Nathan Tran

I am very student organizations, GlobeMed at UCLA, we sponsor various global health efforts in order to ameliorate issues in various global health sectors. My organization specifically is partnered with the Mpoma Community HIV and AIDS Initiative, a grassroots organization in South Central Uganda, comprised of individuals infected and affected by AIDS. Some of our projects are as followed:

Water Access Sanitation and Hygiene Project:
We build boreholes across villages in Uganda in order to promote access to clean water and mitigate infectious disease spread and water-borne diseases. We also developed a WASH curriculum we deliver to residents in order to educate individuals in South Central Uganda how to practice health-conscious sanitation and hygiene actions in managing their water sources.

Sanitary Pad Project:
We found that many girls in South Central Uganda were dropping out of school as a result of not being able to manage their periods. As such, we teach girls how to make reusable pads to manage their periods. We also teach boys and girls about sexual health in order to destigatize menstruation.

Project for Income Generation:
We found that villages were unable to raise money for maintenance fees for their boreholes. Thus, we developed the PIG project. In this project, we give each village a male and a female pig that breed. These pigs are sold to other villages to fund these boreholes, and is expected to be a self-promulgating fund.

One consideration I have made in my global health work is how to make it sustainable. In global health, this means making sure that individuals are empowered to manage their own health and infrastructure after your intervention. It also means that individuals use local resources and that these practices are good for the Earth. In our WASH project, this means focusing on empowerment by electing a water user committee, who are in charge of educating their own village members about WASH practices and collecting water user fees. In our Sanitary Pad Project, this means using local resources to ensure that we are not injecting outside capital and resources into a community. For the Project for Income Generation, this also means using local resources to ensure that our intervention is culturally cognizant.

If you are interested in exploring our organization further, here is our website: https://globemedatucla.wordpress.com/. I am wondering: if you are part of an organization that does work for health justice, what kinds of ways do you ensure that your work is sustainable?

My friends and I are trying to come up with more vegan alternatives to our favorite dishes. One alternative that we came up with is to the traditional macaroni and cheese. It is probably one of the easiest recipes I have ever made, and all you really need are a couple ingredients, a blender, and a stove. Here are the ingredients we used:

-Potatoes
-Carrot
-Macaroni
-Onion Powder
-Nutritional Yeast
-Garlic Powder
-Salt

Here are the steps we followed:

1.) Cut up carrots and potatoes
2.) In a pot, boil the carrots and potatoes until mushy
3.) Boil some macaroni
4.) In a blender, blend potatoes and carrots together--this will be your cheese
5.) Put blended potatoes and carrots into macaroni and mix
6.) Season with nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt to taste.

That's really it. You can adjust the recipe to your liking! All our friends tried the recipe, and we agreed that it wasn't necessarily a great mac and cheese alternative, but it was still a tasty and hardy meal. This exercise has really challenged me to try to be more adventurous with the foods I try to make for myself. There is such thing as finding ways to make meaningful change to preserve the environment while having fun with friends and sharing special moments with friends.

In one of my student organizations, I host what are called internal global healthU's, essentially conversations and discussions about global health equity and other health equity issues. We engage with 50 other club members on topics such as sustainable health, climate change, partnership, and health justice. As such, I hosted a group of 50 of us to watch the very poignant documentary "Period. End of Sentence," and facilitated a discussion accordingly. Before reading any more, I would just like to give a [SPOILER WARNING].

In the documentary,  the directors discuss the stigma of having a period--which has been historically associated with "uncleanliness." For women in India, this is very real. As a result of this stigma, these women did not have the menstrual health resources to manage their periods, and they used items like rags, leaves, and ashes. Because women were unable to manage their periods, many of them were dropping out of school and unable to participate in many social activities. This all changed when students of an American high school wanted to be involved in ameliorating this global health issue. After funding 8 pad machines, women were taught how to operate the machines in order to build safe, cheap pads with local resources. As a result, this increased empowerment for women to be in charge of their own periods, shed stigma, and empowered women to have a financial source of revenue through the production of these pads. 

After showing the film, I posed a series of questions including:

"What are your initial thoughts? Did anything strike you as particularly interesting? Do you have any questions?"
"Why is menstrual health even important? Generally speaking, how might not being able to manage one’s period affect one’s life? How does it affect society at large?"
"How does this project in India compare to our project in Mpoma? What differences can we identify in terms of cultural, geographical, and religious barriers that might affect these differences in projects?"

