Go Green. Live Green.

1.     What do you personally find most troubling about climate change? Everything about climate change troubles me! There are numerous serious consequences in the future if we continue contributing to the greenhouse gas emissions. After watching the video “Climate Change Explained,” I felt so overwhelm with all the negative consequences that can happen with climate change. With climate change, the storms will be more intense and drought periods will be longer. Climate change can also cause massive extinction of most species on Earth. It can also affect agriculture which can result to hunger. Recently, we saw major destruction that was cause by hurricanes in Florida and Puerto Rico. I’m really worried for the future generations if climate change continues. 2.     As a public health professional, what do you think needs the greatest attention right now? As public health professional, I think we need to get more politician to support poli...

After watching the video about a girl who live a zero waste life, I was really surprised and inspired. I think there are so many steps that I need to take before I live a zero waste life. Also, I need to educate and research ways on how to live a zero waste life. For the past years, my family and I have been separating our trash into recycle and compost. I think a good step to take is reduce our plastic waste. In the video, she mentioned that there are so many food products that are packaged in plastic. She said that we should stop buying packaged food. I definitely agree with what she said. Whenever I go to the grocery store, I see vegetables in Styrofoam trays and plastic wraps. My mom did start buying more fruits and vegetables from the farmers’ market which are not in a Styrofoam trays and plastic wraps. In addition, we can also bring our own jars and containers. I will inform her that this is a better idea to reduce our plastic trash. Since San Francisco started charging for plast...

One of the health and safety program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) is called Infection Prevention and Control (IPC). This program focuses on preventing and controlling the spread of antibiotic-resistant organisms. The World Health Organization’s program helps other countries and health care facilities to develop action plans current and future threats of antibiotic resistance germs. They stated that hundreds of millions of people are affected every year by infection. Their program ensures that patients and health workers will not be harm. This is beneficial for me since I work at a hospital/medical center. Their program promotes and recommends hand hygiene, clean and hygienic environment, monitoring infections and having an action plans to reduce their frequency, never reusing needles and syringes, and using only antibiotics when is needed to reduce resistance. They also included measures to keep surgical site infections from happening like recommending appropriate...

ACID-PHENOL:CHLOROFORM, PH 4.5 • What are the health risks associated with this chemical? The chemical is toxic if swallowed, toxic in contact with skin, and toxic if inhaled. It can also cause cancer, severe skin burns, eye damage, and damage to organs through prolonged or repeated exposure. • Is the chemical a carcinogen? Yes, the chemical is category 2 for carcinogen. • What personal protective equipment or special precautions should be taken when working with this chemical? When working with this chemical, an individual needs to use protective gloves, protective clothing, eye protection, and face protection. An individual needs to wash their hands thoroughly after handling. The chemical can only be use outdoors or in well-ventilated area. • If this is a chemical found in your workplace, what training/education were you given about any risks associated with this chemical? I work at a hospital but I don’t handle or encounter this chemical. After checking the informatio...

After reading the article about the history of lead poisoning, I have a better understand of what lead can do to our body. I learned that lead can affect the peripheral and central nervous system, the kidneys, and blood pressure. Lead can also affect the reproductive system. It’s scary to know that children are more vulnerable than adults to lead exposure because of their hand-to-mouth activity. The article mentioned that children with high level of lead in their body had reading disabilities and lower IQ. Although lead has been banned from paint, some old houses were painted with leaded paint. The article about the severe outbreak of childhood lead poisoning in Nigeria is really an eye-opener about the serious health effect of lead, especially to children. I learned that an outbreak of lead poisoning affected more than 400 children who are 5 years old and younger in 2010. I like that everyone worked together to provide a lead safe environment. It is definitely important to start with ...

The green chemistry is a great idea. This is the first time I heard about it which makes me wonder why the government doesn’t promote it or enforce it. I think more companies and manufacturers should practice green chemistry when creating their products. Green chemistry reduces the use of hazardous substances which can prevent pollution and harming our environment and our health. The 12 principles of green chemistry can save our planet from hazardous chemicals. I think the main goal of the principles is to keep the hazardous chemicals out of the environment in the first place. It keeps hazardous chemicals out of the environment by pushing for safer chemicals and products. I also like that one of the principles talked about designing chemicals and products that can degrade after use so it will not accumulate in the environment. After watching the video about the Great Pacific garbage patch, I saw how different products like plastics can wash out in the beach and accumulate. Garbage li...

