Planetary Health: Safeguarding the Environment and Human Health in the Anthropocene

Citation

Haines, A., & Frumkin, H. (2021). Planetary Health: Safeguarding Human Health and the Environment in the Anthropocene. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Link to file

We are living in a time like no other — the Anthropocene. That’s the name scientists have given to our current era, one defined by the deep and lasting impact humans have had on the natural systems that support civilization itself.

Planetary Health is a way of understanding how environmental changes are threatening the progress humanity has made in health. It looks at how these changes affect everything from pandemics and infectious diseases to mental health, chronic diseases, and injuries. The good news? It also shows how people can adapt to the changes that are now unavoidable by taking actions that improve human health while also protecting the environment.

But adaptation isn’t enough. Humanity needs to do more than just adapt. Real progress requires transformative change across many sectors: energy, housing, transportation, food, and health care. Planetary Health lays out specific policies, technologies, and interventions that can make that change happen and explains how to put them into practice.

Planetary Health presents the evidence clearly, builds hope for a shared future, and aims to motivate action from everyone—whether you’re a member of the general public, a policymaker, or a health practitioner. The message is simple: the health of people and the health of the planet are one and the same, and everyone has a role to play.

Abstract

We live in unprecedented times – the Anthropocene – defined by far-reaching human impacts on the natural systems that underpin civilisation. Planetary Health explores the many environmental changes that threaten to undermine progress in human health, and explains how these changes affect health outcomes, from pandemics to infectious diseases to mental health, from chronic diseases to injuries. It shows how people can adapt to those changes that are now unavoidable, through actions that both improve health and safeguard the environment. But humanity must do more than just adapt: we need transformative changes across many sectors – energy, housing, transport, food, and health care. The book discusses specific policies, technologies, and interventions to achieve the change required, and explains how these can be implemented. It presents the evidence, builds hope in our common future, and aims to motivate action by everyone, from the general public to policymakers to health practitioners.