world info - table of contents special focus ......development goals the world ecology report is...

SPECIAL FOCUS: THERMAL ENERGY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

During the winter session of World Information Transfer’s

Speaker’s Series, Dr. Mario Viscovich gave a presentation to the

interns on the topic “Thermal Energy for Sustainable Development

Goals”. This article touches on some of the key issues that he

presented to the interns as described below.

The Affordable and Clean Energy is one of the goals of UN

member countries. The general population needs to be educated

about energy usage in their everyday lives: energy availability,

energy conservation, energy saving, clean energy, sustainable

energy, and the impact energy has on health and the environment.

SPECIAL FOCUS: THERMAL ENERGY FOR SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT GOALS

The World Ecology Report is printed on recycled paper.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SPECIAL FOCUSThermal Energy For Sustainable

Development Goals

HEALTH & ENVIRONMENTImpact of COVID-19

Climate Change Effect

on Heart Disease

FOOD FOR THOUGHTEducating Students

to Understand Epidemics

GOOD NEWSPlastics - Toxic Substance

DID YOU KNOWCOVID-19 and Mental Health

VOICESUNITAR - Course on Diplomacy

Ingenious - Consequences of

Human Innovation

COVID-19 Spread in Europe

POINT OF VIEW

“Education brings Choices. Choices bring Power.”

Spring 2020, vol. XXXlll, No. 1

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1: UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS-SDGS (UN.ORG)

The Sustainable Development Goals are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere. The 17 Goals were adopted by all UN Member States in 2015, as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which set out a 15-year plan to achieve the Goals. Today, progress is being made in many places, but, overall, action to meet the Goals is not yet advancing at the speed or scale required. 2020 needs to usher in a decade of ambitious action to deliver the Goals by 2030.

GOAL 7: AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY

• By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.

• By 2030, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency

• By 2030, enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology

• By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and advanced and cleaner fossil-fuel technology, and promote investment in energy infrastructure and clean energy technology

• By 2030, expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for supplying modern and sustainable energy services for all in developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States, and land-locked developing countries, in accordance with their respective programs of support.

World Ecology ReportWorld Information Transfer

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2. EU 20-20-20 TARGETS (RECS INTERNATIONAL)

European policy makers introduced goals for the year 2020 in a number of different sectors, such as in the area of supply, competitive markets, and sustainability. The 2020 energy goals are to have a 20% (or even 30%) reduction in CO2 emissions. The 2020 goals were based on the three pillars leading European energy policy: security compared to 1990 levels, 20% reduction of energy on the basis of consumption coming from renewables, and a 20% increase in energy efficiency.

3. ENGINEERS’ ROLES IN ACHIEVING UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Engineers play a major role in the energy field: they know how it works, design machineries and devices, know market availability, and know how to implement energy programs. They know the economic impact of energy consumption and energy usage effects on health and energy field and fast growing advanced technology. They should be the ones to develop programs on how to educate the general population about energy goals. New approaches should be introduced in the design of buildings, building systems and equipment. Renewable energy emphasis should be on solar, wind and ground energy. The use of fossil fuel should be reduced and eventually phased out. The Energy field should be decentralized in order to be more affordable and more readily available for all.

4. MPP – MULTIFAMILY PERFORMANCE PROGRAM

Residential buildings cause some of the biggest consumption of energy in the world, therefore, we should pay great attention to energy consumption and use in this area. Engineers should examine design and construction, and introduce new approaches and new technology. Building envelope, heating-cooling, domestic hot water systems, and lighting are the big energy wasters.

By implementing energy improvements on the typical 21 family building in New York City (See table above), occupants are saving $28,772 a year with 7.8 years simple payback, and energy reduction of 33%.

5. MICROTURBINES AND RECIPROCATING ENGINES CHP

Microturbine CHP is a local production of energy, delivering about 80% of Input Energy, while a traditional Power Plant delivers only about 33% of Input Energy.

Reciprocating engines and Fuel Cells work in a similar way. Fuel for Microturbine and Reciprocating engine is gas, while for Fuel cells it is hydrogen.

Combined heat and Power (CHP): The simultaneous production of two forms of useful energy from a single fuel source CHP = Electricity generation + Heat Recover.

6. FUEL CELL ENERGY A fuel cell is a device that generates electricity by

a chemical reaction. It has no moving parts.

