Summary
Economic development has led to tremendous improvements in people’s well-being, but often at the expense of the environment. Industrialization has contributed to pollution of air and water, changing dietary patterns, and shifting patterns of transportation and land use. Exposures to air and water pollutants directly increase disease. Similarly, dietary changes and decreased levels of physical activity, resulting from transportation and other work and lifestyle changes, are contributing to global epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and associated diseases.