I was instantly struck by the thoughtfulness and the candidness of everyone's responses. Sai and Shreya talked about the stigma of menstruation was prominent when they visited India, where they couldn't find menstrual health products in a nearby gas station. Asli talked about how she makes a conscious effort not to hide her tampon under her sleeve when she is on her period because it is nothing she wants to hide. Austin talks about how he feels like menstruation is a tricky topic as a cis male. We continued to brainstorm how we could create change similar to the young global health advocates of the film.

If you have an opportunity to host a film or movie night on an health issue, I would very much recommend that you do. It doesn't have to be with a large group of people--it can just be you and your family, friends, roommates, etc. Then, after you watch it, take a moment to reflect on how you have seen this issue pop up in your life or how you can ameliorate it yourself.

Last weekend, my friends and I decided to get together to cook some food. For lunch, we decided to make homemade pizza. We took to Trader Joe's and got the following ingredients:

- Trader Joe's Pizza Dough
- Spinach
- Tomato Sauce
- Mozzarella Cheese
- Artichoke
- Mushrooms
- Tomatoes
- Alfredo Sauce
- Bell peppers
- Olive Oil
- Garlic
- Flour

This is the rough process of making our pizza:

1.) Prepare a baking pan by dusting it with flour; then, dust your hands with flour
2.) Take the pizza dough and hold it, while slowly rotating. The goal is to get the dough as flat as possible without it breaking. If you are lazy like me, you can just press it down on the pan
3.) Take tomato sauce or alfredo sauce and spread on pizza
4.) Put cheese on pizza
5.) Top with as many toppings as you would like
6.) Toss in oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit
7.) Cook to desired crisp (we just eyeballed it)

While not all of our pizzas were vegan/vegetarian, some of my friends are vegan/vegetarian, so we had the opportunity to try each other's pizzas. While I do enjoy eating meat, I think the vegan/vegetarian pizzas were almost as equally delicious. In addition, this night was really just a special moment in that it allowed me to connect with others through mindful preparation and consumption of food. If you can have a pizza night with your friends and challenge yourself to try different types of pizza (plant-based), I would encourage you to do that! Not only is it fun, but it allows you to know with greater precision what you are putting in your body. What's more, it may just get you thinking about a future reality with a plant-based diet.

Last week, I decided to try to aim to make sustainable changes in my life by shopping at a Farmers Market instead of my typical grocery store. As such, I took to the Spouts Farmer's Market at Westwood Boulevard. According to the Spouts website, Sprouts opened their first store in 2002 with the goal to make sustainable shopping more accessible to the lay person. As such, they created an accessible Farmers market type grocery store that minimizes unethical food production and pollution via harmful pesticides and chemicals. Their focus is on procuring and then selling healthy and affordable products. Sprouts also aims to be sustainable by donating leftover food to nonprofit organizations, food banks, and other service groups. In addition, Sprouts hosts regular culture and educational events in order to impress upon various communities the importance of healthy and sustainable living, shopping, and eating.

To detail my actual experience at my local Sprouts, I was immediately met with an unbelievably wide array of healthy, affordable, and sustainable options. Sprawled on top of the produce section was a big sign that said "ORGANIC." I immediately noticed that all the food was ethically sourced--for example, the eggs were all free range. It was refreshing to see that the store paid attention to ethical animal rearing welfare. Moreover, I noticed a wide array of transparent labeling including "Non-GMO," "Fair Trade," and "Certified Humane." Everything was displayed in wooden barrels, carts, etc. This paid homage to the practice of sustainable packaging and ran true even for individually packaged foods. Finally, I noticed signs that shared Sprouts' commitment to a zero waste future. These all cemented my knowledge that Sprouts was a sustainable alternative to typical grocery shopping.

Finally, I wanted to share some of the foods that I purchased during my shopping at Sprouts. I got really delicious vegan ravioli, dairy free yogurt, and pasture-raised eggs, among many other things. Something that surprised me about Sprouts is how many vegan alternatives there were for every single food. For some foods, there were no typical meat or dairy options. As an individual who is not a vegan, this was slightly intimidating. However, I appreciate the fact that I was challenged as a consumer to try these new alternative foods. I will say that these vegan alternatives held their own against their non-vegan counterparts.  One of the challenges to being a consistent shopper at Sprouts is that it is decently more expensive than other grocery stores. While it may not be completely amenable as a broke college student, I can safely say that I will at least shop at Sprouts once to twice a month now!

