In honor of Earth Day, which just recently passed, this installment of “DeBetta’s Daily Dimensions” will feature environmental health. However, one’s environmental health is much more than helping the environment. “Some people think it’s just about recycling or shutting off the lights before you leave. Of course, that comes under our environmental health, but environmental health is about being healthy in your own space,” says Physical Education and Health Teacher Jennifer Kramer. In other words, environmental health is not always about being eco-friendly, but rather how one can relate positively to his or her surroundings.

The most important aspect of environmental health is how a person feels in his or her environment. With recent events like school shootings, it may be hard for some students to feel comfortable in their learning environment. Some teens and children experience difficulty being happy in their own homes due to the personalities and lives of their parents, siblings, and other family members present. According to Kramer, having a high level of environmental health is accompanied with having the ability to “have and find a happy place.” It is recommended for one to visualize one’s happy place when facing adversity, complications, and stress. Aromatherapy and candles can also help one calm his or her nerves. A sound machine, too, would be helpful for those who may have trouble identifying their happy place. Whether it is the sound of the beach, rain, white noise, or the outdoors, listening to these sounds has been noted to help people relax and improve their environmental health.

Environmental health is also the skill of making wherever one is his or her happy place, says Kramer. Improving one’s environmental health can be as simple as changing the thoughts one has when relating to his or her surroundings, enabling him or her to feel less stress and anxiety. “You have to say, ‘This is where I am, and I have to learn how to be happy here,’” Kramer advises.

However, making wherever one is her or her happy place, emotionally, sometimes comes with challenges. For some, school may not be a happy place for them, prompting one’s social health and mental health come into play. Students should always ask for help, speaking to members of the guidance department and support staff. “[Speaking to others about your problems] is not an easy thing to do for any age, but that’s a job, a journey, for any environment you may find yourself in,” says Kramer.

Environmental health is more than reducing pollution and recycling; it is having respect for one’s environment both indoors and outdoors. “This is your space; this is your school. Your environmental health is everywhere. You travel along with yourself. So, sure, it is shutting off the lights when you leave, not running the water, conserving the environment, and realizing we do not have unlimited resources, but it’s also our personal environment too.” In other words, environmental health is about your relationship with the environment, not the environment itself. Therefore, one is encouraged to live in harmony with his or her surroundings.

Those with heightened environmental wellness work hard to protect the environment from harm and minimize behavior that could affect one’s environment while protecting him or herself from environmental hazards. Students should always try their hardest to understand their daily habits and their impact on the world around them and be aware of the Earth’s limits and resources. As actress Shailene Woodley once said, “This isn’t just about saving our Earth. This is about recognizing that in order to protect our future generations, in order to ensure that there are future generations, we have to continue to protect the Earth that we live on.” According to Social Worker and Environmental Club Advisor Karen Viggiano, students’ environmental health can be raised by “making people more aware of natural waste and what’s out there. Realizing that we’re all connected. What kinds of vegetables and fruits we eat and knowing anything that can help us remain nourished. It’s very healthy to be exposed to nature and be aware of the environment.”

Environmental health is more than how one sees the world around him or her. It is about protecting it and feeling comfortable in every setting.