Health and the Environment in the Southeastern United States Rebuilding Unity: Workshop Summary (2002) / Chapter Skim
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4 Human Health and the Natural Environment
4 Human Health and the Natural Environment
Pages 22-28
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From page 22... ...
of research and legislation has been identifying and regulating environmental tonics to reduce harmful human exposures. The effect of various environmental exposures, such as toxic chemicals, air pollution, and biological agents on the human body, is commonly perceived as the central problem in environmental health.
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From page 23... ...
This evidence of health benefits from contact with the natural world suggests a broader paradigm of environmental health that includes health-giving environmental exposures (Frumkin, 2001~. A panel of speakers and respondents discussed strategies for ensuring human health through the maintenance of a healthy natural environment.
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From page 24... ...
We are used to regulations and have often used them to good effect, but people dislike being regulated, and insufficient attention is paid to 90 percent of existing regulations. Odum suggested that perhaps market incentives for promoting environmental health and reducing pollution should be considered.
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As a result, marshes are now considered more valuable left in their natural state than filled in and developed. Odum suggested that a spirited debate about the costs and benefits of extending market principles to environmental health is warranted.
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From page 26... ...
Such a solution could also potentially transform government regulatory agencies into partners prepared to assist industry in reducing the environmental impact of waste in a cost-effective manner. This approach has been taken by the Blue Circle Cement Company in Atlanta, which worked with the Pollution Prevention Assistance Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to identify potentially useful waste byproducts from other industrial companies in the region.
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From page 27... ...
A second step is to create outreach programs for educating individuals about environmental health issues such as water quality. An example of such a program is the bacteria alert network for the Chattahoochee River conducted by Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper in concert with the Georgia Conservancy and several federal and state agencies, reported Kales.
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From page 28... ...
Fourth, our decisions about the environment need to be based on sound science, stated many participants. Fifth, approaches to environmental health, including generating environmental indices, have to take into account the particular circumstances of each locality, suggested Samuel Wilson, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health.
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