Author Archives: shahk

Personal Change: Coffee mug!

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The one main change that I worked on this semester was bringing a reusable coffee to drink my morning coffee in . I am so proud of this accomplishment. Truth be told, I did break like two mugs this semester so I gotta work on handling my mugs with care. I think this was a good change because I am not contributing  to pollution and trying to live more sustainable. This change has helped make the world a better place because I drink coffee every morning and by using the same mug every morning I am saving a lot of to go coffee cups. I am also producing less trash this way too. It will enrich my own life because just to let you in on a little secret, coffee is a $1.10 if you bring your own mug at stern food court and the Education Center. Not only am I saving money but I am inspiring others to bring their own mugs too. If people see me using my coffee mug than hopefully they will get their own, instead of purchasing those starbucks disposable cups. The first week, it was hard, I am not going to lie  and I did forget several times. So in order to help myself, I would not drink coffee that day on campus. Also, we read an article on coffee and that was very hard to digest all of that information. I am a coffee lover so to hear how far my coffee has traveled was eye opening. I am not sure how I am still living with the fact on how much labor went into making my one cup of coffee, but I am going to come up with a way to find that out. I wish there was a way to see where I can find some coffee that is from here and not one that traveled so far. Anyone know a place here in Charleston? Or at least somewhere near here? The whole bringing my mug thing has become a habit. So personally, I think if you want to make a change you gotta take baby steps. So in January I forgot to bring my personal mug a lot. In February, I forgot it once in a while, but in March and April I just carry one in my bookbag.This is a change that I will stick with because I want to rescue my own mug. I do not have a favorite mug. I just grab a mug at random from my kitchen cabinet in the morning or use the one in my book bag. To some this whole bringing my own myg might sound silly or a small change but for me personally, it is a big change. So imagine, if our entire classroom of students did that. Then our whole building and then all of the students at CofC. These little steps could eventually spread all around. I think it is those small changes that makes a big difference. I am so glad that I made this change. I will forever remember, whenever I am drinking my morning coffee that I am saving our beloved planer earth one coffee mug at a time. 🙂

Nature Inspiration : With two little cuties !

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Honestly, I am not very connected to the natural world. It changed a lot, I think last Thursday, when I realized with the help of two very special girls. It is important to connect to the natural world because if you do not than what is the purpose of life. You are going to become like a robot if you do not connect to nature in some shape or form. Well it is interesting to sit down and observe your surroundings, once in a while. So last Thursday, my baby sister (9 years old, third grade) and my cousin’s daughter (6 years old, kindergarten) visited me on campus after our Environment and Sustainability class. It was a wonderful surprise to see those two.

What I loved the most about those two is that they were fascinated by the littlest things. I passed by those same trees, flowers, bushes, water fountains, etc…everyday and they now have started to blend in with the crowd.I am usually so busy trying to make it to my next class that I passed by those things without taking a second to look at the water fountain and enjoy it. Those two little girls asked nonstop questions and had comments about everything they saw. “Is it lunch time? Where are the little kids? Why are all of these big kids outside? Is it recess for everyone? What grade are all these people in? Omg!!That tree is bigger than that house. How old is it? Awww. this is such a cute baby flower. This water fountain is so pretty. Is that a baby turtle sitting on the mommy turtle’s back? Etc…” They were curious and wanted to explore and run around everywhere. It made me miss being a kid and being that carefree and curious, too. It was legit an adventure for those two. The thirty-minutes that I was with them, I too started to lose track of time and started seeing things through their eyes. They both found the campus to be beautiful and thought it was so cool that we had different professors for each subject and different classes for each subject. They loved meeting you guys (Profs. Saunders & Beckingham) and thought you guys were super nice.

After our little adventure of walking around they went to lunch with my cousin and I went back to doing my assignments. What I learned from this is that we are so busy focusing on social media,homework assignments, exams, finals, jobs,etc…that we forget to take time to connect with nature. Truth be told, the thirty-minutes that I was with those two on our little adventure around campus made my day. It was a good escape from worrying about what I had to get done. My point here is that it is healthy to take some time to enjoy life and hangout with family and friends. I am not saying to neglect your responsibilities, but rather try to find a balance. Taking some time once in awhile to observe where you are. Smell some flowers. Sit outside and enjoy some sunshine. 🙂

My personal goal is to pay more attention to my surroundings especially here at campus because our campus is beautiful.

