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"Greenberg, Michael R"
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Toward a Healthier Garden State
While New Jersey now frequently appears near the top in listings of America's healthiest states, this has not always been the case. The fluctuations in the state's overall levels of health have less to do with the lifestyle choices of individual residents and more to do with broader structural issues, ranging from pollution to urban design to the consolidation of the health care industry. This book uses the past fifty years of New Jersey history as a case study to illustrate just how much public policy decisions and other upstream factors can affect the health of a state's citizens. It reveals how economic and racial disparities in health care were exacerbated by bad policies regarding everything from zoning to education to environmental regulation. The study further chronicles how New Jersey struggled to deal with public health crises like the AIDS epidemic and the crack epidemic. Yet it also explores how the state has developed some of the nation's most innovative responses to public health challenges, and then provides policy suggestions for how we might build an even healthier New Jersey.
eBook
Environmental Health and the U.S. Federal System
iThis book explains how the U.S. federal system manages environmental health issues, with a unique focus on risk management and human health outcomes.
Building on a generic approach for understanding human health risk, this book shows how federalism has evolved in response to environmental health problems, political and ideological variations in Washington D.C., as well as in-state and local governments. It examines laws, rules, and regulations, showing how they stretch or fail to adapt to environmental health challenges. Emphasis is placed on human health and safety risk and how decisions have been influenced by environmental health information. The authors review different forms of federalism, and analyze how it has had to adapt to ever evolving environmental health hazards, such as global climate change, nanomaterials, nuclear waste, fresh air and water, as well as examining the impact of robotics and artificial intelligence on worker environmental health. They demonstrate the process for assessing hazard information and the process for federalism risk management, subsequently arguing that human health and safety should receive greater attention.
This book will be essential reading for students and scholars working on environmental health and environmental policy, particularly from a public health and risk management viewpoint, in addition to practitioners and policymakers involved in environmental management and public policy.
eBook
Delivering Fresh Water: Critical Infrastructure, Environmental Justice, and Flint, Michigan
The article by Hanna-Attisha et al. about water-related lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan,1 may be interpreted by some to mean that Flint was an aberration-a singular policy failure to both obtain and deliver a potable water supply. Flint may be among the worst water system contamination cases, but it is not the only one, as we are learning. Flint offers the chance to rethink what we mean by critical infrastructure and what environmental justice implies in regard to fresh water in the United States.
Journal Article
Remediating and Reusing Abandoned Mining Sites in U.S. Metropolitan Areas: Raising Visibility and Value
Abandoned mining-related sites present threats to human health and the environment, while also being potentially valuable places for redevelopment. This paper examines whether successful sustainable redevelopment is more likely in metropolitan areas, and identifies site and population characteristics that make redevelopment more likely. We abstracted data on 143 abandoned mine sites from the U.S. EPA’s Superfund list, including information on site history and characteristics, remediation efforts and any continued contamination risk. Forty-one sites were located in metropolitan areas, and these underwent further document review. The EPA’s updated 2002 EJScreen database was used to identify populations at risk. Data were analyzed using matched pairs and discriminant analysis statistical tests. Follow-up studies of selected sites confirmed cleanup status and plans for sustainable re-use. We found that sites located in metropolitan areas were more likely than those in non-metropolitan ones to have undergone remediation and redevelopment. Multi-use sites were more likely to have completed remediation compared to single-use sites. A combination of site and population characteristics predicted the extent and type of redevelopment at most sites. It is likely that public pressure related to human and environmental health risks and high land values serve as an impetus for the remediation and re-use of abandoned mine sites in metropolitan areas.
Journal Article
Coal Mines and Multi-Faceted Risks in the United States: On a Path Toward a Sustainable Future or Emptying Out?
Coal is a major source of fuel in many countries, but its mining and use increase the impacts on human and environmental health. Given the wide variation in coal use by nation, we focused on one—the United States. Specifically, we examined the public health, community, and demographic characteristics of 130 U.S. counties with underground and/or surface coal mines that exemplify a land use that leads to a combination of natural and anthropogenic risks. We compared these 130 to other U.S. counties, finding that the coal counties had poorer health outcomes and behaviors, fewer community assets, lower socioeconomic status, and higher population losses compared to the remaining counties in their host states and other U.S. counties. Next, we looked for differences within the 130 coal counties. Counties with the most coal mines and production had the worst outcomes, especially when located in rural areas. We then examined federal programs to assist these coal communities, observing that the largest federal government programs appear to be sending more resources to the most distressed coal counties compared to the less distressed ones. The daunting challenge for the most heavily coal-dependent counties, their state governments, and federal government supporters is to jointly develop plans that are realistic and affordable, take advantage of local natural and human resources, and offer a path to sustainable existence. If the efforts do not succeed, these places run the risk of becoming politically invisible and their populations are likely to empty out.
Journal Article
Trust in and Building of Sustainable Local Health and Well-Being Programs in the United States
The U.S. healthcare system is by far the most expensive per capita in the world and does not deliver the best outcomes. The literature shows that the U.S. population is distressed about what it is paying for and is especially distressed about people and companies that it perceives as sacrificing the public good for personal profit. Nevertheless, studies show high levels of trust in nurses, pharmacists, personal physicians, fire and security officers, engineers, and other practitioners who provide services at the local scale. Artificial intelligence (AI) poses an opportunity to reduce healthcare costs, yet it concerns the public because its misuse may violate personal boundaries, spread inaccurate data, and lead to other undesirable outcomes. The literature illustrates the benefits of cooperative relationships between community groups, local governments, and experts using new AI tools in support of local public health and well-being programs. One important example is preventing and reducing the consequences of acute hazard events. Overall, this review makes a case that focusing on the community scale represents an opportunity to improve health and well-being outcomes by establishing trusted and sustainable relationships.
Journal Article