How Climate Change Affects Community Health

Global scientific consensus tells us the world’s climate is changing day by day. These changes are creating some new health risks in communities across the World. Extreme weather changes, unhealthy air quality, and disease outbreaks are becoming more severe and more frequent, affecting more people in World. Changes to our climate mean our communities need to prepare for the health risks of extreme weather. Extreme heat can lead to Heatstroke, Heat exhaustion, Heat cramp, Dehydration, and Death. Anyone can be at risk. But some are more vulnerable, including, people with heart or lung conditions, pregnant women, older adults, children, athletes, and Outdoor workers. So how do we prepare for extreme weather changes? Communities can: establish cooling centers, plant trees to lower urban temperatures and educate residents to protect themselves and their loved ones such as drinking plenty of water and checking on older people and neighbors. A changing climate also means more frequent and more severe flooding and storms. That puts people at immediate risk of being injured or killed by debris, or floodwaters. After a severe flooding or storms event, possible health risks are contaminated food or drinking water by Bacteria, viruses, and toxic chemicals in floodwaters, fungus, and Difficulty accessing health care services, like emergency help, prescribed medications, and supplemental oxygen in these events, older people, people with disabilities, and lower-income households are more at risk. They may all have a harder time running away from a storm and may face more health problems if they can’t evacuate. To prepare, communities can: find out which neighborhoods, people, and resources are most at risk; upgrade infrastructures such as sanitary sewer systems and roads; and educate residents on how to stay safe during and after an extreme weather event such as avoiding driving in flooded areas. As average temperatures rise worldwide, air quality can also change. That looks like longer and stronger pollen seasons, which can trigger allergies and asthma attacks; Changing weather patterns and hotter temperatures, which can make air pollution worse by increasing the density of dangerous tiny particles; and more frequent droughts that can lead to wildfires, which release dangerous pollutants into the air. Children, people with asthma and respiratory conditions, young children, older adults, and people with compromised immune systems are more at risk of being infected. Work that can help communities includes collaborating with community partners to set up health-focused air quality alert systems and educating residents on how to check alerts to know when it’s safe to do exercise outside. Changes to our climate can also mean more risk of diseases spread by pests like mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, and rodents. With higher average temperatures, diseases transmitted by pests can multiply faster, spread to more places, and infect people over longer periods of time each year. Lyme disease, Zika, West Nile virus, Coronavirus and hantavirus are examples of the resulting health risks. People who spend most of their time outdoors in areas where pest-borne diseases are common are most at risk. Communities can prepare by creating systems to track and assess people's health effects and working with local partners on outreach strategies to help residents protect themselves, such as staying out of certain areas, using PPE, and using insect repellant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is empowering health departments to prevent and adapt to the local health risks of a changing climate through the Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative. CDCs Building Resilience Against Climate Effects framework helps health departments plan a coordinated community response. Using Building Resilience Against Climate Effects, communities are:

Identifying the range of climate impacts and the people, resources, and location most at risk

Quantifying the health problems that are associated with a changing climate

Assessing science-based interventions to address those health problems

Developing and overseeing community adaptation plans, and evaluating the process to learn more about what works.

Conclusion

An effective response to climate change is essential to prevent illness, improve public health preparedness, and mitigate risk. Today climate change has a clear impact on our health. The government has recognized this and supports the health system to take immediate action to combat the effect of climate change to optimize economic, health and environmental outcomes.

