The world is getting smaller. Increased globalization, resulting from advances in travel and telecommunications, has facilitated an ever greater mixing of people, customs and cultures, and more rapid cross border flows of goods and services, people and capital, and ideas and information.

Common Health examines the definition of public health and how it is practiced in Maine. In public health, the goal is to prevent disease or injury in a whole population a city, state or country, for example. Many of these public health issues have historically been dealt with at a national or local level, but they are increasingly beyond the direct control of national public health infrastructure.

A variety of pollutants present in the environment often lead to a pattern associated with the most common environmental health issues facing society. An outbreak of disease caused by the environment threatens public health. As the ozone layer diminishes, leaving holes where harmful ultraviolet rays pass through to the earth, people are affected in many ways. Respiratory problems are on the rise because of air pollutants and carcinogens.