Got mold? Follow the evidence

Storms, floods and hurricanes are an unfortunate reality in our world – one that often leads to damp buildings, mold and potential health problems.

Here on EBL, we’ve discussed some of the evidence-based tactics for dealing with flooding.  Now a new systematic review by the Cochrane Collaboration reviews the data available on preventing respiratory illnesses due to environmental mold.

The review included eight studies with 6,538 participants. In each study, researchers tracked incidence of asthma and respiratory illnesses after the removal of mold and dampness from family houses, schools and an office building.

The review found some improvements in health. For example, the number of emergency and inpatient visits decreased and students visited the doctor less frequently due to colds.  On the whole, mold remediation decreased the severity and amount of symptoms in patients with asthma and respiratory infections.

But because each study measured different outcomes and designs varied widely, the authors found it “difficult to draw hard conclusions” and recommended better research.

Flooded? Follow the evidence

A double whammy from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee drenched the east coast over the past two weeks leading to swollen rivers, flooded valleys and the destruction of roadways, bridges and buildings from Vermont to Maryland.

As communities in eastern and central New York, from the southern Adirondacks to the Pennsylvania border, continue to struggle under the deluge, Cornell Cooperative Extension has information that can help.

The New York Extension Disaster Education Network, or NY EDEN, is a collaborative network based at Cornell dedicated to educating New York residents about preparing for and recovering from natural disasters.

The network offers dozens of evidence-based tips on how to protect your property, remain safe, and clean-up after serious flooding.  Among their recommendations:

  • Over half of all flood-related drownings occur when a vehicle is driven into hazardous flood water, according to the Centers for Disease Control.  That’s because most people underestimate the force of flood water.  It takes only two fee of rushing floodwater to carry away most vehicles. So if you come across an area covered with water, turn around.
  • Check for cracks in the foundation, shifted walls and a roofline out of position before re-entering a building that is flooded.
  • Turn off the electricity in a flooded building before touching any electrical devices or walking through a flooded basement.
  • Furniture that has been flooded and has porous materials such as leather, fabric should be discarded because it will likely produce dangerous molds in your home. For other furniture, take it outside and remove as many parts as possible. Use a solution of one part water and one part ammonia to wipe down the furniture, then move it to a well-ventilated, shady spot to dry.  (Wood furniture dried in the sun will warp.)

Stay safe and don’t forget to refer to the evidence when cleaning up after a flood!

Evidence-based energy: What we really know about hydraulic fracturing

A newer method for extracting natural gas from layers of shale deep below the earth’s surface – called hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracking – has ignited debates across the nation. Proponents say that natural gas key to the country’s energy future. (Burning natural gas produces fewer greenhouse gases emissions than coal and oil.) But opponents say this method for extracting it poses risks to ground water supplies.

Over the past several years, Cornell researchers have mounted an unprecedented response to the issue. They’ve stepped up research efforts to collect and develop as much evidence as possible about hydrofracking. And they are reaching out to help individuals and communities across New York to help them make decisions about the benefits and dangers of drilling.

They have created the Cornell Cooperative Extension Natural Gas Resource Center, which is made of a 12 faculty members from a wide array of disciplines—including sociology, environmental sciences, and geology—and 20 extension educators. The group has compiled information for people impacted by hydraulic fracturing including individuals considering leasing their land, community groups, and local governments.

The Resource Center’s web site is a treasure trove of information on the topic including how geologists use seismic data to determine if natural gas is accessible, how to negotiate a lease for gas drilling and the economic impacts of drilling.

If you live in an area where natural gas drilling is a possibility, you’ll definitely want to dig into this resource.

Get outside! The evidence shows it’s good for you

The grass is finally green, leaves are filling the trees, and creatures of all sorts – from garter snakes to mosquitoes – are taking up residence in our yard.  It’s the season that my family relishes spending time outside.  This year, my almost-three-year-old is fascinated with every bug, twig and spider web he encounters.

We’re lucky to live in a beautiful part of the world, and in a community that values nature. Unfortunately, the evidence shows that fewer and fewer families experience the same connection with nature that we do – and this is having a detrimental effect on children.

A growing body of evidence suggests people of all ages, and especially children, have fewer nature experiences and spend less time outside compared with previous generations. The research shows this trend has negative implications for health, especially childhood obesity, as well as development and education.  A term has even been coined for the problem – “nature-deficit disorder.”

In fact, there are dozens of studies that demonstrate the positive effects of children spending time in outside including improved social and personal skills, concentration and cognitive functioning.

Here at the College of Human Ecology, Professor Nancy Wells is working on this issue. She is an environmental psychologist whose work delves into childhood exposure to nature and adult attitudes toward the environment. Her research has demonstrated that having natural areas in communities promotes well-being, encourages physical activity and encourages social connections by bolstering a sense of community.

