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 Ourselvesprovides 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 recognized 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 Healthis the definitive guide to this vital field.
List of Tables and Boxes Acknowledgements
Part I. Foundations 1. An Introduction to Planetary Health \ Samuel Myers, Howard Frumkin 2. Assembling Planetary Health: Histories of the Future \ Warwick Anderson, James Dunk 3. Population, Consumption, Equity and Rights \ Robert Engelman, John Bongaarts, Kristen P. Patterson 4. A Changing Planet \ Chris Field, David Tilman, Ruth DeFries, David Montgomery, Peter Gleick, Howard Frumkin, Philip Landrigan
Part II. The Health of Populations 5. Food and Nutrition on a Rapidly Changing Planet \ Samuel Myers 6. Planetary Health and Infectious Disease \ Richard S. Ostfeld, Felicia Keesing 7. Global Environmental Change and Non-Communicable Disease Risks \ Howard Frumkin, Andy Haines 8. Environmental Change, Migration, Conflict and Health \ Lauren Herzer Risi, Caroline Kihato, Rebecca Lorenzen, Howard Frumkin 9. Mental Health on a Changing Planet \ Susan Clayton 10. Climate Change and Human Health \ Howard Frumkin 11. Happiness on a Healthier Planet \ John F. Helliwell, Jon Hall
Part III: Pivoting From Threat to Opportunity 12. Energy and Planetary Health \ Ajay Pillarisetti, Kirk R. Smith 13. Urban Places and Planetary Health \ Ana V. Diez Roux, Adriana C. Lein, Iryna Dronova, Daniel A. RodrÃguez, Rosie Mae Henson, Olga Sarmiento 14. Controlling Toxic Exposures \ Philip J. Landrigan, Terrence J. Collins, John Peterson Myers 15. A New Economics for Planetary Health \ Will Evison, Sam Bickersteth 16. The Business of Planetary Health: From Economic Theory to Policy and Practice \ Will Evison, Sam Bickersteth
Part IV. Saving Ourselves, Saving Our Planet 17. Planetary Health Ethics \ Alexander Foster, Jennifer Cole, Ivica Petrikova, Andrew Farlow, Howard Frumkin 18. A Bright Future for Planetary Health \ Samuel Myers, Howard Frumkin
