During my Junior year of school, I took HMP 715 - environmental health. This course took a scientific approach to environmental health from the community, regional, and global perspectives. While taking this course, the class addressed topics such as air and water pollution, the built environment, food safety, waste disposal, and occupational health. We also discussed public policy and health policy reform.

I enjoyed the amount of writing we did in this class, especially as a reflection to topics such as deforestation, COVID-19, vehicle waste, and ethical selling practices. Something I particularly enjoyed about this course was the open-endedness of it all. As environmental health covers a vast range of topics, we were able to talk about things that were of interest to us personally.

Something I personally took the lead on within this course was studying electronic waste. My knowledge was vastly expanded on this topic and I was able to further research the correlation between waste and environmental justice as well as the effect of waste on lower income communities.

At the end of this course, myself along with a team of students worked to complete a Health Impact Assessment for the country of Thailand. We mainly focused on deforestation, greenspace, and reproductive health. This course opened my eyes to the more widespread issues and the cause and effect of sustainability issues.