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Healthy Living Healthy Planet Radio

158 Episodes

49 minutes | Jan 29, 2023
EP 158 - Plastics & Plastic Pollution: How Plastics & Plastics Pollution is Impacting Our Health
Plastics are one of the most widely used materials, yet they can have a damaging impact on our environment and human health. According to recent studies. Since 1950, about 7 billion tons of plastics have been produced worldwide, 9% and 12% of which have been recycled and incinerated, respectively. Human population increase and consistent demand for plastics and plastic products are responsible for continuous increase in the production of plastics, generation of plastic waste and its accompanied environmental pollution. Another report calls it:  Plastic Not-So-Fantastic: How the Versatile Material Harms the Environment and Human Health - From cell phones and computers to bicycle helmets and hospital IV bags, plastic has molded society in many ways that make life both easier and safer. But the synthetic material also has left harmful imprints on the environment and our human health. We’ve likely never gone a day without seeing something made from plastic. I So, I ask you now = look around you = how many items can you count made from plastic = isn’t that crazy? In addition to the plastic we see in use every day, large pieces of plastic remain in landfills for hundreds of (even a thousand!)/ or even forever; tons of plastic waste flood into our oceans, devastating marine ecosystems; and plastic particles even make their way into the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Yep, It’s inside our bodies? But we can control this. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
50 minutes | Jan 22, 2023
EP 157 - Plastics & Plastic Pollution – How & Why Plastic Pollution is a Climate Change issue
As we go about our daily lives  and use and throw away many different kinds of plastics, we don’t know or think about how plastics and plastic pollution affect our environment and our health. Plastic fills our dumps, homes and oceans.  Plastic debris is found absolutely everywhere, from the Arctic to Antarctica. It clogs street drains in our cities; it litters campgrounds and national parks. The amount of plastic waste that is not recycled is a major environmental issue. Plastic pollution also has a direct impact on the environment because  plastics do not break down naturally in the environment. This means that plastics can remain in the environment for hundreds of years building up, polluting land and water sources. Plastic pollution is especially damaging to marine life and its ecosystems because it can be ingested by animals . Plastic pollution is on the rise and it has a direct impact on human health.  In order to reduce plastic pollution and its impact on climate change, it is important to reduce the amount of plastic we use because getting rid of all this plastic also causes problems for the planet. Just 16% of plastics are recycled – the rest goes to landfill or  incineration or is just dumped. Guests Katherine Owens and Erin Simon talk with Host Bernice Butler to help unpack what we can do to help drive solutions. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
49 minutes | Jan 15, 2023
EP 156 - Plastics & Plastic Pollution – What’s so Bad about Plastics and Why Doesn’t Everybody know about it?
Consider the amount of plastic you put into the trash or recycling on a typical day. There's the lid to your coffee cup, and perhaps a bag from a newspaper. There's the wrapper from a granola bar, a yogurt container, a salad clamshell, and the plentiful packaging from inside a box that arrived in the mail. Many of these plastic items are useful and convenient, but they also come with a high environmental cost. In 2021, global trash generation was approx. 400 million tons, with the U.S. generating approx. 51 million tons of it.  That's approx. 300 pounds per person in a single year (and only 2.4 million tons recycled). By the time these disposable products are in your hands, they've already taken a toll on the planet: Plastics are mostly made from fossil fuels, in an energy-intensive process that emits greenhouse gases and creates often hazardous chemicals. And then there's what happens when you throw them away. If you're like most people, you probably assume that when you toss plastic into the recycling bin it will be processed and turned into something new. The truth is that only a fraction of plastic is actually recycled. And if it's not recycled—and it's usually not—it is landfilled, incinerated, or littered. Host Bernice Butler talks with Christina Dubin and Win Cowger, to explore and unpack what and how plastic and plastic pollution does to your health and to the environment as they discuss What’s so Bad about Plastics. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
50 minutes | Jan 8, 2023
EP 155 - The Road from COP 27 – Where do we Go From Here & Why Does it Matter?
