceries home.

The five-cent fee was put in place to discourage people from using the non-environmentally friendly product. Instead, people are encouraged to bring their own reusable bags to stores.

After Ireland put a fee on plastic bags in 2002, 90 per cent fewer bags were used. In 2010 Washington D.C. began charging five cents per plastic bag and that city's consumption of them went down from 22.5 million to three million in the first month.

In Toronto, the plastic bag fee has cut down on the number of plastic bags used by half, according to Metro newspaper.

A ban was not exactly what Toronto mayor Rob Ford had in mind when he brought up the subject at City Council on Wednesday. In fact, he wanted to end the five-cent fee on bags.

However, Councillor David Shiner proposed a very different motion. He suggested Toronto do away with plastic bags altogether.

That motion passed, 24 to 20. Starting on Jan. 1, 2013, retailers in Toronto will not be allowed to give out or sell any plastic shopping bags, including ones that claim to be "compostable or biodegradable."

According to Metro, "Ford appeared upset after the vote, blinking rapidly." Ford said council's decision didn't make any sense, and said he felt the motion will be overturned.

Council also voted to stop the five-cent fee for plastic bags, from July 1 until the ban takes effect. That means stores will be able to hand out plastic bags free in Toronto for six months.

Ford later told a news radio station that he would like to see Torontonians come down to City Hall to protest the ban. He said he thinks the ban is the dumbest thing Toronto council has ever done.

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly

Writing/Discussion Prompt
What do you think should be done about plastic bags. Should they be free of charge, cost 5 cents, or be banned altogether. Make a jot list of reasons to support your answer.

Reading Prompt: Purpose
Use the information in today's article to write a letter to Toronto's City Counsel. OK, now go ahead... and send send it. Let them know what you think!

Primary, Junior, & Intermediate
Identify a variety of purposes for reading and choose reading materials appropriate for those purposes (OME, Reading: 1.2).

Grammar Feature: Verbs
Verbs are action words. Every sentence includes at least one verb. The verbs authors choose help readers understand the text. Underline the "key" verbs in today's story that help you understand it. How do these verbs affect your understanding?

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Mayor Ford is furious that Toronto's city council voted to ban all plastic bags in 2013. Read the facts and form your own opinion! Kids News

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So many ways to reuse plastic bags - Bag the Ban

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Plastic bags can be reused again and again. Plastic bags aren’t just 100% recyclable — they’re reusable, too! More than 90% of Americans say they reuse their plastic bags at least once, for everything from lining trash cans to packing lunches and picking up after pets.1 In fact, Recyc-Quebec, a Cana…

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Plastic Bags are the Healthier Option – for Families and the Environment

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Plastic Bags are the Healthier Option – for Families and the Environment

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Plastic Bags are the Healthier Option – for Families and the Environment - Bag the Ban

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Recyclable plastic bags don’t pose the potential health risks associated with alternative bags. Hundreds of millions of petroleum based, polypropylene reusable bags are imported from China and other countries each year.1 These are, by far, the dominant type of reusable bags, and some have been found…

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Plastic Bag Recycling and Manufacturing Supports Thousands of Jobs

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Plastic Bag Recycling and Manufacturing Supports Thousands of Jobs

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Bag taxes hurt struggling families and take money away from working families.

Food prices continue to skyrocket, and people don't need their grocery bills increased with an extra tax.¹

The USDA reported that in 2018 there were 14.3 million U.S. households that were food insecure. The focus of our elected officials should be on solving the issue of food insecurity - not hurting the economy and making groceries more expensive by banning or taxing bags. ²

Banning and taxing plastic bags threatens American jobs.

Nationwide, thousands of hardworking men and women are employed and supported by the plastic bag manufacturing and recycling industry.³ At a time when many communities around the nation suffer from unemployment and a struggling economy, we can't afford to implement misguided policies that threaten jobs, economic recovery and American competitiveness. Bag bans and taxes also hurt local businesses and struggling families by adding another cost to every grocery trip.

Bans and taxes on plastic bags hurt America's working class and kill jobs.

Proposed ordinances to ban and tax plastic bags threaten nearly 30,000 American manufacturing and recycling jobs in 344 plants across the country.

Low-income workers have complained publicly³ that such policies are "discriminatory," especially for those who rely on public transportation to get to low-wage jobs, and there has even been a lawsuit⁴ filed saying a ban discriminates against the disabled.

American plastic bag manufacturers provide jobs with competitive salaries and benefits. In addition, manufacturers invest in innovative green technologies that are revolutionizing the plastics recycling industry.

Plastic bag bans and taxes threaten this industry and its workers and stymie technology investments that impact America's global competitiveness.

Plastic bag bans and taxes hurt small businesses.

A 2012 study by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) found that banning plastic bags negatively impacted retail sales and employment in the ban area, shifting business to stores just outside the bag ban region.⁵
Connecticut's 2019 plastic bag tax resulted in shoppers crossing state lines to avoid the fee.⁶

Bag bans can lead to small business layoffs. In Los Angeles County, stores inside the ban area were forced to terminate staff, sometimes by as much as 10%. In contrast, stores outside the ban area reported increased employment by 2.4%.⁵

Following Seattle's ban on plastic bags, nearly 40% of surveyed store owners reported seeing their costs for carryout bags increase between 40% and 200%. Added costs directly impact a store's bottom line and cannot be taken lightly in this economy.⁷

Under threat of fines or penalties, bans and taxes on plastic bags force local businesses to comply with government regulations that mandate measuring, counting, reporting and maintaining records related to enforcement of these unnecessary laws.

