Hello friends, As I reflect in this blogpost-letter, I’ve decided that instead of a series of small entries, I’ll share all my thoughts in one big word-vomit-appreciation-post. I’ve decided that my study abroad experience is a lot like learning to dance. Funnily enough, I finally learned to dance to a lot of the music I… Read more »
Final Post
Tipping points. My hope in the fight against climate change
Tipping points have been a major theme in this week’s classes. Starting with our reading of the book Six Degrees by Mark Lynas, and continuing into lecture and discussion. They have been both a major source of worry and hope. There are many environmental tipping points that could spell disaster for mitigation efforts, there is… Read more »
Nature’s Impact on Student Health and Well-Being: Green Spaces on the Indiana University Bloomington Campus
A green space is land which is covered, at least partially, with vegetation such as grass and trees in an environment which is otherwise urbanized. They are often found in the form of parks, gardens, woods, meadows, etc. These spaces serve to incorporate a more natural environment into urban areas and are often used to… Read more »
How the Foraging Patterns of White-tailed Deer Relate to Vehicle Accidents Involving White-tailed Deer
Introduction and Background White-tailed deer are severely abundant in North America. It is estimated that the population of white-tailed deer has increased from 500,000 animals to 20 million animals from 1900 to 1995 (Cook and Daggett, 1995). As the population of white-tailed deer has increased, so have transportation networks and volumes of traffic (Hubbard et… Read more »
Exploring the Indoor Air Quality Index at Indiana University to see the Impact on the Productivity and Well-being of Students
Exploring the Indoor Air Quality Index at Indiana University to see the Impact on the Productivity and Well-being of Students Introduction One of the biggest challenges on Earth faces today is that of air pollution due to the impact it has on the climate and the health and wellness of humans. (Manisalidis 2020). Air… Read more »
Ever-changing Diversity of the Microbiome of the Mouth
Ever-changing Diversity of the Microbiome of the Mouth Hailey Ragan – HUBI-B400 Dr. Micheal Wasserman 13 December 2021 Introduction: As humans, everything in our body works together synchronously to produce energetically favourable functionality, especially microbes. The microbes in our body and on our body work together to form an important organ, or superorganism, that functions as… Read more »
Recycling Availability in Bloomington, IN
Introduction The proper disposal and recycling of certain materials, especially various plastics, is especially important with the growing consumption and everyday use for them. In an article published by IN Context titled “Plastics are Big Business in Indiana,” plastic production has grown by over twenty-two percent from 1996 to 2006, with a continuing demand for… Read more »
Green Thumbs and Blue Moods: The Effect of Indoor Plants on Mental Health
Background It is well established that mental wellbeing plays a crucial role in overall health. This includes not only diagnosable mental illness, but also everyday stress and mood that everyone experiences. The absence of positive mental health – not just the presence of a specific mental illness or symptoms – has been shown to increase… Read more »
Saving the Soil: How Agriculture Effects Soil Biodiversity
Introduction Agriculture is an extremely valuable and common practice around the entire world. Without agriculture, we would not have the convenience of selecting the foods we want or producing said foods at a quantity that is feasible for the current population. Its importance is reflected in the United States 2019 GDP of 1.109 trillion dollars… Read more »
Medical Waste Matters! Have You Littered Your Masks?
Introduction The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the need for both healthcare workers and the general population to rely on personal protective equipment or PPE to protect themselves and others from catching and spreading this Coronavirus. According to Sangkham, the increased rate of PPE use is generating large amounts of medical waste… Read more »
Ongoing Lawsuit Will Determine the Future Quality of Monroe County’s Drinking Water
The Monroe County Board of Commissioners, Monroe County Environmental Commission, Dr. Paul Simcox, the Hoosier Environmental Council, and Indiana Forest Alliance have joined forces in a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service, Hoosier National Forest park supervisor Michael Chaves, and district ranger Michelle Paduani. The U.S. Forest Service developed the Houston South Vegetation Management and… Read more »
Food Insecurity and Loss of Biodiversity: Can Community Gardens Help?
Introduction Moving from California to Bloomington has shown me differing levels of available healthy food options. While Bloomington is unique to the surrounding areas in regards to population and food availability, the greater area of Monroe County had a food insecurity rate of 16.8%, with 24,000 individuals experiencing food insecurity as of 2017 (Gunderson 2019)…. Read more »
Invasive and Noxious Plant Species as Potential Allergens for Young Adults in Monroe County, IN
Introduction Invasive plant species are defined as plant species that are non-native to the ecosystem whose introduction has the ability to cause harm to the environment, economy, or human health. More often than not, invasive plant species will experience interspecific competition with native plant species in an area, lowering the fitness, abundance and diversity of… Read more »
Can Your Dietary Habits Make an Impact?
Background Conversations surrounding the implications of industrial livestock farming are being had, but many of us don’t understand how or why this industry is so harmful to our environment. In the U.S there is an immense demand for animal products, like meat, dairy, eggs, etc. This immense demand is met through factory farming or CAFOs… Read more »
Big Mac Attacks on Health and Environment: Are there enough broccolis and greens to save Indiana Counties?
