Building Environmental Health Literacy to Create Healthy Spaces

In its broadest sense, environmental health literacy (EHL) is an understanding of the connection between environmental exposures and health. It also encompasses the skills and ability to act on that understanding. An emerging and evolving area, EHL builds upon many fields such as health literacy, risk communication, science literacy, environmental health sciences, and environmental literacy. This presentation posits that building EHL is central to the goal of creating healthy spaces and that EHL is relevant to everyone: healthcare professionals, community residents, and decision makers. Since the mid-1990s, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has supported projects focused on building the capacity of community members, researchers, and healthcare professionals to conduct community-engaged research. These projects have stimulated the concept of EHL and developed innovative approaches to improving environmental public health by creating healthy spaces. This presentation will summarize efforts of NIEHS grantees to build the capacity of specific audiences and highlight the outcomes related to healthy spaces. The presentation will address issues of children’s environmental health, environmental justice, and community-engaged research, focusing on the important connection between EHL and healthy spaces. The presentation will conclude by discussing future directions and research opportunities for EHL and communication.