PITTSBURGH — Covering environmental health during an ongoing global pandemic seemed tricky at first.
At first it seemed trivial to talk about anything related to health was not the pandemic when the coronavirus was clearly the greatest threat to our collective health.
The pandemic is not over — the virus continues to kill hundreds of Americans Every day, but as it drags on, it becomes clear that threats to our environmental health have exacerbated the pandemic and made us more vulnerable to its impacts.
To research suggests That climate change and habitat loss were likely underlying causes of the pandemic, and that exposure to air pollution made people more vulnerable to the virus. The research also links displayed between levels of exposure to certain toxic chemicals and severity of COVID-19 symptoms.
Much of the news this year has taken the focus away from the pandemic, back to the issues that were put on hiatus while the COVID-19 virus was all anyone could think of or talk about, making it pointless to illuminate the links to the virus in every news story. But it would be a mistake to stop thinking and talking about these global connections.
Environmental Health and Vulnerable Communities
For many people, 2022 felt like the first “normal” year since 2020. It didn’t for me. My partner has an autoimmune disease and takes medication that weakens his immune system making him much more vulnerable to coronavirus and its long term effects. So while some of our loved ones have started going to concerts and parties again to celebrate a throwback to “the days before”, we have continued to do all those old and familiar things of 2020 – wearing N95 masks every times we are out in public, avoiding large indoor gatherings and ordering takeout instead of eating out.
What has changed for me in 2022 is a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of issues that impact our health – something disability rights activists spent the whole pandemic sound the alarm on.
The public health response to the pandemic has many similarities to our response to environmental health issues, many of which disproportionately affect the same people. In both cases, we do not prioritize the health of these vulnerable groupsdespite the fact that 61 million Americans – one in four of us – lives with a disability, one in five Americans lives with autoimmune diseases and one in six Americans has a chronic disease.
For example, this year I wrote about a study that found Certain types of air pollution particles are much more deadly for patients with certain types of lung disease than others, which probably means that they are also more dangerous for healthy people. Most of our current air pollution standards aim to protect “healthy people”, which means that the levels of air pollution that most of us are exposed to on a daily basis create a risk high for everyone and life-threatening risks for those of us. Living with disabilities, autoimmune diseases and chronic illnesses.
I’ve seen these kinds of disproportionate risks to vulnerable communities in almost every story I’ve covered this year, including the proposed siting of a Burial of hazardous waste near homes and a school, arsenic and heavy metals from poisoning of groundwater by coal ashwidespread contamination with harmful “eternal chemicals” and toxic emissions from frac pits and plastic factories.
Environmental Health Solutions
Credit: Jen Palmer/Unsplash
I also wrote a complete document guide to environmental health in western Pennsylvania this year, highlighting how our ZIP codes determine whether we can be considered safe among the “healthy people” who should be able to withstand the threat of barely abated pandemics and pollution, or if we are among those left to find for ourselves.
Recognizing these connections shines a light on the immensity of our problems, but it also reveals that solutions to one problem can help solve many others.
For example, I wrote about a revolutionary new type of air monitor Developed at Carnegie Mellon University which aims to make air pollution monitoring more accurate and fair, with the potential to revolutionize the way we think about, monitor and regulate air pollution.
I also wrote about a study that was found solar power in Pennsylvania schools doubled During the pandemic, thanks in large part to student climate advocacy and how Colorado went revolutionary legislation that will protect its residents from exposure to harmful chemicals used by the oil and gas industry and the paths that Pennsylvania and the states can take to do the same.
These stories provide a model for other networks to create meaningful systemic change that will make our world fairer for everyone, not just those deemed healthy enough to deserve protection.
A new war against cancer
This year, I also wrote my first book, which will be released in May 2023. It’s called “A new war on cancer: unlikely heroes are revolutionizing prevention.” and it is about preventing cancer by reducing widespread exposure to carcinogens in our daily lives.
While writing it, I learned that these chemicals are so prevalent that there is no getting away from it as individual consumers – that no matter how healthy or wealthy we are, or how much time we may spend read product labels, it is not possible to avoid near-constant exposure to chemicals that increase our risk of cancer.
The only way for everything of us to stay safe is to implement policies that keep everything us safe. The good news: there is a growing national movement to do just that. “A New War on Cancer” profiles the people leading this movement and inspires readers to get involved.
We all deserve health protection
It gives me hope that this new movement against cancer aims to help everyone simultaneously — it does not start with a “trickle down” model, as so many social movements of previous generations have done (See: The LGBTQ community early exclusion of trans people legislative efforts, the feminist movement history of excluding women of color).
Instead, it starts from scratch, incorporating the concept of intersectionality, which at its most basic level says that we cannot have true justice for some without achieving justice for all. In the case of preventing cancer risk from exposure to harmful and ubiquitous chemicals, this is true on a literal physical level.
In 2023, I hope to cover more attempts to expand our shared search for safety and well-being that prioritizes everyone’s health – not just those deemed “healthy enough” to deserve protection.
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