Many physician groups are finally moving past the politics (as the kettle boils) and discussing if not outright calling for doctors to explicitly discuss climate change - not just as a public health concern for all of us, but as an actual, tangible problem for a lot of our patients’ health conditions. For example an article in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine:
I'm surprised you don't comment on the health benefits of electrical grounding associated with, for example, walking barefoot on the ground outside. Chinese scientist friend of mine, told me that his grandmother said that Chinese wisdom includes a saying that if you don't walk on the ground everyday you'll be sick. I found out about this when a friend of mine who had a bad case of lupus got off steroids for 2 years by sleeping in a grounded sleeping bag. Since then, I have collected a number of "Natural experiments" that point in the same direction. Actual double blend experiments show that grounding increases capillary blood flow in the extremities. Let me know if you're interested in seeing some of them.
We need to talk about overpopulation. And no, I don't judge people who have kids. I love both my nieces. But I do think we should try to evolve towards a society that doesn't actively pressure people into procreating.
Tea party sounds great. But we love bugs over here since we provide native plants for our native pollinators. So exciting to see bees, flies and butterflies pollinating!
Glad to see this topic covered! I've been posting on Climate Change and the increase range of Arthropod vector diseases into new territories. An example is Alpha-gal Syndrome is even found in Canada. There is a mix of emerging and re-emerging outbreaks associated with this. “The earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth.” Chief Seattle
Also: plants and Cyanobacteria produce the oxygen we breathe and sequester carbon dioxide. Plants also filter out air, water and soil pollutants. Healthy soils with good permeability, texture and organics mitigate flooding and cleanse groundwater. Coastlines with healthy mangroves, swamps or wetlands mitigate flooding and erosion. Deep-rooted native prairie plants sequester carbon dioxide deep into the soil for decades. Pollinators are essential for our crops and many other plants. Insect predators naturally keep insect “pests” in check in our gardens. Opossums eat ticks that can carry Lyme disease, and dragonflies are great at eating mosquitoes. I could go on!
Chemical-environmental engineer here and loving this topic!! This would be a great one to continue occasionally. Thank you for this.
Also a mom to two toddlers (2.5 and 3.5), earth day was spent helping me practice my demonstration for “Bring your child to work day” (4/25) showing methods of oil spill clean up using water, vegetable oil, cocoa powder, and dish soap. The kids loved it, nearly no mess, and yay science lesson!
Great post, with thanks to both you and Andrea for obtaining and putting all this terrific info together! Love the CDC Heat Graph, which I have bookmarked. Kudos to you and the CDC team for creating that.
Thank you for sharing and love it. So one of my favorite sounds is that of wolves howling. Practically eliminates any of my stress. Wolves also have an amazing impact on the environment. Now as a Floridian, I'm going to go enjoy some of that natural Vitamin D this week and listen to some water/tide sounds as well. :)
Thanks for this great review--as a long-time hiker, I'm absolutely in favor of keeping the planet healthy. People of good will could still differ wildly on the appropriate policy steps--electrifying everything is hardly a solution and even if it were, why not nuclear rather than renewables which have their own negative features? However in honor of Earth Day and your excellent post, I'll suspend such thoughts and repeat my thanks.
I worry that, much as I love to learn of this research, associations are sliding into causal assumptions. Green spaces are probably linked to so many co-factors that reflect caring and investment within a community and SES. I applaud the attempts to sort out some of these. Hoping this work spurs a greener environment for everybody, but we have lots more to do (as many of those papers highlight)!
Thank you for this excellent article, reaffirming the well-known health benefits of humans spending time outdoors. UCSF has had an entire department focused on this. (Proud alumna here)
Love this and 💯 agree.
Many physician groups are finally moving past the politics (as the kettle boils) and discussing if not outright calling for doctors to explicitly discuss climate change - not just as a public health concern for all of us, but as an actual, tangible problem for a lot of our patients’ health conditions. For example an article in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine:
https://www.jabfm.org/content/37/1/25
I’ll plan to keep speaking up more about this on Substack too. Thanks for this inspiration you’ve written. 🌎 happy earth day!
