Blog 11

1. I live in San Francisco far from BART, so much of the transportation around me is bus based or driving. I live close to Golden Gate Park, which has 'the Wiggle' bike trail - which goes from GGP to the Mission, where I work, so I'm about to ride my bike to work which is great. Many students in my area utilize public transportation. I love that Golden Gate Park offers a place that is semi removed from the cars and industrialization of San Francisco. I would hope that having a hub of greenery and trees helps mitigate some of the environmental effects of living in San Francisco where there are so many cars.

2. I had never heard of the Health Impacts Assessment, but am so glad it exists. From my knowledge, there are no major projects happening around where I live, potentially because it is already so developed. I did live in Malawi for about a year, which is a developing country, and there was a lot of discussion happening there as to how to minimize deforestation (a huge issue due to firewood and charcoal being used for cooking), as well as how to increase the use of solar panels for clean energy. Green urban planning is something that I imagine most cities could improve. My hometown of Spokane, WA has worked to implement green urban planning in areas of town that were already developed, but they were able to make subtle changes to increase the amount of greenery in the city. Green urban planning provides a variety of benefits - including community gardens, stress relief for people who enjoy nature in their busy city lives, as well as acting as a sink for greenhouse gas emissions.

3. The Health Impact Assessment could and should be part of population based health that nurses assess. Nurses could be valuable assets in HIAs, and especially in lobbying against possible harmful aspects of project plans. I would hope that nurses are included on HIA teams, because nurses are able to think critically about the health of vulnerable populations, and speak out against harm towards our patients.

Comments

  1. WiniKaksOctober 14, 2019 at 7:16 PM

    In Kenya, we also use charcoal and firewood for cooking. Cooking is done mostly outside or in well ventilated rooms. People rarely get sick from these methods of cooking. You are right; the problem is deforestation. Most schools have planting trees projects to manage deforestation in Kenya

    ReplyDelete

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