1. Human Behavior, the Environment, and Health

2. Human Behavior, the Environment, and Health
Ecosystem services:
The conditions and processes through which natural ecosystems, and the species that make them up, sustain and fulfill human life. (Daily, 1997)
Services are the benefits that people receive from ecosystems. (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005)
Final ecosystem services are components of nature, directly enjoyed, consumed, or used to yield human well being. (Boyd et al. 2007)

3. Ecosystem services (MEA 2005)
Provisioning
Goods produced or provided by ecosystems
Food
Crops
Livestock
Capture Fisheries
Aquaculture
Wild Foods
Fiber
Timber
Cotton, hemp, silk
Wood Fuel
Genetic resources
Biochemicals
Freshwater
Regulating
Benefits obtained from regulation of ecosystem processes
Air Quality Regulation
Climate Regulation
Global (CO2 sequestration)
Regional and local
Erosion regulation
Water purification
Disease regulation
Pest regulation
Pollination
Natural Hazard regulation
Cultural
Non-material benefits from ecosystems
Spiritual and Religious Values
Knowledge Systems
Educational values
Inspiration
Aesthetic Values
Social Relations
Sense of Place
Recreation and Ecotourism
These include provisioning services such as food, water, timber, and fiber; regulating services that
affect climate, floods, disease, wastes, and water quality; cultural services that provide recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual benefits; and supporting services such as soil formation, photosynthesis, and nutrient cycling. The human species, while buffered against environmental changes by culture and technology, is fundamentally dependent on the flow of ecosystem services.
Original version of this slide was prepared by Karen Bennett, WRI.
There are other means to categorize the services/benefits to people: function, scale, directional…

4. Education
programs
Land cover change
Climate change
Forest Cover
Hydrology
Mild winter
Knowledge
Risk/Serious
Precipitation
Precipitation
Urbanization/
Infrastructure
Birds
reproduce
earlier
Nutrient input
Social
Structure
# Containers
& landscape
# all breeding
sites
Birds mature
earlier
Behavior HH:
Maintenance
Quality of
breeding sites
Temperature
Availability
of birds
Behavior:
Exposure
Mosquito
abundance
Mosquito bite
preference for people
# of bites
on people
Clustering of birds
and mosquitoes
# of infectious
bites on people
WNV prevalence
in mosquitoes
Age
Overall health
WNV prevalence
in birds
Susceptibility
WNV cases

5. Human risk and behavior varies by socioeconomic factors
Transmission Risk
Behavior: Yard maintenance
Behavior: Personal
The most susceptible groups:
Are the most concerned
Take the most household actions to reduce habitat
Take the most behavioral precautions

6. The environment, recreation, and human health
Personal development and growth Self-esteem, creativity, skill development Mental health Stress reduction, reduced depression Physiological Cardiovascular, obesity reduction

7. Obesity reduction and outdoor recreation
Alabama has the fourth highest rate of adult obesity in the nation (33%) and the sixth highest rate of overweight youths (ages at 36%).

8. CDC: Engaging Communities to Reduce & Prevent Obesity in High-Obesity Alabama Counties
Three pronged approach:
1. Provide education and promotional support to environmental approaches
2. Implement evidence-based strategies to increase access and consumption of healthy food and beverages
3. Implement evidence-based strategies to increase opportunities for physical activity

9. Implement evidence-based strategies to increase opportunities for physical activity
Municipal assessment in 14 communities
Access to parks and trails
Safe routes to school
School facilities and availability
School physical education programming
Focus Groups
Assessment of barriers and opportunities
Years 2 & 3 Implementation