What's Your Carbon Footprint? Simplest Ways to Reduce Your Footprint

What's Your Carbon Footprint? Simplest Ways to Reduce Your Footprint

The term carbon footprint is a commonly recognized phrase today in the field of climate change. This word originates from an ecological footprint.  Determining our “carbon footprint” means measuring the number of greenhouse gases that we are adding to the atmosphere. The term was coined from carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas contributor to climate change. In simple words, we describe carbon footprint as “measuring the number of greenhouse gases that we are adding into the environment”. According to the UK Carbon Trust, a carbon footprint is "the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, product or event".   Whenever we use the energy created from fossil fuels such as oil or coal, we are generating carbon emissions, which increase the level of greenhouse gases entering the environment. Our carbon footprint is created by day-to-day personal and cooperate activities such as flying, driving, cooling, and heating our business or home and using electrical appliances. Even the products we purchase can contribute to our carbon footprint because of the energy that was required to create and transport them. There are many products available to help you reduce your carbon footprint, and in many cases reduce costs, such as recycled products, efficient light bulbs, solar energy, wind energy, tree plantation and more. When we offset our personal carbon emissions, we are doing our much-needed part in helping to put an end to climate change and global warming. We can offset our personal carbon emissions by investing in green projects that create efficient energy such as wind power, solar power, farm power, plant trees, and more. To take an active role in neutralizing our carbon emissions today use an individual carbon calculator to calculate your carbon footprint.  You might be surprised how much carbon we create each day, and hopefully learn a little about where we can make some positive good changes. We are all concerned about the water we drink, the air we breathe and the environmental legacy we leave behind for our future generation. 

As we all become more aware of how our behavior affects the environment around us, it is our duty to proactively engage in ways to reduce our individual, business and institutional carbon footprints for our future generations.  So what we can do, buying carbon credits, which result in the funding of green projects, making fewer trips to the grocery store, use the homemade dishwasher, more tree plantation, teaching our children about environmental responsibility and simply turning off the electrical appliance when we are not in the room (simplest act everyone can do easily), all these make a difference in the world in which we live.

What is the Greenest Form of Travel?

For most people, summer means traveling whether it’s going home to visit family or exploring new places, travel means using some form of fossil fuel-dependent transportation. But the problem experience as browse through the various train, plane and bus tickets have been finding out which is the greenest option. It is important to at least try and figure out some environmental guidelines for deciding which transport option is best for, especially when considering that. In 2014 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change narrated that the transportation sector reports for 23% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions. So, a simple question: when traveling, which form of transportation requires the minimum emissions? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not so smooth. The carbon footprint of planes, cars, and trains depends on several dependent environmental factors like infrastructure, the build of the vehicle (like electric or diesel), distance, and location. So instead of trying to decide on the best form of green transportation, we are going to look at how various factor's effects, including distance and number of passengers in the vehicle, change the emission footprint of various transport modes. So, let’s start with a relatively shorter distance: a quick business trip within the city looked at the various transportation options, and according to their number-crunching, the plane wins the award for shortest distance traveled at, 350 miles or 570 km, with cars and buses taking second place at 472 miles or 759 km, and trains chugging along in the last place with a 544 mile or 875 km transit. So, planes have extremely little distance to travel, but that doesn’t necessarily balance with fewer emissions. Instead, if we look at the number of passengers transported per tour combined with the gasoline fuel equivalent of the mode of transportation, we get some unexpected numbers. The electric car is by far the most efficient fuel-wise, but taking the bus also requires fairly fewer emissions.