There’s still more work needed to find the best ways to connect people with nature in our modern world. But already, the take-home message is clear.  People of all ages should make an effort to spend time outside, and governments and communities need to develop natural areas that give their residents access to nature.

Video feature: Teaching design that follows the evidence

We often think of using evidence in making medical decisions or evaluating social programs.  But is there a way to use data in a more subjective field like design?  The answer is yes!

Several decades ago, a new field called Evidence-Based Design linked the principles of evidence-based medicine with architectural and interior design to create health care facilities proven to help patients heal.  (Since then, the field has expanded to corporate environments as well.)

To date, there have been more than 1,000 academic studies that investigate design elements to make patients feel more comfortable, improve the quality and safety of health care, and create a positive working environment for health care professionals.  

One comprehensive review on the best practices is published here and includes recommendations like creating single-bed hospital rooms, using noise-deadening materials in construction, and maximizing natural light in health care facilities.

 At Cornell, faculty members in the College of Human Ecology are working on the cutting edge of this field.  They’ve investigated how the design of an intensive care unit impacts the communication among the nursing staff. And they’ve examined ways to improve the experience of people with Alzheimer’s disease living in residential facilities.

 Professor Frank Becker in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis teaches a course that brings together students majoring in business, health care administration and design to learn about and create evidence-based health care facilities.  You can watch a video about the class below.

Here at EBL, we love it when experts in all fields discover and use evidence to improve people’s lives!

How to convince volunteers to care for trees

The evidence shows that trees are an important part of our landscape – whether here in forested Ithaca, or in densely populated urban areas.

Studies have found that trees help improve focus, promote a sense of community, and deter crime. So it’s no surprise that major cities across the nation are launching initiatives to plant trees. New York City is undertaking one such project.  Called the MillionTreesNYC initiative, it aims to plant one million trees across all five city boroughs by 2017.

But urban forestry projects typically encounter a problem, explained Gretchen Ferenz, a senior extension associate at Cornell Cooperative Extension in New York City.

“Capital project funds will support planting and immediate care of trees for a couple of years, but costs for longer term care to ensure a young tree’s growth often are not included in municipal budgets,” she told the Cornell Chronicle for a story. “As a result, many urban trees do not survive into maturity.”

Ferenz’s office has joined forces with Cornell’s Department of Natural Resources to create the Urban Forestry Community Engagement Model, a program that provides workshops about the importance of trees to community members in two New York City neighborhoods. The goal is to enlist residents and organizations to become stewards of their community’s trees and, ultimately, to develop resources to help groups around the country do the same.

As part of the program, they’re collecting evidence to learn how to get more community members involved in caring for trees in their neighborhoods. They recently published a study that examines motivations and recruitment strategies for urban forestry volunteers.

Through a survey and focus groups, as well as a review of existing literature on the topic, the team found volunteer who plant and care for trees in their communities are motivated by a wide range of factors.  And most have a limited knowledge of the benefits of urban forests.

This type of work is an important first step in helping cities learn how to engage community members to help care for trees in their neighborhoods – and ultimately in making our world a bit greener.

(You can learn more about the Urban Forestry Community Engagement Model by clicking here.)

Portable space heaters: Money-savers or energy-wasters?

In Ithaca, it seems that the weather took a sudden dip a few weeks ago.  Temperatures fell below freezing within a few hours, and it doesn’t look like they’ll warm much until spring. That was our cue to turn on the heat for the season.

As much of the northern hemisphere launches into winter, millions of people across the country are firing up their home heating systems – an act that will cost most households hundreds if not thousands of dollars this year. 

With those costs comes the natural inclination to save a little money.  That’s when many – myself included, occasionally – turn to portable electric space heaters. When there’s a chill in the room, it seems so logical to flip a switch to warm a smaller space, instead of cranking up the heating system for the entire house.  But are electric space heaters a good way to reduce your heating costs?  The evidence says no.

Mark Pierce, extension associate at Cornell’s College of Human Ecology, is an expert in energy efficiency issues in residential buildings.  He conducted a detailed analysis of heating costs in a 1,200-square-foot, three-bedroom house to determine if there is a benefit to using portable electric heaters.

Pierce asked the question, which is more expensive: heating the entire house to 70 degrees for three hours, or heating the house to 60 degrees for three hours and using a space heater to raise the temperature of one room to 70 degrees? 

His analysis factored in all sorts of details like the levels of insulation in the floors, walls and ceiling, heat loss through windows and doors, and they type of heating fuel used. He assumed an outside air temperature of 10 degrees.

Using average costs for heating fuels in New York, he found turning down the thermostat from 70 to 60 degrees would reduce heating costs by about 50 to 80 cents, depending on the heating fuel used.  Meanwhile, using a portable heater to heat one room from 60 to 70 degrees over the same time period would cost 52 cents – a meager savings, even when using the most expensive heating fuels.

