Environmental Health

What do you personally find most troubling about climate change? What I find troubling about climate change is how fast the Earth is warming up and why aren't people concerned about it. As we know there are skeptics out there who believe climate change is a myth, something made up to scare people. But in reality, people should be scared. In one article that I read it mentioned by the year 2500 sea levels will rise 50 feet! That is amazing and quite scary. Many coastlines will be severely affected which will force people to move inland causing other ripple effects of loss of land. Sea levels are what I find most troubling. I've heard how one island country, the Maldives might not be around the next 100 years which is troubling because we should not be losing precious land so soon. I personally want to travel there to witness its crystal clear waters and beautiful beaches but with the land slowly sinking I might have to go sooner than later.  As a public health professional...

I thought the TedTalk was very informative and interesting. I have heard of the concept of zero waste but never have heard of someone who has lived the zero waste life. I felt like I could relate to the speaker when she mentioned she is a lazy person but made the choice to live this lifestyle. As someone who is lazy it sounds like a lot of work to live this lifestyle; however the perks outweigh the thoughts of it making difficult. Saving money, choosing your own preferences on things and most importantly creating less trash. What I can do to lessen trash is make more home made foods. I agree with the speaker that once opening refrigerator all you see is plastic containers which would be great to eliminate if purchasing fresh fruits and veggies was possible. I also found the video Food Waste to be impact. I did not realize how much food is wasted every year. They compared it to buying 3 grocery bags and dropping one behind. That is a lot of food that is being wasted! Overall I feel peop...

What are the health risks associated with this chemical? It was hard to find a sole chemical for ZSFG but I came across a compound used here called Metaltite which is used as a dental cement in one of the clinics in building 5 (there are many buildings located in ZSFG but building 5 is where some clinics can be found).  Is the chemical a carcinogen? Under OSHA, this compound is found to be hazardous and a highly flammable liquid and vapor. On the sheet it does not indicate whether it is a carcinogen but searching on the web it was hard to find much information on it. What personal protective equipment or special precautions should be taken when working with this chemical? Those who come in contact with Metaltite should wear protective clothing such as gloves and safety goggles and those who are handling it should not allow this compound to enter drains, sewers or watercourses. Handling of Metaltite should be taken place in a well-ventilated area and kept aw...

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 work at ZSFG (Zuckerberg San Francisco General). I would say all those exist here. Different buildings would fall under each category. Currently the new building has the state of the art equipment where radiological harm would be more common to workers. Working at a hospital you need equipment to detect what is wrong with patients at the cost of being exposed to chemical, biological and radiological harm. By using the hierarchy of controls the elimination phase would be removing equipment that is no longer in use or too old to be in operation to combat the harmful effects it has on workers. Substitution would be taking out old equipment that pose harm to workers and bring in new equipment that will emit less substances ...

I looked into AFL-CIO which is American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. I chose to look into gender equality. They have a petition called "We need data on equal pay" which consists of ending discrimination and closing the wage gaps between men and women and people of color. They go into detail explaining women are indeed breadwinners at 40% of the workforce women are breadwinners for their families and the pay gaps not only affect women but their families as well. As of August 2001 they have made statements to help stop domestic violence at work, charter for rights of working women, working on women's rights in the global economy, blogging over 50 years of women in the workforce and yet there is still no equal pay and now working towards an act that will close gender pay gaps. The timeline is made up of blogs, speeches, media hits and legislative alerts. With information such as this and people gaining exposure to the wage gap between men and...

I looked into Byssinosis also known as brown lung. It is an occupational lung disease that primarily affects workers in cotton processing, hemp or flax industries. It can cause symptoms such as asthma and more severely permanent lung damage similar to chronic obstructive lung disease. In the United States the number of cases has declined over the years, however globally cases have increased. This lung disease is contracted first hand working in the fields having come in contact with cotton which when inhaled by a worked can cause cough and feeling of tightness in the chest. Symptoms can improve once exposure has been stopped about after a week. If byssinosis is caught early no permanent damage is made, however' prolonged exposure can lead up to disability and rarely death. Workers in the United States are under protection which make regulations more consistent.  OSHA regulations on byssinosis standards are up to date and no regualtions need to be modified. Rates have reduced from 1...