Healthy Living Healthy Planet Radio

Food, which is the primary purpose of agriculture essential for all living organisms to survive and flourish, but for human beings, food transcends biological needs and has long been an integral part of social life and culture. Over the past century, the food system has done very well in producing enough food to outpace population growth and reducing the real price of food to make it more accessib...

Current Issues & Challenges affecting how we get healthy, accessible (affordable &available) food while protecting our environment that has to produce the food. For much of human history, most of the world’s land was wilderness. But, for the last few centuries, wild habitats have been squeezed out by turning it into agricultural land which supports our food production system.  Agricul...

Since the 1970s, more than 87,000 chemicals have been approved for commercial use. Yet of those thousands of chemicals, only just over one thousand have been formally examined and graded for their hazardous/cancer-causing  potential. Of those, five hundred have been found worthy of being graded on a cautiously worded scale ranging from “known” cancer-causing.  The National Institutes of...

If we say climate change,  the first thing that pops into your heads is probably not the impact of toxic chemicals on the environment. Some people can probably name a chemical that contributes to climate change, whether that is carbon dioxide or methane. But what about many, many other chemicals that you are not as familiar with? Yes, chemical contributions directly to climate change are impo...

Toxic substances/pollutants are materials contaminating the environment that cause death, disease and/or birth defects in the organisms that ingest or absorb them. The quantities and length of exposure necessary to cause these effects can vary widely. Environmental toxins are cancer-causing chemicals and endocrine disruptors, both human-made and naturally occurring, that can harm our health by dis...

The old saying, "what you don't know can't hurt you," isn't always good advice. When it comes to toxic substances, what you know can indeed help you. Some examples of what we didn’t know that does hurt us are radon in basements, lead in drinking water, exhausts from cars and chemicals released from landfills are just a few examples of toxic substances that can hurt you. By understanding how, we ca...

Trees an forests are an important part of any city, given that they provide several environmental benefits and urban nature in all its forms provide a range of benefits. How can we estimate values for the many indirect, intangible services and functions that urban nature provides, such as beauty, green infrastructure functions, and psychological benefits? So as a society we must ask ourselves, wha...

Our indfoor Environment,  how did it get the way it is and does it  affect our health? The quality of our indoor environments does indeed affect our health and risks for many diseases are increased by indoor air pollutants, surface contamination with toxins and microbes while contact among people at home, at work, in transportation, and in many other public and private indoor places is u...

Our built environment includes all the human made physical spaces around us. It defines the spaces in which we live, work or play. These include our buildings, furnishings, open and public spaces, roads, utilities and other infrastructure. These structures and spaces affect our health by bringing pollutants into our environments and restricting our access to physical activity, transportation and s...

How does Infrastructure affect the health of our environment? Our health Infrastructure is the physical foundation. The facilities and structures of what our society needs to operate includes roads, highways, buildings, bridges, water, and energy. Cities around the United States are dealing without dated and aging infrastructure. As a country, we all experience and know we must now invest in infra...

Invest in our Planet, Invest in yourself or should we say, invest in your own health/healthcare as our health tis inextricably linked to climate change. Yes, evidence over the past 20 years definitely indicates that climate change can be associated with adverse health outcomes. It is good to see the increasing numbers of increasingly loud doctors and other healthcare professions speaking out and t...

This Episode we continue our April discussion and it's theme, Earth Day 2022 - Investing in our planet, with our guest from the American Lung Association,  Laura Kate Bender. We explore the importance of investing in our planet for better lung health. 

April has become synonymous with Earth Day. The entire month, not just the day of Earth Day. The theme of Earth Day 2022 is Invest in our Planet. Here to discuss the best ways to invest in our planet is Michael Fletcher, CEO od Earth X. One of the most accomplished and impactful organization in the country.

General Motors has made the pledge to make only electric vehicles by 2035. The United States faces a rather daunting task as we seriously begin moving toward weaning our economy off fossil fuels.  Despite various challenges, the U.S. finds itself at a promising turning point, with new economic, social and political forces driving a key aspect of the decarbonization of the economy and the elec...

April has become synonymous with Earth Day. The entire month not just the day of earth day. The theme of Earth Day 2022 is Invest in our Planet. Here to discuss the best ways to invest in our planet are some folks from some of our most accomplished and impactful organizations in the country. They are all nonprofit organizations that operates independently of any government, or NGOs. And they care...

We continue our Oceans/Urban waterways series with those in between waters that all of us come into contact with constantly all day, everyday. Groundwater and public utilities water. Groundwater will normally look clear and clean because the ground naturally filters out particulate matter. However, human induced chemicals can be found in groundwater. Industrial discharges, urban activities, agricu...

Urban waterways, also known as living streams or urban streams are waterways that pass through an urban area or receive storm water runoff from an urbanized catchment. They play a key role in liveable cities by sustaining plants and animals, providing social and cultural connection and supporting economic development through tourism and agriculture. The health of urban waterways is heavily influen...

In this new series, we focus on the connection between the health of the ocean and the health of the planet. The oceans can affect our health in many ways. They contain many types of microscopic organisms, some of which produce toxins when conditions are right. Eating the contaminated seafood may cause serious illness. Harmful algal blooms are unsafe to touch or swallow, and they can produce airbo...

There is a growing awareness of global forces that threaten human health via the water environment. A better understanding of the dynamic between human health and the water environment enables us to better predict and get in front of the significant driving forces and develop effective strategies for coping with or preventing them. There are many driving forces including population growth,agricult...

Fossil fuel production and combustion is a major driver of climate change and can also directly affect our health. Why it Matters: From the electricity that lights your home to the car you drive to work, modern life has relied on fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. But burning them has a major impact on climate change, air quality, and public health. Dr. Gavin Dillingham and Emma Searson...

The climate summit in Glasgow saw the planet take major steps towards addressing the climate crisis but stumble attempting the giant leap needed to limit warming. The two week conference brought together diplomats from nearly 200 nations to refine the details of the Paris Agreement, to keep alive the hope of limiting human caused global warming. to 1.5 degrees Dr. Jonathan Harris discusses what we...

Fossil fuel production and combustion is a major driver of climate change and can also directly affect our health. Why it Matters: From the electricity that lights your home to the car you drive to work, modern life has relied on fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. But burning them has a major impact on climate change, air quality, and public health.

Episode 111: Hazardous Waste, Drug & Chemical Disposal  Hazardous, toxic waste is the potentially dangerous byproduct of a wide range of activities that are required for our everyday living-including manufacturing, farming, water treatment systems, construction, automotive garages, laboratories, hospitals, and other industries, and from many of the items we use all the time everyday. Toxi...

Featuring Brian Roe from Ohio State University and Melissa Pflugh Prescott from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Brian Roe lists the different types of waste typically found in a landfill. Brian also shares the harmful effects of food waste, over consumption, and more. Melissa Pflugh Prescott talks about food waste and how difficult cultures around the world view food in modern society...

Features Dianna Cohen of the Plastic Pollution Coalition and Rainer Lohmann from the University of Rhode Island. Rainer Lohmann defines forever plastics and explains the unintended consequences of chemicals that cannot break down. Dianna Cohen talks about the Plastic Pollution Coalition and their efforts to move to closer a world free of plastic pollution. Bernice, Rainer, and Dianna also review h...