Environmental Ethics and Mental Health during COVID-19

Abstract

As the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, population density, ecological changes, etc. natural phenomena are shown. The physical, chemical, biological, socioeconomic, cultural and psychological effects of COVID-19 have been felt all over the world. COVID-19 negatively affects the environment with an unbalanced increase in medical waste and disposable products, while quarantine and pandemic measures have given an opportunity for nature to renew itself. The causes and consequences of COVID-19 have brought the concepts of environmental health and therefore environmental ethics to the agenda of healthcare professionals. As the environmental ethics attitudes and behaviors of health professionals develop, health professionals will be able to take initiatives to create these attitudes and behaviors in society. Environmental ethics has been evaluated in the context of public health, mostly in the physical health. However, environmental ethics is also very important in terms of community mental health. Living in an unhealthy environment threatens mental health. Because people want to live in a safe environment, every factor that threatens this trust poses a risk for mental health. There is actually literally no way to talk about happiness in an environment where there is no environmental order and nature is deteriorated and polluted. Therefore, we aimed to explain the concepts of environmental health, environmental ethics and mental health during the COVID-19 process. Thus, an important strategy development in the pandemic process can be achieved by enabling the assessment and management of the causes of the COVID-19 pandemic from a broader perspective.