Final Blog!

I did enjoy the course! Environmental and Occupational Health course provided me with a much deeper understanding of the environment I live in, my surroundings, political situation regarding the environment, toxins, pollutants and many more. Towards the end of the course, I feel equipped with practical knowledge and tools, which have helped and will help me in the future. I am using a cosmetic database for personal needs and told my friends and relatives about it. I also know more about recycling, its importance and I have definitely improved my behaviors. Another important aspect of the course is that it changed my attitudes towards the environment and brought my attention to the elements I can personally change. The class made me want to make positive changes in the environment I live in. Before I started this course I had not thought about the situation, environmental health and its components that much.
I liked blogs and that we were assigned to small groups. This gave us an opportunity to share our personal thoughts and experiences. I have learned from my group members a lot! The only downside I couldn't have mentioned is the technical difficulties we all experienced with blogs. Otherwise, blogging worked for me, and I hope reading my blogs was interesting for my classmates.
Additionally, I wanted to mention that I really liked the last class activities when some of us were assigned to a particular role in a given situation.

Climate Change

What do you personally find most troubling about climate change? 

I personally feel that there is no less critical problem related to climate change. To me every outcome of climate change is vital. However, I would consider the improportional impact on vulnerable populations as the most pressing. After reviewing the module materials, video lectures and the readings I arrived at a conclusion that all outcomes of climate change multiply when it comes to vulnerable populations. 

As a public health professional, what do you think needs the greatest attention right now?

I believe that we do need to address disparities and discrimination issues right away. Doing that and decreasing inequalities and discrimination will put this world on another higher level. Of evolution. I may sound somewhat idealistic, romantic and abstract. But we are definitely capable of making changes, and that would dramatically increase our chances of surviving and growing healthier and more ethical (moral) generations. Regarding climate change, it will help with disaster preparedness and epidemiological outcomes. 

If you were visiting with a long-lost relative who had never heard about climate change, how would you describe it and its attendant human health and ecological threats?

I would describe climate change as global warming. Global warming in its turn is the increase of the average temperature all over the Planet. This increase negatively affects all living organisms and inanimate things. Moreover, climate change leads to changes in water (a decrease in water resources, expansion of water diseases), increase in natural disasters occurrence, deaths and extinctions of animals, negative impact on plants and crops, increase in human infection and on-infection diseases and air pollution.  Overall, climate change is one of the most pressing ecological issues, which impacts almost everything you can imagine. Additionally, the fact that humans and human actions are the primary cause of global warming and its outcomes is quite frustrating! I believe that there's something here all of us should think about. 

Zero Waste Life

This week module was quite interesting indeed and made me think a lot. After watching the Youtube video, I was fascinated at first! I think it's a huge deal to start Zero Waste lifestyle. However, I wouldn't be able to do that. I have tried organic personal care products and cleaning household products. Eventually, I found them not satisfying. For instance, I had been using natural and organic antiperspirants for a year. After doing personal research and seeing information about leading brands and best products I tried 4 different products. First of all, it is much more expensive than regular market options. Secondly and most importantly, they do not keep you fresh and dry. Some of them have a better scent, some of them are quite buttery (because of bee wax ingredient I think). But neither of them keep you dry. For me it was a critical point. I am biking a lot, and I do not like being ashamed of wet marks on my clothes, do not want to feel embarrassed lifting up my arms. When I moved to the U.S., I learned to sort my trash. However, trying a zero-waste lifestyle would be too complicated for me.
Additionally, I can't agree with the speaker on the video that it is cheaper.  After living here for 5 years, I can tell that Farmer's market is more expensive than Trader Joe's and much less convenient. Fora single hard working individual as I am doing groceries there would be hard. Conclusively, I do not exclude the possibility of trying to lead less waste lifestyle someday, but at the particular moment of my life it is not diable.