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Plastic Bag Recycling and Manufacturing Supports Thousands of Jobs - Bag the Ban

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Bag taxes hurt struggling families and take money away from working families. Food prices continue to skyrocket, and people don't need their grocery bills increased with an extra tax.¹ The USDA reported that in 2018 there were 14.3 million U.S. households that were food insecure.

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What should you do with your leftover plastic grocery bags? Reuse or recycle them!

Plastic bags are 100% recyclable. Recycling is easy and makes a real difference. Since 2005, there has been a 54% increase in plastic film recycling.¹

Bring your plastic bags, sacks, and wraps to participating retail stores and drop them into plastic bag recycling bins. From there, the bags and wraps are picked up for recycling.
Don't forget to include bread bags, dry cleaning bags, newspaper bags, product overwrap (plastic wrap around packages of toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, etc.), or any plastic film marked with a #2 HDPE or #4 LDPE recycling sign. All of these can be included with your plastic bags in the store recycling bin!

Your recycled plastic bags may get a new life as eco-friendly raw material for playgrounds, construction materials, and new plastic bags.

Plastic bag recycling supports American manufacturing jobs. In 2017, 81% of plastic retail bags and film returned for recycling were reclaimed by U.S. and Canadian recyclers.¹

More Recycling, "2017 National Post-Consumer Plastic Bag & Film Recycling Report," July 2019.

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Plastic Bags are 100% Recyclable - Bag the Ban

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What should you do with your leftover plastic grocery bags? Reuse or recycle them! Plastic bags are 100% recyclable. Recycling is easy and makes a real difference. Since 2005, there has been a 54% increase in plastic film recycling.¹ Bring your plastic bags, sacks, and wraps to participating retail stores and drop them into plastic [...]

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Plastic bags are the most environmentally friendly option at the checkout. They're 100% recyclable and highly reused. Studies show that alternatives which seem "greener" actually place a greater burden on the environment because they require more natural resources to produce and transport, they emit more carbon throughout their lifecycles and they need more energy to recycle - if they're recyclable at all. On top of that, studies show bag bans and taxes haven't meaningfully reduced overall litter or waste anywhere they've been tried. ¹

ENERGY SAVINGS: Plastic bags require 70% less energy to manufacture and consume 96% less water than what's used to make paper bags.

DISPOSAL ADVANTAGES: Once disposed, reusable bags take up to 9.3% more space than plastic bags in landfills.

REUSABLE COTTON BAGS AREN'T REUSED ENOUGH: Standard reusable cotton grocery bags must be reused at least 131 times "to ensure that they have lower global warming potential than" a plastic bag used only once.² In fact, one study found that organic cotton bags need to be reused 20,000 times to have the same environment performance of a plastic bag reused once.³

NO OIL INVOLVED: American-made plastic bags are produced from byproducts of natural gas, not oil.⁴

The results are in: Bag bans and taxes don't help to reduce waste, litter, or marine debris.
Ban and tax ordinances have never been successful at meaningfully reducing litter, waste or marine debris. Not anywhere. What they have been shown to do is heap unfair costs on low and fixed-income families and add more red tape to local businesses. The environment doesn't benefit, and neither do people.

LANDFILL WASTE INCREASES: According to the EPA, "plastic bags and sacks" account for 0.3% of municipal solid waste.⁵ Plastic retail bags are a fraction of this number. Without plastic grocery bags, people purchase replacement bags - often made of thicker, heavier plastic - and then send those bags to the landfill instead.⁶
In Austin, landfill waste increased after a bag ban because shoppers used and disposed of thicker plastic reusable bags in the place of standard plastic grocery bags.⁷

LITTLE TO NO IMPACT ON OVERALL LITTER: Plastic retail bags comprise a very small portion of litter - typically less than 1% - making bans and taxes ineffective when it comes to reducing overall litter.⁸

In Washington, D.C., a bag tax hasn't improved litter or reduced bag use at all.⁹ According to a Washington Post investigation, D.C. collected roughly $10 million since 2010 without making any environmental progress. And the tax revenue keeps growing every year.¹⁰

A year after California implemented a statewide ban on plastic bags in 2016, an Ocean Conservancy survey showed a negligible 0.2% decrease in plastic bag litter as a percentage of overall litter.¹¹

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES:

California's plastic bag ban led to an increase in carbon emissions due to a surge in trash bag purchases (which use more plastic than traditional retail bags) as well as an increase in paper bag usage.¹²

In Thurston County, Washington, a bag ban resulted in double the use of more resource-intensive paper bags.¹³

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Plastic Bags and the Environment - Bag the Ban

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Plastic bags are the most environmentally friendly option at the checkout. They're 100% recyclable and highly reused. Studies show that alternatives which seem "greener" actually place a greater burden on the environment because they require more natural resources to produce and transport, they emit more carbon throughout their lifecycles and they need more energy to [...]

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The City Council’s plan to promote E. coli

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The City Council’s plan to promote E. coli

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AP

New York City's do-gooders are at it again, this time looking to put a 10-cent fee on each plastic bag that stores normally provide to their customers without charge.

This isn't just another burden on the city's beleaguered small retailers, it's also a terrible idea for public health.

When then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg pushed a similar proposal a few years back, it never even got a hearing. But the new bill already has 19 City Council members signed on as co-sponsors.

And Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris told WNYC radio this month that the fee is a direction the de Blasio administration is "very supportive of."

I long ago lost count of how many regulations of the past decade have unintended, bad consequences that hit the city's small retailers the hardest.

These beleaguered store owners already face an army of enforcement agents who treat them like a cash cow. The city's bids to promote "the public good" never take into consideration the health of these stores or the neighborhood economies that they support.

