8 Promoting Communit y Environmental Health
By asking “But why?” questions,
Gloria helped the villagers look at
all the ways their health problems
were related to their environment.
At the end of the discussion, most
of the villagers agreed it was
important to plant trees to prevent
erosion and protect the soil. But
Eduardo was still not convinced.
Planting trees is
too much work
when we have
no crops and no
money. We need
something that
will feed us now,
not in 10 years!
Learning to be an effective
environmental health promoter
Gloria returned to the health center discouraged. “Even though they
understand the importance of trees, they still will not do the work to plant
them,” she thought. “How can I convince them?” Just then, a bee flew into
the room and startled her. Gloria shooed it away, and then saw it fly out the
window and land on the red flower of a carob tree. This gave her a new idea.
The next day, Gloria gathered the villagers together again. She asked
another question, and Eduardo was the first to answer.
You need to earn more money
to improve your lives now,
not just in 10 years. You also
believe it is important to
plant trees. Is there any way
to earn money from trees?
Ha! Of course —
we can cut them
down and sell
the wood. But
it will take 10
years, because
trees take that
long to grow.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012