Environmental & Occupational Health Issues

The topics on the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health website that are most relevant to California are Wildfires and Earthquakes. There are a lot of health and environmental impacts caused by wildfires. As many of us recently experienced, the air quality can be severely impacted by wildfires and cause many health problems. In addition, the psychosocial impact of wildfires is distress for people who were displaced or lost their homes. In California right now we have hundreds of people who need housing and the state was already in a housing crisis. Earthquakes have a similar psychosocial impact, however in the most recent earthquakes we've had in California, most homes have only suffered some damage and people were not completely displaced. I had no idea about the Disaster Healthcare Volunteers site. I think this is a great resource and I hope that all healthcare professionals know about this site. I also hope there is something similar in each state. 

I think what I find most troubling about climate change is that some people do not believe it is happening and then that most people who do believe it is happening are doing little to change their behaviors/change policies for industry to slow/stop it. Because of the current state of California, it is hard not to think that the devastating wildfires that have been occurring the last couple of years need the most attention - but I don't know that there really is anything we can do about it (other than hope for rain!). I think the number one thing that needs to be done globally is to reduce our use of coal and other fossil fuels - this includes making all vehicles electric and/or more fuel efficient as well as limiting industrial use of fossil fuels. If I were visiting with a long-lost relative who had never heard about climate change, I would describe climate change as an increase in the earth's temperature caused by too much carbon dioxide in the air. The release of too muc...

This module on waste really got me thinking about what additional changes I can make in my life to produce less waste. I have already made some changes since starting this class - some were for reasons other than making less waste (like not exposing myself and family to harmful chemicals), but it turns out I was doing something better for myself and the earth at the same time :) Some of these changes include:    - using washable towels instead of paper towels    - using washable swiffer pads instead of disposable ones    - composting    - using reusable produce bags instead of plastic produce bags    - asking not to print a receipt (if possible)    - choosing to buy products in glass, aluminium or stainless steel instead of plastic    - not drinking from plastic water bottles at all    - purchasing reusable silicone ziplock bags Some additional changes I think I can make are    - keeping...