O Lord, You have examined me and know me...
I praise You,
for I am awesomely, wondrously made;
Your work is wonderful;
I know it very well.
My frame was not concealed from You
When I was shaped in a hidden place,
knit together in the recesses of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed limbs;
they were all recorded in Your book;
in due time they were formed,
to the very last one of them.

(Psalm 139:1, 14-16, Jewish Publication Society Tanakh translation)

Our lives are a constant interchange of matter and energy between our bodies and our environment. How, then, can we hope to live healthy lives in unhealthy surroundings? How can we expect that what we do to the creation around us will not, sooner or later, find its way into the creation we carry within us?

Beyond self-interest, care for our neighbors and our offspring also requires that we attend to what we are putting into the air and water. Environmental health is a matter of environmental justice. Concentrated environmental hazards, such as polluting factories, waste incinerators, or toxic waste dumps are often sited near poor and minority communities. Children are especially vulnerable, because their bodies are rapidly developing and because their play often brings them into closer contact with environmental hazards.

Many environmental problems are of concern largely because of their impact on human health — such as water pollution, air pollution and climate change, improper use of agricultural chemicals, hazardous byproducts of economic activity and degraded urban environments. Even wilderness areas and endangered species are relevant to human health as potential sources of life-saving medicines.