Environmental Justice from Centering Black Voices at COP28: A Call for Environmental Justice (Conner, A., 2023).
Social Determinants of Environmental Health and Why They Matter
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes and risks. SDOH have a major impact on people’s health, well-being, and quality of life [1].
Examples include:
According to a 2016 World Health Organization report, it is estimated that 12.6 million deaths around the world are due to living and working in unhealthy environments [2]. Unfortunately, individuals and communities most affected by environmental factors are marginalized populations who bear the brunt of the impact of environmental health hazards [3].
Social Determinants of Environmental Health Education Portal (NIH, 2024).
The communities that experience these environmental health disparities experience higher levels of sickness and disease than wealthier, less polluted communities. While organizations like the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) work toward strategies to reduce these disparities, historical and systemic factors, which include racist practices, are ingrained in industries worldwide [4]. This has had a detrimental effect on Black people in the United States and around the globe [5].
While the United States Government recognizes the necessity to strategically and actively address social determinants of environmental health [6], the issue of a system upheld by racist practices is avoided entirely [7]. This lack of recognition that climate change is an issue of race and social justice at the federal level has led many Americans to believe that disproportionate exposure to is due to poverty alone, as opposed to environmental racism [8].
[1] Climate Change as a Social Determinant of Health (Ragavan, M.I.; Marcil, L.E., & Garg, A., 2020).
[2] An estimated 12.6 million deaths each year are attributable to unhealthy environments (Geneva, 2016).
[3] Environmental Health Disparities and Environmental Justice (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, last reviewed: Mar 7, 2024).
[4] Environmental health disparities, racism studies collected at EHP (Environmental Health Perspectives, NIEHS, 2020).
[5] Centering Black Voices at COP28: A Call for Environmental Justice (Conner, A., 2023).
[6] Climate change and Environmental Injustice as Social Determinants of Health (United States Government, 2023).
[7] White House Takes Aim at Environmental Racism, but Won’t Mention Race (Friedman, L., 2022).
[8] Racism drives environmental inequality — but most Americans don’t realize (Miller, B., 2022).