How Condoms and Conservation Both Boost Public Health
We have to address the toxic root causes of what ails us
The haze of wildfire smoke reaching across the country is a stark reminder that none of us can afford to take clean air for granted. But breathing in smoke isn’t the only way our well-being is tied to the environment. We’re also at risk of ingesting plastic particles that accumulate in fish, drinking contaminated water or contracting vector-borne illnesses caused by extreme weather.
The environment affects our health, but each of us also affect the health of the environment. While it’s true that 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to 100 major companies, the food we eat, the kind of transportation we choose, the stuff we buy and the size of family we decide to have all have environmental impacts. With 7.8 billion people on the planet — and countries like the United States demanding far more than our fair share — those repercussions are sizable.
Sept. 26 marks both World Environmental Health Day and World Contraception Day. These topics may not seem related, but they go hand in hand.
World Environmental Health Day raises awareness about how human health and well-being are tied to the environment. According to the World Health Organization, 24% of global deaths are linked to the environment. That’s roughly 13.7 million deaths per year.
World Contraception Day highlights the need for everyone to have access to all modern methods of contraception and resources to make informed choices about our sexual and reproductive health. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 45% of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended.
Both World Environmental Health Day and World Contraception Day support people and the planet.
To honor both days, we must commit to addressing the root causes of the toxicity that harms our environment and our reproductive health. While pollution’s health effects are obvious when large swaths of the country are choking on smoke-filled air, beauty products, eating habits and local industry can also affect our reproductive health through increased birth defects, infertility and cancer.
Protecting our reproductive health also means safeguarding the ability to choose if and when to have children. Reproductive autonomy is critical to a person’s health. To achieve it we need to increase support to help individuals feel comfortable discussing their family-planning wishes with partners and healthcare providers, provide comprehensive sex education in our schools, and ensure universal access to all forms of modern contraception.
Reproductive healthcare and the ability to live and raise children in a healthy environment are riddled with inequalities. Black communities disproportionately experience gaps in appropriate reproductive healthcare and exposure to toxic pollution. Recognizing the unique needs of women of color, Black women founded the reproductive justice movement, which fights for, “the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities.”
Reproductive health and environmental health are intrinsically tied together. Only by understand their connections — and overcoming the inequalities in both — can we create a world where people and the planet we depend on can thrive.
Kelley Dennings is a campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity.
