HESO 449: Ecohealth SDS

Attention everyone interested in preventative health care, diet & nutrition, type 2 diabetes, community health, and getting healthier in the new year.
“My Big Fat Diet” will air this weekend on CBC:
Saturday January 8 at 10 pm ET/PT & Sunday January 9 at 8 pm ET on CBC News Network

Here is a very powerful documentary which I have actually seen at its premier with the actors as well as the leading scientists featured in the film.
http://endoftheline.com/

The documentary focuses heavily on the unsustainable practices of fishing industries as well as the weak resolve of global policies in preventing the tragedy from continuing to happen.

from Aireen:

HISTORY DEPARTMENT COLLOQUIUM SERIES
Term 2 Speakers — 2010-11
D i s a s t e r s a n d D i a s p o r a s :
Entangled Histories of Empire and Environment
Please contact Neil Safier at neil.safier@ubc.ca to be added to the mailing list, or if you have any questions about this series.
* T h u r s d a y , J a n u a r y 1 3 , 1 2 : 3 0 p m *
Tina Loo, UBC
“Moved by the State: Place, Mobility, and the Good Life in Postwar Canada”
History Department Seminar Room (11th floor–Room 1197)
* T u e s d a y , J a n u a r y 2 5 , 1 2 : 3 0 p m *
Simon Werrett, University of Washington
“Recycling: A Cultural History”
History Department Seminar Room (11th floor–Room 1197)
* T u e s d a y , F e b r u a r y 1 , 1 2 : 3 0 p m *
Douglas Northrop, University of Michigan
“Five Days that Shook the World: Earthquakes and Empire on the Eurasian Frontier”
History Department Seminar Room (11th floor–Room 1197)
* T h u r s d a y , F e b r u a r y 1 0 , 1 2 : 3 0 p m *
Deborah Coen, Barnard College
“Faultlines and Borderlands: Earthquake Observers in Late Imperial Austria”
Sponsored by the Science and Society Program and Department of History
History Department Seminar Room (11th floor–Room 1197)
* T h u r s d a y , F e b r u a r y 2 4 , 1 2 : 3 0 p m *
Eagle Glassheim, UBC
“Heimat’s Long Shadow: Human and Natural Ecologies of the Czechoslovak Borderlands”
History Department Seminar Room (11th floor–Room 1197)
* T u e s d a y , M a r c h 1 5 , 1 2 : 3 0 p m *
Tom Griffiths, Australian National University
“Making sense of the 2009 Australian bushfires: A historical perspective”
History Department Seminar Room (11th floor–Room 1197)
* M o n d a y , A p r i l 4 , 1 2 : 3 0 p m *
John McNeill, Georgetown University
“Some Thoughts on Mosquitoes and Empires”
History Department Seminar Room (11th floor–Room 1197)
* Professor McNeill will also give a public lecture downtown with additional support from
SFU History and Latin American Studies. Date/Time TBA. *

This is a cool youtube video. Not entirely Ecohealth related, but it’s an interesting look on some current global stats… You might have seen it already, but it’s pretty eye-opening!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzEyF1ogEtU

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2011/jan/19/vegetarian-animal-cruelty-meat

Following up on our discussion of Animal Food Production in class yesterday, I stumbled onto this lovely little article on mending the ways of productionist animal slaughterhouses by (get this) eating meat. It’s quite a different argument than the usual vegetarian protest argument and definitely worth a read. Actually, I find that the author’s argument fits along nicely with our $2/$5 egg debate – on making informed choice purchases when it comes to our food.

So here are a few thoughts that came across my mind while reading this: What constitutes ‘free range’/’organic’ farming? I’ve never seen any meat packaged locally or from ‘free-range’ farming – how can I tell what to get in the supermarket if I want to make an informed decision on meat?

My biggest question of all concerns vegetarianism/veganism and the reasons in which people choose such diets. Some people choose not to eat meat in protest of animal cruelty, some do it for ‘health’ reasons, etc. Either way, we’re making a radical choice about our own diets – whether this is effective enough to stimulate change in the current food system is debatable. Maybe the author is right – maybe it is better to actually eat meat from smaller farms. Maybe not.

Thoughts? Discussion? Arguments?