About COP 27, ( the Conference of the Parties), President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt where it was held this past year, said, I deeply believe that COP27 is an opportunity to showcase unity against an existential threat that we can only overcome through concerted action and effective implementation. The hosting of COP27 in the green city of Sharm El-Sheikh in November, marked the 30th anniversary of this United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In the thirty years since, the world has come a long way in the fight against climate change and its negative impacts on our impacts, and better develop tools to address its causes and consequences. Thirty years and twenty-six COPs later, we now have a much clearer understanding of the extent of the potential climate crisis and what needs to be done to address it effectively. The science is there and clearly shows the urgency with which we must act regarding rapidly reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, taking necessary steps to assist those in need of support to adapt to the negative impacts of climate change, and finding the appropriate formula that would ensure the availability of requisite means of implementation, especially in the midst of the uninterrupted international crises we’ve experienced, including the ongoing food security crisis exacerbated by climate change, desertification and water scarcity. Dr. Tess Wiskel, MD with Harvard C-CHANGE  talks with Host Bernice Butler to explore what happened at COP 27 and what it means to ordinary people in their everyday lives. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
48 minutes | Dec 25, 2022
EP 154 - Waste & Waste Management – Toxic & E-waste
Simply defined, a hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it dangerous or capable of having a harmful effect on human health or the environment. Hazardous waste is generated from many sources, ranging from industrial manufacturing process wastes to the batteries we use each day and may come in many forms, including liquids, solids gases, and sludges. While e-waste is not technically defined as a hazardous waste,-because it can be reused and recycled -  is it none the less hazardous.  E-waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams on the planet. Already, we produce something like 50 million tonnes of it each year. And that number’s only set to increase as electronics become more accessible worldwide. E-waste, or electronic waste, encompasses electrical and electronic equipment that’s outdated, unwanted, or broken. That means everything from smartphones to end-of-life refrigerators. Basically, anything that runs on electricity that you’ve decided to get rid of. Neil Peter-Michaud talks with Host Bernice Butler to unpack and uncover what this means to us in our everyday lives. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
51 minutes | Dec 18, 2022
EP 153 - Economics of Waste & Waste Mgt and Circular Economy
Waste ManagementWaste is not only an environmental problem, but also an economic loss. When resources are produced and used in ways that lead to their disposal as waste, the loss of those resources is an economic loss. When resources can be saved, reused, recovered or used more efficiently, there is a net economic gain. Waste is part of the economy – it is a by-product of economic activity, by businesses, government and households. Large amounts of waste are generataed minute by minute in our world - including: food and garden waste, construction and demolition waste, mining waste, industrial waste, sludge, old televisions, old cars, batteries, plastic bags, paper, sanitary waste, old clothes and old furniture… the list goes on. The amount of waste we generate is closely linked to our consumption and production patterns. The sheer number of products entering the market poses yet another challenge. Demographic changes, like an increase in the number of one-person households, also affect the amount of waste we generate (e.g. packaging goods in smaller units). Waste is also  of course is an input to economic activity – whether through material or energy recovery. The management of that waste1 has economic implications – for productivity, government expenditure, and, of course, the environment. Host Bernice Butler and guests Stacy Savage, Jeremy Drake and Maggie Clarke explore the economic impacts of Waste and Waste Management and what it means to the environment and our daily lives. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
51 minutes | Dec 11, 2022
EP 152 - Waste & Waste Mgt: Environmental Intersection of our Consumption-based Culture & its Waste Generation
Virtually every resident, organization, and human activity in the U.S./the world generates some type of waste. Many different types of waste are generated, including municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, industrial non-hazardous waste, agricultural and animal waste, medical waste, radioactive waste, construction and demolition debris, extraction and mining waste, oil and gas production waste, fossil fuel combustion waste, and sewage sludge – and more including clothing waste. Waste generation, in most cases, represents inefficient use of materials. Once generated, wastes must be managed through reuse, recycling, storage, treatment, energy recovery, and/or disposal or other  types of releases to the environment. Most municipal solid wastes and hazardous wastes are managed in land disposal units. For hazardous and industrial wastes, land disposal includes landfills, surface impoundments, land treatment, land farming, and underground injection. Jamil Admad with the UN Environment Programme and Adi Varshneya With the Global Alliance for Incenerato Alternatives talk with Host Bernice Butler to help us better understand how  our consumption patterns are driving waste and its management. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
49 minutes | Dec 4, 2022
EP 151 - Extreme Weather Events – Cold Snaps & Extreme Cold
