Environmental
Health
Definitions
-- Web Sites --
"If you want to learn about
the health of a population, look at the air they breath,
the water they drink, and the places where they live."
- Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, in the Fifth
Century BC.
Definitions
- Environmental
Health - (home)
How do you define
Environmental Health?
Health is a complete state of physical, mental, and
social well-being, not just the absence of infirmity
or disease. (World Health Organization)
An
Ensemble of Definitions of Environmental Health
- November 20, 1998 - U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services Environmental Health Policy Committee
Risk Communication and Education Subcommittee
Inclusive Definitions
Environmental Health -“Conditions that
ensure that all living things have the best opportunity
to reach and maintain their full genetic potential.”
Steven G. Gilbert, 1999
Human Health Oriented Definitions
Environmental Health is defined as those factors in
the natural, built, and social environment which influence
human development, health and well being. (Australian
Institute of Environmental Health)
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. It also refers to the theory
and practice of assessing, correcting, controlling,
and preventing those factors in the environment that
can potentially affect adversely the health of present
and future generations. (World Health Organization (WHO)
- draft definition developed at a WHO consultation in
Sofia, Bulgaria, 1993)
Environmental health and protection refers to protection
against environmental factors that may adversely impact
human health or the ecological balances essential to
long-term human health and environmental quality, whether
in the natural or man-made environment. (National Environmental
Health Association (NEHA))
The definition of "environmental health"
has broadened to include the environment we create for
ourselves (by smoking or not smoking, and by our diet,
for example). It also includes the medicines and other
therapies we are prescribed, our occupations and places
of work, and our lifestyles: Are we couch potatoes or
joggers? Sexually reckless or responsible? Listening
to loud music or keeping the volume down? (see
- NIEHS)
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. It also refers to the theory
and practice of assessing, correcting, controlling and
preventing those factors in the environment that can
potentially affect adversely the health of present and
future generations. (Health,
Environment & Work)
Web
Sites
- Environmental Health
- (home)
National Environmental
Health Association - The mission of the National
Environmental Health Association is "to advance
the environmental health and protection professional
for the purpose of providing a healthful environment
for all."
National Institute
of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) - "Your
Environment is Your Health"
EnviroHealthAction
Network - a place where the health community can
learn and take action - Powered by Physicians for Social
Responsibility
America's
Children and the Environment (ACE) -- America’s
Children and the Environment brings together, in one
place, quantitative information from a variety of sources
to show trends in levels of environmental contaminants
in air, water, food, and soil; concentrations of contaminants
measured in the bodies of mothers and children; and
childhood diseases that may be influenced by environmental
factors.
The Collaborative
on Health and the Environment is a nonpartisan partnership
working to further knowledge, action and cooperation
regarding environmental contributors to disease and
other health problems.
Environmental
Justice
Definition
-- Web
Sties --
Definition
- Environmental Justice
- (home)
The EPA defines environmental justice as the
"fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all
people regardless of race, color, national origin, or
income with respect to the development, implementation,
and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations,
and policies." (see U.S.
EPA Environmental Justice)
"In sum, environmental justice is the goal to
be achieved for all communities and persons across this
Nation. Environmental justice is achieved when everyone,
regardless of race, culture, or income, enjoys the same
degree of protection from environmental and health hazards
and equal access to the decision-making process to have
a healthy environment in which to live, learn, and work."
(U.S. EPA)
Web Sites
Environmental Justice
Resource Center at Clark Atlanta University (accessed
4/27/04)
Outstanding recourse on EJ issues.
The California
Environmental Rights Alliance is a public interest
organization dedicated to achieving environmental justice
and improving community health in California. (accessed
18 July 04)
EnviroHealthAction
Network - a place where the health community can learn and take
action - Powered by Physicians for Social Responsibility
Global
Justice
The Earth Charter
is a declaration of fundamental principles for building
a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in
the 21st century. It seeks to inspire in all peoples
a new sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility
for the well-being of the human family and the larger
living world. It is an expression of hope and a call
to help create a global partnership at a critical juncture
in history. (see Earth
Charter)
The Earth
Charter document is an authoritative synthesis of
values, principles, and aspirations that are widely
shared by growing numbers of men and women in all regions
of the world.