Our local army of regulators belongs to what the author Saul Bellow called the Good Intentions Paving Co.

This company's projects are always well-meant, but when they turn out to have undesired costs, tradeoffs and side-effects, the company leaders sincerely believe that none of the blame can possibly attach to them. After all, their intentions were good!

The irony here is that the bag fee poses a direct threat to New Yorkers' health.

The point of the bag tax is to force consumers to substitute reusable bags for the no-longer-free plastic ones.

Problem is, reusable bags play a significant role in food contamination unless they're properly washed on a regular basis - something people rarely do.

In a public-health study done at the University of Arizona, researchers found that only 3 percent of shoppers with multi-use bags said they regularly washed them. The same study found bacteria in 99 percent. Half carried coliform bacteria, and 8 percent carried E. coli - an indicator of fecal contamination.

"I classify them as pretty dirty things, like the bottom of your shoes," said Ryan Sinclair of the Loma Linda University School of Public Health, a co-author of the study.

As the study showed, the reusable bags function as a Petri dish for all kinds of contaminants. Further, three-fourths of their users acknowledged that they don't use separate bags for meats and for vegetables, and about a third said they used the bags for, well, all sorts of things (storing snacks, toting books).

A study by the Centers for Disease Control verified the dangers: "Reusable bags, if not properly washed between uses, create the potential for cross-contamination of foods.

"This potential exists when raw meat products and foods traditionally eaten uncooked (fruits and vegetables) are carried in the same bags, either together or between uses. This risk can be increased by the growth of bacteria in the bags."

What about the environmental benefit? At best, it's smaller than the do-gooders imagine.

It takes less energy to make plastic bags than the canvas ones that the "reusers" usually push - and, in fact, consumers find multiple post-store uses for the plastic, from in-home trash bags to padding in a storage box.

Yes, most wind up in the garbage eventually - but before we restrict them, let's figure out ways to make plastic-bag recycling more efficient - something that the Department of Sanitation has failed to do.

Polls throughout the country find that people overwhelmingly reject bans and regressive taxes. Imagine the results if people knew more about the health threat posed by reusable bags.

Let's shelve the bag fee and search for better ways to aid the environment that don't burden our small businesses and threaten our citizens' health.

Brad Gerstman is a lawyer, lobbyist and co-founder of the New York Association of Grocery Stores.

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The City Council's plan to promote E. coli

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New York City's do-gooders are at it again, this time looking to put a 10-cent fee on each plastic bag that stores normally provide to their customers without charge. This isn't just another burden...

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Plastic Pollution: How Humans are Turning the World into Plastic

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Plastic Pollution: How Humans are Turning the World into Plastic

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Plastic Pollution: How Humans are Turning the World into Plastic

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Single-Use Plastics Initiative | The Maritime Aquarium

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Learn more about the Single-Use Plastics Initiative at The Maritime Aquarium. Contact us if you have any questions!

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Can Chemical Recycling Solve The World's Plastic Problem?

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Pros and Cons of Bottled Water: Is is Good for Your Child?

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Pros and Cons of Bottled Water: Is is Good for Your Child?

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These days you can't go very far without seeing bottled water, whether you're scanning the aisles at your favorite supermarket, cheering on your kids at their latest sporting event, or perhaps packing for a trip to your favorite vacation destination. Our dental office in Erdenheim wants you and your family to stay healthy and hydrated, which may mean drinking more bottled water. There are some extremely excellent benefits to bottled H 2 0 but did you know there are also some cons too, especially for kids?

Pros of Bottled H20: The Good News!

Bottled water is an excellent solution for having delicious drinking water anytime, anywhere. It's portable and travels easily in briefcases, purses, gym bags, backpacks, and more. It's helpful when you're venturing to different places where potable drinking water may not be readily available. Sometimes, given your surroundings (i.e. camping or in a foreign country) it's easier to have a bottle of water with you. It's also able to be purchased conveniently.

In the event of a disaster or other emergency, having bottled water on hand is definitely helpful and it can be a lifesaver depending on the circumstances. Because bottled water does not expire, it's always a good idea to keep some stored away, just in case. Depending on the condition of your tap water, bottled H 2 0 also tends to taste better too. This usually due, in part, to the purification process certain types of bottle water must undergo during the preparation process.

Cons: What's Bad About Bottled Water?

Because there are so many additional necessary steps to ensure bottled water is safe to drink (purification, packaging, transporting, marketing, etc.), it can tend to be a bit more pricey than the water flowing from your tap.

Your children's dentist in Erdenheim wants you to know about the possible health risks associated with bottled water. Did you know commercially produced bottled water does not contain fluoride, while tap water does? Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that helps keep teeth strong and healthy. It's especially important that kids get enough fluoride for their growing teeth. Some plastic bottles also contain the chemical bisphenol A(BPA) which can seep into the water before you drink it. This risk increases significantly if your water is stored somewhere hot in direct sunlight.

Did you know that in some cases bottled water is just filtered tap water? It's really no different than what's coming out of your faucet! Some of the most popular brands of bottled water come from the same factories that produces soft drinks who simply bottle up that water. It's not from a special source or a spring, it's origins start in a factory. Sometimes it just makes more sense to fill your own water bottle from a source that you know is clean. It also helps cut down on waste created by the huge percentage of plastic bottles that end up in our nation's landfills.

We hope you learned a little bit about some of the benefits and some of the potential downfalls to drinking bottled H 2 0! Our Erdenheim dental office knows how important it is that you and your family stay healthy and hydrated. That's why we're here to help. If you have any questions about what we discussed here today, please don't hesitate to give us a call! We look forward to seeing you and your family at your next dental visit.