(Sketch: MB Hynes Corporation, Text : ClimateMaster

3World Ecology ReportWorld Information Transfer

Spring 2020

In general terms, hydrogen atoms enter a fuel cell at the anode where a chemical reaction strips them of their electrons. The hydrogen atoms are now "ionized," and carry a positive electrical charge. The negatively charged electrons provide the current through wires to do work. If alternating current (AC) is needed, the DC output of the fuel cell must be routed through a conversion device called an inverter. City Oxygen enters the fuel cell at the cathode and it there combines with electrons returning from the electrical circuit and hydrogen ions that have traveled through the electrolyte from the anode. Whether they combine at anode or cathode, together hydrogen and oxygen form water, which drains from the cell. As long as a fuel cell is supplied with hydrogen and oxygen, it will generate electricity. Fuel cells create electricity chemically, rather than by combustion. Therefore, fuel cells are more efficient in extracting energy from a fuel. Waste heat from some cells can also be harnessed, boosting system efficiency still further.

7. GEOTHERMAL HEAT PUMP

The ground loop forms a large heat exchanger that is used by the geothermal system to heat and cool your home. Geothermal systems are more efficient and cost less to operate than air source heat pumps for heating or cooling. Geothermal is also more efficient than oil, natural gas, or propane furnaces for heating. During the winter, geothermal heating and cooling systems absorb heat stored in the ground through the water that circulates in its underground loop. This heat is carried to the ground source heat pumps where it’s concentrated and then sent as warm, comfortable air throughout your home. When you need heating the most, the air outside is coldest. As a result, a traditional air source heat pump works hard to extract the amount of heat from the cold air needed to properly heat your home. In contrast, a geothermal heat pump system consumes less energy as it easily absorbs ground heat from the abundant supply stored below your home, making geothermal heating significantly more energy efficient.

8. WTE – WASTE TO ENERGYMunicipal waste is a problem by itself across the

board in every country. Populations are growing, so is waste production, pollution and energy consumption. Opportunities should be taken to use municipal waste to produce more affordable energy, thus improving our environment. From waste we can produce gas which can be used for heating, cooling, and producing hot water and electricity. Bio gas is produced by organic (bio) processes. On the mechanical side of treatment of waste, inorganic process, Refuse Derived Fuel-RDF can be burned producing heat and electricity. Instead of burning RDF it could also be gasified producing gas and electricity. If Combined Heat and Power (CHP) or Cogeneration is introduced, gas can be used to produce electricity, and recovered waste heat can be used to produce hot water for heating, cooling and domestic hot water, all at the same time. Microturbines, Reciprocating engines and Fuel cells are some of the new technologies used in Cogeneration processes. In addition, Plastic/Glass/Ferrous metals can be recycled. AUTHOR: Dr. Mario Viscovich PhD., P.E., President Apex Engineering, P.C., and Apex Engineering j.d.o.o., consulting engineering, design, and construction companies. Email: [email protected]

(Graphic: Marc Marshall, Text: Schatz Energy Research Center)

A geothermal heat pump (GHP) or ground source heat pump (GSHP) is a central heating and/or cooling system that transfers heat to or from the ground. Gas furnaces burn natural gas to provide heat for home and are only 98% efficient, while geothermal systems use significantly less energy collecting heat from the earth, achieving 400-600% efficiencies. Wherever you live the temperature underground stays around 55°F year round. To tap into this stable underground temperature, a geothermal system uses a loop of pipes buried in the ground. A solution of water and an environmentally safe antifreeze is pumped through this loop of pipes.


Spring 20204


Spring 2020

HEALTH & ENVIRONMENTIMPACTS OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC

ON THE ENVIRONMENTWe are going

through a period of uncertainty, anxiety, and confusion with the current COVID-19 Pandemic which is affecting people across the world. Poeple are dying, businesses are shutdown, while pollution and greenhouse gas emissions have fallen across continents as countries try to contain the spread of the virus. The implications of this pandemic are massive, and not only considered a health crisis, but a human crisis.

During such times, we need to be hopeful, be productive, and come together to support each other. To support people’s immediate health, food, and other basic needs, we need to take extraordinary measures to stay safe and protect other people. Since this crisis is evolving rapidly, it is difficult to determine the full impacts of the pandemic. We need to carefully monitor the effects of the spreading COVID-19 on every aspect of life to determine its full impact on the environment and the world economy. This article provides a general overview of the impacts of the COVID-19 on the environment.

