Global climate change has become one of the more recent public health issues in society. When it comes to climate change, effects on human health spread far and wide. There are different regional and population variations and complexity issues that make it such a threat. Humans are at increased risk directly for injury by severe weather, heat exposure, and food and water-borne illnesses.
Table 1 depicts weather events and their health effects. Two events that may directly affect my friends and family include heat waves and increased ozone pollen formation. Living in the Ohio River valley region of Kentucky, heat waves and pollen can be a dangerous problem. My family has bad allergies, so high pollen directly effects our attitudes and motivations to be active. Increased pollen formation and heat waves are two of the contributing factors to my own development of asthma as a sophomore in high school. As an athlete, this effected my performance. Also, in past summers, my high school field hockey team could not practice sometimes as a result of intense heat waves. One thing in the table I had not thought about before was climate change affecting mental health. It was mentioned in the article that there is not much data on this effect at present, but I am interested to hear if there is a true correlation.
In terms of climate change, mitigation suggests reducing greenhouse gas emission through structures like energy companies, transportation, and architecture. The idea of mitigation corresponds to primary prevention, which aims to prevent onset of injury or illnesses through means such as immunizations. On the other hand, adaptation is a concept homologous to secondary and tertiary prevention, which aim to diagnose disease early to control its advance and reduce morbidity after the disease is diagnosed. Adaptation is different from mitigation in that it aims to anticipate the effects of climate change and reduce the associated health burden through more conventional medical and public health practices.
Most of the article focused on the ten essential public health services that can provide the framework for climate change adaptation and other public health issues. One specific example of how public health professionals help people adapt to climate change is through the mobilization of community partnerships and action to identify and solve health problems. For example, collaborations between architects, city planners, transportation cabinets, and even the faith community all work toward this goal. I found the impact of faith communities particularly interesting because this partnership did not readily come to mind; however, I understand how they would be an effective tool. By working with faith communities, public health advocates can more effectively disseminate information about how to maintain a 'greener' community.
My home town, and cities all across the country, are taking measures to respond to global climate change. In 2005, the mayor of Louisville, Kentucky signed the US Conference of Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement, which obligated our city to take measures to reduce our communities greenhouse gases. Since then, the Climate Change Committee has aggregated and organized a more intricate process for reducing the issue climate change. Some of the things I do to help mitigate or adapt to climate change is unplug electronics when not in use, conserving water, and using water bottles rather than plastic bottles. I encourage my friends and people around me to do the same.
I also think that doing little things like conserving water when not used, reusing plastic bottles, will help reduce greenhouse gas emission greatly if every person does it. So I feel that if everyone encourages everyone else, the climate change problem can be resolved, or at least slowed down.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that cities like Loisville are taking an active stand to decrease their contribution to the climate problem.
ReplyDeleteI for one like to eat, and would be personally affected by droughts, floods and ecosystem changes, as food would not be as plentiful, would be more expensive, and more prone to cause food-borne disease. That alone is enough for me to be interested in advocating for sustainable practices in industry and agriculture that would not impact our environment so much.
Mitigation efforts to slow, stabilize, or reverse climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, are similar to the idea of primary prevention. Adaptation efforts - anticipating and preparing for the effects of climate change, so as to reduce the associated health burden - are similar to the concepts of secondary and tertiary prevention
I was impressed in the personal effort made to conserve energy. I feel it may be easier for the community if the utilities regulated themselves. For example, computers that automatically go on sleep mode and motion activated sinks would be convenient while saving resources without much effort.
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