ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS ON HEALTH

Environmental health science predominantly involves studying how the environment influences health and human disease. Environment refers to natural elements such as the atmosphere, soil, and water. However, it also covers social, biological, and chemical features surrounding us daily. It is worth noting that the physical environment is the built or artificial structures encompassing our schools, work, and even living. The social environment entails socioeconomic status, exercise, and diet. The interaction of a human’s genetics impacts the health and the balance of their environment. The studies of the environmental factors influencing human health have been one of the contemporary concerns of medical and ecological researchers worldwide. Continuous research is needed to comprehend the impacts of the environment on health.

Effects of the Environment on Health

According to Dubos (1978), adaptation is the fit between the environment and the individual. The dynamic interplay between environment, person, and health is one of the most critical issues in analyzing creativity. A polluted environment predominantly means an unhealthy and unstable society. The impacts of pollution are numerous in society. Having a healthy community in an area with rapid pollution would be challenging. Pollution causes damage to plants, animals, and humans, as well as the entire environment.

The types of pollution that are universal globally are soil, water, and air pollution. Dubos advocates that environmental adaptation that impacts pollution may range from discomfort to complicated diseases. An environment infected with massive pollution may strongly lead to an unhealthy society. Intensive pollution affects the intensity of complex diseases such as physical deformities and cancer. Pollution leads to unhealthy living by causing adverse suffering to the community and other living things. Adaptation makes individuals unable to contact diseases within society. It is worth noting that individuals not adapted to a given environment will contract diseases. Air pollution may cause diseases such as asthma attacks, respiratory problems, and lung inefficiency. In a nutshell, environmental pollution affects the maximum health of society. Maintaining environmental health is a fundamental concept in the community. Many individuals find it terminally difficult to eliminate environmental pollution, which leads to an unhealthy environment (Dubos, 1978). Minimized environmental pollution will consistently facilitate reduced infection and diseases, thus promoting healthy living.

Many of our generation’s most challenging ethical questions address environmental and human health interactions. The issues that arise in environmental ethics are often global, dynamic, interdisciplinary, and complex in scope. Dubos suggests that discovering satisfactory solutions to environmental health problems will become crucial as human activities’ ecological effects continue to mount the relationship between the environment and human health. Environmental hazards and contamination by industries affect the utmost health of individuals by exposing them to food contamination and other social problems such as poor work conditions, poor housing, and poverty. Individuals living in noisy environments are prone to depression, heart disease, and various types of cancer due to rapid chemical emissions. Therefore, the environment will affect the well-being and the underlying health of the population (Dubos, 1978). Closely evaluating chemical emissions to the environment without complete control would be crucial to promote the entire population’s health.

Humans are usually adapted to their physical environment. The adaptation of humans to their environment is a relevant element in understanding how humans behave in a particular manner. A slight change in the physical environment adversely affects how individuals react and respond to the modifications meted on them. Increased use of fossil fuels in any environment will grossly affect the health of individuals in a given community. Fossil fuels may result in a rise in global temperatures, leading to global warming, thus causing discomfort to individuals. Such environments can cause unhealthy living for individuals by causing heat-related diseases such as skin cancer. An environment with decreased diversity will affect the health of individuals by giving the population limited options for creativity and adaptation (Dubos, 1978).

It is also worth noting that a physical environment with deforestation may cause individuals a high mortality rate in the long run. The effects of new technologies such as genetically modified organisms, biofuels, and nanotechnology impact human health. According to Dubos (1978, genetic selection and enforced adaptation can meet the challenges of the environment. In his central theme, he suggests that partial success and social animal drives the ecological surroundings, thus causing equilibrium. The narration indicates that the human environment can adversely affect people’s underlying health. The inability to conform to the natural environment influences creative behaviors, thus negatively impacting the health of individuals. A shift in the creative behavior of individuals globally may affect biodiversity, thus negatively influencing the ability to interact comprehensively.

When society is exposed to diverse conditions caused by the environment, the various is massive depending on how we react. The variability of the population affects a sensitive segment of the population. Therefore, humans must initiate pollution control and regulation as a lucrative pillar of public health. Humans must consequently positively respond to their environment to promote their health.