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Pros and Cons of Bottled Water.. - Chesheim Dental Associates

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These days you can't go very far without seeing bottled water, whether you're scanning the aisles at your favorite supermarket, cheering on your kids at

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Americans consumed 14.4 billion gallons of bottled water in 2019, up 3.6% from 2018, in what has been a steadily increasing trend since 2010. In 2016, bottled water outsold soda for the first time and has continued to do so every year since, making it the number one packaged beverage in the United States. 2020 revenue for bottled water was $61.326 million by June 15, and the overall market is expected to grow to $505.19 billion by 2028.

Globally, about 20,000 plastic bottles were bought every second in 2017, the majority of which contained drinking water. More than half of those bottles were not turned in for recycling, and of those recycled, only 7% were turned into new bottles.

In 2013, Concord, MA, became the first US city to ban single-serve plastic water bottles, citing environmental and waste concerns. Since then, many cities, colleges, entertainment venues, and national parks have followed suit, including San Francisco, the University of Vermont, the Detroit Zoo, and the Grand Canyon National Park.

Should Bottled Water Be Banned?

Pro 1

Banning bottled water would reduce waste and protect the environment.

About 70% of plastic water bottles bought in the United States were not recycled in 2015, which means the majority end up in landfills or in the oceans, harming the ecosystem and poisoning animals.

Almost all plastic water bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the raw materials for which are derived from crude oil and natural gas. The Pacific Institute found that producing enough plastic for the bottles of water consumed by Americans in 2006 took about 17 million barrels of oil. Since 2006, American consumption of bottled water has increased 65% from 8.3 billion gallons in 2006 to 13.7 billion gallons in 2017, increasing the need for more plastic water bottles and thus more oil and gas.

Between 2012 and 2016, a ban on plastic water bottles in 23 US National Parks prevented (per year) up to 2 million plastic water bottles being purchased and up to 111,743 pounds of PET being produced.

A nationwide ban on bottled water would lead to an estimated 68 billion fewer plastic water bottles being manufactured, purchased, used, and discarded.
Read More

Pro 2

Banning bottled water is good for your health.

Bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and requires weekly testing; tap water is more stringently regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency through multiple daily tests.

A study published in Environmental Science & Technology found that the chemical antimony (Sb) can leach from plastic PET bottles into the water within. After six months storage at room temperature antimony (Sb) concentrations increased on average 90% in 48 brands of water from 11 countries. Exposure to antimony (Sb) can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, higher blood cholesterol, and low blood sugar.

Banning bottled water would reduce the number of plastic bottles manufactured via a process that emits harmful chemicals. Studies indicate that communities living close to PET factories suffer from increased levels of chronic illness and birth defects. In Corpus Christi, TX, where the US' largest PET factory is located, birth defects are 84% higher than the state average.
Read More

Pro 3

Banning bottled water would save money, and public water fountains are convenient and plentiful.

Mathematicians at Penn State University estimate that spending $20 on a reusable water bottle can save the average American up to $1,236 a year. For a family of four that amounts to nearly $5,000.

In San Francisco, where single-use plastic water bottles are banned, 31 water fountains have been added to public areas with 20 more planned. New York City, where Mayor Bill DeBlasio banned single-use water bottles via executive order in Feb. 2020, has 51 water fountains, with another 500 planned by 2025. With public fountains easily available, people can refill reusable water bottles.
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Pro 4

Banning bottled water would protect local water supplies.

Almost 64% of the water being bottled comes from municipal supplies, which can drain water sources relied upon by local communities.

In Michigan, the state allowed Nestlé to pump and bottle clean water from the state's reserves while local residents in Flint fought for access to clean water.

In Pakistan, groundwater levels were depleted in a village neighboring a Nestlé bottled water production plant, resulting in the local water supply turning to sludge.

According to Matthew Davis, PhD, Associate Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of New Hampshire, "during droughts, bottling plants could dry up wells and wetlands or deplete the streamflows in the immediate area."
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Con 1

Banning bottled water removes a healthy choice and leads to increased consumption of unhealthy sugary drinks.

Increased consumption of zero-calorie bottled water in place of high-calorie juices and sodas has cut trillions of calories from American diets.

Michael C. Bellas, Chairman and CEO of the Beverage Marketing Corporation, says "Imagine a person cutting 161 hot dogs, 126 chocolate doughnuts or 87 cheeseburgers from their diet last year. That's the kind of difference we're talking about when we quantify the number of calories saved due to this widespread shift to bottled water."

In Aug. 2017, the National Park Service discontinued its policy that encouraged national parks to ban sales of plastic water bottles stating that, "The ban removed the healthiest beverage choice... while still allowing sales of bottled sweetened drinks."

The International Bottled Water Association noted, "research shows that if bottled water isn't available, 63 percent of people will choose soda or another sugared drink - not tap water."

In Spring 2013, the University of Vermont banned the sale of single use plastic water bottles on campus. The ban resulted in increased sales of higher calorie beverages in place of zero-calorie water; sales of low-calorie (10-50 calorie) beverages increased 12%, juices increased 11%, and sugar-sweetened beverages increased 10%.
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Con 2

Other types of beverages have plastic containers that are more harmful than plastic water bottles, and bans don't necessarily reduce waste.

Plastic water bottles contain much less polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic than soft drink bottles that require a thicker plastic container due to the drinks' carbonation - 9.89 grams of PET v. 23.9 grams for a 16.9oz bottle.

A study by Quantis found that between 2007 and 2015, bottled water providers reduced the amount of material used in 8oz-2.5 gallon plastic water bottles by 42.8% - PET plastic is the most common material used in these bottles.

