Human health is intimately intertwined with the health of our natural environment.

At the local level, community health - especially in poor and minority communities - is threatened by industrial emissions, contaminated drinking water, lead poisoning, toxic waste, and other forms of pollution. Furthermore, research increasingly shows a link between human wellbeing, physical activity, mental health, and the "built" environment -- buildings, roads, parks, and other structures that physically define a community.

The workplace is another important focus of efforts to promote health. According to the WHO, 100 million workers are injured and 200,000 die each year in occupational accidents, and 68-157 million new cases of occupational disease are attributed to hazardous exposures or workloads. Long-recognized workplace hazards, for example exposure to high levels of noise, dust and toxic chemicals remain serious problems. New hazards are emerging or just becoming apparent: work organization and psychosocial conditions are increasingly understood to be key contributors to chronic disease.

At the global level, the health of the entire planet is threatened by climate change. Global warming, if left unchecked, will lead to higher incidences of vector-borne diseases, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases due to worsening air quality, water-borne diseases due to increased clean water shortages, and deaths from natural disasters.

Environmental health comprises those aspects of human health, including quality of life, that are determined by physical, chemical, biological, social, and psychosocial factors in the environment (WHO).

PROJECTS

Climate Change and Human Health

Addressing global warming is a public health imperative. Numerous scientific studies have projected that if climate change continues at its current pace, the entire globe will suffer from disastrous health consequences. Scientists warn that we must significantly reduce our carbon emissions within the next ten years to prevent the worst impacts of global warming from occurring. THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW!

TAKE ACTION

• Urge Congress to Support New Global Warming Bills
• Tell ExxonMobil to Invest in Clean Energy Now
• AMSA/PSR's Medical Alliance to Stop Global Warming Update

CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE

• Calculate your carbon footprint
• What you can do to cut back or eliminate your footprint

BE A LEADER

• AMSA and Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) are collaborating on a national campaign to raise awareness among the medical community about the health consequences of global warming. In addition, we are working together to support legislation promoting energy efficiency. For more information go to Medical Alliance To Stop Global Warming.
• If you are interested in joining the the leadership of the national campaign, or hosting an event at your school, please contact Liza Goldman Huertas.

LEARN MORE

• Medical Alliance To Stop Global Warming
• The Medical and Public Health Impacts of Global Warming
• Inside the Greenhouse: the Impacts of CO2 and Climate Change on Public Health in the Inner City
• EcoHealth: Environmental Change and Our Health
• Climate Change Inequalities
• Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative
• Union of Concerned Scientists - Global Warming

Environmental Justice

Low income communities and communities of color bear a disproportionate burden of environmental hazards and have little access to green space and other environmental resources. As future physicians, it is essential that we are aware of these conditions and that we serve as advocates for the health of the people in these communities.

SUPPORT A LOCAL GROUP

• Seek out a local organization fighting for environmental justice and support their efforts.
• To find a local group go to EJ for All or search NRDC's EJ group list.
• To prepare for collaboration, read The Principles of Working Together.

LEARN

• Read the Principles of Environmental Justice as written by the 1991 National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit.
• Read about the early history of the U.S. environmental justice movement and view a report on trends in EJ in the US over the last 20 years.
• Explore an environmental justice perspective on climate change
• The Center for Health, Environment and Justice promotes precautionary action to protect human health and prevent pollution. The precautionary approach shifts the questions we ask about environmental hazards from "what level of harm is acceptable?" to "how can we prevent harm?"

EDUCATE

• Organize an Environmental Justice Tour to see first-hand how environmental discrimination occurs in your own city. An EJ Tour provides an opportunity for medical students to learn about issues of environmental injustice in their own neighborhoods, to meet community activists, to forge relationships with community members, and to begin creating change. Click here to review a sample EJ Tour itinerary. Contact Liza Goldman Huertas to organize an EJ Tour at your school.

ADVOCATE

• Environmental impacts from the mining and oil industry disproportionately effect workers, indigenous peoples, communities of color, and countries in the Global South, while the corporations that dominate these industries are located in the industrialized countries of the Global North. Organizations working to change this include ChevronToxico and the No Dirty Gold Campaign.
• Toxic chemicals in electronics are an emerging problem. More and more gadgets are produced and disposed of every year. But good alternatives do exist. Take Action! Greenpeace is asking Apple to remove the worst toxic chemicals from all their production lines, and offer free "take-back" for all their products everywhere they are sold. As a trendsetter in electronics, Apple's policies, among the worst, set a bad example for the whole industry. Green My Apple
• Get involved with Students for Bhopal. The Union Carbide chemical leak that occurred in Bhopal, India in 1984 is one of the most tragic examples of an environmental disaster perpetrated by a multinational corporation against a vulnerable population. Victims are still being denied effective medical treatment and safe drinking water. Students for Bhopal has been a leading voice for justice for the people of Bhopal. Petition Dow Chemical to take responsibility for the Bhopal tragedy and to clean up their abandoned site.