M5.5 Campaign for Tap Water

Greeting readers!

I want to talk about campaigning against bottle water and being for TAP WATER! Yes I said it. TAP WATER!

Don't believe me? Start by watching this video. Once you're finished come back so we can talk about it.

Ok, now that you are done, what do you think? IS bottled water a big scam? What are some alternatives to bottled water. 

We have tap water, we have tap water with filter and we have carbonated water or soda stream for us that love our sparkling water. 

When thinking about a slogan for a water campaign these are the two I came up with:

"Leave big box behind and choose the planet, drink pure and plastic free, drink tap water!" and 

"Save money and save the planet, choose tap over bottled water".

Comment and let me know what you think and also give me some ideas for what your slogan will be.

6.4 Industrial Farming

I currently live in Alameda County and although there are no animal farms in my county, this map shows that almost all the counties surrounding Alameda County have animal farms which means we are definitely affected by either smells, manure and the negative effects of high dense farms.

As far as composting goes, I used to compost. I am a gardener and I took 6 classes about permaculture which is essentially giving back to the earth the nutrients you are taking from it. So composting is a large part of the permaculture movement. Once I am completely finished unpacking from my move, I will start composting again. It isn't hard to do and it helps the soil and environment.

5.2 Public Health importance of safe drinking water

Today, I want to take some time to blog about the importance of clean water. Here are some fun facts about water in relationship to the human body.
Water is important to us because it keeps us going. It serves a very serious purpose. I posted a photo that speaks to the importance of water for us as humans.

• A vital nutrient to the life of every cell, acts first as a building material.
• It regulates our internal body temperature by sweating and respiration
• The carbohydrates and proteins that our bodies use as food are metabolized and transported by water in the bloodstream;
• It assists in flushing waste mainly through urination
• acts as a shock absorber for brain, spinal cord, and fetus
• forms saliva
• lubricates joints

Seeing that water is a vital part of our lives. It is very necessary that the water that we consume doesn't harm us with microbes, disease causing agents and poisons. We depend on our government to protect us and put laws in place that will prevent us from ingesting harmful toxins in our water. So, with that being said, we absolutely need SAFE DRINKING WATER!

M5.7 My Sewage Facilities

In Oakland, California where I live we have one main sewage company. That company is the East Bay Municipal Utility District also referred to as the East Bay Mud.  EBMUD treats wastewater from Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Kensington, Oakland, Piedmont and parts of Richmond. I've attached a link if you are interested to find out all that they do to turn waste water into a reusable source and also attached a map of the area that EBMUD serves. 

EBMUD service area

M4.5 Indoor Air Quality

Today, I'll be sharing ideas for the basis for a chemical and fragrance policy in order to eliminate and decrease our body burdens and exposures. I currently work in a hospital and although I don't have direct contact, I wonder if we actually have a fragrance policy for the employees that actually have direct patient contact. 

For the hospital I work in, I would implement a fragrance free policy in the emergency room and in the department that deals with respiratory illnesses. The other parts of the hospital (Admin, laboratory, maintenance) doesn't need a strict fragrance policy, but in the overall hospital I would discourage the use of fragrances. With any policy it is helpful to provide employees with information regarding why the policy is in effect, so I would provide a fact sheet about the negative effects of fragrances on the population we serve in the hospital (typically sick). 

M4.6 Radon

The more you know...

Imagine this, you never smoked, near even really been near a smoker or inhaled second hand smoke, so the last thing you want to hear from your doctor is that you have lung cancer. How is this possible?

Let me tell you how. Radon! According to the EPA and the National Cancer Institute radon inhalation at risky levels are the number cause of lung cancer amongst non-smokers. That is quite scary especially when everyone breathes radon in at some point. Based on where you live or your occupation, you could be breathing radon in at levels that will cause lung cancer. It is estimated that radon exposure causes 15,000 lung cancer deaths annually.

These numbers maybe low in comparison to the population of the United States, but these deaths are absolutely preventable, so nationally a campaign should be started in order to distribute knowledge, awareness and solutions. Some potential stakeholders I would work with would be the National Cancer Institute, the local government for cities and counties that have the most deaths or radon related incidences as well as Lung Cancer societies and groups. I would also want to work with the family members of persons that have died from radon related lung cancer.

For all my readers, please get your house checked for radon levels so that you can prevent yourself and your family members from radon induced lung cancer.

M4.2 National Library ToxNet

Greetings Readers,

Using the National Library ToxNet Click Me! I was able to find out that women who clean with bleach are at a higher risk of getting non-allergic adult-onset asthma, as well as elevated neutrophil (those are white blood cells) counts. 
As far as the effects from urea formaldehyde, there are a lot of negative effects. For factory workers with exposure to urea formaldehyde there are drastic amounts of lung cancer mortality as well as nasopharyngeal cancer deaths. What I found interesting was the buccal cavity tumors and cancers. The buccal cavity is your cheek and inner mouth cavity.
I wonder if the factory managers knew about these risks and if they let the employees know about all of these risks.