Environment and Health

This article examines the relationships between human populations and the natural and physical environment. Because of the coupled relationships between human health and the environment, global institutions such as the World Health Organization have intervened to prevent infectious and noncommunicable diseases by attending to their social and ecological determinants. It is generally accepted that human health depends upon a sustainable environment that provides opportunities for healthy decision-making and effective disease management. Multiple scholarly disciplines attend to health and environment interactions, including the fields of environmental health, social epidemiology, medical geography, and political ecology. Additionally, activists and policy-makers have received international attention by showing how human health is affected through disproportionate exposure to positives and negatives within the surrounding environment. Whether this means proximity to facilities that produce toxins and pollutants or access to green space and bikeways that promote healthy lifestyles, these factors have contributed to the linking of health with concerns for social and environmental justice.