bookmark_borderIonization And Anions

Negative ions are called anions. Negative ions are odorless, tasteless, and invisible molecules that we inhale in abundance in certain environments — in a shower or after a thunderstorm. When you breath them in, your mood is boosted and your pain reduced.

In the Park After a Rainstorm
In the Park After a Rainstorm

After The Rain Ionization Song

bookmark_borderClimate Change And Wellness

The AGU Science Policy Conference released this statement on global warming:

When climate change affects what we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink, the consequences can be deadly. Changes in climate also affect weather conditions, causing illnesses related to heat and incidents connected to severe weather events. The EPA even says that the spread of climate-sensitive diseases, such as a new strain of West Nile virus that emerged in 2002, depends partly on climate factors. In response, government and health officials must monitor climate change and implement policies for adapting to change while also mitigating risk.

bookmark_borderDangers to Children: Sun, Bugs and Breathing

Dangerous Air Quality Due to Ozone Levels
Dangerous Air Quality Due to Ozone Levels

What are three of the most dangerous natural threats to children? Exposure to the sun, mosquitoes (West Nile Virus), ticks (Lime Disease) and breathing. However, reducing your risk to these can create health risks as well. Too much sunscreen may prevent the body from producing vitamin D. The chemicals in insect repellent can pose a slew of long term health risks.

Obviously, not breathing results in death.  For instance, the day this article was in Philadelphia the government issued an “Action Day” where they advise active children not to breath outside.

Learn More About the Dangers of the Sun, Mosquitoes and Breathing
Philadelphia’s Air Quality

 

bookmark_borderHealth And Climate Change

Learn more about global warming.

by MedlinePlus Trusted Health — Information for You A service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine from the National Institutes of HealthNational Institutes of Health

Weather can be hot or cold, dry or wet, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Climate is the average weather in a place over a long period of time. Changes in climate may be due to natural forces or from human activities. Today climate changes are happening at an increasingly rapid rate.

Climate change is altering weather and climate patterns that previously have been relatively stable. Climate experts think that climate change will bring increasingly frequent and severe heat waves and extreme weather events, as well as a rise in sea levels. These changes have the potential to affect human health in direct and indirect ways.

* Climate change affects the social and environmental determinants of health – clean air, safe drinking water, sufficient food and secure shelter.
* Global warming that has occurred since the 1970s caused over 140 000 excess deaths annually by the year 2004.
* The direct damage costs to health (i.e. excluding costs in health-determining sectors such as agriculture and water and sanitation), is estimated to be between US$ 2-4 billion/year by 2030.
* Many of the major killers such as diarrhoeal diseases, malnutrition, malaria and dengue are highly climate-sensitive and are expected to worsen as the climate changes.
* Areas with weak health infrastructure – mostly in developing countries – will be the least able to cope without assistance to prepare and respond.
* Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases through better transport, food and energy-use choices can result in improved health.