Another study by Quantis, commissioned by Nestlé Waters, found that the packaging and distribution of "sports drinks, enhanced waters and soda produce nearly 50% more carbon dioxide emissions per serving than bottled water."

Plastic water bottles make up 3.3% of all drink packaging in US landfills, which is less than both plastic carbonated soft drink containers (13.3%) and aluminum cans (7.9%).

A study on the University of Vermont's ban on selling single-use plastic water bottles found that total shipments of plastic bottles actually increased 20% as consumers increased their consumption of less healthy bottled beverages rather than switching to using reusable bottles and drinking from water fountains.
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Con 3

Bottled water is a practical emergency water supply.

If tap water is not drinkable, then bottled water is a necessary replacement, making its availability essential to public health.

Ready.gov, the Department of Homeland Security's preparedness website on how to prepare for natural and man-made disasters, recommends everyone "buy commercially bottled water and store it in the sealed original container in cool, dark place."

In Apr. 2014, officials in Flint, MI, changed the city's water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Flint River water is highly corrosive - it eroded water pipes delivering tap water to residents' homes resulting in iron and lead leaching into the water, poisoning those who drank and bathed in it. Between Jan. 2016 and Apr. 2018, the state distributed free 16oz bottles of water to residents for use instead of tap water - it was estimated that a family of three used 151 of these water bottles a day.
Read More

Con 4

Banning bottled water restricts consumers' access to a product they want, and negatively affects small businesses.

A survey by Harris Poll for the International Bottled Water Association found that 93% of Americans think "bottled water should be available wherever drinks are sold," with 31% saying that they only, or mostly only, drink bottled water.

Research by Kantor Panel Worldwide found that "40% of all water servings come in the form of bottled water."

As one blogger said, "everyone tells me that I'm wasting away money and harming the environment, but if it weren't for bottled water I honestly wouldn't drink any water at all... My personal choice is just not tap. I don't like it."

Daniel Kenn, owner of Sudbury Coffee Works in Sudbury, MA, where a plastic water bottle ban was enacted, said, "people want water, it's probably the biggest money maker in that cooler... almost every other town still allows plastic water bottle sales, which will put Sudbury Coffee Works at a competitive disadvantage when the ban takes effect."
Read More

Discussion Questions

1. Should single-use plastics, such as water bottles, be banned? Why or why not?

2. Should other single-use beverage bottles (soda, sports drinks, etc) be banned? Why or why not?

3. What other ways might we prevent plastic from ending up in the ocean? Explain your answer(s).

Take Action
1. Consider the argument that single-use plastic is a " serious climate change hazard."

2. Explore which cities and states have single-use plastic bag bans.

3. Evaluate the argument that bottled water bans harm the environment and public health.

4. Consider how you felt about the issue before reading this article. After reading the pros and cons on this topic, has your thinking changed? If so, how? List two to three ways. If your thoughts have not changed, list two to three ways your better understanding of the "other side of the issue" now helps you better argue your position.

5. Push for the position and policies you support by writing US national senators and representatives.
Sources More Environmental Debates
Should the United States Continue Fracking? - Proponents say natural gas is a bridge fuel to 100% clean energy. Opponents say we need to immediately move away from all fossil fuels.

Should Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) Be Grown? - Proponents say GMO foods have been proven safe. Opponents say studies have not confirmed the safety of GMOs.

Can Alternative Energy Effectively Replace Fossil Fuels? - The pros and cons of the alternative and renewable energies debate include arguments for and against solar, wind, and nuclear powers.

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Bottled Water Bans - Pros & Cons - ProCon.org

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Proponents say bottled water bans protect the environment. Opponents say bans lead to increased consumption of unhealthy sugary drinks

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Get unlimited access to 40,000 of the best books, audiobooks, videos, & more for kids 12 and under. Try it free.

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Read Follow that Bottle!: A Plastic Recycling Journey on Epic

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Read Follow that Bottle!: A Plastic Recycling Journey on Epic

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Instantly access Follow that Bottle!: A Plastic Recycling Journey plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

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New York Times: One Thing You Can Do: Know Your Plastics 

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New York Times: One Thing You Can Do: Know Your Plastics 

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One Thing You Can Do: Know Your Plastics (Published 2019)

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Also this week, how it feels to stand on a melting glacier.

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Whole Foods is making eco-friendly changes to their packaging

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Whole Foods is making eco-friendly changes to their packaging

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Whole Foods announced Monday it would take more steps to reduce the amount of plastic packaging found in stores nationwide.

The grocery chain said by July it would make three changes: switching to smaller plastic bags in the produce department, replacing plastic rotisserie chicken containers with bags that use less plastic, and getting rid of all plastic straws. Cafes and juice bars inside Whole Foods stores will now give customers a paper compostable straw with their drinks (unless a plastic one is requested to accommodate a disability).

Whole Foods estimates the changes will reduce the company's plastic packaging by 800,000 pounds per year, but not all environmentalists are satisfied.

"It's good to see Whole Foods acknowledging its role in the plastic pollution crisis and making some changes, but retailers must go much further than phasing out plastic straws and cutting down on the amount of plastic used in select packaging," said Greenpeace spokesperson David Pinsky in a statement.

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Trader Joe's made similar changes recently, announcing it had replaced plastic produce bags with biodegradable and compostable options and replaced styrofoam trays (that were used in produce packaging) with compostable trays.

Since China has drastically cut the amount of recycling waste it purchases for processing in recent years, environmentalists have been placing more emphasis on the "reduce" part of "reduce, reuse, recycle." Much of the world's plastic waste never ends up getting recycled, instead finding its way to landfills or the ocean. San Francisco's "Zero Waste" initiative leads the country in this regard - the city diverts more than 80 percent of its waste away from landfills.

