Kathleen's Environmental Health Blog

1. When I looked up information on my phone, I found that it stated it met all of the safety criteria that the United States lists for it. After this module, I think it's important to be aware of radiation risks from our phones, and to use them in intentional ways. Sometimes I'll stick my phone into my waist band to keep it there and it's directly touching my skin - which is something I should work to not do. It all speaks to a greater issue of how we're likely too dependent and attached to our phones (I'm sure that I am guilty of that) and probably need to take a step back from phone use as a whole - for physical and mental health. 2. Nurses should certainly provide holistic education regarding phone exposure and children. This also relates to the fact that kids should probably have limits on screen time in general - I saw an article about how kids have slower brain development if they have high levels of screen time. Regardless, nurses should definitely educate ca...

1. I learned a lot from this module - I had no idea that exposure to latex gloves increases the chances of asthma later in life, and that nurses and custodians are the most greatly affected by that. One solution to think about is purchasing latex free biodegradable gloves. This would be better for nurses, as well as for the environment. Nurses go through pairs of gloves so quickly - and I understand that it's important for both nurse and patient safety - but sometimes it's so frustrating to see piles of gloves being thrown away that cannot be recycled. Biodegradable gloves would at least address part of the issue. 2. I looked into becoming a climate champion on the envirn website. I'm planning on learning more about how to be a climate advocate at my work. Environmental news:   I've been hearing a lot about flooding in Venice lately and have been curious as to what its future will be as sea levels continue to rise. I found an article about this issue on NPR - Venice rec...

1. In terms of how to transition to renewable energies, there's both personal choices that can be made as well as policy choices that can be made. Regarding my personal involvement, if and when I become a homeowner I'd like to implement solar panels in my home to be more sustainable. I'd also like to compost and grow as much of my own food as possible. Regarding more widespread energy practices, I'd like to be involved in lobbying for safer and more sustainable energy practices. Before this class, I didn't think about the ways in which nurses could lobby for sustainable energy practices. I was amazed to watch the video on fracking in Australia and knowing that nurses had a major role in the production of that video, which inspires a lot of confidence in what nurses can do to use their voices for good in these situations and in the climate crisis. One way to do so is to call our representatives, and another is to actually get out and protest and speak out about the...

1. Climate Change and its effect on the health of communities appears to be an insurmountable problem given the currents status of emissions and lack of sufficient effort by government to curb them. Given that unchecked climate change will lead to massive food shortages, increased air pollution, increased wildfires, temperature fluctuation, and increased vector disease, it's something that I certainly don't feel prepared for as a nurse. While these realities may slowly happen, it's important to keep in mind that many of these problems have already started. For example, mosquitoes are able to travel further north in the United States due to warming temperatures, meaning that vector borne disease can become a bigger problem, and that we may start to be exposed to diseases we were not previously exposed to. In this sense, it's important to educate patients on the importance of eliminating standing water around their homes, making sure that they have proper waste disposal, ...

1. My clinic regularly uses cavicide wipes which I was interested in learning more about from the MSDS information. The MSDS for cavicide was 6 pages and not very user-friendly. It was filled with jargon that was difficult to understand as a healthcare provider. The MSDS also had no mention until page 3 that people utilizing it should use gloves and be in well ventilated areas, which are very important points. It might be better if at the top of each MSDS page, it lists a couple of easy to read, take-home points, such as 'wear gloves when touching'. 2.  I read about wildfires on OSHA and the WHO's websites. One particular aspect of wildfire health that I was interested in was post-fire health. OSHA and the WHO discussed the danger of inhaling ash, as well as the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning post wildfire. It's also important to be aware of possible spills of hazardous material after fires.  Especially living in California nowadays, wildfires are a huge risk and c...

1. I found some news on California's law that new homes must have solar panels on their roofs for energy sources. In Sacramento, local government is determining if homeowners can receive solar from off-site solar generators, or if it has to be from the homeowner's own home. If Sacramento approves off-site solar, it's likely that other cities would follow. One consideration is that on-home solar provides benefits of: extra energy bill savings per month, ability to keep lights on during a blackout, as well as less money invested overall into external off-site solar generators. The fact that solar panels can create energy that allows for power to be on during black outs (which could become more and more common as climate change makes fire season longer and more challenging) has an immense impact on health. For one, people that rely on refrigerators to keep medications like insulin cool, or who need CPAP machines to be plugged in, would greatly benefit from clean energy that ca...