Background: Fast-food establishments have significantly negative impacts on both human health and the environment. Areas with densely populated fast-food restaurants and limited access to fresh and healthy food have been shown to have populations with lower life expectancy rates. In addition to the impacts on human health, fast-food establishments negatively affect the environment through… Read more »
The Association Between Green Space and Physical Activity On Mental Health
Background Mental well-being encompasses facets of sybaritic well-being and is a critical component of health and quality of life. It is characterized as more than just the absence of mental illness, and it is linked to a variety of positive health outcomes. Mental health benefits individuals social, cognitive, and emotional growth, as well as self-esteem and… Read more »
A Brief Survey of the Individual’s relationship with Food Waste
Background There are critical issues with food waste that we must deal with as a society, but rarely find it discussed in length in most mainstream media. According to the WWF’s “Living Planet Report,” nearly one-third of all food in the world is wasted, and this waste occurs in all sectors of the food supply… Read more »
Is Your Furry Friend Beneficial to Your Health?
Background Dating back to 32,000 years ago, the process of domestication of dogs began in Eurasia from grey wolves and about 10,000 years ago in the Near East domestication of cats began (Amiot, 2016). In the United States, over half of the population owns a dog and/or a cat. Specifically, it has been found that… Read more »
Air Pollution: Is Your Baby at Risk?
Blog Post Semester blog post project where the connection between air pollution and birth defects is explored.
The Road to Environmental Justice: The Impact of Environmental Exposures on Life Expectancies Across SES Communities
Abstract This research explores the pathway of environmental exposures and its potential influence on socioeconomic disparities in health. Exposure to environmental pollutants has been linked to various health conditions including respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurocognitive diseases.[1] Many studies have found that people in lower-income communities are exposed to more concentrations of pollution than people in higher-income… Read more »
Analysis of Pharmaceuticals Found in Freshwater Bodies and Its Environmental Effects
Abstract This research project aimed to investigate how pharmaceutical use and runoff effects a wide variety of organisms, as wells as its effects on the aquatic environment surrounding urbanized lake basins. This project primarily focused on the Great Lakes of North America but placed great emphasis on Lake Michigan’s southern basin. The exploration of how… Read more »
Roadkill: The Next Pandemic
A B S T R A C T Some of the most well-known diseases throughout history are known, or speculated, to have an animal source. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought zoonotic disease spillover to the forefront of research and public interest. Zoonotic diseases can have many avenues of transmission and… Read more »
Microplastics in freshwater systems: Are microplastics in Bloomington, IN waterways?
Introduction Since World War II, plastics have been manufactured at an exponential rate and have surpassed most other man-made materials (Geyer 2017). This rate can be attributed to plastic’s ability to be very durable and stable (Rhodes 2018). While this may seem like an advantage in application, it negatively impacts the environment because of its… Read more »
Anthropogenic activity and climate change: the never-ending cycle that impacts the prevalence and risk of future skin cancer diagnosis in Bloomington, Indiana
Final Blog Entry HUBI-B 400
The Correlation Between Exposure to Air Pollution and Covid-19
Background: Air pollution has been an increasing problem within the last century and continues to negatively affect the environment and human health every day. This increase in air pollution is caused by the uprising of energy use and production, especially from the combustion of fossil fuels via power plants and vehicle emissions. This causes harmful… Read more »
Feeling stressed about schoolwork? Spend some time in the beautiful green spaces on IUB’s Campus!
Introduction One reason many prospective students are drawn to attend Indiana University is for the beautiful, green scenery that is iconic of the campus. The campus covers 3,674 acres, one of the largest campus areas in the Big Ten.1 This large area is covered with many green spaces and beautiful scenery, like the Jordan… Read more »
The Pandemic of Medical Waste
Take a look into what the COVID-19 Pandemic has done in regard to environmental damage. The study consists of responses from five universities across the United States and including a large corporation from Bloomington, Indiana with the context of facial covering choice. As time passes, we are faced with consequences as a result of our… Read more »
From Pipes to Chemicals: The Impact of Modern Water Systems on Human Health and the Environment
From Pipes to Chemicals: The Impact of Modern Water Systems on Human Health and the Environment Water (H2O) is one of the most abundant molecules that covers Earth’s surface. It is an essential molecule in many organisms including humans. It is used for maintaining homeostasis, cellular processes, and metabolic functions. Without giving it much thought,… Read more »
The Correlation Between Air Pollution and Health Effects on Adults and Children
The Correlation Between Air Pollution and Health Effects on Adults and Children Summary Air pollution is an exceeding problem in our country and many other countries worldwide. It has caused economic hardship, taken many people’s lives, degraded our oceans, and ultimately changed our planet’s physicality. Specifically, over the last hundred years, it has been scientifically… Read more »
Exploring the Vulnerability of College Students Mental Health During COVID-19
Introduction For HUBI-B400 Ecohealth in the Anthropocene, we were assigned to produce a semester long research project studying the topic of our choice. My original plan was to research the origin of the pandemic and find out if people’s perceptions of bats had changed since the speculation of a bat having started the pandemic was… Read more »