December 6, 2022 - EyeClarity Podcast
Today I wanted to re-share my conversation with Kim Konte.
She is the founder of the national non-profit Non-Toxic Neighborhoods (NTN) and a Director of Jane Goodall’s youth service program, and former City of Irvine Community Services Commissioner.
In November 2015, Kim helped launch a campaign to raise awareness to protect her children and other Irvine, CA residents. On 11/23/2016 the City of Irvine adopted a historic organic and regenerative land management policy. Since then the City of Irvine has successfully and organically maintained all pest pressure from weeds to rodents, on more than 570 acres of community and neighborhood parks, athletic fields; over 6,000 acres of open space, over 800 acres of public right-of-way, including street medians and parkways; 70,000 trees; and nearly 1.5 million square feet of facilities.
Kim and her team have now assisted over 200 cities, counties, and school districts to ban glyphosate and take organic and regenerative land management policies and legislation online. NTN has proven that you can have beautiful parks, athletic fields, and open space without the use of harmful and synthetic pesticides.
Non-Toxic Neighborhoods and our advisors believe that it should be a basic human right that our children are protected from environmental harm where they live, learn, and play!
Kim was awarded the City of Irvine’s Civic Leader award in 2017 and was added to the Wall of Recognition.
Non-Toxic Neighborhoods to work towards having every child have protection from exposure to harmful and synthetic pesticides. Since 2015 Kim has now assisted over 200 cities, counties, school districts, and New York State ban the use of glyphosate and adopt organic and regenerative practices. Kim is currently working with Assembly Members and Senators to author a Bill banning Glyphosate from California’s schools and parks as well as many other states.
Kim and NTN are currently working to have city leaders around the county adopt the Children’s Environmental Bill of Rights.
SPOKANE, WA: With our partner group, Non-Toxic Neighborhoods, the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) developed and is releasing a new model ordinance, the Children’s Environmental Bill of Rights. – https://www.centerforenvironmentalrights.org/news/childrens-environmental-bill-of-rights-model-law-launched.
The model ordinance, intended for passage by cities, towns, counties, and other municipalities across the United States, is focused on protecting children from environmental harm. The model ordinance recognizes the right of children to clean air and water, to be free from synthetic pesticides and toxic chemicals, and to be healthy. Enjoy the show!
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SUMMARY KEYWORDS
pesticides, glyphosate, city, children, organic, impacts, negative health impacts, parents, connect, utilizing, test, point, people, protect, roundup, nontoxic, work, policies, system, safe
Hello, everyone, it’s Dr. Sam, I’d like to welcome you to my EyeClarity podcast. This is a show that offers cutting-edge information on how to improve your vision and overall wellness through holistic methods. I so appreciate you spending part of your day with me. If you have questions, you can send them to hello@drsamberene.com. Now to the latest EyeClarity episode.
Hey, everyone, it’s Dr. Sam, and I’d like to welcome you to another EyeClarity podcast. Well, as promised, I’ve been invited many different guests on my show. And today we have somebody very unique. Her name is Kim Konte, and she is the founder of the national nonprofit, nontoxic neighborhoods. And she is an amazing person who I really admire. I met her on her Instagram posts. And she has assisted over 200 cities, counties and school districts to ban glyphosate and take organic and regenerative land management policies and legislation online. So she’s trying to clean up the environment in all these common lands, like parks and golf courses, and places where people congregate, and we don’t realize how toxic these places are. And she is supportive for of course, parents, pet owners, schools and universities, landscape and professional manager, city managers, government officials. So Kim, I want to bring you on. Thank you for joining us today. Tell me your story on how you started these non toxic neighborhoods, and how it how it’s come about.
