Supporting Healthy Communities This Earth Month

Posted by Kathryn Vela on April 20th, 2026 Posted in: Consumer Health
Tags: air quality, CDC, Earth Day, Earth Month, environment, environmental health, gardening, heat, MedlinePlus, nature, nih, NIH News, outdoors, pests, water quality, wellbeing, wellness

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April is widely celebrated as “Earth Month”, with Earth Day falling on April 22nd. Organizations like the National Environmental Education Foundation organize resources and activities that encourage people to adopt sustainable practices to support a healthier environment.

There is a lot of overlap between many of these environmentally-friendly habits and healthy lifestyles. Activities like eating less meat, cleaning up a park, and planting pollinator gardens all have measurable health benefits that can go a long way towards improving quality of life.

As people explore these activities, they often have practical health questions: Is it safe to garden in this soil? How can I protect myself from sun exposure? What are safe ways to handle compost at home?

This is where libraries, community organizations, and other health information experts can play an important role; they are ideally suited to connect people with reliable, easy-to-understand health information.

Resources

Here are some go-to resources to help people make informed decisions about their outdoor activities:

MedlinePlus

A consumer health resource organized by the National Library of Medicine. Users can find healthy, meatless recipes and overviews on topics like clean household products, allergies, and sun exposure.

NIH Wellness Toolkits

An online collection of resources organized by different facets of wellness, including an Environmental Wellness Toolkit. Each toolkit contains actionable tips to improve wellness and provides links to additional information from NIH News in Health.

National Center for Environmental Health (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

A comprehensive website that provides information on a wide range of environmental health factors, including severe weather, air quality, and mold.