Book Review: The Omnivore’s Dilemma A Natural History of Four Meals. 5 Stars!

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My favorite environmental book this semester would have to be The Omnivore’s Dilemma A Natural History of Four Meals. I got it from the College of Charleston Addlestone Library and read it over spring break. My nutrition professor recommended. It was a great read and I give it five stars. It was an easy read, too. I liked Mr.Pollan’s writing style. He does a great job of examining how and where we get our food. There are some scary stuff that I did not think about that he mentioned such as the food chain and the process of where it all begins. He did a fantastic jpn of tracing the food back to its root and how it went to each  step. There were many great points made in the book but my personal favorite was “ There was one more meal I wanted to make, and that was the meal at the end of the shortest food chain of all. What I had in mind was a dinner prepared entirely from ingredients I had hunted, gathered, and grown myself”(Pollan, 277). This I think was one of the main points made in the book. Most of us get our foods from the supermarket and we do not know how far those food have travel to get to us. So it makes sense, that something had to be done to mass produce all of those goods and give it a long shelf life.

What I liked most about Mr.Pollan’s method was that he went back to the main root and explained the what, where, when, and how of our food systems. Most folks want cheap, accessible food and we do not realize the damage that it is causing to our health. I also liked how he explained that it is hard for us as a society to go back to the hunting, gathering, lifestyle because of our population size and amount of space available. He made the point that he knew how to grow some veggies but he did not know how  to hunt and he is right to make that point because majority of people do not know. I personally do not know how to hunt nor have I ever done it, but I do know how to grow some veggies in my backyard. This book made me want to question where I get my food from and now whenever I go to buy groceries, I try not to choose foods that have traveled so far, and try to buy from the farmers market, and locally grown food. For anyone who wants to learn more about our food system and how our food system has shifted from family farming to industry type, I highly recommended reading this book. Also, if you enjoyed watching Food Inc. this book is very similar. It talks about hoe farming style changed over the years and how corn is the golden food because it is cheap to grow and it is in everything. Additionally, how there is sugar in all processed foods to make it taster so people keep buying more. He even discussed how our bodies are not designed to handle this eating style. Overall, an excellent book. 🙂

Link to the book.

 

Arts & Culture

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The first time that I saw this painting was on Wednesday, at Rita 101, when I had the pleasure of hearing Ms.LaDuke speak about her cause to be a water protector. For those of you who did not make it to the talk, let me just sum up what she talked about. She discussed how this painting is a symbol of resilience and that it embraces the idea behind of standing up for a good cause. In her case it was the land of the indigenous people and how she stood up against a pipeline that was going to run through these lands, and how with the help of many people they were able to stop the pipeline from occurring. She also discussed the importance of growing your own food and how if we act now we can save our beloved planet. She was full of hope and I left that talk feeling inspired and hopeful too. There were many other important points that she discussed, but I want to focus on this painting.

I wanted to do more research on this painting and I forgot what the painting was called so I typed in google “water protector symbol of Laduke” and this painting that I had seen at the talk popped up. When I clicked on it, it gave me the option of clicking a link to go to an article. The article (link below) gave a more detail descriptions of the painting. This beautiful piece was painted by Votan Ik and  Derek Brown helped, too. In addition, there are much symbols behinds the red mask that the woman is wearing to cover her nose and mouth. There are several meanings behind the mask such as it hides the identity of the woman and protects from tear gas and gives it “universal appeal as in every woman,”according to Maira Villard, the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO) Arts and Cultural Coordinator.

Most importantly, it is painted on the outside of AICHO in Duluth,Minnesota. The article discussed that it“is a potent declaration of the issues facing Native American women such as violence, sex trafficking, and environmental racism” (Pember 2017).  In our class, we focused several times on how woman in majority places were seen as the caring type or how we praises things such as “Mother Nature and Father Time.” What I am trying to say is that this painting represents not just one lady but women as a whole.

What I personally took from this painting was that the ladies head is at the center of the flower with all of the pretty red petal coming out of it or surrounding it. This could be seen as a symbol of connectives to nature, as in  how it is the circle of life, and we are one with nature. Humans and the environment go hand in hand. We are not separate but united as one. The values that are ignored that it has more of an appeal to ladies than males because it is putting female as the center. On the other hand, it can also be the greatest strength of the painting because it could be saying that nothing would be possible without women. I think, the artist wanted to portray the lady in the painting looks like someone that needs to be taken seriously. She looks mysteriously but at the same time looks like someone who is being protective and standing and guarding something that is precious to her. I really liked this painting so much that I am saving it as my laptop background. So whenever I open my laptop, it will motivate me to be awesome. 🙂

The painting is this one below in the article.

