Author Archives: simondscd

Spring Break in Ecuador!

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Medlife is a non-profit organization that has multiple chapters around the world; the College of Charleston happens to have a chapter which I am a part of. Medlife stands for medicine, education, and development for low-income families everywhere. The mission of this organization is “to build a worldwide movement empowering the poor in their fight for equal access to healthcare, education, and a safe home.” Their vision is “a world free from the constraints of poverty.” For spring break this year a group of 23 CofC Medlife members traveled to Ecuador to work in remote medical mobile clinics. This trip related to all three pillars of sustainability: environment, society, and economy.

The mobile clinics were located in rural communities, that have limited access to everything. The people living in the communities live about 30 minutes up a mountain, believe it or not, most of them did not have any form of transportation other than their own two feet. The people in these communities are living a minimalist lifestyle, and have been their entire lives. The majority of the patients that we encountered were older than 60 years old and spoke either Spanish or Quechua. The members of the communities worked in the field everyday, and had multiple animals to maintain the farm and carry heavy things from point A to point B. The villages that we visited were located in the central part of Ecuador, in a city called Riobamba. It was the first time ever seeing a doctor for many of the patients that we saw. All of the children that came to the clinics had to be taught how to brush their teeth, and were given a toothbrush with toothpaste, because they did not own any. The older patients suffered from arthritis, due to working the fields everyday. Almost all of the patients that came to the clinics suffered from intestinal parasites, due to the lack of clean water. This trip really opened my eyes, because we take having clean water for granted to drink or even brush our teeth.

On one of our days there, we participated in a project day. The project day consists of going into the communities and asking them what their community needs. Some of the projects that Medlife does in these communities are building bathrooms in schools, building a house for a patient, or creating a stairway up a steep hill. The project that were tasked with was to paint the stairway that had been completed by a previous Medlife chapter. The goal of the project is to have the community remain sustainable. Medlife offers the financial resources that have been donated, while the community offers the labor and maintenance of the community project. Although, not having much to their name, they were wealthy. One does not need to have money to be wealthy. The people of Ecuador are wealthy in other ways, they have a rich culture, and are unified as one.

After this trip to Ecuador, I feel more connected to the natural world than before my trip. I always had an interest in the beauty of nature, but the beauty of what I’ve seen in America is completely different from the beauty of Ecuador. My connection to the natural world has changed over time, after becoming open to learning more about the Earth and the impact that humans have on it. My connection also began to strengthen after I started traveling more often. Every time I travel my mind is blown by how beautiful life is and how amazing God’s creation is. It is important to be connected to the natural world, because without nature we would have nothing. Now that technology has taken over the world, people have become disconnected with not only nature, but with other people; its a shame that we are living in a world that revolves around having wifi. After visiting the villages, it really resonated the fact that people can live a happy life without having technology. If anyone ever has the opportunity to travel to Ecuador, I highly recommend it!

These are some of my favorite pictures that I took while in Ecuador…

What the Green New Deal Will Mean for Your Hamburger…

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Citations:

Primary article used:

Dutkiewicz, J. (2019, March 07). What the Green New Deal will mean for your hamburger | Jan Dutkiewicz. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/07/green-new-deal-clean-meat-hamburger

Additional article used:

Pierre-louis, K. (2019, March 08). No One Is Taking Your Hamburgers. But Would It Even Be a Good Idea? Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/climate/hamburgers-cows-green-new-deal.html

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The questions: who/what/where/when/why/how?

Alexandra Ocasio Cortez (AOC) a democratic representative from NY proposed the Green New Deal in late 2018 in order to lower greenhouse gas emissions. The article mentions ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by finding alternatives to industrial agriculture; the alternative being “clean meat.” Clean meat is created using cellular agriculture technology, which produces meat that are genetically identical and taste the same as meats that come from animal stem cells grown in a lab.

