Do you know someone with cancer? With heart disease? With asthma? What about someone who’s been a victim of a wild fire, hurricane, or flood? Chances are that you, or someone you love, has experienced one of these environmentally related health problems.

It’s no surprise that human health and the environment go hand in hand. Environmental issues contribute to devastating health concerns such as worsening water and air quality, toxic waste exposure, poor housing, and pre-mature death. We need the environment to be healthy for us to be healthy. Surprisingly, this connection is often lost. Since people tend to care more about their own health than they do the environment, bylinkinghealth and the environmental the natural strength of human self-interest can be used to energize action.

Last summer I volunteered with the Environmental Voter Project, an organization pushing for environmental action. They know that politicians want to win elections. So, when environmental issues are a low priority for citizens they are a low priority for politicians. Environmentalists tells us to reduce pollution, switch to renewable energy, and prevent habitat loss in order to protect nature, but this framing can feel pretty distant and makes inspiring action challenging.

The environmental health movement takes a different approach. It places human health, rather than the health of the nature, at the center of concern. Health impacts are visible, personal, and prevalent.Framing environmental problems as health problems appeal to deeply held values and morals for human well-being and family health among Americans, and thus engages those who might otherwise be dismissive. Although it may seem to be a subtle difference from the environmental movement, it has a big impact on how issues are framed and communicated to the public.

A national online survey asked U.S residents to read news articles about climate change that focused on risk to the environment, public health, or national security and the benefits of mitigation and adaptation solutions. The survey found that “the public health focus was the most likely to elicit emotional reactions consistent with support for climate change mitigation and adaptation.” People respond positively to emphasis on public health consequences, and to the health benefits of action.

The success of this strategy can be seen in the environmental breast cancer movement. In the U.S  vulnerable, low-income communities of color bear the heaviest burden of environmental toxins that harm human health. Breast Cancer Action is an organization fighting for breast cancer research, awareness, and treatment that focuses on addressing root causes such as decreasing involuntary environmental exposures that put people at risk.

On the other hand, an environmental issue that would be more compelling if framed in terms of health is food security. In a developed country with an abundant food supply like the U.S food security can seem distant, but research is finding that quality matters just as much as quantity. Globally, when pollution, particularly CO2, rises nutritional values of food decline and people are put at risk of nutrition deficiencies. Deficiencies can exacerbate health concerns such as obesity and are particularly harmful to child development.

Scientific reports repeatedly tell us that health is jeopardized by the environment. Last year 16 extreme weather disasters in the U.S cost over $313 billion and took thousands of lives. Recently we have witnessed the deadliest wildfire California has ever seen- $400 billion estimated in damage, over 250 acres burned, and over 100 people dead or missing. Across the world in China’s major cities heavy smog fills the skies taking the lives of 1.6 million people a year. Every day air pollution deteriorates the wellbeing of China’s population.Severe weather events and pollution rage on around the globe.

Today, the environmental health movement is expanding nationally and globally as a holistic and collaborative approach to health. The World Health Organization,American Public Health Association, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences are among major organizations whose missions exemplify the necessity of the movement. By placing people’s values for health and well-being at its core, the environmental health movement is transforming the nature of environmental debate in ways that science and data alone can’t.

If protecting the environment for the sake of preserving it isn’t your thing, then do it for the sake of your health. Making environmental issues a top priority on the political agenda can save lives, including yours and those you love.

Photo Source: https://www.kennebunkportme.gov/public-health-department