 

https://rewire.news/article/2017/09/21/ganawenjiige-onigam-new-symbol-resilience-duluth-minnesota/

 

News Report

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Title: How Hydrogen is transforming these Scottish Islands

 

Link: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190327-the-tiny-islands-leading-the-way-in-hydrogen-power

 

Citation:

Stromness, Diego Arguedas Ortiz in. “Future – How Hydrogen Is Transforming These Tiny Scottish Islands.” BBC, BBC, 28 Mar. 2019, www.bbc.com/future/story/20190327-the-tiny-islands-leading-the-way-in-hydrogen-power.

 

Main Points:

    • Source: The article came from BBC.

 

  • What: Using hydrogen as a source of fuel instead of petrol to operate cars and ferries.
  • Who: The community of Orchardians who want to use clean energy and they even brought in an expert to teach one of the mechanics in town to know how to use the hydrogen fuel dispenser.
  • Why: This could be a way to approach global warming. Hydrogen is available in large quantities but only some of it can be in gas form so it’s important to come up with alternative ways.

 

  • Using methane and carbon capture  and storage to make hydrogen is one of the cheaper options but it is not necessarily consider as clean energy.

 

  • When: Started in 2016 and now the Islands have more hydrogen fuel that they don’t know what else to use it for.

 

  • Where: It is in the Orkney Islands that has a population of 21,000 people.

 

  • How: One of the main goals of the islands is to have a car and ferry fully operated on hydrogen, by 2021. In addition, the operation folks want other countries and islands to follow their example by using hydrogen as a source of fuel.
  • Petrol leaves a by product but hydrogen does not. It is completely safe and does not cause any harm to the environment.
  • By using oxygen and hydrogen an electric current is made which is how the car operates without petrol.
  • The need for water is essential for the hydrogen fuel to function.

 

 

  • Impact: Even though it can be costly to operate, it still has numerous benefits for both the environment and economy. By using hydrogen as a source of energy, it can prevent the air from becoming polluted which is causing less harm to the environment. Also, more people would be willingly to use the hydrogen fuel than petrol.
  • Relevance to the course:

 

  • No harm is being caused to the environment.
  • There is no CO2 emissions, greenhouse emissions, nor any air pollution.
  • A good way to approach methods to lower carbon footprints.
  • It’s also a good way to be sustainable and environmentally friendly to mother nature.
  • It opens up jobs to younger generations and encourages creativity to come up with interesting ways to save our planet and be more green.

Questions

When will this new method spread to the rest of the world?

What will be the total cost for other islands that are much bigger in size?

What type of policies would need to be made on this hydrogen method of fuel for energy?

What are some other benefits by using hydrogen, as a source of energy ,besides environmental?

Why Are We Getting So Fat? Documentary Review….5/5 Stars!

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This was a fascinating documentary on why people might be becoming obese.Dr. Giles Yeo from the University of Cambridge argued while some people argue that it might have to do with being lazy, not caring, and simply eating takeouts, he claimed that it might be genetics. He has dedicated his entire life to testing different genes and trying to figure out a pattern between them.How is it possible that one twin could be so lean while another fat? Does genetics play a role? How come not matter what diet an individual tries, it does not work for him or her? There could be many other reasons, but this entire documentary mostly focused on genes and diet. Some individuals that were interviewed stated that they eat for comfort while others stated that they just did not feel full and had to consume more. One guy, named Les, in pain said that he would take food to his bedroom, lock himself up in his room and just eat. He dealt with being bullying by eating and now after losing his wife , he dealt with his loss by eating take outs. He could not exercise due to his arthritis and other health conditions. Dr.Yeo  throughout his journey too relied mostly on fast food because like he stated “that is what’s available” (Why Are We Getting So Fat). This wouldn’t have happened ten years ago.To burn the fish burger, large fries, and apple pie he would have to walk four hours but he could not because he had to drive for four hours, to get to his destination. Dr.Tony Goldstone, who was an obesity expert, did an experiment with a group of people who were trying to lose eat, by giving them an option to eat whatever they want. In the end, Dr.Goldstone told the participants that since they had two strands of an FTO gene, it was making it harder for them to lose weight. In essence, it was not because they were not eating and exercising enough, but rather their genes preventing them from reaching their goals.Some doctors were trying to give patients a shot containing hormones that would make them have less of an appetite, that way people would eat less. On the other hand, other doctors were trying to find ways to use human feces to make people lose weight.