Class 1: Highly Fluorinated Chemicals The highly fluorinated chemicals provide stain and water repellency. These chemicals are convenient but they are associated to serious health diseases. They also remain in the environment and get into our food and water. These chemicals can be found in consumer products like in cosmetics, carpet, food packaging, cookware, and etc. According to the webinar, these chemicals can be found in 98% of Americans. I learned that children have higher body levels of fluorinated chemicals. These chemicals can cause elevated cholesterol, kidney cancer, testicular cancer, and thyroid disease. These chemicals can also decreased fertility and interfere with hormone function. Even the safer substitute is not safe. To avoid these chemicals, people should use products without water and stain repellency. Class 2: Antimicrobials The function of antimicrobials is to kill or inhibit the growth of microorganisms. The chemicals triclosan and triclocarban are both...

From the Louisville Charter's website, I think the six suggested reforms for our nation's chemical policy are really important to protect our health and the environment. For the first reform about requiring safer substitutes and solutions, I think it is really important to find an alternative chemical that it is safer to use. For the second reform, the government should prioritize people's health and eliminate the chemicals that are toxic for us. For the third reform, I agree that we need to be involve in deciding about problems/issues with chemicals because we are also the one that are being harm by it. We need to know if toxic chemicals are in the products that we use so we can make better decisions. For the fourth reform, it is important to act right away and stop chemicals from being produced or use once there is evidence that it can harm people and the environment. For the fifth reform, I agree that manufacturers need to be transparent and provide safety information a...

I think the first essential step for an ideal chemical policy is to learn about the problem in the past up to the present time. It is important to understand the policies that was implemented successfully and the policies that failed. It is also important to hear from the communities for suggestions and comments about the toxic chemical problems. The second step of a chemical policy should be requiring companies to list all the chemicals that they use in their product. The third step should be reviewing all companies/manufacturers that produce products that contained chemicals. The chemical content of all the products needs to be review and examine if it’s safe for people. For new chemicals, they should not be allowed to hit the market without a long review process about its content and safety. From one of the videos that I saw, Europe legally enforced a maximum residue level for pesticide residues. This is the amount allowed for pesticide residues to be found in food and this amount ...

I had chicken with some corn and rice last night. For the chicken, there were no pesticide residues. For the corn, I learned that there were 15 pesticide residues found by the USDA Pesticide Data Program. Among these pesticide residues, there were 9 suspected hormone disruptors, 5 known or probable carcinogens, 5 neurotoxins, and 1 developmental or reproductive toxins that can affect the human health. There were also 7 honeybee toxins found in the corn. For the rice, I learned that there were also 15 pesticide residues. Among these pesticide residues, there were 10 suspected hormone disruptors, 4 known or probable carcinogens, 3 developmental or reproductive toxins, and 2 neurotoxins that can affect the human health. There were 6 honeybee toxins that can affect the environment. I was so surprised to find out that the corn and rice that I ate last night both have 15 pesticide residues. That means my one meal contained a total of 30 pesticide residues. That number is big! It’s scary to ...

My topic for my literature review: Harmful chemicals like phthalates in clothes What agencies at the local, state, federal, and/or international level provide information, regulatory oversight, or are otherwise implicated in addressing that topic? The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is an agency that enforces the Textile Products Identification. They inspect the information in the labels of the clothes. They make sure that the clothing was labeled correctly with its fabric content. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is an agency that enforces the law about not using harmful chemicals in the clothes like some flame retardants and heavy metals.

Department of Agriculture The Department of Agriculture protects the environmental health by managing farming, food, and natural resources. This agency promotes agriculture production and trade. They provide services and help farmers and ranchers. They support sustainable management which I think it’s very important for today’s generations and future generations. In addition, they protect the health of the land and animals. They secure that all food products are labeled properly and safe for consumption. Their vision is for America’s agriculture to continue to flourish and improve the quality of life in rural America. The agency preserves our natural resources through healthy private working lands, restored forests, improved watersheds, and conservation. The agency also helps with the negative effects of climate change to our lands. They educate farmers about climate change and offer supports for heat stress, drought, pests, floods, and other changes caused by climate change. I thin...

S an Francisco Department of Public Health – Environmental Services Their mission is to implement San Francisco’s health-protective environmental policies and laws such as habitable housing, safe and nutritious food, and clean water, air, and soil. They also want to prevent people from exposure of noise pollution and toxic chemicals. They also have business regulations for tattoo, piercing and permanent cosmetic facilities, massage establishments, medical cannabis dispensaries, and facilities that sells tobacco products. I also found out that they have a Weights & Measures Program which surprised me. The program is about protecting the consumer from inaccurate scales, taximeters, and other measuring devices. SF Environment Their mission is to provide solutions for climate change and improve the quality of life for all San Franciscans. They have services for transportation, energy, buildings and environments, waste, and climate change issues. They also have services for red...