This is a cool video with some eye opening facts from the National Geographic Magazine and it takes about 3 min to watch so checked it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc4HxPxNrZ0&feature=share

END:CIV: Resist or Die screening with Franklin Lopez, Vancouver, B.C.
When:Friday, January 28 2011 @ 08:00 PM – – 10:00PM
Contact:http://endciv.com/
Where:Purple Thistle
260-975 Vernon Drive
Vancouver, B.C.
Description:The acclaimed film END:CIV: Resist or Die, recently released on a PM Press DVD, is currently touring throughout North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. This screening will also feature a talk by director Franklin Lopez. Follow the link below for more information on the film, including a streaming clip. While attending this event, please stop by the PM table to peruse books by authors included in the film and a selection of our other DVDs.
Our planet is in crisis. Every ecosystem is collapsing. Another 120 species will go extinct today. And the carbon level keeps rising. For years, Derrick Jensen (author of the recently published Resistance Against Empire and Mischief in the Forest–click here for more info) has asked his audiences, “Do you think this culture will undergo a voluntary transformation to a sane and sustainable way of life?” No one ever says yes. In END:CIV, based partly on the premises of Jensen’s Endgame, explores Jensen’s work and exposes the accelerating ecological and social disaster that is industrial civilization—and the environmental movement’s refusal to face the scale of the crisis. Through interviews with Jensen and other radical activists, END:CIV makes the case that industrial civilization is incompatible with life. Technology can’t fix it, and shopping—no matter how green—won’t stop it. To save this planet, we need a serious resistance movement that can bring down the industrial economy. END: CIV is, finally, a call to act as if we truly love this planet.
END:CIV features interviews with Paul Watson, Waziyatawin, Gord Hill (author of500 Years of Indigenous Resistance, Michael Becker, Peter Gelderloos, Lierre Keith (author of The Vegetarian Myth), James Howard Kunstler, Stephanie McMillan, Qwatsinas, Rod Coronado, John Zerzan, Steven Best, Aric McBay, George Poitras, Shusli, Zoe Blunt, Dru Oja Jay, Maya Rolbin-Ghanie, Shannon Walsh, Macdonald Stainsby, and Mike Mercredi.

Potential ideas for future sustainable biofuels! There are these enzymes in a cow’s rumen that apparently break down plant matter really well, and it’s inspiring scientists to somehow apply this to future biofuels. Who knew the answer to alternative energy sources may lie in the rumen of a cow?

Cow Rumen Enzymes for Better Biofuels: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110127141705.htm

Update on the recent Amazon droughts from BBC News:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12356835

It’s terrifying to think how such a large carbon sink could potentially become a large source of CO2 Gas Emissions. Rivers have dried out and local communities have most definitely suffered.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tAqCCqH29U&feature=player_embedded

Here is the promo video for the first ever Global Health Essay Competition held at UBC along with the Global Health Symposium that will be held on March 22nd. More info coming soon! Check it out!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/9338646.stm

A video I came across on the bbc – it’s about genetically modified ‘enviro-pigs’ that apparently have been infused with the DNA of E. Coli and mice to be able to digest phosphates in their diets, which would otherwise come out in fecal matter and toxic gases that help cause air pollution. It’s quite controversial, as these pigs are the first GM animals of its kind.

So here’s my question to you all:

To what extent can we ‘play God’ to solve the world’s food security and global warming problems? Is this enviro-pig something that you see as a step forward in lowering toxic gas emissions or being detrimental to both the environment and human health? How much of an effect are we having on the environment and our health by genetically modifying plants and animals?

Food for thought.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12354346

Here’s a photo journalist’s account of his time spent with the sea nomadic Baja Laut indigenous people in the Coral Triangle (near Indonesia). The journalist explains the account of the shift in these people’s lives as they were moved into stationary constructed communities by national governments in the Coral Triangle. Unsustainable fishing practices were adapted by the community (much like the dynamite fishing in Mnazi Bay) resulting in environmental degradation and increasing problems in human health.

Definitely an Ecohealth issue worth checking out.

THINK.SPEAK.INSPIRE. Global Health Essay Competition & Symposium:

Friends of Médecins Sans Frontières, UBC and Global Outreach Students’ Association (GOSA) are holding a Global Health Essay Competition and Symposium entitled Think.Speak.Inspire. This is a great opportunity to engage in global health issues dialogue from an economical to a medical perspective. There are three categories for you to showcase your interest, opinion and creativity. Great prizes include an invitation to present at the Global Health Symposium held on March 22, 2011 and a chance to be published!

The deadline for submission is Tuesday March 1.

Mark your calendars for both dates!

For more information please visit our…

blog:
http://friendsofmsf.wordpress.com/thinkspeakinspire/

or facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=190867044264544

Event Promo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiI6ySs4bIY

interesting pieces of info on coral reefs…I didn’t know that 95% of the reefs in SE Asia are on the threatened list

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12530439

I found this link about India and it is abit long! The speaker addresses general environmental related issues in India. It is very interesting and relevant to our course!

It is called Developing with Sustainability.
http://www.uctv.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=12847