What Is Environmental Health?

April 22 marks the 43nd anniversary of Earth Day, which reminds us of our personal and collective responsibility to preserve and protect our environment. At CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), we begin our celebration of Earth Day by observing National Environmental Education Week during the week leading up to it.

For many the word “environment” means the natural world—mountains, forests, rivers, oceans, animals, and the air around us. To others, the environment brings to mind “tree huggers,” the green movement, and “reduce—reuse—recycle.” These are logical connections and are all, indeed, part of what we mean when we use the term.

But the environment is really everything in the world surrounding us—from conditions affecting our basic physical needs (like healthy air, water and food) to conditions affecting our needs for safe communities and for personal satisfaction (such as needs for relationships, resources, and fulfillment).

Recent research has shown that many people continue to believe that “public health” refers to government health programs for financially vulnerable people. In fact, public health is about protecting populations—families, communities, cities, states, nations and tribes—from threats to their health, safety, and well-being.

Environmental public health professionals at CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) focus on protecting groups of people from everyday threats to their health and safety that result from elements in their environments.

When you think about it, all of our needs can be affected by the same environmental threat. For example, natural disasters, such as tornadoes or hurricanes, can endanger our physical health by affecting the safety of food, water, and shelter. Beyond threatening our physical health, disasters can also affect the health and safety of our communities by disabling community services or making access to medical care more difficult. And disasters can affect our mental and emotional health by creating family stress and eliminating any sense of control.

NCEH and ATSDR work to minimize environmental threats and ensure that physical, mental, and emotional health is protected in all environments. By doing this, we reduce costs for medical care and lost work time, protect the health of populations both in the U.S. and abroad, and save lives.