01:56
Sure. And thank you so much for having us. And it, it found me my backgrounds in traditional advertising. And I had no idea kind of this is where I would end up. But it happened, just by wanting to be able to protect my children and feeling like as a parent, I had failed them. You know, we have our kids, we love them, we want to enjoy them and make sure they’re in an environment where they’re able to thrive. So when we were living in Bermuda, Bermuda, as a country had been glyphosate, due to its negative health impacts, and back in 2013. So when we moved to California, after we left Bermuda, we just assumed California be organic, and everybody’s surfing and living this healthy lifestyle, only to find out that my son’s elementary school is using roundup to show the children were to run in a circle on, you know, on the tour for the running club. And, you know, that was my aha moment. And I guess, the feeling part came from not finding out about this until my boys have played baseball. And you know, since they were old enough to run basically. And, you know, finding out that it’s, unfortunately, still common practice to utilize both roundup and to 4d, which is, you know, the scariest herbicide most people don’t know about. And it’s 50% of what makes up Agent Orange is used where they play. It’s used, you know, in the fields at schools, it’s used, you know, by your roundup living neighbor. So, yeah, we just want it to work to fix this. So we worked with the city of Irvine, and Irvine Unified School District back in 2016, to adopt organic land management. And in the beginning, a lot of it was trial and error, you know, we had to make sure that these policies were sustainable, or it would have gone back to utilizing harmful pesticides. And, you know, children and pets, we’re, we’re big animal lovers and children and pets interact with our environment. So aggressively times, you know, they’re lower to the ground, how to handle math behavior, that, you know, dogs are even eating the grass that potentially has been treated with two four D, which is actually applied directly to the turf. And it’s, it’s something that we just need to let other parents become made aware of. And, again, I just felt like I should have known that, you know, we do all of these things to try and protect them. But for my third grader, you know, Mike was in third grade before we found out about this. So all of those years of exposure we can’t undo. So our goal is to basically not be needed in 10 years and work to get every ball field Park and city free of these harmful pesticides.
05:13
Yeah, that’s such an inspiring story. And you know, you’re right. People don’t recognize or realize the toxic effects of these pesticides. I mean, from my side of it, because I’ve worked with, you know, autism and ADHD for many years, I see a lot of the well, biochemical imbalances, and I’m testing them, that I go, Oh, my gosh, this is just horrible. You know, you ask parents will, where were you playing with your kids, and, you know, they’re playing baseball, they’re at the park. And then the pets too, you know, our dogs and cats. So, you know, you came on my radar. And, you know, I was really interested in how you navigate this, from a political point of view, what’s the process that you actually go through? In creating this awakening?
06:11
I honestly think that the process has been a lot easier to fine-tune once, we just decided to stay solutions based. So we’ve all been marketed to us that roundup and these other, you know, harmful pesticides are safe. You know, it has EPA registration number, Environmental Protection Agency. So you just assume that the EPA wouldn’t allow these toxins into the market unless they’ve been proven safe to do so. And I think humans are trusting we trust that if a city park is utilizing something your playgrounds or school district is using something that has been proven safe. And the more we looked into the EPA, the more that we learned with our advisors that we’re so grateful for, you know, they helped explain how broken our regulatory system is. So the EPA doesn’t even test the inert ingredients, which can make up to 98% of the total product is never tested. Right, and they have a cumulative impacts synergistic impacts. So we know how they harm us, we share with city staff, school district policy influencers, you know, kind of the bad news upfront share, we share the negative health impacts, but then really, the focus is then to just see what they’re currently utilizing, and how we can support them to break that system, you know, to stop this game of pesticide whack a mole where, you know, as city, we worked with ban glyphosate, all glyphosate based products, and they were it was a great step forward, only to find out the distributor, pushed life husana, eight active ingredient of Cheetah pro on that does not view improving health and safety in any way. So we stay solution spaced, and we have the goal of making sure that nobody has to reinvent the wheel. So again, we learned through trial and error, what works, what doesn’t work, and working with city staff, and just, you know, we don’t recommend going to an elected official, unless you’re stonewalled by the city staff, then it’s then you kind of have to increase the pressure a little bit.
08:37
Yeah, you need to have the leverage, I guess, to be able to go to the politicians, because it’s so invasive in terms of the pesticide use, and it’s just normal, natural, that that’s what they do. And again, from my perspective, and holistic medicine, functional medicine. I’ve seen what these pesticides do to the brain what they do to the immune system, and people having chronic inflammatory diseases. And you know, you can’t be helped by that. And of course, with children. This is a really essential thing that we take these pesticides out of our public spaces, to protect our children. And I feel that in a lot of ways our public health system is broken. And the way you’re going about it is brilliant. Because you’re you’re doing it more on the grassroots local level. And it’s built momentum. I mean, here you have over 200 cities, counties, school districts that have awakened around this, this problem. So we talked off air and there’s a project you’re working on right now that you’re really passionate about. Could you share with the audience? What you’re what you’re doing?
