Ecosystems and Human Health PDF Download

Author: Crescentia Y. Dakubo
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441902066
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Ecosystems and Human Health introduces Ecohealth as an emerging field of study, traces its evolution, and explains its applications in cross-disciplinary and holistic programs. Its integrative approach not only focuses on managing the environment to improve health, but also analyzes underlying social and economic determinants of health to develop innovative, people-centered interventions.

Author: Stefan Krauss
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638340562
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 7

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Book Description
Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Environmental Sciences, grade: HD, Murdoch University (ISTP - Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy), course: Ecology, Society, And Human Health, 16 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: From 'what' to 'how' questions: Questions of the type 'What is/are the nature/the co nnections of/between such and such?' contain archaic neglected residues. They insinuate that one heads out 'in the world' and will find 'the nature of or the connections between such and such'. The author emphasises the need to overcome such a naïve realisticontological worldview and to take a more linguistic-constructivist approach. One does not discover god-given essences or connections, but rather humans construct worldviews according to their available technologies, cultures, and aims. Thus, this essay will try to answer the question 'How do certain authors write about the connections between human health and ecological health?'. (ii) Semantic illusions: Taking Nelson Goodman seriously, the question can be divided into several sub-questions. The definite article in the notion 'the connections' seduces one to assume that there is a definite set of connections. Rather, it is the case that by different a uthors different connections are named. And actually, what does the term 'connection' mean? Linguistic connections between the terms 'human health' and 'ecological health' could be that both terms (a) contain the word 'health', (b) consist of two words, or (c) that they differ in the amount of letters. In order to try to give more 'substantial' connections between human health and ecological health, it is necessary to investigate what these terms mean, or to put it in a more appropriate way, how the (academic) community uses, applies, or employs these terms. [...]

Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309085411
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Book Description
The purpose of this regional workshop in the Southeast was to broaden the environmental health perspective from its typical focus on environmental toxicology to a view that included the impact of the natural, built, and social environments on human health. Early in the planning, Roundtable members realized that the process of engaging speakers and developing an agenda for the workshop would be nearly as instructive as the workshop itself. In their efforts to encourage a wide scope of participation, Roundtable members sought input from individuals from a broad range of diverse fields-urban planners, transportation engineers, landscape architects, developers, clergy, local elected officials, heads of industry, and others. This workshop summary captures the discussions that occurred during the two-day meeting. During this workshop, four main themes were explored: (1) environmental and individual health are intrinsically intertwined; (2) traditional methods of ensuring environmental health protection, such as regulations, should be balanced by more cooperative approaches to problem solving; (3) environmental health efforts should be holistic and interdisciplinary; and (4) technological advances, along with coordinated action across educational, business, social, and political spheres, offer great hope for protecting environmental health. This workshop report is an informational document that provides a summary of the regional meeting.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309264146
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 421

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Book Description
The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.

Author: Geof Rayner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136482717
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
What is public health? To some, it is about drains, water, food and housing, all requiring engineering and expert management. To others, it is the State using medicine or health education and tackling unhealthy lifestyles. This book argues that public health thinking needs an overhaul, a return to and modernisation around ecological principles. Ecological Public Health thinking, outlined here, fits the twenty-first century’s challenges. It integrates what the authors call the four dimensions of existence: the material, biological, social and cultural aspects of life. Public health becomes the task of transforming the relationship between people, their circumstances and the biological world of nature and bodies. For Geof Rayner and Tim Lang, this is about facing a number of long-term transitions, some well recognized, others not. These transitions are Demographic, Epidemiological, Urban, Energy, Economic, Nutrition, Biological, Cultural and Democracy itself. The authors argue that identifying large scale transitions such as these refocuses public health actions onto the conditions on which human and eco-systems health interact. Making their case, Rayner and Lang map past confusions in public health images, definitions and models. This is an optimistic book, arguing public health can be rescued from its current dilemmas and frustrations. This century’s agenda is unavoidably complex, however, and requires stronger and more daring combinations of interdisciplinary work, movements and professions locally, nationally and globally. Outlining these in the concluding section, the book charts a positive and reinvigorated institutional purpose.

Author: Laura Westra
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0415504279
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 389

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Book Description
The connection between environment and health has been well studied and documented, particularly by the World Health Organization. This volume makes the connection explicit in a broad review of human rights and legal issues. The book integrates perspectives from a wide range of disciplines.

