Kathleen's Environmental Health Blog

Final Blog: I really enjoyed this class. I'm really passionate about the environment and felt like I was fairly well versed in environmental issues before this class, but learned so much more in this class. I loved the modules on pesticides, reducing personal plastic use, and water quality/safety. This class also allowed me to expand on the fact that climate change affects those on the margins of society the most - and therefore it should be remembered that climate justice is racial justice is gender justice. The modules were very well put together. I'm not a huge fan of the blog itself and actually think that the discussion boards lead to better collaboration among students. I'm not sure why that is exactly, but maybe part of it is that we're on canvas all of the time and therefore maybe it's easier to have an engaging conversation with peers since we're checking it more. I really liked that we needed to pick out one piece of environmental news per week to ...

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...