Learning Guide Unit 4

Overview

Unit 4: People and the Environment

Topics:

Environmental Health

Environmental Toxicology

Risk Assessment and Management

Food Security

Food and Nutrients

Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this Unit, you will be able to:

1. Define environmental health.

2. Categorize environmental health risks.

3. Explain the concept of emerging diseases.

4. Summarize the principles of environmental toxicology.

5. Classify environmental contaminants.

 6. Understand the major drivers of food insecurity.

7. Recognize the role of women in food and nutritional security.

8. Classify key food and nutritional sources.

9. Identify benefits and risks of genetic engineering.

Tasks:

Read the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments

Participate in the Discussion Assignment (post, comment, and rate in the Discussion
Forum)

Complete and submit the Written Assignment

Make entries to the Learning Journal

Take the Self-Quiz

Introduction

Environmental Health and Toxicology

Environmental health is concerned with preventing disease, death and disability by

reducing exposure to adverse environmental conditions and promoting behavioral
change. It focuses on the direct and indirect causes of diseases and injuries, and taps
resources inside and outside the health care system to help improve health outcomes.

Environmental health risks can be grouped into two broad categories. Traditional
hazards related to poverty and lack of development affect developing countries and poor
people most. Modern hazards, caused by development that lacks environmental
safeguards, such as urban (outdoor) air pollution and exposure to agro-industrial
chemicals and waste, prevail in industrialized countries, where exposure to traditional
hazards is low.

Each year contaminated water and poor sanitation contribute to 5.4 billion cases of
diarrhea worldwide and 1.6 million deaths, mostly among children under the age of five.
Indoor air pollutiona much less publicized source of poor healthis responsible for
more than 1.6 million deaths per year and for 2.7 percent of global burden of disease.

Emerging and reemerging diseases have been defined as infectious diseases of humans
whose occurrence during the past two decades has substantially increased or threatens to
increase in the near future relative to populations affected, geographic distribution, or
magnitude of impacts.

Antibiotic resistance is a global problem. New forms of antibiotic resistance can cross
international boundaries and spread between continents.

Environmental toxicology is the scientific study of the health effects associated with
exposure to toxic chemicals and systems occurring in the natural, work, and living
environments; the management of environmental toxins and toxicity; and the
development of protections for humans, animals, and plants.

Environmental contaminants are chemicals found in the environment in amounts

higher than what would be there naturally. We can be exposed to these contaminants from
a variety of residential, commercial, and industrial sources.

Food and Hunger

Progress continues in the fight against hunger, yet an unacceptably large number of
people still lack the food they need for an active and healthy life. About 795 million
 people in the world still go to bed hungry every night, and an even greater number live in
poverty.

Poverty is the major driver of food insecurity.

Food security is essentially built on four pillars: availability, access, utilization and
stability.

Women are crucial in the translation of the products of a vibrant agriculture sector into
food and nutritional security for their households. They are often the farmers who
cultivate food crops and produce commercial crops alongside the men in their households
as a source of income.

Over the past 20 years, a global obesity epidemic has emerged. Due to established health
implications and rapid increase in prevalence, obesity is now a recognized major global
health challenge, and no national success stories in curbing its growth have so far been
reported.

Genetic engineering is the name for methods that scientists use to introduce new traits or
characteristics to an organism. Advocates say that application of genetic engineering in
agriculture has resulted in benefits to farmers, producers, and consumers. Critics advise
that the risks for the introduction of a GMO into each new ecosystem need to be
examined on a case-by-case basis, alongside appropriate risk management measures.
Reading Assignment

Read Chapters 8 and 9 in the textbook and answer the 'End of Chapter Review Questions' in each
chapter.
Discussion Assignment

Your posts should cover the questions below in full, and be at least 300 words long. Then
reply to and peer-review at least three other posts by next Wednesday 11:59PM UoPeople
Time, and rate the posts and replies.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) assessed the consequences of ecosystem change
on human well-being. From 2001 to 2005, the MEA involved the work of more than 1,360
experts worldwide. Their findings provide state-of-the-art scientific appraisal of the condition
and trends in the world's ecosystems and the services they provide, as well as the scientific basis
for action to conserve and use them sustainably.

Open the link to the report "Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Health Synthesis. To
understand the health impacts of ecosystem change, read the "Summary for Decision Makers,
pages 1-10 of this document. Then answer the following questions:

1. What is this report about?

2. List two new things you learned from reading this report. What are they? Explain them.

3. What two actions would you take to reduce the threats to human health and life from one
of the infectious diseases listed in Table 1.1 (page 24)?

4. List one question that you would like to have answered as a result of reading this report.

Any materials cited should be referenced using the style guidelines established by the American
Psychological Association (APA).

The Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Health Synthesis Report is about assessing the
consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being, and establish the
scientific basis for actions needed to enhance the conservation and sustainable use
of the hose systems, so that they can continue to supply the services that underpin
all aspects of human life.

I have learned two critical things in this report.

