Jaclyn's Environmental Health Blog

In the recent wild fire events, I have been thinking more about emergency preparedness. Though wildfires from shrubbery are not likely to occur in San Francisco, we still face the repercussions of these environmental events. The smoke was so heavy from the fire a hundred miles up north that it was unbearable to live in. I was thankfully out of the country for the whole duration of the event but I know of people who were taking trips out of the Bay Area just to get some fresh air. All of my family lives here in the city and it was challenging for me because I wanted to help but did not have the capacity to do so. They had a hard time understanding the severity of the situation and when they finally decided to look for masks, they were sold out in local stores. Additionally, they were using the wrong kinds of masks, which did not serve any benefit. The NCDMPH website is a great resource for the general public on natural disasters. They provide appropriate links for more information o...

I find the how big the climate change problem is to be the most troubling. It involves all individuals in every country to take action for substantial change. Getting everyone involved is a huge task to undertake and because it is such a large task, it is scary. However, I think this is a bad way to look at it. We have to start small and make little changes as we go. As the most powerful nation in the world, we need regulations on products so that lower our emissions and produce biodegradable products. If we demand this from our factories, they will find a way to accommodate this. Additionally, we can provide assistance on updating their processes. I think the meat and agricultural industry need our biggest attention right now. We need to figure out sustainable ways to obtain our meat and produce. The chemicals used in insecticides are greatly polluting our environment. The antibiotics and feed we give our animals are slowly chipping away at our health. If I had to explain this to ...

This course has been eye opening for me! I know that I will take the information from this course and apply it to my daily life. There have been recent news articles regarding the potential catastrophe of climate change if we do not start acting now, so this course has been very timely for us. I have started to make little changes in my daily routine already. I just bought safe, biodegradable sunscreen to wear during my vacation (thank you whole foods). I have also found myself to preach the things i learn in class to others. I also enjoyed the course readings and the module videos. The only thing that I would add is to have some class time or blog to discuss Silent Spring since this was on of our required readings.

The video on having zero waste is jaw-dropping and inspiring. When she initially pulled out the jar of waste she had the whole year, I thought to myself: "That's a lie, that's not possible". However, as she began to explain her small changes through the years, I began to understand how living zero waste is possible. She addressed buy things in bulk now and shopping at farmers market to reduce waste. This is something that I am trying to do more of since I started this class. Shopping at farmers market and choosing sustainable choices is easier for me to do than making household products. I have heard of friends making their own toothpaste with charcoal powder so maybe I will give that a try. She made a very great point of starting small and slowly start making changes throughout your day-to-day life. This makes the change more manageable and less daunting.