It gets quite interesting when we switch our attention to planes, traditional cars, and trains. The total CO2 per passenger for a plane trip at 75.3kg and a train requires 84.3 kg. But these numbers vary a little bit depending on how it is calculated. Part of the reason why a train can be so emissions exhausted is that many trains still run on diesel. In this case, the train that reaches almost all the way from one city to another, which uses a dual-mode engine, that runs primarily on diesel, but switches to electric when it reaches some other stations. So, in short, the best way to travel within the city is by bus if you don’t own an electric vehicle, and the worst is via a flight or train. But what about longer distances? Do things change? Especially when you consider that a lot of a plane’s emissions come from take-off, landing, and taxing it seems like the longer the distance traveled the more efficient the flight becomes. According to a peer audit report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the emissions associated with a 1,000 mile or 1609 km solo trip reveal some interesting results. Taking the bus is still by far the best option due to its ability to transport a large number of passengers on a comparably small amount of gas. surprisingly, however, flying in an economy seat has approximately the same carbon emissions associated with it when compared to a typical train. As flights get longer, and if the flight is non-stop, the carbon emission becomes smaller per mile, but if you are flying out of a crowded airport with constant delays, that footprint can balloon in size. Essentially, the more time the plane spends in the air going from point one to another, and the less time it spends circling the airport waiting for runway clearance, the more efficient it will be. Ultimately, the “greenest” of travel is massively dependent on context. There is no hard and fast answer to the form of travel that is best for the environment. But, if you are in desperate need of a rule of thumb here’s a conditional green transport lineup for a solo traveler: In general, a bus is better than a train is better a plane which advantages the average car. But that order can vary depending on the distance traveled and the number of passengers within that car. Ideally, an application like google maps could estimate the various emissions associated with your particular route and transportation choices. That way you would be able to quickly understand the environmental consequences of your journey. Right now, however, we have to rely on a carbon footprint calculator, for emission estimation. At the end of the day, we can only do so much to cut down our carbon footprint when traveling. Calculators are great, but innovations for infrastructure and technology are necessary to quickly detach emissions from transportation. Rapid electrification of cars, buses, and trains and the creation of reliable clean grid energy will make the uncertain process of green transportation much more certain. One of the keystones of any clean energy grid is solar power. And to understand how to best harness the yield from the Sun, we need to understand the physics behind this clean and green renewable resource.

What is minimalism? And its Relation with Sustainability

 Minimalism is about owning less stuff, about owning less. But it's actually far more than that when you start to study it. We live in the world of social media where we see 1000 plus advertisements every single day, and every advertisement calls for our attention and it calls for our affection. Minimalism is about rejecting those advertisement messages and taking back control of our own lives and being loyal with our time and our money, and our energy. We need to renegotiate the thought of minimalism the term was originally conceived in the late 1950s. The ability to choose less today minimalism has become and then point towards a minimalist lifestyle that moves away from aesthetics and into politics ultimately minimalism has promised for socio-economic and environmental reasons. But we need to understand that its current state is more than a continuation of consumer culture than a movement toward an environmentally and materially conscious society. The trend of minimalism has inspired a lot of people in recent years. Somehow it has become the inverse of what it was trying to be now for certain minimalists. The lifestyle means a firmly selected wardrobe of expensive clothes in an aesthetic of white while using minimalist as a style. Take for example the buy less but buy better attitude that is encroach minimalism. Yes, buying a $500 pair of shoes might in some cases be more environmentally friendly than buying four sets of $60 shoes because the pricier shoes will most likely last longer and produce minor waste than four pairs. However, most people don't have the money for that so this minimalist philosophy uses the excuse of having little to buy the most expensive things perhaps minimalists are purchasing less. But they are still buying into the idea of creating status through expensive items thus if you don't have the means or the money to rid yourself of your belongings and purchase just the right things then minimalism must not be for you. 

The new trend of minimalism as a visual aesthetic has now been merged with a surge of self-optimization by using the right technology and paring down your life in the right way minimalism can portably deliver happiness financial security and free time to those who follow its path, unfortunately, it can only be viewed as a key to happiness by those who already have more than enough for low-income people buying Inexpensive clothing or owning less furniture isn't a choice Its structural reality minimalism. However, it can offer so much more than a stylistically slimmed-down wardrobe it can instead mean a purposefully anti-consumerist and environmentally aesthetic lifestyle that works against the power of capitalism. The focus with minimalism then is not necessarily working to edit your daily choices and activewear down to the cream of the crop but instead on working hard to critically check your consumption choices. Day to day this looks like choosing not to buy the latest hundreds-dollar iPhone or if you are cleaning out your wardrobe choosing not to sell your clothes if you don't need the money and instead donating them to a progressive organization if you do in fact need to get a new pair of pants to consider buying secondhand the idea is to know that consumption feeds a system that affects overwhelming harm on the environment and marginalized people minimalism can offer guidance, not as a stylistic choice. But as a mindset that helps reroute our unconscious purchasing habits into a well-informed consumption critical stance. Minimum has slowly grown more popular so it's important to remember that as an aesthetic trend and a way to find happiness minimalism can sometimes be just another tricky form of conspicuous consumption. As a pro-environment list and anti-consumption choice, however, minimalism can offer a way to guide us along the route of an economic system that constantly pressures us to buy more. Having and buying less do not need to be status symbols or the subject of a social media post, they can instead be radical political and environmental acts. Of course, this needs to be done in a balanced way and without giving up your comfort.

