New perspective beyond humans: Planetary Health

It is undeniable that our global environment is changing at an unprecedented pace. Many scholars have agreed that we are now living in a new geological era, the Anthropocene, characterized by humanity’s significant impact on Earth’s natural systems. As indicated by the term’s naming, this epoch is purely human-centered and focuses on the human dimension which has unavoidably contributed to the adverse alteration of atmospheric, geologic, hydrologic, biospheric, and other earth systems. In a nutshell, humans have become a destructive geological force worthy of naming an entire epoch after our species.

Even if these changes have been a side effect of the desire to benefit our own species, the frisbee is now coming back to us. Human health is better now than at any time in history, with higher average citizen’s life expectancy, lower death rates in children and diminished poverty prevalence [1]. However, these gains in human health have come at a high price since the degradation of nature’s ecological systems is observed on a scale that has never been seen in human history, which allows the diagnosis that the health of our planet has sharply declined.

Planetary Health is a new field integrating human health with the health of our environment. It recognizes humans as an integral part of nature and therefore correlates the global environmental disruptions with a direct and serious impact on their health and well-being. In short, it leaves behind the anthropocentric perception of health to adopt a new concept that considers the surrounding natural ecosystems, our Planet’s health.

Principles of Planetary Health

Planetary Health is a recently emerged field that refers to “the health of human civilization and the state of the natural systems on which it depends“.

This concept was launched in March 2014, in an issue of the medical journal, The Lancet, which called to create a movement for planetary health to transform the field of public health. It stated that public health should no longer be exclusively focused on human populations but also on their surrounding natural ecosystem. In 2015, the Rockefeller Foundation and The Lancet created the Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on Planetary Health [2], declaring Planetary Health as a new discipline in global health.

Specifically, Planetary Health’s principles are:

Human health is inextricably linked to the health of our planet.
Human health depends on flourishing natural systems and the wise stewardship of those natural systems.
The majority of the global burden of disease over the next century is going to result from our own impacts across our planet’s natural systems.
Urgent and transformative actions are needed to protect present and future generations.
Planetary Health confronts challenges that have to be faced by human collaboration and research across all sectors, including the economy, energy, agriculture, water, and health.

Planetary Symptoms

The way our environment is changing is manifested as symptoms, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Symptoms indicating poor Planetary Health. Source: own production.

These changes are threatening any dimension of human health, and growing scientific evidence is linking these problems with current health issues as portrayed in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Human health issues derived from poor Planetary Health.Source: own production.

Planetary Boundaries

Even if we do not want to believe it, Earth, and therefore humans, have limits.

In an attempt to define a “safe operating space for humanity” and to provide to the global community a framework for sustainable development, a group of environmental scientists created the concept of “Planetary Boundaries”[3]. The framework is based on scientific evidence that human actions have become the main driver of global environmental change.

According to these scientists, since the Industrial Revolution the planet has entered into a new epoch, the Anthropocene*. In the Anthropocene, humans have become the main agents of not only changing the Earth’s System but also the main driver of Earth System’s disruption and its ability to recover from changes, hence losing part of its resilience.

Rockström et al. (2009) [4], refer to nine planetary boundaries that if transgressed could lead to non-linear, abrupt environmental change. These boundaries indicate critical risks arising from climate change, ocean acidification, depletion of stratospheric ozone, biogeochemical flows, atmospheric aerosol loading, land-system changes, global use of freshwater, biosphere integrity, and novel entities.

Figure 3. Planetary boundaries

Why should we matter?

The whole concept of “Planetary Health” [5] has grown enormously over the last years and it’s becoming a rigorous, policy-focused, transdisciplinary field of applied research. The primary ethical focus of Planetary Health’s research is the search for global solutions through human cooperation and collaborative research across all sectors including the economy, energy, agriculture, water management, and public health. One must realize that whatever our current position in society is, we can become part of the solution by making Planetary Health matter.

One of the biggest developments has been the introduction of this concept to health professionals so that they can understand the connections between natural systems and health. However, huge progress is still required for humanity to achieve Planetary Health, and it will require the development, implementation, and assessment of ambitious integrated policies to address the social, economic, and environmental determinants of health.

Conclusions

Throughout history, science, technology, and politics have only focused on one part of the equation. The rapid proliferation and growth of the human population worldwide – in all of our species’ written history -, technological revolutions, and the development of major civilizations, has made us believe that we have successfully evolved and pursued the highest state of health and wellbeing. But this, in my opinion, is only a false and egoistic perception that needs to be projected onto a new systemic view of all human fields, taking into consideration the other elements of the complete equation of Life.

Most of the solutions that humans have created for themselves and for future generations were created with the best of intentions. Nevertheless, many of yesterday’s solutions have turned into today’s problems [6].

We have to understand that there is a clear trade-off between short-term and long-term wellbeing. Achieving human wellbeing without addressing the environmental impact of each of our actions is like investing in an igloo in Central Europe for winter holidays: in summer it will eventually melt. If we harm our planet, we will also harm ourselves, because given that we depend on stable earth systems to survive and thrive, environmental destruction will in the end translate to self-destruction.

Bibliography
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[2] Whitmee, Sarah, Andy Haines, Chris Beyrer, Frederick Boltz, Anthony G Capon, Braulio Ferreira, Souza Dias, et al. 2015. “The Lancet Commissions The Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission on Planetary Health Safeguarding Human Health in the Anthropocene Epoch: Report of The Rockefeller Foundation-Lancet Commission on Planetary Health The Lancet Commissions.” The Lancet 386: 1973–2028. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60901-1.
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[5] “Planetary Health Alliance”. planetaryhealthalliance.org. Retrieved 2016-10-06
[6] Willett, Walter, Johan Rockström, Brent Loken, Marco Springmann, Tim Lang, Sonja Vermeulen, Tara Garnett, et al. 2019. “Food in the Anthropocene: The EAT–Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems.” The Lancet 393 (10170): 447–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31788-4.