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Studies repeatedly have found social disparities of health at many levels of spatial aggregation. A second body of empirical research, demonstrating relationships between an area's racial and class composition and its environmental conditions, has led to the rise of an environmental justice movement. However, few studies have connected these two sets of findings to ask whether social disparities in health outcomes are due to local environmental disparities. This chapter investigates whether the association between racial and socioeconomic composition and multiple health conditions across New York City zip codes is partly mediated by neighborhood physical, built, and social environments.

Although established theoretical models suggest that race differences in physical health are partially explained by exposures to environmental toxins, there is little empirical evidence to support these processes. We build on previous research by formally testing whether black–white differences in self-rated physical health are mediated by the embodiment of environmental toxins.

Using cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2007–2008), we employ ordinary least squares regression to model environmental toxins (from urine specimens) and overall self-rated health as a function of race and ethnicity. We employ the Sobel test of indirect effects to formally assess mediation.

Our results show that non-Hispanic black respondents tend to exhibit higher levels of total toxins, lead, and cadmium in their urine and poorer physical health than non-Hispanic whites, even with adjustments for age, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES). Our mediation analyses suggest that blacks may exhibit poorer physical health than whites because they tend to embody higher levels of cadmium.

Research limitations include cross-sectional data and restricted indicators of SES.

This study contributes to previous work by bridging the fields of social epidemiology and environmental inequality and by formally testing established theoretical models.

There have been speculations as to whether environmental friendly buildings are always healthy. Using lifecycle assessment (LCA) methodology, the purpose of this paper is to investigate lifecycle relationship between building sustainability and its environmental health impacts

In order to achieve this, a block of classroom was modelled with the aid of Revit software, and its lifecycle global warming potential (GWP) and human health impacts were analysed using green building studio and ATHENA impact estimator tools. Sensitivity analyses of the block of classrooms were then carried out by varying the building materials and energy use pattern of the original typology. The LCA was performed for seven alternative typologies that were achieved through variation in the building materials and energy use patterns.

For all the eight building typologies, the study shows a direct relationship between GWPs and human health impacts. This confirms that the more sustainable a building, the less its tendency for having negative health effects on building operatives, occupants and the wider environment. Again, the more green a building in terms of its materials and energy use pattern, the healthier the building becomes.

The human health impacts was evaluated by measuring amount of particulate matter (PM2.5) produced by the buildings while environmental impact was evaluated by measuring global warming (KgCO₂) potentials of the buildings throughout its lifecycle. The study has been based on the impacts of building materials and energy use patterns over the entire lifecycle of the buildings and materials used for construction.

The study established a positive relationship between GWP of building and its human health impacts. Thus, all arguments relating to the relationship between building sustainability and health are laid to rest by the paper.

This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on low-carbon consumption of dairy products through informational interventions. The empirical findings seek to enlighten developing countries' efforts in coping with climate change and potential dietary transitions.

A randomized controlled trial was designed to examine the effects of purpose-differentiated information interventions on individual dairy consumption. The experiment recruited and randomly assigned 1,002 college students into four groups to receive (or not) environmental or/and health information interventions.

The empirical analysis finds that health and combined information interventions have a positive impact on dairy consumption, while environmental information interventions' effect on dairy consumption is insignificant. In the context of the pandemic, health information interventions positively affected participants' perceptions and preferences for dairy products by delivering knowledge about their role in boosting immunity. However, environmental information interventions failed to do the same things as their insignificant effects on both perception and preference.

Macro-external shocks, such as public health events, may offset the impact of universal information interventions promoting pro-environmental behaviors. For a smooth dietary transition to achieve long-term environmental sustainability, diverse stakeholders must be included in more individualized interventions to guide daily consumption, especially in developing countries with large populations.

Environmental degradation resulting from human activities may adversely affect human health in multiple ways. Until now, policies aimed at mitigating environmental problems such as climate change, environmental pollution and damage to biodiversity have failed to clearly identify and drive the potential benefits of these policies on health. The conducted study assesses and demonstrates how specific environmental policies and instruments influence perceived human health in order to ensure input for a data-driven decision process.

The study was conducted for the 2004–2020 period in European Union (EU) countries with the use of dynamic panel data modeling. Verification of specific policies' impact on dependent variables allows to indicate this their effectiveness and importance. As a result of the computed dynamic panel data models, it has been confirmed that a number of significant and meaningful relationships between the self-perceived health index and environmental variables can be identified.

There is a strong positive impact of environmental taxation on the health index, and the strength of this relationship causes effects to be observed in the very short term, even the following year. In addition, the development of renewable energy sources (RES) and the elimination of fossil fuels from the energy mix exert positive, although milder, effects on health. The reduction of ammonia emissions from agriculture and reducing noise pollution are other health-supporting factors that have been shown to be statistically valid. Results allow to identify the most efficient policies in the analyzed area in order to introduce those with the best results or a mix of such measures.

The results of the authors' research clearly indicate the health benefits of measures primarily aimed at improving environmental factors, such as environmental taxes in general. The authors have also discovered an unexpected negative impact of an increase in the share of energy taxes in total taxes on the health index. The presented study opens several possibilities for further investigation, especially in the context of the rapidly changing geopolitical environment and global efforts to respond to environmental and health challenges. The authors believe that the outcome of the authors' study may provide new arguments to policymakers pursuing solutions that are not always easily acceptable by the public.

