When you think about your health, you think about eating right and getting enough exercise. You don’t really think about the environment around you though.
But if your environment isn’t healthy, how can you be?
The air quality, soil and water quality, and your exposure to toxins and hazardous waste can all affect your health.
Poor air quality can lead to cancer, long-term illnesses in respiratory and cardiovascular systems and even premature death. If the groundwater that we use and drink becomes contaminated with chemicals it can lead to mild to severe illnesses. We are exposed to toxins in our daily lives. In our apartments and offices toxins from paint, furniture, and electronics can affect our overall health.
This is why helping the Earth is so important, because a healthy environment means a healthy you.
Here’s what you can do to help not only yourself but the environment as well:
- Bike or walk your way to work or school. This improves your overall health and it helps the environment because you are putting fewer chemicals and toxins into the air. You can also check if your apartment building or office uses paint and other products that are VOC (Volatile Organic Chemicals) free. These chemicals are bad for your health. People who live or work in a building without these chemicals actually take fewer sick days. Some offices have decided to remodel their builds to improve office air quality starting with an indoor air quality assessment with services from airquestinc.com or someone similar. Reducing the chance of these chemicals coming into contact with yourself and your work colleagues will increase productivity because of the reduced sick days. Additionally, businesses implement office cleaning companies like green facilities to deplete the spread of bacteria and therefore reduce sick days, which is excellent for productivity and better health!
- Recycle to produce less waste that ends up in landfills, which are terrible for the environment and people living near the waste sites.
- Planting trees and other vegetation can help make sure that the ground and water stays clean, because the roots act as a filter and keep contaminants out of drinking water. Any type of vegetation also helps the air quality. Don’t have the space/tools to plant trees? Loveplugs have said that there will be 10 trees planted for every order they receive, so make a purchase from there and you will be indirectly planting 10 trees!
There are many different ways that you can help your environment and in-turn also help yourself. What are some things that you do to make your environment healthier?
Sources:
http://www.american.edu/finance/sustainability/Buildings.cfm
http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/environmental-health
http://www.who.int/phe/health_topics/en/
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5269813.pdf
http://www.env-health.org/resources/publications/article/better-health-through-a-healthy