Author: Samuel Myers
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610919661
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 538

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Book Description
Human health depends on the health of the planet. Earth’s natural systems—the air, the water, the biodiversity, the climate—are our life support systems. Yet climate change, biodiversity loss, scarcity of land and freshwater, pollution and other threats are degrading these systems. The emerging field of planetary health aims to understand how these changes threaten our health and how to protect ourselves and the rest of the biosphere. Planetary Health: Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves provides a readable introduction to this new paradigm. With an interdisciplinary approach, the book addresses a wide range of health impacts felt in the Anthropocene, including food and nutrition, infectious disease, non-communicable disease, dislocation and conflict, and mental health. It also presents strategies to combat environmental changes and its ill-effects, such as controlling toxic exposures, investing in clean energy, improving urban design, and more. Chapters are authored by widely recognized experts. The result is a comprehensive and optimistic overview of a growing field that is being adopted by researchers and universities around the world. Students of public health will gain a solid grounding in the new challenges their profession must confront, while those in the environmental sciences, agriculture, the design professions, and other fields will become familiar with the human consequences of planetary changes. Understanding how our changing environment affects our health is increasingly critical to a variety of disciplines and professions. Planetary Health is the definitive guide to this vital field.

Author: Richard B. Philp
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 146656721X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 441

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Book Description
Since the second edition of this text was published, many new environmental incidents have occurred, including another nuclear disaster, a mine disaster in the United States, and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Updated throughout the text, Ecosystems and Human Health: Toxicology and Environmental Hazards, Third Edition explores the broad range of environmental and human health aspects of chemical and biological hazards—from natural toxins and disasters to man-made pollutants and environmental crises. The book begins with the basic principles of pharmacology and toxicology, risk analysis, and air, water, and soil pollution. It then examines various toxicants and hazards, such as airborne hazards, halogenated hydrocarbons, metals, and organic solvents. Chapters also discuss food additives and contaminants, pesticides, hormone disrupters, radiation hazards, and natural environmental hazards such as venomous and toxic animals. The text reviews the Chernobyl nuclear crisis and the Walkerton drinking water tragedy, as well as other disasters, assessing some of their long-term effects, now that sufficient time has elapsed since their occurrence. With updates in every chapter, this third edition contains significant expansion of information on the genetics of chemical carcinogenesis, global warming, food additives, invasive species in the Great Lakes, nuclear accidents, and more. The book describes how chemical toxins and biological hazards can impact the environment and the people who live in it. The author presents numerous examples of the relationship between ecosystem health and human health. He emphasizes the need to consider the environmental impact of human activities and includes many real-world examples and new case studies.

Author: Francesca Grifo
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 9781559635004
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The implications of biodiversity loss for the global environment have been widely discussed, but only recently has attention been paid to its direct and serious effects on human health. Biodiversity loss affects the spread of human diseases, causes a loss of medical models, diminishes the supplies of raw materials for drug discovery and biotechnology, and threatens food production and water quality. Biodiversity and Human Health brings together leading thinkers on the global environment and biomedicine to explore the human health consequences of the loss of biological diversity. Based on a two-day conference sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution, the book opens a dialogue among experts from the fields of public health, biology, epidemiology, botany, ecology, demography, and pharmacology on this vital but often neglected concern. Contributors discuss the uses and significance of biodiversity to the practice of medicine today, and develop strategies for conservation of these critical resources. Topics examined include: the causes and consequences of biodiversity loss emerging infectious diseases and the loss of biodiversity the significance and use of both prescription and herbal biodiversity-derived remedies indigenous and local peoples and their health care systems sustainable use of biodiversity for medicine an agenda for the future In addition to the editors, contributors include Anthony Artuso, Byron Bailey, Jensa Bell, Bhaswati Bhattacharya, Michael Boyd, Mary S. Campbell, Eric Chivian, Paul Cox, Gordon Cragg, Andrew Dobson, Kate Duffy-Mazan, Robert Engelman, Paul Epstein, Alexandra S. Fairfield, John Grupenhoff, Daniel Janzen, Catherine A. Laughin, Katy Moran, Robert McCaleb, Thomas Mays, David Newman, Charles Peters, Walter Reid, and John Vandermeer. The book provides a common framework for physicians and biomedical researchers who wish to learn more about environmental concerns, and for members of the environmental community who desire a greater understanding of biomedical issues.

Author: Melissa R. Marselle
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030023184
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 494

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Book Description
This open access book identifies and discusses biodiversity’s contribution to physical, mental and spiritual health and wellbeing. Furthermore, the book identifies the implications of this relationship for nature conservation, public health, landscape architecture and urban planning – and considers the opportunities of nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation. This transdisciplinary book will attract a wide audience interested in biodiversity, ecology, resource management, public health, psychology, urban planning, and landscape architecture. The emphasis is on multiple human health benefits from biodiversity - in particular with respect to the increasing challenge of climate change. This makes the book unique to other books that focus either on biodiversity and physical health or natural environments and mental wellbeing. The book is written as a definitive ‘go-to’ book for those who are new to the field of biodiversity and health.