While it does not affect as many people as its opposite, extreme heat does, extreme cold can be just as deadly, especially in areas that are not accustomed to cold weather. As with extreme heat, extreme cold has a variable definition depending on the location and how accustomed the population is to those temperatures. For example, people who live in a temperate state such as Florida may find 50 degrees chilly or cold, while those who live in colder states such as Minnesota may find 50 degrees to be comfortable or even warm. Many people would associate hypothermia as the threat associated with extreme cold. However, freezing temperatures can also pose challenges for infrastructure, including roads, electrical systems and water systems. It can cause infrastructure failures and hazardous traveling conditions. Both unseasonable and extreme cold spells are caused when a Polar Vortex moves out of its usual path as a result of climate change.  The wind can make cold temperatures feel even colder. The wind chill index measures what the temperature feels like on exposed skin based on the speed of the wind. A wind chill can cause your body to lose heat faster and your skin to freeze very quickly Health risks of extreme cold = include windburn, frostbite & hypothermia among many others.  A normal body temperature is approximately 99º. When your core body temperature drops by 1 or 2ºC (1.8 or 3.6ºF), or your body is exposed to severe cold it increases your risk of harmful effects. Judah Cohen with MIT Parsons Lab and Verisk and John Walsh with the International Research Center at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks help Host Bernice Butler to explore and unpack these issues. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
48 minutes | Nov 20, 2022
EP 150 - Extreme Weather Events: Extreme Heat and the health impact
Extreme heat can increase the risk of other types of disasters. Heat can exacerbate drought, and hot, dry conditions  - that can in turn create wildfire conditions. Buildings, roads, and infrastructure absorb heat, leading to temperatures that can be 1 to 7 degrees F hotter in urban areas than outlying areas – a phenomenon known as the urban heat island effect. This impact is most intense during the day, but the slow release of heat from the infrastructure  overnight can keep cities much hotter than surrounding areas. Rising temperatures across the country pose a threat to people, ecosystems, and the economy. Exposure to excessive heat has wide ranging physiological impacts for all humans, often amplifying existing conditions and resulting in premature death and disability. Extreme heat is one of the leading causes of weather-related deaths in the United States, killing an average of more than 600 people per year from 1999-2009, more than all other impacts (except hurricanes) combined. Heat stress occurs in humans when the body is unable to cool itself effectively. Normally, the body can cool itself through sweating, but when humidity is high, sweat will not evaporate as quickly, potentially leading to heat stroke. When there's no break from the heat at night, it can cause discomfort and lead to health problems, especially for groups that are particularly vulnerable to heat stress including older adults, infants and children, people with chronic health conditions and outdoor workers. Hot days are also associated with increases in heat-related illnesses, including cardiovascular and respiratory complications and kidney disease. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
48 minutes | Nov 13, 2022
EP 149 - Extreme Weather Events: Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Storms & Floods
Extreme weather continues to swell like US coastlines during high tide. And with it comes the realization that the climate changes we were warned about are already here. For decades the core question in the public debate over global warming was: Will all these scientific projections come true? Now, Britain has had its hottest summer ever and New Zealand its third-warmest winter in a row. The Rhine, Danube, Yangtze, and Colorado rivers dried out, interrupting commerce and power generation. Heat records were smashed. Weeks of catastrophic flooding submerged a third of Pakistan, killing more than 1,700 people and destroying 1.3 million homes. Scientists say flood infrastructure, public awareness campaigns, and satellite or drone monitoring may all be a part of improved disaster management—once the country can think about such things again. If nothing else, Americans — who popularized climate change denial — are starting to believe their own eyes. Almost half of Americans now report they’ve seen global warming affect other people and 30% say they’ve experienced its effects personally. Research also shows that Americans believe most of their compatriots don’t support climate policies when the opposite is true. That implies regular Americans aren’t nearly as split over the need to take action as some politicians might have us believe. Nevertheless, big-picture metrics suggest there’s still an enormous amount of work to do if we’re to avert the worst of the projections.. It’s sometimes said that climate change will cost rich countries money and poor countries lives. The science says we’ll all pay. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
49 minutes | Nov 6, 2022
EP 148 - Extreme Weather Events: The health and environmental impacts of Wildfires, Droughts & Winds
In the early 2000s, a new field of climate-science research emerged that began to explore the human fingerprint on extreme weather, such as floods, heatwaves, droughts and storms. Known as “extreme event attribution”, the field has gained momentum, not only in the science world, but also in the media and public imagination. These studies have the power to link the seemingly abstract concept of climate change with personal and tangible experiences of the weather. Scientists have published more than 400 peer-reviewed studies looking at weather extremes around the world, from wildfires in the US and heatwaves in India and Pakistan to raising the risk of some types of extreme weather. Together, forests, shrubland, and grassland cover more than half of the land area in the United States. These ecosystems are important resources, both environmentally and economically. Although wildfires occur naturally and play a long-term role in the health of these ecosystems, changing wildfire patterns threaten to upset the status quo. Multiple studies have found that climate change has already led to an increase in wildfire season length, wildfire frequency, and burned area. The wildfire season has lengthened in many areas due to factors including warmer springs, longer summer dry seasons, and drier soils and vegetation.  Similarly, climate change threatens to increase the frequency, extent, and severity of fires through increased temperatures and drought  as they affect the various and different areas of the US and the world.  As well, wildfires now are adding substantially to the health impacts of our air pollution. Daniel Swain at UCLA and Noah Diffenbaugh at Stanford  talk with Host, Bernice Butler  talk about how Wildfires can affect  the health of us all – as well as the environment. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
47 minutes | Oct 30, 2022
EP 147 - Climate Change- Looking Forward: the most Promising & Emerging Climate Change Mitigation.
