Environmental Health (EH) is a branch of public health protection that is concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment that may affect human health. Other terms that refer to the discipline of environmental health include environmental public health and environmental health and protection. EH is a field of science that studies how the environment influences human health and disease. “Environment” in this context means identifying and addressing how the environment impacts human health. (East TN State Univ.)
Environmental Justice (EJ) is defined as the just treatment and meaningful involvement of all people in environmental decision-making to ensure full protection from disproportionate environmental and health impacts, and equitable access to a healthy, sustainable, and resilient environment.1 Inspired by the Civil Rights movement, EJ became widespread in the 1980s at the intersection of environmentalism and social justice.2 Environmental injustice is experienced through heightened exposure to pollution and corresponding health risks, limited access to adequate environmental services, and loss of land and resource rights.3 EJ and sustainability are interdependent and are both necessary to create an equitable environment for all.4 (University of MI)
Climate describes what the weather is like over a long period of time in a specific area. Different regions can have different climates. To describe the climate of a place, we might say what the temperatures are like during different seasons, how windy it usually is, or how much rain or snow typically falls. When scientists talk about climate, they’re often looking at averages of precipitation, temperature, humidity, sunshine, wind, and other measures of weather that occur over a long period in a particular place. In some instances, they might look at these averages over 30 years. And, we refer to these three-decade averages of weather observations as Climate Normals. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
Climate Change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional, and global climates. These changes have a broad range of observed effects that are synonymous with the term. (NASA)
Global Warming is the long-term heating of Earth’s surface observed since the pre-industrial period (between 1850 and 1900) due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere. This term is not interchangeable with the term “climate change.” (NASA)
Georgia Information: In 2023, about 13.6 percent of Georgia’s population lived below the poverty line, according to Statista. This accounts for persons or families whose collective income in the preceding 12 months was below the national poverty level of the United States. This is relevant as research has shown a direct link between low income and exposure to environmental hazards. According to research published from the University of Chicago in 2022, a team of researchers found that living in a high-poverty neighborhood increases exposure to many different air toxics during infancy, that it reduces cognitive abilities measured later at age 4 by about one-tenth of a standard deviation, and that about one-third of this effect can be attributed to disparities in air quality.
According to a new report from Environment Georgia Research & Policy Center and the Frontier Group, five urban centers and rural areas in Georgia, collectively home to over 7.6 million people, suffered through more than 65 days of elevated air pollution in 2020. Air pollution increases the risk of premature death, asthma attacks, cancer, and other adverse health impacts, and causes 9,000 deaths every year in Georgia.
The Weelaunee forest, or South River forest, is set to be the new home of a police training center. The forest in Southeast Atlanta is home to wetlands that filter rainwater and prevent flooding. The Atlanta Police Department seeks to turn 300 acres of forest into a tactical training compound featuring a mock city.
