Healthy and Sustainable Places for Ecosystems- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theHealthy and Sustainable Places for Ecosystems. Answer: Given that the coastal areas of different parts of the world are densely populated, the impact of climate change on coastal communities is noteworthy. Climate change affects these regions in different ways. Coasts are highly sensitive to rise in sea level and the changes occurring in the intensity and frequency of storms. In addition, waremer ocean currents make a drastic impact. Further, rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide lead to oceans absorbing more amount of gas, thereby becoming acidic. The rising acidity has a significant impact on the marine and coastal ecosystems, including human health (Biehl Petryna, 2013). It is to be noted that contrasting impacts can occur at different parts of the world. In Africa, climate variability has a negative impact on human health. One major example is the threat of malaria in southern Africa. In contrast, in Arctic and Antarctic region, climate changes create suitable environment that reduce health issues. The present and possible future public health impacts of climate change on coastal communities is an important topic for discussion. The health consequences of climate variability are interrelated and complex. They are to be divided into three categories; primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary effects are fairly immediate and observable in a clear manner. These encompass illness and death resulting straight from an event such as heatwave or flood. Secondary outcomes have a mediator and these are difficult to observe. For instance, humidity increases the survival time and feeding rate of disease-carrying mosquito that transmits potential pathogens such as dengue. Tertiary impacts are more complex and include food insecurity and physical trauma. A particular climate event like heatwave might bring along multiple population impacts. For instance, extreme heat might cause direct death as well as diseases such as asthma. Some other examples of primary health concerns at present due to c limate variability include severe storms and bushfires. Some other secondary health impacts include mental health conditions, vector-borne disease, obesity and chronic disease. In future it is to be expected that the nature of the diseases that are currently being faced would change drastically for more negative effects. The capability to counter urgent effects will be insufficient (Patz et al., 2014). Two large cities that would be considered for the present section of the paper are Sydney and New York. According to Baum (2016), large Asian cities are aggrieved for not being on the list of top five healthy cities of the world that has Sydney at number five. The Australian metropolis and Sydney are at the epitome of being healthy and sustainable. The city is known for embodying the healthy outdoor culture, and many cities such as New York thrive to foster, but with failure. New York has witnessed negligible success in supporting a healthy culture that promotes health and wellbeing of its population. While Sydney is reputed for sports facilities and clubs, beaches and parks that promote physical activity and thus good health conditions, New York if far away from all these. It is to be mentioned in this regard that the weather conditions in Sydney are favourable for supporting these initiatives which are not possible in New York due to unfavourable climate conditions. Biehl and Petryna (2013) highlighted that mounting evidence suggests that car-reliant, sprawling and urban development in New York contributed to a sedentary lifestyle. Such a lifestyle is responsible for contemporary health issues such as type II diabetes, obesity, cancer, depression and heart diseases. Though Sydney also faces certain issues in respect to sedentary lifestyle, the statistics denote a less drastic situation. Sydney has the focus on low-density urban development, and transport through walking and cycling, which are factors contributing to sustainability and betterment of population. New York is still behind Sydney in coming up with such strategies and implementing them at a large scale. In addition, Sydney has sharpened its focus on future population. While New York aims at applying non-conventional ways of addressing the health issue, there is much still to be achieved for evident results. It is imperative for the government of the respective countries of these two cities to come up with policies that are beneficial for addressing the health and sustainability issues. Major policy decisions are to be guided by consequences on the society and the environment that are adverse in nature. Complete accounting of health, social and environmental costs and benefits need to be an integral part of policy-making processes. Synergies between protection of health and environment are to be considered for positive actions about to be taken in different domains. Policies must be focused on co-benefits of ecological and health sustainability, sustainable urban design and green health care options. Policies must also cover all aspects of modification of human behaviour that ultimately leads to public health issues and challenges human existence. The contribution of the government is expected in this regard since policy reforms require funding and allocation of resources (Martens et al. , 2014). The key points mentioned in the article by Tiat et al., (2014) are as follows- The influence of environment on health conditions extends significantly beyond the impact of infectious diseases and chemical pollution though these are significant aspects of public health. At present, the extended impact on public health, as implied by biophysical and ecological systems, are the basic source of provision, support and regulation of human society. There are broader implications for the spiritual, cultural and healing amenities as well. The systems functioning is guided by depleting and disrupting activities of humans. Agreeing to the above two statements it is to be stated that for being certain about the claims made it is necessary to obtain evidence that is based on population data from diverse regions of the world. References Baum, F. (2016).The new public health(No. Ed. 4). Oxford University Press. Biehl, J., Petryna, A. (Eds.). (2013).When people come first: critical studies in global health. Princeton University Press. Martens, P. (2014).Health and climate change: modelling the impacts of global warming and ozone depletion. Routledge. Patz, J. A., Frumkin, H., Holloway, T., Vimont, D. J., Haines, A. (2014). Climate change: challenges and opportunities for global health.Jama,312(15), 1565-1580. Tait, P. W., McMichael, A. J. and Hanna, E. G. (2014), Determinants of health: the contribution of the natural environment. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 38. 104107. doi:10.1111/1753-6405.12212