1. Where We Live Matters for Our Health: Neighbourhoods and Health

Introduction

Just as conditions within our homes have important implications for our health, conditions in the neighbourhoods surrounding our homes also can have major health effects. There is a statement that social and economic features of neighbourhoods have been linked with mortality, general health status, disability, birth outcomes, chronic conditions, health behaviours and other risk factors for chronic disease, as well as with mental health, injuries, violence and other important health indicators.

How could neighbourhood affect health? 

There are three major aspects including physical environment, social environment, and service environment.

• The physical environment includes the “built environment”— the environment resulting from structures built by humans—as well as the natural environment. Health can be adversely affected by poor air and water quality or proximity to facilities that produce or store hazardous substances;9 by substandard housing conditions exposing residents to lead paint, mold, dust or pest infestation; by lack of access to nutritious foods and safe places to exercise combined with concentrated exposure and ready access to fast food outlets and liquor stores; and by adverse traffic conditions.

• The social environment includes the quality of relationships—such as trust, connectedness and cooperation—among neighbourhood residents. Health can also be shaped by the social environments of neighbourhoods—that is, by characteristics of the social relationships among their residents, including the degree of mutual trust and feelings of connectedness among neighbours. 

• The service environment includes neighbourhood resources for education, employment, transportation, health care, grocery shopping, recreation and other services directly or indirectly tied to health. The availability of services and opportunities in neighborhoods is another general pathway through which neighborhoods can influence health. Where we live is highly correlated with the quality of schools, transportation and other municipal services, health care services and employment opportunities to which we have access. Health care can influence health in relatively direct ways. Education, employment opportunities and other services influence health more indirectly, such as by providing the means to achieve an adequate standard of living now and in the future. 

Neighbourhood improvement

There are eight ways to improve your neighbourhood relating to your neighbours as following;

1. Reach out

2. Get involved with your neighbours

3. Make a connection with your neighbours

4. Be considerate of others

5. Be generous

6. Draw neighbours together

7. Extend your church affiliation

8. Volunteer in your neighbourhood

Sources:

http://torontoist.com/2013/08/extra-extra-neighbourhood-rankings-rob-ford-editorials-and-prefab-buildings/

Plastics is good or bad?

The invention of plastics brings much convenience to our life; however, attendant disadvantages are also increasingly evident. That`s because it is difficult to be degraded, and if we dispose plastics through traditional method such as compost and landfill, the plastic could stay for over hundred years.

There are several disadvantages of overuse of plastics:

1. Arbitrary throw of plastic bags has destroyed the beauty of initial natural landscape;

2. Many wild animals die due to  mistaking plastics;

3. Plastic landfill will affect the permeability of soil, make destruction of the soil quality, and restrain the growth of  plants by 30% or more;

4. Landfill of plastic also affect the water quality and bring disease to human;

5. And if disposing plastics through burning, it will create poisonous gas which is harmful for animals and human and make them malformed or died.

Plastic waste

Plastic burning

Considering these disadvantages, adoptable and appropriate methods need to be utilised to dispose plastic waste. There should be several methods including:

1. Recycling plastic stuff such as plastic bottles as material of renewable plastic for reuse.

2. Collecting plastic waste as material for refining gasoline and diesel. (1 ton of plastic waste could be used to refine approximately 700 kilogram gasoline or diesel)

Plastic brings more convenience to our daily life and makes goods more flexible. However, it is a double-edged sword, and how to deal with the waste of plastic would be drawn human`s attention. And with the improvement of technology, I hope more new materials could be created to replace plastic and make our environment more sustainable.

Images from:

http://www.susanfreinkel.com/books_Plastic.html

http://cdn.songshuhui.net/wp-content/uploads/%E5%A1%91%E6%96%994%E9%A2%98%E5%9B%BE%E4%B8%8B.jpg

Wildfire

  A wildfire is an uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation that occurs in countryside area. It also has other names, such as brush fire, bush fire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, vegetation fire, and veldfire. These names may be used to describe the same phenomenon relying on the type of vegetation which are being burned, and the regional variant of English being used. The standards of distinguishing wildfire from other fires include its extensive size, the speed at which it can spread out from its original source, its potential to change direction unexpectedly, and also its ability to jump gaps such as roads, rivers and fire breaks. Wildfires are characterized in terms of the cause of ignition, their physical properties such as speed of propagation, the combustible material present, and the effect of weather on the fire.

  Forest fire are a common occurrence in Australia due to the generally hot and dry climate, they pose a great risk to life and infrastructure during all times of the year, though mostly throughout the hotter months of summer and spring. Fossil records and human history contain accounts of wildfires, because wildfires can occur in periodic intervals.

