10 Ways To Improve Indoor Air Quality

Indoor air pollution is considered as one of the top environmental risks to public health worldwide due to increasing number of building-related illnesses. Studies have found that concentration of indoor pollutants is significantly higher indoors than they are in outdoor environment, which is two to five times and sometimes hundred times higher than outdoor levels. As most of the people spend 80% to 90% of their lives indoor, indoor air quality has significant implication on sustainability. Impact of Poor Indoor Air Quality Decreased indoor air quality can affect quality of life of the building occupant, increase health risks and increase … Continue reading

تأثير البيئة الطبيعية على صحتك العقلية

يقضي الكثير منا أيام العمل في الداخل تحت ضوء الفلورسنت مع اتصالٍ ضعيف أو معدوم بالعالم الطبيعي. لطيف كما يبدو للحصول على بعض الهواء النقي أو المشي بعد العمل، ولكن التفكير في الأمر قد يكون مرهقاً، خاصة عندما الأريكة تدعوك إلى المنزل بعد يوم طويل. لكن قضاء معظم الوقت في الداخل ليس جيداً لصحتك، وقد كشفت مجموعة متزايدة من الأبحاث المزايا العديدة التي يتمتع بها التواجد في الطبيعة على صحتك الجسدية والعقلية. تأثير بيئتك على صحتك العقلية في عالمنا الغربي الحديث، يقضي الكثير من الناس معظم وقتهم في الداخل. علاوة على ذلك، نحن نعيش في وقت يقضي فيه الكثير منا … Continue reading

التخلص من عبوات المبيدات الكيماوية الفارغة وسلامة الصحة والبيئة

تعرف مبيدات الآفات بالإنجليزية )(Pesticides) وهي عبارة عن مواد كيماوية تستخدم لمكافحة الآفات الزراعية أو أي نوع من الكائنات الحية التي يمكن أن تشكل آفة على المحاصيل الزراعية، ويضعها العلماء في مجموعات وهي المبيدات الحشرية ، المبيدات الفطرية ومبيدات الأعشاب، بالإضافة إلى مبيدات القوارض، مبيدات الديدان الإسطوانية والرخويات ومبيدات العناكب. والمبيدات الزراعية بصورة عامة مركبات سامة وخطرة ويجب إستعمالها بحذر وعند الضرورة فقط بعد استنفاذ كافة أساليب الوقاية وطرق المكافحة الزراعية. وعلى الرغم من وجود فوائدٍ لاستخدام مبيدات الآفات، إلا أنه توجد لها آثارها الضارة الخطيرة، مثل احتمالية التسمم البشري أو تسمم الحيوانات (ووفقاً لبنود اتفاقية استكهولم بشأن الملوثات العضوية … Continue reading

The Impact of Natural Environment on Your Mental Health

Many of us spend our workdays indoors under fluorescent lights with little to no contact with the natural world. As nice as it sounds to get some fresh air or take a walk after work, the thought of it can be exhausting, particularly when the couch is beckoning you home after a long day. But spending too much time indoors is not good for your health, and a growing stack of research has revealed the numerous benefits that being in nature has for your physical and mental well-being. How your environment affects your mental health In our Western and modern … Continue reading

The Spiritual Benefits of Ramadan Fasting

Our environment is more than trees, water, land, and air. It is a sense of peace, an understanding of our place in our society. It sustains our satisfaction in life and our interest in caring for the life around us. Recognizing the sustaining forces that make up our environment sometimes requires a time of deep introspection. Few practices in the human repertoire can guide us to deep introspection like the profound practice of fasting in the holy month of Ramadan. For one full month in every year, fasting is required for Muslims all over the world. The day-long fasting process in … Continue reading

Green Ways to Prevent Pests from Entering Our Homes

Pests are universally considered as undesirable and unwanted housemates. This is rightfully so because not only do pests partake in your food uninvited, they also leave destruction in their wake and they are dangerous vectors of diseases. Termites leave the most significant amount of destruction among household pests. Termites can wreck entire rooms if left uncontrolled. Some pests like mosquitoes, ants, bed bugs and ticks just hang around in your house to cause pain and discomfort. Rats, mice, flies and cockroaches not only steal or freeload on your food items, they spoil food or leave undesirable traces of their bad … Continue reading

