Blog 10

1. Indoor air quality can affect health outcomes in that it can contribute to allergies, asthma, COPD, and cardiovascular illness. The EPA video discussed the issue of mold - which is naturally occurring and can be harmless, but if in excess can be extremely harmful and even fatal. Poor ventilation in homes contributes to poor health outcomes. It's important for people to dust, vacuum, open windows to increase ventilation, and clean their bedding and pillows, etc. frequently. I don't feel very confident about the air quality in the clinic that I work in. It's an old building, we have peeling paint, and there are no windows for ventilation.

2. I live in a dorm at USF as part of a second job that I have. The entire dorm is filled with carpet, and the dorm is filled with 18 year olds. The carpet is pretty disgusting, and people have even vomited on the carpet before. I'm thankful that the carpet is cleaned frequently, but the entire building seems like a concern for having carpet that harbors bacteria, etc.

3. I worked in Malawi where the issue of cookstoves that burn firewood and charcoal is a huge problem - environmentally (due to deforestation to make the charcoal) and health-wise. In situations like these where electric and gas stoves are not readily available, it's important to educate patients on the use of more eco-friendly and health friendly options for cooking - such as using briquettes in stoves instead of charcoal. Patients should at least cook outside if possible when using these stoves.

Environmental news:
I read about emissions due to airplanes in a NYTimes article. While it's common knowledge that planes are huge contributors to pollution, apparently the increasing demand for flying is worse and leading to more emissions than were previously known. The article mentioned that some of the places that this is most impactful is in growing economies such as China and India. Overall, governments and companies have to work on making aviation more fuel efficient.

Comments

  1. Janna LinOctober 6, 2019 at 11:40 PM

    Hi Kathleen,
    I used to have this notion that wood-burning stoves were this great back-to-nature way of connecting to our ancestors' past ways of living. My grandparents in Okinawa had wood-burning/ coal stoves in their kitchen the way that it was originally designed in traditional houses on the island. Now of course even the older folks on the island are using modern cooking methods including electric or gas stoves.

    Now we know that of course wood-burning stoves contribute greatly to indoor pollution. Also the process of gathering wood and other natural materials may endanger women in societies where women are often the targets of violence. It would've never occurred to me had I not read the assigned articles.

    ReplyDelete
  2. WiniKaksOctober 14, 2019 at 7:26 PM

    I also read an article that was discussing the amount of carbon dioxide released by airplanes. Burning jet fuel releases carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas into the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. We know greenhouse gases block heat from escaping from the atmosphere, causing temperatures to rise.

    ReplyDelete

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