Several reports and articles have underscored the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the environment. While some of the reports have shown evidence of the negative environmental consequences due to the COVID-19 [1], others have shown some benefits to the environment with the COVID-19 crisis reducing global air pollution due to the lockdowns and stay at home order implemented by most countries.[2]

With the closure of most businesses, commercial and industrial services due to this lockdown and

stay at home in most countries globally, it is but normal to think that this will result in less commercial and industrial activities and hence decreasing air pollution and possibly save human lives in the process.

Recently pub-lished articles

have shown that the stay at home to battle the COVID-19 has paid an environmental dividend as shown in satellite images over China and Europe. This has resulted in climate benefits with cleaner air. According to Scott Collis, an atmospheric scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, the satellite imagery and other atmospheric monitors are already showing a dramatic reduction in pollution. The sharp decline in commercial air travel is also reducing pollution.

The study showed that over China, there was a 50% reduction in things like nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide due to the shutting down of heavy industries and factories. Other studies have also shown a drop in the aforementioned pollutants in New York, due to a reduction in traffic as opposed to reduced emissions from factories.

Data collected from the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on ESA's Sentinel-5 satellite shows a significant drop of nitrogen dioxide – a gas mainly emitted by cars, trucks, power plants and some industrial plants - between January 1 and February 25.

Fei Liu an air quality researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre, in a statement, said that “This is the first time he has seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event,” Fei Liu together with other researcher noted that

Side-by-side comparisons show a decrease in nitrogen dioxide over France. (Credit: European Space Agency) [3]


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the overall values of nitrogen dioxide are lower this year than last year as China had begun enforcing stricter environmental regulations, as you can see in the satellite images of Wuhan below. However, none of these factors themselves add up to such a strong reduction in nitrogen dioxide - meaning it’s likely at least partially caused by the coronavirus outbreak[4]

On the other hand, the global health crisis hasn’t been uniformly positive for the environment. There are unexpected environmental consequences with environmental services being halted such as the recycling programs in some cities in the US. Officials are worried about the risk of spreading the virus in recycling centers. In other countries particularly in Europe, waste disposal options have been rolled back. Italy has banned infected residents from sorting their waste at all. The industry has seized the opportunity to overturn disposable bag bans, although environmental experts say single-use plastics can still harbor viruses and bacteria [5]

Medical waste is also on the rise. Hospitals in Wuhan produced an average of over 200 tons of such waste per day during the outbreak, up from its previous average of fewer than 50 tons. China

has asked sewage treatment plants to strengthen their disinfection routines to prevent coronavirus from spreading through sewage, mostly through increased use of chlorine. Some amount of that toxic chemical has found its way into the nation’s drinking water, though the government says the concentration is under the current allowable limit of 0.3 milligrams per liter.

“The ones that are celebrating the environmental improvements during the COVID-19 crisis are shortsighted,” said Li Shuo, senior global policy adviser at Greenpeace in Beijing. “Pollution may temporarily decline, but this is hardly a sustainable way of cleaning up our environment. Meanwhile, the virus crisis brings other environmental problems that might last for a longer time and are harder to deal with.”

SOURCES: bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-30/the-unexpected-environmental-consequences-of-covid-19; sciencealert.com/here-s-what-covid-19-is-doing-to-our-pollution-levels; news.wttw.com/2020/04/02/environmental-impact-covid-19-lockdowns-seen-space; sciencealert.com/nitrogen-dioxide-pollution-has-dramatically-dropped-over-china-because-of-the-coronavirus; nytimes.com/2020/03/26/climate/plastic-bag-ban-virus.html


Spring 2020

Recent studies as declared by researchers have shown that deaths caused by Heart disease increased with extreme heat, and rising temperatures due to climate change, and that this may lead to a surge in such deaths in hot regions.

The investigators analyzed 2010 to 2016 data on more than 15,000 heart-related deaths among people aged 15 and older in Kuwait, which has an average temperature of 82.2 degrees Fahrenheit (F).

Compared to days when the average temperature was 94.5 degrees F, the number of heart-related deaths was three times higher on days when the average daily temperature was 109 degrees F.

On those extremely hot days, the death rate was 3.5 times higher among men and 2.5 times higher among women, the findings showed. The death rate among working-age people (aged 15 to 64) was 3.8 times higher; and that among people 65 and older was just over twice as high.

Lead author Barrak Alahmad said men and working-age people may have been at greater risk because they spend more time outdoors.

