Answer/Explanation:
Environmental health is a branch of public health that deals with the protection of the environment to ensure its safety for humans to gainfully benefit from it and live in it without the risk of their health being impaired. Social institutions play vital roles in environment in the following way:
a. Family: The family has been said to be a very important institution that determines the development of an individual, and hence go a long way to shape the behaviors of individuals towards ensuring they partake in environmental practices that do not cause harm to the environment. For example, if a family holds the value that the environment is to be kept clean from pollution, individuals of the family would all hold on to such tenets, and in the long run engage in practices that would ensure the environment is kept clean in the society.
b. Religion: Religion is one of the major institutions that can influence the attitude of individuals. Most people consider their religious leaders and whatever their religion has to say about the environment final, without questioning. For example, some religion believes in cleanliness and as such, good hygiene should be upheld, which in turn would help limit how the environment is being negatively impacted upon, thereby promoting good environmental health.
c. Politics (government): The government is solely responsible for ensuring the protection of the environment and health of her citizens, and as such, would pass laws that protects the environment and regulates the activities of humans to ensure the environment and human health is not compromised. For example, state governments in the U.S have the sole responsibility of the regulation of waste management.
d. Education: Education can go a long way to change the attitude of individuals towards their environment. It could be formal, non formal or informal education. For example, formal education, like the type of education in a formal school and college settings, there are several courses that deals with the study and the protection of the environment and promotion of environmental health. This goes a long way in shaping the behavior of individuals towards improving environmental health.