The climate crisis is increasingly marching forward Fortunately, there are many things we can do to ensure our future is as prosperous as possible. These actions fall into one of two broad categories: climate change adaptation and climate change mitigation. These terms go hand-in-hand while navigating through the climate crisis, but they mean very different things. Climate change mitigation means avoiding and reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to prevent the planet from warming to more extreme temperatures. Climate change adaptation means altering our behavior, systems, and—in some cases—ways of life to protect our families, our economies, and the environment in which we live from the impacts of climate change. The more we reduce emissions right now, the easier it will be to adapt to the changes we can no longer avoid. Mitigation actions will take a while to affect rising temperatures, so we must adapt now to the change that is already upon us—and will continue to affect us in the foreseeable future. Mitigation can mean using new technologies and renewable energies, making older equipment more energy efficient, or changing management practices or consumer behavior. It can be as complex as a plan for a new city, or as a simple as improvements to a cook stove design. Efforts underway around the world range from high-tech subway systems to bicycling paths and walkways. Here today to talk with Host Bernice Butler are Sam Calisch with Rewiring America,  Debbie Ley with the Energy and Natural Resources Unit of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ad Linda Rudolph with the Public Health Institute and the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
52 minutes | Oct 23, 2022
EP 146 - The Politics of Climate Change and How it Affects our Economic Future
The success  of the recently enacted climate change legislation shows how the politics of climate change have shifted profoundly since scientists began years ago, warning about how human-caused emissions would warm the planet.  Whereas President Jimmy Carter once pushed clean energy as a matter of personal, moral responsibility, the new bill treats climate change as a pragmatic pocketbook matter of consumer rebates and corporate tax incentives. Whereas climate change once seemed distant, it is now a constant presence in shaping weather patterns, the economy and daily life in much of the world, especially during the harsh summer months. Above all, backers of the 730-page legislation dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act — although little in the bill deals with inflation — say it is overdue, coming decades after leading climatologist James Hansen testified in Congress and rang the alarm over global warming. Now, with world leaders preparing to hold. COP 26 - their next major climate summit in Egypt in November, developing countries look to the United States for leadership even while criticizing it for the greenhouse gases it emitted over the last century. A recent report conducted in April and May of this year which sampled a representative sample of the US population done by the Yale program on climate change communication and the George Mason Univ program on climate change communication-looking at how registered voters view our climate and energy policies  - had some very interesting findings about what people say and what people do what they actually think. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
48 minutes | Oct 16, 2022
EP 145 - Climate Change, Asthma and Allergies – How is it Changing or Everyday lives and Health
The World Health Organization says Climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity, and health professionals worldwide are already responding to the health harms caused by this unfolding crisis. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that to avert catastrophic health impacts and prevent millions of climate change-related deaths, the world must limit temperature rise to 1.5°C. Climate change is already impacting health in a myriad of ways, including by leading to death and illness from increasingly frequent extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, storms and floods, the disruption of food systems, increases in zoonoses and food-, water- and vector-borne diseases, and mental health issues. Although it is unequivocal that climate change affects human health, it remains challenging to accurately estimate the scale and impact of many climate-sensitive health risks. However, scientific advances progressively allow us to attribute an increase in sickness and disease and mortality to human-induced warming, and more accurately determine the risks and scale of these health threats.  