The study was published March 30 in the journal Circulation. While it shows an association between

UNEP'S CODE OF ETHICS FOR INTERNATIONAL

TRADE OF CHEMICALS

The objective of this code is to set forth principles and guidance for private sector parties, governing standards of conduct in the production and management of chemicals in international trade, taking into account their entire life cycle, with the purpose of reducing risks to human health and the environment which might be posed by such chemicals.

At the heart of the code is this concept: “there should not be a double standard vis a vis exported and domestically marketed chemicals with respect to health, safety and the environment." The code does not apply to pharmaceuticals, radioactive materials, chemicals for research, food additives, or chemicals imported as personal or household effects.

Here are some more interesting quotes from the Code:• "Halt manufacturing and trade, and

recall products when appropriate due to the unacceptable risks associated with the product."

• "Provide government authorities and consumers with relevant information on health and environmental hazards which might be posed by chemicals in international trade."

• "In providing such information, claims for protection of confidential and proprietary information should not compromise the overriding objective ofcprotecting health and the environment and promoting safety."

• "Provide support for training of occupational users and government authorities in importing countries, including training for emergency responses."

• "Advertising should not be likely to mislead any buyer, in particular with regard to safety or suitability of use."

SOURCE: unenvironment.org/resources/report/code-ethics-international-trade-chem-icals, IPEN

CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECT ON HEART DISEASE

Source: https://www.karger.com/Article/Fulltext/398787

extreme heat and heart-related deaths, it does not prove cause and effect, the study authors noted.

According to Alahmad, a doctoral candidate in environmental health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston "While cardiologists and other medical doctors have rightly focused on traditional risk factors, such as diet, blood pressure and tobacco use, climate change may exacerbate the burden of cardiovascular mortality, especially in very hot regions of the world,".

The researchers explained that when temperature rises, the body tries to cool itself by shifting blood from the organs to underneath the skin. This forces the heart to pump more blood, putting it under significantly more stress.

Alahmad noted that global warming is not evenly distributed. Regions that are inherently hot, like Kuwait and the Arabian Peninsula, are recording higher temperatures than ever before. The world's highest temperature in the past 76 years -- 129 degrees F -- was recorded in Kuwait in 2016.

Alahmad also said in an American Heart Association news release that "We are sounding the alarm that populations in this part of the world could be at higher risk of dying from cardiovascular causes due to heat,".

SOURCE:

American Heart Associa-

tion, news release, March

30, 2020. consumer.

healthday.com/diseases-

and-conditions-informa-

tion-37/heat-and-sun-

stroke-health-news-370/

extreme-heat-of-

climate-change-could-

triple-heart-related-

deaths-756167.html


Spring 20208

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:EDUCATING STUDENTS

TO UNDERSTAND EPIDEMICS

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO), and different governments around the World have been taking necessary measures to stop the spread of this new virus. With guidelines from WHO, many countries are taking radical action to limit the spread of this pandemic. This includes shutting down non-essential businesses, schools and universities.

More than 1.5 billion children and young people around the world out of schools and Universities due to COVID-19 [1]. According to the Director-General of UNICEF, Audrey Azoulay, educational disruption on such a scale has never been observed, and that the only way forward is partnership through a broad coalition to ensure learning never stops. Since closing schools to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have been deploying distance learning solutions and grappling with the complexity of provisioning education remotely, from delivering content and supporting teachers to providing guidance to families and addressing connectivity challenges.

On the other hand, teachers have to think about how they can lead students to understand this situation better. When they know about this better, they will deal with the situation much better. It is not just the number of people infected with a disease, but also the dynamics of the epidemic or pandemic. The most important thing to note during an outbreak is how the number changes through time [2]. As UNICEF is fostering a coalition for coordinated and innovative action to unlock solutions that will not only support learners and teachers now, but through the recovery process, Educators need to encourage innovation and develop new methods of instruction to prepare students to face the diversity of today's changing world.

I taught Korean students a course on how Epidemics spread, using the game which was developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology System Dynamics Group. The Epidemic Game was

developed by Will Glass at the Catalina Foothills School District, Tucson, Arizona, 1993. The game demonstrated how during an epidemic, diseases are spread from person to person, just like the case with the COVID-19. With this game, students would be able to see what is happening in the world now instinctively. The game uses an educational tool for exploring epidemics or pandemics like the COVID-19.