Is Online Shopping Sustainable?

 It is important to look at the exact effect caused by this new trend of online shopping and instant shipping on climate change. The carbon footprint of online shopping greatly depends on the actions of customers. As shoppers can be divided into several different categories that span from a traditional retail shopper, modern shopper, and cybernaut known shopper who exclusively shop online. Online shopping with lower shipping options has a smaller footprint than driving to a retail store to search purchase and return a product. The highest effect shopper is actually a mix of both ones that go to the store to compare prices and then buy online with quick shipping. The greater number of the reason why traditional shoppers have such a huge footprint is that they are using cars to reach brick-and-mortar shops. The Cybernaut as for the who shop online when they choose shipping options like two-day mailing, they are more than doubling their transportation-related emissions especially within the last couple of years. Companies like Amazon started to send vans out to deliver packages that are only half full to fulfill customer expectations this ultimately means more emissions because trucks and vans have to make numerous trips between homes and hubs as opposed to slower shipping options which fill up trucks with cargo and make a single trip to fill orders.

Packaging Waste

Packaging also has a significant role to play when it comes to environmental impact often when you select the overnight shipping option the products that you want aren't bundled together in the same box because they are usually coming from two different facilities across the country, as a result, you receive a new cardboard box for every product you buy and the carbon emissions of products are on average 35% more. When shipped separately in addition many products are packaged efficiently. Average boxes contain 20% of wasted space which shipping facilities then fill with papers Styrofoam or bubble wrap ultimately creating more waste that finds its way into landfills but there are many choices on both the retail and consumer side that could help lower emissions for companies. Cutting down emissions means digging shoppers towards slower shipping options or making in-store purchases. When appropriate it can also mean bundling items together in one packet or even reducing the amount of packaging for a product by right-sizing its box. But as individuals, we also have choices to make for one if it's possible to find a way to get to your local retail store without using a car you will not only drastically lower your footprint but shopping locally. It also allows you to connect with other people face to face which helps build community resilience in the long run if you don't have that luxury consider using slower shipping choices which allows the online retailer to optimize shipping routes because they don't have to rush to get the item onto your doorstep. This necessarily means fewer miles traveled for trucks and planes because they can fill up with packages and only leave when they are full. Online shopping isn't something to be demonized it's an important resource for people who may not be able to shop in person for several reasons however it's important to think seriously about our individual relationships with online shopping. Think before you shop that an online shopping spree not only has negative consequences for your wallet but it also has lasting effects on the natural world that we have come to rely on.

Online Shopping

A Healthy Diet Plan that Helps to Fight the Climate Change

 Billions of people around the world eat food every day. Food is more than energy whether it is sugar, grease, or carbs. But how big of a problem is what we eat daily? So, we have got these two factors coming together. One is we all need to eat healthier, and on the other side, we need to eat more sustainably because food production and consumption have a footprint on the environment. About 25 percent of all the global climate change problems we are seeing can be associated back to the food and the choices that we are actually making about what we eat daily. This is higher than all of the cars on the planet. In fact, it’s about two folds as much global warming pollution as cars. A lot of people feel really powerless when it comes to climate change like they can’t make a difference. And researches show that your personal decisions can really make a difference. Global food production accounts for 40 percent of land use 30 percent of global gas emissions. So, what a healthy and sustainable, diet looked like. The important thing to remember though is a healthy diet isn't absolutely the same as a sustainable diet. It's not just the foods themselves that might be the issue. It can be the way food is produced and eat.