First is, over the past 50 years, humans have changed natural ecosystems more
rapidly and extensively than ever in our human history. The good: we have earned
human well-being and economic development thanks to this transformation. The
bad: its benefits have not been distributed evenly for all regions and people. The
ugly: its cost are getting more expensive and dangerous, 60% of the ecosystem
services are being degraded or used unsustainably.

Second is, habitat loss and other ecosystem changes are projected to lead to a
decline in local diversity of native species by 2050. For example, the climate
change in Mekong Delta is predicted by (Union of Concerned Scientists , 2011) as
by 2050, sea level rise in the delta could directly affect an estimated 1 million
people or more. This change will also remove native species, especially fish.

After the final movie of Resident Evil came out, my mind was occupied with zombie
infectious diseases. But the real and sad disease is HIV. While I am no Doctor
Without Border, I understand this disease can be addressed by medical (i.e using
specialized medicine to slow the spreading), educational (i.e practicing safe sex),
and political (i.e legalizing prostitution), interventions. I vote for safe sex education
I taught quite a few of my clumsy friends actually, as my best action to reduce the
threats to human health and life from HIV/AIDS.

We know that some societies were collapsed due to the overexploitation of

ecosystem services. Detaild-rich examples are the agricultural-based civilizations of
Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, the Mayans... So the question is: What is the limit
of exploiting ecosystem services for industrial societies, such as America,
UK, Japan, China to collapse?

References
Union of Concerned Scientists . (2011). Mekong River Delta, Vietnam . Retrieved
from www.climatehotmap.org: http://www.climatehotmap.org/global-warming-
locations/mekong-river-delta-vietnam.html
Written Assignment

Earth is the only planet in our solar system that provides a suitable environment for life as we
know it. Sustaining these conditions requires a constant recycling of materials between the living
and nonliving components of eco-systems.

Select one of material cycles we studied (water, nitrogen, carbon, sulphur and phosphorus) and
identify elements of your lifestyle that impact the cycle.

a. What are the most considerable impacts you make?

b. How might it change your life if you were to reduce your impacts? What would you
need to give up?
c. How difficult is to balance personal choices with environmental considerations?

Your answer should be between 700900 words long and should include introduction and
conclusion sections.

WATER FOR HAPPINESS

Introduction
Be water, my friend Bruce Lee, worlds renowned martial artist

I love water. I even marry it if the law permits.

Why? Because water is so essential to my life, even more than my girlfriend. It is an

absolute truth to say I cant live with you, water.

Heres how it plays the vital role in my life.

How We Need Water

I rise up at 06:00, sometimes 07:00, if the cats do not chew on my feet. My mind is
numb until I take a nice hot shower. My throat is dry until I smooth down a cold
glass of water to maximize metabolism. My tummy is ringing until I cook up a
healthy breakfast with dairy, veggies, and eggs. The lights are on, the fans are on,
the rooms is brighten up, and my happy day begins...
I directly use water for bathing, drinking, and cooking. This fresh water comes from
our community water supplying system. From reservoirs filled by the rain and
ground water to my tap, this water has been cleaned from bacteria. Then through
the drain, the used water from my home goes back into this cycle, forming a
recycling process.

I also indirectly use water through consuming daily life products. My veggies dishes
are grown thanks to soil water. My 1-pound steak takes 2,400 gallons of water to
produce (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, n.d.). Plastics, soaps, oil,
water is required in most products manufacture. This stabbed my heart a bit, as
their production has polluted the water cycle with chemicals and other toxins. The
more I consume them, the more water I damage. And even more if I do not care
about the waste deposit, like most Vietnamese do.

Aside from tangible things, I consume a lot of electricity too. Being a geek has its
dark side. I use computer more than 8 hours daily, which skyrockets my electricity
bill monthly. Electricity is produced by processing fossil fuels and coals in power
stations. Coal is mined in craft. Less coal in the soil means the water is less filtered,
less trees can grow, less condensate, less water in the reverse. Using huge amount
of electricity is my most considerable impact to the water cycle.

So. Every day I use water resource. Every day my lifestyle impacts the water cycle.
Like a drop in the ocean, my impact is small within the grand flow. Yet 7 billion
people is a different story. We often take water for granted. We think water is always
available for us. But the sad truth is freshwater will not be there anymore soon,
according to R. Robarts & R. Wetzel, SIL News V. 29, Jan 2000:

"The foremost critical natural resource issue facing humanity is

freshwater. ... No more fresh water will exist on earth than there
was 2,000 years ago when the population was 3% of its current
size."

The Decline of Water Supply

Since the beginning of time, water is ever so important. Earth is the only livable
planet because water exists here. No water no life.

Water, which contains hydrogen and oxygen, is essential to all living processes. The
water cycle contains the largest chemical flux on earth. Water distributes heat
around the globe and thus creates climate, and water is the single most important
factor regulating land-plant productivity worldwide. On Earth, 70% of the earth's
surface is covered with salty water which can't be used for drinking, agriculture, or
industry; only 0.014% of the water at earth's surface is useable by plants, humans,
and other animals. In our human body, it is more than 70 percent water. This figure
shows:

Figure 1. The distribution of water at the earth's surface.