Cleanliness is Next to Greenliness

There are usually many objectives of cleaning a home or office and the things in it. One of them is to achieve a certain level comfort and freshness while the other is to maintain the aesthetic appeal of the space around. However, when it comes to choosing the right cleaning products and technologies, it is important and beneficial to go the eco-friendly way. Many manufacturers, in a bid to reduce their carbon footprint, are striving to come up with cleaning products that are made from environmentally-friendly ingredients. Such products are not only safer or less toxic to use, but also … Continue reading

The Dangers of Asbestos

The use of asbestos has been a widespread issue that continues to impact countries on a global scale. As a favored material used in buildings and construction projects throughout the 20th century, asbestos held an incredible appeal as a mineral known for its heat and fire resistant properties. For decades, this substance was synonymous with manufacturing and development. However, it was soon discovered that once asbestos was disturbed or damaged, the fibrous material could have a fatal effect on those that came into contact with it. Asbestos in the United States Despite its known dangers, asbestos continues to pose a … Continue reading

The Challenges of Public Health and Environmental Stability

The environment and the climate are all part of our daily life. We live and interact with the environment and the climate also influences our lives by moderating and impacting our environment. Regardless of which continent one focuses one, the concerns are similar across the globe. Many, many people across the globe live off the land. A large portion of the global population is totally dependent on agriculture and livestock farming. We call this subsistence farming. Regardless of nomenclature, these lives are hinged to and dependent on farming in an environment that is rapidly changing as the temperatures rise and … Continue reading

Climate Change Impacts on Public Health: Perspectives for Arab World

Climate change is not only affecting the economies of Arab world but also having detrimental impacts on the very fabric of society, through threats to public health and livelihoods. Climate change in the Arab world is also exacerbating social inequalities, hitting the rural poor the hardest. This is not a reason for complacency amongst the wealthy urban classes. Basic humanitarianism aside, history suggests that physical hardships can breed wider unrest: a body of evidence suggests that poor harvests caused by a major Icelandic volcanic ash cloud in 1783 triggered no less an event that the French Revolution. Extreme weather events … Continue reading

الصحة المناخية – مصطلح جديد وضرورة

لا ادري ان يصح إطلاق تعبير ” الصحة المناخية” لكنني استوحيته من دراستي الجامعية حيث تخصصت بالصحة البيئية ومن بعدها ماجستير العلوم البيئية. فكما ترتكز الصحة البيئية على دراسة تأثير البيئة على صحة الإنسان وتأثير الإنسان على البيئة. فإن ايضا الصحة المناخية أعني بها تأثير التغير المناخي على صحة الإنسان وعلاقة الإنسان بتغير المناخ. يؤثر تغير المناخ على نوعية مياه الشرب والمأوى الآمن وكمية الغذاء ونقاوة الهواء وفي نفس الوقت إن زيادة تلوث الهواء يؤدي إلى زيادة حدة تغير المناخ. وتأثير المناخ على الصحة يختلف بين البلدان والبلدان النامية والجزر هم الأكثر تأثرا والأقل قدرة على الاحتمال. حسب منظمة الصحة … Continue reading

Are Toxic Chemicals Harming Me At Work?

Toxins found at work are poisoning us and ending lives on a global scale. A 2018 United Nations report stated that “one worker dies at least every 30 seconds from exposure to toxic industrial chemicals, pesticides, dust, radiation, and other hazardous substances.” In addition, workplace-related diseases, such as lung cancer linked to inhaling carcinogens on the job, “account for around 86% of all premature death.” Toxins in the workplace can cause “debilitating and fatal lung diseases, neurological disabilities, and reproductive impairments such as infertility and inability to carry a pregnancy to term,” the UN report said. Given the deadly nature of toxic chemicals, minerals and … Continue reading