Climate Change

What do you personally find most troubling about climate change?
Everything about climate change is terrifying. Particularly, I find that the intensity of storms, destabilization of nations and extinctions  to be alarming. Also, lack of sustainable agriculture and loss of cities due to rising sea levels. These issues are alarming because we are already seeing these effects globally and nationally. I can only imagine how much worse it can get if we don't act soon combat climate change. What is also troubling is that people still don't believe that climate change exists and that some think that it's not their problem. With the severity of storms in the last few months, such as hurricane Harvey, hurricane Irma and the North Bay wild fires, people need to realize that climate change is everyone's problem.

As a public health professional, what do you think needs the greatest attention right now?

The greatest attention should be on prevention and education at all levels. As an individual, there needs to be more educational information and incentives by local/Federal levels to reduce the impact of climate change. It would be beneficial for public health professionals to partner directly with scientists to create an educational program that can help educate the general public about the dangers of our current lifestyle and how we are pushing our planet to be unsustainable. Individuals need to be educated not only on their individual impact on the climate, but also of the power they have to speak up and promote legislative change. On a Federal level, there needs to be a robust educational program for all members within the government on how the climate affects health, the environment, agriculture, the oil/fuel industry, the economy, national issues and global issues. Federal legislation should also assist prevention efforts by providing incentives for going green and begin to crack down on the oil/fuel industry. On a national as well as global level, education should still be the primary focus, but should also focus on phasing out or eliminating toxic chemicals.

If you were visiting with a long-lost relative who had never heard about climate change, how would you describe it and its attendant human health and ecological threats?

Climate change is one of the biggest threats not only to the environment, but to human health and sustainability. Climate change is caused by our current lifestyle, such as unsustainable agriculture, reliance on plastic, greenhouse gas emissions, burning of fossil fuels, and usage of toxic chemicals/substances. This is causing our environment to degrade at a rapid rate and is causing irreversible damage. Climate change can cause the melting of the polar ice caps which results in increase sea levels, extinction of species including us, increased intensity of natural disasters, increase in health issues, reproductive harm, and destabilization of societies. These changes are already being seen, in the U.S. alone, we experienced hurricane Harvey, hurricane Irma and the North Bay fires just in the last few months. All of these events were essentially unprecedented and are tied to climate change. If we don't stop soon, it will be too late and we will not be able to fix the harmful effects of climate change. 

Zero Waste

The Zero Waste video was inspiring, considering that it was a young woman who was advocating a zero waste lifestyle that she has sustained for 3 years. As she explained in the video, it's not easy to get away from plastic since it is in almost everything that is used on a daily basis. Personally, I will start to take steps towards eliminating my reliance on plastic, beginning with my produce and lunches. I currently use "BPA-free" plastic containers, a water bottle and plastic utensils. I'm going to switch over to a stainless steel water bottle, glass containers and regular flatware. Also, I will start to buy fresh from the farmer's market, since the majority of the produce there is not packaged in plastic. Since I do like DIY and products with names that I can actually pronounce, I think I will start to try to DIY some of my products. I already currently use natural hair products (i.e. pure coconut oil, pure grapeseed oil, etc), and will start to look at DIY deodorant, toothpaste and cleaning products. The plastic bag charge on a large scale has definitely helped reduce some of the burden of plastic in the Bay Area. I think that in addition to this, there should be a plastic bottle ban (i.e. prepackaged bottled water) to create a bigger impact on the sources of waste. Small changes and increased legislation will help reduce our waste as a society.

Occupational Safety and Health Organization

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) relates directly to my health and safety, especially since I work for a research hospital. The NIOSH was created under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, with the goal of creating a research agency focused on the study of worker safety and health, and empowering employers and workers to create safe and healthy workplace (CDC, 2016). NIOSH programs examine current burdens on the workforce, quality data, partners within the industry as well as all stakeholders at a national and international level, and is transparent with information pertaining to work processes. burden today’s and tomorrow’s workers.The NIOSH is under the CDC and seeks to determine the number of workers at risk for a particular injury or illness, the seriousness of a hazard or problem, and the chance that new data or approaches can make a difference (CDC, 2016). The research conducted under NIOSH directly affects me since the research conducted helps to prevent work place hazards, exposures and to ultimately protect employees. 

Source- https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/about/default.html

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Heavy Metals

Lead has been a known toxin for years and there has been a major shift in recent decades in the U.S. to prevent lead exposure, especially in children. The article on lead describes that lead has a sweet flavor, often found in dishes, moonshine liquor, cosmetics, and some traditional remedies. There has also been a  reduction of lead-based paint in the U.S due to the toxic affects of lead. According the the article, lead affects the CNS, kidneys, blood pressure, weakness, reproductive harm, renal failure, clumsiness, cognitive impairment, attentional impairment. This is especially frightening considering children are still at critical stages of their development and can have permanent damage from lead exposure. The article on a lead outbreak in Nigeria explained that 400 children under age 5 died due to lead poisoning. This was a result of soil contamination from gold mining and the increased demand for gold. It was great that the international community came together to create an intervention to treat and prevent future crises, but was unfortunately after 400 innocent lives were lost.

Green Chemistry

Green chemistry is going to pioneer the path to local and global sustainability. According to the module, green chemistry works to reduce pollution by minimizing or eliminating the hazards of chemicals and keeping hazardous chemicals out of the environment to begin with. I thought I knew what green chemistry was, but realized I haven't really seen it in daily or work life. Before reading this module and watching the clip, I assumed green chemistry was the "green" household products I saw at Target and Whole Foods that are supposed to be gentler/natural cleaners. The 12 principles of green chemistry are all straight  forward and it's great that these principles all work together to prevent harmful chemicals from being used in the first place. These principles should be adopted along with stricter efforts to eliminate the current waste and pollution. As seen in the Great Pacific garbage patch video, the effects of non-biodegradable materials wreaks havoc on local ecosystems and species. Green chemistry and increased clean up efforts will help alleviate the burden of chemicals and chemical byproducts on the environment.

Literature Review Topic

The topic I chose for my literature review is Bisphenol A (BPA) and endocrine disruption.

What agencies at the local, state, federal, and/or international level provide information, regulatory oversight, or are otherwise implicated in addressing that topic?
The FDA is responsible for determining the safety and efficacy of products and drugs available to the general public. They are responsible removing or amending the usage of chemicals or products that are proved to harm human health or that are toxic. In addition, the FDA consults with the National Institutes of Health, the National Toxicology Program, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source:
https://www.fda.gov/newsevents/publichealthfocus/ucm064437.htm

Ideal Chemical Policy

The Louisville Charter provides an excellent blueprint for an ideal chemical policy reform. Beginning with finding safer substitutes and solutions, individuals can make these changes to pave the way for the usage of safe chemicals on a broader scale. This is essentially the low hanging fruit on the list of reforms but it can have a profound impact to reduce individual as well as community exposure to toxins in the environment. On both an individual and community level, phasing out persistent, bio-accumulative or highly toxic chemicals can have a significant impact, especially when combined with offering safer substitutes and solutions. From a public health protection perspective, the Louisville Charter prioritizes for reform to take immediate action when it comes to protecting communities as well as workers. On a community level, this reform also seeks to give early warnings, require comprehensive safety data for all chemicals and give the public and workers the right-to-know and participate.

These are all important elements to consider since they promote overall awareness and education for the general public in order to keep people safe. With this approach, it looks at the system as a whole and seeks to create reform at all levels. I think that this should be implemented nationwide and potentially include a larger educational or advertising component to make this information widely available and easily accessible by the general public.