For example, if you are eating a single serving of beef, you wind up emitting about 330 grams of carbon footprint. That’s like driving a car three kilometers. Now, if you chose to eat chicken instead, there’s more than a five-fold emission drop. Shift to fish and you see the number go below even more. Livestock accounts for a bit over 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. If that sort of looks low to you, consider it about compares to transportation. We are taking all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships on the planet combined! This is partly because ruminant animals like cows and sheep – they are just gassy! And the methane they produce is at least 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. Plus, it takes a lot of fertilizer, land and about a billion tons of grain to feed all that livestock. And you could feed 3 billion people with that grain; if we were just directly eating these grains ourselves, it would eliminate a lot of the CO2 that comes out from cattle production. So, it’s clear that meat has a pretty big carbon footprint, but it’s also worth remembering that not all livestock is raised equally. So, the point is vegan is the way to go for the least impact on the planet, but it’s not that pretty different, in terms of emission. So, fish and chicken a few times a week; meat maybe once a month, plenty of plant-based foods, and of course, loads of olive oil. Exclude off like 90 percent of your meat intake is more important than ignoring all of your meat. We don’t all have to be vegan completely. If we can just reduce our meat intake, every little effort helps. And if you can bring it down a lot, you can help mitigate climate change. Just bringing down your portion size to 4 ounces can reduce your emissions by half. That’s a huge impact! In fact, the doctors are telling us we are eating about twice as much meat as we really need for a healthy diet. The good news is, we are paying attention to our doctors. In the last decade, there’s been a 19 percent decrease in the amount of beef we eat. All these things that you are already being told are good for you also happen to be good for the planet. 

A healthy diet plan includes less meat, less dairy, fewer potatoes, and a lot more plants. However, to be a true converter, you need to pretty much give up meat, chicken and fish and move into nuts, legumes, and seeds. So, what would this diet look like on your plate? Well, around half the plate would be filled with fruit, nuts and veggies. And the other half would have things like whole grains, plant proteins like lentils and beans, some veg, a very small amount of dairy and meat and some plant oils, maybe some control sugars. This diet allows for around two and a half thousand calories each day. If you were following the diet, you could have one boiled egg once a week. Just a glass of milk a day covers all your daily requirements. Globally, the diet means that we need to reduce our consumption of red meat and sugar and double our intake of veg, pulses, nuts and fruits. So, it's not just about the food we eat and the way it's produced. It's also about the way we behave this food. We also want to look at the packaging, for example. Plastic has a bad impact on the environment, but it's lighter than glass and therefore for transport it can have a lower carbon footprint. And also, the volumes of things. So, if you compare, for example, concentrated orange juice to fresh orange juice, because it’s lower volume, you don’t have the transport costs and the environmental footprint of that. Buying seasonally and locally can also make a big difference. All these things that you are already being told are good for you also happen to be good for the betterment of the planet. So, what we eat daily is a big part of the climate puzzle. This means, we may not all be able to afford solar panels on our house, an electric car but we all have to eat every day. And choices we make can add up to really big impacts. And since meat has a pretty big carbon footprint, we need to be thoughtful about how much we eat. We know that in the future, we might have more mouths to feed. If we are going to eat sustainably in the years to come and the decades to come, we are going to have to change the way we eat.

Air Purifying Plants For Your Home

Every human on the earth wakes up to a day and works hard to achieve their goals and fulfill their dreams consistently. As a result of this lavish modern life, people are disconnecting from nature. In the former days, every home is filled with saplings and trees. But now it’s difficult to find a person who has plants in the house due to this busy lifestyle.

The best indoor plants you can get for your home will look beautiful and aesthetic and purify the air in your home, so it's a win-win situation. These plants can take your home to next level and proves that you are a real adult.