This game is simple and shows how the behavior of epidemics change over time.

The game requires at least 35 players to get a clear pattern of the behavior. The students to participate in this game should play the game for about 4 minutes. More details of the game can be found in the book “The shape of change (2005)”. It is available from the Creative Learning Exchange at www.clexchange.org.

EPIDEMIC GAME RULES1. You will each receive a sheet to track the results

of the game.2. You will each be given a secret number which will

be already filled in on your record sheet.3. Secrecy is very important to this game.4. You will play the game about 20 rounds. In the

first round, find any other student, and quietly tell each other your numbers. Then, on your own, secretly multiply your two numbers together and record the product on the next line of your sheet. This will be your new number for the next round.

5. Example: If you have a 1 and the other student has a 2, you will both get 1 X 2 = 2 for your new number on the next line.

6. Second round: Find any other student, exchange numbers, secretly multiply them together, and record the new product for the next round.

7. Continue to do this until the teacher ends the game.

[3] Quaden, R., Ticotsky, A., & Lyneis, D. (2009)


Spring 2020

In this game, the interaction that drives the spread of an epidemic is represented by the multiplication of numbers. One student will be assigned the number zero, while the rest will be assigned the number one. As they multiply their numbers together in pairs, the repeated multiplication process will cause more and more products to result in zero. In other words, the number zero simulates the infective agent spreading through the population. An educator doesn't divulge this background information to students. Their motivation and learning are much more effective when they discover the structure for themselves.

In order to increase the playing population in the simulation, participants will think of each of their hands as a separate person and repeat the steps of the game for each hand. One student begins the game infected with a disease. While interacting with other students through handshakes, the infected student spreads the disease to everyone in the group and eventually resulting in an epidemic with everyone infected. Data of the time at which each person becomes infected is privately recorded, and the information is graphed to show the behavior of the system. With minutes simulating months, the game will run at one-minute intervals allowing one contact per person per minute with a 50% infection probability. The disease will be passed by using the handshake.

Individual Work SheetAfter the game

is played, students will be challenged to determine the dynamics of the game. In other words, to determine the changes in the cumulative number of infections during the game. Without revealing the actual data, students will be asked to draw behavior over time graphs representing

what they think happened to the total number of students with a product of zero during the game using the worksheet.

Then, using the recorded data, the number of new infections for each turn is tallied up to produce graphs of both the actual number of new infections and the number of cumulative infections versus time. The student who had their FIRST entry of zero in the beginning will be asked to raise his/her hands. (This should be only one student.) The information will be recorded on the first column of the Teacher’s Sheet. Ask for hands to count how many students had their FIRST entry of zero in the second round.

Repeat this for all subsequent rounds and record the information until there are no new “infections” with zero. Results should not yet be revealed to the students. It is essential to record only the number of new students infected each round in the first column. You will also need the total number of infected students as the game progressed. Record this in the second column of the Teacher’s Sheet, by keeping a running tally and adding the number of new students each round, as below.


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EDUCATOR’S CLASS SHEET

Students will share their predictions with their teammates, reach a consensus and draw the team graphs on their worksheets again. As an educator, your role for the purposes of this discussion will be as a facilitator than a lecturer. The educator will lead students to make a hypothesis, presentation of hypotheses, reason for hypotheses, resolution, graph of results from gameplay in order. Compare the student predictions with a graph of the actual results of the game.

The discussion that follows the actual simulation is probably the most important part of the exercise. Students are engaged in an intuitive exploration of the structure of the epidemic — the set of interrelations that make up the epidemic system. In this lesson, students will gain an understanding of the connection between the structure and the dynamics of an epidemic by modeling the epidemic.

As the sick population rises, the influence of the number of Sick People on the infection rate becomes weaker and the influence of the number of Healthy People on the infection rate becomes

stronger. The rate of new infections starts off slowly but increases at an increasing rate. When the rate reaches its maximum (top of bell curve), the total number of infections continues to increase, but at a slower rate. So, while the number of NEW infections is DECREASING, the TOTAL number of infections is still INCREASING. At the point when the number of new infections is zero, the total number of infections has reached its maximum – everyone is infected. A behavior over time graph is a line graph sketch showing how the number of infections changed overtime during the game. It reveals a pattern of behavior. The graph helps students understand the progress of the “infection” and its real-world implication.

