M3.5 Transportation

Transportation. We all hate it, but we all really need it.

So I used to be a commuter, I'm talking 100 miles a day, so I know that I definitely negatively impacted my community by driving my diesel vehicle up and down the freeway.

Now I take BART, which stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit. Taking the BART means that I get more exercise. I drive a lot less, but it feels as though I spend more money commuting. The commute is short and sweet on some days, and drastic on others, but overall I feel a lot better being on the train than driving. The BART does have a lot of noise pollution and they are working on lessening it to a bearable level. Noise pollution is something I'm fairly new to understanding, but it can directly cause hypertension, sleep disturbances and hearing loss. So I am glad that the BART is taking a stand against that.

M3.4 Air Pollution

Greetings Readers,

On this blog story we will focus on Air Pollution.

Using your zip code (or the zip code from your family home, find out the following and enter info in your BLOG.

• Who and what are the top polluters in your zip code?

Travis Air Force Base

• What percent of the homes in your zipcode have lead-based paint?

1%

• Are there Superfund sites in your zip?  

 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) or better known as Superfund is an act that allows EPA to clean up contaminated sites. It also forces the parties responsible for the contamination to either perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-led cleanup work.

• What can you tell us about the Superfund sites that are near where you live?

Travis Air Force Base is a Superfund site for Fairfield, CA. They have won a few environmental awards based on their work as a superfund site.

• What did you learn about the air quality in your zipcode?

The air quality is rated as good 92% of the days of the year

• How about the water quality? 

Low average for the water quality

• How did your zipcode fair on a social justice / environmental justice basis?

My zip code faired pretty well on social justice and environmental justice. We are doing things to improve the quality of life for people living in our county.

M3.3 Environmental Justice Blog

Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter! When you initially heard this chant and followed the movement you might only focus on police brutality and injustice but have you ever connected the Black Lives Matter movement with environmental injustice?

Think about this, in 1983, the U.S. General Accounting Office conducted a study that found three out of four of the off-site commercial hazard waste landfills in Region 4 (South) were located in predominantly African American communities  (Bullard & Johnson, 2000). 

This is just one example of how the United States intentionally doesn't consider African American and other Blacks as people that deserve to live healthy and happily. The Atlanta Black Star talks about 8 examples of environmental racism with examples as close as Richmond, CA. According to the Atlanta Black Star, "The people of Richmond, particularly African-Americans, are at significantly higher risk of dying from heart disease and strokes and more likely to go to hospitals for asthma than other county residents" (Atlanta Black Star, 2015).

Things that we can do to prevent environmental racism is to advocate for the vulnerable population, support politicians that are aware and ready to make a change and support programs that are already in the works to make a change from a grassroots standpoint.

M3.2 Vulnerable Populations

Hey everyone, today we will focus on vulnerable populations and what it means to make changes that actually work for those populations. 



Why are we still ONLY focused on sedentary lifestyles and diets when addressing obesity in the US?  Why are we not also looking at ways to decrease exposures to those chemicals that may be contributing to the epidemic?


While watching Dr. Rishi Manchanda's video What Makes Us get Sick on Youtube, I notice that he hit a lot of key points in regards to the health of vulnerable populations and how one's zip code could be a defining factor for health and wellness. Hearing that lead is found in 100% of children regardless of race or ethnicity and BPA is found in 96% of children is really frightening.  These toxins, such as BPA, lead, BPDE and many more are changing the level of intelligence in children and also the way that the body processes many functions. These various toxins are linked to both obesity and diabetes. Toxins cause inflammation and immune dysregulation. So instead of making consumers feel bad about illnesses that are supposed to be preventable from their end, we should encourage and highly pressure a lot of these manufacturing companies into making products that aren't filled with toxins because those products are contributing to the obesity epidemic.

M3.1 Biomonitoring

I received some news that I wasn't happy to receive. Today I received some laboratory results from a body burden test and found out that I have levels of the chemicals listed in the picture at levels that aren't "safe" to the body. These results leave me with a lot of questions and has me wondering why I have these various chemicals in my. body to begin with. It also leads me to believe that I am not protected by the government or any of the corporations that product these chemicals. It also leads me to wonder if I work in an environment that has these chemicals at a staggering rate. According to the CDC, phthalates are in a lot of products that we use on a daily basis, like soaps, shampoos, hair sprays, and nail polishes. Receiving results such as these is the large push I need in order to check the chemicals that I'm using and to switch to products that don't contain chemicals such as these.