09:55
Sure. So you know, in this work, trying to do move towards organic and regenerative land management. It’s just one piece of the puzzle, you know, you remove a delivery system of harm and city parks, and then we find out that it’s only replaced with a cell tower. Something else that potentially can negatively impact our children. And the body burden on them is, you know, something where they don’t have really many spaces to escape from these exposures. So we worked with our partners that center for democratic and environmental rights, cedar for short, and we drafted a model ordinance for children’s environmental bill of rights that will bring back the power that our local elected officials need, you know, they take an oath to protect public health and safety, but in many ways, industry is so powerful with their lobbying and, and just being able to kind of control the system that we we saw the need for this because once you work to get an organic policy adopted, then we’re helping cities get a moratorium for synthetic turf installations, you know, there’s lead in the bleeds, the infill is an issue. So this way, we wanted to be able to holistically protect children and empower elected officials to be able to do that.
11:31
You know, that’s really great. Another problem that I see with all this pesticide exposure is how it gets into the water. And once it gets into the water, and you’re drinking it, game over. And so, you know, being proactive and going after these, these different pesticides, and going into the communities is really fabulous. And so my listeners are going to be piqued by this. And so how can they get involved? How can they connect with you, and what can they do in their local community to create change.
12:13
Simply request a meeting with city staff, we will provide talking points, meeting materials, our advisors have been great. They will work to get peers of theirs who are based wherever the community city is to testify in support and in share the health impacts because a lot of our pesticide applicators and city staff are unaware of the true negative health impacts and consequences. And to your point with a watershed, we’ve had so much activation in Florida, as a result of the red tides, you know, we just are getting out of a really bad one that impacted St. Petersburg and we’re working with St. Pete’s who just purchased a foam stream machine which uses foam and technology to eradicate weeds and weed seed beds in place of chemical use. So it’s just it’s, it’s a no brainer. Like we we need all of these cities to adopt this type of Land Management because again, to your point, it’s not just impacting our, our children, it’s impacting our watersheds, it’s in our rain. We’re working with a researcher in Florida, he’s the one that did the study on the sea cows, manatees and that 58% of all of them had glyphosate in their plasma below, we need to just break the system and we share all of our organic toolkits. So if you want to start your dialogue with your neighbor who lives roundup or if you want to take this on where your child goes to school, we have specific things and tools that you can utilize, we learned that the principal of any school has the power to ban pesticides. So if it’s an immediate issue where they’re announcing we’re going to apply roundup and then you know, next week, then there’s a letter that’s already been drafted, that you can personalize and share with your principal. So we just try to attack it from every possible angle that people are dealing with and working in pesticide production.
14:26
Yes, this is really good news. And I would imagine another thing you’re thinking about is just the whole agricultural industry. Because Monsanto has really moved into at least regular agriculture. I know in the organic world and farmers markets. That’s one of the things I promote shop locally, cultivate local farmers, how do you see it in terms of you know, changing this in the agricultural industry?
14:55
Well, when you touch on AG, I think it also goes back To the accumulative and synergistic impacts on our children. So they’re getting dermal exposure, inhalation exposure. And if they’re eating foods that are contaminated with either GMOs or pesticides, it does accumulate in their bodies, and I’m sure you’re familiar with them. But we, we now utilize Great Plains labs. And unfortunately, it is not yet covered under insurance. So parents have to pay for it out of the bucket. But when children are showing or presenting autistic like symptoms, a lot of times the pediatricians now are, are requesting that parents go to Great Plains. And we have a little four year old girl in orange, California, that her parents had a lot of trouble conceiving. So when they finally had Lily, they were so excited, they admit to being helicopter parents, they just want to keep her safe. And she was on a strict organic diet. And with all of this, her four year old checkup, the pediatrician ordered the lab work, and we found out that Willie was at the 95th percentile of glyphosate in her system. And she was literally off the charts with to 4d in her system. And that is simply from just playing in a city park. So then you take a child like Lily and have her, you know, eating conventional food, and it’s just the the body burden is too much for kids. And I think, you know, we’ve seen it, we have friends that have been unable to conceive, and their dream is to always have children, we have children in the in the school system that are needing assistance, because of all of these, you know, learning disabilities and other situations. I mean, we’re we’re in a society that’s sick right now.
