Pre-Session Week 3

Pre-Session Week 3

The discussion below is in reference to Global health: deadly dinners from Nature by Mena Subramanian.

ENERGY & HEALTH

"Energy and health, probably the two biggest global issues. As we can see from these two starkly different but equally concerning articles they’re of different importance in different countries - developed compared to developing. But in a global sense perhaps they’re equally important, and intrinsically linked. On the one hand developed nations, like those in Europe, are faced with the issue of the supply of their energy and the cleanest sources in an environmental sense.

Reflection

So on reflection, I wanted to put up a blog post I had done previously on the impact of the Built Environment on obesity levels. It is not on the same level as Deadly Dinners but it is relevant and shows the importance of energy and buildings on health.

I stumbled upon an article that had a very interesting argument in terms of the influence of the built environment on people’s health, and what can be changed to make people healthier.

The article in question has found a correlation between communities that lived in purely residential areas (think of a number of suburbs in Sydney that are well away from the CBD and other town centres) were ‘more weighty’ (bigger, fatter, heavier) than communities that were in proximity to residential and commercial areas.

What does this mean?

It means that people who lived in suburbia were spending more time driving, commuting and moving around in cars than people who were able to walk or ride a bike to their work place, due to its proximity.

This is intriguing because it puts more emphasis on the influence of the Built Environment on the health of communities and individuals.

Personally, I had no idea that the built environment can have such an impact on the way that we function, and the way that we operate.

I am beginning to understand that communities and populations are shaped by our Built Environment. If a community has a number of parks, ovals and healthy food options that are all accessible, they will most likely be healthy and fit. Comparatively, communities that are subject to no open spaces and endless junk food options will struggle to stay healthy.

For this particular situation, it is about finding a balance between high density, inner city living and maintaining open spaces.