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Ronny Zegarra: Urban reforestation for climate change - side effects

RonnyZP

I am an environmental engineer with a profound interest on providing urban sustainability through the use of biotechnology. I currently research about air pollution in public health and its environmental factors related. My interest is focused on how to adopt greenery as air pollution mitigation strategy in developing cities of south America.
While making this briefly research about NOLA, I observed how air pollution has been historically related to a environmental injustice issue. An example of this is a 1960s study documenting asthma incidence among black communities due its near location to dumps, where subterranean burning happened commonly. This depicts the “southern pattern” in New Orleans, where African American were forced to reside in undesired areas subjected to frequent flooding, unhealthy air and noise levels, as well as unsanitary water and sewerage conditions. Morse (2008) describes Katrina as a turn point, where America’s attention on the enduring legacy of racial segregation and poverty were refocused. Local government remarked the necessity of green restoration in flooding areas, where most of segregated population lived in. Communities and foundations are also working together to sustain the urban landscape mainly for flood control. Therefore, I got interest on know how urban reforestation in NOLA was adopted as a tool for climate change adaptation but also in knowing how it acts as a pathway to reach environmental justice.

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harrison.leinweber

Outside of this class and STS 6834 at Virgina Tech, it was difficult to find other places where this article was referenced. Because the article was published as part of a collection of articles related to this same topic, I assume that those who purchase the book for educational and research purposes read and discus the article at some length.

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harrison.leinweber

The citations ranged widely. Many of the citations at the beginning of the article seemed to not be related to treatment as much as they were to social issues. There were also several articles that the authors referenced that the authors had written previously. Finally, there were also articles relating to treatment and statistics based on different treatment strategies on micro- and macro-scales. These citations show that the authors may have a decent support in social reform. I'm not sure how common it is to cite your own works as fact in academia, so I will withhold comment on that.

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harrison.leinweber

"...responses to the problem of health and security are still taking shape" (p. 28)

" But in recent decades ... there has been an alarming shift in the 'elicate balance between humans and microbes.” (p. 7)

"The current concern with new microbial threats has developed in ... distinct domains: emerging infectious disease; bioterrorism; the cutting-edge life sciences; and food safety." (p. 9)

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harrison.leinweber

MSF finds it difficult to secure funding, as they rely on private donations that may not be steady as the economy changes. They also are challenged by finding qualified staff to provide medical care. Finally, they struggle with keeping their staff safe in hostile conditions.

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harrison.leinweber

This report doesn't have a great deal of impact with technical professionals. This report is much more geared toward those in the government in Colombia and actors in the international community. The report touches on the fact that hospitals and clinics are obligated to provide all persons with emergency care, but doesn't address emergency medicine more than that.

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harrison.leinweber

This article discussses why Haiti can't "build back better" after the series of disasters that have come its way. The article mentions that Haiti has become reliant upon international contractors as aid when building back because of local and international distrust of the government. This combined with the fact that many public health experts think that the UN is responsible for the cholera outbreak has caused fewer donations, and those donations that are recieved to be used less efficiently.

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harrison.leinweber
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In response to

The data is presented much like on Twitter or Facebook with a timeline showing the most recent information first with a small exerpt of the article and the ability to click on a "read more" button to view the article in full.

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harrison.leinweber

I followed up on the FMD in the 1990s in Europe and how they followed up on the side of industrial meat production. I also followed up and did more research on what the term "biosecurity" actually means. Finally, I visited the website for the Center for Strategic and International Studies to figure out what they were all about.