Rise of the U.S. Environmental Health Movement

Kate Davies has been active on environmental health issues for thirty-five years in the United States and Canada. She has worked with numerous nongovernmental and governmental organizations including Greenpeace, the Collaborative on Health and the Environment, the Institute for Children’s Environmental Health, the International Joint Commission and the Royal Society of Canada. She is currently core faculty at Antioch University Seattle’s Center for Creative Change and Clinical Associate Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington.

The world is not a safe place. Toxic waste, air pollution, and pesticide use can be hazardous to your health. According to the World Health Organization, more than 40 percent of all asthma, nearly 20 percent of all cancers, and 5-percent of all birth defects are attributable to poor environmental quality. It’s impossible to avoid exposure to at least some of the 80,000 different chemicals utilized in the United States. The environmental health movement consists of many individuals and organizations cognizant of the relationship between people and the environment and environmental factors that potentially affect health. Davies extensively covers the historical roots and rise of this movement in the United States and tracks its current status and strategies, from forging national coalitions to lobbying for legislation and promoting grassroots activism. America’s environmental health movement focuses on environmental safety through precaution and prevention, opposes the use of toxic chemicals, and advocates sustainability and environmental justice. As ecotheologian Thomas Berry once declared, 'You cannot have well humans on a sick planet.'

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionEnvironmental HealthThe US Environmental Health MovementBackgroundThis BookPart 1: Historical and Cultural RootsChapter 1: The European Ancestry of Environmental HealthThe Philosophy of Ancient GreeceThe Engineering Achievements of RomeThe Spread of Judeo-Christian ReligionsThe Scientific Revolution and the Nature of ScienceSocial Justice and the EnlightenmentThe Environmental Health Consequences of the Industrial RevolutionNew Policies and LegislationRecognizing and Preventing Environmentally-Related DiseasesChapter 2: Early Environmental Public HealthThe Environmental Health Consequences of the American Industrial RevolutionEnvironmental Public Health ConcernsOccupational Health: Working with the Urban PoorThe Home as an Environment for Protecting HealthThe Progressive Era and Environmental ConservationThe Origins of Urban PlanningPreventing Environmentally-Transmitted DiseasesChapter 3: Environmentalism and Economic GrowthPost World War II Economic Growth and the Creation of a Consumer SocietyThe Environmental Health Effects of Air PollutionThe Environmental Health Effects of Water PollutionThe Environmental Health Effects of Food QualityThe Antinuclear Movement and the Precedents It SetNew Ideas: Toxic ChemicalsNew Ideas: Deep Ecology and Social EcologyNew Ideas: Population Growth and Resource DepletionThe Rise of EnvironmentalismEPA and the Final Separation of Environmental and Public HealthThe Relationship Between the Environmental Movement and the Labor MovementThe Toxic Substances Control Act and Other Environmental Legislation of the 1970sChapter 4: The Birth of the US Environmental Health MovementLove Canal and Its AftermathThe Beginnings of the Environmental Justice MovementThe Role of Disasters in Building the Environmental Health MovementStruggles for Regional Environmental Health in the Great LakesWinning the Battle Against Waste IncinerationOpposition to Pesticides: An Ongoing StruggleSecuring the Right to KnowToxics Use Reduction and Pollution Prevention: Limited SuccessThe Lead SagaNewer Challenges: Endocrine Disruptors and EpigeneticsPart II: The Contemporary MovementChapter 5: Organizations and IssuesThe Movement’s Strongest Asset: State and Local GroupsThe Roles of National GroupsThe Influence of European Toxics PolicyThe Louisville CharterThe Emergence of National CoalitionsCommunications and Getting the Word OutThe Importance of Women’s OrganizationsAlliances with Labor OrganizationsNew Ways of Framing Environmental Health: Judeo-Christian ReligionsBeyond Toxics: NanotechnologyBeyond Toxics: Electromagnetic FieldsBeyond Toxics: Fossil FuelsBeyond Toxics: Urban Planning and Green BuildingThe Significance of Foundation FundingChapter 6: Making Environmental Issues PersonalGaining Support from People Affected by Environmentally-Related DiseaseWorking with Caregivers - NursesWorking with Caregivers – PhysiciansEngaging the Health Care SectorProtecting Children’s Environmental HealthFood, Glorious FoodOpposing Toxics in Consumer ProductsAnd in Personal Care ProductsPollution in PeopleChapter 7: Precaution and the Limitations of ScienceThe Impossibility of Proving Environmental CausationThe Failure to Consider EthicsThe Distortion and Cover-up of Scientific InformationProblems with Risk AssessmentOverview of PrecautionThe Ingredients of PrecautionProgress on PrecautionChapter 8: Environmental Justice and the Right to a Healthy EnvironmentPerspectives on Environmental JusticeConstitutional and Legal Rights to a Healthy EnvironmentScientific Information on Environmental Health Injustice in the USEnvironmental Justice IssuesCommunity-Based ResearchEnvironmental Justice StrategiesThe US Environmental Justice and Environmental Health MovementsChapter 9: Changing Economics, the Markets and BusinessThe Cost of Environmental IllnessMarket Campaigns: OverviewMarket Campaigns: PVC Products and PackagingMarket Campaigns: ElectronicsMarket Campaigns: The Health SectorGreen Chemistry and Safer MaterialsSocially Responsible InvestingPartnerships with BusinessConclusion and Next Steps: Strategies for Social ChangeStrategies for Social ChangeCreating Inspiring VisionsMinding the Gap between our Collective Aspirations and RealitySeeing the Forest and the TreesIdentifying Leverage Points for Environmental HealthOrganizing More, Collective ActionTelling Environmental Health StoriesSelf-CareFinal ReflectionsA Chronology of Key Events in US Environmental HealthSelected Resources on Environmental Health