Creating an Ecologically Sustainable World to Support Environmental and Human Health

Abstract

This chapter explains the impact of environmental threats on human health, considers the urgency for action in a context of disputed politics, argues the need for an ecosystems perspective, and assesses policy action in the areas of global warming (climate change), renewable energy, sustainable food and water, and the need for humans to reconnect to nature and land. It argues that the earth’s ecosystem is greatly threatened by human activity and that industrialization has ravaged the natural environment to the point that soon it may no longer support human life. Consequently, the case is made for radical change toward an ecosystems view to maintain a safe operating space for humanity. The importance of renewable energy, sustainable food and water supplies, restoring nature, and protecting biodiversity are seen as vital to human health.