On September 30th I attended a lecture given by author and climate activist Bill McKibben. In his lecture, he was informative and passionate about what he stood for and what he is trying to accomplish in his goal. One project he founded was the 350 mission. 350 uses online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions to oppose new coal, oil and gas projects, take money out of the companies that are heating up the planet, and build 100% clean energy solutions that work for all. 350’s network extends to 188 countries. This mission stood out to me because in today’s society it is difficult to bring different countries together in efforts to reach one goal. Bill McKibben also discussed that climate change is dangerous to our health. Breathing in the toxins in the air can lead to serious health issues later on in life. This correlates to our in-class discussion of medicine and how so many people are unaware of the possible health issues caused by climate change. I personally was unaware of how dangerous climate change can truly be on one’s health.
This bring up the discussion of unintentional ignorance. Unintentional ignorance can relate to the topic of medical volunteerism. Medical volunteerism can be explained as health-care providers volunteer annually for short-term medical service trips. However, these “health-care providers” aren’t actually health care providers at all. They tend to be uncertified undergrad students that lack basic medical training. These students cause more harm than good due to their unintentional ignorance of believing that they are helping these communities. These students believe that it looks beneficial on their resume and will increase their chances of getting a job in the future. But the matter of fact is that these students never stick around long enough to face the outcome of these communities. Unintentional ignorance can create detrimental issues if not addressed.