In a press release, Whole Foods president A.C. Gallo seemed to indicate this wouldn't be the end of its efforts to reduce waste: "We recognize that single-use plastics are a concern for many of our customers, team members and suppliers, and we're proud of these packaging changes ... We will continue to look for additional opportunities to further reduce plastic across our stores."

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Whole Foods making eco-friendly changes to packaging

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Whole Foods announced Monday it would take more steps to reduce the amount of plastic...

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What's Inside

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Scholastic SuperSTEM | Where Stories Power Problem Solving in Grades 3-6

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Scholastic's SuperSTEM magazine captures the excitement of science, technology, engineering, and math in your classroom with powerful blended-learning resources.

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About this film

The Story of Bottled Water, released on March 22, 2010 (World Water Day), employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand-how you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows virtually free from the tap. Over five minutes, the film explores the bottled water industry's attacks on tap water and its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the mountains of plastic waste it produces. The film concludes with a call for viewers to make a personal commitment to avoid bottled water and support public investment in clean, available tap water for all.

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Credits

The Story of Bottled Water was co-created and released by The Story of Stuff Project and a coalition of partners, including Corporate Accountability International, Food & Water Watch, Polaris Institute, Pacific Institute and Environmental Working Group. The movie was produced by Free Range Studios.

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The Story of Bottled Water - Story of Stuff

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About this film The Story of Bottled Water, released on March 22, 2010 (World Water Day), employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand-how you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows virtually free from the tap.

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From Trash to Space Hippie: Nike shoes made from waste

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Inspired by the limited resources required for human life on Mars, as well as the plastic waste challenges facing planet Earth, Nike has developed Space

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Single-Use Plastics Initiative | The Maritime Aquarium

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Learn more about the Single-Use Plastics Initiative at The Maritime Aquarium. Contact us if you have any questions!

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Plastic: how humans are turning the world into plastic

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Plastic: how humans are turning the world into plastic

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Plastic Pollution: How Humans are Turning the World into Plastic

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A satellite is a moon, planet or machine that orbits a planet or star. For example, Earth is a satellite because it orbits the sun. Likewise, the moon is a satellite because it orbits Earth. Usually, the word "satellite" refers to a machine that is launched into space and moves around Earth or another body in space.

Earth and the moon are examples of natural satellites. Thousands of artificial, or man-made, satellites orbit Earth. Some take pictures of the planet that help meteorologists predict weather and track hurricanes. Some take pictures of other planets, the sun, black holes, dark matter or faraway galaxies. These pictures help scientists better understand the solar system and universe.

Still other satellites are used mainly for communications, such as beaming TV signals and phone calls around the world. A group of more than 20 satellites make up the Global Positioning System, or GPS. If you have a GPS receiver, these satellites can help figure out your exact location.

Why Are Satellites Important?

The bird's-eye view that satellites have allows them to see large areas of Earth at one time. This ability means satellites can collect more data, more quickly, than instruments on the ground.

Satellites also can see into space better than telescopes at Earth's surface. That's because satellites fly above the clouds, dust and molecules in the atmosphere that can block the view from ground level.

Before satellites, TV signals didn't go very far. TV signals only travel in straight lines. So they would quickly trail off into space instead of following Earth's curve. Sometimes mountains or tall buildings would block them. Phone calls to faraway places were also a problem. Setting up telephone wires over long distances or underwater is difficult and costs a lot.

With satellites, TV signals and phone calls are sent upward to a satellite. Then, almost instantly, the satellite can send them back down to different locations on Earth.

What Are the Parts of a Satellite?

Satellites come in many shapes and sizes. But most have at least two parts in common - an antenna and a power source. The antenna sends and receives information, often to and from Earth. The power source can be a solar panel or battery. Solar panels make power by turning sunlight into electricity.

Many NASA satellites carry cameras and scientific sensors. Sometimes these instruments point toward Earth to gather information about its land, air and water. Other times they face toward space to collect data from the solar system and universe.

How Do Satellites Orbit Earth?

Most satellites are launched into space on rockets. A satellite orbits Earth when its speed is balanced by the pull of Earth's gravity. Without this balance, the satellite would fly in a straight line off into space or fall back to Earth. Satellites orbit Earth at different heights, different speeds and along different paths. The two most common types of orbit are "geostationary" (jee-oh-STAY-shun-air-ee) and "polar."

A geostationary satellite travels from west to east over the equator. It moves in the same direction and at the same rate Earth is spinning. From Earth, a geostationary satellite looks like it is standing still since it is always above the same location.

Polar-orbiting satellites travel in a north-south direction from pole to pole. As Earth spins underneath, these satellites can scan the entire globe, one strip at a time.

Why Don't Satellites Crash Into Each Other?

Actually, they can. NASA and other U.S. and international organizations keep track of satellites in space. Collisions are rare because when a satellite is launched, it is placed into an orbit designed to avoid other satellites. But orbits can change over time. And the chances of a crash increase as more and more satellites are launched into space.

In February 2009, two communications satellites - one American and one Russian - collided in space. This, however, is believed to be the first time two man-made satellites have collided accidentally.

What Was the First Satellite in Space?

Sputnik 1 was the first satellite in space. The Soviet Union launched it in 1957.

What Is the History of NASA Satellites?

NASA has launched dozens of satellites into space, starting with the Explorer 1 satellite in 1958. Explorer 1 was America's first man-made satellite. The main instrument aboard was a sensor that measured high-energy particles in space called cosmic rays.

