Environmental Health Clinic

The Environmental Health Clinic (xClinic) treats health issues as they relate to the external environment; and specific environmental issues as they relate to health. Appointments can be made to discuss environmental health concern on the clinic website.

Impatients (people too impatient to wait for legislative change to address local environmental issues) leave with prescriptions (rather than pharmaceuticals) to address their concerns. These include design interventions; data collection or prescription products, in addition to referrals to local community and research groups and participatory projects.

The clinic coordinates and analyzes the data generated by various strategies; most of which substantially involves impatients and local participants, drawing from a repertoire of mediagenic projects developed in environmental remediation. Similar to the medical records of traditional clinics, the EHClinic bears the burden recordkeeping. Yet, instead of blood pressure, and cholesterol levels, this clinic tracks, for example, indoor and outdoor air quality, the body burden of industrial contaminants in urban animals and their proximity to industrial facilities; or monitoring the effects of design interventions like a green roof; and local bird populations. As such, the data is not on or about the individual - it is precisely not private - it is to do with the shared space, air, water and environmental systems we inhabit and act upon. Hence the production fo this informational resource could be of tremendous value for many local organizations, and is open, available for analysis and comparison. Impatient records are based at the clinic social networking site (where they can upload images, video, data or commentary, in addition to the relevant academic research, governmental reports and rss feeds (like scorecard.org; environmentalhealthnews).

The health clinic is first and foremost a familiar institution. This familiarity enables the participation of people who are not professional activists, artists or scientists involved in environmental movements, they know how to make an appointment, without having to know how to translates their environmental concerns into effective actions. If they have ideas this provides a forum to discuss and develop these, or to draw on similar examples or relevant expertise. Furthermore, the clinic model is one of the few social institutional frameworks that provides direct, one-on-one accountability, and the opportunity for voluntary individualized education. There is something indelible about clinic visits, unlike attending a lecture or movie. Clinics are stable institutions, yet responsive to local populations, and as such provide sustained relationships built on personal interactions (you can go back years later and your are still on record). This also provided the possibility of longtinudinal analysis so difficult to support in a traditional research projects.

Clinic prescriptions are highly specified for the individuals, but may also be issued for schools (e.g. for measurable improvement in air quality); and other shared facilities. A prescription for improving the environmental services provided by Washington Square Park is being developed for the local community groups concerned that the Beaux Arts redesign increases the carbon footprint of the park. Using health as the common ground in this contentious context provides the opportunity for bipartisan evidence driven discussion.

The EHclinic is a framework to coordinate individual actions with high standards of evidence in the material realms of environmental change; to support and develop what we can be done at a local level, and if this can be accumulated to have substantial effect.

However, there are some important differences. Although the Environmental Health Clinic coordinates data collection and every citizen has a file (OK, wiki page); The public benefits of this approach are manifold (?). External phenomena have the advantage of being considerably easier to act upon collectively than individual symptoms. If one can address an external environmental ill effectively, the benefits are enjoyed by more than a single individual.

Introduction on:http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Portraits/mad_scientist A latest prescription product was awarded best of show in recent Haute Green exhibition: http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/05/28/hautegreen-best-in-show-inhabitat-awards/ Currently impatients have demanded prescription product that address the climate crisis and other environmental issues. the are involved in the data collection

By formulating environmental issues with respect to their direct health implications we . Why clinic bureaucracy instead of continuing the independent actions ..

External links

* [http://www.environmentalhealthclinic.net/clinic Clinic website ] .