Chapter 20: The Environment and Human Health
This chapter connects the environment directly to human health—and shows how pollution and disease are more closely linked than you might think. We start with how toxic substances affect the body, how scientists study those effects using toxicology and epidemiology, and how tools like risk assessment help shape regulations. You’ll learn about pollutants from both natural sources (like heavy metals and dust) and human activities (like industrial waste and pesticides), and the damage they can do to lungs, nerves, and even our DNA. In the second section, we explore biological hazards: how diseases like cholera and malaria spread through water, insects, and poor sanitation. You’ll learn how human actions—like global travel, habitat destruction, and antibiotic overuse—are helping new diseases emerge and old ones resurface. From asthma to Ebola, this chapter shows how environmental science and public health are deeply intertwined.
Chapter 21: Economics, Policy, and the Future
This chapter brings everything together by exploring how money, politics, and personal choices shape our environmental future. You’ll start by learning how global cooperation and international treaties (like the Kyoto Protocol) are trying to tackle big problems like climate change and biodiversity loss. Then we zoom in on the U.S., looking at how environmental policies have evolved over time—from Teddy Roosevelt’s conservation efforts to modern laws enforced by the EPA. You’ll learn about Environmental Impact Statements, state and local laws, and how everyday citizens can get involved through voting, lobbying, and speaking up. Finally, we focus on the power of the individual: how people like Rachel Carson and Jane Goodall helped spark environmental movements, and how your daily choices—what you buy, reuse, and recycle—can actually make a difference. It’s a call to action to think globally and act locally.
Mrs. Ederington 