At this point, we can talk about the feedback loop. A reinforcing feedback loop must be at work here too, causing the exponential growth we see in the graph at the beginning of the game. Maybe a loop like this one was causing the growth: A balancing loop must be causing the leveling off the infected population in the Infection Game. An increase in New Infections caused a decrease in the number of Healthy People. Fewer Healthy People led to fewer New Infections because an infected person was less likely to encounter a healthy person to infect. Healthy People still decreased but at a slower and slower rate. Students can make basic feedback loops, based on the graph and can go further.

Infected people encountered fewer and fewer healthy people as the game went on. The number of Infected Contacts with Healthy People depended on the proportion, or fraction, of the class that was still healthy. When a larger fraction of the class was healthy, the chance of an infected person meeting


Spring 2020

a healthy person was higher. The Fraction That Is Healthy is the fraction of the whole class that is still healthy. It is the likelihood that an infected person will meet a healthy person. As the fraction of the population that is healthy grows smaller, there are fewer infected contacts with healthy people, causing fewer new people to get sick. The rate of Getting Sick slows down. This stock/flow map captures the dynamics of the Infection Game. Its two feedback loops are both necessary and sufficient to explain the S-shaped growth we observed.

The game is a simplified version of reality. It is important to keep in mind that the game includes a few assumptions that make it different from real life. However, by simplifying reality, it is easier to understand the “structure” of reality [5]. After this game, students will understand when they make a larger healthy fraction of the society, washing hands, keeping distance with people, they can make the exponential growth slow down. I believe that students can gain valuable insights and inquiry skills approaching a problem in this way.

AUTHOR: Sehee Oh, WIT Representative

REFERENCE:[1] https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationre-sponse/globalcoalition[2] Glass-Husain, W. (1991). Teaching system dynamics: looking at epidemics. System Dynam-ics in Education Project. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved from http://clexchange. org/ftp/documents/Roadmaps/RM5/D-4243-3. pd f.[3] Quaden, R., Ticotsky, A., & Lyneis, D. (2009). The infection game. The Creative Learning Exchange, 18(1), 1-12.[4] Quaden, R., Ticotsky, A., & Lyneis, D. (2005). The shape of change. Acton, MA: Creative Learn-ing Exchange.[5] Forrester, J. W. (1993). System dynamics and the lessons of 35 years. In A systems-based ap-proach to policymaking (pp. 199-240). Springer, Boston, MA.

OTTAWA SET TO DECLARE PLASTICS AS TOXIC SUBSTANCE

as early as 2021, as part of a national strategy to reduce waste and pollution. In a minority parliament, it is considered more expedient for the government to use the existing act than to curry multiparty support for new legislation regulating plastics.

In an e-mail, Environment and Climate Change Canada signalled that the government will, indeed, designate plastics as toxic. “In order to take concrete regulatory action to reduce plastic waste and pollution under CEPA, substances must first be added to Schedule 1,” the department said in an e-mail.

Bob Masterson, the president and CEO of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, said he is disappointed the government is poised to go that route. Over the past several months, the association, whose members include petrochemical companies that produce plastics, has been urging federal officials to instead amend CEPA’s pollution-prevention provisions or introduce standalone legislation.

“We’re uncomfortable with the notion that products that are used every day to keep food safe and sanitary, are going to be declared toxic,” he said. “We understand

that it’s just a designation for rulemaking, but it will be used as a reason by some campaigners to encourage people to stop using plastics.”

The association is registered to lobby the government with the goal

“We need to move away from our reliance on fossil fuels, regardless of what format they’re in,” she said. “We’re in

a climate crisis. We’re in a plastic pollution crisis. We’re in an oceans crisis. We’re in a biodiversity crisis.”

- Sarah King, Greenpeace Canada

“The federal government in Canada intends to designate plastics as toxic substances, a move industry stakeholders say is unduly aggressive and detrimental to the sector’s brand.”

Listing plastics as toxic under Schedule 1 of the Canadian

Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) will provide the government with the authority to regulate and limit certain products. The Liberals campaigned during the fall election on a promise to ban some single-use plastics


Spring 202012

of ensuring “the ban on single-use plastics does not negatively impact the chemistry or plastics industry,” the federal registry shows. Several environmental groups, consumer associations and major petrochemical companies are also registered to lobby on the issue.