During the weekend, my friends and I decided to go thrifting at Goodwill and Buffalo Exchange.  In my experience, thrifting is a great way to reduce waste, while being economical and finding new clothing articles. According to the Goodwill website, each US individual throws away 60 to 80 pounds of textile away every year. These textiles end up in landfills, which can take up to years to breakdown. I also found out that producing just one shirt uses an exorbitant amount of water and energy--more than 400 gallons per shirt. As such, I see thrifting as a potential solution that mutually benefits the consumer and the Earth. In line with goals for a greener Earth, thrifting allows us to reuse others' articles of clothing that would otherwise go to landfills. On my end, thrifting is a great way to find new articles of clothing I may have not realized I wanted and is incredibly economical, considering I am a college student.

Another interesting dimension to thrifting is its intersection with fast fashion. Fast fashion is a term used to describe exploitative practices that keep clothes prices low in a capitalistic fashion-oriented market. Not only is fast fashion unsustainable for the environment in the ways that it produces textile waste, contributes to pesticide pollution for growing cotton, and increases fossil fuel pollution in manufacturing, it is also unethical. This is because it relies on child labor and the outsourcing of work from low to middle income countries--often global economies. Thrifting is a potential solution to fast fashion, as it constrains the demand for new clothes.

I estimate that in my own life, because of these converging benefits of thrifting, I thrift around 70-80% of all my clothes. I attribute this large number not only to the affordable cost and sustainable/ethical practices, but also to the fact that I enjoy thrifting with my friends. Moreover, there is a special feeling finding a piece of clothes serendipitously. Here is a shirt I thrifted last weekend for $4, which I believe would probably have costed around $20 if I had bought it for retail price. The following picture shows the breadth of clothing. Feel free to message me if you would like to come thrifting with me soon!

Last weekend, I took a trip to Joshua Tree, an American national park named so for its abundance in Joshua trees native to the Mohave Desert. In doing so, I made two goals: connecting to nature to contextualize my reasons for climate change and making the trip as sustainable as I could. While a desert, I noticed so much biodiversity in terms of cacti, Joshua trees, shrubbery, rats, insects, coyotes, and even tortoises. Being immersed in Joshua Tree over the three-day weekend opened my eyes to the value of rich biodiversity, as I feel that I currently exist in an urban echo chamber, unable to appreciate the beauty and value of nature. Unfortunately, after a quick google search, I found that "From 1895 to 2016, the annual precipitation dropped by 39 percent, and the average temperature increased by 3℉." This is such a problematic issue, as this decrease in precipitation and increase in temperature will indubitably affect the wildlife and disrupt the biodiversity of the park. As such, I realized my first goal in thinking about the effects of a post climate change world.

In regards to my second goal, I aimed to make the trip as sustainable as possible. We started with 7 of us being able to squish all our belongings and selves into 2 somewhat green-friendly cars. The score on my car is 52, which is significantly better than the average of 43. By car-pooling, we likely slashed our fuel emissions by more than three times. Moreover, I had brought a reusable water bottle and encouraged my friends to do the same. In doing so, we likely avoided using 50 plastic water bottles. Finally, I was fortunate enough to be able to try my first vegan hot dog! As a group, we agreed to try the vegan hot dog, and we agreed that it tasted almost the same as a regular hot dog. This trip had been a great way of revitalizing reasons to care about the environment and trying new sustainable practices. 

I decided to explore the truth about expiration dates, and I found that I have making the all too common mistake of conflating all food product dating as the same. In my exploration, I found that "best if used by/before" indicates when a food product will retain its best flavor or quality, sell by indicates when a store should take an item off their shelves, use by indicates when a product retains best quality, and freeze by indicates when a product should be frozen to maintain quality. Interestingly, none of these labels make clear demarcations of safety. Coupling these truths with the fact that the USDA estimates 30% of food is lost at the consumer level, it is clear that confusing date-labeling might contribute to food waste issues. Interestingly, the FSIS recommends the use of "best if used by/before" dating and urges consumers to judge safety of their food by smell. After this research, I decided to check my own refrigerator to investigate the breadth of labeling. I found my dressing had "use by," my tortillas had "sell by," my dessert had "best if used by/before," and my cheese had a label I could not identify. While I lament the systemic confusion of these labels, I am glad that I am informed about both key differences regarding each label and insight on how these dates signify quality, not safety. 

Hi ! Excited fo participate and looking forward to being more sustainable.