Human
Rights
Definition
-- Web Sites -- Articles
--
Definition
- Human Rights - (home)
"In order to protect the environment,
the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by
States according to their capabilities. Where there
are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack
of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a
reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent
environmental degradation."
Principle
15: Rio Declaration 1992.
Web
Sites - Human Rights -
(home)
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights - On December 10, 1948
the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and
proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human
United
Nations - Human Rights. Links to many documents
from the UN on human rights.
United Nations Environment Programme
- UN web site on environmental issues
Office of the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights
League of Women Voters - see
Creating a Just Society
Human Rights
First works in the United States and abroad to create a secure
and humane world by advancing justice, human dignity and respect
for the rule of law.
Articles
- Human Rights - (home)
European
Communities
- Communication on the Precautionary Principle - 02.02.2000
Interrelationships
between the Precautionary Principle, Prediction
Strategies, and Sustainable Use of the Planet. by
John Cairns, Jr. Environmental Health Perspectives Volume
111, Number 7, June 2003
The
Precautionary Principle and Public Health - The
Precautionary Principle Also Applies to Public Health
Actions. by Bernard D. Goldstein, MD. September 2001,
Vol 91, No. 9. American Journal of Public Health 1358-1361.
© 2001 American Public Health
Association. (abstract below).
Rio
Declaration on Environment and Development. Stockholm,
Sweden: United Nations; 1992. Publication E.73.II.A.14.
Online. (accessed: 6 July 2003).
The
Precautionary Principle In Action a Handbook. Science
and Environmental Health Network, Joel Tickner, Carolyn
Raffensperger, and Nancy Myers. Online. (accessed: 6
July 2003).
The
Commons
Introduction
-- Information --
Garrett James Hardin born 1915 - Died Sept 14, 2003.
Jane Hardin - 1922 - Died Sept 14, 2003.
(they took their own lives)
Introduction
- The Commons
- (home)
For some problems there are no technical
solutions.
Quotes by Garrett Hardin (see Garrett
Hardin Quotations)
Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.
A managed commons, though it may have other defects,
is not automatically subject to the tragic fate of the
unmanaged commons.
Dipping into the great bulk of economic analysis, you
soon discover that environment is usually no more than
a ghost in the woodwork.
Economists (and others) who are satisfied with nature-free
equations develop a dangerous hubris about the potency
of our species.
Affirmative action implies that if we cannot guarantee
equality, then we should legislate equity.
Information
- The Commons
- (home)
The Tragedy of the Common - Science
Magazine Special Section - pdfs of many of the article
published in Science as well as web references (Online.
accessed 3.1.04)
The Tragedy
of the Commons, by Garrett Hardin, 1968 paper published
in the journal SCIENCE (162:1243-1248).
Extensions of "The
Tragedy of the Commons" by Garrett Hardin -
Science, 1998
A General Statement
of Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons, by Herschel
Elliott
The
Tragedy of the Commons, discussion by Garrett Hardin,
The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
Revisiting
the Commons: Local Lessons, Global Challenges by
Elinor Ostorm et. al., Science, 1999
The
Garrett Hardin Society is dedicated to the preservation
of the writings and ideas of Garrett James Hardin. A
common thread throughout his work is an interest in
bioethics.
Tragedy
of the Commons website
Sustainability
Sustainability
Gateway - University of Washington, Program on the Environment
- (accessed: 25 October 2004)
Global
Vision - Communicating Sustainability. Sponsored by
UNICEF, UNDP, UNEP, UNFPA, UNESCO & WHO - (accessed: 6 June
2004).
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