Utilizing the first article, discuss what is locally grown and what is currently in season in your area. In addition, the seasonal foods can help in reducing the gas emissions from vehicles that are used to transport food. In San Francisco, the vegetables and fruits that are locally grown in San Francisco are bell peppers, herbs, tomatoes, leafy greens, lemon, cherry, peach, pear, plum, and dwarf apple. According to the Local Harvest website, the fruits in season in San Francisco are avocados, dates, figs, grapefruits, pears, pomegranates, peaches, and cranberries. According to the SF environment website, the vegetables in season are arugula, bok choy, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, swiss chard, eggplant, fennel, okra, snap peas, winter squash, and tomatoes. Websites URL: https://www.localharvest.org/store/fruits.jsp https://sfenvironment.org/vegetables-fruits-in-season-bay-area Discuss your thoughts on seasonal/local foods and hospital menus.  ...

After reading the Antibiotic Resistance 101: How Antibiotic Misuse on Factory Farms Can Make you Sick article, I learned that antibiotics are losing their effectiveness because agriculture are misusing it for their livestock. In 2011, the article stated that the FDA reported that 80% of antibiotics are sold for agriculture use. This is my first time I heard about this fact and I’m really surprised that a big percentage of antibiotics are used for animals. According to the article, agriculture uses antibiotics to prevent disease and promote growth among their livestock. They give their animals low doses of antibiotic over a long period of time. In result, these animals can develop antibiotic-resistant (AR) bacteria. People can get the AR bacteria if they eat the meat of animals that are contaminated by AR. The article mentioned that FDA banned the use of some antibiotics for agriculture. Why can’t they ban it all? I think the congress and FDA need to work together and enforce the use...

Your thoughts about the vanishing of bees (what else have you heard/seen about this issue?) After watching the “Vanishing of Bees,” I was surprised to learn that bees are disappearing. This is the first time I heard about the colony collapse disorder (CCD). It was surprising to know that CCD is documented in 35 states and beekeepers are losing at least 30% of the hives per year. Honestly, I ran whenever I see a bee flying near me. After watching this film, I realized that they play an important role in growing our fruits and vegetables. Farmers need to stop using pesticides that might be killing the bees. I like the idea about sustainable agriculture. Farmers need to stop using pesticides that might not only be harming the bees but also people. Dirt!: The Movie  After watching “Dirt: The Movie,” I appreciate dirt more. I think people take dirt for granted. I learned that numerous species can be found in dirt. I saw in the film that dirt is sacred in some places, lik...

FIND OUT  Where are the sewage treatment facilities in your community?  There are three sewage treatment facilities in San Francisco. The first one is the Oceanside Treatment Plant. This facility is located in the Great Highway between Lake Merced and the San Francisco Zoo. The second facility is called North Point Wet Weather Facility. This facility is located in Bay Street and Embarcadero. The third facility is called Southeast Treatment Plant. This facility is located at Phelps Street in the Bayview District.

Blog about: If you were to develop a nationwide campaign to get people to drink tap water instead of bottled water, what would be your campaign slogan? Campaign Slogan: “Bottled Water Pollutes Earth. Tap Water Saves Earth.” I want people to realize that bottled water is bad for our environment. I want to educate them that bottled water doesn't really get recycled. I will tell them to watch "The Story of Bottled Water" to know the whole story about how bottled water is polluting our environment and how corporations are manipulating us into buying their bottled water. People need to know that they can reduce pollution by using tap water.

Consumer Confidence Reports  (CCR): San Francisco Regional Water System Answer the following questions: What is the source of your drinking water?   Where does your water ORIGINATE?  (It is treated at a water treatment plant, but what watershed or aquifer is the sources of the water?) The source of my drinking water is the San Francisco Regional Water System. The water originates from spring snowmelt flowing down the Tuolumne River that goes into storage in Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The Hetch Hetcy Reservoir has two watershed sources: Alameda Watershed and Peninsula Watershed.  The water from these watersheds are treated in the Harry Tracy Water Treatment Plant. What chemicals were found in your water that were higher than expected? The chemicals that were found in the water that were higher than expected are chromium, trihalomethanes, and copper.   What chemicals did you NOT expect to find in your water? I didn’t expect to have fluoride, lead, and...

After watching the “Water Facts” video, I realized that there is a possibility that water on Earth will run out or it will be too polluted for people to drink. The video showed that places like the Aral Sea, once Asia’s largest lake, and Mexico’s groundwater are either drying up or depleting. Aside from people’s consumption of water, we also use water to sustain energy, agriculture, and industry. Basically, we are alive because of water. Before the Clean Water Act of 1972, only one-third of the nation’s water was safe for swimming and fishing. Water was really polluted back then and it was not safe for people to drink. The Clean Water Act of 1972 is really important because it regulates point source pollution, nonpoint source pollution, and infill material point source pollution. It prevents water contamination caused by factories and sewage treatment facilities. The Clean Water Act of 1972 main purpose is to restore and maintain the quality of our nation’s water. In addition, the law ...