What is the environmental health and why you have to worry about it?We are celebrating the World Health Day Environmental one more year, highlighting the reasons that make a volunteer linked to the nature and care of the environment. Discover the keys on this day and what initiatives you can join to collaborate with NGOS dedicated to the action and environmental care.
Every September 26 we recall the importance of the Day World Environmental Health, a day established worldwide by the International Federation of Environmental Health (IFEH) with the aim of raising awareness on the importance of a healthy environment for the well-being of human beings and the planet.
Do you know what is environmental health?
The WHO definition makes reference to the study, prevention and control of environmental factors and the environment that can influence living beings, affect the health of people and ecosystems. This includes elements such as the quality of air, water, food, exposure to toxic chemicals, climate change, biodiversity…
This reminder global us awareness about the links between human health and environmental factors such as pollution, climate change and access to natural resources clean. Hundreds of organizations and citizens/activists around the world are working to raise awareness among the population, institutions or companies on this relationship, seeking to promote citizen action to improve the environmental conditions, prevent disease and promote sustainability.
Protect and improve human health is also to preserve and care for the natural environment.
For that reason, we encourage you to join this movement and to learn about environmental health through volunteering. The volunteeris a unique way to see first-hand the positive impact on the environment at the same time that you plant the seeds for a more sustainable future.
Do you need more reasons? We leave you 5 reasons to do a volunteer work related to the environment and nature:
- Creates a positive impact in your environment: Improving the spaces around you, leaving your cleaner and more sustainable environment. Clean beaches, picked up trash, planting trees, caring for parks and maintenance of green areas are some of the actions that promote a better quality of water, air and nature of our community
- Expand your knowledge and learning: volunteerism is a form of awareness, educate and, in consequence, become an agent of change to raise awareness to other people in the health care environment. Expand your knowledge and thus know how to act in a more conscious way in the preservation of the planet is an essential to achieve a sustainable future.
- Personal development: The personal impact is strongly linked to the environmental work that you’re going to make. You will work with other people with like-minded people for the same cause, in addition to performing actions focused on generating a positive impact on the quality of life of other people and ecosystems.
- Beyond the environment: As we said, the environmental health and care of the environment are related to many aspects of life, such as inequality or poverty. In much of the world, poverty is directly related to the access to natural resources, the use of the same and the quality of the environment. If we manage to generate global awareness and local consequent on the use of these resources, we will be able to influence the rates of poverty in certain areas that directly depend on them.
- Connect with nature in unexpected ways: volunteering in connection with the nature also benefits to our own physical and mental health. However, one of the great benefits of volunteering is that it adapts to different and unexpected avenues of collaboration. Beyond reforestation activities, cleaning or waste collection (also fundamental), you’ll also be able to act for the climate from awareness (workshops, discussions), education (education and outreach), the development of projects and design strategies.
Choose your volunteer!
From Hacesfalta.org you will find several areas from which you access the volunteer activities. The main one is the category of volunteer environment.
You can also filter the volunteer opportunities for SDGS related to environmental health and Life of terrestrial ecosystems, Production and responsible consumption, clean Water and sanitation, Energy affordable and clean energy, climate Action, or sustainable Cities and communities.
¡Share your own ideas, and environmental initiativeson Climate Action!
Climate action, seeks to be a space for citizens and NGOS to share information, discuss and act on the climate crisis. This digital tool you have as a flag to encourage the creation of actions that are respectful and committed to the care of the environment.
You just have to register as a new@ user@. From here, you can publish all those activities and events (actions, meetings, trainings, demonstrations, interventions…) you know you are going to take place in the coming days, weeks, or months, as well as inform you of all the actions that are sharing the rest of user@s.
In this way, the map of actions that we put at your disposal, will serve as both a point of reference to know everything that is being done at the level activism and mobilization for the climate change, while at the same time a repository for numerous initiatives that could be worth of inspiration and motivation to be recreated in other parts of the world.