But why is the cost of heating just one room with a space heater so high?  Because electricity is about twice as expensive as fossil fuels, Pierce explains.

“Electricity is more expensive because it is a secondary form of energy, meaning that a primary form of energy – burning fossil fuels to power a generator for example – must first be consumed to make electricity,” he writes. “By the time electricity gets to your home from a power plant, about 70 percent of the energy consumed to create it has been lost due to generation and distribution system inefficiencies.”

Instead, Pierce recommends other ways to reduce your heating bills, such as adding insulation to your floors, walls and ceilings, installing a more efficient heating system and sealing holes and cracks around doors, windows and electrical outlets.

You can read more evidence-based tips about reducing your home heating bills by clicking here.  Wishing you a warm and cozy winter!

When every drop counts: The facts on public health during a drought

Throughout the history of the Earth, droughts spanning seasons or even years have taken their toll on plant and animal life.  In more recent U.S. history, a series of major droughts every 20 to 30 years have devastated farms, sparked wildfires and led to adverse health effects.

Although the literature contains well-researched articles on the aspects and implications of drought itself, there have been few fact-based inquiries into how drought affects public health in the United States. Until recently.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Environmental Health published a guide to assist public health officials to prepare for and cope with drought in their communities. The document includes information about how drought affects public health, recommends steps to help mitigate the health effects of drought and identifies future needs for research and other drought-related activities.

Among the CDC’s recommendations is to identify the populations that are most affected by a particular adverse condition. For instance, immune-compromised people drinking contaminated well water are most at risk of contracting infectious diseases. Once the affected populations have been identified, public health departments should actively collect and analyze quantitative and qualitative data to help determine the extent of the public health threat and the best steps to mitigate it.

The publication also suggests additional research in numerous areas including identifying the health effects of reusing water, using surveillance data to determine which chronic disease are more frequently reported during a drought, and identifying pathogens that can be used as drought indicators.

Intrigued?  You can find the entire publication by clicking here.

ASU President urges universities to take action

Nearly all major research universities have systems in place to translate and communicate their findings into information that can benefit society.  But are U.S. universities doing enough to address the problems of contemporary life?

According to Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University, the answer is no.

Crow is on a mission to transform Arizona State University into the model for what he calls “a New American University” – an institution organized to pursue research that benefits the public good. And he is urging other universities to follow suit.

Crow believes major research institutions should take responsibility for “the economic, social, and cultural vitality and health and well-being of the community” and encourage collaboration across disciplines and with other academic institutions.

He argues that a scientific focus on narrower and more fundamental secrets of nature has impaired researchers’ ability to “think at scale and across time.” 

For Crow, this means restructuring universities so they’re more capable of responding to modern challenges. At Arizona State, he has created more than a dozen new transdiscipliniary schools, including the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, the School of Earth and Space Exploration and the School of Sustainability and the School of Life Sciences. The idea is to bring together scientists from a wide range of disciplines, engineers, policymakers and industry leaders to develop solutions to pressing real-world problems.

At the same time, ASU has eliminated traditional departments including biology, sociology, anthropology and geology.

They’re drastic measures, for certain. But changes the Crow insists are necessary if universities are going to do their part in solving major world problems, such as climate change.  Intrigued?  You can read Crow’s thoughts about reorganizing academic institutions to solve improve our world’s sustainability in the June/July 2010 issue of Bioscience. And let us know your thoughts by commenting on this post!

Fostering sustainable behavior: What works?

Everyone agrees that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a horrendous event, one so profoundly damaging that we have trouble getting our minds around it. The corporation responsible, BP, has been excoriated in Congress and by the press. Media images of oil covered sea birds and fishing boats in dry dock daily reinforce our sense of the scope of this disaster.

Given the level of upset and outrage, one might ask: Has it changed what Americans are doing on a daily basis? Everyone knows that there’s only one real solution to problems like this: reduce dependence on oil. So are we lining up to trade in our gas guzzlers for hybrids? Winterizing our homes? Rushing to install solar panels?

The answer, of course, is no. Despite pro-environmental attitudes, a general desire for a cleaner world, and many options for action, most of us don’t take meaningful action, despite the growing sense of urgency. So what can be done to foster sustainable behavior.

I recently came across an excellent evidence-based resource, devoted entirely to disseminating research information on methods of encouraging behaviors that help the environment: Fostering Sustainable Behavior: Community-Based Social Marketing. This web site covers five resource areas: conservation, energy efficiency, transportation, waste reduction, and water efficiency. The site offers for free the complete contents of the book, Fostering Sustainable Behavior. Under each of the five themes are searchable databases of articles, case studies, and strategies to promote environmental behavior. It also has discussion forums where people exchange ideas. Registration is free. The more we can implement evidence-based strategies to help save the environment, the better off we (and our children) will be.

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