As environmental health scientists increasingly take up genetic/genomic modes of knowledge production and translate their work for applications in biomedicine, risk assessment, and regulation, they “bring the human in” to environmental health issues in novel ways. This paper describes the efforts of environmental health scientists to use molecular technologies to focus their research inside the human body, ascertain human genetic variations in susceptibility to adverse outcomes following environmental exposures, and identify individuals who have sustained DNA damage as a consequence of exposure to chemicals in the environment. In addition to transforming laboratory research, they see in these such practices the opportunity to advance public health, through innovations in biomedical practice and refinement of environmental health risk assessment and regulation. As environmental health scientists produce and translate these new forms of knowledge, they simultaneously assume and instantiate specific notions of the human subject and its agency, possibilities, and responsibilities vis-à-vis health and illness. Because dimensions of human subjectivity remain under-theorized in bioethics, sociological approaches to understanding and situating the human subject offer an important means of elucidating the consequences of genetics/genomics in the environmental health sciences and highlighting the social structures and processes through which they are produced.We are responsible for the world in which we live not because it is an arbitrary construction of our choosing, but because it is sedimented out of particular practices that we have a role in shaping. –Barad, 1998

This study contributes to the understanding of the health effects of pesticides exposure and of how pesticides have been and should be regulated.

This study presents literature reviews for the period 2000–2013 on (i) the health effects of pesticides and on (ii) preference valuation of health risks related to pesticides, as well as a discussion of the role of benefit-cost analysis applied to pesticide regulatory measures.

This study indicates that the health literature has focused on individuals with direct exposure to pesticides, i.e. farmers, while the literature on preference valuation has focused on those with indirect exposure, i.e. consumers. The discussion highlights the need to clarify the rationale for regulating pesticides, the role of risk perceptions in benefit-cost analysis, and the importance of inter-disciplinary research in this area.

This study relates findings of different disciplines (health, economics, public policy) regarding pesticides, and identifies gaps for future research.

Risk governance is being successfully inserted into scientific and political agendas as a way to understand and address complex problems, such as health problems that have both social and ecological dimensions. However, to date, the debate on risk governance has remained rather conceptual. This chapter addresses these lacunae through describing research that was conducted on the Flemish environmental health governance arrangement and draws on this empirical case study to suggest ways that risk governance can be put into practice.

The case study analysis was conducted through a mixed methods study that combined document analysis and data gathered through 22 in-depth interviews with environmental and health scientists as well as policymakers.

This research shows that the Flemish environmental health risk governance arrangement has succeeded in increasing the exchange of information between: (1) governments at a variety of levels; (2) scientists, policymakers and the general public and (3) environmental and public health civil servants. The analysis also provides insights into some shortcomings and makes recommendations for ameliorating this arrangement: (1) the integration of environmental health objectives into all relevant policy domains, (2) the need for additional research into environmental health indicators and (3) the facilitation of the co-production of knowledge and multi-actor governance.

Empirical contributions and analysis about risk governance and policy formation processes are not often conducted. The added value of this Flemish case study is that it presents an example of good practice from which lessons for future risk governance arrangements can be drawn.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) between gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and environmental indicators in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Additionally, this paper also explores the relationship between health and income levels in the GCC to identify whether higher incomes necessarily affect overall health metrics.

The first part of this paper studies the relationship between GDP per capita and the greenhouse gases (GHGs) – carbon dioxide (CO₂), nitrous oxide (N₂O) and methane (CH₄) (all per capita data). The second part of this paper explores the relationship between GDP per capita and the following health variables: life expectancy, infant mortality and child mortality – for GCC countries during 1980–2012. Unit root tests were conducted, followed by cointegration analysis, leading to Granger causality test and vector error correction model.

GCC states are highly dependent on fossil fuel production and hence depend on hydrocarbons for GDP growth. Most of the GCC states demonstrate lack of the EKC curve. However, there is evidence of U-shaped relationship between environmental pollutants and GDP per capita in kingdoms like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (KSA). United Arab Emirates (UAE), on the other hand, demonstrates EKC, though not significantly. The study then explores the existence of potential relationship between health and GDP in the GCC, where it has been found that higher incomes have driven a better standard of living resulting in improved health metrics and higher life expectancy rates. Thus, growing incomes have played a positive role by improving health parameters and by offsetting some of the negative impacts from lack of environmental improvement as demonstrated by the absence of EKC in general in GCC.

GHG emissions data are individually and empirically examined for each country in the GCC. Furthermore, the study delves into the environmental problems that lead to health issues, which were initially caused by pollution. The results of the empirical analysis provide strong evidence that GCC countries need to rely less on fossil fuels, as lower productivity due to higher pollution reduces income and economic growth in most countries.

Sustainable health care combines three key factors: quality patient care, fiscally responsible budgeting and minimizing environmental impact. Although pollution is well understood as a health problem, US health planners have not fully recognized the need to reduce health‐care pollution. Minimizing health‐care pollution, moreover, requires reducing the throughput of energy and materials. Ultimately, sustaining healthy ecosystems requires that health‐care material and energy utilization be limited. However, traditional conceptions of health‐care ethics maintain a philosophy of rescue that makes limiting life‐saving resources, except at a patient’s request, morally worrisome. Moreover, the media image of health care as technologically intensive, together with the common medical view that nature is the enemy, render suspect philosophical perspectives respectful of Earth’s limits. Nevertheless, academic medical centers have advantages as sites for pursuing sustainability: students often uphold environmental ideals, a public health perspective, and an interest in providing services universally; basic biomedical research on campus permits innovative research combining health and environmental considerations; opportunities exist for including environmental concerns in health professional education; some academic medical centers have already stated environmental criteria for purchasing contracts; and health‐care professionals and institutions are increasingly addressing such environmental concerns as mercury use, latex allergies, dioxin pollution, and waste volume. To address these challenges, a visioning process is proposed, designed to formulate a practical plan by means of public, local, and professional participation in the process of articulating creative and morally sound proposals for change.