MPH632Spring2018-Huang

I had learn a great deal about different aspects of environmental health, many information I had no knowledge about before, and some topics were eye openers. I was very surprised to learn that I am surrounded by many toxic chemicals and the harmful substances in our food. I really liked the small group blogging experience because it provides me a way to see my group members different views on the topics and it is very insightful. I thought the class was structured appropriately, and I loved the readings and the videos were very interesting. I would recommended adding a module of urbanization and the effect it is having on the environment because I think it is an important issue to address. But overall this have been a great course, which have expanded my understanding and knowledge go environmental health.

The UN has just reported that 5 billion people will be affected by water shortage by 2050 due to increase demand and pollution.This is a scary scenario if we all don't come up with solutions to prevent that from happening. Recently in Colorado, there have been suggestions of reusing water, but that still requires more study. In the article they suggest a greener approach, instead of using steels and concretes infrastructures to manage water, instead revert back to nature especially for agriculture, where we should utilize rainwater rather than irrigation. Another suggestion was switching to dry toilets, a toilet that don't use water to flush, minimizing water use. I  don't know if I can handle a dry toilet, but it is true that amount of water we are using to flush, if a solution can come up which is hygienic without  the use of water then I would support it. Water is essential for life, so we should all do our parts to conserve water and take care of our environment so we d...

Living in the middle of the Pacific ocean, hurricanes are pretty common each year. Fortunately, we haven't been hit by any major hurricanes, but we have suffered many storms resulting from the hurricanes that pass through. The NCDMPH website provides very useful information on health information for travelers which is much needed since Hawaii is tourist destination. The website also provides information on epidemics from dead bodies, how to handle psychosocial needs of children after the disaster, possible environmental impacts, evacuation plans and recovery plans. I think this website is a great resource to have especially with global warming, more hurricanes are expected to happen. In Hawaii we do have something similar to the Disaster Healthcare Volunteer, which is called the Medical Reserve Corp, part of the Department of Health, where they have medical, public health and non-healthcare volunteers that responds to community needs and disasters. We also have the American Red C...

When I read this article I couldn't believe that some of my favorite fruits and vegetables have topped the "Dirty Dozen"list of consistently tainted with harmful pesticide published by the Environmental Working Group. The Environmental Working Group is an organization that analyze federal data on pesticides used in produce. At the top of the list is strawberry and spinach at 98% of samples taken had large amount of pesticide residue. Strawberry coming in at number one shows results of at least 1/3 of strawberries contain 10 or more pesticides, which is very shocking to me, especially since strawberry is such a common fruit that we eat. Pesticides are linked to infertility which means we should be more careful, make sure we clean our produce well, and if possible avoid certain produce that is on the list. The is a "Clean Fifteen" list that was published too, and it may be a safer option then the "Dirty Dozen". The top two produce on the list is avocados...

1) What do you personally find most troubling about climate change? What I find most troubling about climate change is there are people that are ignorant to the seriousness about it, refusing to believe that is the cause of many natural disasters and would not support the prevention of climate change. I don't understand why not everyone is on board with making changes to reduce the impact of climate change to ensure that our planet still have a future. 2) As a public health professional, what do you think needs the greatest attention right now? As a public health professional, I think what needs the greatest attention right now is climate change. The impact and after effect of climate change is on all our essential to maintain our lifestyle. Climate change impact air quality, causes drought, flood, superstorm, and wildfire which influence water quality, marine life and agriculture, and all these environmental changes have consequences on human health. Everything comes in ful...

1) Consider your workplace or a workplace of one of your family members. Are there chemical, biological, radiological or ergonomic issues? Using the industrial hygiene hierarchy of controls, how might you address the issues? How are they being addressed in reality? I am a pharmacy intern, as for any healthcare setting there will be biological issues, and I would also add ergonomic issues too. For biological issues in the pharmacy, we come in contact with may sick patients on a daily basis, so there is a lot of germs, pathogens such as viruses going around. For me, I think that working in the healthcare field, we have trained our immune system to be less susceptible to some of the common illness like the flu, and common colds since we are constantly coming in contact with it. Definitely I think that we are more conscious about hygiene and sanitation, which does greatly minimize the chance of catching bacterial or viral strains. One of the services that we offer in the pharmacy is imm...

This article introduces a new alternative to sustainability for our planet. The NOSHAN project is headed by seven European countries that have been researching turning fruit,vegetable,cereal and dairy waste into animal feed for pigs and chickens. According to the United Nations, 1/3 of food that is produced for human food consumption is wasted, so why not turned the food that we are throwing down he drain and turn it into another source of food in a very important agricultural market. The project found that waste from pumpkins, rapeseed, cheese yogurt,barley, mushroom and olives were the most nutrient rich source for use as animal feed. The results from the investigation shows that current animal feeds constitute about 45% of greenhouse gas emission from the growing and production of animal food, therefore if we recycle food waste then we could cut down on the carbon footprint. Since our topic this week is on zero waste life, I thought this article may be appropriate as an idea to what...

After watching the Youtube video, I was really amazed at what the speaker, Lauren Singer was able to accomplish in 3 years. I think she have brought up some really good points and ideas to reduce waste. Personally, I have been cutting back on buying fruits and vegetables from grocery store and switching to buying it at farmers markets. I always have reusable bags in my bag or in my car that way I can minimize using plastic or paper bags. I agree with Lauren that we need to cut down on the amount of plastic that we use and I really like her idea of DIY. I was blown by how amazing she was able to make her own soap, lotion, deodorant and cleaning supplies. I must admit that I am not very good at DIY, but she did bring up a good point, making these products ourselves ensures that all the ingredients are natural and not harmful to the environment and to our body. The one thing that I think may be a little challenging for me is shopping. I frequently have to remind myself that I don't re...