I thought this was a great documentary because it goes well with what we are currently watching in class (Food Inc). I thought it was very interesting because what we eat and our own biology could play such a crucial role in this , it’s just astonishing. So many of us do not realize that the food chains have expanded to other parts of the world and it for the most part is causing more harm than good. It made me question life and how  we underestimate the value of healthy eating. I feel like we need to go back to growing our own food and appreciating the process of doing it.

 

I don’t know how to add a Netflix link but you can find this documentary on Netflix. Just type Why Are We Getting So Fat?

Event:The Challenge of Preparing for the Unexpected With Public Health Emergencies

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This was an interesting lecture about two case studies (H1N1 & Ebola-West Africa). The guest speaker, Stephen C.Redd, MD (RADM, USPHS) started off by telling a story about his son’s bag getting switched up and how his son panicked because he had to catch another flight to Nashville soon. The son drove to the airport in a hurry only to discover that his suitcase was sent off to its destination . If the son had just called the airport and explained his situation then no confusion would have occurred.This was a little background story to explain the importance of predictable and unpredictable events. His son did not predicate that he would be in this situation however he made some risky decisions by driving to the airport,after a long flight, and then driving back to the next airport to catch another flight.

Predictable events are hurricanes, and floods that typically occur on the east coast. He also mentioned how every year, College of Charleston is closed, due to hurricanes and the importance of safety and being prepared. Emerging events are events that are unexpected or without precedent. Some examples mentioned were Ebola, Zika, and opioid epidemic.The urban population has gone through a tremendous growth , in the past 20 years so contagious diseases spread more rapidly. It is predicated that by the year 2030, 43 cities would have a population of 10 million folks which would cause an increase of  poverty, and diseases.

Dr.Redd, explained the spread of diseases  through a demonstration of a diagram that showed that the great-grandfather traveled 10 km, the grandfather 100 km, the father 1000 km, and the son, overall, 10,000  km. Most people, nowadays, can be in the United States in the morning and by this time tomorrow be in Europe or Africa. This makes it easier for disease to spread and hard for the public health workers to control the diseases from spreading. One of the references was to the movie contagion and animal contamination. (I have not watched this movie, but we are going to watch it, in my Epidemiology class this semester).

In the first case H1N1, on April 15, 2009, an influenza pandemic occurred. A ten year old got the virus but,he recovered, by the time the diagnosis was made. Then,  two days later, a nine year old got the virus. The Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) bordered a influenza surveillance and more cases started to appear in Texas and Mexico. The clinical patients in Mexico of H1N1 had eighteen cases and seven of the people died by the time they were diagnosed with the virus.

Due to this outbreak, the public health professional needed to make some major decisions in responding to H1N1 such as:“when to publish information on cases,whether to close schools, produce a vaccine, and to distribute antiviral drugs (from presentation PowerPoint slide).” It is important to have a procedure in place, to respond to epidemics, and to spread the message, decrease deaths, and not to cause a public panic.

The second case, the 2014 Ebola, the countries that got affected the most were Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The health workers looked for people who showed symptoms. The patients that had the virus were in isolation for 21 day.  The ones that did not survive were buried in a safe place. Also, that year a man traveled from Liberia to Dallas and due to miscommunication at the hospital, he infected a nurse, and he died after a week of being diagnosed with Ebola. After this incidence, ever traveler from those known places that were exposed to Ebola  got a cell phone at the airports to reach them, in case of emergency. Dr.Redd said “nobody got Ebola after system was put in place.”

This lecture related to our Environmental class because it shows how we are all interconnected. Just because something happens in Africa, does not mean that it can’t reach us here in the states. It is important to be aware of what is going on in the world, and to have policies and procedures to respond to epidemics, but most importantly to prevent them in the first place. It is easier to control a disease from spreading in a small population rather than a large population. Some  current outbreaks in the world are cholera in Yemen, and Polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Communication is key in pubic health. We need to be prepared for the future. There are all kinds of different emergencies out there and each have its own preparations.

At the end of the lecture Dr. Redd, mentioned a two year training program with the CDC Public Health Associate Program (PHAP) for students to look into, if interested.

Overall, it was fascinating to learn about preparing for public health emergencies.