Health at a Planetary Scale

Physicians, Howard Frumkin and Sam Myers have written an extremely informative and very revealing article for POLITICO on climate change and the need to link human health directly to the health of the earth’s natural systems on which we depend and why we should be thinking bigger - way bigger - about public health.... 

Here are just two extracts but I urge you to read the full article and share it as extensively as you can:

"Ultimately, if the insights of planetary health are going to yield their full benefits, it will fall to policymakers to think big – to see the connections among issues such as natural resource management, energy, agriculture and urban development and to place human health and well-being at the center of their decisions."

"Food is yet another example. Agronomists have known for some time that climate change reduces the yield of most major food crops. But climate change has other effects as well: rising carbon dioxide levels erode the nutritional quality of many foods, lowering the levels of critical nutrients including protein, zinc and iron. This research helps anticipate hot spots of potential malnutrition and helps drive the search for more nutritious cultivars."