Human activity affects not just the Earth system but human health itself. Climate is driven by natural processes, but human activities such as energy production, driving, and manufacturing release gases into the atmosphere, and this has been shown to accelerate the warming trend across the globe. Power plants, cars, and factories also spew pollutants that affect the quality of the air we breathe.

The topics in this lesson address the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, and the NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education, the foundation for the emerging Next Generation Science Standards. Environmental public health is an important subject because it affects everyone’s lives. Although it may not be referenced specifically in the standards, it can be used as an engaging jumping off point to address many of the concepts that are.

In the proper balance, greenhouse gases make life on Earth possible. However, scientists are concerned that an increase in greenhouse gases, caused by burning fossil fuels, has led to increased warming that threatens to have significant impacts not just on the environment but on human health.

A range of human health problems can be linked to a warming climate. As temperatures increase, insect populations can spread disease across wider areas. Moreover, freshwater supplies shrink, furthering drought and famine among poorer nations especially. In this interactive, you’ll explore the connection between climate change and health issues. You’ll also learn about some ways to reduce these health risks. As you work your way through the interactive, select a human health problem that interests you and read “What Could Go Wrong?”

Click "View" on the left to begin the interactive.

Choose one of the potential health risks of climate change. Write down how a change in one part of the Earth system can have detrimental effects on other parts of the system.

Combustion of fossil fuels can create additional health problems beyond those associated with CO₂ and climate change. When a fuel source does not combust completely, particles and other gas molecules are released into the air. These may settle to the ground or combine with other airborne molecules to form new compounds that can negatively affect human health. Examples of incomplete combustion products are elemental carbon (a particulate) and ozone (a component of smog).

In this video, meet a teen who studied and then distributed her research on an energy-producing coal plant in her community. Click "View" on the left to watch the video.

What makes Marisol's approach to gathering information and disseminating her findings effective? What environmental health problem might be present in your students' community, giving them the opportunity to use technology to research and then disseminate their findings?

As you just saw, Marisol was concerned about the local impacts of the coal-burning plant near her community. In fact, researchers have found that such impacts can extend to distant parts of the globe. In the Arctic region, once clear blue skies have become less transparent because the long-range transport of particles around the globe brings pollution to the Arctic. This haze may directly impact human health and contribute to climate change. Click "View" on the left to watch this video about the haze in the Arctic region.

How do you think governments should approach this problem? How might you or your students learn more about the problem of Arctic haze?

Some harmful impacts of human activities can be offset with informed and responsible management by our public officials and by changes individuals make in their own lifestyle and habits.

In this interactive activity, you’ll learn how the Environmental Protection Agency collects and reports data related to pollutants in the air. The activity explains the values used to indicate air quality and describes the pollutants being actively monitored. It also details each pollutant's primary sources and health effects, including which members of the public may be at greatest risk from exposure. As you view the interactive, think about how the presentation of information in chart form makes it easier to understand. Click "View" on the left to begin the interactive.

Use the Internet to determine the current AQI for your location. Then consult the chart in the interactive to see how the current air quality might impact your community’s health.

Monitoring CO₂ concentrations and air quality and avoiding harmful exposures are important steps people can take to safeguard public health. However, it’s also important to recognize that additional steps need to be taken to address the causes of the problem.

The following video features a type of technology designed to help reduce the impact of diesel fuel on the environment and on public health. Click "View" on the left to watch the video. As you watch, consider the problems that technology is being designed to address. What environmental and public health benefits could be derived from using this technology?

Based on what you've seen, assess the effectiveness of this design solution.

In this lesson, you have explored how human activity has affected our atmosphere and, in turn, human health. Now it's time to think about how you could create your own activity that ties a topic in environmental public health to your curriculum. Begin by reviewing your responses in previous sections to see how your comments might provide inspiration for this activity. Click "review my work" above and view or print out the screen that pops up.

To broaden your options, you can review all the media in the Environmental Public Health collection and refer to your own local educational standards. Then, design an activity that incorporates at least one media resource and supports at least one science and technology or science literacy standard.