Environtmental and Global Health

Archive for the ‘Global’ Category

The ozone-related problems are present regularly in the media and received numerous reports that for many people it can be contradictory. Thus, in recent years, we read information how are you two that we have collected in the summer of 2000.

“They fire warning levels. During the summer, in the Community of Madrid, have exceeded the levels ‘desirable’ ozone on numerous occasions, according to officials of the Ministry of Environment. Municipalities hardest hit are those in Henares Corridor, where there have been maximum of 241 micrograms per cubic meter of air. ”

“European scientists have launched the alarm to the drastic reduction of the ozone layer in the Arctic Circle. Recent studies show that this winter was lost up to 60% of the thickness of this layer that protects living things from sun’s harmful rays, ultraviolet radiation.” Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever shop at Pulse Uniform? If you are haven’t and not familiar with this place, then it probably because they are online shop that specialize in medical, nursing and healthcare appliance and uniforms. At Pulse Uniform website, you will find scrubs collection that varied from it’s colors, prices and size. Cotton print scrubs is one of Pulse Uniform bestseller collection, they are stylish and great for casual use.

Easy shopping is the whole thee of this online shop, and every single product from this online store has comparable price to other store. Free services also the reason why Pulse Uniform is popular among medical and nursing students, they give free service for school logo setup and free shipping for every bulk orders. Every year, Pulse Uniform held 70% off clearance sale on different items, but mostly on medical and nursing uniform like scrubs or lab coat.

Medical or nursing institution who are looking for scrubs and lab coat supplier should make some contacts to Pulse Uniform customer service, because for customer who make bulk orders, they can have countless advantages that include free shipping, free service and discounted price. Customer service of Pulse Uniform is available for 2 hours a day; they will assist every client who needs information about price, material or measurement of medical uniforms. Be a smart shopper by shopping at Pulse Uniform, good quality medical and nursing uniform with affordable prices.

There are two ways to obtain the ozone in the industry. The most common method is to pass air through glass tubes with metallic surfaces arranged concentrically (ozonators) including shock is blown high potential difference (about 15 kV) and high frequency (50 Hz ) acting on the molecules of dioxygen (O2) causing the formation of ozone (trioxygen). Later ozone can be separated by fractional distillation. In this way we get ozone mixed with air in concentrations of about 2%.

Another method of production, at lower concentrations, air is irradiated with ultraviolet light. Ozone is also obtained as a byproduct of the distillation of water. Read the rest of this entry »

Ozone is a triatomic molecule composed of atoms of oxygen. A standard temperature and pressure (25 ° C and 1 atm) is in a gaseous state and has a pale blue, one of the most toxic inorganic compounds that exist in nature. This is found in small concentrations in the atmosphere (the famous ozone layer), but when in the lower atmosphere, causes harm to the lungs. On the other hand, when in the upper parts of the atmosphere serves to protect the ecosystem by preventing the radiation of ultraviolet rays.

Ozone is a gaseous substance. Van Marum in 1781 predicted their existence when he noticed the smell of the air traversed by electric shock, but was not discovered until 1839 by Christian Schönbein that gave the name of ozone. Read the rest of this entry »

The effect of ozone depletion on the Earth’s surface is the increased levels of ultraviolet-B radiation. This type of UV-B radiation is harmful to humans, animals and plants. The increases in UV-B radiation have been observed not only under the ozone hole in Antarctica but in other places like the Alps (Europe) and Canada (North America).

1. Effects on human health.

1.1 Skin cancer.

Today it is estimated that skin cancer rates increased due to stratospheric ozone depletion. The most common type of skin cancer, the so-called non-melanoma, is due to exposure to UV-B radiation for several years.

There are already people who have received the dose of UV-B can cause this type of cancer. It is estimated that between 1979 and 1993 this type of UV-B dose was increased by 8.9 percent in the 55 ° north latitude (approximately the height of Copenhagen and Moscow), 11.1 percent to 45 ° N (Venice and Montreal) and 9.8 percent at 35 ° north latitude (Cyprus, Tokyo and Memphis). The average between 55 ° and 35 ° north latitude was 10 percent and estimated that the increases were greater in the southern hemisphere. Read the rest of this entry »

Between 19 and 23 kilometers above the earth’s surface in the stratosphere, a thin coat of gas, the ozone layer, surrounds and protects Earth from harmful sun rays. Ozone is produced by the effect of sunlight on oxygen and is the only substance in the atmosphere that can absorb the harmful ultraviolet radiation (UV-B) from the sun. This thin coat makes life possible on earth.

Since 1974, scientists have warned about a potential global crisis as a result of the progressive destruction of the ozone layer caused by chemical substances made by man, such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). It took the world too long to understand these early warnings. Read the rest of this entry »

Differentiate green bricks for the materials they are constructed and there are several proposals (in line or already in progress) of bricks with different components:

Coal ash: This was an idea of a civil engineer, Henry Liu, in 1999, with a double environmental benefit. With this material the bricks are obtained at 212 degrees in 10 hours and take advantage of 45 million tons of the waste generated by coal power plants. Read the rest of this entry »

The green bricks are another alternative to have a less polluted and more sustainable use of resources, without sacrificing quality.

