Category Archives: Public Health

Epidemiology 101

Epidemiology 101
The word “Epidemiology” means “the study of what is amongst the people”, roughly translated from the Greek epi (among or upon), demos (the people) and logos (to study). Although we think of it in terms of human population, there are areas of epidemiology today for zoology, botany and other biosciences where disease affects a population’s…
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How Sustainability Uses GIS

How Sustainability Uses GIS
GIS is fast becoming the tool to use for sustainability and planning as we seek to maximise the efficiency of the environment around us and protect what needs to be protected while maintaining health and jobs in the modern economy. People who work in Sustainability know that many disparate elements must come together in order…
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Environmental Planning, Design, and GIS

Environmental Planning, Design, and GIS
If there is one area of environmental science in which GIS or Geographic Information Systems/Science is vital, it is Environmental Planning and Design. This is true whether we are looking at an urban or rural landscapes, both of which provide issues of their own with different sets of data and considerations. The role of an…
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Climate Science and GIS

Climate Science and GIS
GIS is growing and becoming vital to most sciences; right across the board in the public and private sector, everyone is realizing the benefits that digital mapping can bring to industry, to town planning, resource management and allocation, conservation and infrastructure management. In North America, it has been used to plot pipelines and plan relief…
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Future of Agriculture: Facts About GM Crops and Biotech

Future of Agriculture: Facts About GM Crops and Biotech
Biotechnology is a growing industry, a relatively new science that is expected to grow in importance over the coming decades as we find new ways to improve food yield, modify vital crops for hardiness and protection against disease and extreme weather, and to grow in some of the most remote areas on the planet. Typically,…
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Invasive Species: How They Affect the Environment

Invasive Species: How They Affect the Environment
One consequence of globalization is that in addition to people and products moving across the globe, wildlife has been transported as well. This practice of transporting animals from their native regions to new areas dates back thousands of years. The Roman Empire frequently brought back animals from foreign lands to use for entertainment in the…
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Why Environmental Engineering Is Vital for Our Future

Why Environmental Engineering Is Vital for Our Future
Humanity has always engineered the environment around us. From the earliest days of wetland drainage and the need to acquire fresh water, to keep it flowing and keep it clean enough to drink, building cesspits to take away our waste and to stop pollution of vital waterways, we have always strived to maximize our sanitation…
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Environmental Consequences of Fishing Practices

Environmental Consequences of Fishing Practices
For centuries, humans have relied on the ocean for subsistence by harvesting its abundance of fish.  In recent decades, new technologies have allowed humans to remove fish from the ocean on a massive scale to supply Earth’s burgeoning population. Unfortunately, there are many negative environmental consequences to these practices and overfishing has been identified as…
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The Environmental Impact of Roads

The Environmental Impact of Roads
Roads are increasingly common in today’s world as human development expands and people increasingly rely on cars for transportation on a daily basis. The United States contains over 4 million miles of roadways and an estimated 20% of land in the country is impacted by the presence of roads.1 This large network of roads has…
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The Concrete Jungle: Study of Urban Landscapes as Environmental Science

The Concrete Jungle: Study of Urban Landscapes as Environmental Science
Many universities in North America and in Europe now offer studies of the urban environment BAs/BScs MAs/MScs in such subjects as Urban Studies and Urban Archaeology. The growing importance of our towns and cities means they are now a subject of major academic study – an area that is only expected to grow as we…
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