What we do know is that climate change is a huge threat to respiratory health by directly causing or aggravating pre-existing respiratory diseases and increasing exposure to risk factors for respiratory diseases. Host Bernice Butler talks with Dr Neha Pathak with WebMD and Jenna Riemenschneider with the Asthma, Allergy and Foundation of America to help explore and unpack how climate change is affecting our health. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
50 minutes | Oct 13, 2022
EP 144 - Climate Change: State of the Planet
Within the lifetime of anyone born at the start of the Baby Boom, the human population has tripled. In the 1960s, humans took about three-quarters of what the planet could regenerate annually. By 2016 this rose to 170 percent, meaning that the planet cannot keep up with human demand, and we are running the world down. Humans have altered about 70 percent of Earth’s land surface and ocean. Wetlands have lost 85 percent of their natural area; the ocean’s large predatory fish are two-thirds gone; coral reefs have lost half their living mass. Agriculture has halved the weight of living vegetation on land, driving a diversity loss of 20 percent; 40 percent of extant plants are currently endangered. The world’s wild populations of birds, mammals, fishes, reptiles, and amphibians have declined by an average of nearly 70 percent in just the last 50 years, a breathtaking plummet. More than 700 species have gone extinct over the last 500 years, an extinction rate 15 times the natural rate. These disruptions and declines have caused the deterioration of soil, air, and water quality; pollination; carbon sequestration; and human health. Other things have increased: floods, fires, the number of malnourished people, plastic pollution, general, toxification and infectious epidemics. Fossil fuels, which fuel many if not most of our climate change issues,  presently enable most consumption; they're the source of 85 percent of commercial energy – and this must change. Debora Ley with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 6th Assessment Report and ana Nuccitelli with the Citizens Climate Lobby talk with Host Bernice Butler about our Current State of the Planets’ Climate Change. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
49 minutes | Oct 2, 2022
EP 143 - Climate Change: What is Climate Change- How do we know it when we see It?
The effects of human-caused climate change are happening now. There seems to be almost universal agreement among scientists that earth will continue to earm and the Effects will be profound. Effects that scientists had long predicted would result from global climate change are now occurring, such as sea ice loss, accelerated sea level rise, and longer, more intense heat waves. In fact, some changes (such as droughts, wildfires, and extreme rainfall) are  even happening faster than scientists previously assessed. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — the United Nations body established to assess the science related to climate change — modern humans have never before seen the observed changes in our global climate, and some of these changes are irreversible. But, if we can reduce emissions, we may avoid some of the worst effects. Climate change, together with other natural and human-made health stressors, influences human health and disease in numerous ways. Some existing health threats will intensify and new health threats will emerge. Not everyone is equally at risk. Important considerations include age, economic resources, and location. Climate change is not always easy to wrap your head around. It can seem distant, far away, or less urgent than many of the other challenges we face day to day.  Especially today, as we face a global pandemic, it may not appear to be an immediate threat like COVID-19 or even monkey pox.  However, the warming planet has impacts that are pervasive, immediate, and endanger our health and safety, and we cannot afford to wait any longer to act. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
48 minutes | Sep 29, 2022
EP 142 - Children experience 83% of the burden of our environmental issue impacts.