Virtually all plastics produced globally are made from fossil fuels. Most plastics in Canada come from ethane, a component of natural gas. Alberta’s associate minister of natural gas, Dale Nally, said Ottawa is exhibiting a “knee-jerk reaction” to the challenges caused by the growing use of plastics. “Single-use plastic is not the problem – waste is the problem,” he said in a recent interview, adding that technological innovations will enable petrochemical companies to transform plastic waste into feedstock for their next production cycle.

Earlier this year, the federal government released a draft state-of-the-science assessment on plastic pollution, which says that macroplastics with particles greater than five millimetres cause harm to the environment. The impacts of microplastics were found to be less clear and sometimes contradictory.

Environmental Defence Canada is among the advocacy organizations that for months have urged the government to deem plastics toxic. In a report slated for release on Wednesday, the group recommended that Ottawa include plastics in Schedule 1 as a precursor to a ban on specific polymers (such as polystyrene, which is used to make Styrofoam) and certain single-use items (such as cutlery and lightweight plastic bags).SOURCE: theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-ottawa-set-to-declare-plastics-as-toxic-substance

COVID-19 AND MENTAL HEALTH

Studies indicate that as the COVID-10 pandemic is expanding, so is the growing mental health concerns. There is a growing number of people

complaining of mental health distress, and this has emerged as a serious social problem (1).

Malaysia’s Sanitary Admin-istration reported that excessive worries about COVID-19 leads to sleep disorders and lack of appetitie, as well as concentration problems, and other anxiety

disorders. WHO has also released a report that many people are under severe stress due to the coronavirus and introduced guidelines on how to cope with the stress.(3)

Unfortunately, Social Net-working Service (SNS) reports many unconfirmed facts about COVID-19 which create unnecessary fear and anxiety. It is therefore important to obtain accurate information from sources such WHO (World Health Organization) or CDC (Center for Disease Control). It is important not to be disoriented by fake news as they are meant to distort facts, cause fear and inappropriate behavior. (2)

REFERENCE: Picchio, M, J C van Ours (2019), “The Mental Health Effects of Retirement”, CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP14135.; Wu, K, K Leung and G M Leung (2020), “Nowcasting and fore-casting the potential domestic and international spread of the 2019-nCoV outbreak originating in Wuhan, China: a modeling study”, The Lancet 395(10225): 689-697.; WHO. WHO releases guidelines to help countries maintain essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic 30 March 2020 who.int/news-room/detail/30-03-2020-who-releases-guidelines-to-help-coun-tries-maintain-essential-health-services-during-the-covid-19-pandemic

NCAA ‘Covid-19 & Mental Health’

The best defense against any outbreak is a strong health system,” stressed WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“COVID-19 is revealing how fragile many of the world’s health sys-tems and services are, forcing countries to make difficult choices

on how to best meet the needs of their people.”


Spring 2020

SOUTH KOREA’S RESPONSE TO COVID-19

Currently, the world is fighting an invisible, but powerful enemy. Due to the pandemic named COVID-19, it seems that the whole world is passing through a long tunnel with no end. The reason COVID-19 is scary is probably because of its unprecedented strong infectivity. One of the most notable features of this pandemic is the fear that a disease, which does not have remedies, may not only be able to infect you without you knowing about it, but may also infect others around you.

South Korea was the second country in the world to become a big victim of the corona virus after China. The national infectious disease crisis level was raised to “attention” on 20 January, as the first confirmed case occurred within the country, and from 18 February cluster’s infection emerged in Daegu, South Korea, hence they raised the crisis level to “serious” (23 February). Hereupon all schools delayed to start a new semester and universities decided to teach online for a few weeks even after starting the semester. The government began to intensify the response system to COVID-19 in earnest, focusing on quarantine.

Fortunately, South Korea's diagnosis and prevention based on the three principles - transparency, openness, and democracy - were impressively fulfilled in terms of speed and scope, led to a fairly successful initial response and received favorable reviews from the foreign press. The German news magazine “Spiegel”, for instance, mentioned that the Korean government's approach could provide important clues to the new virus to medical teams around the world.[1] Indeed, South Korea

has now seen a stabilizing trend in the number of the confirmed patients, leaving more people fully cured and released per day than the number of the newly confirmed positive cases. As all countries are thinking at the moment about what factors are effective in this new type of crisis, the South Korean case coping with COVID-19 is expected to set a pattern for further management of the disease for many other countries.

