HEALTHY PEOPLE 2020 OBJECTIVE EH-12 Increase recycling of municipal Research Paper

HEALTHY PEOPLE 2020 OBJECTIVE EH-12 Increase recycling of municipal solid waste - Research Paper Example Incidentally, the increasing number of environmental factors has contributed to adverse health such as exposure to harmful substances in the soil, air, water, food, etc. (Scott, 2007). Human activities such as increasing development, activities and use of unsafe chemicals as well as man-made and natural disasters are responsible for increasing environmental pollution (Spilsbury, 2014). Environmental pollution has adverse health effects on everybody. Nurses have a role to play in promoting health environment through incorporating information of the environment in their activities. Recycling of waste and water and energy conservation should be introduced to school going children to increase awareness of environmental health. The increasing rate of waste generation calls for regular measures to reduce the generation and accumulation of such waste. Some of these measures include recycling and conserving water and energy. More than 3, 000 people die every year because of waterborne diseases. Also, 1 out of 6 Americans fall sick because of eating contaminated foods. According to Allender et al., (2013, 286), â€Å"Americans produced about 254 million tons of waste in 2013 and only 87 million tons (34.3) of the waste was recycled.† This was equivalent to 1.51 pounds recycled out of 4.40 pounds of individual waste per day. Through recycling Americans reduced a total of 186 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emission into the air in 2013. The environmental health objectives of Healthy People 2020 concentrate on six themes that highlight components of environmental health. These includes global environmental health, the quality of outdoor air, homes and communities, quality of surface and underground water quality and infrastructure and development. Water is very essential to human life because about 60% of human body is composed of water. By 2018, about 1.8 billion will people will be living in regions with water scarcity. The