Environmental Health
From Colleen:
It is important that the University provides a healthy setting for both students and staff. Some of these health issues include: air quality, nutrition, and water resources. Fortunately, we go to school in the healthiest state in the US. We still have room to improve, but we must also be a leader in paving the way for University Health across the nation.
What are your thoughts on how the environment affects human health? What issues do you see on campus or particularly in Vermont? Are there any changes you would like to see, if not what are the healthy environmental aspects of living in Vermont?
posted by UVM Eco-Reps Program Coordinator @ 11:31 AM
10 Comments:
The environmental health issues that I see have to do with indoor quality and just psychological impacts of bad architectural design.
Indoor quality- a lot of classrooms in retro-modern buildings like Rowell and Bailey-Howe Library have artificial ventilation with few windows. While I do not know the exact data of indoor air quality of the buildings on the campus, I believe that much of the air we breathe in the buildings are not fresh air. This may be especially true in laboratories.
Psychological Effects- A lot of buildings have few windows but much more artificial lighting and ventilation. People who do not get a visual experience of the outdoors tend to be more stressed, which results in mental and physical illnesses.
I think what UVM and Vermont can do is to encourage employees, staff and faculty to take time during lunch time to get outside. They can provide tax benefits for people who get involved in outdoor programs as a way to reduce health care needs, which is good for UVM and Vermont.
-Daniel
Health issues that seem most prevalent to me have mostly to do with student behavior. People smoking right outside the doorways to buildings are creating second-hand smoke that anyone who wants to enter the building could be potentionally breathing. Also, most people who smoke seem to not understand the proper disposal of cigarette butts. The University should also try to install more ashtrays in places where people smoke, but mostly students need to start using their noggins...
I think another big environmental health issue has to do with how people eat. ORdering pizza (often times arriving in cars, or trucks, that are left on probably most of the time the delivery person is working) and eating massive amounts of junk food that usually comes individually packaged. Also soda is pretty bad, as we all know. It is important to not only about the bad health habits and consequences that can be derived from eating too much junk food but, more importantly, how wasteful it is. Eating food that comes packaged the way Oreos or other "snack foods" do is totally unnaturalt and inconsistent with human nature. Often times you are eating semi harmful chemicals , and I don't think it is plausible to believe that our Mother can possibly sustain the amount of waste the prepackaged food industry creates. Remember the age old wisdom, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away."
-Will
The environment definitely has a direct impact on human health. Since I have been a student at UVM I have been much more conscious about physical activity. I think this is in part to the environment that I'm in. A lot of people here ski, bike, hike, climb, play sports, etc. and seeing others do these things has definitely influenced the type of physical activity I do. I have become a much better skier and I have gotten involved in Outing Club trips which have exposed me to lots of different physical activities. Its great to live in Vermont because there is an active, healthy lifestyle here that is supported by our local landscape. Its great to be so close to so many beautiful areas that are conducive to physical activity!
-Liz B.
I think that while we go to school in the healthiest state in the country, we also go to school in a state with weather that can frequently be difficult to be outside in. This combined with the foods many people eat and the fact that many people in this state have to drive to get places creates an unhealthy population. I think that two main changes need to happen: more time outside and better foods. People need to realize (as I have especially this year) that you can have fun outside in just about any weather. They also need to realize that healthy foods and tasty foods are one in the same. These two things will help get Vermonters and every one else in the country healthier!
Steph
I agree with everyone else- thankfully Vermont is the healthiest state, but there are still environmental health issues abound. As Will mentioned there is certainly a connection between the environment and our health as related to food production/ consumption. When people make healthier food choices- like choosing to eat organic vegetables for example they are generally farmed sustainably which is better for the environment. Also, the more local the food, the freshier it is and more healthy it is.
I feel like Vermont as a whole is doing well at having farmer's markets, but that we as students need to be more conscious of eating healthier, and by extension taking care of the environment.
-Arielle
Will hit the nail on the Head with his point about food habits for many UVM students. It is unfortunate, but hundreds of students order Leonardo's several times a week as their meal or to serve at a party. While I understand these pizzas can be very tasty and it's great that it's a local food business, the consumer is not realizing the amount of CO2 that is sent into the atmosphere with all the delivery cars zooming around.
Another important environmental health issue is certainly air quality. Burlington has great air, but in the winter residents keep their windows closed and breath in all sorts of dust and impurities, especially in Slade Hall, where there is no ventilation systems for air flow. I feel like new technologies could be implemented to have purer air inside buildings.
Best, Colin
The environment plays a huge impact on our health. The quality of our environment directly correlates to our own health. Air and water quality are the most noticeable in our daily lives. I would honestly like to see less smoking. There are some serious environmental students at UVM however they smoke. Smoking affects the air quality and all of us. It is also a large source of pollution at UVM.
Erin
The environment definitely affects human health and there are a lot of positive and negative ways in which our actions affect our both our own health and the health of the environment. Vermont has tons of smokers and although there may be cigarette disposals right next to them, they still choose to throw their butts on the ground; the Amphitheater litter is absolutely disgusting. It is also really easy to eat unhealthy when you live in college. When you buy each meal individually, you tend to eat more junk, and its hard to stock up on fruits and veggies in your fridge. Luckily though, there are a lot of people here who do eat healthy. Also, a great deal of the student population is very active and chooses to participate in a lot of outdoor adventures, which definitely helps to improve health and environmental respect.
The environment and health are strictly entangled and there is no way to separate one from the other. The leading killer among children around the world is contaminated water. This alone highlights the importance that the environment has on our health. If you cannot respect the environment, you are not respecting yourself. On campus the biggest health issues I see are people wasting water and smoking. Water is a limited resource those who waste it are taking water away from people around the world who may be dying of thirst. We are lucky to have such clean water that we can drink out of the shower (if we wanted to) without getting sick. It is sad to see so much of this water water wasted. I truly believe that the next world war will be fought over water. I also see people smoking a lot which is bad for both one's health and the environment. It is extra pollutants and it contaminates and kills living organisms when it gets into the water system. It is also really bad for the soil and really bad for people's lungs. I think generally Vermont is much healthier than the rest of the United States. However, there is always room for improvement. This area in Vermont makes it very easy to buy local, eat vegetarian and has a pretty clean atmosphere because of the environmentally cautious residents. I think it would be great if the food in the dining halls were less processed and more local. This is asking a lot but it would make a huge difference in the environmental impact that UVM has on shipping products such as cheese from Wisconsin. We live in a dairy state!!! I do not understand why the cheese comes from Wisconsin. I think that it would at leats be good to buy local with the food that we have easy access to such as dairy.
Emily Lubell
Most human health issues are related to environmental issues. Personally, I see plastic water bottles a huge issue on campus because not only does it negatively impact the environment in various ways, but the toxic chemicals are extremely unhealthy to the human body. With all the information and warnings available to the general public regarding the health effects of cigarettes, one would think students would smarten up and discontinue smoking. I see students smoking outside of classrooms and their res. halls constantly. I think overall students do a good job in the disposal of their cigarettes but it is still one more unnecessary thing filling up our landfills. Although there would be major controversy, I would not at all be against UVM turning “cigarette free.” It would not only lessen the negative health impacts to smokers AND non-smokers, but it would be apart of UVM’s one more step in becoming “green.”
Another major problem with the health of college students, is their choice of what they eat. The dining hall services could also be blamed for this as they are ones who give students their options. I see students consume dominoes at 3 am because the college allows Dominos to take student points. The college could do a number of things to solve the issues by giving students the options of buying and cooking their own food or even making a deal with Ali Baba’s to promote more vegetarian options for delivery food.
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