Introduction toEnvironmental Public Health Tracking

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
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1ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
Introduction
Meeting present-day needs without undermining the capacity of future generations to
fulfill their own is described as Sustainability. It has three principal pillars: fiscal, ecological
and social. Sustainable development is essential because it saves national budgets, preserves
natural resources, helps fulfills people's needs, helps to coordinate natural resources with
people and for future generations it preserves natural resources (Holden, Linnerud, &
Banister, 2014). Environmental sustainability refers to the work inside the natural resources.
Introduction of pollutants which cause adverse changes in the natural environment is
regarded as pollution. ”. The environmental factors that affect health can be through air,
water, soil and food exposure to dangerous substances, natural disasters as well as technical
ones, change in climate, hazards to the workforce, built climate (Yadav et al., 2015). Noise,
heat or light, may take the form of chemical substances or electricity and can be considered
as pollution. Pollutants or the emission elements, may either be considered as foreign
substances / energies, or pollutants that arise naturally. The World Health Organization, as it
relates to health, describes the environment, as “all the physical, chemical, and biological
factors external to a person, and all the related behaviours”. One out of nine deaths occur due
to air pollution world widely. “WHO estimates that around 7 million people die every year
from exposure to fine particles in polluted air that penetrate deep into the lungs and
cardiovascular system, causing diseases including stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, chronic
obstructive pulmonary diseases and respiratory infections, including pneumonia.” Air
pollution is a combination of airborne small particles and gases. Car pollutants, industrial
chemicals, dust, pollen, and mold spores can be stored as particulate matter. Each year
approximately due to exposure to air pollution, 5000 Australians die. Thousands of people
experience health problems including heart disease, stroke and asthma. Coal-fired power
stations are a significant contributor to Australian air pollution and are the country's main

2ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS
source of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxide (SO2)( Chen, Li & Yao, 2018). Canberra,
frequently referred to as Australia's "bush capital," holds the distinction of having the world's
worst air quality (Brown, 2014).
Driving forces- Factors that motivate and move the involved environmental cycle. Urban
and regional air pollution originates from a number of point sources and dispersed sources
(Gentry-Shields & Bartram, 2014). Different sources include pollution from motor vehicles,
home wood heaters, burns for danger mitigation, forest burns, and bushfires. Point sources
include some commercial and manufacturing operations, such as coal-fired power plants,
metal mining, and coal mines. Canberra has remained on the path of smoke coming from
major bushfires on the South Coast for much of the past month. Though westerly winds
appeared to carry cleaner air throughout the day, shore winds prevailed in the evenings,
blowing smoke from the coastal firegrounds west to and over Canberra. Urbanisation with
74% of Australians expected to live in Australia capital cities by 2061.
Electricity generation from coal-fired power plants- The National Pollutant Inventory states
that fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide are the primary source of
electricity production. The power industry is the main source of mercury in the atmosphere,
too. Coalfired power plants also release a number of other contaminants including carbon
monoxide, gross particulate matter and volatile organic compounds (Chan et al., 2017).
Motor vehicle emissions- Second-largest national source of nitrogen oxides and carbon
monoxide.
Metal ore and coal mining- These are the top most sources of coarse particulate pollution and
fine particulate matter.
Reducing threat burns and bushfires- The National Pollutant Database lists threat mitigation
burns, farm burn-offs and bushfires as the primary source of carbon monoxide globally and
as the third highest source of nitrogen oxides (Voulgarakis & Field, 2015).