Environmental and Public Health Issues: Community Engagement in Environmental Justice Populations

Abstract

AbstractEnvironmental factors, ranging from the air we breathe to the food and water we consume to the places where we live and work, serve as major determinants of human health. A particularly relevant source of environmental risk is fish consumption, which provides an important source of protein and other nutrients for communities worldwide. The health risks associated with consuming contaminated fish are pronounced among environmental justice communities – communities that experience a disproportionate exposure to environmental contamination such as water pollution or air pollution. In these communities, which are typically situated in low‐income areas, the fish caught from local waters for sustenance are more likely to contain unsafe levels of contaminants or pathogens. Community engagement is now recognized as an essential strategy for designing and delivering messages that reduce exposure to a range of environmental risks to public health, especially among environmental justice communities. This article reviews a method for identifying environmental justice communities and then discusses a case study in which community engagement was employed successfully to better understand exposure to environmental health risks and examine state‐issued fish consumption advisories within an environmental justice community.