Environmental Health

What is environmental health? Environmental health is the study of factors in our environment that can affect human health and disease. Environmental exposures cause hundreds of thousands of illnesses each year, including asthma and cancers. Environmental health professionals learn how to identify, prevent and control those exposures to protect health.

A robust interconnection exists between wasted food and food insecurity. Over a million tons of food waste are generated each year in Washington State, with approximately 390,000 tons of edible food being disposed (Washington State Department of Ecology, 2022). These contrasting issues are intricately linked, with the resolution of one concern holding the potential to alleviate the other.