Lorraine Lander, Genesee Valley Center, Canandaigua Unit, SUNY Empire State College writes:

“The natural world interacts with the health and safety of humans in a variety of ways. One of the aspects of health and safety, in relation to sustainability, concerns the protection of workers who participate in the location and collection, processing, and manufacturing of the natural resources that go into product manufacturing. In addition, concerns exist about the health and safety of workers who are responsible for disposing of waste products. Topics related to worker safety concern environmental sustainability and social responsibility, as well as the role of health and safety professionals in both industry and government. In addition, topics such as health and safety science and technology could be considered.”

“Health and safety related to sustainability can also consider various interactions between the physical environment and the health and safety of the general population. Many of the same factors that impact the health of the natural world also impact human health as well. The air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat all play an important role in our environment and our health. As the health of the natural world is affected or declines, so does the health of all species living in that environment, including humans. Thus the correlations between environmental health and public health are one aspect of study in this area.”

Below is a list of resources on this topic. Find a more complete list of resources with links for learning and teaching about this topic on our Pinterest site: Follow Sustainability’s board Health, Safety and the Environment on Pinterest.

Books

Who Really Feeds the World? The Failures of Agribusiness and the Promise of Agroecology, Vandana Shiva

Living Downstream: An Ecologist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment, 2010, Sandra Steingraber

Homes That Heal (and those that don’t): How Your Home Could be Harming Your Family’s Health, Athena Thompson

Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-being, and Sustainability, Andrew Dannenberg, Howard Frumkin, Richard Jackson

Love Canal: and the Birth of the Environmental Health Movement, Lois Marie Gibbs

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifest, Michael Pollan

Eating on the Wild Side: The Missing Link to Optimum Health, Jo Robinson

Essentials of Environmental Health (Essential Public Health), Robert H. Friis

Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, Michael Pollan

Web Resources

Sustainable Construction. Safety and HealthyHelp us build worker well-being into sustainable design and construction. http://sustainablesafetyandhealth.org/