  Wildfires can cause extensive damage, both to human life and property, but they also have various beneficial effects on wilderness areas. Some plant species depend on the effects of fire for growth and reproduction, although large wildfires may also have negative ecological effects.

  Strategies of wildfire prevention, detection, and suppression have changed and varied over the years, and further development of technology and research are encouraged by international wildfire management experts. One of the more controversial techniques is controlled burning: permitting or even igniting smaller fires to minimize the amount of flammable material available for a potential wildfire. While some wildfires burn in remote forested regions, they can cause extensive destruction of homes and other property located in the wildland-urban interface: a zone of transition between developed areas and undeveloped wilderness.

Picture from the following website:

http://inhabitat.com/?s=wildfire

Human Overpopulation

Human Overpopulation

  The sharp rise of world population growth rate is the current situation. An important symbol is the short time of population expansion. The world population increased from 5 billion to 10 billion using 200 years while it increased from 10 billion to 20 billion using only 100 years. It is clear that the resources on our earth are limited, that means more people would consume more resources. Thus, one day, the resources would be run out of, and our planet would be destroyed earlier.

  The reason for this rapid population growth is  the improvement of living conditions and medical technology leading to the reduction of death rate. The life expectancy continues to increase, which is the main reason for the overpopulation.

  Currently, there is more than 50% of the world's population which is under 25 years old, the structure present typical growth type. It would decide the continuously growth of population in the future for a long time. As the earth's space and resources are limited, controlling the population expansion is an urgent task.

   In China, the government implements a policy called 'one-child policy'. China, it is known as the biggest country in term of population, which now has almost 14 billion people living in the country. This policy was first introduced in 1978 and enacted on September 18th, 1980 to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems in China. The positive effects of this policy can be seen as the following:

• Reduce the overall population
• Change the demographic structure including age structure, sex structure and ethnic structure.
• Increase the family deposit

  However there also has several negative effects. The most contentious one is human right violations. Many experts hold the viewpoint that one-child policy has been challenged for violating a human right to determinate the size of one's own family.

  

  Whether this policy could help to mitigate the overpopulation effectively is a question.

Picture from the following website:

http://wakingupwisconsin.com/shattered-lies-overpopulation/

Electrical Appliances in our family

With the development of society, people`s life is becoming more and more automated and electrified. The household appliances are also becoming more and more diverse and multi-functional. Televisions, refrigerators, air conditions, washers/ dryers, computers, etc.take hold over almost every family, and they are part and parcel of our lives.

fridges

washers/dryers

Televisions

However, while these electric appliance makes our daily life much more convenient and comfortable, they are also brings negative effects to us．For example, Freon which is used in fridges and air conditions may cause the ozone hole; overuse of appliances may lead to electricity in short supply. What`s more, over-depending on these stuff makes people more lazy and lose many skills and abilities which we had before. Therefore I recommend that in some situation we could control our use of these appliances to reduce the use of electricity and at the meanwhile protect our environment.


There are several things we could do at home to achieve that goal:

-Air dry. Let your hair and clothes dry naturally instead of using a electrical machine.
-Avoid pre-heating the oven. Unless you need a precise baking temperature, start heating your food right when you turn on the oven. 
-Reduce the use of air condition. According to doctors` recommend, keeping staying in a room with air condition could cause many diseases. So using natural ventilation instead would be great.
-Don`t rinse. If you use a dishwasher, stop rinsing your plates before you run the machine.
-Solar energy. If possible, install solar panels in your house which could also reduce your electricity bill.-Keep the light off when you don`t use it.
-Reducing the time wasted on TV, go out and have some fun and communication with your friends instead. It would be wonderful for your health and social circle.

people needs other

Based on my own experience, some electrical appliances provide advantages to our life, but on the other way, some ones make our life more sealed and lazy. Let us use appliances in a more smart and sustainable way, and remember that no matter how powerful the machine is, it can replace the position of other people in our life, which means people are social animals and we can`t live only with machines and without others.

give others a hug

From now on reducing using the electrical machines and give a hug to the nature and others!












Pictures are from:
http://echeapwasheranddryer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/030510whirlpool-vantage-washer-and-dryer-full-shot.jpg
http://www.sghometheatre.ca/images/Televisions_6.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/06/15/article-0-1A46B815000005DC-130_638x739.jpg
http://cdn.tinybuddha.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Hugs1-300x199.jpg
http://www.archstonerecovery.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Hug1.jpg

Would advertisements pollute our daily life?

Would advertisements pollute our daily life?