According to the World Health Organization, reducing environmental risks could prevent 1 in 4 child deaths. In 2012, 1.7 million deaths in children under five were attributable to the environment. These included 570 000 deaths from respiratory infections, 361 000 deaths from diarrhea, 270 000 deaths from neonatal conditions, 200 000 deaths from malaria and 200 000 deaths from unintentional injuries. One example of what reduced risk can accomplish is - CONSEQUENCES OF REMOVAL OF LEAD FROM GASOLINE • 95% reduction in blood lead levels in US children • 95% reduction in incidence of lead poisoning • 2-5-point gain in population mean IQ • $200 billion annual economic benefit to US each year since 1980 through increased economic productivity of a generation of more intelligent children. • Aggregate benefit over the past 30 years of $3 trillion. Environmental risks have an impact on the health and development of children, from conception through childhood and adolescence and also into adulthood. The environment determines a child’s future - early life exposures impact on adult health as fetal programming and early growth may be altered by environmental risk factors. UNECF says, Climate change and environmental degradation undermine the rights of every child.  Climate change is a direct threat to a child’s ability to survive, grow, and thrive. Children experience 83% of the burden of our environmental issue impacts. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
50 minutes | Sep 11, 2022
EP 141 - The Economics of Environmental Justice & Impacts on Everyone’s Pocketbook
Locating polluting facilities in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color means that people with marginalized identities experience more asthma, a greater likelihood of heart attacks, even premature death. The disadvantages that come with these health issues, like missing school, create a cycle of poverty and lack of access to opportunity that spans generations and shapes every part of the experience of being a person of color or low-income person in the United States.  And, as our society becomes more interconnected - this impacts of this situation are increasingly spreading to everyone - in unintended and un- thought-of ways - as the covid pandemic has and is clearly showing us. The grassroots movement that placed environmental justice issues on the national stage around 1980 was soon followed up by research documenting the correlation between pollution and race and poverty I n 1978, 31,000 gallons of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)—a highly dangerous chemical—were illegally dumped on behalf of the Ward Transformer Company across 14 counties in North Carolina. The state collected the contaminated soil and identified two landfill sites for the waste: a publicly owned landfill in Chatham County, and a recently foreclosed property in Warren County. The Warren County site had a shallow water table, making it unsuitable for a landfill. However, the site was privately owned and near a town with no mayor or city council. In contrast, the Chatham County site was publicly owned, giving local residents an opportunity to participate in the siting decision. Additionally, in 1980, Warren County was 60 percent black and 25 percent of its families were below the poverty line (and the area immediately near the site had even higher proportions of people of color), whereas the corresponding figures for Chatham County were only 27 percent and 6 percent. Ultimately, the state placed the landfill in Warren County. Protests over this decision drew widespread support from civil rights groups and gained national media attention = thus the environmental justice movement was born --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
48 minutes | Sep 4, 2022
EP 140 - Environmental Justice - The equal access to a healthy, safe, and sustainable environment.
Environmental factors such as air and water quality are fundamental determinants of our health and well-being. Environmental factors can lead to disease and health disparities when the places where people live, work, learn, and play are burdened by social inequities.  These social inequities, often referred to as social determinants of health, include differences in individual behaviors, cultural influences, access to health services, economic status, and literacy levels. Environmental health disparities exist when communities exposed to a combination of poor environmental quality and social inequities have more sickness and disease than wealthier, less polluted communities – says the NIEHS  which has long worked to reduce environmental health disparities and promote environmental justice —  which they define as = the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people in environmental laws and policies regardless of race, nationality, or income. More than 12 million people around the world die every year because they live or work in unhealthy environments. Environmental pollutants can cause health problems like respiratory diseases, heart disease, and some types of cancer.2 People with low incomes are more likely to live in polluted areas and have unsafe drinking water. And children and pregnant women are at higher risk of health problems related to pollution. Tracking environmental pollutants is key to figuring out where and how people are exposed. Laws and policies to reduce different types of pollution can also help prevent many serious health problems and deaths. Environmental Justice guarantees that all people have equal access to a healthy, safe, and sustainable environment, as well as equal protection from environmental harm. Cedric Taylor, Univ of Michigan and Stephanie Chambers, Trinity Univ in Hartford, talk with host, Bernic Butler to help us unpack and explore Environmental Justice: What it means to all of Us. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
49 minutes | Aug 29, 2022
Episode 139: Renewable Energy & Electric Vehicles: State of their Impact on the Environment
The transition to an environmentally sustainable economy will take at least a generation, if not a bit longer. And at the end of the journey, we will not emerge with a pristine planet. The goal is to minimize the damage we humans inflict on the planet; because the damage will probably never be totally eliminated. There are too many of us and too little planet to eliminate destruction. We need to understand our impacts and reduce them as much as possible. Our principal goal should be to mitigate problems that are global in scale, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, virus transmission and invasive species. A critical element of the transition is to reduce our use of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are expensive and environmentally destructive. In the United States, most of our use of fossil fuels is for transportation. Today, transportation accounts for almost 30% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States. The good news is that passenger vehicles in the U.S. are electrifying at an unprecedented rate. The same society-altering shift is happening now with electric vehicles = that happened not long ago with smart cell phones.  according to a Bloomberg analysis of adoption rates around the world. Host Bernice Butler talks with Alice Grossman  with TX Transportation Institute at A&M and Lori Bird of the World Resources Institute about Our Transition to Renewable Energy & Electric Vehicles – What is the State of their Impact on the Planet. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/healthy-radio/support
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