This geological epoch, the Anthropocene, is characterized by humanity’s dramatic and often irreversible impact on Earth’s biophysical conditions. Although human health on average has improved over the past century, the stability of our planet’s life-sustaining systems has sharply declined—threatening all life on earth including human health and development.
Human induced climate change is the biggest human health threat of our century. These anthropogenic environmental changes affect the quality of the air we breathe and of the water we drink, the quality and quantity of food we produce, the spread of infectious diseases, and even the habitability of the places where we live. Already, disrupted life-sustaining systems have threatened the lives of people in communities in low- and middle-income countries who contributed the least to this crisis, and no place is safe. Also, in high-income countries the climate and ecological crises are already impacting health, and this crisis is projected to drive the majority of the global burden of disease over the coming century.
Understanding and acting upon these challenges calls for massive collaboration across disciplinary and national boundaries to safeguard all life on the planet. We need everybody on board: judges reviewing ecocide legislation, policymakers grabbing hold of unlimited consumption, medical professionals warning for health effects of climate change, engineers working on green energy transition, journalists warning for greenwashing, CEO’s investing in green business policies, scientists investigating the complex effects on ecosystems, economists advocating a circular economy, politicians pleading for a green government policy and so on. Commitment, solutions, and ideas from all fields need to unite, to build a movement to accomplish a social transition towards a sustainable, green, healthy and safe future.