The first satellite picture of Earth came from NASA's Explorer 6 in 1959. TIROS-1 followed in 1960 with the first TV picture of Earth from space. These pictures did not show much detail. But they did show the potential satellites had to change how people view Earth and space.

How Does NASA Use Satellites Today?

NASA satellites help scientists study Earth and space.

Satellites looking toward Earth provide information about clouds, oceans, land and ice. They also measure gases in the atmosphere, such as ozone and carbon dioxide, and the amount of energy that Earth absorbs and emits. And satellites monitor wildfires, volcanoes and their smoke.

All this information helps scientists predict weather and climate. The information also helps public health officials track disease and famine; it helps farmers know what crops to plant; and it helps emergency workers respond to natural disasters.

Satellites that face toward space have a variety of jobs. Some watch for dangerous rays coming from the sun. Others explore asteroids and comets, the history of stars, and the origin of planets. Some satellites fly near or orbit other planets. These spacecraft may look for evidence of water on Mars or capture close-up pictures of Saturn's rings.

More About Satellites

Play "Missions to Planet Earth"!
Orbits 'R' Us!
Be Spuzzled! Game
Eyes on Earth 3-D
Space Place Live!: How can a satellite stay put over the same spot on Earth?
Read the transcript

Read What Is a Satellite? (Grades K-4)

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What Is a Satellite? (Grades 5-8) - NASA

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A satellite is a moon, planet or machine that orbits a planet or star. For example, Earth is a satellite because it orbits the sun.

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What Was the Apollo Program? (Grades 5-8) - NASA

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Apollo was the NASA program that resulted in American astronauts’ making a total of 11 spaceflights and walking on the moon.

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Amitai Etzioni says there are bigger priorities than a new push for manned exploration in space

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Pack your bags, cuz today’s episode is a trip. It’s spaceships vs. submarines!

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Many people dismiss space exploration as a luxury, but this attitude is not only wrong, it's dangerous .

Satellite technology has revolutionized our planet in almost every way. Weather satellites help us track developing hurricanes, allowing meteorologists to warn people days in advance. That saves thousands of lives. Communication satellites allow us instant access to information all over the world using radio, television, and phones. Some people credit in part the fall of the Soviet Union to ease of information access; the people in those countries saw what the rest of the world was doing, accelerating the process of reform. GPS satellites allow us to track ships, airplanes, and even people who may be lost or in need of help.

Reaching outward into space has helped us in other ways as well. A fleet of satellites (YOHKOH, SOHO and others) study the Sun so that we can better understand it. Huge solar eruptions can damage satellites and cause power blackouts (like in Quebec in 1989), and the Sun directly influences our environment. Understanding the Sun is a critical use of space technology.

Exploring the other planets helps us put the Earth in context. Why is Mars dry, cold, nearly airless, and dead? Why is Venus covered in thick clouds and suffering a runaway greenhouse effect? Why do hurricanes on Jupiter last for centuries? All these questions (and thousands more) help us understand our own planet, and allow us to see how humans are affecting it. Certainly understanding asteroids is important-- we need to learn how to move them in case one is heading our way; an asteroid impact could wipe out all humans on Earth, so our very future is tied to space travel.

There are simple technological reasons for space exploration as well. Some estimates say that for every dollar invested in the Apollo program, more than 20 have been returned. That's a huge payoff! Computer tech, communications, rocketry, and many other fields have benefited hugely from space exploration.

And there is one more reason. Humans strive to learn, to explore, to push boundaries, to see what's around the corner. This is in many ways a fundamental need, and space exploration is a fantastic manifestation of that. The Universe is huge, beautiful, mysterious, and, ultimately, knowable . Even if the other reasons were not there, this alone should be enough for us pursue our exploration.

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For centuries, people dreamed about leaving Earth and travelling to other worlds. Then, in 1957, the Soviet Union made the first small step into space by launching a small satellite, called Sputnik. The Space Age had begun.

Early space activities were dominated by the United States and the Soviet Union. However, as time went by, Europe and Japan also learned how to build their own satellites and rockets. Today, countries such as China, India, South Korea, Israel and Brazil are developing their own space industries.

During the last 60 years, unmanned probes have been sent towards all of the planets in the Solar System, as well as many satellites, asteroids and comets. Spacecraft have soft-landed on half a dozen worlds, while rovers have driven over the surfaces of the Moon and Mars. The Sun has also been explored in great detail by a fleet of spacecraft.

Many space observatories, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, have been launched to look at the distant Universe. They have sent back some amazing pictures taken in visible light. But they can also observe stars and galaxies at wavelengths that are invisible to human eyes - radio, infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays. The flood of discoveries has changed the way we look at the Universe.

More than 500 people have also flown in space since Yuri Gagarin paved the way in 1961. 20 people have travelled to the Moon and 12 of them have walked on the Moon. Space stations have been built, and astronauts have learned to live and work in space for many months, or even years.

Last modified 26 January 2011

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For centuries, people dreamed about leaving Earth and travelling to other worlds. Then, in 1957, the Soviet Union made the first small step into space by launching a small satellite, called Sputnik. The Space Age had begun.

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I am convinced that if NASA were to disappear tomorrow, if we never put up another Hubble Space Telescope, never put another human being in space, people in this country would be profoundly distraught. Americans would feel that we had lost something that matters, that our best days were behind us, and they would feel themselves somehow diminished. Yet I think most would be unable to say why.

There are many good reasons to continue to explore space, which most Americans have undoubtedly heard. Some have been debated in public policy circles and evaluated on the basis of financial investment. In announcing his commitment to send the country back to the moon and, later, on to Mars, President Bush quite correctly said that we do it for purposes of scientific discovery, economic benefit, and national security. I've given speeches on each of those topics, and these reasons can be clearly shown to be true. And presidential science advisor Jack Marburger has said that questions about space exploration come down to whether we want to bring the solar system within mankind's sphere of economic influence. I think that is extraordinarily well put.

