I am not necessarily advocating the tunnel proposed here, but this discusses some of the issues:

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/ci_12020150?source=most_emailed

Good luck with Em.

I heartily second the recommendation of joining a CSA. You’re basically buying a share of a small farm somewhere a bit upstate, so you know exactly where your food comes from, and you’ll get the freshest stuff possible. That’s the other huge benefit to eating local: you’re usually eating food that’s been picked that morning or the day before, which tastes better and is better for you. Basically, the quality/flavor/nutrients of a fruit or vegetable start deteriorating as soon as it’s picked, and if it sits on a truck for a week on its way from California, it’s going to be a lot less tasty and have a lot fewer vitamins.

I have loved my CSA (you get your share of veggies/fruit, and there’s also the opportunity to order meat/cheese/eggs–all of which are basically the best I have ever eaten), and there are many of them in different neighborhoods throughout the city, so if it’s something you’re interested in, I’m sure there’s one near you.

Regarding the waterways near here: Newtown creek is just a mess. Let me see if I can dig up some links about how horrible it is due to toxic waste (and the infamous oil spill.)

Also, didn’t they discover live syphilis in the Gowanus (sp?) canal recently? WTF waterways has VD?

FWIW Jonathan Kozol writes about children in the South Bronx in either “Savage Inequalities” or “Amazing Grace” or perhaps both; one of the things he notes is soaring rates of asthma. Like, dramatically higher than national averages, IIRC. This was back in the early ’90s. I can’t remember if he identified a cause but I think the suspicion, from him and others, was industrial waste of various kinds that had never been properly remediated.

If that’s so, there could easily be similar issues in Williamsburg/Greenpoint. Last year our Brooklyn real estate attorney showed me a map of the Gowanus area from around the turn of the century. It was one toxic outpost after another: tanneries, ironworks, refineries, etc., all lining the canal. I was astounded. Pretty much any business that generated toxic waste had set up shop there, almost as if the canal had been constructed for that very purpose. (Maybe it was.) This was right around the time Whole Foods announced that their big store on 3rd would be put on hold. When I saw that map, I understood why — and figured the hold might well be permanent. It’s not just the original degradation, it’s also the decades of neglect and coverup. I’m not sure it will ever get clean.

I don’t know that this is a cause of anything, but it certainly seems possible.

And on to the post: When I lived in the Bronx in 2001-2 and worked in an elementary school I was shocked at how many children were asthmatic. It was astounding compared to my own experiences of having less than ten peers with asthma my whole schooling life. I asked a parent/coworker about it and she mentioned medical waste incineration that’s done locally. Never looked into it but it made sense that these “city kids” had a greater likelihood to have a genetic predisposition brought out to medical diagnosis by their environment.

Your point about buying local has hit home. It’s something I’m trying to do anyway but you’ve added to the many reasons why it’s beneficial. And local over organic for babies? Interesting. Noted.

Good luck with Em; I hope this is not a permanent diagnosis and that you’re able to manage it without it consuming you. It’s tough to have a little one ill.

Today’s news from the MTA. They approved rate hikes. And guess who got hurt? The folks who live here and pay to use it instead of drive.

A 30-day unlimited card, which is what many locals buy, will cost will cost $103 (currently $81).

See: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/12/15/2008-12-15_mta_panel_oks_doomsday_rate_hikes.html

How on earth can they justify that during a recession? Also, doesn’t this send us a message working AGAINST using public transportation?

Not that there’s anywhere to park in the city.

I don’t understand this one bit. Maybe it’s my lack of sleep.

(Also, for the record, I do realize that there are other even natural contaminates that lead to asthma. But we can’t control those as much. I do think we can cut down on particle pollution that comes from transporting commercial goods and commercial farms.)

There are some things that we can’t change which increase risk like gender (females often have slightly higher levels), ethnicity (some minorities are at greater risk), age (children have higher levels than adults) and family history.

And there are some things which we do have some control over – smoking (in our own homes at least), exposure to chemicals in the home, and humidifier/vaporizer use.

And then there are that other class of risk factors that are more difficult to control like exposure to truck traffic, local air quality (pollen, mold, ozone, fine particulates), respiratory infections, access to medical care, income level, and exposure to other home inhabitants (a nice way of saying dust mites, animal dander, and cockroaches).

I think it is this latter category which takes a more community-based approach for asthma prevention. Hopefully your little guy outgrows his asthma!

My own asthma, ironically, appeared much later when I was about 10, after we’d moved to a farm (yes, literally) in rural New Hampshire. Turns out it’s genetic, but was triggered, in the sense you note, by allergies to various elements plentiful at the farm — everything from weeds to horsehair to pollens and more. The allergies had been with me since infancy, but for whatever reason or combination of reasons decided to express themselves differently as of that time. The asthma has been with me since. It does fluctuate depending on context, too — when we moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn, for instance, I had an outbreak that lasted for more than a year.

Because of all this, I wonder if it’s not smog per se that’s the trigger, but maybe some other kind of toxin or irritant. For example, something in the construction of our Brooklyn apartment might have set mine off; maybe something in your new place has caused Em’s to show itself. Could be a construction material — insulation, sealant, whatever; or could be something in the local environment that’s different from where you were before. Pesticides or industrial chemicals of some kind, maybe. Not that it’s necessarily track-down-able — maybe way too many factors at play.

You may want to have him tested for other allergies, too, if you haven’t done this already — just to head off future mysteries in case he should start to react. This happened to me when I was about his age and my mother freaked out utterly until they did allergy testing and discovered that those were what was causing all my problems. (And if he has them, BTW, they’re largely genetic; you couldn’t have done anything to cause or avoid them.)

Your larger point about consuming locally produced foodstuff (and anything else, really) is well taken regardless. Important on a number of fronts. It’s a huge challenge, but offers potentially huge economic upsides in a number of ways if taken on. Michael Pollan has been writing brilliantly about this for several years now; I’d recommend “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food” — excellent reads as well as powerful arguments on the subject. “Sustainability” is the watchword, not organic as such. Organic is only one consideration among many.

But I was perplexed by a great number of things I read. Pennsylvania, for example, is screwed where particle pollution’s concerned. And State College, a place that just screams clean air, failed at the daily reading for particle pollution. But it is next to route 80, which is a major trucking route.

I dunno. After all that, I realized that nowhere (we’d live) is safe. Well, except for Hawaii. The folks there could live forever assuming the ocean doesn’t swallow ‘em up!