And thanks for the Philly green space study :)
I'm surprised you don't comment on the health benefits of electrical grounding associated with, for example, walking barefoot on the ground outside. Chinese scientist friend of mine, told me that his grandmother said that Chinese wisdom includes a saying that if you don't walk on the ground everyday you'll be sick. I found out about this when a friend of mine who had a bad case of lupus got off steroids for 2 years by sleeping in a grounded sleeping bag. Since then, I have collected a number of "Natural experiments" that point in the same direction. Actual double blend experiments show that grounding increases capillary blood flow in the extremities. Let me know if you're interested in seeing some of them.
Regarding environmental sound, R. Murray Schafer's "The Soundscape" is classic examination of the changes in our sound environment over the centuries and how it has affected our minds and bodies. Great read, well researched and sourced. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Soundscape/R-Murray-Schafer/9780892814558
We need to talk about overpopulation. And no, I don't judge people who have kids. I love both my nieces. But I do think we should try to evolve towards a society that doesn't actively pressure people into procreating.
Tea party sounds great. But we love bugs over here since we provide native plants for our native pollinators. So exciting to see bees, flies and butterflies pollinating!
I once got invited to a backyard snail funeral officiated by an 8 year old and a 4 year old.
Glad to see this topic covered! I've been posting on Climate Change and the increase range of Arthropod vector diseases into new territories. An example is Alpha-gal Syndrome is even found in Canada. There is a mix of emerging and re-emerging outbreaks associated with this. “The earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth.” Chief Seattle
Also: plants and Cyanobacteria produce the oxygen we breathe and sequester carbon dioxide. Plants also filter out air, water and soil pollutants. Healthy soils with good permeability, texture and organics mitigate flooding and cleanse groundwater. Coastlines with healthy mangroves, swamps or wetlands mitigate flooding and erosion. Deep-rooted native prairie plants sequester carbon dioxide deep into the soil for decades. Pollinators are essential for our crops and many other plants. Insect predators naturally keep insect “pests” in check in our gardens. Opossums eat ticks that can carry Lyme disease, and dragonflies are great at eating mosquitoes. I could go on!
I ive along the northern Gulf Coast and am interested in mosquito-borne diseases. Dengue etc.
Chemical-environmental engineer here and loving this topic!! This would be a great one to continue occasionally. Thank you for this.
Also a mom to two toddlers (2.5 and 3.5), earth day was spent helping me practice my demonstration for “Bring your child to work day” (4/25) showing methods of oil spill clean up using water, vegetable oil, cocoa powder, and dish soap. The kids loved it, nearly no mess, and yay science lesson!
Great post, with thanks to both you and Andrea for obtaining and putting all this terrific info together! Love the CDC Heat Graph, which I have bookmarked. Kudos to you and the CDC team for creating that.
Thank you for sharing and love it. So one of my favorite sounds is that of wolves howling. Practically eliminates any of my stress. Wolves also have an amazing impact on the environment. Now as a Floridian, I'm going to go enjoy some of that natural Vitamin D this week and listen to some water/tide sounds as well. :)
Thanks for this great review--as a long-time hiker, I'm absolutely in favor of keeping the planet healthy. People of good will could still differ wildly on the appropriate policy steps--electrifying everything is hardly a solution and even if it were, why not nuclear rather than renewables which have their own negative features? However in honor of Earth Day and your excellent post, I'll suspend such thoughts and repeat my thanks.
It's a cruel combination of facts that
1. Face masks are highly effective, abd they're more effective if they're discarded after each use
2. They're a non-trivial contributor to the micro-plastics problem, when widely deployed
Which brings us back to....overpopulation. These two realities could be reconciled if there weren't so damn many of us.
I worry that, much as I love to learn of this research, associations are sliding into causal assumptions. Green spaces are probably linked to so many co-factors that reflect caring and investment within a community and SES. I applaud the attempts to sort out some of these. Hoping this work spurs a greener environment for everybody, but we have lots more to do (as many of those papers highlight)!
Thank you for this excellent article, reaffirming the well-known health benefits of humans spending time outdoors. UCSF has had an entire department focused on this. (Proud alumna here)