In order to prevent the spread of infection in advance, it is necessary to detect the patients at

an early stage. According to Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), South Korea has been carrying out with the vast task of diagnostic testing.[2] South Korea's tests are being conducted up to 17,000 cases a day, and the cumulative number of the tests reaches 380,000 as of the current standard (28 March). Although the number of confirmed patients surged, which was actually counted as the result of the overwhelmingly large number of testing, the aggressive tests could be the strongest defense and contribute to lower mortality. Then how was it possible to diagnose all of them in early stages?

The answer lies first in the diagnostic reagents for emergency use. The South Korean government was quick to discuss about rapid testing when there were only four domestic confirmed patients at the end of January, and approved the diagnostic kit in a week. Seegene Inc., in Seoul, explained that it usually takes at least three months to a year to develop a particular product, but

they were able to complete it in two weeks as being requested from the government to develop the reagent kit as quickly as possible.[3] South Korea's diagnostic kit is currently (25 March) asked for the import from 47 countries including the United States, Iran, and the Netherlands, and 39 other countries are requesting the kits as humanitarian assistance. Five Korean companies are producing 135,000 diagnostic reagents every day, of which Seegene has been already exporting 95 percent of its production.[4]

In addition, the Korean government introduced the efficient operation of screening centers. According to the KCDC as of 16 March, 635 clinics and medical institutions are operating screening centers to further improve patient access to diagnostic tests, of which 94.8 percent (602 locations) are equipped to collect samples onsite for rapid tests without needlessly complicated procedures. [5] Furthermore, screening center operation models have also been diversified to include drive-throughs, so that anyone who wants testing can complete the test within a few minutes at no cost.

Use of epidemiologic surveys is also considered to be one of the biggest efforts of South Korea for preventing COVID-19, through which the central and local governments track infection sources and promptly isolate those who have come in contact with a patient. All citizens are immediately alerted by text message once there emerges a confirmed case in their city, and can check the route information of where and how long the infected people have been around in the past 14 days via Corona map. The route of the confirmed person is identified through a thorough epidemiological investigation

“We acted early. But much of it surprised us – especially

how fast it moves,” Korean Foreign Minister explains


Spring 202014

in order to prevent additional infections, based on their credit card use history, CCTV, and mobile phone location information, etc. The information is selectively disclosed only about public place in contact with others, so that it minimizes excessive invasion of privacy of the confirmed person.

Despite such signs of an improvement of the situation, however, there is still no room for complacency in South Korea as well. It is because an easygoing attitude and a brief moment of inattention would cause the cluster of infections again. It is really miserable that this disease, reminiscent of the wartime situation, has been causing numerous casualties all over the world. We are in need of solidarity by being more prudent and sharing the same mind. The virus, which threatens everyone regardless of races, ethnicity, and religions, has aroused concern that this crisis situation might be prolonged in many parts of the world including South Korea. Perhaps many things in society are expected to change. We who live in the era of the current trend of globalization should cooperate with one another to deal with this pandemic. I hope South Korea stands at the center of its role of international solidarity and cooperation without hesitation.

AUTHOR: Eunyoung Jang, WIT Alumni

REFERENCE: [1] Katharina Graça Peters, (2020, February 29). Südkoreas Strategie der radikalen Transparenz. The Spiegel. spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/covid-19-in-sued-korea-dem-virus-digital-auf-der-spur-a-50ef1096-ce69-465e-885c-bc77b3443feb[2] Coronavirus Disease-19, Republic of Korea. Quarentine System. [Official Website] ncov.mohw.go.kr/en/baroView.do [3] The Blue House. (2020, March 27). [Video]. president.go.kr/articles/8361. [4] JTBC News. (2020, March 25). [Video]. news.jtbc.joins.com/html/980/NB11941980.html. [5] Coronavirus Disease-19, Republic of Korea. Quarentine System. [Official Website] ncov.mohw.go.kr/en/baroView.do

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"Ingenious: The Unintended Consequences of Human Innovation". Challenges and Consequences of our Success. By Sir Peter Gluckman and Professor Mark Hanson Quote from the book:


Spring 2020

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Spring 202016

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As we face pandemic of the 21st century, it seems appropriate to reflect on human pattern of behavior. What comes into mind are two of the most lethal characteristics, apathy and complacency. In times of crisis, most individuals choose not to confront the pertinent issue and instead, opt to live in a fictitious world where the suffering of others has no effect on their daily lives. Whether it be the plight of environmental degradation, or the peril of humans around the globe; indifference is the main factor in the perpetuation of strife.

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