But these are not reasons that would make Americans miss our space program. They are merely the reasons we are most comfortable discussing. I think of them as "acceptable reasons" because they can be logically defended. When we contemplate committing large sums of money to a project, we tend to dismiss reasons that are emotional or value-driven or can't be captured on a spreadsheet. But in space exploration those are the reasons-what I think of as "real reasons"-that are the most important.

When Charles Lindbergh was asked why he crossed the Atlantic, he never once answered that he wanted to win the $25,000 that New York City hotel owner Raymond Orteig offered for the first nonstop aircraft flight between New York and Paris. Burt Rutan and his backer, Paul Allen, certainly didn't develop a private spacecraft to win the Ansari X-Prize for the $10 million in prize money. They spent twice as much as they made. Sergei Korolev and the team that launched Sputnik were not tasked by their government to be the first to launch an artificial satellite; they had to fight for the honor and the resources to do it.

I think we all know why people strive to accomplish such things. They do so for reasons that are intuitive and compelling to all of us but that are not necessarily logical. They're exactly the opposite of acceptable reasons, which are eminently logical but neither intuitive nor emotionally compelling.

First, most of us want to be, both as individuals and as societies, the first or the best in some activity. We want to stand out. This behavior is rooted in our genes. We are today the descendants of people who survived by outperforming others. Without question that drive can be carried to an unhealthy extreme; we've all seen more wars than we like. But just because the trait can be taken too far doesn't mean that we can do without it completely.

A second reason is curiosity. Who among us has not had the urge to know what's over the next hill? What child has not been drawn to explore beyond the familiar streets of the neighborhood?

Finally, we humans have, since the earliest civilizations, built monuments. We want to leave something behind to show the next generation, or the generations after that, what we did with our time here. This is the impulse behind cathedrals and pyramids, art galleries and museums.

Cathedral builders would understand what I mean by real reasons. The monuments they erected to the awe and mystery of their God required a far greater percentage of their gross domestic product than we will ever put into the space business, but we look back across 600 or 800 years of time, and we are still awed by what the builders accomplished. Those buildings, therefore, also stand as monuments to the builders.

The return the cathedral builders made on their investment could not have been summarized in a cost/benefit analysis. They began to develop civil engineering, the core discipline for any society if it wishes to have anything more than thatched huts. They gained societal advantages that were probably even more important than learning how to build walls and roofs. For example, they learned to embrace deferred gratification, not just on an individual level, where it is a crucial element of maturity, but on a societal level, where it is equally vital. The people who started the cathedrals didn't live to finish them. The society as a whole had to be dedicated to the completion of those projects. We owe Western civilization as we know it today to that kind of thinking: the ability to have a constancy of purpose across years and decades.

It is my contention that the products of our space program are today's cathedrals. The space program satisfies the desire to compete, but in a safe and productive manner, rather than in a harmful one. It speaks abundantly to our sense of human curiosity, of wonder and awe at the unknown. Who can watch people assembling the greatest engineering project in the history of mankind-the International Space Station-and not wonder at the ability of people to conceive and to execute the project? And it also addresses our need for leaving something for future generations.

Of course the space program also addresses the acceptable reasons, and in the end this is imperative. Societies will not succeed in the long run if they place their resources and their efforts in enterprises that, for whatever reason, don't provide concrete value. But I believe that projects done for the real reasons that motivate humans also serve the acceptable reasons. In that sense, the value of space exploration really is in its spinoffs, as many have argued. But it's not in spinoffs like Teflon and Tang and Velcro, as the public is so often told-and which in fact did not come from the space program. And it's not in spinoffs in the form of better heart monitors or cheaper prices for liquid oxygen for hospitals, although the space program's huge demand for liquid oxygen spurred fundamental improvements in the production and handling of this volatile substance. The real spinoffs are, just as they were for cathedral builders, more fundamental.

Anyone who wants to build spacecraft, who wants to be a subcontractor, or who even wants to supply bolts and screws to the space industry must work to a higher level of precision than human beings had to do before the space industry came along. And that standard has influenced our entire industrial base, and therefore our economy.

As for national security, what is the value to the United States of being involved in enterprises which lift up human hearts everywhere? What is the value to the United States of being a leader in such efforts, in projects in which every technologically capable nation wants to take part? The greatest strategy for national security, more effective than having better guns and bombs than everyone else, is being a nation that does the kinds of things that make others want to do them with us.

What do you have to do, how do you have to behave, to do space projects? You have to value hard work. You have to live by excellence, or die from the lack of it. You have to understand and practice both leadership and followership. You have to build partnerships; leaders need partners and allies, as well as followers.

You have to accept the challenge of the unknown, knowing that you might fail, and to do so not without fear but with mastery of fear and a determination to go anyway. You have to defer gratification because we work on things that not all of us will live to see-and we know it.

We now believe that 95 percent of the universe consists of dark energy or dark matter, terms for things that we as yet know nothing about. Is it even conceivable that one day we won't learn to harness them? As cavemen learned to harness fire, as people two centuries ago learned to harness electricity, we will learn to harness these new things. It was just a few years ago that we confirmed the existence of dark matter, and we would not have done so without the space program. What is the value of knowledge like that? I cannot begin to guess. A thousand years from now there will be human beings who don't have to guess; they will know, and they will know we gave this to them.

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Ambition, curiosity, and a reason the NASA Administrator admits has nothing to do with economic benefit.