Humans have developed technologies to increase water availability, such as digging

wells to harvest groundwater, storing rainwater, and using desalination to obtain
drinkable water from the ocean. But the supply of water is declining compared to
the growing of the human population.

And What Do Do About It

Since the supply of fresh water continues to be a major issue in modern times, we
must reduce our negative impacts on the water cycle.

There are numerous ways I can try. The main ways are the reduce, reuse, recycle
movement. To reduce my consumption of product. To reuse consumable products
multiple times, i.e cleaning the dish, To recycle used products for another purpose.
Every action counts. Yet every actions pushes me towards sacrificing my lifestyle.
I donot want to turn off my computer my ultimate system to work, earn money,
entertain. I donot want to live in penniless by installing expensive energy-saving
lamps or buy cut-throating renewable electric supplier. I can turn off the light when I
leave the room. I can use less plastic bags. I can ride a bus instead of riding a bike.

But most of all, I donot want to live in a global warming environment where I have
to run 10 miles every day against other people to fight for the last 1L water. I donot
want to buy a bottle of water at 100USD because we have stupidly consume too
much water to leave for the future.

It is extremely difficult to balance personal choices with environmental

considerations. Its a tough choice, but necessary nevertheless.

Conclusion
Water is essential to all. Yet most people take water for granted. And all people
impacts the water cycle negatively. Thus freshwater is declining in modern days. To
reduce our impacts, there are sacrifices to give up, and difficult choices to make.

But if we donot make those choices now, then there might be no future.

References
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu. (2010, Oct 31). The Global Water and Nitrogen
Cycles. Retrieved from http://www.globalchange.umich.edu:
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/kling/wat
er_nitro/water_and_nitrogen_cycles.htm

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. (n.d.). Meat Wastes Water. Retrieved
from PETA: http://www.peta.org/videos/meat-wastes-water/

Union of Concerned Scientists . (2011). Mekong River Delta, Vietnam . Retrieved

from www.climatehotmap.org: http://www.climatehotmap.org/global-warming-
locations/mekong-river-delta-vietnam.html
Learning Journal

Visit these links to learn about different ways you can help biodiversity:

http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/04/30/what-you-can-do-to-protect-biodiversity/

http://www.ecolabelindex.com/ecolabels/

1. What kind of labels are listed here? Why?

2. How do your consumer (buying) choices affect biodiversity?

3. Pick one of these methods that you feel would be usable in YOUR city/village/town.
How? Explain.

4. One or two sentences or your own personal reflection on something you learned this
week.

5. How is the class going so far for you?

There are 465 ecolables, in 199 countries, and 25 industry sectors listed in
http://www.ecolabelindex.com/ecolabels/.

The purpose is to make it easier to make green choice. Ecolabels enable consumers
to determine which products are green, safe, and environmentally sustainable. It
also helps their clients deliver sustainability promises, by working with them to
navigate the complex and diverse international ecolabel landscape, create and
monitor green purchasing programs, and understand and meet the needs of
stakeholders.

Last month I visited Australia where I found myself surprise seeing how people are
willing to pay double the price for free-range chicken eggs or grass-fed meat.
The Australian wants to protect the farm animals free from harmful chemicals or
mindless industrial harvest. By consuming products that do not harm the
environment, they have ignited a chains in organic consumption, which spread from
home consumer to restaurant owner.
This led me to the answer of how my buying choices affect biodiversity. Since
consumption of resources is a root cause of biodiversity loss, we can consume less
and be more mindful about what we consume. But organic food is still very very
expensive in Vietnam. Food expense accounts for more than 40% for Vietnamese
(10% for the Aussie), and organic food is usually 1,5x or 2x the price of normal food.
Buying organic food is not a top of mind in Vietnamese, yet.

I would like to propose to all homo-sapiens in my town is a simple one: cook your
own food. You see, by cooking ones own meal, his/her awareness about choosing
your food source will increase ten folds. I was a former non-cook last year. But ever
since I picked up cooking (by reading a few books), I have experienced
transformative awareness about cooking and eating healthy food. May the rest of
my people aware the same.

This week was super interesting to me. Especially chapter 9 where it lays down all
the fundamentals knowledge about vitamin, nutrients. I do weightlifting and
cooking, so those knowledges are critical to my training.

Dear professor, I donot understand clearly the following parts in Chapter 9:

Unsaturated fatty acids have at least one double bond between

carbon atoms. This gives them properties that make them more
healthful. Eaten in appropriate amounts, they may help lower blood
levels of cholesterol and triglycerides and decrease the risk of
cardiovascular disease. They are found mainly in plant foods.

Unsaturated fatty acids known as trans fatty acids (or trans fats),
are manufactured from plant oils and do not occur naturally. They
are added to foods to extend their shelf life. Trans fats have
properties like saturated fats and may increase risk of
cardiovascular disease. They should be avoided in balanced
eating. Many manufacturers no longer add trans fats to food
products, and their use in restaurants has been banned in some
cities.

So is unsatured fatty acids good or bad?