16:57
Yeah, Great Plains lab is definitely reputable for testing for glyphosate. And again, from my perspective, you know, I’ve been in private practice over 30 years. And test for it quite frequently when I see these really strange behaviors, and it’s so affects our neurological functioning or sensory motor or developmental I don’t use your auto immune is another very common thing that I see. And it’s they call it idiopathic, we don’t know what is causing it. What is causing it is that you’re laced with these pesticides, and you’re eating GMO foods. And, you know, the toxic load, especially in children is such that, you know, they just can’t overcome the toxicities, and it affects their behavior, their brain, their development, and even parents who want to conceive exactly, that’s a that’s a big issue that’s going on and even in the air, you know, we we get exposed through Eric’s, but, you know, through the air particles, and, you know, I constantly talk on social media about how we can boost our microbiome and our immune system. And, you know, if we can do that we take more proactive approach. And we’re not just treating symptoms, we’re not just using pharmaceutical drugs. But we’re looking at it holistically. And you said this a few minutes ago, and I love that, that you’re looking at this from a holistic perspective. And you’re solution based and I think that’s effective as a strategy. So, Kim, how can people get in touch with you What what are the channels that you prefer for us to, to connect with you?
18:54
Sure. So through Instagram, that’s how you found us through our website, we have a section where, you know, if you’re a pet, parent, parent, golf course, superintendent, there’s different areas where you can connect with us and then the team will immediately work with you to support your efforts from the first step of pulling the pesticide usage report so we get an idea of what your city or school district is currently utilizing. So then we can work to get solutions and organic alternatives. One thing to be cautious of is the greenwashing that’s happening right now. We require that all of our pesticides and or inputs are both Omri listed, and Washington State Department of Ag certified because we have products that on the product themselves claimed to be organic when they are not and they even have ingredients like feather meal and other items that are on Prop 65. So We’re not working as hard to again, just play pesticide whack a mole, we really have to work to build soil health. And that’s, you know, to your gut biome. Zack Bush, one of our advisors, you know, is really helping people understand how we are in this crisis moment and how we have to work on protecting our gut biome and how important it is for an entire system. You know, I don’t think people really understand the importance of that and that glyphosate is a registered antibiotic, which was fascinating to learn. So it’s just our guts are off balance or watersheds are impacted our soil, our air. So it’s just I think the best path forward is just to start the dialogue to start the conversation. And other than Newport Beach, California and orange, California, every other city that we’ve worked with has adopted organic land management, Sarasota, Florida was one of the top three but even Sarah soda ban glyphosate, and they’re working to bring forward organic land management city What?
21:12
Yeah, that’s very inspiring. And just a point, I’ve heard Dr. Bush talk about the the Earth’s biome and the soil and how we need to replenish it. And I can tell you, in my patients, when I do hair, mineral analysis, they’re all depleted in their trace minerals. And this is another issue that the trace minerals are our spark plugs that make our cells go and the mitochondria producing ATP that’s able to create a healthy detoxification pathway when you’ve got glyphosate and other pesticides. It just clogs up the SIS system and with the inflammation, you’re building oxidative stress, metabolic waste, and then of course, you know, it really wreaks havoc on your your cellular health and your your biome. So I’m glad he’s an advisor. I didn’t know that. So
22:03
yeah, he’s he’s great. We we connect connected in Houston, actually, we spoke in it on a panel together, and to your point about agriculture. And he he started farmers footprint, and they’re also partners of, of non toxic neighborhoods is that it’s all connect, like the soil is connecting all of us, you know, when when I started this journey, working to protect my children, when they’re on the baseball field or at school, I had no idea how much it’s about soil health, you know, and not everybody is ready to discuss that or learn about it. But again, if if we can build soil health, it means that we’re getting everything else, right, just like if we could effectively protect our children, then we get it right for everything else, you know, it’s in to your point with the air, we’re dealing with many issues of environmental injustice, and communities that don’t have access to air that safe to breathe because of their zip code. You know, so it’s working to get those protections in place. And we were so excited that United Nations invited us to be on their North American panel for children’s environmental rights. So we really hope that these major influencers can do more than have these very insightful meetings.
You know, we’re past that point. We need the United Nations, we need our elected officials from the city level to the state level to the federal level, to get policies online with teeth, you know, we can’t have them watered down. We’re not we really are a crisis moment right now with the planet. So that’s one thing that COVID-19 has done for us is it’s really highlighted how important our green spaces and how it’s directly connected to our overall health and well-being.
24:12
Right on, well, if there’s anything I can do for you, please just call on me and I’m going to thank you so much for your generosity. And speaking with us today, and I’m sure we’ll connect again. Thank you, Kim. Thanks for coming back there. Thank you.
Thank you for listening. I hope you learned something from the EyeClarity podcast show today. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe on iTunes or Spotify and leave a review. see you here next time.
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