What are the green brick?

The green bricks are brick built with materials that do not degrade the environment, and the manufacture is also friendly with this, compared to normal bricks and materials whose manufacture is not as innocuous.

The green bricks have qualities similar to those traditionally used for building houses. Therefore, its use does not result in loss of quality because, like most organic products, are more evidence that traditional viability. The bio is in no way conflict with a comfortable house, nice and safe. Read the rest of this entry »

Activities reducing emissions from greenhouse gases-GHG-, usually known as mitigation, these cover a range of measures, policies and technologies implemented in the different sectors of the economy and human activity in general, resulting in a fewer tons of GHG released into the atmosphere, either by reducing the increase in emissions or increasing terrestrial carbon storage as a result of the implementation of mitigation actions.

Currently there are a variety of activities to reduce GHG emissions applying to sectors such as energy, transportation, waste, agriculture, forestry and industry, which are linked to the development of international and national policies on climate change. Mitigation activities incorporate technological changes in production systems, efficient use of raw materials and fuels, fuel switching, avoiding GHG emissions from different sources, and the expansion, protection and conservation of forest ecosystems. Additional mitigation measures are conceived as complementary to the objectives of a country’s development, which can strengthen social programs, economic and environmental.

Below are the mitigation options proposed by the sectoral level Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-IPCC-:

Energy efficiency improvements to the transport sector,
industry and energy supply.
Replacement fuels in the transport sector and
as use of alternative energy.
Expansion of forest management and protection to existing ones.
Bioenergy production from agricultural residues and new crops.
Husbandry associated with higher quality pasture
nutrition and cultivation of trees.
Waste management associated with the recovery of methane,
and recycling.
Some of the above activities can be geared to the market in certificates of emission reduction (CER’s) under the Clean Development Mechanism-CDM, the Kyoto Protocol, which allows the participation of the Annex I of the Framework Convention United Nations Climate Change to meet their emission reduction targets (for the first commitment period covering the period 2008 – 2012) with the participation of an Annex I country that has no emissions reduction commitments, such as the case of Colombia. These CER, s offset the emission reduction commitments made by Annex 1 countries and the country supplier of CERs, s will benefit from technology transfer, and implementation of practices that contribute to sustainable development.

To make projects under the CDM is a need for methodologies approved by the executive board of the mechanism for formulation, estimation of the amount of emission reductions generated by the project, assessment of environmental impacts, and consultation different actors and / or stakeholders. Just as the offeror’s national approval and have the validation and monitoring of an independent audit process that concludes with the issue of emissions reduction certificates CERs.

One of the pillars upon which modern science was built, starting in the second half of the sixteenth century, based on which attempted to show its superiority over other systems of knowledge of the world, was its high predictability, but this is not equal for biotechnology.

One of the pillars upon which modern science was built, starting in the second half of the sixteenth century, based on which attempted to show its superiority over other systems of knowledge of the world, was its high predictability.

Traditionally believed that science is the activity that has unquestioned ability to predict events in the various fields or levels of study. The basis of this thesis is to a large extent, the ontological reductionist conceptions important role played in modern philosophy.

According to this thesis, among others nominated by René Descartes (1596-1650), all bodies in the universe are composed of essential parts, the sum of which determines the properties of everything that these parts are homogeneous, independent of each other, that the effects produced are always preceded by the cause and effect of each one of them is a cause, only one, which is constant while conditions remain unchanged.

These theses have always had great acceptance among circles of scientists, philosophers, politicians and civil society, and classical mechanics is the paradigmatic example of corroboration of the validity of those theses, and with them, high predictive ability of the science. Classical mechanics deals with very simple systems, whose behavior can be predicted with great precision, such as the motion of a planet around the sun or of a billiard ball on the cloth. The variables involved in these systems are very few and can be managed comfortably.

But with the development of life sciences has shown that science can not always be predictive showing in classical mechanics. In living systems the quantity and quality of the variables are numerous and therefore so are the interactions between the constituent parts of these systems.

To complicate matters further, the constant interaction of each and every one of those variables with the external environment makes the ability to predict their behavior is restricted to simple aspects of their operation, but at the time they are integrated the cluster of interactions and relationships between the other parties of these with the whole and of all the parties, such predictive ability is greatly reduced.

This is found routinely in studies of ecology and evolutionary processes in which it is not possible to have a preview of what will happen to a living system, much less when it comes to long-term processes.

Although this has been shown every day, advocates of GM food production will have insisted on living systems implement a methodology for the classical mechanics, uncritically acting in response to complaints by opponents of the development of organisms genetically modified.

Thus, it is intended that if there are harmful effects of GMOs to human health or ecosystems in the short term, or are not “statistically significant”, it concludes that you can continue manufacturing and marketing. Escapes consider that genes may have cached information for generations and generations, and then you get to express, through combinations of genes are impossible to predict. Overlooked that there is always a unitary relationship of cause and effect relationship between a gene and its protein product, but a single gene can produce, in ways not fully understood, many features, or parts of them (known as ” pleiotropy “) or sometimes certain features can only be expressed if there is a specific combination of genes.

It further argues that in any case there is no completely safe technology and that, therefore, biotechnology can not be considered particularly dangerous.