Impact/Relevance

The topic that this article talks about involves the triple bottom line, which achieves sustainability in the economy, society, and environment. The most powerful environmental impact that the article mentions is that clean meat generates 96% less greenhouse gas emissions, uses 99% less land, and 96% less water. An interesting fact that I read, said that 14% of greenhouse gas emissions come from industrial agriculture, and 9 billion animals are slaughtered in the US every year. The social impact that relates to the topic are that the people who work in slaughterhouses could potentially lose their job, if clean meat technology becomes a thing. Another social impact is that people are feeling forced to change diets; people may feel this way, because they have lived off of the slaughtering of animals their whole lives, and are scared or close-minded to trying alternative meats. The economic impact from this proposition has already been mentioned above with the loss of jobs, but another economic impact is, the increased profit for plant-based companies for their alternative options. The main goal is to find a way to sustainably produce food that meets the food security of the nation.

Question posed

Being a public health major, I question the health impacts of alternative options. My question while reading the articles was, what are the possible health outcomes that are a result of the clean meat technology presented? According to the World Cancer Research Fund, limiting the consumption of red meats lowers the risk of cancer. At the same time, the article found that nutritional deficiencies would increase, specifically protein. Yes, there are alternative ways to get protein in one’s diet, like the consumption of lentils, quinoa, nuts, and dark greens to name a few, but studies have shown that even eating those foods, the body would still be in deficiency.

Why I chose this article?

I decided to choose this article to do my news report on, because I am interested in nutrition and the health outcomes that come from healthy eating. I found this topic interesting, because I decided to go vegan last year for about 6 months, and really learned a lot. Unfortunately, I stopped due to not having the time to meal plan. Although, I am no longer vegan, I try to eat only white meats and reduce my consumption of dark meats. I also try to reduce the amount of animal products I eat in general.

The Challenge of Preparing for the Unexpected with Public Health Emergencies Lecture

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For my first blog of the semester, I chose to attend a guest lecture on January 28th titled, “The Challenge of Preparing for the Unexpected with Public Health Emergencies”. I thought that attending this event would be good for me, because I am a public health major, and am interested in absorbing as much information as I can from different aspects and experiences from people. This lecture was given by Dr. Stephen Redd, he holds important titles within the Department of Health and Human Services. He is the Deputy Director for the Public Health Service and Implementation Science. Dr. Redd is also the Director for the Center for Preparedness and Response at the CDC. He is in charge of primarily making sure the public is prepared for any hazards, by having adequate information regarding the issues that come up “unexpectedly”, as well as being ready to respond with resources efficiently. Dr. Redd discussed multiple topics that are of interest to me, those being the H1N1 and Ebola epidemics, and vaccinations.

Throughout the years, Dr. Redd has held his current positions during the time that the United States has been the most vulnerable. He showed us things that were implemented during the Ebola outbreak. Dr. Redd and his staff used John Snow’s idea of spot mapping to identify anyone who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus after it was brought into the United States from Africa. Anyone that posed a threat had been given a pre-paid phone, so that if need be they could easily be tracked. In regards to vaccinations, Dr. Redd mentioned the importance of getting vaccines at the recommended time. If most of the population receives vaccines, then a herd immunity is developed. A herd immunity is important in a community, because there are some people who have negative beliefs on vaccines, whether that be health outcomes, cultural beliefs, or for many other reasons. With most of the population getting vaccines, it makes diseases that are coming about, less likely to affect you.

This event relates back to our class, mostly because of the impact that human populations have on the environment. Just like any topic, a growing population comes with pros and cons. Some pros of a growing population include: a better economy, bigger working class, and more development. Some cons of a growing population include: increased class stratification, which leads to increased poverty, which leads to more diseases. A growing population also means that there is competition for limited resources. Due to class stratification, those that are lower class, oftentimes lack adequate resources, to get the required health implementations like vaccines or even a basic visit to a general doctor.

I was excited to go to this event, because my step-dad who continues to work for NYC Swat team and the Emergency Service Unit, also gets chosen frequently to help with FEMA efforts where needed, after natural disasters. I found the lecture fascinating, because I got to learn about preparedness efforts from a different perspective that I am not used to.