  There are large amount of advertisements are filled in our daily life, and it is also a kind of pollution called visual pollution. Visual pollution is a kind of an aesthetic issue and refers to the impacts of pollution that impair one's ability to enjoy a vista or view.

We can see from the picture above, the huge advertisement cover the whole wall of the building, we cannot enjoy the beautiful architecture, but only the advertisement. And this kind of pollution distributes the visual areas of people by creating negative changes in the natural environment. Billboards, open storage if trash, space debris, telephone towers, electric wires, buildings and automobiles are forms of visual pollution, and it is defined as the whole of irregular formations, which are mostly found in natural and built environments.

  Although this kind of pollution can not be as equally serious as other kind of pollutions such as air pollution and water pollution. However, this issue also would impact our quality of life, and we should find some method to solve this problem. And I think there are several solutions that could mitigate the situation:

• Policy

  Implementing a policy to regulate the advertisement industry is an effective way to control the issue. Advertisement companies should follow the policy and thus the size and the locations of the ad can be limited, and which in turn may help to solve the pollution.

• Education

  This could be more focus on the environment management, planning and advertising students. Because they design the advertisements, so if they have the sense of protecting visual view, that pollution could be mitigate.

• Management

  This method is similar to the first one, the policy. It also need the cooperation between the government and advertisement companies.

  I think, through those methods above can we mitigate the visual pollution in the future, and this could not be a pollution anymore.

Picture from the following website: https://www.polemicdigital.com/2014/08/advertising-is-cultural-pollution/

Why watering flowers when it is raining?

 Water is an important resource for every life on the earth, and the amount of it is limited. Therefore we need to be more concerned when we use them!

Lack of water

Watering plants 

Nowadays, there is a general phenomenon I found that pulsed sprinklers are usually working in the rain on campus which makes me feel so confused. I cannot figure out why plants need to be watered when it is raining.So I search the internet and try to find the answers. 





I read some introduces about smart irrigation system and I find that overall smart irrigation system consists of sensors, controllers and background monitoring system, valves and systems for water supply solenoid and other common components. And the operating principle is that firstly, the sensor will bring soil temperature and humidity monitoring and information to the driver on the control terminal of the sensor signal from the terminal (as conversion, filtering, amplification) after conversion . By detecting the value of the resulting humidity is less than the preset value, the solenoid valve opens as sprinklers, sprinklers sprinkle in different rotation angles. Similarly, detection of the humidity reaches the set value, the control terminal control solenoid valve is closed irrigation end.

smart irrigation system

This makes me get a better understanding of how the smart irrigation system works, however, it cannot explain why UNSW`s smart irrigation system always works even in the rain. I guess it may be due to some of the sensor probably doesn`t work well and cannot get the right reflect to the terminal. In my opinion I think it is a kind of waste if it keeps watering the plants when it is raining, because it not only wastes the electric energy, but also the water resource.




Pictures from:
http://imgm.photophoto.cn/010/017/014/0170140023.jpg
http://img.shushi100.com/images/b2ffa794-ee1e-4638-93a2-917e1560d455.jpg
http://shunfeng.fanyacdn.com/imglibs/files/shunfeng-water%20resources%20management.jpg

Obesity

Obesity

  Obesity is a medical condition where excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have a negative effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems. In Western society, people are considered obese when their body mass index (BMI), a measurement obtained by dividing a person's weight by the square of the person's height, exceeds 30 kg/m2, with the range 25-30 kg/m2 defined as overweight. On the contrary, some East Asian countries use stricter criteria.

  Obesity may increase the possibility of various other diseases, like heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea, cancer, osteoarthritis, etc. The factors which cause obesity include a combination of excessive food energy intake, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility. However in a few cases, it is also caused primarily by genes, endocrine disorders, medications, or psychiatric. On average, people who have obesity have a greater energy expenditure than thin counterparts because the energy is required to maintain an increased body mass.

  For obese people, dieting and exercising are the main treatments. Diet quality can be improved by reducing the consumption of energy-dense food and by increasing the intake of dietary fiber. With a suitable diet, anti-obesity drugs may be taken to reduce appetite or decrease fat absorption.

  A gastric balloon may also assist with weight loss, or surgery may be performed to reduce stomach volume and/or bowel length, leading to feeling full earlier and a reduced ability to absorb nutrients from food.

  

  In modern society, obesity is considered as one of the most serious public health problems of the 21^st century by authorities. It attracts more and more concern of people in recent years. So there are increasing number of people, especially in western countries, doing exercise to enhance the health of their body and to prevent obesity.

Picture from the following website:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/06/11/global-obesity-epidemic.aspx