Disasters, the Environment, and Public

Disasters, The Environment, And Public Health: Improving Our Response

James N. Logue's Disasters, the Environment, and Public Health: Improving Our Response focuses on the 1990 decade as a time of realization of the environmental threat and an intensification of our efforts to resolve this problem. A question on the differences and similarities between today's concerns and those forwarded in 1996 can only be answered through an analysis of the concerns at both points in time. In this order of ideas, Logue highlights the following for 1996:

Natural and man made disasters impact human and environmental health in predictable and unpredictable means

The threat of human pollution and through the emission of greenhouse gases is recognized, but little emphasis is being placed on it

New agencies were established to assess the impact of toxic waste upon human and environmental health

Approaches to hazards changed in the meaning that people strived to prevent and prepare for them, rather than wait for them to happen and then panic

Geographical traits are better considered in the process of disaster management

More emphasis on global warming and the impact of elements such as land use and population growth on pollution and environmental health (Logue, 1996)

In terms of the environmental issues forwarded today (which can be perceived as a continuation of the 1996 concerns), the following elements are of the utmost importance.

At a global level, more efforts are being made towards environmental sustainability; for instance, forests are continually being cut, but the actions are better regulated and the lumber companies are requested to plant new trees;

Stricter legislation has been developed in regulating polluting activities of both individual consumers as well as organizations

Technological advancements have been integrated in products in order to reduce pollution; the most relevant example in this sense is given by vehicles incorporating fuel efficient engines which reduce the levels of waste and consume less fuels (Fuel Economy Website, 2009)

With the emergence of an international war on terrorism, it is possible that acts of bioterrorism become part of the armed and ideological battles, raising as such a new threat

Despite the general ascendant trend in environmental focus, the American citizens are now less concerned with environmental safety and they place more emphasis on the revival of the national economy (Revkin, 2009)

This trend is also obvious at an organizational level, as corporate leaders strive to cut budgets, rather than implement green solutions; what is however important to notice is that green solutions are often more cost effective than traditional ones, meaning that the actual negative impact of the crisis upon environmental health should not be extensive (Charlesworth, 2009)