Environmental Exposures

Professor Sattler said it best at the end of class when she mentioned that all of us know something about environmental health issues. While there were some issues that were foreign to some of us, there were several issues that everyone was aware of. I had many a-ha/duh moments when discussing several exposures. One of these was that concern of fires happening in the country. I don’t really spend a lot of time thinking about fires, and I tend to focus on the destruction they cause. It then hits me that it is, of course, a public health concern because it worsens the air quality. This poor air quality can even be found miles away from where the fire was. There are a myriad of things and events that don’t cross our minds as potentially harmful to our health in the environment that we should pay more attention to.

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 2, 2018 at 11:18 AM

    HI Chris, you are completely right about this. Many times we tend to forget about daily exposures that surround us. The example that you used of fires is great. I too do not often think about the hazards it may cause because we tend to be more concerned with the after effects. Another exposure that I found that I use daily and don't think about is my cell phone. I also have a horrible habit of sleeping with it under my pillow so I can get to the alarm fast enough. However, after being reminded how dangerous the exposure from the cell phones can be, I am making an effort to not do that anymore.

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  2. Emebet AkliluSeptember 2, 2018 at 11:41 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Emebet AkliluSeptember 2, 2018 at 12:01 PM

    I think our communities are somewhat desensitized. It is sad to say but with all of the harmful things in our communities it is often hard to keep track of what you are being exposed to. I understand that even being able to say that warrants a large amount of privilege but I think it is true. In my community I seldom think about what things are going to hurt me in the environmental sense. Most of the time Im thinking about my physical safety in terms of location but not about things I do not see. This is such an interesting perspective and I look forward to see how this class informs my view moving forward.

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