Fiddle Leaf Fig

 Let's start with fiddle leaf fig. The fiddle leaf fig is known for its large, glossy-shaped leaves. These fiddle leaf figs love bright and indirect sunlight, and you know when to water it when you wedge your finger in the soil and the top one inch is dry.  Kept a microfiber cloth to wipe any dust off of the leaves, maybe once a week or so, so that the leaves can absorb the sunlight better. Fiddle leaf figs love humidity. If you have a humidifier, you can use that to organize the humidity in your room. The leaves will grow towards the light, so if you want your plant to grow more evenly, you should rotate it whenever you notice the light is. The proper drainage system is also very important to prevent root damage, which is when the roots sit in the water for too long. If you have a pot without holes, then put rocks or pebbles at the bottom of the pot under the soil so that any extra water will flow into the rocks and not remain in the soil.  

Peace Lily

It is a super easy-to-care-for medium-sized plant known for its fresh lily flower and beautiful leaves. One top list of plants that purify the air is known to reduce the levels of toxins in the air. Peace Lilies grow well in shade and cooler temperatures, and they also tolerate low humidity. This makes them good for dry apartments or houses that get less natural lighting.

Snake Plant

Next is the snake plant, also known as "Mother-in-Law's Tongue". These plants are so popular. They have a clean structure, so it goes really well with the minimalist vibe. Snake plants don't require much light or water to survive, so they are great. They basically grow anywhere. They are the best choice for any corner of your home. They are the best air-purifying plants. This plant absorbs carbon dioxide and releases oxygen during the night, while most plants do that during the day, so you could put one in your bedroom for an oxygen boost at night. It also removes the nitrogen and formaldehyde present in the air. Snake plant is the best indoor plant because it takes less space and has low maintenances. 

Golden Pothos

Moving onto the Golden Pothos, also known as "Devil's Ivy". Best recommended indoor plant in every home. These are fast-growing decorative plants, so they are good for hanging pots. But if you don't want to hang them, you can also put them on a rack and let the leaves hang down. Or put them on a table and let the leaves overflow over onto the table. These cute, heart-shaped leaves and the different varieties of variegated leaves, which means the marbling on the leaf. It's so beautiful. It also improves the circulation of oxygen in your home.

Chines Evergreen

Next is the Chinese Evergreen plant with its beautiful leaves. It is very easy to take care of these plants. They grow in low light and will grow in places where other plants won't grow. Because they are tropical plants and they do like humid air. So, if your home air is too dry, their tips might start turning brown, so you want to mist the leaves occasionally. They also do a great job filtering out a variety of air pollutants, and if you care for them right, they can live for more than ten years. 

Spider Plant

Next, we have the Spider Plant, another very common, very easy to grow plant. One of the best air purifying plants and also a safe houseplant if you have pets or children in the house. Spider Plants grow in cool to average home temperatures and prefer dry soil. They also like bright and indirect sunlight, so keep them close to an open window. 

Rubber Tree

Now let's talk about the Rubber Tree. This tree has big, dark green bright leaves that definitely make a statement. They are like the perfect minimal, structured plant to have in your home, especially if you don't want things to be too colorful. They also like indirect and bright light. And keep in mind that these trees can also grow very large. 

Gerbera Daisy

Next, gerbera daisy is another house plant due to its beautiful and bright colors. Grow in sunlight and moderate temperature. These plants require the bright sun to bloom and release oxygen at night and remove benzene so best for bedroom and living space

Aloe Vera

Next, we have Aloe Vera, another one top air-purifying plants. It is an easy-case succulent that has elongated leaves. Aloe vera actually has a history of being used for medicinal objectives. The gel inside of the aloe plant can help heal cuts and burns and has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties so multiple other benefits too. Aloe vera loves full sunlight, so it's a great choice for a sunny kitchen window and bathroom. Also, aloe vera is known as an oxygen Bomb which is popular for the production of a large amount of oxygen compared to other indoor plants. The Aloe Vera is also able to cut down toxins like formaldehyde which are present in the air. Lastly, succulents are super cute and super easy plants to bring into your home.  there are so many different varieties. Succulents love bright sunlight, and you barely need to water them. They are the lowest maintenance plants on this list.

Hope so this inspired you to bring some life and color into your home.