In this activity, you will draft a letter to a targeted medium (letters published in newspapers or professional journals)  concerning an important environmental health issue in your community. 

Step 1: Click here to read the example of a letter to the editor.

Step 2: Select an article from the Environmental Health Journal that is related to an environmental health issue present in your community. 

Step 3: Suggest an advocacy tool and describe how the tool promotes social, political, or economic interventions to address the environmental health issue in the article that you selected. The letter should be professional and compelling. It should follow  the publishers instructions for publication.

All references should follow 7th Edition APA formatting. See the resource on the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library for instructions: APA citation resource (references are excluded from word counts).

Step 4: Self-Analysis and Enhancement
Before you submit, engage in an introspective self-analysis by systematically reviewing each component of your work. Reflect on what aspects of your work were executed well and what could be enhanced. Proceed to refine these elements in your work. 

Step 5: Submit your assignment by clicking “add a new discussion topic” below, completing the fields, and clicking “post to forum”. Make sure to redact personal information when posting your letter to the editor in the forum.

Step 6 (optional): Submit your letter to the publisher.

OPTIONAL Step 7: Interact (10 minutes)

If you would like to, you can reply to your peers' posts in a respectful and professional manner. Ensure that your post engages your peers' ideas by including a reflection on their comments, sharing ideas of other potential difficulties and parties involved, or asking thought-provoking questions. If a peer comments on your posting, please reply. To post a reply, click “Reply” on a particular discussion, write your feedback and then click on “Post to forum.”

In this activity, you will write a white paper to advocate for the development or update of federal or state regulatory programs, guidelines, and awareness of authorities to address environmental health issues.

Step 1: Read this resource to understand how to write a white paper. You can also access an example of a white paper from the Environmental Health Journal here. (The estimated reading time for this resource is 46 minutes. This reading contains important information to help you complete all activities). 

Step 2: Choose an environmental health issue that affects your community and write a 1500 - 2000 word white paper that addresses all 8 core components of a policy paper listed in the reading, and uses the appropriate structure. Include the following points:

• What activities does your government do in your country or region to promote environmental health? 

• What improvements can be applied to those activities and how do they relate to the issue you chose?

• What social and cultural determinants in your community relate to the chosen environmental health issue ?

• How can this be framed in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals?

Step 3: Compile your responses in a document. Be sure to include all the requirements detailed in Step 2. 

All references should follow 7th Edition APA formatting. See the resource on the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library for instructions: APA citation resource (references are excluded from word counts).

Step 4: Self-Analysis and Enhancement
Before you submit, engage in an introspective self-analysis by systematically reviewing each component of your work. Reflect on what aspects of your work were executed well and what could be enhanced. Proceed to refine these elements in your work. 

Step 5: Submit your assignment by clicking “add a new discussion topic” below, completing the fields, and clicking “post to forum”. Make sure to upload the document that contains your work, do NOT paste your work in the Description box.

OPTIONAL Step 6: Interact (10 minutes)

If you would like to, you can reply to your peers' posts in a respectful and professional manner. Ensure that your post engages your peers' ideas by including a reflection on their comments, sharing ideas of other potential difficulties and parties involved, or asking thought-provoking questions. If a peer comments on your posting, please reply. To post a reply, click “Reply” on a particular discussion, write your feedback and then click on “Post to forum.”