Most environmental health problems are linked to poverty.

They typically include

those environmental hazards posed by biological agents, exacerbated by poor sanitation, lack
of safe water, smoky kitchens, and crowded dwellings in garbage-strewn neighborhoods. With
increased economic development, many of these problems are resolved, by way of higher
quality housing and societal services to households.

On the other hand, other environmental hazards are associated with economic
development in itself, rather than the lack of it. These include many chemical pollutants that
are hazardous to both human and ecosystem health.

These seemingly contradictory health outcomes of economic development follow a

logic of environmental displacement. While wealthy societies consume more resources and
produce more waste, they also use their wealth to protect themselves from personal exposure
to harmful or unpleasant pollutants. Thus, by pushing environmental problems away from the
living environment, health gains can be achieved, although often at the expense of
environmental insults at a distance.

By contrast, activities that promote health and extend human life can have adverse
environmental effects. For example, food production causes environmental damage from
pesticides and fertilizers, soil salinization, waste produced by livestock, carbon emissions
from food manufacturing and transportation, deforestation, and over-fishing. Health care
facilities also have adverse environmental impacts. Hospitals use large quantities of electricity
and fossil fuels and produce medical wastes. To prevent some diseases, it may be necessary
to damage the environment. For example, malaria was eradicated in the United States and
other developed nations in the 1940s and 50s as a result of draining wetlands and spraying
DDT to kill mosquitoes. A reduction in mortality from starvation or disease can lead to
overpopulation, which stresses the environment in many different ways–increasing use of
fossil fuels, clearing of land, generating pollution and waste, and so on.