Human health depends on the health of the planet. Earth’s natural systems, the air, the water, the biodiversity, the climate, are our life support systems. Yet climate change, biodiversity loss, scarcity of land and freshwater, pollution and other threats are degrading these systems. The emerging field of planetary health aims to understand how these changes threaten our health and how to protect ourselves and the rest of the biosphere.
Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves provides a readable introduction to this new paradigm. With an interdisciplinary approach, the book addresses a wide range of health impacts felt in the Anthropocene, including food and nutrition, infectious disease, non-communicable disease, dislocation and conflict, and mental health. It also presents strategies to combat environmental changes and its ill-effects, such as controlling toxic exposures, investing in clean energy, improving urban design, and more. Chapters are authored by widely recognised experts.
The result is a comprehensive and optimistic overview of a growing field that is being adopted by researchers and universities around the world. Students of public health will gain a solid grounding in the new challenges their profession must confront, while those in the environmental sciences, agriculture, the design professions, and other fields will become familiar with the human consequences of planetary changes. Understanding how our changing environment affects our health is increasingly critical to a variety of disciplines and professions. Planetary Health is the definitive guide to this vital field.
Human health depends on the health of the planet. Earth’s natural systems, the air, the water, the biodiversity, the climate, are our life support systems. Yet climate change, biodiversity loss, scarcity of land and freshwater, pollution and other threats are degrading these systems. The emerging field of planetary health aims to understand how these changes threaten our health and how to protect ourselves and the rest of the biosphere.
Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves provides a readable introduction to this new paradigm. With an interdisciplinary approach, the book addresses a wide range of health impacts felt in the Anthropocene, including food and nutrition, infectious disease, non-communicable disease, dislocation and conflict, and mental health. It also presents strategies to combat environmental changes and its ill-effects, such as controlling toxic exposures, investing in clean energy, improving urban design, and more. Chapters are authored by widely recognised experts.
The result is a comprehensive and optimistic overview of a growing field that is being adopted by researchers and universities around the world. Students of public health will gain a solid grounding in the new challenges their profession must confront, while those in the environmental sciences, agriculture, the design professions, and other fields will become familiar with the human consequences of planetary changes. Understanding how our changing environment affects our health is increasingly critical to a variety of disciplines and professions. Planetary Health is the definitive guide to this vital field.
Samuel Myers, MD, MPH is a Principle Research Scientist at the
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Director of the
Planetary Health Alliance. Dr. Myers serves as a Commissioner on
the Lancet-Rockefeller Foundation Commission on Planetary Health
and the Lancet Commission on Arctic health. He was the inaugural
recipient of the Arrell Global Food Innovation Award in 2018 for
research quantifying the impacts of environmental change on human
nutrition.
Howard Frumkin, MD, DrPH is head of the Our Plant, Our Health
initiative at the Wellcome Trust. He was previously Dean and
Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the
University of Washington School of Public Health, and Director of
the National Center for Environmental Health and Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR), and Special Assistant
to the Director for Climate Change and Health, at the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
"In contrast with most previous books on environment and health
which predominately focus on problems, a refreshing aspect of
Planetary Health is the considerable portion of the book that is
dedicated toward solutions....Epidemiologists and other health
scientists will appreciate Planetary Health's comprehensive review
of the environment-health literature and its incorporation of
frameworks from biological, environmental and health sciences to
improve causal inference between complex natural systems and human
health. But perhaps the book's most timely contribution is its
roadmap for action to manage and protect our natural environments
and improve health."-- "International Journal of Epidemiology"
"The book's value [is] in providing information critical to
understanding current problems and pathways to a healthier future.
Knowledge gained by its readers should result in at least some
movement toward appreciating the need to make changes and influence
individual actions. It may lead to additional exploration of
methods to change societal perspectives about the need to quickly
effectuate actions critical to protecting the health of the planet
and the people who all depend on it. Certainly, that outcome would
mark an important contribution."
-- "Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences"
"A comprehensive review...Planetary Health is highly
interdisciplinary, predicated as it is on the basis that human
health and the health of the planet are inextricably linked. I
would recommend biodiversity and conservation scientists to read
this book because it shows how our understanding of the
complexities and interaction of the natural world have direct
relevance to managing many existing and emerging human
diseases....The editors have done an excellent job in drawing
together some deep and critical thinkers about planetary health,
and so this will be a useful introductory textbook in undergraduate
classes in ecology or environmental sciences as well as the health
sciences. I would also like to see Planetary Health used as a
primer for those from industry or policy involved in the challenges
of how we protect our planet to ensure that it meets the health
aspirations of future generations."-- "Biodiversity and
Conservation"
"A practical and useful handbook for planetary health
education....The format of the book is engaging, with readable text
complemented by an interesting mix of figures, tables, and
photographs... The author roster is impressive... [it] provides a
comprehensive and illuminating overview of planetary health...[and]
is an important book [and] an excellent primer... I like it, and
hope it is widely read. It certainly is a timely text for
burgeoning university courses in planetary health. Planetary
Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves should be on the
reading list of all health professionals because they have an
important part to play as we strive for planetary health."-- "The
Lancet"
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